jay`t
11-19-2010, 10:23 AM
jay't 's Guide to Bombadier!
This guide is written for Normal Mode 5v5 pub play.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8894/hagstats.jpg
Table Of Contents - To jump to a section, press 'control-f' and type in the code next to the section:
.1a Introduction
.2a Pros and Cons of Bombardier
.3a When Should I Pick Bombardier?
.4a Skills
.5a Core Analysis
.6a Skill Build
.7a Early item build and philosophy
.8a Playstyle Guide
.8b Mid Game and Beyond - Luxury items and more
.9a Replays
.10a FAQ!
.11a Bombardier 30 Second TLDR Guide
.12a Changelog and Credits
Introduction: .1a
Bombardier is one of the most recent additions to the roster in HON, and is very understood. He has strange skills, long tooltips, and really needs to be played a few times before you get the hang of him.
Bombardier is almost completely item independent, only needing a small, very cheap (but very important) core. Bombardier has some of the highest early to mid game magic damage in the game. A good bomb player will be ganking, warding, keeping pressure on the enemy team, and attempt to be a presence at every single skirmish that happens in the game.
Pros and Cons of Bombardier: .2a
+Monstrous early and mid game - this fool is a serious bloodlust threat.
+Fits fairly into many lineups as a ganker or babysit.
+Can solo mid!
+He's fun and REALLY noisy!
+Global ultimate allows you to participate in ganks from miles away
+Great creep clearing abilities
+Cheap core item set needed - fantastic ward hero
-Fairly squishy, and no escape mechanism
-Hard to play! Every one of his skills requires more than just a click to do damage
-His late game is poor
-Sticky Bomb has to be cooked to stun
-Boom Dust requires additional hits to do anything at all
When Should I Pick Bombardier? .3a
Bombardier is a high burst damage ganker / support that requires nearly no farm. Bombardier's late game is poor, as he has zero skills that 'scale'.
Bombardier is an interesting babysitter. He does not have the defensive stopping power of someone like a Witch Slayer or a Glacius, and he does not have the instant offensive power of a Demented Shaman stun or Slither spray. Instead, Bombardier excels at harassing enemy heroes with his 600 range attack and Boom Dust, and using Sticky Bomb to set up or chain with others' skills. He is best at babysitting ranged carries, or carries with some stopping power (aka Zephyr's push or Moraxus' stun).
He is also very good at going in the 'hard' lane with reliable slowers/stunners or soloing mid. Boom dust is a great way to CS, so Bomb is also a viable 2v1 candidate.
Another thing to note is that dispels are particularly harsh on Bombardier. He is practically nullified by Accursed and Electrician.
Pick Bombardier when you need an early to midgame ganker and support. He is a liability lategame, and this must be taken into consideration.
Skills:.4a
Learns Sticky Bomb, Bombardment, Boom Dust, Air Strike!
http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/10/Wretchedhagskill1.gifSticky Bomb: Bombardier uses his sticky concoction to allow him to throw bombs that stick to the first surface they touch - with controlled explosive results.
NOTE: The sticky bomb provides 500 day and night vision.
Target: Target Position
Type: Magic
Range: 400
Mana cost: 625/675/725/775
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Throws a Sticky Bomb that has a search radius of 100 for attachment and attaches to either target unit (if it is within 100 radius upon impacting) or target position.
The Sticky Bomb may be detonated manually dealing 75/150/225/300 damage in 250 radius. Otherwise the Sticky Bomb then starts ticking for 8 seconds, increasing its original damage by 10% and adding 0.5 seconds of stun every 2 seconds.
Notes: Sticky Bomb is Bombardier's skillshot nuke/stun/farming mechanism. A fully 'cooked' level 1 Sticky Bomb is 105 damage and a 2 second stun, absolutely brutal for early rune ganks when coupled with other players' CC tools.
Mastering the landing of this skill is essential to playing this hero effectively. It's not easy to always land - you have to lead your target - and with a TINY 100 unit search area, you will miss if the target turns or does something unexpected.
The DETONATION (not the original placement) of this skill will ignite one charge of Boom Dust on the target. Note that Sticky Bomb lasts eight seconds and Boom Dust lasts seven.
