Altermate mode igni?

[Gracey Face]

What is the purpose for igni's alternate mode? It does 1/3 the damage of regular igni if you put all of your stamina into it, does not apply a stream of damage as you would expect, is less likely to ignite enemies, when it does the burn is weaker and shorter duration, roots you in place and has the same range.

I can't figure what the intent for the alternate mode is...

One wierd thing is that it doesnt apply a stream of damage, it just applies 1/3 strength ticks every second or so.


Possibly my game is glitched?

Or does it have some wierd interaction with sign intensity and benefits in a non linear way as your sign intensity goes up? I am still only low level and only have 50% atm. If it just scales normally, I dont know why you would ever waste a skill slot on it...

[Crimsomrider]

I don't know about your version, but my Igni stream turns everything to crisp. The reason why it's great is because it puts flesh on fire, thus incapacitating them for a few seconds. Not only does it do damage in that time, but gives you an open window to get behind the target and do a backstab.

Also it is perfect for groups of enemies. You use a firestream and put them all ablaze. I have Greater Igni runes x4 ( 10% Igni damage ) along with Griffin Gear and Mutagens for Spell damage. Also I took that yellow Griffin School talent which gives +25% spell damage for each medium armor piece.

[Gracey Face]

Regular igni already does all of that though, and the dot you put on enemies is higher and of a longer duration.

IE against a bunch of lvl 1 wild dogs
My regular igni does 150 damage, then they burn for 8 a tick till they die.
My alter igni does 50 damage, occasionally a very high initial damage tick on the burn dot (not always though) and then they burn for 2 damage a tick for about a second then they survive.

Or against a bunch of lvl 5 bandits
My regular igni does 19 damage and they burn for 19 damage ticks for 2/5 thier health.
My altern igni does 6 damage and they burn for 7 damage ticks for about 1/10 thier health.

Assuming those ratios remain constant, why would I want to use alternate igni?

I suppose it doesnt matter too much I can respec it away if it ends up being pointless even in the later game, just wondering what the purpose of it is and thus if it is worth investing points into.

[Disorganic]

regular igni blast vs shielded mobs = mob takes very minor damage
fire stream vs shielded mobs = mob on fire, panicked, no longer blocking and easy to slaughter.

also great on groups (roots humans, humanoids), fire dot tick is OP against certain enemies (think hairy fiends, chorts etc)

[Gracey Face]

Originally posted by Disorganic:

regular igni blast vs shielded mobs = mob takes very minor damage
fire stream vs shielded mobs = mob on fire, panicked, no longer blocking and easy to slaughter.

also great on groups (roots humans, humanoids), fire dot tick is OP against certain enemies (think hairy fiends, chorts etc)

Didnt know it burned peoples shields out of thier hands. Thats odd. Dont know if its worth a skill slot, but its something anyway.


I wonder why it burns peoples shields out of thier hands though. I mean I could get it if the shield was on fire and they dropped it because of that, but the shield is fine and it just sort of looks like you push it out of thier hands with the igni.