Konicheebye to my Ignis Guide! I have 10 years of MOBA gaming experience playing League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, Mobile Legends & Arena of Valor.
I'm writing this guide because someone who watched my montage asked how do I build Ignis. With this build, I maintain a win-rate of around 60 - 70%, and I'm here to share it with you!
This will be a relatively lengthy, in-depth guide explaining how to use Ignis to it's best potential. I'm still learning every day, so don't be afraid to comment and tell me if I'm wrong.
Patch Changes
Version 13 ~ Changes
With the new update to his passive, he is in a really weird position. But he now functions as a CC monster damage dealing mage.
Version 12 ~ Changes
Ability 3: Holy Embers
Damage to targets with a Mark of the Flame changed from 900/1200/1500 (+1.2AP) magic damage → 800/1050/1300 (+1.1AP) true damage
Version 12 ~ Comments
Ability 3: Holy Embers
This change has brought some relevance of Ignis back. It has restored the nuking ability that Ignis once had. He can still have the potential to be deadly but there are better mages around and mobility is still being pride as important in this game.
Version 11 ~ Changes
1. Base Stats
Base movement speed: 350 → 360
2. Passive: Sacred Flame
Mark of Flame activation time: 1.5s → 1s
3. Skill 2: Rain of Fire
Damage: 110/142/174/206/238/270(+0.4AP) → 135/170/205/240/275/310(+0.45AP)
Slow: 50% → 30%
Stun duration on marked targets: 1.5 → 1
4. Skill 3: Holy Embers
Activation Delay: 1.5s → 1s
Damage: 750/1000/1250(+1AP) → 700/900/1100(+0.9AP)
Damage on Marked targets: True Damage → Magic Damage
Version 11 ~ Comments
1. Changes in Base Stats
An increase in Mobility is always good on a position heavy hero like Ignis.
2. Changes to Passive: Sacred Flame
The decrease in activation time is great for him because less time i needed for his skills to activate. This is important for the survivability of Ignis - getting the bonus shield from Fire Crash or stunning with Rain of Fire.
3. Skill 2: Rain of Fire
The increase in damage doesn't compensate for the drop in CC for the skill. It reduces Ignis's overall ability to function as a poke damage dealer as well as CC machine at max CDR. Slow can be compensated with slow from Frosty's Revenge.
4. Skill 3: Holy Embers
Decrease in activation delay compensates to increase Ignis's DPS (damage-per-sec) despite the nerf from true damage to magic damage. The change from the true damage is a huge nerf to his overall burst damage. The slight damage increase from Rain of Fire can't compensate for the burst damage offered by having true damage. In this current 1 mage meta, tanks more than often do not itemize more than 1 magic defense item, so our burst can still be somewhat significant.
However, with this change to his ulti may change how Ignis is viewed. Being played as a CC machine would seem more appropriate than a burst hero. He has more to provide as a CC machine than a burst damage hero.
In summary, Ignis is in a more balanced spot after this patch. He is not as overpowered but will still be a underrated hero until people starts viewing his potential.
Strength & Weakness
Pros
Long range poke
High AOE burst damage
Good late game
Cons
Weak early game
Item Dependent
Low Mobility
Positioning oriented
Squishy
Talents
Ideally, we want to always use Flicker because it provides you with the mobility that you lack. It can save you from sticky situations, help you initiate or simply position yourself better.
Tip: You can use Flicker to blink across impassable terrain.
Purify would be the 2nd best option because you can purge incoming crowd control effects. It could be the defining moment between a live or die situation for you. See that Grakk hook coming? Purify. See that Slimz spear heading for you and you are unable to dodge? Purify.
Tip: Don't wait for the crowd control to hit you before you use Purify. Use it preemptively. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.
Heal is just an overall great spell for you and your team. You benefit from it, your team benefits from it and you'd most probably pick this because you have yet to unlock Flicker or Purify. Be a team player then, pick heal.
Tip: Heal gives you a short boost in speed, don't be afraid to use it to escape or to chase down your enemies!
Burst Damage Build
Your role as a Mage (Position 2) is to provide damage in the form of magic. If you play your role right, your opponent will be forced to build defense items to deal with your awesomeness.
This particular build is catered for solo-play where team coordination is at a minimal. Especially in ranked games, team fights last shorter than usual and it's just a clusterfuck of who unloads their jizz first.
Ignis should be played with a "poke"-team composition. You ideally want to whittle your opponents down so that you can have an advantageous team fight by forcing them to take a fight at 1/2 HP or when you force one of their teammates to be so low that they have to go back to base and heal.
