Ragnaros Talents

Level	Choices
1	? ? ✓
4	? ✓ ?
7	? ? ✓
10	? ✓
13	? ? ✓
16	? ? ✓
20	? ✓ ? ?

Blast Wave Build

Recommended

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ? ? ?

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Ragnaros's Blast Wave Build can deal a high amount of burst damage and provides a fair amount of survivability and mobility during team fights.

The burst damage comes from Blistering Attacks at Level 7 and Engulfing Flame at Level 1, amplified by Blast Echo at Level 16.

The additional survivability while fighting enemy Heroes comes from Tempered Flame at Level 13, in synergy with Engulfing Flame at Level 1, and Blast Echo at Level 16.

Hybrid Build

Advanced

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20 ? ? ?

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Ragnaros's Hybrid Build can deal a high amount of burst damage and provides a great amount of self-sustain while laning.

The burst damage comes from Blistering Attacks at Level 7, Giant Scorcher at Level 16, and Sulfuras Smash.

The additional survivability, especially while laning, comes from Sulfuras Hungers at Level 1 that, after completing its Quest, will allow you to get more healing while hitting a full wave of Minions using Empower Sulfuras.

Empower Sulfuras Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20 ? ? ?

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Ragnaros's Empower Sulfuras Build can deal a high amount of sustain damage against team with multiple melee Heroes and provides a great amount of self-sustain while laning.

The additional survivability, especially while laning but not only, comes from Sulfuras Hungers at Level 1 that, after completing its Quest, will allow you to get more healing while hitting a full wave of Minions using Empower Sulfuras.

Living Meteor Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20 ? ? ?

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Ragnaros's Living Meteor Build is a decent alternative to other Builds for when you cannot afford to step up in melee range as it allows you to safely poke enemy Heroes from the distance.

The majority of your damage will come from the combination of Shifting Meteor at Level 1 after completing its Quest, Molten Power at Level 7, and Meteor Bomb at Level 16.

ARAM Build

ARAM

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20 ? ?

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Ragnaros's ARAM Build is a decent alternative to other Builds for when you cannot afford to step up in melee range as it allows you to safely poke enemy Heroes from the distance.

The majority of your damage will come from the combination of Shifting Meteor at Level 1 after completing its Quest, Molten Power at Level 7, and Meteor Bomb at Level 16.

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Sulfuras Hungers (Level 1) Ragnaros

Quest: Every time Empower Sulfuras kills a Minion, its damage is increased by 1, up to 25.

Reward: After killing 25 Minions, increase its damage by an additional 100.

Sulfuras Hungers is a good Quest-based Talent that adds a hefty amount of damage to Empower Sulfuras, which, in turn, increases your waveclear and survivability.

Contrary to the damage coming from other sources, the bonus damage provided by Sulfuras Hungers does not scale, meaning that it will stay the same for the whole game. As a consequence, quickly completing the Quest will result in a significant boost during the early game that will slowly fall off while transitioning into the late game.

In order to complete the Quest, you must drastically reduce the Health of enemy Minions by using Living Meteor and Basic Attacks, so that Empower Sulfuras will be enough to finish them off. Using your Basic Attack on the Wizard Minion in the middle of the wave of Minions will result into Empower Sulfuras hitting all of them.

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Shifting Meteor (Level 1) Ragnaros

Each time an enemy is hit by the same Living Meteor, they take 6% increased damage from it.

Quest: Hit 75 Heroes with Living Meteor.

Reward: After hitting 75 Heroes with Living Meteor, its duration is increased to 2.25 seconds, and it can be reactivated to change its direction once per use.

Shifting Meteor is a decent Quest-based Talent that empowers Living Meteor by increasing its damage as soon as you pick it. Upon completing its Quest, this Talent provides a hefty 30% duration increase to Living Meteor, which translate into an equivalent range and damage potential increase.

Although the damage increase is notable, the true power of this Talent lies in the ability to redirect Living Meteor, making the Ability much more difficult for opponents to avoid.

Thanks to its redirect effect, Shifting Meteor synergizes with other Living Meteor-based Talents: Molten Power at Level 7, Meteor Bomb at Level 16.

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Engulfing Flame (Level 1) Ragnaros

Increase Blast Wave's damage by 50% and its radius by 15%.

Engulfing Flame is a good Talent that heavily increases the damage of Blast Wave and slightly increases its radius.

Thanks to the additional damage provided, Engulfing Flame has strong synergy with Tempered Flame at Level 13 and Blast Echo at Level 16.

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Fire Ward (Level 4) Ragnaros

When Living Meteor hits an enemy Hero, gain a charge of Spell Armor, reducing damage from the next enemy ability by 50%.

Stores up to 2 charges.

Fire Ward provides you with an excellent way of mitigating Ability-based damage that scales directly with how many Heroes—and for how long—you can successfully hit with Living Meteor.

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Slow Burn (Level 4) Ragnaros

Blast Wave Slows enemies hit by 40% for 2 seconds.

