Ragnaros Abilities guide

[Ryian]

I made a quick overview of the abilities in the Ragnaros encounter for my raiders, thought I would share it here in case anybody cared.

/// RAGNAROS

/// OVERVIEW

Ragnaros has 4 phases, each separated by an intermission phase where adds will need to be killed. I believe the last phase (4) is only available on heroic mode. During the fight you are assisted by some major lore characters however they all seem to be focusing on helping you in phase 4 (apart from one thing in phase 3) I'm not really sure what role they play in normal mode other than that small help in phase 3. The fight is structured as follows:

• Phase 1 100% -70% /// Spread out, raid wide knock back and traps.
• Phase 1.5 (Intermission Phase) /// 45 seconds or until adds are dead.
• Phase 2 70% - 40% /// Start dancing, raid wide bombs that spawn adds.
• Phase 2.5 (Intermission Phase) /// 45 seconds or until adds are dead. Kite the fire.
• Phase 3 40% - 0% /// Meteor Phase
• Heroic: Phase 4 /// Lore orgy

I have included all the abilities in this thread (orange), I have given a running cometary on how it is likely they will be dealt with.

/// PHASE 1

Sulfuras Smash /// Ragnaros faces a random player and prepares to smash Sulfuras on the platform. The impact creates several Lava Waves which move out in several directions from the point of impact.

Lava Wave /// A Lava Wave inflicts 70000 Fire damage and knocks back all players it passes through. Targets who are knocked back suffer an additional 20000 Fire damage every 1 sec for 5 sec.

Look out for a casting animation and gtfo. Get used to this ability, its going to hang around for a while.

Wrath of Ragnaros /// Ragnaros targets a player, inflicting 60000 Fire damage to all players within 6 yards and knocking them back.

Stay spread out.

Hand of Ragnaros /// Ragnaros inflicts 30000 Fire damage to all enemies within 50 yards, knocking them back.

Think phase one Al'akir. Time your heals / spellcasts. Because of magma trap you will need some spacial awareness. 30k isn't a lot of damage, the knock back is the main annoyance here.

Magma Trap /// Ragnaros periodically forms a Magma Trap at a random player's location. The Magma Trap persists for the duration of the battle and will trigger when stepped on, causing a Magma Trap Eruption.

Magma Trap Eruption /// When triggered, a Magma Trap erupts for 60000 Fire damage to all enemies within the Firelands and violently knocks the player who stripped the Magma Trap into the air.

Keep this ability in mind when moving from waves and preparing for the knock back. Also note that these traps will hang around for the whole fight. For that reason it might be that you have to intentionally explode them, so that they don't mess up your positioning for the rest of the encounter. In which case, use a shield / damage reducing cool down of sorts. Maybe assign some one, to do it so that the damage is predictable rather than just letting them go off randomly.

/// Phase 1.5 (Intermission Phase)

At 70% health, Ragnaros will cast Splitting Blow, wedging Sulfuras into the platform and creating Sons of Flame across the platform. Ragnaros will stay submerged for 45 seconds or until all of the Sons of Flame are destroyed.

Hes gonna spawn some adds that will begin walking towards his hammer. If they reach it, they will explode for 90k raid damage. The higher their HP the faster they walk. For each percentage of health over 50% they are they will walk 1% faster. So they will spawn with a 50% movement buff. They all need to lose this as soon as possible. To do this, split the DPS evenly so they all hit 50% at the same time. Alternatively, if they are stunable we can lock down some of them and focus the others. This again is a bit like the Valk's from Lich King fight.

Simple shit.

/// Phase 2

He will loose almost all of his abilities from the last phase, however Ol'Raggy will continue doing the lava waves as in phase 1. Bring a surfboard, keep your eyes peeled and be ready for a couple new abilities.

World In Flames /// Ragnaros periodically engulfs one third of the platform in flame every 2.6 sec for 13 sec. Inflicting 70000 Fire damage to players caught in the conflagration.

Look carefully at the timers for this. This is certainly a dance phase.