Finally, let's talk about cooking this bomb. Every two seconds, a number will pop up over the bomb. Each number gives the bomb 10% more damage and .5 seconds more stun. BEFORE the number 1 pops up, the bomb will NOT STUN at all. If you want to interrupt Tempest's ult, you have to wait 2 seconds for the '1' to pop up. Press 'q' again to manually detonate the bomb.
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8765/hauntq.jpg
400 range is really short.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/d/da/Wretchedhagskill2.gifBombardment: Using his beloved cannon, Bombardier showers a target area with explosive cannonballs, dealing damage over time and slowing enemy units.
Target: Target position
Type: Magic
Mana cost: 85/95/105/115
Range: 700
Radius: 250
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Bombards a 250 radius with five waves of cannonballs dealing 20/30/40/50 damage per hit over 2 seconds slowing anyone in the radius by 40%/50%/60%/70% that decreases to 0% over 1 second.
Notes: This is a piss poor AOE nuke and a piss poor AOE slow rolled into one. The skill hits five separate times. The bombs that are dropped hit ALL targets equally under the radius (something that the graphic doesn't really imply). Each bomb dropped ignites one charge of Boom Dust.
This skill does a lot for Bombardier; it has three primary uses: 1) Used to detonate all Boom Dust charges. 2) Used to set up Sticky Bomb more easily (since it slows a LOT). 3) Added AOE damage.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/04/Wretchedhagskill3.gifBoom Dust: Bombardier tosses his excess bombs onto target enemy or allied unit. When the target takes damage, the bombs cause an AOE explosion, hurting enemy units.
Target: Unit
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Mana cost: 25/30/35/40
Envelopes the target ally or enemy in bombs that explode whenever the unit is hit by an attack, dealing 40/60/80/100 Magic damage to enemies in a 250 radius.
One charge is gained every 10/8/6/4 seconds. Maximum of 4 charges on a single target. 1 charge is depleted at a time on the target and each charge lasts for 7 seconds.
Double activation of ability will apply a Boom Dust to the Bombardier.
Notes: Boom Dust is Bombardier's most powerful early game skill, and is one of the strongest (if weirdest) nukes in the game. The tooltip is kind of weird, so I'll explain it in simple terms.
You press 'e' then click your target, putting a swirly bomb on your target. You can do this up to 4 times on the same target. Each charge lasts 7 seconds. From then, any attack that hits them ignites the bomb, dealing 40/60/80/100 magic damage to a 250 AOE radius. Your other skills ignite these charges.
Boom Dust is amazing all game long. I will have a chapter on this later.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8518/sonarscreamrange.jpg
Please note that unlike Hag's counterpart in DOTA, this skill DOES hit units in the fog or stealthed. It goes through trees and cliffs. Combined with your blink and your haunt, nobody escapes the Hag.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/62/Wretchedhagskill4.gifAir Strike! (Called Firebombing when it's boosted by Staff of the Master): Bombardier calls his assistant Twitch (from League of Legends!) to fly over and drop a series of bombs in a line. He's a bit Lazy, so it takes ~1 second for Twitch to arrive.
Target: Target Vector
Type: Magic
Range: 99999 (Global)
Radius: 1100
Mana cost: 200 / 300 / 400
Cooldown: 140 / 120 / 100 seconds
Calls in an Air Strike at target vector location that after a short delay, drops 6 bombs along the vector, each dealing 200 / 275 / 350 magic damage in a 200 radius.
Twitch gives 1000 day and night vision when he is on the map.
STAFF OF THE MASTER: Bombs leave behind napalm blobs that deal 60/90/120 Magic Damage per second.
This picture shows Air Strike range and damage. The targeting mechanism implies an almost cone like attack pattern, but see for yourself:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/8465/batblastrange.jpg
Notes: This is a very powerful skill that gives you the Thunderbringer-like ability to be a threat from any part of the map and assist in any gank. It is a skillshot, and it will take some time to learn how to land this against moving targets.
The obvious uses of this are assisting in ganks and adding teamfight AOE DPS. However, remember that your Sticky Bomb grants vision. Many times, targets that have a bomb on their heads will run. You can watch them, and the moment you see MAX pop up, draw the vector and laugh hard as they eat both fully cooked sticky bomb damage and ult damage. Each bomb dropped ignites a Boom Dust charge, and generally, a well aimed ult will hit a person twice.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6649/ultho.jpg
The enemy team found themselves in a poor position, enabling this ult initiation to get our team three easy kills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Core Analysis: .5a
This is where we analyze hero-specific stuff like stat/stat gain and movespeed.
