The Firelord Ragnaros is now playable on the PTR of HotS . He brings a lot of flames and the cozy Winter Veil celebration.
Ragnaros was introduced as a playable hero at BlizzCon 2016. However, since it was clearly WAY TOO EARLY back then, players had to wait a bit longer. The Lord of Fire and a great supporter of the Caps Lock movement is now almost ready to PURIFY ALL WITH FIRE.
In World of Warcraft, he was the ruler of the Firelands (Elemental Plane of Fire) and was summoned to Azeroth multiple times and banished. Once, he was under the influence of the Old Gods, later he was summoned by the Dark Iron Dwarves and one last time in the fight against Deathwing in Cataclysm. Currently, he is playable on the PTR and will presumably be deployed to the live servers in a few days. We apologize in advance for the excessive use of capital letters.
Let’s take a quick look at his abilities:
- The “passive” trait MOLTEN CORE (MC) allows Ragnaros to temporarily take over a fort to defend it in his true form. He gains enhanced abilities and deals more damage.
- With SULFURAS SMASH, Ragnaros deals a large portion of his damage. The spell ensures that the next melee attack is executed immediately, dealing area damage and healing Ragnaros by a small amount.
- While in MC, the spell is replaced by MOLTEN SWING, which damages and stuns enemies in a large cone.
- LIVING METEOR conjures a sphere in the target area that deals damage and then rolls forward in a straight line.
- While in MC, we have the ability METEOR SHOWER, where multiple meteors fall from the sky in the desired direction, dealing damage and slowing affected enemies.
- The DEFLAGRATION is cast on Ragnaros himself or an ally and temporarily increases movement speed. After the buff expires, the target explodes, dealing damage to all enemies in the area.
- While in MC, the spell is replaced by EXPLOSIVE RUNES, which deal massive damage in a circular target area after a short delay.
- The first heroic ability is SULFURAS SMASH. Ragnaros hurls his hammer into the air, which lands in the target area after a short delay and deals damage. Enemies in the center of the impact take triple damage and are stunned.
- The second heroic ability is LAVA WAVE. When used, a lava wave begins to travel down the selected lane from his citadel. It moves relatively slowly but deals massive damage. Enemy minions are immediately killed.
Thus, Ragnaros has a powerful toolkit and is not to be underestimated in both defense and offense. Especially the lava wave could pose a problem for opponents if they suddenly get forced onto another lane because all minions have disappeared.
What do you think of Ragnaros? Is it TOO EARLY or is it time to PURIFY ENEMIES WITH FIRE?
Winter Veil 2016
Apart from the new hero, the patch also brings the start of the Winter Veil festival. This year, there are again some bonuses and a quest around the Christmas season that makes playing Heroes of the Storm even more worthwhile.
- 25% bonus XP in all game modes
- Winter Veil quest: Play 25 games in all matchmaking game modes to receive the “Festive Treasure Goblin Mount” and the “Special Snowflake” portrait.
Additionally, there will surely be special shop offers, which have yet to be announced.
The Winter Veil festival runs from December 14, 2016, to January 4, 2017.
