Forums › English Language Forums › General › The Arsenal

Search

Beginner bomber. Bombs & Sidearms.

6 replies [Last post]
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 17:58
Garfuncle's picture
Garfuncle

Hey there! I've been getting into Spiral Knights and am trying to become a bomber, but I have a few questions.

What's a good sidearm for a bomber? Right now I'm going Flourish or Wrench Wand depending on what enemies I'm going against.

For bombs I'm using the blast bomb as per the Wiki guide and I've just gotten a Crystal bomb. I'm unsure about the elemental bombs because they appear to be a bit...lackluster at my level of play.

Right now I have the Spiral Demo Helm/Suit, and Firebreak shield as main armors.

Any help/insight will be gratefully appreciated. Thanks! X)

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 19:08
#1
Darkbrady's picture
Darkbrady
A normal sword or gun

A normal sword or gun (whichever you prefer) will do you nicely, just so it's always useful. You generally want fast sidearms as utility weapons, there's nothin' worse than pullin' out a big honkin' slow weapon when you need somethin' done quickly.
Ofc, if you're sticking with the blast bomb line, then a special type weapon may work out better for you.
If you go through the Elite Bomber Thread there's plenty of Q&A there as well as general advice and tips towards everything bomb related from numerous experienced and advancing players alike. there's also plenty of Demos and videos out there (many listed on the Elite Bomber thread) and on the wiki that can show you eveyrthing you should need to know!

The armour choice is good, just keep workin' that. There's no overall "good bomber shield" so just stick with whichever shield you feel safest with, although you should note that shock is probably the worst thing that can happen to a bomber, so any defences you get against that could be a lifesaver, it'll be worth it to take a shock shield into any shock themed levels.

Also, pretty much all of the bombs are good (or at least one bomb on each alchemy line, anyway) including the elementals.
Take your crystal bomb up the RSS route, avoid ISB; keep yoru blast bombs focussed on Nitronome, and any and all of the haze bombs are fantastic to use, even if slow-feeling early on in the game. If you're unsure about haze bombs for damage right now, then work on a freezing haze first, as that's just useful everywhere and certainly can be a lifesaver for newer players :)

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 19:13
#2
Imperialstriker's picture
Imperialstriker
Alright

That Firebreak should be replaced with a Plate Shield or an Owlite ASAP. (Takes less priority than bombing weapons if you have good kiting ability, though. More required as you reach T3)

Sidearms: I'd consider a utility shadow weapon for solo RJP/JK runs, and maybe a polaris to help ease combat against turret spawns. (My take.)

The Bombs themselves:

Damage:

You chose blast line. Great choice. Go for Nitronome for the knockback and pure kiting and demolition power. NEVER take into groups, the flashbang will annoy everyone, and the knockback will get you kicked.

You chose the shard line. Excellent Choice: Go for the Sun Shard Line, DO NOT go for the Ionized line. The RSS line will give you extreme firepower against undead and fiends, much like that of an Argent Peacemaker. Later on, you will find fighting undead almost hilarious, and 1 shard bomb behind a Trolljan will make it spew rainbows everywhere and die rather quickly.

What you missed: Dark Briar Barrage:
Similar tactically to the Nitronome, but with a darker blast and lack of knockback, this weapon proves party friendly while giving the same damage as a Nitronome to Pierce neutral enemies, and bonus damage against pierce weak enemies.

Vortex Lines:

The Graviton: Fairly simple to obtain. Provides decent shadow damage and gives you great breathing room. Be careful about its slowdown. Also know that its clumping effect makes it spectacular in party play, allowing DA and Brandish guys to charge up and annihilate the vortexed enemies.
NEVER let you or an ally get clumped in the center of a vortex, the carnage will be devastating.

The Electron: Same tactics as above. There is a bonus of shock, and as an elemental damage weapon with actual ability to target kat ghosts, this weapon proves decent for undead killing. Shock itself is rather useful for movement lockdown and DoT.
(PvP award, hard to obtain easily at first)

The Haze Bomb Lines:

General Tactics: With the possible exception of the Ash of Agni Line, none of these bombs are particularly well designed for direct combat. All of these lines are created to provide statuses that can and will be useful in the long run.

Shivermist Buster: Freeze in general is useful as an enemy that can't move is fairly helpless. This haze bomb totally locks down movement, and in party play, can be rather useful. Damage wise, this is one of the weakest bombs you can utilize, but in terms of field stabilization and crow control, you have alot covered. Almost somewhat a requirement for killing Vanaduke. (Interrupts charges and keeps him nice and still to combat against).