Bombardier has a high starting intelligence (25), and fair (1.9 is pretty good for an INT ganker) strength gain.
Bomb has 300 movespeed, low to average base damage, and crap armor. The (very) good news is that he has 600 range, and a slick attack animation.
How do we use this hero, with complicated skillshots and absolutely zero scaling skills?
We will build and play Bombardier as a solo mid, or sidelaner that either makes or exploits openings on his opponents. We will harass hard early, and make the opponent pay for any mistake with our immense early game burst. We will remain a global threat throughout the early and mid-game and strive for kill after kill. Our job is to wreck the enemy team early and midgame, so that we can either end the game fast, or hand over a winning game to a real carry.
Of special note: Bombardier scales VERY poorly into late game. His stun requires huge cook time for late game relevance, and his other skills are unimpressive. Late game, your items are your main contribution, and unfortunately, you probably don't have many.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill build: .6a
1: Boom Dust / Sticky Bomb
2: Sticky Bomb / Boom Dust
3: Boom Dust
4: Bombardment
5: Boom Dust
6: Air Strike!
7: Boom Dust (maxed out)
8: Sticky Bomb
9: Sticky Bomb
10: Sticky Bomb (maxed out)
11: Air Strike!
12-14: Bombardment (maxed out)
15: Stats
16: Air Strike! (maxed out)
17-25: Stats
Explanation: Bombardier's skill build is somewhat unintuitive. Most heroes max out their stuns/slows early, but Bombardier maxes neither first. This build gives you reliable burst damage as well as sustained harass in-lane.
The reason you max Boom Dust first is because rank 1 Bombardment ignites all Dust charges AT WILL. A level 7 Bombardier with this build can light up almost ANY hero at will - 400 from Boom Dust + 100 or so Bombardment + 75 or more from Sticky Bomb + 400 from 2 bombs from ult hitting. Add friends and auto attacks to taste.
Boom Dust in lane is just a dominating skill. You can auto attack a hero, THEN put the dust on them while the projectile is mid-air, and the dust will blow. Suddenly, your 50 damage autoattack just did over 100. It's really, really strong in any lane, or solo 1v1.
Your ult does a **** load of damage and lets you killsteal from across the map. If you even consider not taking it whenever you can, you probably need a lot more help than I can provide here :smile:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early game item build and play philosophy: .7a
Bombardier requires some early farm to set up an effective ganking game. Boots, wards, and early mana regen are all important. Bombardier CAN farm, but there shouldn't be much of a need to, your skills don't scale well past mid-game and you should defer farm when possible.
This hero can be sent into any lane, but shouldn't stay in his lane far past level six or seven, and is a great candidate for early ganks.
Starting Build:
http://i35.tinypic.com/20879ea.jpg / http://i36.tinypic.com/3128cp2.jpg http://i33.tinypic.com/33w07z4.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/33o4aro.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/33o4aro.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/dxmz3k.jpg http://i38.tinypic.com/313jh2d.jpg
There is no real excuse for not getting courier/wards on Bombardier, except possibly if you're soloing mid and feel like you need the extra stats. Use your best judgment.
CORE items:
http://i36.tinypic.com/96cj9v.jpgAnd at least two of the following three: http://i38.tinypic.com/5n51zp.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/sff52q.jpghttp://heroes-newerth.com/wp-content/uploads/Blood-Chalice.png Keep buying http://i36.tinypic.com/3128cp2.jpg or maybe upgrade http://i36.tinypic.com/33dy24x.jpg.
Always get http://i36.tinypic.com/w7mvsi.jpg. You have massive, on-demand burst. You are awesome at counter TP ganking.
While Bomb doesn't need a lot to get going, what I've listed here is pretty essential. You need lots of mana early to keep heavy harass up on the opponent. These can all be sold later on to make space for whatever you need.
upgrade dem boots - steams or striders?:
Steams give you some badly needed stats, and striders are dirt cheap and sometimes help you with positioning. I usually get steams, but striders are perfectly acceptable!
