Why would I ever take lava wave in a serious game where people know how to soak and depush lanes? Rag is already super good at waveclear, so it seems incredibly unnecessary. It barely does a thing to mercs, and rag just benefits way more from the teamfight power of sulfuras smash.
I think the only real reasons to take lava wave is for pepega games, or because it looks cool. It really needs something else to make it more viable.
I would say give it an active component where you create a lava wave where you choose (vector targeted), and passively spawn a lava wave in the nearest lane to rag every 6 waves or something
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âBy fire be purged!!!â
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If you dont need the cc and its on a huge map, it can be a decent choice. On a map like ward head or hallow it can easily push down a gate and most of the forts towers with one use if timed correctly. That being said, smash hurts and is by far the better ult if you can land it.
On large maps like WH or volk you can literally keep even with the enemy team even with no keeps.
Even if people know how to soak that doesnt mean lava wave is useless. It allows you to essentially ignore clearing a lane which means the team can be more flexible in their rotations. Good to do before obj too if you think a weak lane will break when the team goes obj
Also with the new xp soaking every xp globe is now a contest meaning you wont get all of them vs competent players⌠whereas lava wave is always 100% guaranteed clear and xp
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Itâs also a great defensive/stalling tool against enemy pushes. On maps like Tomb of the Spider Queen Rag can be a serious pain in the back through his use of Molten Core + Lava Wave.
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To clear the zerg wave on Braxis while still pushing with your zerg.
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If you want to hear âDIE INSECTSâ ?
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I often heard the logic âwhy take an ult just to clear a lost objective when you could use Sulfuras to win itâ (regarding Lava wave).
But even if you do win the objective, the enemy often gets 50%+ zerg. Itâs nice to be able to blast their entire obj away with a single lava wave. Good luck trying to do that on Infernal Shrines or other maps (where defeating the objective is a major team effort).
Fire and forget, then go push with the 100% with your team.
Why would you ever pick sulfuras?
Without something like taunt Varian or endless CC chain team?
It has huge delay, small middle circle in which it stuns and deals nice damage, while the outer circle has laughable damage and only a bit of slow.
Also with the increased speed heroes got its even more harder to hit the middle.
And in the end, the 20 lvl upgrade is a total jokeâŚ
Bit more slow and +0.5 sec stun?
Compared to 33% CD reduction and double charge on lava wave?
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Itâs literately one of the best ultimateâs in the game. Its about clearing the waves so the minions can push during team fights as well. It gives insane lane pressure. It can force the enemy to retreat or mess up their positioning. The xp it gives you can stack up giving a level advantage.
Sulfurs is one of the worst ultimate in the game. Its a easily dodged skill shot with a huge delay.
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Yea except for the part where you generally use lava wave in a lane that Ragnaros ISNâT in. Lane pressure is a real thing and Lava Wave can eliminate the need to be forced to choose between clearing lanes and showing up to objective on time. It also gives him guaranteed soak for his team which is very important in the mid game since many characters start getting powerspikes at level 16.
Sulfuras Smash is only worth it if you can CC chain with your team. If you canât, its utility is VASTLY diminished. The damage it can do is nice but that sun is what makes it a good ult in the first place.
As much as I abhor heroesprofile due to the significantly more incomplete data set compared to HOTSLOG, it seems as though Lava Wave is chosen about twice as much in Master League compared to Sulfuras Smash. It seems your idea of viability is less based on stats and more based on your personal bias which isnât great.
This isnât necessary though. It functions great the way it is. It makes no sense to change something just because.
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Why would you ever ask such a bad question?
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Lava wave is good for stalling the game. Not only Lava wave, but Molten core as well. Letâs say you drafted heroes that have huge powerspikes late game but their early game is very weak, Rag is actually a decent pick. You will probably lose early to win later.
Oh, also lava wave is good on Tomb because you completely kill 1 lane when the enemy is trying to push, so you just molten core and focus the other 2 lanes.
Basically what you said is true, Sulfuras is the serious ultimate, but wave has a couple uses.
Lava waves are for players who canât throw a hammer (I mean sulfuras and not a woman in a tank).
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I would never pick lava wave, but people who donât play rag and miss smash, might take it.
So itâs quite simple: if you can hit smash - go smash, always without exception; if youâre new to rag - go lava wave.
Smash may be one of the most powerful ultimates in the game, but it is quite useless if you donât hit it. Although if you never take, youâll never learn to hit it⌠So I guess the question for new rag player is - do you want to win the game now, or do you want to get better at rag?
PVE based objective maps are really good for rags lava wave, either to weaken a push or to strengthen a push. also if a team is pushing a lane with mercs or a group of mercs is pushing a lane while you are getting objective you can lava wave it to reduce the effectiveness or even outright stop the push. also if you are smart you can catch teams in lava waves, you just need to make sure the enemy team is commited to the fight, if they are and when lava wave rolls up they either have to stop what they are doing and dodge it thus giving your team LOTS of space and probably even splitting them up for easy takedowns OR they eat the damage of lava wave
this is why I ALWAYS try to pick or ban rag on Tomb of the Spider Queen because lava wave BASICALLY takes care of 1 entire lane when spiders drop. then I can use molten to clear 1 other lane while the team 4 man clears the last one and an entire objective is made nearly useless because of that. and after 20 with 2 waves. it is NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to have an objective do much against a 2 wave rag with molten up. and since the spiders spawn where your minions are the farthest. you can basically make the spiders lose 40% of their health just from the walk from the enemies core to your core and have PLENTY of time to kill the spiders in other lanes.
like I said, lava wave is GREAT for maps with PVE based objectives. i always pick lava wave on rag but i also mainly only play rag on tomb of the spider queen, im sitting with about a 65% winrate on him
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Which is why itâs the only ult you ever saw rag take at tournament level (back when he was actually played)
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Itâs a better choice in most cases quite frankly. You use it to split push better than almost any other hero in the game. It gives huge experience leads, causes buildings to get damaged by uncontested minions. If youâre losing on keeps it can keep you in the game and turn a match around; Iâve won plenty of matches on rag where we came back because I kept lanes pushed back and we could focus on fighting as a group
Lava wave has stupid good utility.
Getting pushed and you cant be there? Lava wave.
Teamfighting in lane? Lavawave the lane, youâll either force the other team to disperse, or they will be stupid enough to stand in the wave and wipe. Either way, you come out on top.
Pushed too far towards the enemies base and your team needs an escape? Lava wave the lane and run towards the wave. They will chase and die or just stop chasing.
Need free xp? Lava wave.
Whats better than lave wave? 2 lava waves. Pick it every time for maximum pressure.
Not all ults are good because âthey kill people gooder than the otherâ.
utility is king.
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