Ash of Agni: Fire will never lockdown movement, and will interrupt freeze. This is in some essence, a damage bomb. Kite and spam it, and you can usually ignite waves of enemies for decent damage. Be careful around oilers.

Venom Veiler: Avoid soloing with the Toxic Lines. Posion provides a way to deal damage by enemy healing (I healed you to death!), while also being useful in the fact that it debuffs offensive and defensive capabilities of enemies. Swordsmen love huge numbers, this weapon facilitates that. Also extremely useful in RJP, where spamming poison on the Royal Jelly will leave it without the ability to absorb Royal Mini Jellies, giving it the starve effect without needing to kill everything in the room.

Stagger Storm: Not common, and kinda dangerous to be honest. Stun is glitchy and can cause double hits and stuff of the like. Provides a well made movement and ASI slowdown, however. Knockback actually applies to stunned enemies. (Unlike frozen or shocked enemies). (PvP award, semi-hard to obtain)

Voltaic Tempest: Its a grind to get this line. Be ready to face the Roaramulus Twins one too many times or pay up a large sum of money to obtain this weapon. Shock in general is a very useful status, however, locking down movement and providing damage; this bomb is the middle ground of an Ash of Agni and a Shivermist Buster. Shock itself is considered elemental to some degree, and thus provides decent bonus damage to undead and construct. (Especially if they clumped up, for shock is an AoE status). Voltaic Tempest also serves a huge use in Lockdown, where a Recon/Guardian can spam away the line and annoy foes with damage and slowdown effects.

That's my personal take on the lines, others can come and accept/refute my points.

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 19:30
#3
Darkbrady's picture
Darkbrady
@Imperial: It's bad advice to

@Imperial:
It's bad advice to say "never take nitro into groups" because a skilled nitro user is well appreciated in groups, not shunned. you're implying that it's the bomb itself that's hated, rather than players inability to efficiently use it, or disregard for party tactics.

Don't take the nitro into parties straight away, read up on it, watch videos etc (the one I liked does have a brief mention of Nitros) and practice for a good while before taking it into groups. Try to take it into friends/guilds groups at first, who'll forgive mistakes. With practice, you'll eventually learn how to use the NItros in a way that groups will appreciate and be able to really make the most of.

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 19:34
#4
Imperialstriker's picture
Imperialstriker
oh jeez

sorry, I worded that wrong haha.

(I didn't sleep till 4 AM yesterday and got up at 6... My brain is dying.)

But yea, listen to DarkBrady on the whole blast bomb thing... Sorry for that misinformation....

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 20:16
#5
Keelan's picture
Keelan
As a dependent Nitronome

As a dependent Nitronome user, I also disagree with Imperial's reply. I wish I could somehow record all of the times I was in an arena (T2, mind you) fighting off the final rush of robot knights myself with just a Nitro and a Elite Bomb Focus Module while everyone else was dead. All you need is a general square rotation around the arena, some smart pushes of the shield button (go Owlite if you can), and you will mow them all down within a minute if you have the patience and skill. Since Normal damage negates the effective/ineffective defenses of the enemies, you don't have to worry about which groups you can and can't target.

Also, you might want to look into a Graviton Vortex, especially for solos. Sometimes you can be grinding the RJP and catch yourself in a good moment to charge a black hole to slow down the enemies who are chasing you around. It works best if you get a group of jellies inside, then start charging your Nitro and placing it as close to the center as you can. If you have the timing the vortex will explode, giving jellies a 150+ damage which quickly adds into another 115 when the Nirto detonates quickly after.

Wed, 01/25/2012 - 01:57
#6
Renpartycat's picture
Renpartycat
Here's a list of highly recommended sidearms.

Now it all boils down to what type of Demoman you are. If you're great at avoiding enemies and dodging attacks, a gun is your best friend.

Recommended Guns:
- Valiance
- Magma/Storm/Hail Driver (Depends on what type of bomb you're using.)
- Sentenza/Argent Peacemaker (Great guns in general, especially for kiting.)
- Neutralizer/Biohazard (I'd go with Biohazard myself because poison is great for support.)
- Supernova/Polaris (Supernova if you have more elemental weapons than normal weapons. Polaris if you like shock.)

But if you want a sword, it's not too hard to decide. Get a heavy sword, or a light sword that does great damage against enemies you really hate. Normal swords are also good if you can't decide.

Powered by Drupal, an open source content management system