Luxury items will be discussed below!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Playstyle Guide .8a
Laning: Bombardier is acceptable and strong in any lane. Bombardier's early harass and long range lets him solo mid well, and the levels are put to good use to get him out ganking faster. In the hard lane, Bomb combines with other popular hard lane heroes like Magmus or Slither or Hammerstorm to really do some scary combos and send people to the fountain.
Bombardier CAN babysit, but it's not his strongest suit. He lacks the stopping power of a Witch Slayer type sitter, so is best with carries that have strong stopping power, such as Zephyr. Bombardier requires a bit of early farm, which can be difficult to get in a carry lane.
Laning as Bombardier is a very active, very APM heavy part of the game. EVERY time an enemy hero comes within 600 range of you, Boom Dust him, then auto attack for good damage. Coordinate with your ally to land Sticky Bomb with them. When you see a kill opening, SPAM 'e' to get 4 Boom Dust charges on the opponent, then Bombardment to blow them all.
Every time you land a Sticky Bomb, you gain momentum in your lane. Your opponent knows they'll be stunned for two seconds, so they will often back off. Use this time to harass the other lanemate or get some CS.
You should be carrying a TP stone and watching all lanes for gank opportunities. Enemy team pushed up too far in a sidelane? TP down there, sneak up, and kill them. Friend ganking someone but you can't get there? Make sure your ult is ready so that you can assist if necessary.
Team fights: In teamfights, you do not want to be targetted. Your AOE can devastate teams that stick too close together. You might want to pop your Sticky Bomb early if you see that the enemies are clumped together.
Generally, you sticky a target then look for two or more to clump. Toss 4 dusts onto a target and bombardment, and laugh at the huge havoc you've caused. Ult for even more fun or to catch runners.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/9844/lvl6gank.jpg
This screenshot shows the power of good positioning with Wretched Hag. I've nailed both with a sonar scream, and now the two enemies are prey to an easy ult. A couple auto attacks with my double damage rune and Archer's toast. Chronos tries to juke me in the woods, but nobody escapes the Hag. Note two important things about this image: this is a level 6 gank on two carries, and that the archer in the screenshot was hit by Sonar Scream, even though the graphic of the spell is nowhere near her.
This guide is written for Normal Mode 5v5 pub play.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8894/hagstats.jpg
Table Of Contents - To jump to a section, press 'control-f' and type in the code next to the section:
.1a Introduction
.2a Pros and Cons of Bombardier
.3a When Should I Pick Bombardier?
.4a Skills
.5a Core Analysis
.6a Skill Build
.7a Early item build and philosophy
.8a Playstyle Guide
.8b Mid Game and Beyond - Luxury items and more
.9a Replays
.10a FAQ!
.11a Bombardier 30 Second TLDR Guide
.12a Changelog and Credits
Introduction: .1a
Bombardier is one of the most recent additions to the roster in HON, and is very understood. He has strange skills, long tooltips, and really needs to be played a few times before you get the hang of him.
Bombardier is almost completely item independent, only needing a small, very cheap (but very important) core. Bombardier has some of the highest early to mid game magic damage in the game. A good bomb player will be ganking, warding, keeping pressure on the enemy team, and attempt to be a presence at every single skirmish that happens in the game.
Pros and Cons of Bombardier: .2a
+Monstrous early and mid game - this fool is a serious bloodlust threat.
+Fits fairly into many lineups as a ganker or babysit.
+Can solo mid!
+He's fun and REALLY noisy!
+Global ultimate allows you to participate in ganks from miles away
+Great creep clearing abilities
+Cheap core item set needed - fantastic ward hero
-Fairly squishy, and no escape mechanism
-Hard to play! Every one of his skills requires more than just a click to do damage
-His late game is poor
-Sticky Bomb has to be cooked to stun
-Boom Dust requires additional hits to do anything at all
When Should I Pick Bombardier? .3a
Bombardier is a high burst damage ganker / support that requires nearly no farm. Bombardier's late game is poor, as he has zero skills that 'scale'.
Bombardier is an interesting babysitter. He does not have the defensive stopping power of someone like a Witch Slayer or a Glacius, and he does not have the instant offensive power of a Demented Shaman stun or Slither spray. Instead, Bombardier excels at harassing enemy heroes with his 600 range attack and Boom Dust, and using Sticky Bomb to set up or chain with others' skills. He is best at babysitting ranged carries, or carries with some stopping power (aka Zephyr's push or Moraxus' stun).
