Fated Ashes

Fated Ashes is the burn component for mages in League of Legends: 30 Ability Power for 900 gold in patch 26.21, plus the Inflame passive, which makes your damaging abilities deal 15 bonus magic damage over 3 seconds and an extra 45 magic damage to monsters. It builds from a single Amplifying Tome and into two finished items, Liandry’s Torment and Blackfire Torch, which makes it the first buy for AP junglers and for the battlemages who want damage over time.

What does Fated Ashes do?

Two things. The 30 Ability Power is ordinary, and Inflame is the reason the item exists: every ability that damages a target also sets it burning for 15 magic damage spread over 3 seconds, and against jungle monsters the burn does 45 more.

In lane the burn is small; 15 damage on a poke that already does 200 is a rounding error. In the jungle it is the whole point. An AP jungler with Fated Ashes clears camps noticeably faster, because the monster bonus applies on each ability hit and camps take dozens of them, and the item costs 900 gold, which is exactly the budget on a first recall after a full clear. Does the burn stack with itself? No, each new ability refreshes the same burn rather than adding another, so the value comes from constant casting, not from a single big combo (Brand, Malzahar, Lillia and Karthus all fit that pattern, and Zyra’s plants count as abilities too).

Is Fated Ashes gold efficient?

Not on stats: 67%. 30 Ability Power at 20 gold per point is worth 600 gold, and the item costs 900 gold, so you pay 300 gold for the passive.

Whether that is fair depends on where you are standing. Thing is, for a laner the burn earns almost none of that back, and an Amplifying Tome plus 500 gold toward a Lost Chapter is usually better; for a jungler the monster bonus pays the premium back within a couple of clears. The 500 gold combine cost is unusually high for a one-component item, which is Riot’s way of charging for the passive. The sell price is 630 gold.

What does Fated Ashes build into?

Two items, and they split neatly by who you are:

• Liandry’s Torment, the burn item that scales with the target’s maximum Health, for battlemages and anyone fighting tanks.
• Blackfire Torch, the mana and Ability Haste version with a burn that gains Ability Power per burning enemy, for mages who spam abilities on several targets.

So the Ashes commits you to a damage-over-time build, but not to a specific one. Honestly, that is the right amount of commitment for a first recall: a Brand can still pick between the two at 2,000 gold depending on how tanky the enemy team is turning out, and an AP jungler can do the same after seeing who is fed. The LoL items database has both prices.

Who buys it?

AP junglers first, almost without exception: Lillia, Karthus, Fiddlesticks, Brand jungle, Zyra jungle, Taliyah when she goes Liandry’s. Then the battlemages in lane who are building Liandry’s anyway (Rumble, Malzahar, Singed, Cassiopeia against tanks) and the Blackfire Torch mages like Brand, Zyra and Xerath in a long poke lane. Burst mages skip it. Who gains the least? Anyone whose damage lands in one instant and then stops, since a 3 second burn on a target who is already dead does nothing.

How has Fated Ashes changed over the patches?

It is young and already nerfed. Riot added it in patch 14.10 as the shared component for the two burn items, and the record since is two lines:

• Patch 14.11: Ability Power 40 → 30, effect text changed.
• Patch 14.20: Effect text changed.

Ten Ability Power taken off one patch after release says the first version was a little too efficient as a component, and the item has sat still since. Funny enough, the 14.20 entry is wording only, which for a burn item usually means Riot clarified how the monster bonus is written rather than what it does.

When should you buy it?

As a jungler, on the first recall after a full clear, where 900 gold is almost exactly what you will have. As a laner, only if your finished item is Liandry’s or Blackfire Torch and you have the gold for the whole Ashes rather than just the Amplifying Tome inside it, because the Tome alone keeps your options open and the Ashes does not. For what it’s worth, the right order against a tank-heavy enemy team is Ashes into Liandry’s as a first item, and the roles that build that way are covered in the guide to LoL roles, with the AP jungle section being where Fated Ashes shows up most.

FAQ

How much does Fated Ashes cost?

900 gold in patch 26.21, of which 500 gold is the combine cost over an Amplifying Tome. It sells for 630 gold.

What stats does it give?

30 Ability Power, plus the Inflame burn.

How much does Inflame deal?

15 bonus magic damage over 3 seconds from damaging abilities, and an additional 45 magic damage to monsters.

What does it build into?

Liandry’s Torment and Blackfire Torch.

Is it good for jungling?

Yes. The extra damage to monsters is the main reason AP junglers buy it on their first recall.

When was it added?

In patch 14.10. Its Ability Power dropped from 40 to 30 in patch 14.11.