Spiral Knights - Being a swordsman is boring... I'm going to become a bomber.

Being a swordsman is boring... I'm going to become a bomber.

27 replies [Last post]

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 18:10

Soulstaker

2 days ago I decided to become a bomber due to being bored of swords. Also, it would be fun to try out a new type of weapon. I never really got into bombing and don't know all the "tricks" of bombs. I want to ask the community to help me out on my load out. Please note this load out won't be purely for FSC.

My future 5* bomber load out:
Volcanic Demo Helm
Mad bomber suit or Volcanic Demo Suit
Nitronome (The recipes were free and It looks pretty good.)
Shiver mist buster (also good for FSC)
Levi blade or AP
RSS or DBB?

Current things I have for my load out:
Heavy demo helm
Spiral demo suit
Super blast bomb
Freezing vaporizer
I also have the Levi blade.

Besides the levi blade, I will try to make all these 3* as soon as possible. And move on to 4* and eventually 5*. Since the CE prices are so high, it's going to take awhile to reach 4* bomber load out.

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 18:27

Alynn

Full mad bomber is not

Full mad bomber is not necessary

mad bomber/volcanic demo hybrid is good enough imo.

Nitronome may seem like a good weapon, but its not party friendly, and may blast monsters into unfavorable positions.

Instead of levi, I would suggest a gun, like AP, because all your weapons are for close combat, and its always good to have a gun around. Levi is also a good choice if you dont want a gun

Radiant Sun Shards is a really good bomb for FSC, and other places, and you may want to consider getting DBB due to lack of knockbacks and spammability.

Vortex bombs are also good to have around, especially combined with Levi's charge attack.

My suggestion:

Mad Bomber mask/suit + Volcanic Demo mask/suit
Shivermist
RSS/DBB
Electron Vortex
AP/Levi

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 18:32

Soulstaker

Thanks alynn for the advice.

Thanks alynn for the advice. I appreciate it.

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 20:28

Corrionos

Er...

Read the bombing guide on the wiki, too.

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 21:07

Unboundsakura

My advice:

The first thing you must learn as a bomber, is to dodge. As a swordsman you normally rely alot on your shield, shield cancels etc.

Since you seem to have a 2* bomber loadout, here is my advice:
-Dont worry too much about your armor just yet, just stick to the spiral demo, having the right bombs for the situation is important!
-Having a Third weapon slot as a bomber is a blessing since it allows you to bring that extra bomb or sidearm that you need.
-The first bombs you should get is: Spine cone, blast bomb, fiery and freezing vaporizer.
-> Blast Bomb deals a fair amount of damage to anything, but it is a bit tricky to get the timing down right. Knockback might be annoying.. (Upgrading the blast bomb to anything other then Nitronome would be silly. Unfortunately the other 4-5* versions are pretty bad).
-> Spine Cone deals with fiends. Sun Shards is also good agsint fiends, but devilites can dodge it, so the spine cone is the safer option, for now.
-> Fiery Vaporizer deals a nice amount of damage to constructs and undead, and the fire will do more damage then your blast bomb in some cases.
-> Freezing Vaporizer - freezes enemies, and deals a nice amount of damage when they thaw, but when you use it, question yourself this: Is it worth to freeze these enemies? or would it be better to just deal more damage? Rember that the fiery and freezing vaporizer cancels eachother out.

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When you get the hang of these bombs, you might want to get your hands on these:
-Static Capacitor, Sun Shards and Dark Reprisal (from the expansion DLC, if you are willing to pay for it).
-> Static Capacitor inflicts shock to enemies, and causes alot of AoE damage when there are alot of enemies grouped together. Interrupts attacks.
-> Sun Shards - Very good bomb for FSC, not suited to take down devilites, or other quick mobs.. Takes a bit of time getting used to.
-> Dark Reprisal - The only viable shadow dps bomb in the game. It has a quick charge time, slaughters gremlins and slime like no other!

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5* armor: Before the change to the volcanic demo suit, i would have suggested that you get either full mad bomber, or a volc demo helm + mad bomber suit, however now that the volc. demo set provides vh charge time reduction, it is actually really good. Be aware that using the Mad Bomber set makes you very vunerable to status ailments, even though the extra damage might be worth it. I personally prefer a full volc demo set.

