Axis Bomber Boys (Warrior 4*, Assassin 3*)

[Kardas]

Since I made a thread on the Allied Bomber Boys, it only makes sense that I examine their Axis counterparts some time. The Warrior Axis Bomber Boy was actually one of my first 4* in this game. Of course back then I thought he was made of glass, and not really worth using. As PVP started rearing up though, I began having second thoughts, due to his Passive. I think he’s had his best days behind him considering all the Strike Talismans everywhere, as well as taunt/stun-heavy strategies no longer dominating PVP. Of course, both Bomber Boys still have their niche. And I hope to help you discover that niche! As well as look at true damage scaling and the Accuracy status effect.

Credit to Slauki for his excellent ‘compilation of maximized characters thread’ and Osiris, whose own character guides inspired me to hurry up and write this thing already.

Warrior (4*)
Air Strike: Deals AoE true damage with a 30% chance to Mark for 4 turns. Mark chance increases to 60% with Skill Shards. Note that his Passive means that Bomber Boy’s Mark chance goes up to 55% (85% with Skill Shards) for the first two turns.
- If you don’t have Wrath or Shaman Eddie, this is the easiest way to Mark people. Especially if you take this guy’s Passive into account!
Radar (4 PWR): Gain 3 Power instantly, with a 45% chance (65% chance with Skill Shards) to Silence enemies for 1 turn. Note that the Silence chance goes up to 70% (90% with Skill Shards) as long as his Passive is active.
- Tailgunner Eddie also has this move. What this essentially means is a fairly big chance to inflict AoE Silence for 1 Power. The 4 PWR/gain 3 PWR restriction prevents you from casting this on the first turn in PVP, which would probably be a little too good if you could.
Focus (Passive): Grants increased Accuracy to all allies for 2 turns at the start of battle.
- Probably the reason you’re using him. Assassin Troll also has this Passive.
Talisman slots: 3 colorless, 3 purple (used to be 2 purple, 1 red)

A quick handbook on Accuracy:
The Accuracy status effect adds an extra 25% chance for chance-reliant parts of moves triggering. So in the case of the Axis Bomber Boy’s own Air Strike, you would have a 55% chance of Marking enemies instead of 30% if the move is not sharded. Note that the proc chances of status effects (for instance, the buff removal of the Flame effect or the Stun chance of Grievous Burn) are not affected by this Passive. Talisman proc chances are also unaffected by this Passive.

Warrior Bomber Boy continued
The most interesting part about the Warrior Bomber Boy is that despite dealing true damage, his ATK and MAGIC stats are not identical. In fact, a level 100 Bomber Boy’s ATK is about 500 points higher than his MAGIC. As a result, I was interested in how ATK and MAGIC boosts figure into his lopsided stats. As a result, I brought my level 100 Bomber Boy to Blackened Pride Madness and started testing. My Bomber Boy is unsharded, all his Talismans are level 50, and only Perfect Hits were recorded. I had 3 test runs:
Run 1: 2 reds (2 Explosive, 3 Vampiric, 1 Health (Mystical))
Damage vs Wolf Cultist: 2954
Damage vs Cultist Cleric, Corrupted Ox Cultist: 4135
Damage vs Owl Cultist, Corrupted Owl Cultist: 1536
Run 2: 2 blues (2 Freezing, 3 Vampiric, 1 Health (Mystical))
Damage vs Wolf Cultist: 2954
Damage vs Cultist Cleric, Corrupted Ox Cultist: 4135
Damage vs Owl Cultist, Corrupted Owl Cultist: 1536
Run 3: 2 purples (2 Void, 3 Vampiric, 1 Health (Mystical))
Damage vs Wolf Cultist: 3297
Damage vs Cultist Cleric, Corrupted Ox Cultist: 4615
Damage vs Owl Cultist, Corrupted Owl Cultist: 1715
I was not surprised that the 2 purples test outdamaged both the 2 blues and 2 reds. What did surprise me is that despite the Warrior Bomber Boy’s ATK being much higher than his MAGIC, the 2 blue and 2 red loadouts did equal damage. Not sure how this works for all other true damage characters (that do not have other stat scaling interfering), but I expect this to be mostly the same for the rest.

I personally see the Warrior Bomber Boy as a supporter, not a wrecking ball on his own. The trick is to start with his Air Strike attack, and then clean up those Marks with one or more powerful attackers. As a result, Talisman loadouts which help him survive are probably best (especially because 7084 Health at level 100 is not a lot). As a result, I like equipping my Bomber Boy with 3 Vampiric Talismans, 2 Health Talismans (Ward), and one extra purple Talisman. A set of 3 purples and 3 Blinds is also a fine tanky option. Void Talismans are also a good choice instead of Vampirics, as are Shell Talismans instead of Health (if you have them) Plus, if push comes to shove and your Bomber Boy’s the only one left standing, he can consume his own Marks which should do some pretty nice damage. Equipping Strike Talismans may be fun for Mark spam but take care because your Bomber Boy will become incredibly fragile. He is a Warrior character, so make sure to use Talismans that boost both his Health and MR (Ward, Barrier).
The Warrior Bomber Boy probably meshes best with two types of characters: crowd control (Mummy Eddie, Sentinel Soulless Demon, Corrupt General, Magus Corrupt Rescuer, etc.), and strong attackers(Nomad, Assassin Golden Son, Desert Marauder, Warrior/Assassin CotD, etc.). Or both at the same time, if your name is Wrath.

Assassin (3*)
Air Strike: Deals AoE true damage with a 30% chance to Mark for 4 turns. Mark chance increases to 60% with Skill Shards.
- If you don’t have Wrath or Shaman Eddie, this is the easiest way to Mark people.
Break (4 PWR): Lowers DEF of all enemies (DEF drops by 70%), Steals Fury, and has a 50% chance to inflict Permadeath. Permadeath and Lowered DEF effect can last up to 3 turns with Skill Shard use, and the Permadeath chance is raised to 75%.
- Note that not only does Permadeath prevent characters from being revived if they die, it also ignores the Endure and Ghost statuses! I found that out the hard way bringing an Assassin Golden Son for farming on Game of Death.
Talisman slots: 3 colorless, 3 purple

Surprisingly, the Assassin Bomber Boy’s stats are either roughly equal or better than the Warrior Bomber Boy, despite having a lower * rank. This is of course balanced out by the Warrior’s rather useful Passive. As a result, the Assassin Bomber Boy works just fine as a strong AoE attacker. I would probably give him Assassin and Resilience sets, as well as a random green. In this case I would keep his DEF and MR roughly equal too.
The Assassin Bomber Boy is quite flexible and can fit quite well with a lot of characters, though strong physical attackers probably appreciate his presence most considering the Lowered DEF granted by Break. However, he really shines if you bring him along to the Gunner Lord of Light. The Permadeath will help you immensely against those Gunner Golden Sons. For the same reasons, he also works fine in the Magus dungeon.

As usual, if you have anything to add or correct, do tell

[Peppoah]

Thanks, Kardas.
Good work.

[thealchemist]

I have both toons and I currently use the assassin bomber boy quite a lot. I'm surprised at the result of the warrior tests myself. Taking the stats literally I would honestly think it would do more damage with red talismans than purple and blue would give less damage than red but not the case? Hmmm. Gonna have to rethink my talisman strategy with both as I currently have burn talismans on them at the moment.

[iPoop]

Really well done Kardas!

[zdm-1083]

Like so much your analysis.

Thanks for sharing!