Windslayer Wraps

Living Bomb
Living Bomb (3 ranks) Mage ability 40 s. yd range 17% of base mana gcd cooldown Instant The target becomes a Living Bomb, taking X Fire damage over 12 sec. After 12 sec or when the spell is dispelled, the target explodes dealing Y Fire damage to up to 3 enemies within 10 yards. Can be applied to up to 3 targets max.
Properties
Class	Mage
School	Fire
Cooldown	GCD
Improvements	[Impact], Ignite, [Critical Mass],  [Fire Power], [Pyromaniac], Spell Power.
Related debuff
Magic Living Bomb Causes X Fire damage every 3 sec. After 12 sec or when the spell is dispelled, the target explodes causing Y Fire damage to up to 3 enemies within 10 yards. Duration: 12 sec

[[Category:mage abilities]][[Category:mage abilities]]

"Pop quiz! You've got a bomb attached to your soul. What do you do?"
—Riley Sizzleswitch

Living Bomb is a mage spell that debuffs the target with a DoT, dealing 1444 damage over 12 seconds (at level 80). After the debuff expires, or when it is dispelled, the target explodes, dealing 361 damage to up to 3 enemies within 10 yards (at level 80). These damage numbers are affected by Spell Power and other enhancements, resulting in a spell that is much more powerful. A level 80 mage with decent gear can have Living Bombs that deal over 7700 damage over time, and explode for over 1600.

Living Bomb can only be applied to 3 targets. Applying living bomb to a fourth target will cause the first Living Bomb to disapate, doing no additional damage over time and removing the explosion effect from that target. If applied to a target already affected by Living Bomb, the debuff timer is reset to 12 seconds, delaying the detonation of the bomb effect. To prevent clipping, Mages should be careful to apply this to only three targets, and verify their targets are not already affected by Living Bomb.

As Living Bomb is a Damage over Time effect, it can be spread and multiplied by  [Impact]. If spread in this way, the timers are not reset, possibly resulting in multiple targets being affected by Living Bomb with the same countdown. This can create a huge burst of damage when all of the targets explode at the same time. Impact can have a multiplying effect, however Living Bomb is still limited to three targets.

Living Bomb deals fire damage, and thus gains the benefit of the talents Ignite, [Master of Elements], [Critical Mass],  [Fire Power], and [Pyromaniac]. Prior to 4.0.1, additional talents applied to these effects, but Patch 4.0.1 removed some of these talents from the game, and modified the effects of others.

Living Bomb is obtained by spending a minimum of 31 points in the Mage Fire Talent tree. As such, the earliest a mage can acquire this spell is level 70.

Uses

• In raid situations, Living Bomb is a considerable DPS increase, and keeping it up constantly can theoretically boost DPS by up to 10%.
  It's instant casting, damage on the move and delayed boom effects are considerably useful effects that make the Fire Mage vastly more mobile and versatile.
  Its AoE benefits on raid trash clearance are considerable if it detonates; Living Bomb's final explosion is NOT subject to AoE damage caps, and can inflict horrendous damage on large groups of packed mobs (examples being phase 2 Onyxian whelps or the Frostwyrm hatchlings directly before Sindragosa in Icecrown Citadel). Even with the new target limit of 3, this spell continues to be a very useful addition to the Fire Mage's kit.

• With the addition of  [Glyph of Living Bomb], the damage of Living Bomb effects is increased by 3%. Prior to patch 4.0.1, this glyph used to make the Living Bomb periodic damage capable of being critical strikes. As of patch 3.2, critical strikes from the periodic damage can now also trigger Ignite. Hot Streak procing on periodic Living Bomb damage was live with 3.2, but quickly hotfixed .

• In PvP, Living Bomb adds to the Fire Mage's mobile DPS a lot and prevents dispels on enemy targets in fear of the AoE damage trigger.

Notes

During the beta of Wrath of the Lich King, the original effect of the spell was to make the caster themselves the Living Bomb, doing AOE damage to enemies within 10 yards, with a final explosion doing more damage. The spell was criticized as the damage was very low. The spell was then changed to be a castable debuff, but again was criticized for it's low damage. A mana-burn was added to the final explosion, burning off an amount of mana equal to the damage to the target, but the spell was still criticized. Eventually the damage was increased, the mana-burn was removed, and a knock-up effect was added to the final explosion, which knocked the target up into the air. This effect was removed before the spell was released.

Patch changes

• Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Mana cost has been reduced by 22%.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12):
  • Limited to 3 targets.
  • Explosions affect up to 3 targets.
  • Does more damage.
  • As a periodic fire effect, can be spread and multiplied by  [Impact]. If spread in this way, the timers are not reset, however the number of affected targets is still limited to 3.
    
  • Since [Hot Streak] was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
• Template:Patched
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04):
  • Can now be cast on multiple targets at the same time.
  • Periodic critical strikes from this ability can now trigger Ignite and Hot Streak.
    
• Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): [Hot Streak] is now also affected by Living Bomb.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Added.
  

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB