Pyroblast

Pyroblast
Pyroblast 40 yd  range 5.0% of base mana 3.5 sec cast Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes X Fire damage and an additional X Fire damage over 18 sec. Getting two single-target direct-damage Fire critical strikes in a row will make your next Pyroblast instant cast, cost no mana, and deal 25% additional damage.
Usable by
Class	Mage
Properties
Type	Offensive
School	Fire
Casting time	3.5 sec cast
Cooldown	(GCD 1.5 sec)
Talents
Specialization	Fire
Level required	10
Related debuff
Magic Pyroblast X Fire damage every 3 seconds. Duration: 18 seconds
TCG image

• Pyroblast
• 40 yd  range
• 5.0% of base mana
• 3.5 sec cast
• Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes X Fire damage and an additional X Fire damage over 18 sec.
  
  Getting two single-target direct-damage Fire critical strikes in a row will make your next Pyroblast instant cast, cost no mana, and deal 25% additional damage.

Pyroblast is a mage ability learned at level 10 for those with the Fire specialization. It deals massive fire damage with a large direct damage portion, then a damage over time portion. It can deal more single-target damage than any other mage spell, but at a higher cast time.

Modified by

Fire specialization talent

• Kindling

Fire specialization ability

• Inferno Blast
• Critical Strike

Notes

• The DoT effect stacks with DoT effects from [Living Bomb].
• The DoT does not stack on multiple Pyroblasts — it resets the timer instead.
• Pyroblast has a built-in mechanic that will periodically make it free, more deadly, and instant cast. This is contingent upon getting two single-target direct-damage Fire critical strikes in a row.
• Prior to the Cataclysm, the popular Three-Minute Mage used instant Pyroblast as its primary burst damage.

Tips

Due to the long cast time, this can be used to open battles when soloing. This is one of the few things a fire mage can do to improve mana efficiency; this spell has better DPM than [Fireball] but a DPS almost 2 times lower. Use of Pyroblast in a group is not recommended unless the tank has sufficient threat.

Polymorph/Pyroblast: The standard opener of anyone who knows [Polymorph], this tactic is mostly seen in PvP. It works exactly as described: Polymorph the target, then cast Pyroblast. You Polymorph first so that the target cannot deal damage or interrupt your cast. Keep in mind that in PvP, many people will use various abilities to prevent Polymorph, so be ready to recast it. This is also useful in PvE questing where you pull two mobs: open on one mob with Pyroblast as normal, Polymorph the additional mob, finish off the first mob, and open on the sheeped second mob with Pyroblast.

The final set bonus of Netherwind Regalia gives you a 10% chance on Fireball cast to allow the next spell with casting time to be instant.

Pyroblast's instant cast effect goes well with [Inferno Blast]'s 100% critical chance. Once you get a crit on one of your other Fire spells, casting Inferno Blast will instantly activate the effect. This can also happen if you cast Inferno Blast first then you happen to crit on your next attack, although this is riskier than the former method. Inferno Blast also works well against large groups of enemies if your target has its DoT effect, because it will apply the effect to at least 2 other people within 10 yards of the target.

Patch changes

• Patch 5.2.0 (5-Mar-2013): Pyroblast has its direct damage reduced by 10%
  
• Patch 4.3.2 (31-Jan-2012): Pyroblast initial damage has been reduced by roughly 6%. Damage over time is unchanged.
  
• Patch 4.3.0 (29-Nov-2011): Pyroblast's initial damage has been increased by approximately 26%, and its damage over time has been increased by approximately 100%.
  
• Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Pyroblast cast when Hot Streak is not active was doing slightly less damage than the Hot Streak version. Its damage has been increased so that both versions of Pyroblast now do the same amount of damage.
  
• / Patch 4.0.1 (12-Oct-2010): Cast time has been reduced to 3.5 seconds.
  
• / Patch 3.0.2 (14-Oct-2008): Cast time has been reduced to 5 seconds.
  
• Patch 1.11.0 (20-Jun-2006): Cooldown removed.
  
• Patch 1.4.0 (2005-05-05): Pyroblast and Fireball damage over time will now stack together.
  

External links

• Wowhead
• Thottbot
• WoWDB