
					Template:Infobox Warcraft character

Lucifron Magmadar Gehennas Garr Baron Geddon Shazzrah Sulfuron Harbinger Golemagg the Incinerator Majordomo Executus Ragnaros	(lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore)
Loot

General Information

Level: Boss
Location: Molten Core in Blackrock Mountain
Type: Elemental

Background

Ragnaros the Firelord is the final boss in Molten Core. With the advent of Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj and Naxxramas, defeating Ragnaros is no longer the pinnacle of raid achievement. However, slaying Ragnaros is still considered a very important step in raid progression before engaging into more challenging content. It is the first raid encounter which requires a concerted effort in acquiring massive amounts of a particular statistic (in this case, fire resistance). Moreover, the encounter is the first one to demand the extensive use of consumables, at least in the learning process and in the first few kills. As such, it is a very important stage in the evolution of a raiding guild.

Ragnaros also represents a common bone of contention for raiding guilds. Killing Ragnaros requires a full Molten Core clear. On one hand, for guilds deep into more challenging instances the time required to clear MC (3 hours for a reasonably mature guild) is wasteful and inhibits raid progression. On the other hand, many guild members, especially recruits, need to farm Ragnaros for the Tier 2 pants he drops. For many classes, better pants won't be found until deep into AQ40 or Naxxramas. Exacerbating this is the fact that trash mobs in MC respawn fairly quickly, so the instance must be run (more or less) all in one night.

Thus, while Ragnaros helps the itemization of the raid significantly, the time cost required to farm him often hurts raid progression. Guilds commonly struggle with balancing these competing goals.

Lore

The Fire god and his brethren once held sway over the entire world. As a servant of the Old Gods, he fought against the Titans for domination over the planet. The victorious Titans banished him and his brethren to the Elemental Plane - there to remain imprisoned until the end of time.

It was then and there that the brothers turned on each other. For five millennia a battle was fought at the core of this world.

It was during the Elemental Sundering that Ragnaros sought to consume Thunderaan, Prince of Air. Thunderaan fell, utterly defeated. The Firelord feasted upon the essence of Thunderaan, but was unable to consume him entirely.

In the center of a vast lake of fire in the Elemental Plane stands Sulfuron Keep, the home of Ragnaros. Until comparatively recently, he ruled his underground land with a molten iron fist.

Three hundred years ago, the ambitious and ruthless Dark Iron Clan initiated a war against their dwarven brethren, the Bronzebeard Clan and Wildhammer Clan. During this War of the Three Hammers, the Dark Iron Dwarf leader named Thaurissan lay siege to the Wildhammers' capital city of Grim Batol, destroying it. Despite this victory, the united Wildhammers and Bronzebeards were ultimately able to push the Dark Iron dwarves back to Blackrock Mountain. Thaurissan, seeking to summon a supernatural minion that would turn the tide of the war back to his favor, called upon the ancient powers sleeping beneath the world. To Thaurissan's surprise, and ultimately his doom, the creature that emerged was more terrible than any nightmare he could have imagined.

Now, freed by Thaurissan's call, Ragnaros erupted into being once again. Ragnaros' apocalyptic rebirth into Azeroth shattered the Blackrock Mountain and created a raging volcano at the center of the devastation. The volcano, known as Blackrock Spire, was bordered by what is now known as the Searing Gorge, to the north, and the Burning Steppes, to the south. Though Thaurissan was killed by the forces he had unleashed, his surviving Dark Iron Clan brethren were ultimately enslaved by Ragnaros and his elementals. Many Dark Iron dwarves remain within the lower areas of the mountain, especially Blackrock Depths, toiling away at the behest of Ragnaros and the Firelord's lieutenants. The Bronzebeards and Wildhammers, however, remain free.

Witnessing the horrific devastation and the fires spreading across the southern mountains, the Bronzebeards' King Madoran and Wildhammers' King Khardros halted their armies and hastily turned back towards their kingdoms, unwilling to face the awesome wrath of Ragnaros.

Now he lies at the bottom of that volcano on Azeroth, striving to find a way home, as well as to gather his strength once again so he can burn away Azeroth and take it for his own. Meanwhile, in Sulfuron Keep and elsewhere across the Firelands, his elemental princes battle constantly for dominance.

He and his dwarven minions took control of the Blackrock mountain's volcanic depths and made war on the orcs in the Upper Blackrock Spire, which served as the seat of power for Nefarian the Black Dragon. Ragnaros has uncovered the secret to creating life from stone and plans to build an army of unstoppable golems to aid him in conquering the whole of Blackrock Mountain.

Etymology/inspiration

Ragnaros' name is from Ragnarök(Ragnarok), the end of the world in Norse mythology, but he seems to be based on the leader of the Fire giants, Surt. This battle would be fought between the gods (the Æsir and the Vanir), and the jotuns (the giants): the hrímþursar (frost giants) and the eldjotnar (fire giants, led by Surtr), together with Loki and his children.

Ragnaros's Abilities

Ragnaros2 — Ragnaros and Executus are shown with a player in the MT spot (shown for scale).

