Ignite ( old ) < onlyinclude > < / onlyinclude > Ignite is a passive mage talent that causes all critical hits from your fire spells to add a DoT to the target causing significant damage over 4 seconds . The DoT damage is a percentage of the spell ' s direct damage , 13 % per point up to 40 % at rank 3 . At max rank , this talent effectively makes the critical strike bonus for fire spells 110 % ( making critical strikes hit for 210 % of normal damage ) , although not all damage is done up front . This is one of the most important talents for fire mages who want to do lots of damage . Notes . Critical strikes normally do 50 % more damage than a spell hit ( assuming no other talents ) . Ignite adds a DoT to all fire spell critical strikes , dealing extra damage equal to a percentage of the fire spell ' s direct critical damage . With 5 points in this talent , a Fireball that hits for 1000 will crit for 1500 , and the DoT will do an additional 40 % of 1500 , or 600 damage . Total damage dealt by the spell is 2100 , which is 110 % more than the base hit damage . The following formula will calculate total Fire critical strike damage ( direct and DoT ) , where X is the number of points in Ignite : The talents Spell Power and Burnout also modify the critical strike bonus , which in turn affects Ignite damage . With Ignite and one of these at max rank , a Fireball that hits for 1000 will crit for 1750 and Ignite will do an additional 40 % of 1750 , or 700 damage . The total damage is 2450 , which is a 145 % more than the base hit damage , for a total 245 % of normal strike damage . The following formula will calculate total Fire critical strike damage ( direct plus DoT ) with both Ignite and Spell Power , where X is the number of points or Spell Power and Y is the number of points in Ignite : The Ignite DoT deals its damage split into two equal ticks , the first at two seconds after the crit , and the second at four seconds . Using the Fireball example above , a crit of 1500 will apply an Ignite DoT of 600 . The spell lands at time " t " , and deals 300 damage at times " t " + 2 . 0 sec and " t " + 4 . 0 sec . If another Fire crit occurs before either tick , any remaining damage is added to the new Ignite , resetting the duration back to 4 seconds . This effectively pushes Ignite damage back when multiple crits happen in quick succession . In any event , the Ignite will only start to tick two seconds after the most recent crit , and the sum damage will always be 40 % of all crit damage over time ( except under certain conditions , see " known bugs " ) . Each mage gets his own Ignite debuff on a target . It is no longer possible to have multiple mages " rolling " a single large Ignite on a target . Examples . The following examples assume no talents except a full 5 points in Ignite , giving a DoT equal to 40 % of the crit damage . In the first example , a Fireball crits for 1500 , applying an Ignite that will deal 600 over the next 4 seconds . Assuming no further spell casts and ignoring Fireball ' s own DoT , the combat log ( time - tagged here for convenience ) will show as follows : Total damage is 2100 as expected ( 1500 * 1 . 4 ) . Next , consider two consecutive crits from Scorch , which has a cast time of 1 . 5 seconds . The first Scorch crits for 1000 damage , Igniting for 400 , and the second crits for 1100 , Igniting for 440 . The second Scorch lands 1 . 5 seconds after the first , which is before the first Ignite has a chance to tick . This pushes the damage back , adding both Ignites into a single DoT for 840 . Total damage is 2940 as expected ( 2100 * 1 . 4 ) . Note that the first Ignite did not tick at " t " = 2 . 0 as it did with the first example . The second crit restarted the Ignite debuff , with all remaining damage added into the new DoT , and split evenly between the ticks . Now , consider two consecutive Fireball crits , the first critting for 1500 , Igniting for 600 , and the second critting 3 . 0 seconds later for 1600 , Igniting for 640 . Here , Ignite ticks once before the second crit , leaving the remainder to be added into the next Ignite . Total damage is 4340 as expected ( 3100 * 1 . 4 ) . Note that the second crit restarted the Ignite again at " t " = 3 . 0 , leaving 3 seconds between the first tick and the second . The 300 damage that would have been the second tick of the first Ignite is added to the 640 for the second Ignite , a total DoT of 940 which is split into two ticks of 470 . Known bugs . Sometimes a single tick of Ignite will do its damage and then also be added to a second Ignite if it lands just before the tick . This means that one or both ticks of Ignite can do twice the expected damage . This is often mistaken to mean the old " rolling " ignite system from pre - 2 . 