Ragnaros Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot (Updated for the Season of Mastery)
Ragnaros the fire lord is the tenth and final boss you will encounter in Molten Core, and can be found back off of the starting area near the entrance, off a different path. He will be spawned by Majordomo Executus in the center of a circular ring of lava with a winding stone path around it.
Ragnaros Summary by Role
Tanks
- You will need three tanks for the boss, with two tanks positioned together in front of him. If one tank gets knocked back, the other should immediately take the boss. The third tank needs to be ready to pick up the Son of Flame adds which will continuously spawn after Ragnaros reaches 30% HP.
- If the boss submerges, run to the side of the room to pick up the adds that spawn.
- This is a high Fire damage encounter, so using lots of Fire Resistance on your gear is a great choice if you have any available.
Healers
- Spread out around the room, at least 8 yards from anyone else.
- Make sure people are topped up enough, so they do not die to
Lava Burst.
- Have at least two dedicated healers always in range of tanks to watch them.
DPS
- Melee DPS should be tightly stacked behind the boss.
- Ranged DPS should be away from melee, spread around the room (8 yards from anyone else).
- Kill the adds if the boss submerges. Warriors can help pick up adds to make sure they are away from casters.
- Melee DPS need to watch for
Wrath of Ragnaros, so they know when to run out of melee range as a group.
General Tips for Ragnaros
Greater Fire Protection Potions are extremely useful on this fight. Everyone in the raid should use 1 before the pull, and should have another one ready, if they need it during the pull.
- Make sure you have longer damage cooldowns up for this fight. Killing Ragnaros before he submerges the first time makes the fight much easier, and is very doable, even for a first-time raid group.
- Warlocks should be spread throughout the room to banish the Son of Flame adds that will start spawning at 30%.
- Ranged DPS and healers should make sure they are 8 yards apart, so as not to knock
each other back if you get targeted by
Lava Burst.
Season of Mastery Strategy for Ragnaros
In the Season of Mastery version of this encounter Ragnaros will automatically submerge upon hitting 50% HP. After his first submerge you will have two minutes to burn him down until he submerges again. With a full raid of 40 people that are Level 60 with full dungeon gear, this should be doable. If you do not kill him before his second submerge, do not panic, you just have to deal with some adds.
While Ragnaros is submerged in lava, some Son of Flame
adds will spawn, which melee and burn the Mana of people near them. You will
want to use your tanks and melee to pick these up quickly, also using spells
like Frost Nova to keep the adds away from casters. Once they are all
dead, Ragnaros will come back and can be killed. Upon reaching 30% HP Ragnaros
will spawn a Son of Flame every 15 seconds; these can be crowd
controlled or tanked but the main focus should be on getting Ragnaros down
before he submerges a second time.
Ranged will need to be spread around the room, but the most important thing
is to make sure that melee are watching a timer for when
Wrath of Ragnaros will be cast using an addon. A few seconds before
Wrath is cast, they will want to run out of melee to the edge of the lava, wait,
and then run back in after the cast goes off. The off-tank will need to do the
same thing, with the tanks swapping once the current tank gets knocked
away by Wrath of Ragnaros.
The Fire damage on this fight is extremely high, and tanks especially should be wearing a full set of Fire Resistance gear, using whatever they can.
Important Abilities
Wrath of Ragnaros will knock back nearby players and deal some Fire damage. Your melee will want to back out of melee range before this is cast, and your off-tank will need to step in after the cast to immediately pick up threat on Ragnaros.
Lava Burst will blast a random ranged with fire, dealing damage and knocking back anyone within 8 yards of them. This ability is why ranged need to stay 8 yards apart the whole fight.
Loot from Ragnaros
Below is a list of the loot available from this boss, but you can see a full loot list from the raid on our Molten Core Loot page.
Tier 1 Loot
Ragnaros does not drop any Tier 1 loot, but he does drop the Tier 2 legs for all classes.
Tier 2 Loot
Item | Required Level | Slot | Class |
---|---|---|---|
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60 | Legs | Rogue |
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60 | Legs | Hunter |
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60 | Legs | Paladin |
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60 | Legs | Priest |
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60 | Legs | Shaman |
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60 | Legs | Warrior |
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60 | Legs | Warlock |
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60 | Legs | Mage |
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60 | Legs | Druid |
Non-Tier Loot
Along with the items shown below, Ragnaros will also drop a number of BoE blue items for the Level 45-60 range.
Item | Required Level | Slot |
---|---|---|
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60 | Finger |
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60 | Finger |
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60 | Weapon |
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60 | Neck |
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60 | Back |
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60 | Head |
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60 | Back |
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60 | Trinket |
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60 | Shield |
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60 | Waist |
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60 | Weapon |
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60 | Trinket |
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60 | Weapon |
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N/A | Legendary Crafting Material |
Changelog
- 13 Nov. 2021: Updated with Season of Mastery changes.
- 07 Nov. 2019: Page added.
This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and current season and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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