He is also very good at going in the 'hard' lane with reliable slowers/stunners or soloing mid. Boom dust is a great way to CS, so Bomb is also a viable 2v1 candidate.
Another thing to note is that dispels are particularly harsh on Bombardier. He is practically nullified by Accursed and Electrician.
Pick Bombardier when you need an early to midgame ganker and support. He is a liability lategame, and this must be taken into consideration.
Skills:.4a
Learns Sticky Bomb, Bombardment, Boom Dust, Air Strike!
http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/10/Wretchedhagskill1.gifSticky Bomb: Bombardier uses his sticky concoction to allow him to throw bombs that stick to the first surface they touch - with controlled explosive results.
NOTE: The sticky bomb provides 500 day and night vision.
Target: Target Position
Type: Magic
Range: 400
Mana cost: 625/675/725/775
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Throws a Sticky Bomb that has a search radius of 100 for attachment and attaches to either target unit (if it is within 100 radius upon impacting) or target position.
The Sticky Bomb may be detonated manually dealing 75/150/225/300 damage in 250 radius. Otherwise the Sticky Bomb then starts ticking for 8 seconds, increasing its original damage by 10% and adding 0.5 seconds of stun every 2 seconds.
Notes: Sticky Bomb is Bombardier's skillshot nuke/stun/farming mechanism. A fully 'cooked' level 1 Sticky Bomb is 105 damage and a 2 second stun, absolutely brutal for early rune ganks when coupled with other players' CC tools.
Mastering the landing of this skill is essential to playing this hero effectively. It's not easy to always land - you have to lead your target - and with a TINY 100 unit search area, you will miss if the target turns or does something unexpected.
The DETONATION (not the original placement) of this skill will ignite one charge of Boom Dust on the target. Note that Sticky Bomb lasts eight seconds and Boom Dust lasts seven.
Finally, let's talk about cooking this bomb. Every two seconds, a number will pop up over the bomb. Each number gives the bomb 10% more damage and .5 seconds more stun. BEFORE the number 1 pops up, the bomb will NOT STUN at all. If you want to interrupt Tempest's ult, you have to wait 2 seconds for the '1' to pop up. Press 'q' again to manually detonate the bomb.
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8765/hauntq.jpg
400 range is really short.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/d/da/Wretchedhagskill2.gifBombardment: Using his beloved cannon, Bombardier showers a target area with explosive cannonballs, dealing damage over time and slowing enemy units.
Target: Target position
Type: Magic
Mana cost: 85/95/105/115
Range: 700
Radius: 250
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Bombards a 250 radius with five waves of cannonballs dealing 20/30/40/50 damage per hit over 2 seconds slowing anyone in the radius by 40%/50%/60%/70% that decreases to 0% over 1 second.
Notes: This is a piss poor AOE nuke and a piss poor AOE slow rolled into one. The skill hits five separate times. The bombs that are dropped hit ALL targets equally under the radius (something that the graphic doesn't really imply). Each bomb dropped ignites one charge of Boom Dust.
This skill does a lot for Bombardier; it has three primary uses: 1) Used to detonate all Boom Dust charges. 2) Used to set up Sticky Bomb more easily (since it slows a LOT). 3) Added AOE damage.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/04/Wretchedhagskill3.gifBoom Dust: Bombardier tosses his excess bombs onto target enemy or allied unit. When the target takes damage, the bombs cause an AOE explosion, hurting enemy units.
Target: Unit
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Mana cost: 25/30/35/40
Envelopes the target ally or enemy in bombs that explode whenever the unit is hit by an attack, dealing 40/60/80/100 Magic damage to enemies in a 250 radius.
One charge is gained every 10/8/6/4 seconds. Maximum of 4 charges on a single target. 1 charge is depleted at a time on the target and each charge lasts for 7 seconds.
Double activation of ability will apply a Boom Dust to the Bombardier.
Notes: Boom Dust is Bombardier's most powerful early game skill, and is one of the strongest (if weirdest) nukes in the game. The tooltip is kind of weird, so I'll explain it in simple terms.
