[TC] What is Ignite?

[Komma]

Written for 6.2 and before, not updated for Legion!

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=12654/ignite, the mastery for Fire Mages, is one of the most confusing spells in the game. This post serves to document all the technical details we know about it.

Tooltip from wowhead:


Quote from Ghostcrawler, June 2012 (http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2274 ... s/#post787" target="_blank)

Ahhh, Ignite mechanics. What a storied history they have.

Last Updated: April 20th, 2015
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Table of Contents:
Ignite Basics
Computing Tick Damage
Multistrikes
Spreading with Inferno Blast
Combustion
Maximizing Ignite
How do "2T17 double-spread Ignites" work?
Known Bugs

Off topic:
What were "rolling ignites" in Vanilla?
What is Ignite Compression?

Other:
Dynamic Ignite WeakAura
Color Code

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ignite Basics

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=12654/ignite" target="_blank is a DOT (damage-over-time) effect. It is a magic debuff, and can be dispelled. It has a tick time of 1 tick per second. It is applied when an Ignite-generating spell (Fireball, Scorch, Inferno Blast, Pyroblast, Flamestrike, Meteor) impacts the target. It can be spread with Inferno Blast.

Ignite does not behave like a normal DOT. It does not have pandemic-style DOT extension. Tick damage is not computed as a percentage of your spellpower, and will not dynamically update with player stats. It cannot critical strike or multistrike. The tick speed and DOT duration are not affected by haste. The damage is unaffected by player or target damage multipliers; this includes versatility, temporary damage buffs, or target vulnerability effects such as Prismatic Crystal's 30% increased damage taken. The damage events are not known to trigger procs. This unique type of DOT effect is sometimes called a "rolling DOT". It is also often called "the Ignite mechanic" by other classes, due to Ignite being the first of its kind.

Ignite's damage is proportionally increased by mastery. Ignite has a slightly lower percentage conversion rate than its Arcane and Frost counterparts. 110 mastery rating (aka. 1 mastery point) converts to 1.5% mastery, and Fire Mages have a base mastery of 12%. This lower conversion rate is most likely related to Combustion and Inferno Blast spreading. We will go into details later in this post.
Computing Tick Damage

When directly applying Ignite with a spell, the tick size depends on three factors:
1. The player's amount of mastery.
2. The size of the Ignite-generating spell.
3. The existing Ignite on the target.

While Ignite itself is not affected by damage multipliers such as versatility and Prismatic Crystal, the size of the Ignite-generating spell is affected. Therefore, Ignite still benefits from these multipliers.

For a target that doesn't have an active Ignite, the total ignite damage is computed as (impact_damage * mastery_%) and distributed over 5 ticks. For example,
- Player with 20% mastery
- Lands a Fireball for 10,000
- On a target with no Ignite
Will cause:
- (10,000 * 20%) = 2,000 total Ignite
- Spread over 5 ticks of 400

For a target that has an active Ignite, we refer to the Ignite damage that hasn't ticked yet as the "Ignite bank". The new total Ignite damage is computed as [ (impact_damage * mastery_%) + ignite_bank], and distributed over 6 ticks. For example,
- Player with 20% mastery
- Lands a Fireball for 10,000 damage
- On a target with 4 remaining ticks of Ignite, at 250 per tick.
Will cause:
- (10,000 * 20%) = 2,000 added Ignite
- 2,000 + 4 * 250 = 3,000 new total Ignite
- Spread over 6 ticks of 500

It is important to note that when Ignite is refreshed to 6 ticks, the tick timer does not reset. The next ignite tick can happen any time between 0.000 to 0.999 seconds after the spell impacts. The refreshed Ignite DOT will have a remaining duration between 5.000 and 5.999 seconds, depending on when the spell landed. It is somewhat like "adding 1 second ticks to the debuff until we have 6 remaining".

