Fire TB - potential owning material

Now that he can finally auto-attack whilst moving (after god knows how long), a pure fire tb can now be played how it was designed to be played.

Imagine the ice tb first blood build where you take banded armor and gauntlets to catch the enemy with some suprise burst.

The same thing can now be done with fire tb, but with a more effective nuke with a shorter cooldown (fireball vs rain of ice).

After the initial chasing/skirmish's, ring of fire is incredibly good at holding ground when you can pick it up. If an enemy stands in it and eats fireballs/novas/AA they are not going to last long, and with hp + armor items you can potentially out-tank them.

For the build to work you will be wanting at least vlemish + unbreakable boots, maybe a plenor if you have mana issues, and then lots of hp + armor so you can tank a bit of auto atk dmg within ring of fire. Also practice your fake casting to catch those pesky oak penitence's or sedna pounces.

For the build I would say fireball is high priority, aura is high priority, ring of fire is high priority, fire nova is not so good imo, not sure it is worth the points when you need fireball + aura + ring of fire. Also maybe 1 point in deep freeze early so you can switch forms and interrupt slow cast abilities like big potions or tp's. Lvl 15+ improved fireball and the passive buff from the skill at the end of the ring of fire chain look very useful.

Fireball -> ring of fire -> switch -> frost nova -> switch -> fireball is also another potential strat to do some big dmg in team fights or solo.



So many things to try with TB, I hope to see him used more often in games now instead of UB + LE all the frickin time. This guy has sick AoE capabilities to handle generals and late game reinforcements, good chasing ability, and high potential for crazy ability dps which cannot be mitigated.

Really want to see how a 3v3 pans out with 1xice tb, 1x fire tb and 1x general ^^

4,355 views 19 replies
Reply #1 Top

Seriously Pure Fire TB has always been an effective build - even before the hotfix of shooting while moving.

Even with this fix introduced I will probably still be switching forms to auto attack because:
A) The switch of fire > ice is very short - I think like 0.5 secs?
B) When you switch to ice you gain attack damage. Late game this isnt too relevant - but early/mid game its pretty important.

But yea, im just saying this patch really hasnt made TB THAT much better.

Reply #2 Top

Auto attacking as fire lets you bust out that ownage fireball finisher when the time is right, though. Not to mention after you chase until fireball is ready, cast a fireball then you can switch in .5 to ice and drop a rain for even more damage.  Then slap a deep freeze on top.  Pretty nasty.  Can't wait to try it.

Reply #3 Top

Fire TB, a weak version of Occulus. :P

Reply #4 Top

I always loved a full fire TB. I think the inverse of the OP though, I only put one point in Ring of Fire at the beginning (so that I can zone flags, take out a crowd while Heaven's Wrath is recharging, or work the first lane tower in Cataract in early levels), and then max out Fireball and Fire Nova. The reason is that it's a lot quicker to clear crowds of creeps with a Fire Nova than it is to hold a crowd until Ring of Fire eats through them.

 

From there, though, it depends on the situation as to whether I choose to place points into RoF or Enhanced Attributes. If there's a good Reg or UB on the other team, I won't waste my time on RoF since Reg will run right through them or shoot me out of range, and it won't even phase a well built UB. If I'm left to my own devices though, I'll invest in it in order to take out multiple towers or Rook farms faster, or to help out my mates if they're getting harassed (early game at least, since a fireball+burst makes a quicker impression).

 

To me, though, it's just far too situational to rely on. It's safer, arguably faster, and more mana friendly to fireball towers down out of range when I'm pushing towards a portal in cataract alone (not to mention a lot less detectable), and even better to have a faster attack speed when I have people helping me push. If I'm saving people or soloing a UB mid to late game, I don't have time for big casts when everyone has stun and/or people need my help quickly: I need high burst damage and a fast rate of attack. On top of that, Ring of Fire is easily detectable and can either push potential kills away if I have the advantage, and basically is offering a free kill if I have the disadvantage. Most of the time, it's asking for a death sentence rather than security.

 

On retrospect, it definitely seems to be the worst (albeit not "bad") skill Fire TB has to offer, and I rarely have reason to use it late game unless giants are at our doorstep. Whenever I do, the first or second level of RoF suffices since they're usually used in games of cat and mouse and rarely deal the entirety of their damage to an enemy demigod, and just the image of the cast can be enough to scare off weaker players.

Reply #5 Top

Just to cover all bases, though, I think that Swift Anklet will be where it's at with the recent fix on TB's normal attacks when chasing. I personally love Heaven's Wrath because it means faster leveling (clears empty lanes, allows me to conserve mana every couple creep spawns so I can work towers) and is handy in PvP and fetching kills from people who barely escape when my skills are cooling down, but being able to chase someone and attack someone at the same time kind of kills the second advantage.

