Bombing has several factors in play when trying to balance. The first thing is damage over time. Bombs are for area of effect, so you have to compare a bomb using against several enemies at once; at least three. If you compare a sword to a bomb against only one enemy the bomb is always going to be downplayed because its major advantage is completely ignored while used against only one target. By the same side of the coin, swords also have area of effect but not to the same degree as bombs usually. This is where balance comes in. If bombs are supposed to have the highest area of effect, why do some swords have nearly the same area of effect? That means you, DAvenger.

On the contrary, all we need for the standard mechanic is for Nitronome to have its animation toned down. Specialized damage is supposed to be special to more situational bombs, though Three Rings has proven their incompetence in bombing when they made a specialized version of each damage type with the new shard bombs. Are sword users asking for piercing Brandishes? Well, yes; but they always get rejected. Mostly because Flourish already exists and has a viable mechanic whereas bombs require more intelligence to use without dying constantly.

No one can deny the new shard bombs are awful. Three Rings nerfed them because they competed in offense with swords, their precious favorite child, so they cut its limbs off and call it horseplay. If you want my thoughts on them see here, or see here for what Fehzor has to say. There are dozens of threads on fixing them, especially this where they gave an answer which basically said they hate bombs and can do whatever they want. Basically. Also see this. If anyone else wants to start a bomber riot on their building, be sure to call me. I have two fists and an unlimited supply of headbutts.

As a starting bomber you should not be using MadB until you can dodge well enough that >80% of the time you use your shield is to bump things strategically, like into a placed Graviton and not just away from you. Once you have refined your bombing abilities you are ready for the mohawk. This greatly contrasts with the instant gratification for offense Skolver gives, but remember as a bomber you should be able to dodge and shield while the simpletons with their metal sticks are busy hitting rocks. The armor sets for both SDemo and Wolver lines are fine on paper, but in practice the problem is with the weapons.

Again, the problem is with the individual bombs, not the armor set bonuses. If you compare Bombastic and Skolver, the only difference is the specialized defense type. If you compare Vog Cub with VDemo, they are practically cousins. Which brings us to yet another repeat topic: why do Wolver and Gunslinger branches at 5* have variated specialized defenses while SDemo lines all have split normal-element? Every time the topic comes up people always want Bombastic to switch its element defense for pierce and MadB switch its element defense for shadow. Every time. And I remember seeing at least four threads within a few months. Same results. Cataclysmic coincidences, Batman.

At the end of the day, the real problem is the weapons. The armor sets are fine in terms of the bonuses they give, though not necessarily defenses (weapon specialist lines have too much defense compared to the alleged 'tanking' lines; Skelly, Jelly, Magic, Plate). Nerfs for overpowered weapons and buffs for underpowered weapons. Armor could also use rebalancing.