As the player repeatedly strikes the target with spells, Ignite will grow in size until the amount added is roughly equal to the amount lost to ticks between spells. A good analogy is a leaky bucket - the more water (Ignite damage) you add, the faster it leaks (Ignite ticks), until it leaks at about the same speed as you add water. Using mathematical terms, the Ignite contribution for each spell acts (very) roughly similar to an exponential decay.
Multistrikes

While Ignite itself cannot multistrike, multistrikes of Ignite-generating spells (Fireball, Scorch, Inferno Blast, Flamestrike, Meteor) can generate Ignite. For the purposes of calculating Ignite, these multistrikes are considered as separate spells. For example, if a Fireball creates a new Ignite on a target for 5 ticks, any multistrike will refresh ignite to 6 ticks. Due to multistrikes occuring 1/3 seconds (333 ms) or 2/3 seconds (666 ms) after the main event, it is possible that Ignite can tick between the main spell and multistrikes. This can cause the Ignite to decrease when the tick damage is high compared to the multistrike's added Ignite. Unfortunately, this depends on RNG and tick times, which are completely out of our control. In general though, multistrikes are similar to critical strikes, generating extra Ignite damage.
Spreading with Inferno Blast

Ignite is a DOT that can be spread by Inferno Blast. But what exactly happens when you spread an ignite, and how much should it tick for? To answer this, similar to the direct application case, it depends on whether the spread target already has an Ignite DOT. Let's start with the basic case:
- Two targets, X and Y. X has Ignite, Y does not.
- X's Ignite is ticking for 500, with 3 ticks remaining.
- Player casts Inferno Blast on X
This leads to:
- X's Ignite is copied to Y. Y now has Ignite ticking for 500, with 3 ticks remaining.
- X's Ignite is refreshed to 6 ticks, with the addition of Ignite contributed from Inferno Blast.
In other words, if the spread target does not have Ignite, then the source Ignite will be directly copied over, with the same tick size and same number of remaining ticks.

Next we look at the case where the second target has an active ignite:
- Two targets, X and Y, both of which have active Ignites.
- X's Ignite is ticking for 500, with 2 ticks remaining.
- Y's Ignite is ticking for 200, with 4 ticks remaining.
- Player casts Inferno Blast on X
This leads to:
- X's Ignite bank value is added to Y. Y's new ignite bank is 500*2 + 200*4 = 1800
- Y's ignite is redistributed over 6 ticks, for 300 each.
- X's Ignite is refreshed to 6 ticks, with the addition of Ignite contributed from Inferno Blast.
In other words, if the spread target has ignite, then the source's Ignite bank will be added to the spread target, and damage will be redistributed over 6 ticks.

In summary, the Ignite damage done to an extra target through spreading is always equal to the remaining Ignite bank on the target. Whether you spread from X to Y or Y to X, the result Ignite on the spread target is the same. However, you gain more Ignite damage from spreading an 800x5 tick Ignite, than spreading a 2000x1 tick Ignite. This makes haste a strong secondary for Fire's multitarget, because it reduces the number of Ignite ticks that happen before spreading.

The spreading mechanism usually doesn't make any difference on how we play, since we spread from the target of the last attack anyway. However, this mechanism is important for understanding why 2T17 Combustions work, and how to maximize their effect. This will be discussed further in a later section.
Combustion

Now that we know how Ignite damage can be computed, we will look at how it interacts with Combustion. Ignoring the confusing tooltip, Combustion snapshots the current Ignite, and ticks for 80% of the Ignite tick damage. That means that if Ignite is ticking for 500 per tick, Combustion will tick for 400 per normal tick, and critical strike for 800. Therefore, the optimal Combustion strategy is to maximize the Ignite tick size before using it.
Maximizing Ignite

Using the leaky bucket analogy from earlier, the highest rate of leaking happens when you fill the bucket quickly to the brim. If you fill it with small cups or take too long between cups, it'll leak faster than you can fill. Similarly, the largest Ignite ticks happen when you chain a number of high damage spells in quick succession. The obvious candidate for this job is Pyroblast, and Meteor if you have it talented. Landing a chain of instant cast Pyroblasts is the equivalent of filling a bucket rapidly with big cups, leaving little time in between for Ignite ticks to happen.

