Bomber

Astrolab

**Bombers** are enemies wearing a plague doctor mask and a jetpack on their back.

## Behavior

Bombers can detect the player through walls and platforms. Their vertical detection range is greater than their horizontal detection range, and once the player is in sight, will never stop chasing until defeated.

If the player is right next to the Bomber when they detect you, they will use their melee attack. Any further and they will fly and use their dive attack. There is a cooldown before they will use their dive attack again. If at longer distance and they can't fly, they will throw bombs instead.

## Moveset

* **Description:** Flies above the player and when they stop moving, summons many blades before diving.
* **Cannot** be blocked or parried.
* Strong hits can interrupt the flight and prevent the attack.

* **Description:** A melee slash.
* Can be blocked, parried, or dodge rolled.

* **Description:** Throws a grenade at the player.
* Can be blocked, parried, or dodge rolled.
* Projectile explodes after a delay after landing.

## Strategy

Bombers are dangerous due to how persistent they are. Once they start flying, they will chase you until they are in position to do their dive attacks. However, once they land, they are likely to use other attacks that are easier to avoid. Their melee attack is slow and predictable, and their grenade attack has a long startup.

Elite Bombers can spawn with any of the Elite special abilities, with rotating laser and clone Elite being the most dangerous of all.

* To dodge the dive attack, wait for them to fly directly above you and focus on the distance between you and the Bomber rather than their attack cue. If you attempt to dodge too early, you can get hit by it. You can outrun the dive attack if you have a speed boost and with enough vertical space. Standing still and waiting for them to attack makes it easier to time the dodge.
* Bombers are especially dangerous when you're fighting multiple enemies, making it much harder to avoid their dive attack. If you manage to draw aggro from a Bomber and other enemies, run away to give you space between you and other enemies far from their reach, then deal with the Bomber before the other enemies can catch up to you.
* Avoid fighting more than one Bomber at a time. There's a good chance that when you dodge roll one of them, the other one will hit you. Their detection range is not as good as ranged enemies, so you can pick them off one at a time before dealing with the Bomber. A safe solution is to use the Homunculus Rune.
* You can interrupt their flight by attacking them while they're trying to fly above you by using a crowd control effect or a strong single hit skill. While you can also interrupt them with weapon attacks, it's riskier and will likely leave you open to get hit if they fly above you.
* Lacerating Aura and Wave of Denial are very powerful against Bombers.
	+ Lacerating Aura can likely kill them before they attempt their dive attack.
	+ Wave of Denial has a very high chance of interrupting them mid flight or push them a safe distance away.
* Bombers can easily take you off guard, as all their attacks are quick. It's best to retreat and get into a more advantageous position to fight them, as terrain can often get in the way of dodges.

## Trivia

* Despite having jetpacks, Bombers are still vulnerable to fall damage, often dying outright due to low HP. If it's a very long fall they may recover from stun and be able to jetpack out of the fall, but only if there's enough room - if they hit a "death plane" then they may die to that before they can recover.
* Bombers appear to be holding a weapon similar to the Assassin's Dagger.
* Bombers cannot initiate the dive attack if there is a low ceiling above the player, and will either hover in place or be forced to land near the player.
* There is a rare bug where the Bomber will stop attacking the player entirely and can only follow them with their jetpack.