Opening Items
1x Spell Tome (Price: 300 Gold)
You should always start with a Spell Tome because it it's 1 half of the items that build into Phoenix Tear.
or
2x Pendant of Faith (Price: 120 Gold)
2 x 10 mana/5s = 20 mana/5s. Quick Maths.
This is an alternative choice to Spell Tome but Phoenix Tear provides more than enough sustain. You could get these and Phoenix Tear to accommodate to your spamming of skills but it might be an overkill.
Basic Items
1x Phoenix Tear (Price: 600 Gold)
60 AP & when the hero gains a level, 20% of HP and mana are restored over 3 seconds. For 600 Gold?! We in Value Town boys.
You are able to get this item before Level 3 by simply purchasing a Spell Tome at the start and soaking 2 lanes of creep. It's an item that will be useful all the way till you reach level 15 (Max Level). It saves you time from going back to base which in turn allows you to continue farming, increasing your farm efficiency.
1x Sonic Boots (Price: 700 Gold) or Gilded Greaves (Price: 690 Gold)
Reduces normal attack damage taken or Resistance +35% (Reduce duration of crowd control effects)? You decide. 2 or more physical assassins on the opponent team? Pick Sonic Boots. Heroes with a lot of CC? Pick Gilded Greaves. Opponent team has Raz? Pick Gilded Greaves.
It depends very much on your opponent's team composition and you have to weigh what's gonna kill you the most.
"Why not the other boots? I think Enchanted Kicks is pretty good with the +75 Magic Pierce." Fuck the other boots, that's what I'd say. Just ask yourself this simple question, can you buy either Sonic Boots or Gilded Greaves passives with your Arcana? Ya, that's what I thought.
Core Items
1x Frosty's Revenge (Price: 1780 Gold)
This item is moderately broken with Ignis. He is able to capitalize on its passive well with his skills. The slow provided from Frosty's Revenge makes all his skills provide a soft CC and if there is already a slow from his skills, 2nd Skill (Rain of Fire), it stacks on top of that.
It also provides him with magic defense as well as 7% movement speed which improves his mobility.
Overall, this item not only has great stats and a more better passive that amplifies his skills, it is a item that one could say defines Ignis.
1x Rhea's Blessing (Price: 2220 Gold)
This item provides you with a shield that absorbs some damage for you, provides you with 25% lifesteal, 10% CDR and a solid chunk of AP. It's everything that you need. The lifesteal is amplified with Ignis because of his ability to deal AOE damage, if you play games long enough, you'd know multiple damage sources, gives you multiple life steal. Simply cast it on the lane creeps and boom, you're almost as good as new.
With that, these 2 items are core on Ignis. They provide him with what he lacks in and amplifies what he is great in.
Luxury Items
1x Hecate's Diadem (Price: 2300 Gold)
Huge huge chunk of AP from this item, scales as you get more items due to passive. Provides you some magic pierce to counter defense items. With higher AP, your ulti does more true damage. If you don't know, true damage negates defense, so if you were to be dealt 2000 magical damage, with 50% magic resistant you would probably only receive 1000 magical damage. But with true damage, 2000 true damage, is 2000 true damage.
1x The Aegis (Price: 2000 Gold)
The Aegis provides you the armor, mana and CDR that you need to make you a monster at healing and dealing damage with the new update.
1x Ancestral Glory (Price: 2240 Gold)
Get this at any point in time after your core items, especially when some scumbag on the other end of another phone keeps camping and targeting you. You will be every assassin's number 1 priority target, so this item is a saving grace every 3 mins for your positional errors.
Skill Build
Quick Guide:
Max Holy Embers first
Max Fire Crash second
Max Rain of Fire last
Skills Tips
Use Fire Crash as your main DPS skill and to whittle your opponents down.
Ignis's skills have a relatively low cooldown when capped at 40% CDR. Don't be afraid to use your skills without their passive, they're strong zoning tools.
Rain of Fire doesn't require your passive to proc, it can still stun as long as all 3 waves damage your target.
Always use both Fire Crash & Rain of Fire to push out the wave quickly.
Arcana Choices
I like using these Arcanas. With 10% CDR from Rhea's Blessing & Sage Buff, I can easily hit 40% CDR cap.
Flat AP for more damage for your ulti and 10% more magic life steal to keep my healing up at 35% of my damage dealt.
The End
I will be constantly updating this guide with new information, especially patch updates. If you'd like a better understanding of how to play Ignis, you can watch my Ignis gameplay videos or my Ignis Montages.
Support me at https://www.patreon.com/konicheebye
I'm writing this guide because someone who watched my montage asked how do I build Ignis. With this build, I maintain a win-rate of around 60 - 70%, and I'm here to share it with you!
This will be a relatively lengthy, in-depth guide explaining how to use Ignis to it's best potential. I'm still learning every day, so don't be afraid to comment and tell me if I'm wrong.