With Combustion, it is worth thinking more about what causes Ignite to increase or decrease in size. Experienced players with Ignite monitoring addons have probably seen this happen a lot: Seeing a pretty high ignite, you fire off that last pyroblast, but Ignite drops instead of rises. Why does this happen?

Again going back to the leaky bucket, "big Ignite ticks" basically means water leaking quickly from the bucket. The obvious way to make this happen is to fill the bucket. This means adding water faster than it leaks. In the case of Ignite, "the spell must add more ignite than the ticks since the last refresh". With Ignite having a fixed maximum of 6 ticks and fixed tick damage between refreshes, we can express this as a formula:

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Ignite increases IF Added_Ignite_Damage > ( 6 - Remaining_Ignite_Ticks ) * Current_Tick_Damage

Remaining ignite ticks can be acquired by using the math ceiling function on the remaining time when the spell impact, which gives the following:

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Ignite increases IF Added_Ignite_Damage > (6 - ceil( Ignite_Remaining_Duration - Spell_Travel_Time ) ) * Current_Tick_Damage

In fact, you'll find this exact requirement in the current Fire Mage SimC APL:

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actions.combust_sequence+=/pyroblast,if=buff.pyroblast.up&dot.ignite.tick_dmg*(6-ceil(dot.ignite.remains-travel_time))<crit_damage*mastery_value

This formula tells us something very important - even a very powerful spell will not increase the size of ignite, if the duration since the last refresh is too long. Suppose you use Pyroblast following an Inferno Blast. If you're standing at max range and have 0 haste, this means that Pyroblast will land exactly (1.5 + 0.75) = 2.25 seconds after the Inferno Blast. This is enough for 3 ticks to occur, which is already half the Ignite DOT! Even if the Pyroblast crits with double multistrikes, you will most likely see the tick size decrease.

Using this understanding of Ignite, we can think of some other interesting side effects. Here are a few of them:
- Using Inferno Blast when Ignite has more than 5.0 seconds remaining will almost always increase the size of Ignite, because Ignite hasn't ticked yet. This often occurs during high haste, if you follow Pyroblast with Inferno Blast. (Why almost? Because of multistrikes!)
- The closer you get to point-blank range, the lower the chance of Pyroblast decreasing the size of your Ignite. This is because there is less travel time for Ignite to tick .
- Similarly, if you spam Pyroblasts while running forward, you have a higher chance of getting a big ignite than if you were standing still or running away.
- When Ignite tick damage is more than what a Pyroblast critical strike with multistrikes can contribute, there is nothing you can do to grow the Ignite further. Just Combust the target already!
How do "2T17 double-spread Ignites" work?

One of the most interesting tricks of WoD Fire Mages is the 2T17 double-spread Ignite. The technique requires using at least 2 targets. You build an Ignite on the first target, use Inferno Blast twice in a row, leading to the second target having an abnormally large Ignite for Combustion.

How does this work? As mentioned in the "Spreading with Inferno Blast" section, the Ignite bank of your current target is added to your spread targets. What happens is actually the following:

T = -0.01: Finished building Ignite on X. It has either 5 or 6 ticks remaining, depending on the last spell impact.
T = 0.00: First Inferno Blast is used on X. 5-6 ticks of Ignite is spread and copied to Y. Ignite on X is refreshed to 6 ticks by Inferno Blast.
T = GCD - 0.01: Ignite has ticked once or twice, depending on GCD. This leaves 4-5 ticks on X, and 3-5 ticks on Y.
T = GCD: Inferno Blast is used on X again. This adds the remaining 4-5 ticks on X to the remaining 3-5 ticks on Y. The damage is then redistributed over 6 ticks.

Another way to look at it, is that you're copying the remaining ignite damage twice to a neighbor, combining them into a bigger ignite.