Ragnaros has several abilities that he uses in the fight, sometimes accompanied by yelling. They are as follows:

Wrath of Ragnaros - Melee Knockback: 25s cooldown. "Taste the Flames of Sulfuron!" .When this ability is used characters in melee range are sent flying, much like Garr's guardians when they die. This also reduces threat of the targets it does hit. It is common to be thrown very far and end up either in the lava or in the back row. It is resistible and on a predictable 25 second timer. Melee DPS should back out of melee range and only resume attacks once they are sure the MT or OT has aggro. Most melee deaths occur by melees engaging too fast; after the MT fails a resist and gets knocked back but before the OT engages. Because of Ragnaros's size, melee DPS can not see the MT and OT and must use the "target of target" feature of the UI which can be found in the interface options or a "target of target" mod.
Hammer of Ragnaros - Ranged Knockback and Damage: 20–30s cooldown. "By fire be purged!" This attack targets a random player and knocks back all players (excluding the target) within ~20 yards. They are knocked back from the impact point which is at the foot of the target.
Lava Splash - Localized Damage: At various times a lava splash will be triggered which cause large damage to all those hit. It will affect anyone within close proximity to a lava flow. With decent fire resist (150+) it should be partially resisted most of the time. It can be partially resisted with the standard mechanic; every 100FR equals about 25% damage reduction.
Elemental Fire - Damage Debuff: This is a debuff that Ragnaros puts on whoever has aggro. 4800 damage over 8 seconds.
Magma Blast - Massive Ranged Damage: If no one is engaged in melee with Ragnaros he will throw a ranged attack for 4000–6000 damage which will kill most non-tank players in 1 hit and quickly wipe the raid. It's advisable to have a MT stand by at the end of Phase 2 to pick him up immediately upon resurfacing.
Melt Weapon - Melee Durability Damage: Often Ragnaros damages melee weapons that strike him. This takes 1 point off a weapon's durability per attempt. To counter this, bring spare weapons and ensure the raid has a repair-bot for between every few attempts.
Summon Sons of Flame: After 3 minutes of combat Ragnaros will summon 8 Sons of Flame and submerge (he will still be visible though; this might be a bug). After 90 seconds or once they are defeated (whichever happens first) Ragnaros will reappear. This process continues after a further 3 minutes until either your group or Ragnaros is dead. Be aware that Ragnaros considers Banished sons as defeated and can resurface prematurely. See below for a detailed Sons of Flame strategy in Phase 2.

Preparation

The whole raid needs to know where the exits from the lava are, because everybody has a good chance to take an involuntary lava bath.
Fire resistance is the key to surviving his attacks.
Your MT should have at least 300 (315 is recommended with buffs) fire resistance.
No member should exceed 315 resistance buffed as it is the maximum effective level of resistance. (See:Formulas:Magical_resistance) This is a DPS fight, you will need as much DPS gear as you can wear while maintaining a healthy, but not excessive level of resistance.
Any melee classes should have at least 200.
Any other class should have at the very least 100 (unbuffed), or they won't be around very long. In each case, more fire resistance is better.
Everyone in the raid should use anywhere from 1-3 fire protection potions during the fight to stay alive. Preferred a few seconds before the sons of flame spawn.
All ranged DPS (Mages, Hunters, Warlocks) should keep in mind that it is impossible for them to pull aggro from the MT. Ragnaros will always attack players who are in melee range first, regardless of their position on his hatelist (so don't hold back on DPS).
From the time you get Domo to summon Ragnaros you have 2 hours to defeat him, after which he submerges. Majordomo Executus will respawn within 2 to 3 hours.

File:Rag5bk3.jpg

Ragnaros

HINT: Head your raid (up to 10 players at time) to LBRS and Mind Control one or more Scarshield Spellbinders (you can find them just at the entrance under the bridge), at this point provide all players with his +81 Fire resistance buff. The buff lasts 60 Minutes, and is on a 30 second cooldown. This trick was initially thought to be a bannable offense, but it is actually perfectly legal and ok to use.
HINT 2: See the Plate Resist List, Mail Resist List, Leather Resist List, Cloth Resist List, Misc Resist List for a selection of good fire resist gear.

Set Up

All melee and close support need to be on the inner ring engaging Ragnaros while he is up.
All the healers and ranged support should be on the secondary ring away from Ragnaros. They must also stay away from the lava flows or they will be affected by the lava splashes.
All players should spread out so that they are not knocked back and damaged when Ragnaros uses his ranged knock back ability.

This means that melee should be around Ragnaros generally on the south, west and north parts of the inner ring, and the ranged is on the south and west portions of the outer ring. There are small patches of wall on the outer rings that, when stood directly against will usually prevent Ragnaros' random fireballs from knocking you back.

Strategy overview

This fight alternates between two stages - in the first, Ragnaros is up and everybody concentrates on DPSing him, in the second Ragnaros is immune to DPS, and the raid has to deal with his sons instead. Ragnaros is always up for 3 minutes (stage 1), then submerges for 90 seconds. This alternates until either the raid is wiped or Ragnaros is dead.

