Bomb Effects
Caltrop – Caltrop Bomb (Tactical) – Slows and stuns enemies by
covering an area of ground with metal spikes. Perfect for stopping
pursuits and blocking narrow paths. Ezio is not damaged by caltrops.
Lamb’s Blood – Blood Bomb (Tactical) – Sprays blood in an explosion,
causing fear and panic. They incapacitate, but for only a short amount
of time.
Shrapnel – Splinter Bomb (Lethal) – Sprays shards of metal in
all directions, hurting or killing anyone caught in the blast. Like a
modern frag grenade, beware of killing civilians.
Salt of Petra – Smoke Decoy (Diversion) – Releases a thick smoke that draws guards to
it. Useful for luring guards and breaking their line of sight. Less
noisy and more discreet than other diversions.
Phosphorous – Smoke Screen (Tactical) – Blinds victims with a bright flash and creates
smoke that breaks line of sight. Enemies caught in the smoke are easy
to kill, and Ezio can see through the smoke with his eagle vision.
Datura – Datura Bomb (Lethal) – Releases a cloud of poison smoke that
hurts and incapacities anyone caught by it. Beware of killing
civilians, the effect is similar to the Poison Dart.
Coal Dust – Thunder Bomb (Lethal) – Creates a powerful explosion, it is less
powerful than other bombs, but will stun and disable anyone not killed
in the explosion.
Skunk Oil – Stink Bomb (Diversion) – Drenches anyone
with a strong stink caught in the blast, very useful for separating
targets from crowds or other guards. Any guard caught in the stink
will stop until the effect has worn off.
Sulfur – Cherry Bomb (Diversion) – Pops with a loud noise, and attracts guards from far > and wide to investigate the noise.
Pyrite Coins – Gold Bomb (Diversion) –
Like throwing coin on steriods, the explosion will spray an area with
coins, any citizen will become hostile to guards coming to
investigate, creating a big instant crowd and diversion.
Bomb Casings
Fuse Shell – The default casing, it bounces off surfaces or NPCs and
explodes after three seconds. The extra time can be useful for
escaping and hiding before the bomb goes off.
Impact Shell – Explodes on impact with an NPC or surface. If you need an immediate > explosion, use this casing. Best used for lethal bombs, where you’ll rarely need
to set a killer trap, or just need to defeat a large group quickly.
Trip Wire – Explodes when enemies walk near, a perfect casing for
setting traps. Set these on guard patrol routes.
Sticky Pouch – Sticky to any surface of NPC it lands on, then explodes after five seconds.
The delay helps Ezio escape, and being able to land a bomb on a
specific target means you always know at least one of your intended
targets will be caught in the blast.
Bomb Gunpowder
Indian Gunpowder – 2 meter blast radius. Best used for precision
attacks where you need to limit civilian casualties.
Arabic Gunpowder – 3 meter blast radius. Medium, for when you need a slightly larger
effect on your targets.
British Gunpowder – 4 meter blast radius. Best used for large groups, save these large blasts for tactical bombs that limit civilian death.
Best Answer
Tripwire bombs are weapons that takes getting used to to be effective. There are very few instances where using it would be better than using different bomb type. It takes planning and patience and can be tough to use if you don't have either.
Tripwire bombs must be set by you so it may arm itself. To set it, you have to hold the bomb button down until you place it down. When armed, any NPC that walks within its triggering range will detonate it, that includes any unintended civilian NPC's that happens to walk by.
There are two rings visible when you set it. The innermost ring shows the triggering range and the outermost ring shows the explosion range. Any non-allied NPC that steps into the triggering range will detonate it while anyone within the explosion range will be affected by the bomb.
They are most useful if you have a target that is walking in a path that you know they will take. You can set the bomb along that path to hopefully get them. Most enemy NPC's that you will see in the game will have a particular patrol route. You can see if they have one by going into Eagle Vision to see it. The lines on the ground are the paths they will take and the circles in the paths indicate where they usually stop. Otherwise if your targets don't have a patrol route, you will have to anticipate where they will be moving.
They can also be used defensively. If you plan on getting into trouble, you can set some in a remote location where nobody will normally traverse and use them as your escape route. If you have any guards chasing you, lead them to your bombs. You will not set them off but your pursuers will.
You're not missing out on much IMHO, the other shells are far more useful since setting the trap is not always practical to do in the heat of the moment.
In multiplayer, it's typically used more as a defensive weapon than an offensive one. The time it takes to arm makes it hard to use but makes it great for ambushes. They can be thrown now too by holding the ability button down. Take note that only other players will set it off now (civilians will not trigger them).
You'll have to be smart about your placement of the traps. You're playing against human opponents now and can see the bombs on the ground. The ideal placement would be somewhere in front of you between you and possible approach directions. You should try conceal its location by placing it directly underneath an NPC, within debris that's on the ground or behind a wall/divider so pursuers will not see it.