The above gives us a very good idea why Haste is so important for this trick.
- With 1 second GCD, it is possible to spread a 6 tick Ignite to Y on the first IB, have it tick down to 5 ticks, and then add another 5 ticks to it. Ignoring the first IB's effect on the Ignite, this means 10 ticks have been combined into 6. This means the result is 166.7% the original. Due to server lag with computing ticks, sometimes it is even possible to combine 11 or even 12 ticks into 6, which is 183.3%-200% of the original - doubling the size!
- On the other hand, if you have 0 haste, then it is possible for 2 ticks to occur for each target. First spreading a 5 tick, and then combining 4 ticks to 3, this means you've barely combined 7 ticks into 6. This is 116.7% of the original, which might be worse than just spending Inferno Blasts and Pyroblasts on the original target for a normal Combustion.

The scenario also tells us why tick time, which is almost entirely out of our control, is so important; if your first Inferno Blast occurs when no ticks have occurred, then you have perfectly transferred 100% of the original ignite to Y. Otherwise, you've already lost a 1/6th of your Ignite bank. The best way to maximize this, is to make sure Pyroblast has the maximum travel time of 0.75 seconds before you use your Inferno Blasts. With a 1.0 second GCD, this leads only 0.25 seconds between your final Pyroblast and the first Inferno Blast, minimizing the chance of a tick in between to 25%. With a travel velocity of 24 yards/sec, this means you should stand at least 18 yards away from your target. Multistrikes on your final Pyroblast can also help reset Ignite's tick time, giving you a better chance to spread 6 ticks on your first IB.

To summarize, the following factors can help with vastly improving double-spread efficiency:
1. Getting as close to 1.0 second GCD as possible, usually through trinkets and/or Time Warp.
2. Standing at least 18 yards away from your target for your final Pyroblast.
3. Multistrike, whether it's through a trinket proc or gear in general.
Known Bugs

Since the Ignite rework during WoD beta, there is currently only 1 documented bug. It is related to Ignite spreading with Inferno Blast, and the exact mechanics are not fully understood. When two targets A and B both have ignite, trying to spread from A to B sometimes leads to an unpredictable number of "remaining ticks" transferred. Here is an example in action:
Source: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/JLN ... 24true%240" target="_blank

00:00:05.584 Frostedmages Scorch Dungeon Damage Dummy 2 580
00:00:06.616 Frostedmages Ignite Dungeon Damage Dummy 2 Tick 24
00:00:07.617 Frostedmages Ignite Dungeon Damage Dummy 2 Tick 24
00:00:07.876 Frostedmages Fireball Raid Damage Dummy 3674
00:00:08.596 Frostedmages Ignite Dungeon Damage Dummy 2 Tick 24
00:00:08.970 Frostedmages Ignite Raid Damage Dummy Tick 151
00:00:09.100 Frostedmages Inferno Blast Raid Damage Dummy *5549*
00:00:09.518 Frostedmages Ignite Dungeon Damage Dummy 2 Tick 84
00:00:09.911 Frostedmages Ignite Raid Damage Dummy Tick 291

In the above, we see Dungeon Damage Dummy receive 3x151 ticks from Raid Damage Dummy, combined with its remaining 2x24 ticks to create 6x84 ticks. However, Dungeon Damage Dummy, has only ticked once. Therefore, at the time of spreading there should be at least 4x151 ticks, not 3x151. One tick has gone missing.

This bug was first discovered during Beta. It is not known whether this has been fixed.

[Komma]

In this post I plan to cover off-topic/history/out-of-date mechanics that don't matter for how things work right now.
What were Vanilla's "Rolling Ignites"? What made it so overpowered?

"Rolling Ignites" usually refers to the Vanilla version of the Ignite DOT, at a time when Ignite was not a unique DOT for each player, but a shared DOT by all Fire Mages. That alone should tell you that things were very broken, but it was much, much worse than that.

The first problem was that Vanilla Ignites didn't have a "bank" system. Ignite was a talent that was triggered whenever a Fire spell landed as a critical strike. If an active Ignite was present, it would first refresh the duration of Ignite, and then add damage to it. This meant that with enough fire mages attacking the same target, you could theoretically never let Ignite tick, and build the damage to infinity damage per tick.