You press 'e' then click your target, putting a swirly bomb on your target. You can do this up to 4 times on the same target. Each charge lasts 7 seconds. From then, any attack that hits them ignites the bomb, dealing 40/60/80/100 magic damage to a 250 AOE radius. Your other skills ignite these charges.
Boom Dust is amazing all game long. I will have a chapter on this later.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8518/sonarscreamrange.jpg
Please note that unlike Hag's counterpart in DOTA, this skill DOES hit units in the fog or stealthed. It goes through trees and cliffs. Combined with your blink and your haunt, nobody escapes the Hag.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/62/Wretchedhagskill4.gifAir Strike! (Called Firebombing when it's boosted by Staff of the Master): Bombardier calls his assistant Twitch (from League of Legends!) to fly over and drop a series of bombs in a line. He's a bit Lazy, so it takes ~1 second for Twitch to arrive.
Target: Target Vector
Type: Magic
Range: 99999 (Global)
Radius: 1100
Mana cost: 200 / 300 / 400
Cooldown: 140 / 120 / 100 seconds
Calls in an Air Strike at target vector location that after a short delay, drops 6 bombs along the vector, each dealing 200 / 275 / 350 magic damage in a 200 radius.
Twitch gives 1000 day and night vision when he is on the map.
STAFF OF THE MASTER: Bombs leave behind napalm blobs that deal 60/90/120 Magic Damage per second.
This picture shows Air Strike range and damage. The targeting mechanism implies an almost cone like attack pattern, but see for yourself:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/8465/batblastrange.jpg
Notes: This is a very powerful skill that gives you the Thunderbringer-like ability to be a threat from any part of the map and assist in any gank. It is a skillshot, and it will take some time to learn how to land this against moving targets.
The obvious uses of this are assisting in ganks and adding teamfight AOE DPS. However, remember that your Sticky Bomb grants vision. Many times, targets that have a bomb on their heads will run. You can watch them, and the moment you see MAX pop up, draw the vector and laugh hard as they eat both fully cooked sticky bomb damage and ult damage. Each bomb dropped ignites a Boom Dust charge, and generally, a well aimed ult will hit a person twice.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6649/ultho.jpg
The enemy team found themselves in a poor position, enabling this ult initiation to get our team three easy kills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Core Analysis: .5a
This is where we analyze hero-specific stuff like stat/stat gain and movespeed.
Bombardier has a high starting intelligence (25), and fair (1.9 is pretty good for an INT ganker) strength gain.
Bomb has 300 movespeed, low to average base damage, and crap armor. The (very) good news is that he has 600 range, and a slick attack animation.
How do we use this hero, with complicated skillshots and absolutely zero scaling skills?
We will build and play Bombardier as a solo mid, or sidelaner that either makes or exploits openings on his opponents. We will harass hard early, and make the opponent pay for any mistake with our immense early game burst. We will remain a global threat throughout the early and mid-game and strive for kill after kill. Our job is to wreck the enemy team early and midgame, so that we can either end the game fast, or hand over a winning game to a real carry.
Of special note: Bombardier scales VERY poorly into late game. His stun requires huge cook time for late game relevance, and his other skills are unimpressive. Late game, your items are your main contribution, and unfortunately, you probably don't have many.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill build: .6a
1: Boom Dust / Sticky Bomb
2: Sticky Bomb / Boom Dust
3: Boom Dust
4: Bombardment
5: Boom Dust
6: Air Strike!
7: Boom Dust (maxed out)
8: Sticky Bomb
9: Sticky Bomb
10: Sticky Bomb (maxed out)
11: Air Strike!
12-14: Bombardment (maxed out)
15: Stats
16: Air Strike! (maxed out)
17-25: Stats
Explanation: Bombardier's skill build is somewhat unintuitive. Most heroes max out their stuns/slows early, but Bombardier maxes neither first. This build gives you reliable burst damage as well as sustained harass in-lane.
The reason you max Boom Dust first is because rank 1 Bombardment ignites all Dust charges AT WILL. A level 7 Bombardier with this build can light up almost ANY hero at will - 400 from Boom Dust + 100 or so Bombardment + 75 or more from Sticky Bomb + 400 from 2 bombs from ult hitting. Add friends and auto attacks to taste.
