Ragnaros Build Guide “DIE, INSECT!”

Blast Wave Build focuses on improving Blast Wave. This balanced build provides a remarkable amount of short-range area of effect burst damage and survivability. This damage and survivability, however, hinge upon your ability to position in a way that you can get Blast Wave to hit as many opponents as possible. Given Ragnaros' lack of crowd control outside of a perfect Sulfuras Smash hit, this may be difficult to accomplish against Heroes with gap closers or ranged attacks and Abilities. Blast Wave truly comes alive when combining the Engulfing Flame, Tempered Flame, and Blast Echo Talents, which essentially quadruple Blast Wave's base damage to provide a formidable self-Shielding effect. This build is generally recommended against balanced team compositions that neither feature two or more tanks nor 4 ranged Heroes.

Empower Sulfuras Build focuses on improving Empower Sulfuras. Of all 3 main Ragnaros builds, this one provides the highest amount of sustained damage. Its main drawback, however, is that it requires you to remain in melee range to get the most out of it. And although it does provide superb self sustain, it is lacklustre against most forms of burst damage. Key Talents include Hand of Ragnaros, which halves the cooldown of Empower Sulfuras granted you strike at least two Heroes, and Giant Scorcher, which inflicts a tremendous amount of damage over time to high-Health Heroes. As such, this build is recommended against team compositions that feature little to no burst damage, and two or more tank-like or otherwise Healthy melee Heroes so as to guarantee consistent Hand of Ragnaros Cooldown reduction effects.

Living Meteor Build focuses on improving Living Meteor. This build is defined by Living Meteor's ability to situationally deal a tremendous amount of area of effect damage from a long range. This damage potential, however, is limited by the Ability's skillshot nature. In other words, Living Meteor requires a reliable setup, which generally comes under the form of crowd control provided by allied Heroes. The long-range nature of Living Meteor makes this build a solid choice against team compositions that feature several ranged Heroes that would otherwise be able to kite you and nullify your other melee Abilities. It is at its most effective when your own team composition features two or more aggressive melee Heroes that will often force opponents to play defensively, where Living Meteor excels. Key Talents include Shifting Meteor, which increases the reliability of Living Meteor, and Molten Power and Meteor Bomb, both of which vastly improve the raw damage output of the Ability.