One brilliant part about this was that Ignite associated all threat to the player who created the debuff. This meant that the poor Mage who crit the first Scorch for 300 damage ended up being the recipient of several thousand Ignite tick damage threat, all because the other Fire Mages refused to stop attacking and building Ignite. Tanks did not have nearly as strong threat generation back then, so it usually ended in the Dragon eating the Mage alive.

That wasn't the only broken thing about Ignite though. The much bigger issue was that Ignite was considered as a spell. This meant that Ignite was double dipping on all spell multipliers and modifiers, which is different from the modern day version that ignores all multipliers. This led to extreme hilarity on enemies that had Fire vulnerability (Blackwing Lair), or encounters that gave you damage multipliers (Thaddius in Naxxramas). To illustrate what happened, here's an example:
- Normal case: Fireball crits for 1500 --> Ignite generated for 1500 * 40% = 600 damage
- Improved Scorch (15% increased Fire Damage): FIreball crits for 1500 * 115% = 1725 --> Ignite generated for 1725 * 40 = 690 --> Increased to 690 * 115% = 793.5
- Improved Scorch with 300% Fire vulnerability: Fireball crits for 1500 * 115% * 300% = 5175 --> Ignite generated for 5175 * 40% = 2070 --> Increased to 2070 * 115% * 300% = 7141.5
This effect applied to every modifier in the game, including obscure weapon debuffs that increased spell damage taken.

All of the sudden, Ignite went from 40% of a Fireball to more damage than the original Fireball. On Thaddius, players were reporting nearly 20K Ignite ticks - roughly 10 times a player's expected DPS on the fight. With WoD numbers, this would be equivalent to Ignite ticking for 500K.
What is "Ignite Compression"? Why doesn't it work anymore?

"Ignite Compression" is a trick during Mists of Pandaria that inflated Combustion sizes up to 300%. It was found in the Warlords of Draenor beta, but turned out to work on the live servers. In the beta, the effect was even more extreme due to the new Ignite model, allowing players to inflate Combustion sizes up to 600%. Here are several threads from the time:

WoD Beta - "Utilizing PC + Ignites for Massive Combustions (Bug?)" : http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=446" target="_blank
MoP Live - "Combustion Technique - Tick compression": http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=450" target="_blank

The main mechanic behind the trick was how Ignite spreading worked at the time. Back then, spreading Ignite from X to Y would cause Y's ignite to copy the remaining duration of X, but have no effect on the Ignite bank value of Y. This meant that if X had only 1 tick left while Y had 3 ticks left, spreading X from Y would "compress" Y from 3 ticks to 1, but tick for 3 times as much. Players would build a large ignite on a target, and then spread a half-second Ignite from a neighbor, triple the size of the Ignite. Some players created Ignite ticks over 2,000,000, along with Combustions that crit over 1,000,000. Record bursts of over 8M DPS were made on the Dark Shamans encounter in Siege of Orgrimmar.

During WoD beta, Ignite spreading was changed, and this is no longer possible.

[Komma]

Dynamic Ignite WeakAura

While Combustion in Legion is no longer tied to your Ignite tick size, it doesn't hurt to monitor your Ignite anyway. Here is a WA string for doing so, tested to work on 7.0.3. May occasionally bug out.
Last update: July 21st, 2016
wago.io: https://wago.io/NyynhHrwZ" target="_blank

