Ignite has always been a tricky subject for Mages. Since the beginning, the mechanics of this talent has always been questioned and tested numerous amounts of time. Much like Blink, after many patches and attempts to fix it, it has never been “working as intended”, but has come pretty close. First let’s take a look at the talent.

Fire Talent: Ignite

Ignite is a 5 point talent located in the 2nd Tier of the Fire Tree. It is an extremely good talent to pick up if you are going down the Fire Tree for any reason, PvE or PvP. When taken, you will do an addition amount of damage every time you critically strike with a Fire Spell. The Ignite damage is a percentage of the amount damage of the Fire Spell crit for.

• 1 Point: causes an additional 8% damage over 4 seconds.
• 2 Point: causes an additional 16% damage over 4 seconds.
• 3 Point: causes an additional 24% damage over 4 seconds.
• 4 Point: causes an additional 32% damage over 4 seconds.
• 5 Point: causes an additional 40% damage over 4 seconds.

Ignite will tick once every 2 seconds, ticking twice. This means that Ignite will deals its damage split into two equal ticks, the first at two seconds after the crit, and the second at four seconds.

Ignite Example #1

The easiest example is with one Fireball critical strike. For this example we’ll remove the Fireball DoT, and just look at the crit damage and Ignite ticks. For all examples, I will be using Rank 5 Ignite.

0:00.00 – Your Fireball crits for 5000 Fire damage.
0:00.00 – is afflicted by Ignite.
0:02.00 – suffers 1000 Fire damage from your Ignite.
0:04.00 – suffers 1000 Fire damage from your Ignite.

If Fireball crits for 5000 damage, then Ignite will do 40% of that damage over 4 seconds. 40% of 5000 damage is equal to 2000 damage. Then you take that Ignite damage and split it between the two ticks, which will give us 1000 damage per tick.

Ignite Bank

Now what happens when you have another Fire Spell critically strike before the first Ignite ticks are done? Will it refresh the Ignite? Nope. Will it overwrite the Ignite? Nope again. The second crit will add its Ignite damage to the existing “Ignite Bank”. The Ignite ticks will be the combined damage in the Ignite Bank divided into two ticks, and will tick 2 seconds from the newest crit.

Every additional Fire Spell crits will continue to add to the bank as long as there is still Ignites left in the bank. If the bank is depleted, then there is another critical strike, that will just start a new Ignite Bank. This is hard to explain with just words, and will have to be shown with examples.

Ignite Example #2

For this example, we will have two Fire Spells crit before the first Ignite tick is used. I will use Fireball followed by a Fire Blast a second later in this example.

0:00.00 – Your Fireball crits for 5000 Fire damage.
0:00.00 – is afflicted by Ignite.
0:01.00 – Your Fire Blast crits for 2000 Fire damage.
0:03.00 – suffers 1400 Fire damage from your Ignite.
0:05.00 – suffers 1400 Fire damage from your Ignite.

When Fireball crits, 40% of that damage is added into the Ignite Bank, which is now at 2000 damage. Before the first tick was spent, Fire Blast crits for 2000, and adds 40% of that damage into the existing bank, which is 800 damage. The Ignite Bank is now at 2800 damage total. Ignite will now tick 2 seconds from the Fire Blast crit. The first tick will be half of the Ignite Bank, which is 1400 damage. The rest of the bank will tick 2 seconds later, depleting the bank.

Ignite Example #3

Here is an actual combat log of mine from me doing some tests on a target dummy in Exodar. I cut out any extra DoTs to clean it up a bit, and narrowed it down to the critical strikes and Ignite ticks. Same situation as Example #2, but with Pyroblast and Living Bomb.

Here we have Pyroblast critting for 6147 damage with 40% of that damage going into the Ignite Bank, which is 3258.8. Living Bomb then crits for 3196 damage, and adds 40% of that damage (1278.4 damage) to the existing Ignite Bank. The total for the bank is now at 4537 damage (rounded down from 4537.2). The first Ignite ticks for half the bank, for 2268 damage and the 2nd tick for the rest of the bank, 2269 damage.

Ignite Example #4

Now for an example where you get a critical strike after the first Ignite tick has been spent. We’ll use Fireball for this example since Fireball has a 3 second cast when talented, allowing the first Ignite to tick before the 2nd Fireball lands.

0:00.00 – Your Fireball crits for 5500 Fire damage.
0:00.00 – is afflicted by Ignite.
0:02.00 – suffers 1100 Fire damage from your Ignite.
0:03.00 – Your Fireball crits for 5000 Fire damage.
0:05.00 – suffers 1550 Fire damage from your Ignite.
0:07.00 – suffers 1550 Fire damage from your Ignite.

The first Fireball crits for 5500 damage, and 40% of that damage, which is 2200 damage, goes into the Ignite Bank. Ignite ticks for half of the bank after 2 seconds, for 1100 damage. 1100 damage is left in the bank. The 2nd Fireball crits for 5000 damage, and adds 40% of its damage, which is 2000 into the Ignite Bank. The bank is now currently at 3100 damage. The ticks are now reset, and the first tick of the new Ignite ticks after 2 seconds from the 2nd Fireball crit. Ignite ticks for half of the bank, which is 1550 damage, and the rest of the bank 2 seconds after that.

Ignite Example #5

Here is another actual combat log to demonstrate Example #4 working in the game. Again two Fireballs are used to allow the first Ignite to tick before the 2nd Fireball lands.

Here you see the first Fireball crit for 7375 damage with 40% of that damage, which is 2950 damage, going into the Ignite Bank. The first Ignite tick goes for half the bank at 1475 damage. The 2nd Fireball crits after for 8941 damage, adding 40% of the damage, which is 3576 (rounded down) to the Ignite Bank. The new total for the bank is now 5051. The new Ignite ticks for half the bank now, and the first ticks for 2526 damage, the 2nd tick for 2525 damage.

Ignite Munching

Like I said before, Ignite is close to be “working as intended”, but the way the talent works now, you may run into a few hiccups where you may lose some Ignite ticks. This bug has been given the term “Ignite Munching”. This happens when a critical hit happens while a Fireball or Pyroblast is in flight to the target, and also crits when the spell lands. The first Ignite will be “munched” by the Fireball or Pyroblast which was in flight.

For example, you cast a Hot Streaked Pyroblast after casting a Fireball, and the Fireball crits while the Pyroblast is still in the air. The Pyroblast crit will “munch” the Fireball crit.

From the ElitistJerks Forums, you only lose about 1-2% of your Ignites due to Ignite Munching, so it isn’t too much of a concern. Yes it sucks, but you shouldn’t go out of your way to try to prevent it from happening. Waiting to cast a Hot Streaked Pyroblast, or casting a Scorch before the Pyroblast can lead to a loss of DPS.

Other Ignite References

• ElitistJerks Forums – Maybe hard to sift through the threads, but there is very useful information in there somewhere.
• WoWWiki – Some more information on Ignite its mechanics.

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