Patch Changes
Version 13 ~ Changes
- Sacred Flame (Passive): When the flame mark is consumed, he will get HP recovery for 50 (+5/level) (+0.1AP) points
- Fire Crash: The shield gain is reduced from 300/450/600/750/900/1050(+1AP) to 300/425/550/675/800/925(+0.9AP) along with the mana cost：50/55/60/65/70/75 to 40/45/50/55/60/65
- Holy Embers (Ultimate): When the target is marked, the true damage is reduced from 800/1050/1300 (1.1AP) to 800/1000/1200 (+1.0AP)
- Attributes:
- Base HP increases from 3093 to 3205
- Base armor increase from 87 to 93
With the new update to his passive, he is in a really weird position. But he now functions as a CC monster damage dealing mage.
Version 12 ~ Changes
Ability 3: Holy Embers
Damage to targets with a Mark of the Flame changed from 900/1200/1500 (+1.2AP) magic damage → 800/1050/1300 (+1.1AP) true damage
Version 12 ~ Comments
Ability 3: Holy Embers
This change has brought some relevance of Ignis back. It has restored the nuking ability that Ignis once had. He can still have the potential to be deadly but there are better mages around and mobility is still being pride as important in this game.
Version 11 ~ Changes
1. Base Stats
Base movement speed: 350 → 360
2. Passive: Sacred Flame
Mark of Flame activation time: 1.5s → 1s
3. Skill 2: Rain of Fire
Damage: 110/142/174/206/238/270(+0.4AP) → 135/170/205/240/275/310(+0.45AP)
Slow: 50% → 30%
Stun duration on marked targets: 1.5 → 1
4. Skill 3: Holy Embers
Activation Delay: 1.5s → 1s
Damage: 750/1000/1250(+1AP) → 700/900/1100(+0.9AP)
Damage on Marked targets: True Damage → Magic Damage
Version 11 ~ Comments
1. Changes in Base Stats
An increase in Mobility is always good on a position heavy hero like Ignis.
2. Changes to Passive: Sacred Flame
The decrease in activation time is great for him because less time i needed for his skills to activate. This is important for the survivability of Ignis - getting the bonus shield from Fire Crash or stunning with Rain of Fire.
3. Skill 2: Rain of Fire
The increase in damage doesn't compensate for the drop in CC for the skill. It reduces Ignis's overall ability to function as a poke damage dealer as well as CC machine at max CDR. Slow can be compensated with slow from Frosty's Revenge.
4. Skill 3: Holy Embers
Decrease in activation delay compensates to increase Ignis's DPS (damage-per-sec) despite the nerf from true damage to magic damage. The change from the true damage is a huge nerf to his overall burst damage. The slight damage increase from Rain of Fire can't compensate for the burst damage offered by having true damage. In this current 1 mage meta, tanks more than often do not itemize more than 1 magic defense item, so our burst can still be somewhat significant.
However, with this change to his ulti may change how Ignis is viewed. Being played as a CC machine would seem more appropriate than a burst hero. He has more to provide as a CC machine than a burst damage hero.
In summary, Ignis is in a more balanced spot after this patch. He is not as overpowered but will still be a underrated hero until people starts viewing his potential.
Strength & Weakness
Pros
Long range poke
High AOE burst damage
Good late game
Cons
Weak early game
Item Dependent
Low Mobility
Positioning oriented
Squishy
Talents
Ideally, we want to always use Flicker because it provides you with the mobility that you lack. It can save you from sticky situations, help you initiate or simply position yourself better.
Tip: You can use Flicker to blink across impassable terrain.
Purify would be the 2nd best option because you can purge incoming crowd control effects. It could be the defining moment between a live or die situation for you. See that Grakk hook coming? Purify. See that Slimz spear heading for you and you are unable to dodge? Purify.
Tip: Don't wait for the crowd control to hit you before you use Purify. Use it preemptively. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.
Heal is just an overall great spell for you and your team. You benefit from it, your team benefits from it and you'd most probably pick this because you have yet to unlock Flicker or Purify. Be a team player then, pick heal.
Tip: Heal gives you a short boost in speed, don't be afraid to use it to escape or to chase down your enemies!
Burst Damage Build
Your role as a Mage (Position 2) is to provide damage in the form of magic. If you play your role right, your opponent will be forced to build defense items to deal with your awesomeness.
This particular build is catered for solo-play where team coordination is at a minimal. Especially in ranked games, team fights last shorter than usual and it's just a clusterfuck of who unloads their jizz first.
