Blackfire Torch

Blackfire Torch is a 2,800 gold mage item in League of Legends for champions who hit several targets at once: 80 Ability Power, 600 Mana and 20 Ability Haste in patch 26.21. Its passive, Baleful Blaze, makes your damaging abilities burn the target for 3 seconds, and each enemy champion or large monster that is burning gives you a stack of bonus Ability Power.

What do Baleful Blaze and Blackfire do?

Two linked effects. Baleful Blaze is the burn: any damaging ability you land applies a magic damage over time effect that lasts 3 seconds, so a champion with area spells can light up a whole team with one cast. Blackfire then counts the burning targets, enemy champions plus epic and large monsters, and hands you a percentage of bonus Ability Power for each one.

How much damage is the burn? That number scales with your stats, and Riot’s data files leave it to the in-game tooltip, so your shop screen is the place to read it.

The design rewards wide spells over single-target ones. A mage who tags five champions in a teamfight holds five stacks of Ability Power for as long as the burns tick (yes, the bonus drops as the burns fall off), while a single-target caster only ever gets one stack at a time. Thing is, the burn also works on big jungle monsters, which makes the item a quiet pick for AP junglers who want faster clears.

Is Blackfire Torch worth the gold?

Yes, at 114% on stats before the passive. For a mana mage item with a damage passive, that’s a strong number.

Priced off basic items of the same patch: 80 Ability Power at 20 gold per point is 1,600 gold, 600 Mana at 1 gold per point is 600, and 20 Ability Haste at 50 gold per point is 1,000. That totals 3,200 gold against a 2,800 gold price, a surplus of 400 gold. In practice the bonus Ability Power from Blackfire pushes the figure higher still in any fight with more than one target, so the efficiency you feel in a teamfight is better than the one on paper.

What does the build path look like?

Lost Chapter (1,200 gold) and Fated Ashes (900 gold), then 700 gold to finish. Lost Chapter is the usual first buy because it solves mana problems in lane (the Mana alone keeps most mages casting through a long trade); Fated Ashes already carries an early version of the burn, so junglers often flip the order and take it first for the clear speed.

It builds into nothing further (two components, one combine, and the slot is settled).

How has the item changed over the patches?

Not much yet. Why? Riot added Blackfire Torch in patch 14.10 as part of the mage item update that split the old mana mythic into several legendaries, and the changes since then fit in two lines:

• Patch 14.11: effect text changed.
• Patch 14.19: Ability Power 90 → 80, Ability Haste 25 → 20.

The 14.19 cut took a bit of power out of the stat line without touching the passive, which tells you where Riot thinks the item’s strength lives. The LoL items database tracks the same history for every other mage legendary, so you can compare how often each one has been touched.

Who should buy Blackfire Torch?

Mages whose main spells hit groups: anyone with a large area ability, a damage field, or a spell that bounces between targets. The more champions you keep burning, the more Ability Power you hold, so it rewards the kind of champion who stands at the edge of a fight and keeps the whole enemy team lit.

Single-target burst mages gain less. They still get the stats and one stack, but a one-target assassin mage is usually better served by raw Ability Power, and Rabadon’s Deathcap is the item that multiplies it. Funny enough, AP junglers sit in the middle: large monsters count for Blackfire, so a jungler can hold stacks during a clear and arrive at a fight already charged. If you’re not sure which lane suits an area-damage mage, our guide to LoL roles covers the options, and honestly the simplest test is to look at your kit: three area spells, buy Blackfire Torch; three single-target spells, buy something else.

FAQ

How much does Blackfire Torch cost?

2,800 gold in patch 26.21, of which 700 gold is the combine cost, and it sells back for 1,960 gold.

What does Baleful Blaze do?

Your damaging abilities apply a burn that deals bonus magic damage for 3 seconds.

What does Blackfire do?

For each enemy champion, epic monster or large monster affected by your Baleful Blaze, you gain a stack of bonus Ability Power.

What stats does it give?

80 Ability Power, 600 Mana and 20 Ability Haste.

Is it gold efficient?

Yes. Its stats are worth 3,200 gold, or 114% of the price, before counting the passive.

What does it build from?

Lost Chapter and Fated Ashes. It does not build into anything else.