Fireball Damage Not Ramping Up When A Minion Dies (in General)

One of the reasons I'm considering switching from Fireball to Magic Missile is that I'm currently casting two fireballs a round and if the first fireball kills a minion, the second fireball casts as if that minion is still alive.

For example, against Exkang who has two minions - I always kill the first minion in round 1 with my first fireball however my second fireball always casts at around half the damage it should against one minion which leads to me to believe it is still "seeing" two minions.

A couple of battle examples are below (Mildred's familiar's fireball is around 30% larger than Hermes's firebal).


Hermes's Fireball hit Amipyre [19344], Amipire [29739]
Mildred's familiar's Fireball hit Amipyre [14151]

R.I.P. Amipire


Hermes's Fireball hit Amipyre [75827]
Mildred's familiar's Fireball hit Amipyre [175184]

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Hermes's Fireball hit Amipyre [16763], Amipire [26482]
Mildred's familiar's Fireball hit Amipyre [15472]

R.I.P. Amipire



Hermes's Fireball hit Amipyre [70004]
Mildred's familiar's Fireball hit Amipyre [82877]


This isn't a case of randomness either, Mildred's familiar consistently does around half the damage it should in round 1. Is this a bug or is it intentional? If it's intentional the only reason I can think for it is that both fireballs are cast simultaneously and that Mildred's familiar doesn't have the opportunity to see that Amipire is dead and adjust it's fireball targets from 2 to 1.

This doesn't really make sense to me though because melee, ranged, and MM attacks all have the opportunity to switch targets should a minion in the other team die in the middle of a round. Why shouldn't FB damage be able to ramp up mid-round should opposing minions die?

that's a good point. FB damage should ramp up, a fix for multiple damage dealers!

is this the same issue with all things in one round happening concurrently that we have seen before with minions hiding in death?

Everything is supposed to happen at the exact same instant in a round... and with that being said those two fireballs both get cast at the exact same time so it does hit both minions even if one of the minions died from the previous FB

that is what i thought as well. it is odd however that the second minion casting fireball only shows one target, therefore something in the mechanics does recognize that the other minion is no longer a target?

I understand that everything is meant to happen simultaneously, my fireball minions see 2 targets at the beginning of the round and let off their fireballs at the same time - if one of the opposing minions is killed by the first fireball it doesn't matter, the damage for the second fireball is still split between the two minions.

My point is, why are FB/CoC the only types of damage that occur simultaneously, shouldn't it operate the same as physical damage, MM, AMF damage etc?

If I have two MM minions, they don't let off their magic missiles at the same time. If my first MM kills one of my opponents minions, my second MM will move on to the next target and won't hit the dead one. Why should FB be the only spell that "hits" dead minions? Shouldn't it also be able to adjust targets mid-round?

i agree that they all should function in the same manner and consistently. i think only jon can answer this one, or i guess i need to include nightstrike in this type of comment now.

It must've been an oversight; it probably should be fixed, but switch to MM anyway =).

This is the way it's worked since day one. It's like the VA ressurection. A part and parcel of simultanious combat.

The number of targets hit by spread attacks (which is only FB/CoC currently) is determined at the start of the round, where everyone is alive.

I just don't like the inconsistency between spread damage (which seems to occur simultaneously) and other forms of damage (which occur in descending minion order).

I agree; this looks like one of those minor, overlooked bugs that's been around for a while.

That doesn't mean that it isn't worth fixing, however...Fireball needs all the help it can get in competing with the other Direct Damage spells.

Please fix, Jon? :)