In honor of patch day, I figure it’s about time I start getting some MC solo videos up, and what better way to start than with the final boss of Molten Core?
YouTube direct link: Hunter Solo of Ragnaros in Molten Core.
Ragnaros the Firelord is definitely one of the most challenging boss fights in Molten Core. Unlike some other dull tank & spank bosses in MC, Ragnaros will keep you on your toes with the chaotic Sons of Flame in phase 2.
Let’s take a look at how it’s done.
How to Hunter Solo Ragnaros the Firelord in Molten Core
Hunter Talent Build: the WHU recommended Extreme Soloing Max Health Build.
Pet: Turtle.
Pet Talent Build: I used this modified Tenacity Pet Build. I dropped avoidance and took 2 ranks of great resistances (to help deal with the Sons) and I took Boar’s Speed to help my pet get back to Ragnaros faster after getting punted (ragnaros fire bolts you when nothing’s in melee range).
Gear: I had two pieces of T5 set items, which of course heals your pet for 15% of the damage that you do. Probably doable without them though — only the Sons phase is challenging. See our Extreme Solo Gear Guide.
Positioning
Set yourself up so that Ragnaros is facing you — you’ll be standing directly in front of a wall sticking up. This position has two advantages:
- If you get knocked back the wall will stop you from flying insanely far and taking falling damage (or landing in the lava behind you).
- It’s good positioning for the Sons in phase 2 — this way you’ll have a bit more time before they all reach you.
Phase 1
During phase 1 you dps Ragnaros. Phase 1 lasts 3 minutes.
This phase is an easy tank & spank. Ragnaros will only aggro on the melee target, regardless of threat, so you can go all out right away. The damage he does to your pet isn’t terribly high, and if you keep Mend Pet up around half the time your pet will never be in any danger. Of course you can keep Mend Pet up all the time for peace of mind.
There are a couple abilities you should be aware of, just so you know what’s happening, though all you’re going to do is stand there and shoot and mend your pet.
- Every 25 seconds Ragnaros will punt your pet
- Ragnaros will occasionally use an ability on you “By Fire be Purged” which knocks back everyone around you.
- If there is no one in melee range, Ragnaros will hit you with 6k damage fire blasts. This will inevitably happen sometimes when the pet gets punted.
- Sometimes when the pet is punted Ragnaros uses the By Fire be Purged ability on your pet, while it’s near you — then you get knocked back. With the wall at your back you’re fine when that happens.
During phase 1 just remember to burn your cooldowns whenever they’re available (Rapid Fire & Bestial Wrath). You may also need to bandage periodically — if you get below 35% health it’s probably a good idea to bandage — I bandage 3-5 times when fighting Ragnaros.
Phase 2: Sons of Flame
At the beginning of phase 2 Ragnaros submerges and becomes untargetable, and fire elementals “Sons of Flame” spawn. The Sons of Flame dure pure fire-based damage, and they have a nasty, nasty mana burn.
Keep them off you!
However, the first 8 or so that spawn are probably enough to do your pet in as well if you aren’t dpsing them fast. I recommend single target dps (and multi-shot) to get the first couple down as fast as possible.
Once you kill them all, there are almost always another 3 waiting in the lava that come out later. I wait for them to come and use the time to bandage the damage I inevitably take.
It definietly helps to have a frost trap out and waiting on the Sons phase, and you certainly want to misdirect to your pet asap. Because the Sons come slightly spread out, you have a bit of time between each one, but also that means that they will all have aggro on your from your mend pet.
The instant you kill the last Son of Flame, Ragnaros comes back up. He also rises again if 90 seconds have passed since submerging – whichever comes first. The second he rises, you need the pet on him so that he isn’t blasting you with 6k fireballs.
