- Introduction
- Role of a Boomeranger
- Boomeranger in Solo Play
- Breakdown of Skills
- Gearing Up
- Combat Guidelines
- Conclusion
Introduction
If you can’t decide between bows and swords, like boomerangs and REALLY like explosions, maybe give the Boomeranger a try? It’s the first class that gets to use 2 different weapon types (Not at the same time though), and also comes equipped with a fancy Urn full of goodies! But most importantly, chickens. That’s right folks, the Boomeranger can spawn packs of angry chickens ready to go forward and poke the eyes of your enemies out! If that’s not convincing enough, I don’t know what is.
Advantages
- No energy
- 2 Weapon types; strong basic attack
- Free bombs
- Short ult cooldown
- Chickens
Disadvantages
- Long cooldowns
- Abilities are more utility related
- Random effects from ult
- Relies on Boomerang
- Bombs can’t destroy blocks that are below the bomb
Role of a Boomeranger
Your ult has a lot of utility and you can stun enemies pretty frequently but don’t let that make you think you’re a support class! You have a strong basic attack because of your passive and the fact that your basic abilities aren’t really made to do damage in combat. Catch all your boomerangs and use your ult whenever it’s off cooldown to get the most out of it. Throwing it down does some pretty good initial damage but the effect afterwards is random. Nearby players will probably be thankful that you reduced their ult cooldown!
Boomeranger in Solo Play
You don’t have any innate tankiness but you can do some mean damage! Since you’ll be pulling all the aggro in solo play and have nothing to help counter that, you’ll probably want a lot of health. This isn’t just because you’ll be suffering a lot of punches, but because the more health you have, the more you heal from your ult! It has a short cooldown and does a lot of damage so don’t be surprised if you blow up a pack of mobs with just your ult. If you’re in combat, use it whenever it’s off cooldown and the same goes for your boomerang since if you catch it, your cooldowns are reduced!
Breakdown of Skills
[Passive] Final Blow: Every third attack does extra damage
Because your boomerangs and bombs don’t really do damage, you have a passive that does! Depending on what type of weapon you use will decide what this special attack is but either way this passive helps a ton when you’re still fighting and waiting on cool-downs!
[Active RMB] Boomerang: Throw a boomerang that stuns enemies hit! Catch it on it’s way back to reduce your cooldowns.
Pretty much your bread and butter skill. Let’s face it. Your cooldowns are long. This helps negate that and once you get good at catching, you’ll realize that those long cooldowns don’t seem as long as I’m making them out to be! But also don’t forget that this ability can stun. This coupled with some well timed rolls can help you avoid a lot of damage!
[Active 1] Big Bomb: Throws a timed bomb for big damage and destruction!
Exactly what the name implies. It’s a bigger bomb so it’s got a fuse time, but that means a bigger explosion! It’s great for clearing blocks or busting holes through dungeons but not too useful in higher level combat. You’ll still find a use for it especially if you don’t have a bunch of bombs at your disposal; this ones free!
[Ultimate] Mysterious Urn: Throws a mysterious urn for area damage and a random bonus!
Where most of your damage and fun comes from! Cracking this bad boy open has the possibility of giving you health, reduced cooldowns (Reduced ult cooldowns for other players), bombs and chickens! If it was up to me I’d make this spawn chickens every time but luckily the cooldowns pretty short as long as you catch your boomerangs! Every possibility from the urn helps you out but some might be a little more useful than others at certain times. Like when it gives health at the perfect time!
Gearing Up
Weapon
- Physical Damage
- Attack Speed
- Health Regen
- Health
Face
- Health
- Health Regen
- Physical Damage
- Attack Speed
Hat
- Health
- Attack Speed
- % Health
- Health Regen
Ring
- Physical Damage/Health
- Jump
You don’t use energy regen so don’t bother. I say take attack speed whenever possible because the faster you attack, the more you’ll do that 3rd attack for extra damage! Most of your damage comes from your basic attack so make sure you can attack fast. For the ring it’s up to you. I personally like more damage so I take Physical Damage but if you feel you need the extra health take that instead. You don’t have jump on any of your gear so I use it on the secondary stat for the ring. I play the Boomeranger a lot personally, and opt in for the most damage possible which also means the Raptor berserker ally, but that’s up to you. I don’t feel I need to be any tankier so this build should do nicely.
Combat Guidelines
Before I begin, I always use a sword on my Boomeranger just because I like all the AoE it has especially on it’s 3rd attack. This doesn’t mean the bow isn’t bad, but you’ll clear lairs and dungeons a lot faster with a sword. The bow does way more single target damage than the sword and the third attack shoots a barrage of a few arrows with some serious knockback but when you’re being swarmed ESPECIALLY in solo play, always try to opt in for a sword. Don’t let this discourage you from using a bow though, they’re both good choices!
I usually start a fight by throwing my ult. Depending on the effect kind of determines where the fight goes from there. Like.. if I got chickens the fight is probably over but otherwise just keep auto’ing and throwing your boomerang whenever it’s off cooldown to reduce your ult’s cooldown. Rinse and repeat. Basically in fights, you’re pretty much just holding out until you can use your ult again because it does a lot of damage and the bonus effects are really nice.
Your big bombs can be used in combat as well since it’s another one of your abilities that’s just sitting there waiting to be used but I usually just forget to throw it down and really only use it to blast holes in walls. In higher level ubers it’s damage isn’t really noticed so I just focus on my basic attack and catching boomerangs. Also, because you kind of just stand there and get punched, make sure to time your rolls to make sure you avoid any strong attacks. It’ll help keep you in the fight a lot longer and the same goes for your boomerang if your dodge isn’t ready yet. The stun will buy you time until you can roll again or you can just jump a few times to avoid the attack.
Conclusion
Because you’ll be face tanking groups of enemies, you need to pay attention to when wind-up attacks are being thrown and you need to make sure you always catch your boomerangs. You can end fights pretty quickly because you have a ton of damage from your ult as well as your basic attacks but if you’re not paying attention you can take some serious damage. You’re no Knight so you can’t just instantly heal it all back. You’ll be face tanking like a Candy Barb minus the constant heals.
It’s not as bad as it sounds though. You’ll usually pull heals out of your urn often enough to keep you healthy in fights and with enough health and health regen, staying in the fight shouldn’t be a problem. These are by no means prolonged fights because the Boomeranger can end things fast, so if you like explosions, making more than just blocks explode AND enjoy having a pack of battle ready chickens at your side, you’ll definitely enjoy the Boomeranger!