Viability of Bombs

[Linkkicksu]

So, recently I attended a casual tournament in my area, but due to my lack in tech skill, didn't compete.
I did however play a number of friendlies, including a few versus some of the top eight.
Despite my lack of tech skill, I still managed to hold my own and even beat one of the top eight.

I have the feeling this was due to my playstyle consisting of heavy bomb usage;
The majority of my approaches went Bomb > Wavedash through or Bomb > Dash Attack through.
I would use my bombs to misdirect their attacks and discourage grabs, when recovering to bait out whiffs, mid-combo to put them off-balance etc.
(I also managed to get a guy on tilt simply by cutting off every one of their approach attempts with a bomb)

Now, I don't know if this is because bombs are actually useful, or if it's simply because they weren't used to this kind of playstyle and I just caught them off-guard (The majority of Samus players I know only ever use bombs for recovery).
I want to know how often and in what situations you guys use bombs, and if you consider them a viable tool starting/during combos.

 

[Metallinatus]

This is interesting, you seem to play her similarly to how she is played in Smash 64.... specially in matchups like Captain Falcon (one of the worst in the game btw).
I myself do tend to use some bombs due to getting used to it in 64, but not that much or in that way, but I could see it working to some extend.

 

[Zonda1996]

From what I've seen playing against a bomb-heavy player, it's an excellent way to open up players who don't mix up their approaches, or even just control space/deny an upcoming attempt to get in.

That's my 2 cents from the Ganon side of the MU and what I spectate in games vs. Spacies anyway.

 

[Nudl]

Bomb animation is slow and comes out frame 42.
Slow is bad, which why people don't bomb.
You can sometimes use bombs on shield though.

 

["Scorp"]

I use bombs a lot, personally.

Bombs are great for me - Excellent for stalling midair when they're below and forces them to stay grounded while you recover.

Also great for edge guarding, https://gfycat.com/FlashyShamelessBorzoi - there's almost always time to drop at least one before setting yourself up for a tilt

If i'm being techchased i'll pretty much spam bombs to get some distance from them. I also use them to bait players in, jump forward, drop bomb and fade back.

 

[iAmMatt]

Also great for edge guarding

I genuinely think bombs are underused when it comes to edgeguarding. They absolutely kill spacies because of their fall speed. Also, super wavedashing is more functional than people make it out to be. With a run speed slower than falco's, getting to the other side of the stage in a flash can be difficult. THis is where super wavedashing can come in handy imo

 

[343]

Bomb animation is slow and comes out frame 42.
Slow is bad, which why people don't bomb.
You can sometimes use bombs on shield though.

???

Bomb comes out on frame 10. this is in the frame data thread which is stickied in this forum. The whole animation lasts 53 frames though, which is probably endlag-punishable.

Generally I'd call bombs in neutral a gimmick. Almost every character can just hit through the bomb; I guess anything that does >13% should do that based on clanking rules, since bomb "hit" does 5% and is separate from bomb "explosion"? On the other hand, bombs can sometimes be used vs wavedash-heavy characters (Luigi, ICs, etc) because it stuffs their wavedash in. It could also stuff, say, Marth's dash forward, but he can probably tank it and just dash forward again since bombs have so little hitstun.

That being said, gimmicks can sometimes work, and you can use onstage "bomb hops" to do some cute things (low aerials, double bomb -> missile [bomb jump cancel] -> something else, etc.)

If you want to watch a decent Samus who uses a lot of bombs in neutral, try looking up Narfanator.

Bombing out of non-true "combos" is one of Samus's combo escape options, so definitely mix that in.

Bombing shields can have uses: bombs do a reasonable amount of shield damage, and you can bomb -> waveland -> try to shieldpoke them or wait for their oos option, especially on platforms. Bomb -> dair shieldpokes full shield on quite a few characters if they don't expect it, though it's also a gimmick.

Bombs during edgeguards (run off -> bomb -> drift back) are also sort of a gimmick due to low hitstun, though they probably still have reasonably good risk/reward at higher %s, especially vs worse players. They might be useful vs characters who have up-b's that don't have a hitbox which covers a lot of area above them (Marth, Falcon, Ganon?, Samus??) because they give you a 50/50 in hitting their high recovery vs grabbing ledge vs their second sweetspot attempt.

 

[btbama22]

I use bombs quite a bit as fake-outs or screwy/unexpected movements or even as a buffer for people who like to charge at you full speed all the time.

Also for air mobility to dodge, recovery (obviously), and dropping them over the edge for those trying to recover from below.

Another fun one to mix things up while recovering from high is to drop a bomb, air dodge up and grapple-- then the bomb cancels your grapple and you can instantly go into an aeriel. Its a gimmick, but can sometimes make and edge guarder miss.

So yeah, all kinds of uses. Just dont get predictable with them