I've been interested in the crystal line since the big update that changed the Radiant Sun Shard. I'm probably one of the only ones that sort of liked the update because it opened up new bomb lines. I have a RSS and it seems pretty useful and can deal out a lot of damage. Then I looked at the shocking salt bomb and I became interested in it (I really like the shock status and I have a VT). It does decent damage and deals shock damage. Now when someone says that its only good against a lot of mobs, I want it because that's what I'm looking for. The biggest reason is that I need a shadow bomb. Graviton is for utility but I don't want to be a support bomber. Dark Retribution is from OCH which costs money. So, shocking shock bomb or the alternative is my best bet. Now the last thing I want is the opinion of the bomb from the forum community if its any worth getting.
Shocking Salt Bomb?
I use SSB myself and find it great. Not as powerful as DR but more fun imo. Given that you like the shock status, SSB sounds perfect for you, though it might be worth mentioning that if you have max damage on your bombs, Dark Matter will deal more damage even against slimes, while SSB's innate UV would be wasted with anything more than a Med damage bonus.
If you do have a VT, you can shock them first then use the plain shadow shards.
That's what I was thinking but I don't really want to do that as I only use 2 weapon slots. So SSB is kinda like a VT but deals damage instead on relying on the shock to do damage. And as I said, I'm kinda a shock knight.
These days, I tend to prefer plain Dark Matter Bomb. The shock isn't very useful vs gremlins compared to just killing them faster.
If you have the equipment to get very high damage or more with your bombs, I say screw it and go straight for DDMB.
That being said, Shocking Salt is a fine bomb and you'll have my approval for those, too.
i have a scintilating sun shards and imo it isnt any good
i dont have a shadow shard bomb, but im guessing that all new shard bombs explode the same way, so ill be upgrading them for collection purposes only
since u find rss useful, id say just craft the shock salt bomb, dont need to double check opinions
from a bombers perspective it sounds like an awesome piece to have
i remember that i wanted to get shock salt bomb too plus all other new shard bombs
but the rss was so terribly bad, that even big angry bomb and winmillion proved to be more useful all the time in the maps, where i played with those weapons(alot of random maps including scarlet fortresses and fsc runs)
believe it or not, but it was much easier to kill a trojan in fsc with big angry bomb than with 4*/5* sun shards and yet sun shards deal piercing dmg(excellent against trojan) and big angry bomb is known to have not as much dps
and this is just the bombs comparison - winmillion, which is well known for being a terrible weapon, also proved to be much more useful
even against the wolvers in fsc or kats in scarlet fortress, i had easier time with BAB or winmillion, while using sun shards felt more like i was..painting the carpet xD - and i have played with these weapons in all 3 tiers
thats why i kind of lost my interest in crafting shard bombs and moved on to crafting armors and other things prior to shard bombs
ive spammed 1st depth jelly map not that long ago with various weapons and nitronome was the simplest and heaviest dmg dealer for jelly crowds(acheron charge with vortex works too, but why use 2 weapons, when u only need 1?), but it doesnt all have to be about efficiency and dmg, the awesome thing in sk are the weapons functionalities and are very well worth discovering
also in parties, many players can mess up nitronome/vortex strategies, so im guessing shock salt bomb might be more party friendly (:
and at least the new version of it isnt near as bad as the old 1 was xD
alternatively u can also consider the non shock version deadly dark matter bomb
non status versions of the same weapon tend to do a bit more dmg, altho the difference doesnt look that great on wiki page
but thats also an option, since u already have a voltaic tempest to deal shock status
or u could stick with shock salt bomb and become some sort of shock knight xD - u said u like shock right
tldr: imo the shard bombs offer bad dmg compared to other weapons, but are very well worth collecting