Firebomb

Firebomb is a Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 20. 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 Active Skill [e]
Skull of Flame
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Enabled at:	Clvl 20
Skill Description
Lob a skull filled with fire dealing damage to all enemies caught in the explosion.
Type:	Direct Damage/AoE
Resource Use:	Costs Mana
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Spreads burning shards
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Bounces
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

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.

Firebomb Video

A video of Firebomb in use can be seen below, courtesy of the DiabloInc You Tube channel.

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

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Skill Rune Effects

The known rune effects for Firebomb are:

• 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.
• 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.
• Unknown rune: Launches a jar full of spiders instead of a flaming skull.

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.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Firebomb became a level 20 skill.

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
• JudgeHype.com July 2011 Press Event Coverage - The Witch Doctor (Translated by Zediono)