Firebomb

Firebomb is a Witch Doctor Tier 5 skill unlocked at level 14. This skill (formerly called Skull of Flame) is a projectile that's thrown like a grenade. It bursts upon impact, dealing fire damage to the target and anything in the immediate vicinity.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Skull of Flame Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Skill Description:
Lob a skull filled with fire dealing X-Y fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Critical hits from fire damage will cause targets to burn for an additional 25% over 4 seconds
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	Cast
Effect:	Circular AoE
School:	Fire
Mana cost:	7 mana
Cast time:	Unknown
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	Unknown
Synergies:	Unknown
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Witch Doctor lobs a burning skull filled with combustibles at his enemies, which explodes violently when it breaks upon them.

Skill Design

This skill is quite useful, since it has good damage, nice range, and a very small cooldown. This makes Firebomb a good crowd control spell, especially in narrow corridors where enemies can be trapped in a hail of fire.

Upon explosion, the flames briefly form the shape of a large, menacing humanoid creature.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 4-5 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Cost: 7 mana. (A)
• Rank 2: Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 6-9 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Cost: 7 mana. (A)
• Rank 3: Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 8-13 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Cost: 7 mana. (A)
• Rank 4: Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 10-17 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Cost: 7 mana. (A)
• Rank 5: Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 12-20 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Cost: 7 mana. (A)

(A) = Assumed

I don't want Volcano insurance!

Synergies

• None known.

Skill Rune Effects

• Alabaster rune: Unknown.
• Crimson rune: The firebomb explodes with a much larger blast, sending burning shards flying in all directions. These spread fields of flame, dealing AoE damage to enemies in the vicinity.
• Golden rune: Unknown. Probably lower mana cost per Firebomb.
• Indigo rune: Instead of exploding upon initial contact with solid objects, the Firebomb bounces (more bounces come from higher level runes). This spreads fire damage over a longer path.
• Obsidian rune: Unknown.

Development

Firebomb was originally called Skull of Flame and was introduced in the WWI 2008 gameplay video. At the time, the skill was at Tier I in the Spirit Skill Tree. At BlizzCon 2009, Firebomb was located in the Voodoo Skill Tree but seemed otherwise unchanged. Flux found it to be very useful:[1]

Skulls can actually be thrown too far, in some exploitative ways. Several times I saw a pack of Fallen or other monsters on some ledge way of in the distance, in a location I was supposed to have to walk way down around some boulders and along narrow ledges and paths to reach. Yet I could freely hurl my firebombs to those locations, with perfect accuracy, and was able to kill enemies who had no way to fight back. Naturally, I did so whenever possible, if only to watch the Fallen scurry around.

By BlizzCon 2010, (after skill trees were eliminated) Firebomb had been moved way down the skill system, to Tier 5. It was one of the Witch Doctor's preset skills in the Battle Arena demo.

Previous Versions

See the Witch Doctor skill archive for more details on previous versions of Firebomb (or Skull of Flame) and other Witch Doctor skills.

Media

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Firebomb specific gallery contents

• 

  Lobbest thou thy holy hand grenade...

• 

  A throw against Ghouls.

• 

  Explosion. Note the character that appears.

• 

  Another throw, against Wraiths.

• 

  Skull of Flame explosion in Tristram, killing Scavengers.

References

• BlizzCon 2008 Witch Doctor Gameplay Report
• BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
• BlizzCon 2010 PvP Hands-on Report