Bombs are single-use equipment items. They are one of the Spelunker's most useful resources.
He starts each game with four bombs, and can find more in certain shops. They are also commonly found in crates.
Bombs work much like light objects, capable of being dropped or thrown into position, where they explode after a few seconds, destroying terrain and killing enemies.
Bombs can be upgraded to sticky bombs by collecting a jar of bomb paste. Once the upgrade is applied, it cannot be undone.
All bombs will have the upgrade applied, including ones collected after the paste was found.
The bomb bag (left) and the bomb box (right)
Bombs are reasonably inexpensive. 12-pack 'Bomb Boxes' are rarer and more expensive than the common 3-pack 'Bomb Bags', but there is no bulk discount for buying bomb boxes - They cost four times as much as bomb bags for four times as many bombs.
Functionality[]
The bomb explosion animation
There are two methods of deploying bombs from the inventory:
- Using the bomb hotkey (Default: A), which throws (or drops) a primed bomb in a single keystroke.
- Using the switch item key (Default: C) and then using the action key (Default: X) twice - Once to prime the bomb, and once again to throw it.
When primed, a bomb begins to flash red. The faster the flashing, the closer it is to detonation.
Throwing a bomb will cause it to fly the same distance as any other light object, such as an arrow. Provided there is enough fuse time left, you can pick up a bomb and throw it again if it does not go where you want it.
Bombs will fly further and higher if thrown when looking up, and will be placed at your feet if dropped when crouched.
Bomb explosions will kill any character (Except for the final boss) instantly. The total radius of the explosion varies on placement, but is usually two tiles in all four orthogonal directions, and one tile diagonally. The explosion also releases an invisible aftershock that persists for about a second after the explosion animation is finished.
Getting hit by the aftershock is usually an instant kill too,[1] and the persistent explosion is also the reason you cannot use a bomb to kill yourself in order to access the Moai in the Ice Caves - the first explosion will kill you, the Ankh will revive you instantly, but before you teleport to the inside of the statue, the aftershock will kill you again.
Destroyed blocks will release any treasure they contain. The one weakness of standard bombs is that it is very difficult to destroy blocks that are above the ground by cooking the fuse and timing the throw. Bomb Paste is used to fix this weakness, allowing bombs to stick to any surface with ease.
Bomb Cooking[]
'Cooking' is the practice of allowing a bomb's timed fuse to run down before throwing it, so that the explodes in mid-air after a shorter delay.
With practice, bomb cooking essentially allows the player to control exactly where a bomb explodes, and it becomes possible to cause an explosion anywhere within the range of a thrown bomb without the need for bomb paste.
There are, however, inherent risks in holding primed explosives, so the timing of the throw must be precise.
The cost of failure can be worse than a wasted bomb.
Furthermore, the technique requires at least a few seconds to complete, and is not easy to do in a hurry. It is much simpler to attack enemies with sticky bombs.
Cooking a bomb is done in three stages:
- First, press C to pull out a bomb and then press X to light the fuse.
- Wait for the fuse to run down. You will need to judge the length of the fuse and the travel time for it to be thrown to where you want it to detonate.
- Throw the bomb. The bomb will start to flash rapidly in the final few moments before it explodes. It's always better to throw a bomb too early than too late.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Using debug mode to set the room_speed to 1fps shows that 10 damage is done for each frame of the explosion, and there are 10 frames in the explosion, resulting in a maximum possible damage of 100 to the player. During normal gameplay, a player will only rarely break 10 health, so even the slightest time within an explosion would be an instant kill. However, at high enough health (either in custom levels or after enough sacrificing), the damage is usually around 30-50, since the explosion will also knock the player out of its radius if there's enough space.
| Spelunky Classic Items | |
| Equipment | Spectacles • Climbing Gloves • Pitcher's Mitt • Spring Shoes • Spike Shoes • Bomb Paste • Compass • Parachute • Kapala • Udjat Eye • Ankh • Hedjet |
| Backwear | Cape • Jetpack |
| Power-ups | Rope • Bombs |
| Useable items | Mattock • Machete • Web Cannon • Bow • Pistol • Shotgun • Teleporter • Sceptre |
| Miscellaneous | Flare • Treasure • Crate • Chest • Idol • Arrow • Crystal Skull • Key • Locked Chest • Punish Ball • Throwables |
| Unused | Basketball • Jordans |