Since Maxroll steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the H-Bomb build as something that and actually exists and is outright tougher than any other Crusader LoN/LoD builds, I’ve decided to post this H-Bomb end-of season report.
There were a total of 19 GR150 finishes with the H-Bomb build in Season 25. Significantly, all 19 H-Bomb GR150 finishes nailed all 19 top spots in the Crusader S25 No Six Piece Category on their respective regional leaderboards!
That having said:
Asia had 5 Seasonal GR150s. No hardcore mode finishes.
Europe led the charge with a total of 8 Seasonal GR150s, one of which was in Hardcore mode.
The Americas had a total of 6 Seasonal GR150s, one of which was in Hardcore mode.
The top three finishes were as follows:
Europe, Seasonal: GniewHusarii, Time 8:05; (massive congrats to the champion from Poland)
Europe, Seasonal: Northwar, Time 9:13; (a super fascinating variant that used the Bane of the Trapped Gem but no Bane of the Striken)
The Americas, Seasonal, Hardcore: amBADASSador, Time 9:38 (the fact that you managed to do this in hardcore mode deserves a special bow of respect)
…Needless to say, amBADASSador also hammered home the top spot in Crusader S25 Hardcore No Six Piece Set category.
Additionally, Asia’s top Season 25 H-Bomb finish was with a time of 9:47.
Here are some other cool stats:
There were no fewer than 12 differnet build variants among the 19 players (since shoulder pieces do not alter gameplay, I am disregarding them here).
The items which varied in those 12 variants were as follows:
a) Neckleces: Squirt’s Necklace, Traveler’s Pledge, Hellfire Amulet;
b) Chest Armors: Aquila Cuirass, Heart of Iron;
c) Rings: Justice Lantern, Unity, Stone of Jordan;
d) Pants: Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan, Blackthorne’s Jousting Mail;
e) Shields: Akarat’s Awakening, The Final Witness, Hellskull (this last one for lack of better alternative, I gather).
Passives which varied across the build: Lord Commander, Finery, Hold Your Ground, Indestructible, Insurmountable.
Finally, not first, but also not last…the definitely quirky unique - Harnor’s variant. Having invented the H-Bomb build and actually playing seasonal for once, I felt obligated to at least appear somewhere on the GR150 wall of honor. Noteably however, since I honestly detest GR floor fishing, I needed a motivator… Fortunately, I love innovation, so decided to work in a unique approach to the S25 H-Bomb, then test it at the highest level. In short, I dropped the Sliver of Terror (the red gem) from my helm…
Please say hello to the first and only sader intern to ever run a GR150 with the Shard of Hatred (Harnor gone blue). For your viewing amusement, see the link below (all skills/equipment are at the end of the vid):
A nice update on the status of an interesting build!
Ambadassador. Yeah. There are a few players in this game who do stuff I just don’t quite understand. He’s one of them. How is he so good at avoiding incoming damage? Crazy.
I like it a lot personally. Only downside is you need a lot of paragons for it to work as intended. I was a few spots under you with a6l2 (150) but a fraction of paragon. I think thats why it isnt more popular.
I am interested to see where the A6I2 v H-Bomb popularity goes, moving forward. A6I2 is about to get a solid three-level nerf with the next patch. That should equal the playing field quite a bit.
I think Maxroll’s context is based on an extraordinary clear. It got nerfed twice since Northwar cleared GR150 @7k:
AoV2 nerf
Norvald’s nerf
I am sure with loads of keys, a 5k paragon player could clear GR143-144. Most won’t get past GR142.
My AoV clear was done with Ivory Tower and about 15 keys. Our chart didn’t have good AoV data since the actual build with updated Norvald’s didn’t get much play, and barely anyone pushed with Ivory.
There were some really strong clears with the build in Season 25. But I think it may have benefitted a larger-than-average amount from the Soul Shards, since Ring of Fire let you clear density well, while the build is great at killing bosses.
Interesting. If LoN Bomb is stronger, then (per S25 results) even more so it will apply to the H-Bomb build…
[For readers unfamiliar with the two builds, they both thorns builds, yet very different entities in terms of combat approach. LoN bomb uses the Pigsticker and/or Sunkeeper in conjunction with LoN rings and is a fundamentally stationary form of fighting. By contrast H-Bomb is a move-move-move play style which utilizes the LoD gem, with the Blessed Hammer and Zodiac Ring propelling damage- and defense-related cooldowns.]
Haha, I think I just spend a lot of time with a red screen and cheat deaths going off.
I did want to provide another update to the build’s progress. Not exactly an end of season clear, but I managed to clear GR150 in the current Era 16 at 9k Para. 4 minute RG fight and no power pylon required.