Boom Dust in lane is just a dominating skill. You can auto attack a hero, THEN put the dust on them while the projectile is mid-air, and the dust will blow. Suddenly, your 50 damage autoattack just did over 100. It's really, really strong in any lane, or solo 1v1.
Your ult does a **** load of damage and lets you killsteal from across the map. If you even consider not taking it whenever you can, you probably need a lot more help than I can provide here :smile:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early game item build and play philosophy: .7a
Bombardier requires some early farm to set up an effective ganking game. Boots, wards, and early mana regen are all important. Bombardier CAN farm, but there shouldn't be much of a need to, your skills don't scale well past mid-game and you should defer farm when possible.
This hero can be sent into any lane, but shouldn't stay in his lane far past level six or seven, and is a great candidate for early ganks.
Starting Build:
http://i35.tinypic.com/20879ea.jpg / http://i36.tinypic.com/3128cp2.jpg http://i33.tinypic.com/33w07z4.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/33o4aro.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/33o4aro.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/dxmz3k.jpg http://i38.tinypic.com/313jh2d.jpg
There is no real excuse for not getting courier/wards on Bombardier, except possibly if you're soloing mid and feel like you need the extra stats. Use your best judgment.
CORE items:
http://i36.tinypic.com/96cj9v.jpgAnd at least two of the following three: http://i38.tinypic.com/5n51zp.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/sff52q.jpghttp://heroes-newerth.com/wp-content/uploads/Blood-Chalice.png Keep buying http://i36.tinypic.com/3128cp2.jpg or maybe upgrade http://i36.tinypic.com/33dy24x.jpg.
Always get http://i36.tinypic.com/w7mvsi.jpg. You have massive, on-demand burst. You are awesome at counter TP ganking.
While Bomb doesn't need a lot to get going, what I've listed here is pretty essential. You need lots of mana early to keep heavy harass up on the opponent. These can all be sold later on to make space for whatever you need.
upgrade dem boots - steams or striders?:
Steams give you some badly needed stats, and striders are dirt cheap and sometimes help you with positioning. I usually get steams, but striders are perfectly acceptable!
Luxury items will be discussed below!
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Playstyle Guide .8a
Laning: Bombardier is acceptable and strong in any lane. Bombardier's early harass and long range lets him solo mid well, and the levels are put to good use to get him out ganking faster. In the hard lane, Bomb combines with other popular hard lane heroes like Magmus or Slither or Hammerstorm to really do some scary combos and send people to the fountain.
Bombardier CAN babysit, but it's not his strongest suit. He lacks the stopping power of a Witch Slayer type sitter, so is best with carries that have strong stopping power, such as Zephyr. Bombardier requires a bit of early farm, which can be difficult to get in a carry lane.
Laning as Bombardier is a very active, very APM heavy part of the game. EVERY time an enemy hero comes within 600 range of you, Boom Dust him, then auto attack for good damage. Coordinate with your ally to land Sticky Bomb with them. When you see a kill opening, SPAM 'e' to get 4 Boom Dust charges on the opponent, then Bombardment to blow them all.
Every time you land a Sticky Bomb, you gain momentum in your lane. Your opponent knows they'll be stunned for two seconds, so they will often back off. Use this time to harass the other lanemate or get some CS.
You should be carrying a TP stone and watching all lanes for gank opportunities. Enemy team pushed up too far in a sidelane? TP down there, sneak up, and kill them. Friend ganking someone but you can't get there? Make sure your ult is ready so that you can assist if necessary.
Team fights: In teamfights, you do not want to be targetted. Your AOE can devastate teams that stick too close together. You might want to pop your Sticky Bomb early if you see that the enemies are clumped together.
Generally, you sticky a target then look for two or more to clump. Toss 4 dusts onto a target and bombardment, and laugh at the huge havoc you've caused. Ult for even more fun or to catch runners.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/9844/lvl6gank.jpg
This screenshot shows the power of good positioning with Wretched Hag. I've nailed both with a sonar scream, and now the two enemies are prey to an easy ult. A couple auto attacks with my double damage rune and Archer's toast. Chronos tries to juke me in the woods, but nobody escapes the Hag. Note two important things about this image: this is a level 6 gank on two carries, and that the archer in the screenshot was hit by Sonar Scream, even though the graphic of the spell is nowhere near her.