Explosives have introduced a whole new way to deal damage in Core Keeper, offering a unique skill tree and powerful strategies for players who want to harness their destructive potential. Whether you’re looking to maximize your bomb damage, reduce self-inflicted damage, or fine-tune a hybrid melee-explosive build, this guide will take you through everything you need to know about explosives in Core Keeper 1.0.

Understanding the Explosives Skill Tree

At level 100, the Explosives Skill Tree grants a whopping +50% explosives damage, making it one of the most unique damage-dealing mechanics in the game. Here’s a breakdown of the skills and how they work:

Tier 1 Skills

• High Velocity Charge – Increases your explosives’ radius by 10% per rank, up to a 50% increase.
• Phantom Bombs – Gives a 30% chance to not consume an explosive upon use.
• Auto Salvage – Increases the chance of retrieving components from exploded bombs by 30% at max rank.

Tier 2 Skills

• Composite Armor – Reduces damage from your own explosions by 16% per rank, maxing out at 80%.
• Mana Blast – Restores 5 mana per explosion, up to 25 mana at max rank.
• Adrenaline Rush – Boosts melee damage by 10% per rank after detonating an explosion, capping at 50%.

Tier 3 Skills

• Afterburn – Increases burning damage by 10% per rank, up to 50%.
• Napalm – Gives explosions a 20% chance per rank to spawn napalm, up to 100%.

Optimized Skill Tree Layouts

There are multiple viable ways to build your explosives skill tree, depending on your playstyle:

1. Burning Build (Napalm & Afterburn Focus)
   • Max Auto Salvage, Napalm, and Afterburn.
   • Ideal for Mage weapons (Fireball Staff, Sun Caller) or explosive mortars (Burn Zooka).
2. Grenadier Build (Phantom Bombs & Napalm Focus)
   • Prioritize Phantom Bombs for 30% chance to keep grenades.
   • Works well with Poison Grenades for a Napalm + Poison combo.
3. Survivability Build (Composite Armor & Auto Salvage Focus)
   • Prioritizes Composite Armor for 80% explosion resistance.
   • Ideal if you often get caught in your own blasts.
4. Melee-Explosive Hybrid (Adrenaline Rush & Composite Armor Focus)
   • Uses Adrenaline Rush for a 50% melee boost after explosions.
   • Best for players who mix melee combat with grenade use.

Explosive Damage Cap and Limitations

Even if you stack 100%+ explosion resistance, there is a 90% cap, meaning you’ll always take some damage from your own explosions. You can’t become fully immune, so Composite Armor is still necessary if you plan to fight in close range.

How to Level Up Your Explosives Skill Fast

To increase your explosives skill efficiently, keep these mechanics in mind:

• Damage to enemies and radioactive crystals grants experience.
• Breaking walls with bombs does NOT grant XP.
• Hitting multiple enemies at once does NOT increase XP gain—XP is based on the number of explosions, not targets hit.
• Damage amount does NOT affect XP gained—a weak bomb provides the same XP as a powerful one.

Fastest XP Farming Methods

1. Hive Mother Respawn Strategy – Stand on an island and continuously explode Hive Mother’s minions.
2. Snail Farm Method – Since snails take no explosive damage, you can infinitely spam explosions on them for consistent XP.

Types of Explosives in Core Keeper

Explosives fall into three categories: Grenades, Bombs, and Mortars.

Bombs (Stationary Explosives)

• Crude Bomb – Basic bomb, small explosion radius.
• Bomb – Larger damage radius, common early-game bomb.
• Large Bomb – Twice the damage of regular bombs, great for mid-game.
• Mouse Bomb – Moves in a straight line before detonating.
• Dynamite Pack – Can be wired to a lever for remote detonation.
• Sulfur Bomb – Breaks nearly all walls and deals massive damage.
• Void Bomb – Pulls enemies toward explosion before detonating.

Grenades (Throwable Explosives)

• Grenade – Standard throwable explosive.
• Stun Grenade – 100% chance to stun but low damage.
• Fire Grenade – Always spawns Napalm.
• Poison Grenade – Always applies poison.
• Charm Grenade – Temporarily turns an enemy into an ally.

Mortars (Explosive Weapons)

• Burn Zooka – Explodes only when hitting a solid object.
• Hand Mortar – Fires a single explosive projectile.
• Bomb Scarab Mortar – Stronger than Hand Mortar, applies Napalm.

Best Explosive Gear

Armor Sets

1. Blast Set (Best Choice)
   • Found in Dirt Biome.
   • Provides direct explosive buffs and set bonuses.
   • Best all-around armor for explosive builds.
2. Carapace Set (Alternative Option)
   • Dropped by Hive Mother.
   • Decent explosive stats, but set bonus doesn’t benefit bombs.
3. Soul Fossil Set (Not Recommended)
   • Crafted in The Passage biome.
   • Raw damage boosts don’t affect explosives.

Accessories

• Bomb Necklace – Only necklace that boosts explosives.
• Bomb Ring – Grants +explosive damage and bonus health.
• Polished Magnetic Ring – Slightly higher explosive damage than Bomb Ring, but lacks health boost.

Final Thoughts: Mastering Explosives in Core Keeper

Explosives in Core Keeper offer high burst damage, strategic combat options, and powerful burning effects. With the right skills, armor, and weapons, you can create devastating builds that make quick work of enemies. Whether you prefer a burning Napalm build, a tactical grenade loadout, or a hybrid melee-explosive strategy, there’s plenty of room for customization.

Keep experimenting with different explosive setups, find what works best for you, and don’t forget to level up your explosives skill for maximum efficiency. Want to dive even deeper into Core Keeper? Stay tuned for more guides, and happy mining!