I've been told I play a pretty brutal fire TB.
First off I won't play fire TB in a 2v2 against Sedna, I just won't. Even in a 3v3 if they have Senda I'll only play TB if my team is stacking heavy damage. It's just too difficult to beat Sedna in a mana war, I'll generally go Rook if I expect to be fighting extended battles.
This will change if the autoattack bug is fixed. Currently though 90% of your damage is going to come from your damage skills, much moreso than any other DG. If someone runs from you your damage will stop completely between fireballs and if that person's health is bouncing back up from sedna's heals you're not going to get a kill. TB's fire autoattack is very, very respectable with the fire aura and form swaps though, so if the autoattack while moving is fixed you'll be able to push back against those heals with it and TB's viability will increase dramatically.
Anyway, my standard build is as follows:
- Circle of Fire I
- Early fireball does piddly damage, I prefer to clear the creeps and retreat initially. Cast this very early and let creeps come into it rather than heading into spit/pounce range and then casting
- Fire Aura I
- If the opposing DG is being ballsy and/or you have a regulus on your team you may want Fireball here instead
- Fireball I
- Fireball II
- Fire Nova I
- Use this sparingly!!! It costs a shitload of mana
- If you're fighting a minion swarming Erebus you may want to get Circle II here. Fire Nova seems nice for minions at first but ultimately the mana cost is just not effective for it at all, Circle II is much better for protecting yourself from them
- Circle of Fire II
- If you're not fighting Erebus there's no point in upgradingthis skill earlier than this. In fact you might even take Fire Aura II instead because the real purpose of CoF is to clear creeps and shoo people away and rank 1 does that just fine.
- Remember Fire Aura II is a 10% AoE run speed improvement. That's absolutely incredible team utility, if you have a UB or Erebus your team because nearly inescapable.
- Fireball III
- Circle of fire III
- Rank 3 is when I feel this spell gets really dangerous and becomes a legit single target damage ability. Cast this sucker in the middle of a fight when players are distracted and if the enemies don't flee or move the fight off of it your team will most likely win.
- If you're the one being focus fired, don't advance forwards into three enemy DGs to do this without special items or heals!
- Save
- Fireball IV + Fire Nova II
- Same crossroads here. If you're fighting a minion swarm who's taking morale and piling on minion HP items you might get more mileage out of CoF IV, but also remember you often cross threshold with Nova II in that you kill weakened units outright. I would say if Night Walkers have broken 1200 HP you should probably go CoF IV unless the other team has been neglecting to stack health and the extra burst is likely to net a DG kill.
- Circle of Fire IV
- Fire Aura II
- Fire Aura III
- Fire Aura is underrated and oftentimes enhancing your team's run speed by 15% has a much greater effect than doing a few hundred more damage yourself. Usually I get stuck holding a lane by myself so I prioritize damage skills, but when I'm paired with a melee chracter I'll often focus on the aura instead of ranking up my AoE (I always max fireball no matter what).
- Save
- Inspiration Flame + Fire Nova III
- Seriously Inspirational Flame is the best level 15 skill in the game. Most games don't reach that level, but when they do the TB is an absolute blast.
- You're on your own! I recommend Blizzard here because of the ridiculous creep grinding and because the attack speed debuff helps to counter artifact acquisition. Once you get Inspirational Flame you'll have a crazy amount of mana and can really unload on people with Blizzard + Fireball. However it's still viable to get Deep Freeze or Frost Nova depending on what you want to do.
I alawys, always go Staff of Renewal and I have no idea how these guys get by with so little mana. I have to have Plenthor and Vlemish (Vlemish first!) to keep casting at full tilt.
Once I hit level 4 I just start pelting DGs with Fireball on every cooldown. I swap forms to keep my +50% mana regen buff active, and I rarely, rarely use Fire Nova on anything but DGs unless I'm planning on going to the crystal anyway or I'm totally capped on mana and don't expect to burn mana quickly.
I really don't think that swapping a Blade of the Serpent for the Staff is a good investment in the long run. These guys who do that could get nearly the same effect for just 1500 gold if they picked up that mana crown, but there's no way to balance out a 20% cooldown reduction.
Especially as fire I'll aim to get an Orb of Defiance, I've killed many a UB with it. What usually happens is I see the UB and I cast Fireball which finishes at about the the same instant his spit finishes due to the superior range. Then I cast Circle of Fire where I know we'll engage (usually on a flag). The circle usually finishes casting just as he enters melee range and prepares to grasp. If he doesn't withdraw I hit the Orb immediately. It removes the Spit and protects me from damage, so I'm at 95% or higher HP while he cooks in the circle for 5 seconds. Most players will also burn their stun while you're invulnerable.
If the stun is already burnt then you have a few options. Usually I'll fireball, recast CoF, and then cast a potion even if I'm at high health. I can always interrupt the potion and I feel being 3/4 of the way through a health poition cast while I'm at 60% HP just gives me a lot of options. If he's Ooze/Spit you'll generally get a good 2k heal off of it since he'll spit while you cast your second fireball and the Ooze is ticking along with his autoattacks whenever you're not invulnerable.
Anyway, your mileage may very, but the key to making fire work is speed and harassment. Fireball, run, fireball, run, fireball, run. Stand your ground only when you've got an advantage. With fire aura you can break even with almost anyone speed-wise.