The basic idea is to get him down to 30%-40% before the first wave of sons, to be able to kill him before the second. If your warriors and warlocks are up to the task, it is possible to get him down between the second and third wave of sons, but there's not much point in holding back DPS as no tradeoff between survivability and doing damage is possible.

Stage 1

Have your MTs run in and attack, and have all your melee and ranged DPS assist. You have 3 minutes before he submerges.
Ranged DPS should immediately burn trinkets and cooldowns to maximize damage. So long as anyone is within melee range of Ragnaros, ranged will never pull aggro, thus dish out as much as possible.
Ragnaros will shoot random explosions that knock people into the air (often into the lava) and do a lot of damage. Players knocked away must return to their designated areas so they can be in range of the healers, as they will be very busy.
Ragnaros also has an AoE knockback ability that he does every 25 seconds. All melee types except the MT should back out before this happens and then re-engage immediately afterwards.

20 seconds before Ragnaros submerges and spawns Sons of Flame, the whole raid (exc. the MT who keeps tanking until the submerge) should collapse to the southern lip of the outer ring, as to be ready to handle the sons when they spawn. Mages should already be positioned at the collapse point. Mana users should be at the very edge of the ring, as to avoid the Son's massive mana burn aura. Tanks and Rogues should form a wall in front of the casters.

Stage 2

Mc10b — Zeph's Setup for Phase Two - Hope these help!

Ragnaros submerges and 8 "Sons of Flame" come out. They do purely fire-based damage and have an AoE mana burn, so you need to keep them away from your mana-users.The sons spawn from around the spiral that Ragnaros is along the west, north and east side, and then rush south to meet the raid. The sons damage is entirely fire based, so with decent fire resistance you will take very little damage from them.
Control them with warriors, mage frost novas, mage blizzard, perhaps bear tanks, hunter freezing traps and kill them all (there is not much time for banish, but some guilds choose to banish a few). The Sons should be tanked and banished while they are brought down one after the other. It is important to always have at least one that is not banished, as sometimes when all the remaining sons are banished (or otherwise incapacitated) Ragnaros will re-appear. If this happens you are very likely looking at a wipe. Also you must deal with the Sons quickly as Ragnaros will surface after 1 1/2 minutes whether they are dead or not. To accomplish this everyone MUST be assisting one person that is picking targets. If attacks are spread out they will take too long to kill. With all DPS on one Son you should be aiming to drop one every 10 seconds or less.
Ragnaros will come back after 90 seconds or when all sons are dead, whichever happens first. When you are nearing the 90 second point in the fight it is critical that you send the main tank, secondary tank and their healers back to engage Ragnaros when he re-enters combat. If the tank is not there Ragnaros will start throwing Magma blasts. Once the rest of the group has killed any remaining sons they should re-enter combat with Ragnaros.

Stage 3

Same as phase one. You have 3 more minutes before he submerges again for another minute-and-a-half session with the Sons of Flame.
Generally, you want to kill him before the Sons spawn again or else you will probably die. If you don't get him to at least 40% HP before the end of Stage 1, then you probably won't accomplish this goal.

Also see: comprehensive How to kill Ragnaros guide.

Quotes

Ragnaros Summoning talk:
- Majordomo Executus: Behold Ragnaros, the Firelord! He who was ancient when this world was young! Bow before him, mortals! Bow before your ending!
- Ragnaros: TOO SOON! YOU HAVE AWAKENED ME TOO SOON, EXECUTUS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS INTRUSION?
- Majordomo Executus: These mortal infidels, my lord! They have invaded your sanctum, and seek to steal your secrets!
- Ragnaros: FOOL! YOU ALLOWED THESE INSECTS TO RUN RAMPANT THROUGH THE HALLOWED CORE, AND NOW YOU LEAD THEM TO MY VERY LAIR? YOU HAVE FAILED ME, EXECUTUS! JUSTICE SHALL BE MET, INDEED.
- Ragnaros: NOW FOR YOU, INSECTS. BOLDY YOU SOUGHT THE POWER OF RAGNAROS! NOW YOU SHALL SEE IT FIRSTHAND!
DIE, INSECT! (When he kills the player he has aggro on)
BY FIRE BE PURGED! (Ranged knockback)
TASTE THE FLAMES OF SULFURON! (Melee knockback)
COME FORTH, MY SERVANTS! DEFEND YOUR MASTER! (Summoning Sons of Flame)

Loot & Reputation

Reputation

Gain 200 repuation with the Hydraxian Waterlords at revered.

Tier 2 Set

Ragnaros drops the pant pieces of each Tier 2 set.

Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros

Ragnaros approximately has a 3% to drop the legendary [Eye of Sulfuras]. The Eye of Sulfuras, when combined with a [Sulfuron Hammer], creates the legendary hammer, [Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros]. In order to learn how to the craft the Sulfuron Hammer, you must turn in one [Sulfuron Ingot] to the Thorium Brotherhood member Lokhtos Darkbargainer located in the Blackrock Depths. The Sulfuron Hammer can only be crafted using the Black Anvil. The Sulfuron Hammer takes the following materials to craft.