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Sidearms:
Vailance - dont be fooled by its mediocre damage, this gun has saved my butt countless times, its 3 shot clip, fast bullets and knockback makes it an excellent support weapon if you are forced into a corner or you simply dont have the time to charge up a bomb. Its bullets are also fast enough to hit devilites. It is also good as a counter against greavers (greavers can easily be interrupted by just damaging them).
Argent peacemaker - It has a 6 shot clip, fast bullets and good damage against constructs and undead.
Supernova - I'm not personally a fan, but it could be good for solo play. It has a 3 shot clip and deals alot of area of effect damage. However it has a bit slow bullets that arent ideal for hitting fast enemies with. The exploding bullets can also blind other party members, and the knockback is also annoying for swordies or other bombers in your party.
Alchemers arent really suited as sidearms for a bomber imo.
I guess you could make use of a polaris, but it annoys party members just like supernova.
Biohazard/Neutralizer = meh
Blitz needle could be used to damage Vanaduke, but you would be using shivermist as a bomber anyway...

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Other bombs: You shouldent get these before you have your 5* armor in my opinion.
Venom Veiler - Inflicts poison, great for support and shutting down any healing. Also makes enemies deal less damage, and take more damage.
Stagger Storm - Inflicts stun, which makes monsters unable to do full combo attacks, and derps kats. Good support bomb.
Vortex Bombs - The Electron Vortex is better then the Graviton Vortex, just because it can inflict shock. These bombs are ment for crowd control, and work best in groups. Because their 3* version doesn't affect lumbers or trojans, and they also cut your movement speed in half while charging, they are difficult to use, and arent really worth it unless you have the 4* version and atleast very high charge time reduction.

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My own loadout:

Volcanic demo helm - ele max
Mad Bomber suit - ele max (Working on a volcanic demo suit :3)

Elite boomb module x2 = Vh damage

Valiance - VH ASI
Nitronome/Electron Vortex
Dark Briar Barrage/Radiant Sun Shards/Dark Retribution
Ash of Agni/Shivermist buster

-Leafchime

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 21:40

Blaze-Breaker

Umm, hey, I'm kind of a half

Umm, hey, I'm kind of a half and half swordsman/bomber right now. I use two strata pertinent swords, and two bombs.
I guess I'm more on the swordsman side, seeing as I never really rely on the bombs for damage.

Anyways, to the point. Here are some suggestions I'd like to make.

Relentlessly placing bombs on the floor =/= any sort of appreciable bombing.
Be careful where you place bombs, especially the nitronome if you choose to get it.
That one tends to be as deadly to teammates as to enemies in unskilled hands,
since it knocks enemies around so much.

Mist bombing can be irritating at times.
The two bombs that restrict movement, the VT and SMB, also make it harder to move enemies around.
Sometimes it can mean death when there's a bunch of unshieldbumpable jellies standing in front of someone
courtesy of a shivermist buster.
Sometimes the VT can shock an enemy that was supposed to be sent flying away by the swat of a DA.

Just because you're bombing, doesn't make you the most important member of the team.
Don't expect to be revived right as soon as you die. Whether you're there for DPS or not,
you're just another member of the team until proven otherwise. One time I, a knight clad in 5-star
armor, weapons and trinkets, died in a RJP run because some smug cupcake thought that his Ash of Agni
spam was going to kill everything. You know that top left corner in Red Carpet Runaround? He kept
triggering the mobs, dropping the AoA, and running away. I know for a fact that it's possible to get rid
of every single mob in the third section of that area, but instead the whole thing took like two minutes to deal
with killing and reviving people. Kept telling him "Please let me drop my vortex bomb." Did he listen? No.

I'm not partying with that person again if I can help it. Ever.

Sorry to be so negative. I'd just like to end this wall of text by saying "A good bomber can dramatically speed up
runs." It just takes learning enemy spawns, the effects of bombs, and a bit of intuition into what your allies
are going to do.

Sun, 05/06/2012 - 23:55

Kraanx

they told you you could be

they told you you could be anything you wanted.....

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 02:04

Derpules

Eh.