I would suspect it to work from side to side and not be random, just because their is 3 sections, and if it was random you could just pick a small area on the edge of one of the section and move back and forth (or stay still 60% of the time). Although remember, the waves are still going out and they are targeted at players, which could make for some tricky positioning. Keep alert and always be prepared for the worst case scenario.

It doesn't end here however, look out for this next mechanic.

Molten Seed /// Ragnaros forms a Molten Seed at the location of 10 random players, inflicting 55000 Fire damage to all players within 6 yards. After 10 sec the Molten Seed will burst in a Molten Inferno.

Molten Inferno /// When Molten Seeds burst, they cause a Molten Inferno that inflicts 100000 Fire damage to all players who are near the Molten Seed. The damage decreases the farther away the target is. Following the Molten Inferno, a Molten Elemental is created at the location of the Seed.

Ok, so from what I can see here, everyone in the raid will have a bomb placed at their current location. You then need to get away from this bomb before it goes boom. Perhaps as the ability is on its way you all group up in a distant spot of the platform and then run away together once its gone out. Done yet? Nope.

Molten Elemental /// The Molten Elemental is spawned from a Molten Inferno. It will attack and fixate on a random player.

Molten Power /// The Molten Elemental is empowered by nearby Molten Elementals, increasing its damage done by 25% and causing it to be immune to Snare effects.

Ok, so if you have dropped them all in the same area (as I suggested) they will spawn together and thus will be ready to do a truck load of damage to a random player and they cant be snarred. Thing is I don't know if this is the same player for them all, their HP, ect. I would assume its a case of the ever reliable combination of a frost trap and plenty of AOE. Could be completely off here though.

/// Phase 2.5 (Intermission Phase)

At 40% health, Ragnaros will cast Splitting Blow, wedging Sulfuras into the platform and creating Sons of Flame. Ragnaros will stay submerged for 45 seconds or until all of the Sons of Flame are destroyed.

Same as phase 1.5 in terms of the adds, however one unlucky player will have to contend with:

Blazing Heat /// The Lava Scion inflicts a random target with Blazing Heat, causing them to create a trail of Blazing Heat in their wake. Blazing Heat inflicts 50000 Fire damage every 1 sec and heals Sons of Flame and Lava Scions for 10% every 1 sec.

You cant just sit and eat it so you have to run. Basically you need to run in a path so that you aren't fucking over the raids positioning, and you aren't dissecting the path of the adds. We will likely set out a path before hand. Im not sure how 1 second plays out in terms of regular movement speeds but perhaps it will be a good idea to toggle walk/run to slow down your movement speed.

/// Phase 3

Raggy will stop doing that annoying raid wide bomb thingy he learnt in phase 2 and thus there will be no Molten Elementals to deal with anymore. However he will keep with the waves from phase 1 and the 'World in Flames' ability from phase 2. This is also the 'meteor phase', because:

Summon Living Meteor /// Ragnaros calls down an increasing number of Living Meteors over time, inflicting 65000 Fire damage to players within 5 yards of the location.

Move out of it. Stay spread. Seeing as these increase over time and this is the last phase (on normal) it is probably a soft enrage.

Living Meteor /// The Living Meteor will fixate on a random target and chase them. A player that gets within 4 yards of the Living Meteor will trigger a Meteor Impact, inflicting 500000 Fire damage to enemies within 8 yards.

Meteor Impact /// A player that gets within 4 yards of the Living Meteor will trigger a Meteor Impact, inflicting 500000 Fire damage to enemies within 8 yards.

Combustible /// The Living Meteor is highly Combustible. When attacked, it will cause Combustion, knocking it back several yards away from the enemy that hit it. Combustible is removed for several seconds after Combustion is triggered.

Combustion /// When Combustible is active, the Living Meteor is knocked back several yards from the enemy that hit it.

A meteor will develop a crush on some one in the raid. Kite it through the frost patches made by Cenarius and knock it back (by hitting it) when possible. Rinse and repeat til 0%. At that point (on heroic) I believe phase 4 will trigger, phase 4 involves help from the lore characters however I'm not really 100% sure on how it all works out. I will do a separate guide to phase 4 most likely.

Hope this helped.