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d0eHnaqivHQwKs6sqa(KsigLq6ucXQef9krHAwcv3csAxqQFbb1WuPoMQ0Yuj8mvbttjuxdIyBQe13GqmovroNGO3bbY9ek7dcYbfLAHcsEOGWeHOCrrbBuL0hvf1ivcPtQe1kfvVuvOYmvfYnHOANck)ecPHkkelfI0tvXuHkxvjyRqG6RQcLoleq7f4VqzWuhwPwSOKhtIjdvDzP2mi(mbJgsCAfRwvO41qOMTi3MK2nP(TQA4cSCIEoHMUKRdQTRe57csnEbvNhKwVOqA(Qez)ObVaCGZac79bK80BibhrWbrqFJol4jH)9cWrfCWdo4b4ahiFDDMmAdcBXxao4hXG0gkUo8cCqakGJcSy9vX1HxGdeyTsnFD0i0mNMMMo9v2jAS40yXPXItJfNglonwC6rqpvJ1HhmsOXPXItJfNglonwCAS40yXPXItJfNglo9iONQXQrbX0XOxqpfY6SGHaj6ATLcDTgNEDzb9u9ACA9KItVMrEu2iWmG01iiiMttttpqOhb9unwhEWiHshlgTEs0Fj9iONQXQrbX0XIrRNeDHsRzonnnnnnnTSlyPMErweMtttt3A8mNMMMM50000PVYorpc6PAmzRUhTiDmAXsoAb0q(s1DfDfbG(fYAC6rqpvJ1HhmsO0Os)Cx4g1oAKiiiMttttN(k7e9iONQXQo8Iog9iONQXQrbXOrVsho9kA0JGEQgt2Q7rlYCAAAAMttttJkQ0NAxImNMMMo9v2jAXGoLWc(HUL0XOFURtqNsH6RHfr2wDl0rPFGocZPPPPtFLDIwrofDmA1rhLo6ZDDc6ukeYPcbkBTsh9Hi0Os)qe6mPFr)qC637B6imNMMMo9v2jA1Ty1sO0XOFUlKVfRwcndqG0kv0imNMMMo9v2j6LAP4UM0uqPJr)CxH4RM1Uq6UgTqO(AyXO0HaPyi4mG0t24w(rlJdbIHSSrE2pNbmKHOHLb6imNMMMM50000OIk9jOtPGFOBjTYVHazuMwxImNMMMo9v2j6aOYpMYVHaHog9IrFZCAAAAMttttJkQ0Hqofn(T6wOPZ6RHfzonnnD6RSt0kYPWWVv3cnDm6lqFZCAAAAMttttJkQ0iBRUfAAv4unbPPLI0I1ww0O0YM50000PVYorRcNQjinTKog9l6BMttttZCAAAAv4unbPPL0XOvHt1eKMwsNjD0f0tLnSChDniTH2Y140Rl6VOpLS3i(XVgHERXtFb6B6VK(f9DeMttttRcNQjinTKogTkCQMG00s6mPJUGEQSHL7ORbPn0wUgNEfPW6M(dHoJ8dDlxJqV14PFrJe6VK(f9DeMttttRcNQjinTKogTkCQMG00s6mPJUGEQSHL7ORbPn0wUgNEDzTYwxTCrePVM(HEnc9wJN(f97f0Fj9l67imNMMMwfovtqAAjDmAv4unbPPL0zshDb9uzdl3rxdsBOTCno96YkBjSi9cbYrC0cRrO3A80VOVVm9xs)I(ocZPPPPvHt1eKMwshJwfovtqAAjDM0rxqpv2WYD01G0gAlxJtVIG)dEXraLAnc9wJNEb9uHq27cw24Gg0rxRTuOR1i0XIrVISw9RxP3A80VOFP)s6x03ryonnnnZPPPPrfvAKoAbAv4unbPwYCAAA60xzNO1tHICRclshJwStTsf9frItVGEQqbdbs01G0gAlxJtVg2uOi3QWIRrIWCAAA6bcTEkuKBvyrAEPy06jrxO0AMttttttttRcNQjinTKogTkCQMG00s6mPJ(sNX06PqrUvHfPry637B03ryonnnDRXZCAAAAMttttN(k7eDau5hBe0t10XOfd6ucl4h6wsNjDau5ht53qGqNjDu6x6mMok9sTuCxtAkO0im979nDe6i0zshLwDlwTeknct)EFthHotAv4unbPPLmNMMMo9v2j6aOYpMICkSrqpvthJoaQ8Jnc6PA6mPvKtHHFRUfAMttttN(k7eDau5hBVKa2iONQPJrhav(Xgb9unDgthav(XuKtHnc6PA6mPJsRiNIgHPFVVPJWCAAAAMttttZCAAA6bc9iONQXQrbX0ieDau5htrof2iONQPluAnZPPPPPPPPLDbl10Rxs561NE6((61v0Ohb9unw1HxmNMMMUtI9aHEe0t1y1OGyAeIoaQ8JTxsaBe0t10fkTM500000000YUGLA61lPC961R3333ROrpc6PASQdVyonnnDNe7bc9iONQXQrbX0ieDau5hBe0t10fkTM500000000YUGLA61lPC961Ri5P77v0Ohb9unw1HxmNMMMUtInZPPPPPPPPLDbl10Rxs56177RxVVxrJEe0t1yvhEXCAAA6wJN5Tgp4afrHarSlqyOEX9n4SvQzPgNCeeAjY)4Bqy3GZONct5RgK6QXdc7fCk5ii0saoWr2QGZn48dTgr1jOGqbo6TAlcWbc7fCwwqpvdkWbFNfmei4Gg0GZIMnsr(1fEe4icNvVuRRdmeit4GdgYYg5z)CgahXGoLcBR2GZYc6PAWPxQ1f4eIVAw7I(rFbWbw3l16cCQrTXdoWInMyqNsHTvBqwGdSyJj(HLk9c6PazboYwfrdA5U(sWbHIboW6PaNAlf6cCe)WsLEb9uGtTLcDbokWI1xfdLbFdo1O24bf48yGfRbcuWbPl)8IIdC24Xp1817ewjhbHwkcWbkWbFlQaoidQERok0llONQPl5wbXJwGU6Wl00pw5uvRPZck9J7RQUP)qOr()RLWADlrDHd4e6bFHc46tp8U4hqY9LdziF6(YiYf3aiOU4qcoq(6cCE0Kvl31810NTweC0WQ4KJGqlfbH9coO0Jakf4kscjsE6YVi5Hl)gY3lE6HlaqqDXic4m4bNLf0t10i)RN6lbN0FJhGdCGfBmDVulbzbo1o16cGdCuHt1aWbkqbokPTOiah4ioAHudoip7NZaOahiBLA(AaoWrfovdahOaf4i3knah4OcNQbGduGcCWpqGmkWPckah4OcNQbGduGcCK)udWboQWPAa4afOahyXgtmOvaHcCcwkO2PwxaCGJkCQgaoqbkWrmOva4ahXrlKAqyxakWbwSXu(QzTlqOahyXgtjTffbHcuGJSfMVgh0GgCQo8cuGZgGdCwwqpvdc79bK80Bibf4SeiS3fFXlOaaa