0 ( see " past changes " ) is still present . The condition for this bug seems to be precise timing , making it difficult to exploit to any advantage . Another bug occurs when two Fire crits land nearly simultaneously . Both crits should Ignite , but only one will take effect . To trigger this condition , cast an instant such as Fire Blast just as a projectile spell such as Fireball is about to land . This frequently affects elementalist mages who often double - crit with Shatter . Both conditions can be explained by the theory that the critical strike and damage calculation is done at the time mana is spent and the spell leaves the hands , but the damage is done and Ignite applied to the target after projectile travel time . When a Fireball that will crit leaves the mage ' s hands , a new Ignite DoT is calculated from the computed damage and any current Ignite stack present on the target . This new Ignite DoT then overwrites the current Ignite when the spell lands , with a new 2 second counter . In computer science terms , this may be considered a . Consider the case where extra ignite ticks are appearing . The goal here is to time a fireball cast so that Ignite ticks on the target while a Fireball is mid - flight . In this case , a Fireball travel time of 1 . 0 seconds is assumed . Total crit damage is 4000 while total Ignite damage is 2000 , which is 10 % more than expected . The Ignite tick at 8 . 0 was included in the second Fireball ' s new Ignite , but ticked anyways because the Fireball was still in flight . Now consider the case where two crits land but only one spell ' s Ignite is applied . A Fireball travel time of 1 . 0 seconds is assumed . Notice that the Fireball Ignite was not able to include the Ignite damage from the Fireblast because it was not present at the time the spell was completed . Also note that the Fireblast Ignite was not able to include the Ignite from the Fireball because it had not yet landed on the target . Thus , the Ignite from Fireball is overwriting the Ignite from Fireblast without including it . These examples assume perfect timing which is almost never the case given client / server latencies , but the effects have been observed on live realms . Ignite Munching . When Ignite damage is lost due to the behavior described above , it is sometimes called " Ignite Munching " by players . It is more of a serious problem with deep - fire mages since WoW 3 . 0 due to new talents Living Bomb and Hot Streak which can both cause extra fire crits ( and thus ignites ) while a projectile spell is still in flight . In the case of Living Bomb , when the explosion at the end crits while a Fireball or Frostfire Bolt crit is still in flight , the Ignite from the Living Bomb explosion will be munched . In the case of Hot Streak , if the mage fires the instant Pyroblast immediately after a Fireball or Frostfire Bolt , and if both are crits , the Ignite from the Pyroblast will munch the Ignite damage from the first spell . Some Ignite munching can be avoided by using particular spell rotations that take it into account . When Hot Streak procs , one trick is to cast the instant Pyroblast after a spell with no travel time , rather than after a Fireball or Frostfire Bolt which have a travel time . One possibility is to continue casting Fireballs / Frostfire Bolts until Living Bomb explodes , then put up a new LB before firing the instant Pyroblast . The global cooldown needed to put up LB is enough time for the last projectile to land , and the Pyroblast will not munch any Ingite if it crits . Do this only if Living Bomb has very little time remaining , as waiting too long to use a Hot Streak proc may cause you to lose a chance at another proc . A second possibility is to use Scorch before instant Pyroblast . The Scorch cast time is long enough to allow any Fireballs or Frostfire Bolts to travel to their target , so if it crits it won ' t munch any ignites . Also , it has no travel time of its own , so it ' s crit won ' t be munched . And finally , it will refresh the Improved Scorch debuff on the target ( Assuming the mage has this talent , which most deep - fire mages do ) . This bug in the ignite mechanic has given scorch a synergy with Hot Streak , however this synergy is by fault and not by design . Partial Spell Resist . As of patch x . x there is a known issue with partial spell resists affecting the Ignite component unfavourably . This is a bug blizzard have acknowledged but stated they won ' t be fixing before Cataclysm , when the ignite mechanic itself will be changed entirely . The bug affecting ignite relates to the direct fire damage and the subsequent ignite tick ( s ) . The direct fire damage hit is , like all damage spells , subjected to the effects of a partial spell resist roll . However , here ' s the rub , once that spell resist is calculated and applied to reduce both the direct damage hit and it ' s resulting ignite component , these already reduced ignite ticks are then themselves further subjected to another pass of the same spell resist roll each tick . In effect the ignite component is being penalised twice , once on the direct hit calculation and then again on each tick . This is often referred to as double dipping and has a noticable effect on the ignite damage being lost to partial resists .