Whoops, for your question about upgrading, ISB is the first bomb in the line to gain shock. Upgrading it to 5* doesn't make that big of a difference. Also maybe try the new RSS for stun and pierce, instead of shock and shadow. Or use both.

Stagger isn't as OP as you would think in LD. Good for groups, and for the initial scare, but thats about it. Still wouldn't get near it.
You can also choose which vortex if you want, I haven't tried them, but I hear they do OHKOs?

Good luck, hope we can be on the same team sometime :D

It's not there to own people up with epic high overpowered damage like GF/DA/FF/Hammer, it's more there to keep people away until help comes, and to annoy them (shock/stun). It also deals a bit of damage, just usually not enough to kill somebody (I think I killed around 2 people with it, trust me, I was suprised, too). More of a support bomb. So, no, I wasn't contradicting you, but I wasn't saying you were right either (if that makes any sense).

Shard bombs simply can't be treated as DPS in any respect whatsoever in LD. We've done countless tests and experiments with it and it just amounts to nothing; especially against Guards. We've had four people sharding a single guard and we never even broke the shield, the damage output is that low.

Not to say they're useless, just to agree with Zeddy/comment taht you're pretty much wrong. They rarely even make people back off. Even using SSB, folk will typically just run over it and go for you. If you want to area deny and/or keep people at bay until help arrives, any single haze will do the job better than shards. It doesn't discourage people from running on them, and does very little to punish them when they do.

Shards in LD should be used as utility; spam them when your target is distracted and fighting someone else, or spread them across CPs. Drop them under guard shields to help protect him. Although generally one person using shards will result in overall far less effectiveness than just spammin' a VT. If you want to use shards in LD and be even remotely competitive, you pretty much need either backup from someone else, or to have another sharder doing it along with you (and even then, don't treat it as DPS as much as damagcarpetting). Shards+hazes work nicely though, if you use different statuses, to mix them up. SSS also works nicely, as the stun is moderate so slows people more than stagger, although the damage will be even lower since a lot of people have piercing defence; SSB is generally the better option. Stack that with stagger and you're laughin'.

. If you are fighting a bunch of people spamming alch charges/polaris, well, bombing isn't a good idea then in general. If you are fighting a bunch of reckless "clones"

....when are you fighting anyone else?

Honestly, I don't know who you play, which server or which times you play, but I wanna join in. People in your matches are actually scared of shards? Even for a few seconds? In my matches, people treat me sharding as if I was AFK.

so it's more for trolling and delaying enemies.

Again, you must be playin' on a pretty unique server, as shards can't really be used for either to any effect even comparable to hazes, unless there's two-three of you doing it. Even as a bomber, I completely ignore other sharders because they're essentially zero-threat and it only takes me a few seconds to completely push them out of wherever they were.

However, I should make it clear that I agree with you about them being blindingly fun (pun?) despite their glaring flaws (pun again?!) in practical application. Whenever I wanna chill or screw around, I'll whip out the shards and have a laugh with them. But whenever I'm actually interested in winning, shards simply don't make it to my loadout; hazes just do the job better. In fact, on average, I can get higher damage with pure hazing and zero bomb damage than I can with max bomb damage and sharadspam. Even getting 8k with shards is a tremendous effort; getting 3~4k with hazes just comes naturally most of the time.