Rinse and Repeat
And that’s all there is to it. Once you finish phase 2 you are back to phase 1 for another 3 minutes, then again, and again. With the right gear (mostly raid gear, plus 2 T5 and 2 T7.5 for the set bonuses) I’m able to drop him with only two Sons phases — but just barely. But once you’ve got the fight down, time doesn’t matter!
(6 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Member
Man I recently dropped my solo spec for a PvP oriented MM spec to try and fail less in arenas/BGs but this really makes me consider going back to soloing, great fun to be had there.
Oh and congrats, how many tries did this take?
i noticed at the end the mc achieve showed up at the bottom of the screen. You have never done MC before? i thought you used to do it when the lvl cap was 60
Member
Yeah but achieves from the old vanilla raids didn’t get counted when the achievement system came out.
And remember he was raiding MC years before the achievement system came out.
Admin
Yes, I cleraed MC back in vanilla days. Over and over and over. I chain pulled-it, dps raced the evil rogue in it, went from 8 hour clears to 3 hour clears, but I haven’t done MC since the acheievement system was implemented, and WoW clearly doesn’t remember the MC clears from back in the day. Which is odd, ’cause I still have my original Dragonstalker Pants in the bank.
Member
The only auto achievements you got when the system started were things that were finished from quests. So if you turned in nef’s head or ony’s head you’d get credit, but Rags didn’t have a quest associated with him so that is the difference.
I am soo impressed with you Frost:D very nicely done:D (the music drove me batty.. but it fit the fight well:) two thumbs up:D
Admin
The rags takedown took about 6 attempts. At first I was standing it what I learned to be a poor spot — over near the penninsula so that when the Sons spawned I was instantly swamped by all of them. Also didn’t have a wall at my back.
Once I got the positioning down, it was just a matter of handling the sons and not running out of bandages.
The Haterade
Those with Thunderfury got credit for killing him.
Member
Was there a quest step for that? I forgot. The only quest I remember was the draconic for dummies books for AQ scepter quest chain. Presumably they got credit as well. What I meant was there was no normal quest chain for killing rags, only for special occasions. Presumably people who made the hand of ragnaros also got it.
The Haterade
Oh, I know what you meant! I was merely taking an opportunity to…reminisce.
Wouldn’t it be possible to use Deterence to avoid getting hit by the fireballs?
Thanks for the vid Frost. After seeing that and getting my turtle leveled up, I was able to finish soloing molten core from golemagg to Ragnaros in about an hour
can you update since aviodance is redundant now?
Admin
The pet builds should all be updated.
Nice. Total Molten Core is really soloable for a hunter. I just did it, without any T5 btw. Hardest fight was Golemagg. I must admit having some bad trys on him, before he finally fell. Ragnaros was easy.
Pet was ofc my turtle, equipment used was mostly raid gear, 5 pieces switched for more hp and resilience. 32k hp on pet and myself fully buffed.
Thanks for some nice hints in these boss guides!
Just did Rag on my first attempt. Had two pieces of Tier 5 (shoulders and gloves), two pieces of furious gladiator (boots and helm) and the rest ilvl 232 raid gear. Used a turtle and never had to mend pet. I used this build to do all of MC and it worked great. Much faster killing than the “max health” bid but with still more than enough health for my turtle (28.3K).
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cVbhzggRwuheot0ecoZc:VciM0z
Thanks again for the awesome guides. Soloing MC was a total blast
To respond to the previous poster….while it’s doable without the tier 5 bonus, it’s MUCH easier with it.
Whats the song in the video XD
I think I found an easier way to handle phase two. I’m not sure if it works like this all the time or if it was just a glitch but my pet was desummoned after being punted away from me right before phase two. When the Son’s of Flames spawn you can FD and they despawn. Simply resummon your pet and wait the 90 seconds for ragnaros to come back up. I’m going to have to wait till next week to try this for real. Going to start a timer and about 2 minutes 50 secodns into phase one i’m going to Dismiss my pet. If it works we’ll be able to wear mainly dps gear and take him down quicker.