Ragnaros Heroic Raid Guide

Ragnaros map (normal version)

Minis in Heroic Ragnaros’s Army

• Dark Iron Miner - Dwarven Ambition
• Firehammer - Blazing Speed
• Flamewaker - Backdraft
• Living Bomb - Blast Radius
• Molten Giant - Blood of the Mountain
• Pyromancer - Conflagrate

Living Bomb is a threat to any large groups of minis.

The Boss and Other Minis

Ragnaros

• 24,000 health
• Resistant
• Wrath: 170 Elemental damage, knockback, 12.5 range, 16.5 radius, 360 degrees, 20-second cooldown
• Melee Sweep left (Fist): 340 Physical damage, 2.7 seconds attack speed, cleave
• Melee Sweep right (Sulfuras, Ragnaros’s right hand): 340 Physical damage, 20% chance to apply Burn, 2.7 seconds attack speed, cleave
• Raid Base Meteor (phase 4 only): 500 Elemental damage, 30 seconds cooldown, targets Barracks only

Majordomo Executus

• 1500 health
• Fire Wave: 300 Elemental damage, 2.0 seconds attack speed, 18 range, 8-width wave
• Summons two Flamewaker Elites

Flamewaker Elite

• 1500 health
• Unstoppable
• Counterspells all your spells while alive
• Resurrects the other Flamewaker Elite in 10 seconds - kill both of them within that window to stop them from respawning
• Fire Wave: 250 Elemental damage, 2.0 seconds attack speed, 7.5 range

Son of Flame

• 2200 health
• Resistant
• Vulnerable to Siege damage (+100% damage taken)
• Fire Area: 200 Elemental damage, 1.8 seconds attack speed, 3.5 radius, hits ground minis only
• Immolate: Deals 30 Elemental damage every 0.5 seconds to enemy minis within a radius of 4.5

Map Mechanics

The encounter begins with Ragnaros submerged and Majordomo Executus on the board. Majordomo Executus will summon Flamewaker Elites to assist it. The Flamewaker Elites will counter any spells you attempt to play while they are alive. The Flamewaker Elites patrol the lanes and will resurrect each other unless both are killed within 10 seconds. When Executus is killed, Ragnaros emerges, and casts Phase Transition Meteors on all Towers, capturing them and dealing lethal damage to any enemies in a radius of 10 from the Towers. Ragnaros also casts Lava Wave on both lanes even if no Towers were destroyed. Finally, Ragnaros and all of its current and future minis gain Armored and deal 40 Elemental damage back to their attackers (this ability only lasts until Ragnaros submerges again).

In Heroic, there are no other Lava Waves than the phase transition ones, so you can safely attack both lanes. The Lava Wave deals lethal damage to all enemy Towers and ground minis on its path. It does not hit flying minis.

Throughout the fight, Ragnaros summons pairs of Core Hounds. The first pair spawns at 4:00 with one Core Hound spawning from the pool close to your base on the left and another from further away on the right. The next pair spawns at 3:00 with one Core Hound spawning from the pool close to your base on the right and another from further away on the left. More Core Hounds spawn at 60 second intervals, with each pair summoned every 120 seconds.

Whenever Ragnaros is not submerged, he casts Meteor on any player-controlled Towers. Meteors are only cast when a Tower is fully operational, not during building. A Meteor deals 800 Piercing damage to a Tower and minis around it on a radius of 3.5. The Meteor ability has a 10-second cooldown.

Meat Wagon with range talent is able to shoot at Ragnaros over the lava lake on the right side, if you send it towards the right Tower from the left edge of the middle deployment zone. Blizzard did not enjoy this strategy and implemented a special Meat Wagon burn zone around the area. Any Meat Wagon that enters the area takes 70 Elemental damage per second after 8.5 seconds in the zone. This damage effect lasts for 120 seconds.

Phase 3 begins at 70% health

• Ragnaros cleanses itself of Burn and Poison
• Ragnaros submerges. While submerged, Ragnaros is immune to all damage and the area around Ragnaros is on fire, dealing 30% of a mini’s health in Piercing damage every second in a radius of 10 around Ragnaros. Ragnaros also heals for 1% of its health every 5 seconds for up to 60 seconds (12%).
• Ragnaros and its minis lose Armored and the 40 Elemental damage reflection
• Ragnaros summons four Sons of Flame, two on each lane.

When all four Sons of Flame have been killed, Ragnaros emerges.

• Ragnaros gains a 90% damage shield for 5 seconds
• Ragnaros stuns all enemies within a radius of 10 for 5 seconds
• Ragnaros casts Phase Transition Meteors on all Towers, capturing them and dealing lethal damage to any enemies in a radius of 10 from the Towers
• Ragnaros casts Lava Wave on both lanes even if no Towers were destroyed

Phase 4 begins at 40% health

• Ragnaros cleanses itself of Burn and Poison
• Ragnaros gains a 90% damage shield for 5 seconds
• Ragnaros casts Phase Transition Meteors on all Towers, capturing them and dealing lethal damage to any enemies in a radius of 10 from the Towers
• Ragnaros summons five Sons of Flame, including one between your Barracks and the chest
• Ragnaros summons two Flamewaker Elites, this time much closer to your base
• Ragnaros gains the Raid Base Meteor ability and starts shooting at your Barracks every 30 seconds

In phase 4, Ragnaros will resummon any Sons of Flame that have died every 67 seconds.

General Strategy

The Heroic Ragnaros fight differs considerably from the Normal one:

• There are no Lava Waves after losing a Tower, so you can safely push both sides (there are still Lava Waves at some phase transitions)
• There are no regular Flamewakers at the start
• The Flamewaker Elites will counterspell all your spells while they are alive, so you want to avoid spells

The Flamewaker Elites will resurrect each other after 10 seconds, but if you kill them in that time period, they will not respawn until phase 4.

You need something to take out Majordomo Executus.

• Worgen (do not deploy it right on top of Executus or it will be spotted)
• If you use a ground strategy, you can also get to Executus with ground minis

Whelp Eggs, on the other hand, are notably inefficient because Executus destroys them so quickly.

When Majordomo Executus dies and Ragnaros emerges, you will lose any Towers you had and minis that are right next to them. Try to time the transition so that your minis are not right next to the Tower so that they are not taken out by the Meteor. Be ready to retake Towers. Note that the Lava Wave starts from the middle of the lane and any minis near the top are safe from it.

Then, you start attacking Ragnaros to get to the first phase transition.

• Deploying Whelp Eggs on the left, waiting for Ragnaros to use Wrath, and then deploying a Worgen on the right side is a very effective way to deal a lot of damage to Ragnaros.
• You can send ground minis like Drakkisath to hit Ragnaros

At the first phase transition, Sons of Flame will spawn. You need to be able to take them down.

• Resistant tanks are the best to keep Sons of Flame in place
• Sons of Flame take extra Siege damage, so minis like Gargoyle, Swole Troll, and Meat Wagon are highly effective against them
• Sons of Flame take full damage from Execute

When Sons of Flame die, Ragnaros emerges and meteors all the Towers again. Be ready to retake Towers.

When you push into the final phase, you will need to race Ragnaros. Depending on your levels, you may want to wait until overtime to start the race. This is where spells and unbound minis are especially strong. If you have Whelp Eggs next to Ragnaros at phase change, they will be popped open and the Whelps get some free shooting time while the animations are ongoing.

Also note that an additional Son of Flame will spawn between your Barracks and the chest, and you need to answer it immediately.