Slow Burn is Ragnaros's only form of crowd control besides his Sulfuras Smash Heroic Ability, making it quite unique in this aspect.

The Slow it applies is particularly useful for keeping opponents within the area of effect of Living Meteor, or simply for keeping them around for Basic Attacks and subsequent Empower Sulfuras hits.

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Catching Fire (Level 4) Ragnaros

• Cooldown: 30 seconds

Quest: Gathering a Regeneration Globe increases Ragnaros' Health Regeneration by 1.25 per second, up to 18.75.

Reward: After gathering 15 Regeneration Globes, activate Catching Fire to gain 25 Armor for 3 seconds, reducing damage taken by 25%.

Catching Fire is a good Quest-based Talent that provides you with a respectable amount of self-sustain. The activated effect is particularly useful against burst damage, but takes longer to kick in than the Fire Ward alternative.

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Hand of Ragnaros (Level 7) Ragnaros

If Empower Sulfuras hits at least 2 enemy Heroes, refund 10 Mana and its cooldown recharges 100% faster for 4 seconds.

Hand of Ragnaros is a good Talent that provides a significant amount of cooldown reduction to Empower Sulfuras, the area of effect nature of which makes it particularly effective against team compositions featuring multiple melee Heroes.

With Hand of Ragnaros, you should see to always try and hit as many Heroes as possible so as to always trigger the cooldown reduction effect to greatly increase your sustain damage and survivability.

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Molten Power (Level 7) Ragnaros

If Living Meteor hits enemy Heroes at least 5 times, reduce its cooldown by 7 seconds, and refund 30 Mana.

Molten Power is a good Talent that, when hitting enemy Heroes 5 times with a single cast of Living Meteor, refunds 30 Mana and reduces its cooldown by 7 seconds, so you will be able to cast it again within 4 seconds.

When going for Molten Power, your goal becomes to hit at least 2 enemy Heroes with most of your casts of Living Meteor, better if with the help of a fully stacked Shifting Meteor at Level 1.

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Blistering Attacks (Level 7) Ragnaros

Every 10 seconds, Ragnaros's next Basic Attack against a Hero deals 60% bonus damage. Hitting enemies with Basic Abilities reduces this cooldown by 1 second.

Blistering Attacks focuses on improving Ragnaros's single-target damage output against Heroes. Making the best out of this Talent may be tricky, as it requires you to change the way in which you use your Abilities. In general, however, the goal becomes to alternate between delivering Basic Attacks against Heroes and using Abilities in a way that they hit as many targets as possible to significantly reduce the cooldown of Blistering Attacks.

While the bonus damage coming from Blistering Attacks only works on enemy Heroes, any enemy unit can be used for the purpose of reducing its cooldown. Living Meteor is particularly good for the task because it delivers quick packets of damage in an area of effect. All of Ragnaros's Abilities, however, deal damage in an area of effect, meaning that hitting a Minion wave is generally enough to reset the cooldown of Blistering Attacks.

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.

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Sulfuras Smash (Level 10) Ragnaros

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Hurl Sulfuras at the target area, landing after 0.75 seconds, dealing 250 (+4% per level) damage. Enemies in the center take 594 (+4% per level) damage instead and are Stunned for 0.5 seconds.

Quest: Hit 8 enemy Heroes in the center.

Mythic Reward: Sulfuras Smash gains an additional charge.

Sulfuras Smash is a situational Heroic Ability that deals a huge amount of burst damage and also Stuns, with increased effectiveness at its center. If you manage to unlock its Mythic Reward, you will also gain a second charge to further increase your threat level.

You should pick this Heroic Ability when the strategy of your team revolves around bursting down a single Hero. If your team has access to some crowd control effects, you can easily land it from the distance as a follow up to them.

Slow Burn at Level 4 can be used right before Sulfuras Smash to Slow enemy Heroes who are in melee range, increasing your chances to him them with your most powerful Ability.

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Lava Wave (Level 10) Ragnaros

• Mana: 80
• Cooldown: 120 seconds

Release a wave of lava from Ragnaros's Core that travels down the targeted lane, dealing 240 (+4% per level) damage per second to non-Structure enemies in its path and instantly killing enemy Minions. Damage increased by 100% versus Heroes.

Lava Wave is a good Heroic Ability that can heavily reduce the siege power of the enemy team by killing all their Minions when they attempt to take down your Structures and allows Ragnaros to soak Experience without actually being near enemy Minions.

We find this Heroic Ability particularly interesting on bigger Maps (such as Blackheart's Bay) because it indirectly gives global value to your team.

Avoid picking this Heroic Ability on Towers of Doom, though, because the lanes are so short that you will not be able to soak as many waves of Minions as usual with it.

Warning! Lava Wave cannot be picked in ARAM.

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Cauterize Wounds (Level 13) Ragnaros

Empower Sulfuras heals for an additional 45% of damage dealt to Heroes over 2 seconds.

Cauterize Wounds significantly increases your combat survivability, especially when coupled with the cooldown reduction to Empower Sulfuras.

