What's the point/purpose of the bomb kit?
In a more dynamic situation bomb kit is by far the superior choice. The damage output is greater, you can be more mobile since you don’t have to take aim with your grenades, and there is a trait that heals you and your allies whenever you are situated in the radius of a bomb. I’ll agree that grenades are the better choice in PvE and WvW, but the grenade kit is useless in sPvP.
The point is kiting. I like using grenades too but bombs are easier for that purpose and they can do a little more damage. When you get jumped by someone it’s faster to switch and drop a glue bomb on their feet followed by a big ol bomb before they can move away. Lack of targeting helps.
Other than that it’s a matter of preference.
imho grenades are better. it is not really hard to point the cursor over yourself when someone is in melee range or when you are kiting. just dont turn with they keyboard and you will be fine.
I use the bomb kit mainly for the smoke bomb and the big ole bomb for CC. Apart from that, bombs aren’t too special, but special enough to warrant a slot.
Grenades are the main source of damage for me, along with the rifles burst abilities.
Vibor Bauman- Level 80 Engineer- Gandara
Big Ol’ bomb! ’Nuff said.
Obviously bombs have some limitations in what they can do since they are placed at your feet. But that said, here’s why they’re great:
- Highest damage weapon kit.
- Better than grenades for point control in sPvP.
- Easier to hit targets in PvE since enemies typically walk right over them with no interaction from you.
- Provides multiple and different combo fields that grenades and other kits don’t provide (smoke).
- Provides CC that grenades and other kits do not (AoE knockback, AoE blind, AoE root/cripple) all in 1 kit.
For a while I was running a Surv/Bomb build. No one could kill me at points I’d drop supply crate and just spam bombs that would heal me. With the support from my guild it was pretty powerful.
Elixir-Infused Bombs are the point.
Still not as fun as grenades though.
I wish I could have Elixir-Infused Grenades :P
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You can go defense or offense mode using bombs. You can lay bombs near the target and follow them when they kite. Or you can lay bombs defensively when they are melee attacking you. And when in situations when they are zerging a point, your bombs can assist your main damage dealers in killing targets. The Big Ole bomb and magnetic shield can knock off people from a spot. Plus the condi damage even if you don’t spec to condi damage helps too (confusion). I decided to play only a bomber engineer to rank up and get “Genius” title and soon you can find more videos of me playing it.
An example of Bomb kit combo field:
Smoke Bomb + Mine Field (toolbelt, drops 5 mines, 45 second cooldown).
15 Seconds of Invisibility on a 45 Second Cooldown.
A neat little parlor trick, though I still prefer grenades.
Edit: There’s some serious misinformation in this thread. Grenade kit has AoE Blind, AoE Freeze, and a Poison Combo field. Also, I have my doubts about bomb kit being the highest damage kit. Use Elixer U + Grenade 1 and finish off with Grenade Barrage. Fully traited with the extra grenades from Grenadier I’ve had better results against the heavy training golem and against players with grenades rather than fully traited bombs. Remember that Grenades do 3x tooltip damage because each grenade attack launches 3 nades, not one. Also make sure to have fast AoE casting enabled for max damage with nades.
Not trying to take away from bomb kit, but some of the info in this thread seems a bit…exaggerated.
(edited by PotatoOverdose.6583)
I’m slowly going through all the things we can do, grenades I just found a bit annoying but I’ll get back to them soon.
Bombs with a little bit of heal spamming makes for a fairly survivable option in PvE. You can either choose to stand your ground or run around/ pass through and avoid their special attacks. I have no fear running into a cluster of 5 or 6 with Big’ol Bomb. Then start running them around a turret or two. I can farm a spot where I have seen others run for their lives.
Haven’t taken it to wvw or pvp yet.
I absolutely LOVE the bomb kit, and kind of see it as a Mesmer-In-A-Box kit. The default bombs can be autocast and deal good damage; flame bomb creates a fire combo field; concussion bomb does amazing damage, and if you combine it with 4 you get a lot of damage out for free while doing other things; 5 is great for getting away or herding enemies or simply getting out to range and resuming killing things. The only reason I switch out of bomb kit nowadays is a) I’m underwater or b) I’m in WvWvW. In both of those situations, grenade kit is superior.
Oh, almost forgot – Big Ol’ Bomb is simply amazing in every situation.
Overall, having gotten used to the bomb kit, I actually feel it’s extremely strong and it makes PvE or sPvP a LOT easier.
Elixir-Infused Bombs are the point.
Still not as fun as grenades though.
