Logging in League and being greeted by the Summoner’s Rift intro on a lazy, indolent day brings fond memories. Being able to escape the daily hassles of life for a brief respite is a welcome change to anyone looking for a quick distraction.
However, once in a while, you encounter potential kills so close to that first blood that you and your teammate just start spamming your summoner’s spells. We’ve all been wondering too: do Ignites stack in League of Legends?
Also read: What is 1v9 in League of Legends?
Never Let An Old Flame Burn You Twice
Expect this section to be relatively short so we can get it out of the way. We ran some comprehensive tests in our lab (custom game) to find out. Real cutting-edge stuff. The short and sweet answer is: NO. Two instances of Ignite do not stack on one enemy champion. We did, however, discover that the second instance of Ignite resets the timer of the first one.
This essentially just replaces the first Ignite, which doesn’t make full use of the full true damage output and healing reduction duration. This would be a waste for enemy champions with consistent healing, like Warwick or Fiddlesticks, for example.
The Alternatives
Now that we’ve established that Ignite does not, in fact, stack on one enemy, here are some viable alternatives you or your allies can apply on a fleeing enemy with low HP.
- Save it for when they almost leave the cast range of Ignite. Of course, this is assuming the enemy champion does not have some kind of dash spell or flash currently off-cooldown at their disposal. That could lead to some terribly close clutch escapes. You should also remember to avoid this tactic if the enemy champion has some kind of burst heal and extreme regeneration (we’re looking at you, Dr. Mundo!) or crazy amounts of lifesteal.
- Consider other summoner spells during champion selection. Luckily for League of Legends players, it gives you a window of opportunity right after everyone has selected their champion to strategize and plan out your runes and summoner spells. Exhaust is also a good alternative to Ignite. It slows them down to a crawl. It basically also neutralizes their basic attacks. Perfect for lifestealing champions dependent on hits to recover health.
Also read: When and How to Use Minion Dematerializer
Some Tips and Tricks
- Utilize your long-ranged spells last, depending on how confident you are with your skill shots. Examples of this would be Ashe’s Enchanted Crystal Arrow, Ezreal’s skillshots, or even Caitlyn’s Ace in the Hole.
- Know when to use Ignite to prevent HP recovering buffs. This works especially well even with melee execution abilities like the ultimates of Pyke, Garen, or Darius.
- CC (Crowd control) is your best friend here. If we do the math: more time under crowd control equals more DPS (damage per second). This should essentially “make up” for the lost Ignite time.
- Use Ignite after the initial one expires. Communication is key here.
- When facing enemy champions that don’t really rely on healing, players tend to use Ignite as a form of execution. Here’s a tip when they’re fleeing but not too close to their tower yet: save it from when they inevitably attempt to juke you in the brushes. Ignite also grants players vision of the target. It is important to note, however, that Ignite does not reveal stealthed enemies when they are out of your sight range. This includes Pyke’s Ghostwater Dive, Twitch’s Ambush, and Evelynn’s camouflage from Demon Shade.
- Timing is key. In higher tier games, knowing when to use abilities and effects is just as important as the spells themselves. Check to see your opponent’s spells. Some of these champs carry Cleanse. Here’s a fun fact. While the Cleanse spell removes the damage tick per second of Ignite, the healing reduction aspect continues until the duration is finished. Don’t be shy to pop an Ignite when the risk comes from your opponent’s quick recovery.
- The healing reduction from Ignite does not stack with any other healing reduction debuff. This includes Kled’s Bear Trap on a Rope, Katarina’s Death Lotus, Varus’ Hail of Arrows, and Singed’s Poison Trail why he is under the influence of his Insanity Potion. The former two inflict 60% reduction while the latter only offer 40%. This means that knowing which to use in certain situations can have bigger impacts during a clash or gank.
Playing Against Ignite and Grievous Wounds
Grievous wounds is basically the healing reduction aspect of Ignite. As mentioned earlier, they don’t stack. You might be wondering to yourself: how do you escape Grievous Wounds when not even Cleanse works on it? The most common answer to that is a shield, and this works especially well on Ignite. If we’re specifically talking about summoner spells, then Barrier is a great option.
It also has the added benefit of scaling into the game, arguably better than Ignite, as well as soaking up some of the damage you may incur when the enemy carry is whacking away at you while you flee for your life. In the late game, the value of Ignite comes more from the healing reduction rather than the true damage it inflicts. A big part of this is thanks to how much more HP all the champions get in the later parts of the game. If you want to get the best value for the damage you inflict on Ignite, assassinating the enemy team’s support is a good bet. Especially true for those pesky healing supports.
Final Thoughts
Once in a while, an enemy champion becomes so annoying you just want to throw everything you have at him/her. We get it, we all get days like that. However, if we’ve learned anything here, it’s that we need to select when to use our summoner spells very carefully. Learning when to use it and on who determines the flow of the match.
Hopefully, we’ve cleared up some questions about how Ignite works as a whole. May the satisfaction you get from a kill on the last damage tick of Ignite brighten up your day like the fire you unleash on Summoner’s Rift!