Reply #6 Top

Nobody uses BotS anymore??

Reply #7 Top

it makes no difference

besides now it can kill regulus now

Reply #8 Top

I personally don't enjoy using BotS because when I run out of mana, it's not when I'm farming creeps, but when I'm going up against other demigods or working towers. If it's early/mid game, auto-attack while I'm being pulverized is not enough to restore my mana enough to stop me from visiting the health crystal, and a bar of mana in exchange for half my health against a tower doesn't feel like it's worth it.

 

I also never had health problems mid-late game to justify not getting helmets.

Reply #9 Top

Quoting matchboxmatt, reply 8
I personally don't enjoy using BotS because when I run out of mana, it's not when I'm farming creeps, but when I'm going up against other demigods or working towers. If it's early/mid game, auto-attack while I'm being pulverized is not enough to restore my mana enough to stop me from visiting the health crystal, and a bar of mana in exchange for half my health against a tower doesn't feel like it's worth it.

 

I also never had health problems mid-late game to justify not getting helmets.
End of matchboxmatt's quote
All I need is BotS and I dont run out of mana so that allows me to stack 5 hp items or 4 and some extra speed

 

Reply #10 Top

Do you have a replay of you using it? I'd really like to see it in action since I haven't had much luck with it.

Reply #11 Top

Quoting matchboxmatt, reply 10
Do you have a replay of you using it? I'd really like to see it in action since I haven't had much luck with it.
End of matchboxmatt's quote
I have one I'll try to upload it later.

Edit:As soon as I figure out my username...sigh

Edit2:I give up I'll make a new account and post tommorow a bit busy right now.

Reply #12 Top

You do realise that attacking while moving is only good if the enermy is running away. Apart from that hes just the same as before. Still has the longest interupt cast time of anyone(droping to ice for a deep freeze)/no stun, no late game and all the other lacking stuff thats the reson hes never played.

Im faily shure that there are number of counter to fire TB that no one has bothered to develop because he is shit and will loose you the game anyway. His main power is in the levels 4 to 7 where he gets his damage skills before everyone can get a good health stack, every demigod can stall all the other demigods (except maybe LE/UB/minion oak) untill level 10 and still be pretty even and then win the game when its 3vs2.5.

So many things to try with TB, I hope to see him used more often in games now instead of UB + LE all the frickin time. This guy has sick AoE capabilities to handle generals and late game reinforcements, good chasing ability, and high potential for crazy ability dps which cannot be mitigated.
End of quote

If fire TB was to get better i would think that UB could be played less but i think would think LE  having the 2nd  highest health would become even more played along with all the other generals. Occulas does what fire TB is good at much better anyway (can kill all creeps but giants at range) and he can also carry a monk idol.

Not untill health stacking/monk idols were nurfed will pure damage ever become viable or make the game more fun. (If his damage was buffed then everyone would be forced even more into health stacking).

Reply #13 Top

Im faily shure that there are number of counter to fire TB that no one has bothered to develop because he is shit and will loose you the game anyway.
End of quote

He is not shit, but needs to be played carefully. With LE u can do many mistakes and still win, with oak u can make some mistakes and still be alive, with tb u have no right for a mistake

---

Its just too much newbies choose tbs for their games.

Reply #14 Top

TB is teh shits. He's the only DG I'll willingly play.

But Maff is right, newb give him a horrid name.

Reply #15 Top

TB is the coolest looking / coolest concept character by far. Although oak looks pretty BA imo.

 

<! -- Lord Erebus looks like a friggen drugged up purple dinosaur with the syringes still hanging out -->

Reply #16 Top

TB is the coolest looking / coolest concept character by far.
End of quote


Rook > All

Reply #17 Top

But he look so awkward stunned.

 

I would of quoted you but I HATE QUOTING YOU!

Reply #18 Top

Im faily shure that there are number of counter to fire TB that no one has bothered to develop because he is shit and will loose you the game anyway. His main power is in the levels 4 to 7 where he gets his damage skills
End of quote

 

level 5-7 is acually the worst time for fire torchbearer because other demigods are strong enough to easily kill him but starting at level 8 fire torch gets two big advantages, the 1st is fire aura III which makes him able to outrun pretty much anyone who doesn't speed stack.  Also around level 8 is when citadel priests usally come into play which is a big help for torchbearer because his health regen is worse than terrable.

Reply #19 Top

Agreed, TB gets stronger as more creeps enter the game. Super strong AoE damage can let him powerlevel up to 20 in fifteen minutes after giants hit the board.