Screenshot:

Color Code
I'll update this later!

Spoiler:

Currently there are 5 colors: Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple. These are listed in increasing Ignite tick size, using a color code akin to "severity levels".
Green: 1 tick of Ignite is smaller than the contribution from 1 Inferno Blast. This Ignite should be easily increasable by chaining Fireballs/Pyroblasts/Inferno Blasts.
Yellow: 1 tick of Ignite is smaller than the contribution from 1 non-crit Pyroblast. This Ignite should be further increasable by chaining Pyroblasts.
Orange: 1 tick of Ignite is smaller than the contribution from 1 average Pyroblast. This Ignite can only be further increased by critical-strike Pyroblasts.
Red: 1 tick of Ignite is smaller than the contribution from 1 crit Pyroblast. You have a chance to increase this Ignite if you are in point-blank range, your next Pyroblast is a crit with good multistrike luck, and it lands before a second tick happens. This color will sometimes appear due to trinket procs expiring.
Purple: 1 tick of Ignite is larger than the contribution of even a crit Pyroblast. The only spell expected to increase this further would be an unsplit crit Meteor that was casted earlier. This color is normally unachievable unless you use 2T17 double-spread Ignites. You should use Combustion and Inferno Blast as soon as possible.

[Soffish]

Biggest thing I struggle with regarding Ignite is how long to sit on Combustion fishing for a moderate-big ignite when my pyro chain fails.

