Hello all- Recently hit 58 with my WS, so now eligible for Big Boom. Every old post I read on the subject says it got nerfed and is too expensive to use, but not sure if any of these were post-C5. What are your thoughts today- is it even worth it to hunt for the Blueprint for Big Boom- and if so, where would I look for it? Most of my play is spent duoing with SE of same level, poleing groups. Any advice is appreciated.
I'm not level 58 yet, so I couldn't tell you about its current effectiveness. I do know however that the BP drops from the Fallen Orc Shaman in Forsaken Plains/Silent Valley.
I have Big boom on my WS. Spudnik is wrong about the boom not hitting as many targets as your pole can. Both skills can hit any number of targets.
The problem with big boom is that it was seriously nerfed in PvE. Yes, I said seriously nerfed. Not saying that it shouldn't have been nerfed, just that it was.
Any mob you attack with Big Boom will now attack you if it is not dead. Dwarves being the uber PvE class that they are will generally succumb to death in most cases of 1/2 HP group mobs.
Big Boom takes 99 BPSPS. That's right, 99 of them. Per use. One use ber Boom. A Level 58 Big Boom requires 3 D Crys to summon it. This costs you 1897.5 adena for the crystals, and 12,375 adena for the blessed beast sps. Total cost: 14,272.5
The mobs that a lvl 58 WS will fight using it are outside of Oren in Skyshadow Meadow. They are the aggro mobs located directly east of the town. It takes 3 Big Booms without shots or emp to kill those 1/2HP mobs. With Emp 3 and Blessed Shots, it should take one and a quarter booms to do so. Most likely will take two booms. In addition, you will likely have to hit the mobs a couple of times to get them all dead.
Two Big Booms will cost you 28,545 adena. You will most likely be able to get four groups of mobs, for a total of about 16 mobs. 11 of those mobs will drop a small amount of adena (70%), usually around 1200 adena. The drop rates for 1/2 HP mobs, however, are quite low so I may be mistaken. This means you will pick up 13,200 adena or so per train, and be out around 14k.
If you can get a good Polearm group going up in Skyshadow, you can do quite well with one Boom and no shots. I leveled there in a group that was set up as follows:
We had the Warlord pull mobs on a strider, and everyone timed their attacks perfectly. We could generally kill about 200 mobs in about one hit each. Be forewarned: This type of party is not for the faint of heart. If you attempt this, be prepared for multiple deaths on a regular basis. Took me three days to go from 58 to 61 this way, but I died quite a few times.
After C4 this type of party stopped being used because everyone assumed that no one would be able to hit more than 8-10 mobs at a time.
Post-C4 the following classes can hit an unlimited number of mobs at any given attack:
The melee classes must be using a polearm and have post-40 polearm skills learned in order to hit more than 10 mobs at once.
Big boom was nerfed in C4 by the following changes:
1) Any mob attacked by big boom and not killed will aggro to the summoning warsmith.
2) Some half HP mobs have been given an increase in Mdef.
3) Big boom damage calculations are configured to do more damage to mobs closest to it when it explodes, similar to an actual bomb doing more damage at the center and less the further you get from the explosion.
If you do it right, Big Boom can be a very effective weapon. I still do Groups in ABG with mine. Our party consists of 2 warsmiths and an ee, along with an oop se. We can pull approximately 15 groups at once with little loss of life. Exp gains are not great, but you are still getting exp and drops, in addition to quest items. If we had a SWS, we could probably pull quite a few more groups than the 15 we are maxed out at right now.
Sorry spudnik but my experience with boom doesn't seem to be the same as yours. Boom hits everything within it's range up to the max number of mobs for an aoe attack. I can't say the same for my polearm. One way to use boom is for it to be buffed with anything to increase it's matk as well as pet blessed shot. This is spendy since Boom uses 99 shot at a time. Or you can attack blue and green 1/2 HP mobs on the south end of skyshadow meadow when you first get him. If you round up 3-4 of the groups Boom can one shot these with no buffs or blessed shot. Make sure they are all packed tightly around Boom though. My WS was getting 10% an hour there when he first got Boom.
Make sure they are all packed tightly around Boom though.
Best way to do this is to party a BH, park him on the booms, and have him spoil festivals when the WS(s) lite their lil babies.
You can also pull with a WS, get to the boom, and whirlwind right before the boom goes off. All the mobs come to hit you, and pack nice and tight.
I do AoE groups in ABG, with a second Warsmith. As Blue said, not cost effective (depending on what coins are going for on your server - ABG drops bloods and silvers now, so a few coins go a long way in changing cost effectiveness) but it DOES work. You must have a healer - Emp on the booms is NOT necessary, spirit shot are, with lvl 2 & lvl 3 boom (together.) Since EMP is not necessary, my advice would be bishop or EE, since an SE's cast speed sucks.
I haven't tried the boom's power with emp/dance of mystic - It may well be possible to get high enough MAtk to kill them without shots. I haven't tried it, so I don't know.
Sorry spudnik but my experience with boom doesn't seem to be the same as yours. Boom hits everything within it's range up to the max number of mobs for an aoe attack. I can't say the same for my polearm. One way to use boom is for it to be buffed with anything to increase it's matk as well as pet blessed shot. This is spendy since Boom uses 99 shot at a time. Or you can attack blue and green 1/2 HP mobs on the south end of skyshadow meadow when you first get him. If you round up 3-4 of the groups Boom can one shot these with no buffs or blessed shot. Make sure they are all packed tightly around Boom though. My WS was getting 10% an hour there when he first got Boom.
Summons is not counted in for max numbers of mobs. Trust me I know, use to do some power leveling lowbies while it was still possible with an PS, pull 40-50 mobs, and then drop one of em while an PS souless used corps burst and all died. This was late C4.