I'm not sure how anything any other player could do would lead to death in that room in RJP. Really?

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 04:03

Raisinfist

@Derpules

Have you ever partied with someone in that room who spams the Nitro? That killed me pretty quickly.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 05:59

Dancinjen

hello!I don't recommend

hello!

I don't recommend wearing mad bomber suit whatsoever. It's too weak to every status to make it worth it. If you're being hit by a status and you can't get a charge going then it's pointless to have all that bonus that you can't use because of status.

I recommend mercurial demo by far, i think, is the best bomber set in the game. I use it in the clockworks all the time. It has a movement speed increase that does surprisingly make a difference. You can have the merc demo with medium speed increase and then it has a damage increase then i wear two ctr trinkets and then bombs when fully heated naturally have ctr reduction on them.

as for bombs... I like to have a bomb for every situation, but if i had to chose which ones would be best overall i would chose these:

venom veilor
shivermist
stun
voltaic

and if you get good with it the radiant sun shards is a really good bomb, especially for fsc.

my fsc loadout is this:

merc demo. two ctr trinkets
venom veilor
electron vortex and/or voltaic tempest
rss
shiver

depending on who I'm partying with on which ones i switch out between on shiver/vt/ electron

if they don't want shiver I'll equip a sword and bring the electron

if they want the shiver i'll just chose between what i feel more like using electron or vt

and yes... the bombing guide is amazing. :) you should read up on it.

I became a bomber because i, too, got bored with swords.

also, my views on the nitronome is it shouldn't be used in a party but it is a good solo bomb. If you wish to use the nitro in a party it's imperative that learning how to use it and have some control on where enemies fly off to on the map is important.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 06:57

#10

Alice-In-Pyroland

Check out the Bombing Guide

Check out the Bombing Guide and make sure to hang around the Elite Bombing Thread, you'll pick up just about everything you need from these resources pretty quickly.

That being said some basic critique of the loadout;

*Dont use full Mad Bomber. A mix of one Mad Bomber piece with one piece of Volcanic or Bombastic can get you the same bonuses in conjunction with the appopriate trinkets.
*Vortex is one of the best weapons in the game and getting one as early as possible to practice with it and learn how to use it will seriously help you improve as a bomber
*Don't prioritze crafting a Shivermist. It's a bomb that's seriously overrated by newer players and you'll find very little practical use for it outside of shiverblitzing Vanaduke. Ash of Agni is the first status bomb you want to craft, and then you'll want to obtain Voltatic Tempest, Shivermist, Venom Veiler and Stagger Storm in that order (Assuming you want all the 'haze' style bombs).

Have you ever partied with someone in that room who spams the Nitro? That killed me pretty quickly.

Whilst bad Nitro spammers are a detriment to their team, short of being immensely unlucky you also have to be pretty unaware yourself to actively get killed because of them.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 07:02

#11

Metagenic

Mad Bomber is a great set

Yes, it has many status weaknesses, but like I've said before if your armor defense sucks then you learn movement pretty fast.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 15:19

#12

Soulstaker

Thanks for all the adivce

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'll switch out mad bomber suit with volcanic demo suit or go for full volcanic all together. I got the super blast bomb and going for fused demo helm.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 17:17

#13

Enshadu

Sigh.

Depresses me to no end to see you all knocking on the Mad set.
Depresses me even more to see Soulstaker adopting that thinking, too.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 18:45

#14

Vagueabond

I disagree with a couple of

I disagree with a couple of the points here.

Firstly, the idea that the status weaknesses on Mad Bomber somehow make it less viable.

Sure, you probably shouldn't be wearing full Mad in FSC, but it's not that ridiculous to wear it most other places (though I'd also wear combo on IMF, just because of how persnickety shock is).

The four points of stat boost from full Mad gear is nothing to sneeze at - you get DMG VH and CTR VH just for showing up. That's huge, and really helps you get the edge as a bomber in a party.

Secondly, and perhaps nearer to my heart: the RSS is AMAZING. Seriously, get one. It is SO GOOD. It does solid damage to five of six monster families, shoots eight AoE shards, and has limited knockback (perfect for bombing, since you can set up your next shot more easily).

