Why Ragnaros is different from other "rule breaking" heroes in Heroes of the Storm

Ragnaros' trait allows him to merge with an allied or destroyed Fort/Keep and then gain a new set of devastating abilities. Will Ragnaros buck the trend and be a major player in competitive play, unlike the niche viability of Abathur, Murky, Cho'gall and The Lost Vikings?

Battle.net Ragnaros Page

Icy Veins descriptions with numbers, cooldowns and talents

Below is the description of abilities from Ragnaros's Battle.net page.

Basic Abilities:

Empower Sulfuras: Ragnaros's next basic attack is instant, deals area damage, and heals Ragnaros for 20% of the damage dealt. 4 second cooldown.

Living Meteor: Calls down a nearby meteor, dealing minor damage on impact and dealing moderate damage to foes caught in its path. 12 second cooldown.

Blast Wave: Ragnaros ignites a hero of his choice (himself or any allied hero), increasing the target's movespeed by 25% for 1.5 seconds. The target will then explode in flame, dealing moderate damage to foes caught in its path. 10 second cooldown.

Ragnaros's trait Molten Core has a 100 second cooldown.

Heroic Abilities:

Sulfuras Smash: Ragnaros hurls Sulfuras into the air, dealing moderate impact damage and burning foes caught in the center for additional damage, also stunning them for 0.5 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Lava Wave: Ragnaros releases a massive lava wave which travels down a targeted lane, dealing high damage to enemies caught in the flames (this does not affect structures). 100 second cooldown.

Why Ragnaros will have a much larger impact on the competitive Meta

Obviously, Ragnaros is not the first rule breaking hero Heroes of the Storm has released. We already have Abathur, Murky, Cho'gall, and The Lost Vikings, and not only is their play completely different from other heroes released in MOBAs, they each have seen some competitive play, some in extremely memorable moments, like Murky and Abathur in Cloud9 vs. Team DK in the semifinals of last year's BlizzCon.

Go to 59:10 to watch the Murky Match.

However, none of them are considered standard picks, although Abathur and The Lost Vikings see some play on some maps.

So why will Ragnaros be different?

What is the trade-off for such rulebreaking power

Abathur has no teamfight presence outside of Ultimate Evolution (his heroic) and Symbiote (which does not provide a body in teamfights) in exchange for his near permanent global presence.

Murky has very little health and, like Abathur, will not be a significant presence in teamfights without an entire composition built around him. This is the cost of giving reduced experience on death and having a defined 3 second resurrect time. Plus, that can be counterplayed by killing his egg.

Cho'gall is a 2-person hero with high health, which means that he is countered by any % damage or disables like Anubarak's Cocoon that essentially removes 2 people from the fight. Again, entire compositions are built with him and against him.

The Lost Vikings is great for soaking experience on a map and being multiple places at once, but like Abathur and Murky are not as useful in team fights.

Ragnaros, on the other hand, doesn't suffer nearly as much. All 3 of his basic abilities are great wave clearing tools, which means he has the best wave clear in the game, hands down. If he picks Lava Wave as his heroic, every Ragnaros ability is good wave clear!

Ragnaros also has reasonably good sustain thanks to Empower Sulfuras. Therefore, his only real weakness in teamfights is engage/gap closer, as Blast Wave is fairly weak in that regard with a 25% move speed increase for 1.5 seconds. However, a good warrior pick can remedy this weakness in Ragnaros's kit.

Ragnaros's trait Molten Core is an incredible counter to pushing against Ragnaros. Executing a tower dive against Ragnaros to gank him or one of his teammates is suicidal, and pushing with an objective/boss against Ragnaros will be extremely difficult due to the effective 5 vs. 6 teamfight near the said fort or keep that is being pushed. This could make him a very effective counter against the Sylvanas assisted objective pushes that are so deadly on Tomb of the Spider Queen, Infernal Shrines, Battlefield of Eternity and Braxis Holdout. Ragnaros could also use his trait to avoid giving experience to the enemy team on death, although using his trait means he is effectively stuck at the fort/keep for a while until the extra hitpoints from merging with the fort or keep times out.

Ragnaros's heroic choice will likely depend on the map. Most of the time, Sulfuras Smash will be the pick despite the fact it is easily dodged outside of wombo combos, because Lava Wave has no teamfight presence for contesting objectives out of lane. Tomb of the Spider Queen is probably the exception, since teamfights often happen in lanes and pushing lanes is by far one of the most important things to do on that map. On that map, I expect Lava Wave to be near 100% the heroic of choice.

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