Living Bomb



Living Bomb is a level 45 Fire mage talent. It debuffs the target with a DoT, dealing damage over 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, the target explodes, instantly dealing damage to all enemies within 10 yards and spreads Living Bomb to them. Living Bomb only deals 70% of its damage when used against other players.

History
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 its 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.

In Mists of Pandaria, the "mage bomb" category was expanded as a gameplay concept by the addition of Nether Tempest and Frost Bomb, which along with Living Bomb were made level 75 talents available to all specializations to provide more variety to mages' casting rotations. Nether Tempest is the mid-range of the three, best used against 3-6 targets with powerful direct damage and a random target splash effect. (Living Bomb, conversely, is more powerful against 1-2 targets, while Frost Bomb is better against 7 or more targets.)

Warlords of Draenor
While the mage bombs were highly successful in their task of changing the mage style of gameplay, they brought with them the opportunity to "multidot" (placing the effect on multiple targets simultaneously). Extensive tracking of DoT effects across multiple targets was not made for the intended style of mage gameplay. Because of this, the mage bomb talents are planned to be reworked into a single, spec-specific talent for Warlords of Draenor, of which the redesigned Living Bomb will be the Fire version.

Trivia
Living Bomb is one of Kael'thas' Basic Abilities in Heroes of the Storm.

Patches and hotfixes

 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.
 * Since Hot Streak was changed, can no longer trigger a Hot Streak with its explosion.