Bombers don't need to relegate ourselves to pure crowd control. With the RSS, Dark Retribution, and yes, even the Nitronome (though I loathe that weapon so much, that's a diatribe for another time, but my opinion is it isn't even that great of a solo bomb), you can output tons of damage. Add in the occasional VV, AoA or VT and baby, you've got a stew going.

Of course, you can maximize party DPS by using more carefully-timed support bombs, but really, status bombs shouldn't be your biggest concern, or you'll be crippling yourself unnecessarily.

Jen's an excellent bomber, but Mad Bomber is the best (non-situational) armour set in the game, hands down. Nothing else comes remotely close.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 19:10

#15

Blaze-Breaker

Derpules

Well, it sorta goes like this.
I'm at this point in the game more used to soloing then I am partying, meaning
that I'm more used to enemy attacks being less of an issue.
Solo: *Jelly spins* Me: Hah! Missed me!
Four people: *Jelly spins towards friend* Friend: Hah! Missed me!
I would say something, but by that point in time, I'd be dying of laceration inflicted by the jelly
when it tried to hit my friend.

At any rate, while I was charging my vortex in that room, that person came up with his mist bomb and excited
the monsters. Between the gun puppy fire and jelly spines, I panicked somewhat and a lumbar took me out.

I'd also like to admit right now that I have a tendency to barely survive encounters with most mobs. As in,
I do not die a lot whenever I am fighting something, but I almost die a LOT.

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 15:16

#16

Soulstaker

@Vagueabond

Thanks, I'll consider the RSS since everyone recommends it. The only reason why I won't get full mad bomber because I can get DMG VH from trinkets while not getting completely killed by status. I tend to do FSC a lot so a volcanic piece would cover the fire (and one of the most annoying status to me).

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 18:22

#17

Nechrome

OH HAI SOUL

I'm a swordzy-bomber myself. I find that a status bomb+brandish upgrade charge = awesomeness. Keep that in mind.

Shock+Recon+Toothpick+bomb spam=enemy wolver clone= total devestation in LD. Keep that in mind also.

And if you're interested in an RSS, I have several Crystal Bombs I need to sell. One of them has CTR low. Tell me if you're interested. :D

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 18:45

#18

Nitez

Working on obtaining more bombs.

Dark Briar Barrage is a NECESSITY for dealing with devilites fyi, it's overall DPS seems to be faster than nitro, however since it's pierce it works on only specific enemies.
Nitro = best NORMAL dps.
RSS = good for dealing with... undead... it's great for fsc not so much anything else. (Good counter to gunners in LD, hilariously)
*mist* type bombs = Venom Veiler, useful for poisoning things, negates and causes NEGATIVE healing - that's right it does DAMAGE to things being healed great for killing T3 menders and mobs being healed.
Shivermist= great bomb overall, useless in some situations (ice stages) and has a chance if you're not careful to trap you or your teammates.
Voltaic Tempest= Causes shock damage, great support bomb from what I've seen, working on getting it :P.
Ash of Agni= highest mist dps due to fire damage being ridiculous- great for lots of damage terrible for fsc/ fire stages , lol do NOT i repeat do NOT use on oilers. Also from what I've seen from another player.
As a sword i would recommend a DA- mainly because I find the push back to be quite useful for sticky situations.
If you really want a gun I'd recommend a polaris due to it's aoe splash and elemental damage that or AP or blitz for fsc.

*Note* Most people complain about nitro blinding them, however if you plant carefully and if the party you're with aren't newbies it's completely fine, same goes with polaris.

I wouldn't recommend vortex bombs unless you can cope with movement speed reduction while moving.
Full Mad bomber if you think you can dodge like a pro and can cope with status effects, half volc + half mad if you can't.
Also I'm too lazy to format and I also have terrible grammar lol.
That's all I have for tips.

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 02:33

#19

Alice-In-Pyroland

Depresses me to no end to see

Depresses me to no end to see you all knocking on the Mad set.

Firstly, the idea that the status weaknesses on Mad Bomber somehow make it less viable.

Sure, you probably shouldn't be wearing full Mad in FSC, but it's not that ridiculous to wear it most other places (though I'd also wear combo on IMF, just because of how persnickety shock is).

The four points of stat boost from full Mad gear is nothing to sneeze at - you get DMG VH and CTR VH just for showing up. That's huge, and really helps you get the edge as a bomber in a party.

You are both fully aware that if you're using trinkets when mixing Mad with either of the other main bombing sets you get the exact same bonsuses full Mad would provide with on Elite Boom Module, alongside having to deal with half the negative status resist and either fire or freeze resist being in the positive figures? Nobody is knocking the Mad set, what people are doing is stating the blatantly obvious fact that mixed sets are better than full Mad Bomber assuming the use of trinkets since you get the same bonuses whilst having better status resistances.

The only time full Mad Bomber is better in the Clockworks is if you either don't have any access to trinket slots whatsoever -which is honeslty unrealistic for most active tier 3 players- or you're not running pure bombs and what to dedicate your spare trinket slot and possibly your shield to providing bonuses to your non-bomb weapons, which is perfectly viable but neither of you actually addressed that one real benefit the Mad set actually has.

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 17:19

#20

Soulstaker

@Lordofnecromancers

Keep that CTR low crystal bomb for me. I'm not sure if I can afford it at the moment because I recently crafted my heavy demo helm.Can you mail me the price of the low CTR crystal bomb in game?

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 17:37

#21

Nechrome

Mailing costs money. I'll

Mailing costs money. I'll just post here.

Lemme see... The first CTR low Shard I sold was for about 3K CR... so something around that.

Although the market has dropped, so it'll probably be worth less...

How would 2500ish CR sound to you?

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 17:54

#22

Soulstaker

That's a good price.... I'll

That's a good price.... I'll try to meet you in SK by tomorrow. Thanks! :)

I'm on SK right now, if you hurry you can meet me and I can give you the 2.5k CR for the crystal bomb.

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 18:00

#23

Nechrome

XP Sorry. I can't go on. Got

Sorry. I can't go on. Got school today, and I'm not allowed to play on school days. Not to mention that my mom is using the computer next to the computer I'm using right now which has Spiral Knights, so if I try and sneak on I'll be caught and lose SK privileges for Vog knows how much time.

I'll be on sometime at 10:00-11:00 PM PST on friday night, though. Only school day I can play SK. Maybe we could meet then.

On an unrelated note: Have you read my newer story 'The Core Wars' yet? I need new readers. Getting less and less posts after each chapter. D: It seems like it's already dead, even though I've already posted 25 chapters over a few months(which is way more than LtFB or RoN).

Thu, 05/10/2012 - 05:13

#24

Soulstaker

K cya then. Sure, maybe I'll

Ok I'll try find you during Friday and the weekends. Sure, maybe I'll read it if I can find it buried under a bunch of threads.

Wed, 05/09/2012 - 18:08

#25

Nechrome

Here ya go. Found it for

Here ya go. Found it for you.

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/41260

Mind you, I haven't updated it for about a week and a half. Too busy writing a short story. :P it was this kind of thing that lead to the downfall of LtFB and RoN.

There are also some other short stories that you should read in order to fully understand The Core Wars. Bios and the whatnot of several important characters, some made up and some not. Will try and find and post later.

Thu, 05/10/2012 - 16:23

#26

Soulstaker

Ok back to topic, is BAB any

Ok back to topic, is BAB any good?

Fri, 05/11/2012 - 05:25

#27

Bigfootm

What Dark Ritual?

Not as of now, no.

Looks like everyone above me got PvE covered, I'll head to the Lockdown aspect.

GUARDIAN:

Most are pure status bombers. VT/Shiver/Stagger/XXX
Try going in Volcanic Demo here.

RECON:

This is what I use when I bomb most of the time. Nitro/RSS/VT OR Stagger/Final Flourish
I go in Bombastic as Recon already gives me VH CTR.

STRIKER:

Very risky, could call yourself a suicide bomber.

Mad Bomber, 2 Elite Charge Modules (or whatever they're called). Nitro/RSS are te only two weapons you'll need. Very few bombers do this, as it is more of the "harder" or more risky bomber. Overall though, you get Max CTR (if your bombs are at heat 10.) and VH damage.

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Being a swordsman is boring... I'm going to become a bomber.