Box Stock
Fist Bump is one of those classic, “Eh, not that great” characters box stock. While I appreciate the proficiency of the primary attack and found a nice tie in with the primary and secondary, most seem to see the numbers and be unimpressed. The Panda Pound does 50-75 and the Fault Line Slam deals 32-48 when up close on impact, or 35-52 from a distance with a nice 44-66 uprising when a fault line is hit with Panda Pound. However, it is important to note Fist Bump has a nice jump slam attack from the get-go with a 175-262 hit! There is also a 1-2-3 Combo that deals 50-75, 50-75, 140-210 you have to factor in…Since a lot of people overlook the jump slams and combos, it is very important to make note of them.
Base Upgrades
Seismic Slide is the tertiary attack and it deals 72-108 on impact and actually generates a fault line…The fault line remains the same as the standard secondary attack and will deal 44-66. Panquake is up next and while it keeps the Panda Pound at 50-75, it also makes mini fault cracks that come in handy later. If you jump attack it, you now create instant fault lines to go with the powerful 175-262. Hold the Line simply extends the reach of the fault lines, which is always nice. Don’t Bump Fist Bump is almost like armor, but falls more in the self-defense field. When you are hit by an enemy and have fault lines on the field you will see the faults are triggered and generate the 44-66 uprising damage.
Rowdy Richter Upgrade Path
This is a pretty solid path, particularly because of A Bolder Boulder (doesn’t that sound like a Rocky Roll Upgrade?). Fault Lines in Glass Houses adds small stones that can shoot up from pounded fault lines…they are more visual than anything as they only deal 10-15 damage. Quake’N’Bake is a two-fold increase of the standard fault line. The usual 35-52 impact damage is now 49-73 and the 44-66 uprise damage is bumped to a very nice 62-93. A Bolder Boulder wraps up the path and it interjects the possibility of having a spiked boulder. You still have the small stones that deal 10-15 damage, but every 4-6 small stones you will see one of the spiked boulders…the spiked boulders do an incredible 100-150! It is also worth noting that this looks really cool…The most functional way I saw to play this path was to fire off a few fault lines and then start Panquake. In addition to getting the 62-93 from the risers and additional damage from the small stones and spiked boulders, if an enemies are left after the fault lines expire you can keep spamming Panquake and take advantage of the small fault cracks generating the stones and spiked boulders…You will miss out on the uprising damage, but that is easy to offset with a moderate ground pound coupled with the stone projectiles.
Bamboo Bonanza Upgrade Path
Man, what a path! I had the pre-drawn conclusion that Rowdy Richter would be the hard hitting path and was simply holding hope that the bamboo explosions did more than 16 damage and the health regen was more than +5 at a time…Both fears were put to rest! Healing Bamboo is up first and it spawns within fault lines you create…The bamboo deals a very respectable +15 Health! The game stays you have to “slide into it” which would imply the tertiary attack, Seismic Slide must be used but that is no the case. You can simply walk into it, or I found that often times the bamboo spawns so close to you, you just auto absorb the health increase! Sliding into it is advantageous though as it will generate even more fault lines with bamboo! So what if you are at full health, or need the damage output more than gaining a little back? Well, Bamboo Harvest takes that into consideration. If you have created a few fault lines and have bamboo all across the screen, you can do your jump slam attack and create bamboo explosions to the tune of 80-120 damage with each go around! Lastly, “Jump For It!” makes the jump slam attack much quicker and generates 2 fault lines, which yes…have bamboo!! Overall this is an awesome combination of offense and defense and a path I can’t help but prefer!
Soul Gem
Riding the Rails transforms Fist Bump into quite the juggernaut. It is quite possible you could take out hordes of garden variety enemies like Chompies and some mid-tier enemies without actually doing anything aside from moving! You might think that this Soul Gem would suit Rowdy Richter better, but I would gladly debate that. While Rowdy Richter will get more results from the uprisings and stones and boulders launching, Bamboo Bonanza lets you cash in on +15 Health, or great access to ready made bamboo to detonate with an Air Panda Pound! The Soul Gem plays beautifully into either path and truly does make Fist Bump a force to be reckoned with!
Attack Damage
Conclusion
Fist Bump upgrades very well down either path. Personally, I would have to rate Bamboo Bonanza as the better option. Rowdy Richter is great for those who want to spam the primary attack, or simply approach enemies with a base skill (Seismic Slide or firing off a few fault lines) and the revert back to the tandem compatibility of using Panda Pound. The spiked boulders are lethal and you can make quite a dent on most enemies before they are up close for melee combat. Bamboo Bonanza really isn’t that far behind Rowdy Richter’s damage output and offers health regeneration! The versatility of Bamboo Harvest, which lets you blow up the bamboo if it will better function in that manner than in regenerative fashion really seals the deal. Having the jump slam sped up and spawning fault lines with bamboo encourages you to utilize Fist Bump’s most powerful attack AND make use of his tertiary attack for quick recovery. It is one of the better paths I have seen in Trap Team and I truly believe he is in the running for being the most versatile of all the core Skylanders in this game!