Spiral Knights - The simplest shard bomb buff/changes that would reverse their poor reputation

The simplest shard bomb buff/changes that would reverse their poor reputation

4 replies [Last post]

Thu, 12/03/2015 - 12:26

Fehzor

Just give them moderate status effects.

Deadly Crystal bomb (elemental): Poison
Deadly Splinter Bomb (piercing): Shock
Dark Matter Bomb (shadow): Fire
Deadly Shard Bomb (normal): Freeze

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The above would at least put them all on par with one another, though it might be necessary to buff dark matter/salt bomb a bit more than the others- dark retribution is just so much better as a DPS option. I'd possibly do the following-

Salt Bomb: Change slime buff to low, deals both fire and shock; each crystal either deals fire or shock, never both.
Dark Matter Bomb: Curse

A curse variant would probably come across as OP due to how players over-value the status, but this might not be a bad thing. The actual curse status would quite often fail to help out in a meaningful way, though in addition to the shard damage would give it a meaningful advantage over dark retribution.. which would still outperform it in terms of raw damage.

The normal variant of the bomb has truly despicable damage and may also want to receive a disproportionately awesome buff. Perhaps it could be given all 5 of the 'big statuses' in the same manner salt bomb could have fire and shock- where each crystal is randomized.

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And seriously, fix the invincibility frames bug. If it weren't for that the piercing shards would be able to fight enemies like greivers, and so would be top tier just like dark briar barrage... imagine hitting a charging griever with a shard, just to have the griever go 'tink' and crush you anyway. Go in game and try to fight them- it's doable up until the invincibility frames get you.

Fri, 12/04/2015 - 10:24

Exerpa

Gremlins have low affinity

Gremlins have low affinity for fire damage and beasts take minimal shock damage.
The 3 flaws the bombs have are simply a matter of numbers. The payload takes too long to release, it's too weak and is crippled by the hit limit - something that defeats the entire purpose of having shards in the first place.

We all know they will never get fixed. The fact of the matter is, if you really want to shard bomb, don't use bombs at all - use the Tortoguns. It shouldn't be a problem, because it's not like you're going to use Mad Bomber, right?

Fri, 12/04/2015 - 10:54

Fehzor

I'm aware of the "ineffective" statuses.

Giving the piercing one shock would make it decent against undead and would hit fiends fairly hard, somewhat like a piercing salt bomb. The beasts would still be hurt a bit by it. Fire+Shadow would let the bomb hit beasts and dust zombies fairly hard, making it something of a perfect counter for dreams and nightmares. This is a niche that I really want to see filled.

The numbers are actually in the shards favor when you disregard the hit-limit, and giving them status effects at least makes them kind of relevant- scintillating sun shards and salt bomb are actually quite functional. The only issues with those 2 bombs are their competition- dark briar barrage can counter grievers and dark retribution is, well, the best DPS bomb in the game.. and is why I suggested giving the other shadowy shard bombs fire+shock and curse respectively.

Sun, 12/06/2015 - 18:19

Petater

Although I'd give them the highest level of status affliction strength, since shard bomb particularly are weak and Sega Networks LLC needs to encourage weapon exploration, since the game's community is too attuned to very specific set paths to end game.

Tue, 12/08/2015 - 12:54

Fehzor

Actually, I'm going to have to make an addendum to that- the bulk of weapons (everything but hazes, just about) should be giving more status than they are, because the fact of the matter is that 'dead' is by far a more useful status effect than poisoned, or shocked, or cursed, or anything else out there.

But shards in particular? They already deal moderate which makes them better at giving stronger status.. so giving them strong (whatever that means) wouldn't be out of the question since it's not even that big of a change and lets face it, they could use the extra little bit of status... after all, they ARE that much harder to hit with than mist bombs, which linger for several seconds spilling out statuses everywhere.

Of course giving them too much more than that would break the game, to the point of letting them light fire-themed enemies on fire and stuff like that... which I wouldn't mind in a weapon, if it were balanced around that sort of thing.

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The simplest shard bomb buff/changes that would reverse their poor reputation