This is the single biggest innovation in Heroes vs. Hordes over the last six months, and no, it isn't the remaster.
It's Bombardier.
Owl dug deep into his reservoir of HvH knowledge and came back with a bug. Bombardier's 5-star forge wasn't bouncing correctly in Boss Brawl, and it wasn't hitting the boss at all.
They fixed that little bug. Bombardier went from a hero literally nobody talked about to one of the premier Boss Brawl heroes in the game.
He now belongs in the conversation with Bunni and Druid as one of the big Boss Brawl boys.
Special thanks to Owl, who worked all this out while I was off being a mopey little emo HvH player. He cracked one of the best kept secrets in the game.
So here's how I'll walk you through him. Base stats and level progression first, then his globals, then his skills and his forge. By the end you'll know exactly where he fits on your roster.
One warning before you invest: he doesn't really shine until you get his 5-star forge, and you probably want at least four star levels on him, because his 140 bonus is where a lot of his damage lives.
| 10 | +10% Area of Effect |
|---|---|
| 20 | +1 Projectile(s) |
| 30 | +10% Area of Effect |
| 40 | EXPLOSIVE GADGET: After collection 5 explosive gadgets the next base attack will deal 720%/2330%/4620%/7540%/11020% increased damage every 1s. |
| 50 | All Heroes: +12.5% Damage when dealing Physical Damage |
| 60 | +50% Damage when dealing Physical Damage |
| 70 | All Heroes: +12.5% Damage |
| 80 | ROCKET LAUNCHER: Every 2s shoot a rocket at the closest enemy creating an explosion dealing 1670%/5430%/10770%/17580%/25710% damage. |
| 90 | All Heroes that share faction: +5% Area of Effect |
| 100 | MOAR EXPLOSIVES: All weapon kills fill a meter. During ultimate, the Bombardier throws explosives every 0,2s at a random location dealing 720%/2330%/4620%/7540%/11020% damage on impact. Lasts 20s. |
| 120 | All Heroes: +1 Projectile(s) |
| 140 | Strong Stat Bonus: +3 Projectiles (Additive) |
| 160 | All Heroes: +100% Damage |
I always start a hero review here, because base stats and level progression tell you how good someone is going to feel early in the game.
Bombardier throws grenades. They are a physical weapon, and once you reach his evolved weapon they bounce, so each throw hits more than once. His base stats lean into physical damage, which lines up with the rest of his kit.
The four things you want out of a level progression are area of effect, critical strike, cooldown, and projectiles. He gets area of effect and projectiles right away at 10 through 30, which is a strong opening. At 60 he picks up more physical damage, which is fine but nothing to celebrate.
Then at 140 he gets plus three projectiles.
Projectiles have diminishing marginal returns, meaning each one is worth less than the one before it. Even so, at something like 12 or 15 projectiles you are still getting roughly a x1.06. Early in the game, when your count is low, each additional projectile can be worth another 0.12 times your damage, so plus three lands somewhere around a 30 to 35% increase. Later on it settles closer to 15 to 20%. A x1.15 at level 140 is a big boost.
His globals start rough and finish excellent.
At 50, plus 12.5% physical damage is awful. At 70, plus 12.5% damage is a little better and still pretty awful. Those are the two you scroll past.
At 90 his faction bonus gives plus 5% area of effect, and that one you will take. The Mechanist League is always going to have a bunch of strong heroes in it, like Clockwork Mage, Sentry Specialist, and Bombardier himself, so area of effect spread across that group is nice to have.
Then at 120 you get plus one projectile. That is one of the best globals in the game, full stop.
Add his 3-star forge global on top, a flat x1.05 damage, and you have a top five global sitting next to a top five global. Combine the projectile and the damage multiplier and Bombardier becomes a very strong shelf hero. Even if you never get him to the elite level needed for Boss Brawl, parking him on your bench makes the rest of your roster better. Consider yourself lucky to pull him.
His grenades evolve off Area Tome. That matters more than it sounds, because Area Tome is draftable in every event and game type, so you are never locked out of his evolution by a bad tome roll.
Forge 1
Bigger Bombs for area of effect, or More Bombs for plus one projectile. Most players should take the projectile.
Forge 2
Impactful Blasts for x1.1 damage, or Even More Bombs for another projectile. Take the projectile until you are sitting at seven or eight of them. Past that the flat multiplier does more for you.
Forge 3
Coordinated Strikes hands your whole roster a flat x1.05 damage. That belongs in the top five globals available to anyone, and it applies whether or not Bombardier ever leaves the bench.
Forge 4
Bouncing Grenade, the evolution. His grenades now bounce between enemies and trigger multiple blasts before a final detonation.
Forge 5
This is the one Owl found, and it is the whole reason we are here. Anvil Bombs reduces the bounce count to one and increases damage by 250%. The bounce that is left now actually connects with the boss, so a single throw hits him more than once and your damage jumps.
Bouncing Madness on the other side adds three bounces and is the better pick in every mode that isn't Boss Brawl. Boss Brawl is the only one I care about, so mine goes right.
Level 40 - Explosive Gadget
Every one second he spawns an explosive gadget on the map. Collect five of them and his next base attack deals 11020% increased damage.
The whole skill lives or dies on timing. In Boss Brawl you want to let the gadgets pile up on the map and then collect them the moment the vulnerability phase hits. If that feels fiddly, wear wizard boots and let them all suck into you, then hope the timing lines up.
Level 80 - Rocket Launcher
Every two seconds he rockets the closest enemy and creates an explosion for 25710% damage. Excellent single target damage, and it needs no input from you.
Level 100 Ultimate - Moar Explosives
Yes, that is how they spelled it. All weapon kills fill a meter, and during the ultimate he throws explosives every 0.2 seconds at random locations for 20 seconds. That is a nice long window to dump damage into.
Standard kit on paper. What makes it good is that both damage skills are single target, so they hit their ceiling against a boss, and both are ones you can time around revive rage.
That's Bombardier. A guy who throws bombs, which is mathematically very straightforward and honestly not much fun to watch.
What matters is the 5-star forge. Anvil Bombs turned a completely ignored hero into a Boss Brawl monster, and it took a community member digging through the numbers to find it.
If you can't build him that far, keep him benched anyway. The 120 projectile global plus his x1.05 make your whole roster hit harder.
A huge shoutout to Owl. He's about the only person still doing real research in this game, and he's keeping it interesting for everybody.
I'm Kolz, a high-level HvH player. Ask me questions here, on Reddit, or on Discord.
Now go blast off with Bombardier. And remember: Always do your adventures!