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Tempered Flame (Level 13) Ragnaros

When Blast Wave damages an enemy Hero, gain a Shield equal to 100% of the damage dealt for 3 seconds.

Tempered Flame has the potential of granting you an impressive Shield, for some welcome survivability against burst damage. The caveat is that you must see to have Blast Wave detonate near as many opposing Heroes as possible, however, do not expose youself to do so because taking more damage than the Shiled being generated will result in a loss of value.

Tempered Flame synergises with multiple Blast Wave-based Talents: Engulfing Flame at Level 1 that increases its damage, and Blast Echo at Level 16 that duplicates its effect.

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Resilient Flame (Level 13) Ragnaros

When Ragnaros is Stunned, he gains 40 Armor for 3 seconds, reducing damage taken by 40%.

This effect has a 15 second cooldown.

Resilient Flame provides an impressive amount of survivability when matched up against team compositions featuring Stuns.

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Giant Scorcher (Level 16) Ragnaros

Empower Sulfuras burns enemy Heroes for 9% of their maximum Health over 3 seconds. This additional damage does not heal Ragnaros.

Giant Scorcher is a good Talent specifically designed to punish team compositions featuring multiple Heroes with high maximum Health (such as Azmodan), by dealing percent-based damage to them.

This Talent synergises well with Hand of Ragnaros, but only if you can manage to hit multiple enemy Heroes at the same time and thus trigger its cooldown reduction effect.

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Meteor Bomb (Level 16) Ragnaros

Living Meteor explodes at the end of its path, dealing 220 (+4% per level) damage. Enemies at its center take 30% increased damage.

Meteor Bomb adds a considerable amount of damage to Living Meteor, especially if you manage to hit enemy Heroes with the center of the explosion.

This damage, however, only happens when Living Meteor ends, making it really hard to get value from this Talent without the help of Shifting Meteor at Level 1 that gives you the ability to redirect Living Meteor.

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Blast Echo (Level 16) Ragnaros

After Blast Wave explodes, another Blast Wave is created on Ragnaros.

Blast Echo repeats the effect of Blast Wave, which doubles the benefits of Tempered Flame and Engulfing Flame, granted you self-cast Blast Wave.

This Talent can be exploited to double the duration of the Movement Speed increase provided by Blast Wave, or to manually apply it to an ally and then automatically get it on Ragnaros.

The extra Movement Speed increase is useful for positioning to ensure that the second Blast Wave hits enemy Heroes as well as to push forward or retreat when necessary.

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Flames of Sulfuron (Level 20) Ragnaros

Sulfuras Smash Slows enemies by 50% for 2.5 seconds, and the Stun duration of enemies hit in the center is increased by 1 second.

Flames of Sulfuron is a good Talent which makes Sulfuras Smash Stun enemies hit with the center for longer and Slow all enemies hit, regardless of them being hit with the center or not.

If you unlocked the Mythic Reward on Sulfuras Smash, this Talent becomes stronger because it allows you to cast a second Sulfuras Smash on the same target before the Stun from the first one ends.

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Lava Surge (Level 20) Ragnaros

Lava Wave gains an additional charge and causes allied Minions and non-Boss Mercenaries to be carried with it.

Lava Surge is a good Talent that gives you a second charge of Lava Wave and makes it increase the Movement Speed of allied Minions and Mercenaries in its path by 200%. Bosses are not affected by this.

You can use this Talent to quickly build up a scary wave of Minions and threaten enemy Structures. This will give the enemy team a choice: send a Hero to defend Structures or fight on even terms.

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Heroic Difficulty (Level 20) Ragnaros

Molten Core's range is increased by 100% at the start of its duration. In addition, the cooldown of Molten Core is reduced by 110 seconds when used on a destroyed Fort or Keep.

Heroic Difficulty is a good Talent that increases the range of Ragnaros's Abilities during Molten Core and decreases the cooldown of Molten Core when used on a dead Fort or Keep.

The starting range is increased from 20 to 40 and grows by 3.3 per second over 9 seconds, up to 70 range. The range increase affects Meteor Shower, Explosive Rune, and Sulfuras Smash.

The condition on the cooldown reduction makes this Talent better when using Molten Core offensively than defensively. If you have already lost a Keep and you need to defend a Keep adjacent to that lane, you can use Molten Core on the dead Keep to get the cooldown reduction or on the same Keep to be closer to the action.

Note that on Towers of Doom there will never be a dead Fort or Keep to get cooldown reduction from. For this reason, this Talent is less valuable there, although you can still get value from the additional range.

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Submerge (Level 20) Ragnaros

• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Ragnaros submerges below, entering Stasis and healing for 600 (+4% per level) Health over 3 seconds.

Submerge is your answer to being the target of your opponents' undesired attention. The Stasis effect provided by this Talent is long enough to avoid many dangerous Abilities, and may even be used as a tool to draw important cooldowns, only to see them go to waste.

The healing effect it provides is respectable as well, and may help you fight back upon emerging. Remember that your cooldowns continue to progress as you are Submerged, perhaps allowing for another round of Abilities in an otherwise dire situation.