Fireball

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

I have a level 73 extreme projectile speed Fireball user and a level 14 Magma Orb tester.

Can anyone give me ONE good reason to go Fireball over Magma Orb?

They're both level 1 req (starter) fire spells, they're both AoE, although Orb is more of a massive cone to Fireball's tiny targeted AoE.

Despite these similarities, Magma Orb completely outstrips Fireball from the start and never lets up.

The new 'ignite chance' for fireball is silly -- if you're going to worry about ignite damage, you're probably going to go crit anyway.

The projectile speed is welcome but hardly the change needed.

So there's my question, couched in the tested belief that magma orb renders the current fireball utterly pointless.

(which is, of course, why I'm playing it.)

This is admittedly a very specific case, but with all that easily obtained chance to ignite, it seems to me that a decent ignite build could be made with Emberwake (even more so if the more multipliers of slower projectile and concentrated effect can directly affect ignite). I guess it somewhat proves your point though, that so much chance to ignite can (seemingly?) only be fully used through that item that allows it.

Edited: I changed my mind. For totally new players, probably there would be no distinction between area skill and single target skill because efficiency is not relevant for this kind of new players. For ARPG veteran new players, GGG needs to show there are a lot of types of skills in game from early on as currently offered.

IMO yet the damage of fireball in early level can be increased by around 15 %.

@Char

Yeah i dont really get it either, there are a few skills at this point which are mechanically better and its frustrating because the old skills are left to rot.

Magma Orb is sadly mechanically superior now, just like how Ball Lightning is superior to Storm Call, Storm Call which effectively is never used even after the massive buffs. I would even be willing to Say that Ball Lightning is a Superior version of Arc, however i definitely wont say its better than Spark because we all know just how ridiculous spark is regardless of the fact its not FOTM and being played alot right now.

I tried a Storm Caller again recently, damage is still too inconsistent, waiting for your damage sucks mechanically speaking. That 1.5 seconds it takes to go off is easily that same amount of time it can take a mob to eat you alive, reduced duration on it is very awkward (decreases your damage significantly but gets the lower amount of damage out faster).

I tried fireball again recently too, after the shotgun removal its just ugh. I dont know how you can cope with that, it just doesnt feel right.

What are you currently supporting fireball with ?

Can fireball explosions overlap?

I know shotgunning is no more, but that only means that a target can only get hit by one projectile.

But if two mobs are close enough, and they each get hit by a fireball, does the explosion from the other one hit them?

It apears to be so on molten strike : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/911179/filter-account-type/staff#p10514020

One thing that bothers me is sometimes with the hit collision of fireballs. Sometimes the projectiles detonate and don't even deal damage especially when the enemy is already right in your face.

I am currently playing a CI crit Fireball Shadow in Warbands and i feel that Fireball desperatly needs some love. To be honest, i am about to give up on it and getting the last few levels for the 82 challenge feels like a chore. A lot more often than not, i would think "screw this" and simply log out without touching the game for the rest of the evening whenever i play my Fireball char. I don't think the build itself is bad *(Shadow Vargorn if you want to check it in my profile)* but the skill feels just so lackluster atm.
Ok, those are some drastic words and so far i have never given up on a skill before but maybe i am just very disappointed since i had very high hopes for the skill rework when Magma Orb got introduced.
So much for the raging and here is some more objective explanation below why i think that the skill needs some rework and why i also believe that this is important not only to me personally.


Fireball is a staple skill of casters in about every fantasy themed game. It is pretty much the first thing you will take up when you play a caster (in case of the Witch even literally ;)). This doesn't mean that it has to be one of the best skills but that it should be fun to use.
In its current form, Fireball in PoE feels rather clunky and relatively weak to use. The way i see it, the prroblem is not the low damage (although a 20% damage boost certainly wouldn't hurt!) but the combination of slow cast speed, slow projectiles and small AoE. Another thing is the very low scaling through added damage via the new weapon mods, support gems or Anger due to its slow cast speed and damage effectiveness.

There are many fire skills in the game currently and each has its own niche - and there is also Incinerate but let's better not talk about that.
In comparison to the other fire spells, Fireballs niche would be that of an allrounder skill but i feel that it simply doesn't do well in this role in its current implementation.

There are several ways to improve this that i feel would help making it more fun to use as well as giving it an "identity":

The big Boom:
Pretty much what one would expect from a fireball in most games. Medium-slow projectile speed, slow cast speed (like the current), big damage, big AoE.
This would also fit well with the new/improved chance to ignite mod it has since 2.0.
Example: 30% more damage, 130% damage effectiveness, 12 AoE radius, available at level 12

Firebolt:
Faster cast speed, noticeably faster projectile speed, additional projectiles at higher level.
This would make the skill feel much more responsive and versatile and make it grow with the char to an extent, similar to Arc.
Example: 0.7 sec cast, +40% projectile speed, 7 AoE radius, +1 projectile for each 4 lvl (1 @ lvl 1, 2 @ lvl 5, ... , 6 @ lvl 21).

Of course there would also be the option to split the skill into two but that would mean a rework of the skill effect i assume.