Ignis should be played with a "poke"-team composition. You ideally want to whittle your opponents down so that you can have an advantageous team fight by forcing them to take a fight at 1/2 HP or when you force one of their teammates to be so low that they have to go back to base and heal.
Opening Items
1x Spell Tome (Price: 300 Gold)
You should always start with a Spell Tome because it it's 1 half of the items that build into Phoenix Tear.
or
2x Pendant of Faith (Price: 120 Gold)
2 x 10 mana/5s = 20 mana/5s. Quick Maths.
This is an alternative choice to Spell Tome but Phoenix Tear provides more than enough sustain. You could get these and Phoenix Tear to accommodate to your spamming of skills but it might be an overkill.
Basic Items
1x Phoenix Tear (Price: 600 Gold)
60 AP & when the hero gains a level, 20% of HP and mana are restored over 3 seconds. For 600 Gold?! We in Value Town boys.
You are able to get this item before Level 3 by simply purchasing a Spell Tome at the start and soaking 2 lanes of creep. It's an item that will be useful all the way till you reach level 15 (Max Level). It saves you time from going back to base which in turn allows you to continue farming, increasing your farm efficiency.
1x Sonic Boots (Price: 700 Gold) or Gilded Greaves (Price: 690 Gold)
Reduces normal attack damage taken or Resistance +35% (Reduce duration of crowd control effects)? You decide. 2 or more physical assassins on the opponent team? Pick Sonic Boots. Heroes with a lot of CC? Pick Gilded Greaves. Opponent team has Raz? Pick Gilded Greaves.
It depends very much on your opponent's team composition and you have to weigh what's gonna kill you the most.
"Why not the other boots? I think Enchanted Kicks is pretty good with the +75 Magic Pierce." Fuck the other boots, that's what I'd say. Just ask yourself this simple question, can you buy either Sonic Boots or Gilded Greaves passives with your Arcana? Ya, that's what I thought.
Core Items
1x Frosty's Revenge (Price: 1780 Gold)
This item is moderately broken with Ignis. He is able to capitalize on its passive well with his skills. The slow provided from Frosty's Revenge makes all his skills provide a soft CC and if there is already a slow from his skills, 2nd Skill (Rain of Fire), it stacks on top of that.
It also provides him with magic defense as well as 7% movement speed which improves his mobility.
Overall, this item not only has great stats and a more better passive that amplifies his skills, it is a item that one could say defines Ignis.
1x Rhea's Blessing (Price: 2220 Gold)
This item provides you with a shield that absorbs some damage for you, provides you with 25% lifesteal, 10% CDR and a solid chunk of AP. It's everything that you need. The lifesteal is amplified with Ignis because of his ability to deal AOE damage, if you play games long enough, you'd know multiple damage sources, gives you multiple life steal. Simply cast it on the lane creeps and boom, you're almost as good as new.
With that, these 2 items are core on Ignis. They provide him with what he lacks in and amplifies what he is great in.
Luxury Items
1x Hecate's Diadem (Price: 2300 Gold)
Huge huge chunk of AP from this item, scales as you get more items due to passive. Provides you some magic pierce to counter defense items. With higher AP, your ulti does more true damage. If you don't know, true damage negates defense, so if you were to be dealt 2000 magical damage, with 50% magic resistant you would probably only receive 1000 magical damage. But with true damage, 2000 true damage, is 2000 true damage.
1x The Aegis (Price: 2000 Gold)
The Aegis provides you the armor, mana and CDR that you need to make you a monster at healing and dealing damage with the new update.
1x Ancestral Glory (Price: 2240 Gold)
Get this at any point in time after your core items, especially when some scumbag on the other end of another phone keeps camping and targeting you. You will be every assassin's number 1 priority target, so this item is a saving grace every 3 mins for your positional errors.
Skill Build
Quick Guide:
Max Holy Embers first
Max Fire Crash second
Max Rain of Fire last
Skills Tips
Use Fire Crash as your main DPS skill and to whittle your opponents down.
Ignis's skills have a relatively low cooldown when capped at 40% CDR. Don't be afraid to use your skills without their passive, they're strong zoning tools.
Rain of Fire doesn't require your passive to proc, it can still stun as long as all 3 waves damage your target.
Always use both Fire Crash & Rain of Fire to push out the wave quickly.
Arcana Choices
I like using these Arcanas. With 10% CDR from Rhea's Blessing & Sage Buff, I can easily hit 40% CDR cap.
Flat AP for more damage for your ulti and 10% more magic life steal to keep my healing up at 35% of my damage dealt.
The End
I will be constantly updating this guide with new information, especially patch updates. If you'd like a better understanding of how to play Ignis, you can watch my Ignis gameplay videos or my Ignis Montages.
Support me at https://www.patreon.com/konicheebye
