The Bomb Launcher allows the player to throw an unlimited amount of bombs during the special's duration without using up any ink. The bombs thrown depend on the type of launcher used, and are as follows:
Players using Bomb Launcher can still attack normally with their main weapon. The remaining bombs thrown during the special do not fill the special gauge after time is up.
Differences from Bomb Rush
While this special weapon is very similar in function to the Bomb Rush from Splatoon, there are some key differences between the two.
Whereas Bomb Rush was locked to the loadout's current sub weapon in Splatoon, any weapon in Splatoon 2 can potentially have any type of Bomb Launcher. This means that kits with a sub weapon that is not a bomb, like Sprinklers, can have the Bomb Launcher.
Unlike in Splatoon where Bomb Range Up affected the range of the bombs thrown, Splatoon 2's equivalent ability, Sub Power Up, does not affect the Bomb Launcher.
Bombs from the Bomb Launcher can be charged up to allow them to be thrown further. An uncharged bomb has the same distance as a thrown sub weapon with no Sub Power Up, while a fully charged bomb is thrown at the same distance as a sub weapon with the maximum amount of Sub Power Up.
When a Bomb Launcher special ends, there is a one-second period where the game does not accept any input from . This is to prevent the player from accidentally launching a sub weapon when the special ends to avoid wasting ink.
Data
Without the aid of Special Power Up, the Splat-Bomb Launcher, Suction-Bomb Launcher, and Autobomb Launcher can launch eleven uncharged bombs within the duration, or seven if they are all fully charged. The Curling-Bomb Launcher can launch twelve uncharged, or eight fully charged. The Burst-Bomb Launcher can launch seventeen uncharged, or ten fully charged.
With the maximum amount of Special Power Up, the duration of most Bomb Launchers increases to eight seconds, allowing the Splat-Bomb Launcher, Suction-Bomb Launcher, and Autobomb Launcher to launch fifteen uncharged bombs within the duration, or nine if they are all fully charged. The Burst-Bomb Launcher can launch 23 uncharged, or fourteen fully charged. The duration of the Curling-Bomb Launcher increases to 8.66 seconds and can launch sixteen uncharged, or ten fully charged.
The Burst-Bomb Launcher provides a 50% increase to throwing rate compared to throwing Burst Bombs normally, taking twenty frames instead of thirty.
Most bombs take twenty frames to fully charge, though Burst Bombs take fifteen frames instead.
Unlike other launchers, Curling Bombs launched behave differently from its sub weapon version. Charging up the Curling-Bomb Launcher increases the speed and size of explosions from its bombs, where charging up the sub weapon version increases the size of the explosion, but lowers the speed it travels at.
▲ Decreased trajectory variance of first shot while also increasing time required to reach maximum shot variance when firing continuously.
As a sub weapon, the size of Curling Bombs will now change depending on how long is held, but Curling Bombs generated by the Curling Bomb Launcher will always be the same size, regardless of button press duration.
▲ Due to this change, area of ink coverage while Curling Bombs are traveling has been increased slightly.
▼ Due to this change, area of ink coverage and damage dealt by Curling Bomb explosions has been decreased slightly.
None of the sub weapons on any Bomb Launcher sets match the bombs thrown from the Launcher.
The Bomb Launcher is designed after the Ultra Machine, a batting toy made by Nintendo in 1967. This is likely referenced in their Japanese name, Bomb Pitchers.
While on the Bomb Launcher's rail, the bombs are inside gashapon capsules, and the two halves of the capsule can be seen being discarded as each bomb is thrown.
As visible in the promotional image, the Bomb Launcher has its own ink reservoir, explaining why throwing bombs during the special does not drain the player's ink.
Although difficult to hear, while active, the Bomb Launcher plays a chiptune version of Bomb Rush Blush, despite how the song is named after its predecessor, the Bomb Rush.
Before the release of the Bamboozler 14 Mk II, data mining had already revealed in-game data for the Burst-Bomb Launcher, including images for its weapon icon.
Burst-Bomb Launchers also appeared in the Octo Expansion as a canned special before the release of the Bamboozler 14 Mk II.
There were meant to be three weapons with Autobomb Launcher as their special, not two. However, the Tri-Slosher Nouveau ended up getting released with the Ink Storm due to fudged datamining.