I wish I could have Elixir-Infused Grenades :P
that would be game breaking. No lie
Anet Pls
An example of Bomb kit combo field:
Smoke Bomb + Mine Field (toolbelt, drops 5 mines, 45 second cooldown).
15 Seconds of Invisibility on a 45 Second Cooldown.A neat little parlor trick, though I still prefer grenades.
Edit: There’s some serious misinformation in this thread. Grenade kit has AoE Blind, AoE Freeze, and a Poison Combo field. Also, I have my doubts about bomb kit being the highest damage kit. Use Elixer U + Grenade 1 and finish off with Grenade Barrage. Fully traited with the extra grenades from Grenadier I’ve had better results against the heavy training golem and against players with grenades rather than fully traited bombs. Remember that Grenades do 3x tooltip damage because each grenade attack launches 3 nades, not one. Also make sure to have fast AoE casting enabled for max damage with nades.
Not trying to take away from bomb kit, but some of the info in this thread seems a bit…exaggerated.
I take it you are referring to my post.
If you take the Grenadier trait in Explosives, I believe Grenade kit does more damage than Bomb kit. Also, Grenade Barrage does more damage than Big Ol’ Bomb. But out-of-box damage from Bomb kit is higher than Grenades without Grenadier. You are right, that part may be misleading.
The other things I said about Bomb kit were not about how it is strictly better than Grenade kit. They were about how it is different from Grenade kit (and other kits) and how it is useful on its own. Grenade kit definitely offers things that Bomb kit does not; I worded my post to only point out Bomb kit’s strengths. In that regard, I do not believe it is misinformation.
I run both nade/bomb kit on one of my condi builds, you can stack a lot of AoE conditions fairly quick. Having 2 confusions (pistol 3, bomb 3), 3 blinds (pistol 3, bomb 4, nade 3) along with freeze nade, big ol’ bomb offers so much AoE CC. In my builds that I don’t take nades I almost always have bomb kit, it’s amazing. In these builds I usually replace nades with flamethrower purely for the CC (knockback 3, blind 5). The only build where I don’t take bomb kit is my rifle build, which I don’t run much anymore it’s just inferior to the condi builds for spvp team comps imo.
the big ol’ bomb toolbelt skill is also hilarious to use, it always hits hard and it sends people flying. Playing against my friend whos a thief in sPVP made him rage everytime I used it.
the big ol’ bomb toolbelt skill is also hilarious to use, it always hits hard and it sends people flying. Playing against my friend whos a thief in sPVP made him rage everytime I used it.
Haha yeah it is pretty funny specially if you manage to land it on a big group. I don’t have problems with thief’s w/ all the blinds, it’s hilarious catching there pistolwhip while a confusion is up and they blow themselves up.
Bomb kit is the ultimate anti-melee kit. I typiclaly run with Elixer Gun & Bomb. I set my poison dart on auto and support my team with debuffs and heals. Once someone notices me I switch to bombs and start kiting. the explosion radius is insane so you really won’t miss.
grenades are only good in WvW when defending or seiging a keep. Other than that theyre a bit hard to use and still be mobile. they are ok in PvE but bombs pack more punch and you don’t have to worry about missing or trying to ensure all 3 grenades hit their mark.
Nades are fine in spvp, aoe bleed, poison combo field, blind,chill w/ 1500 range traited. I dual kit them with bomb kit and it works really well as a condi build. They aren’t hard to use once you get used to them, specially with fast cast ground targeting,
Here is one of the two condi builds I use: I use elixir H (cleaning formula 409) trait if I am going against a condi heavy team it’s really useful against a good (necro)epidemic condi spreading team. If not then I go back to my usual Healing Turret.
This is the other build I use which is much more defensive but still able to put out strong condi dmg/cc. Works really well 1v1 and is great for holding node defense. (Teldo’s staple condi build)
This is my build. It offers a great survivability for engi. In PvE I don’t have problem with any mobs and I got used to pull 4 and more and kill them very fast and effectively. I start with the grenades and if/when they finally get to me I switch to the bomb kit and finish them off brutally. Yesterday I tried this in explo AC and it was very good.
The point is that you use bombs 75% of the time and your battles are quick and deadly for your encounters. And with the toughness bonus and quick deploying, the kiting and survivability are great
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Grenade kit is like the best kit the Engineer has damage wise, when traited appropriately for all game modes (PvE, WvW and sPvP).
Bomb kit does do better condition damage if you can get them to sit in burning bomb and dazing bomb. The bomb kit is amazing at controlling points, the grenade kit is just as good though and can be used in an open field more effectively.
If I’m running condition damage, I run a bomb kit, if power grenades. I find that to be the best way to divide them, otherwise they’re kind of interchangeable.