[TLTeo]

Looking forward to reading the history part Vanilla rolling ignites were pretty hilarious

[Schtinger]

This was very informative. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[Komma]

Added a section on how spreading works.

[DeathDefier]

Really great post, good job Komma. Looking forward to what you add in the future.

[Komma]

Added sections on multistrikes, maximizing ignites, and some 2T17 details. Some of the facts about Ignite are probably not as well known!

Oh, and added some post anchors.

[Mevlin]

You just placed some evidence into my hunches. I am clapping excitedly for the next Komma guide <3.

[Prelimar]

this helps me understand ignite SO MUCH BETTER. thank you!

[Peter]

Great post Komma. Question: Im planning to change race from Undead to Troll for the Troll racial skill "Berserking", to help me with the extra haste for the combustion trick. It should work don't you think?

//Mayser - Argent Dawn EU

[Dutchmagoz]

Great post Komma. Question: Im planning to change race from Undead to Troll for the Troll racial skill "Berserking", to help me with the extra haste for the combustion trick. It should work don't you think?

//Mayser - Argent Dawn EU

During bloodlust or haste trinket it won't have much of an effect, but on your combustions outside of bloodlust it should help a lot!

[Israfael]

Recently went back to fire, a question:
While compression doesn't work anymore, is 2pc 'bug' still in the game or is it fixed? Do we still get double ignite from double IF'ing on a target and combusting on another one or does it not work anymore? I heard different opinions on that from fellow mages on my server(s). Here another one: I am (or maybe was) using built-in ignite monitor of MageNuggets, and it consistently shows ignite that is 2-3k higher than combustion - does it mean i pop it too late? I was used to 0.5 delay between hit and ignite refresh in the times long gone.

Sorry for the stupid questions that were probably answered before.

[Chev]

This is not a bug, it is intended functionality and as such is still in the game. See http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1137" target="_blank for more details.

Regarding your 2nd question, I believe the Ignite monitor also tries to estimate the ignite value of your next spell. If you look in the WA thread, there is a WA string from DutchMagoz for tracking your ignite which you may find more useful.

[ShaObito]

While not a 'bug', it's certainly 'buggy' behavior. I'm sure the only reason it is still around is the fact that it's on a set bonus and will be replaced in the next tier. It's abusing the odd way Ignite works, and I'm sure if fire 4pc in Tanaan is bad enough and we run 2 2pc, Blizz will fix it rapidly.

[Komma]

While not a 'bug', it's certainly 'buggy' behavior.

No, it really isn't. It's not a "bug", it's not "buggy", it's not even "questionable". It's the most sane that Ignite has ever been. Ignite spreading right now is in fact the most logical implementation. When you spread an Ignite with 1000 damage remaining, it makes surrounding targets take 1000 damage. I'd argue that if you implemented it in any other way, it would be "buggy" and no longer make sense. To reiterate and emphasize what I just said, because I see it brought up so frequently:

There is nothing questionable with how Ignite spreading is working at the moment.

The fact that double spread exists is a testament to how overpowered spreading can be, and why IB must continue to have a lengthy cooldown. This is indepedent of Ignite mechanics.

[Komma]

Added a "Known Bugs" section, which isn't much because I only know one that has been documented (and reported). Also added a personal WeakAura I used for monitoring ignite that I think folks might find useful.

With this last edit, I consider this a finished work. Other Combustion-related matters will be saved for a future, separate thread.

[Araitik]

Hey Komma, would you mind helping me wrapping my head around this ?



This was taken on Primordius, video here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMlZPGmNkw" target="_blank

I have no idea why Combustion tooltip indicates this. If you look closely, you can see that the actual Combustion ticks (at 1:44) are 42302 crits, so 21151 ticks, which is the indicated value of Ignite x 0.8, so there is no bug or exploit, values checks out.
But why the tooltip is showing 32.5k ? The Weakaura I'm using is simply showing the value reported and does no calculation.

This is, afaik, the only time I've encountered this bug.

If you have any clues, I'll be happy to solve this mystery

[Komma]

I have no idea why that is, and it seems like a question better suited for UI/macro forums.