It is absolutely necessary in organized comps. But I do understand why people take Lava in random chaotic solo games where lane pressure can become overwhelming (and lanes might even be completely unsoaked).
In those unpredictable random games clearing an entire lane at once many times during the match can often be the deciding factor in a win.
Because late-game itās usually optimal to stay grouped as 5, meaning you donāt always have time to move and soak all lanes. Lava Wave lets you soak waves you couldnāt reach normally, giving you more soak or time to do other stuff. It also lets you soak xp youād otherwise miss during things like objectives, when teams are occupied anyway.
Itās also a steady source of lane pressure, eventually forcing the enemy to respond (giving your team an advantage while enemy is split) or risk losing buildings. It also helps against lane pressure, even if you donāt kill mercs itās quite useful to clear the minions pushing alongside them.
Both ults are good
Lava wave allows your team to make aggressive rotations and itās great for stalling and defense on certain bgs
Sulfuras smash is deadly in team fight if your team has the right CC to set it up
Because some maps are really large. And even if you know to soak and de-push. You canāt defend your lanes and win the objective at the same time.
Its his best ultimate on big maps. If thereās an obj, just pop it in the other lane and you ensure the lane is soaked for the obj fight + your minions are pushing their structures.
It tells me who the good players are on the enemy team depending on if they run to the side or run in the direction itās moving. But on a serious note, it boosts the impact of winning objectives like Eternal Battle or Alterac while also making it easier to take out the threat from losing similar objectives by getting rid of your enemyās cannon fodder.
I love this thread. Community perception is that Lava Wave is a bad ult. Keep spreading that, Iāll just keep taking wave and winning 60%+ of my games because of it. Rag is a bruiser for balance purposes, he plays more like a former specialist. If anything, Wave is one of the most broken ultimates in the game for how much value it brings to a game.
With Rag, you can let all four of your teammates play the game while you dedicate yourself to lanes, and if you canāt find the value that brings to freeing up rotations, stay bronze.
Yeahā¦ like for 3 months aftee his release before it was nerfed to the ground?
Actually lava wave doesnāt deal that much damage to the zerg wave. (I think it did at some point and was changed) Check the waveās health in-game when you use it.
It gives you a free Vikings pick without sacrificing much. You still have a Raid Boss with his trait to fight with.
Lava wave, for obvious reasons, has never seen competitive play. Rag has not seen much of it in general though, but when he did - smash, always smash. Usually taken with a VP zeratul.
Especially now that the big ones can summon zergs so less bodies to hit in general.
there are better heroes to go with VP zerat, like diablo, jaina, and so.
Ragnaros is not one of them.
you dont want melee bruiser without escape nor HP due to one weak ultimate.
You canāt pick jaina when you need a bruiser and/or solo laner. And sonya is not going to go that well with VP as rag.
Sulfuras smash is one of the strongest ultimates in the game. Itās highest damage instant cast skill in the game. Only pyroblast does more damage, but that one has a long channeling time.
If you think smash is āweakā then you simply donāt hit it. 70%+ center accuracy is a minimum if you want to use it efficiently.
P.S. You can also hit multiple targets with it. E.g., I had a 4-man center hit (and 5th on the side) in a choke point yesterday (funnily only their tank ETC died from it in that situation).
No, but you pick jaina with zerat VP. because zerat is good solo lane and bruiser.
hah lol.
strongest? maybe it does high damage. but itās not strongest.
and its not instant as well.
But hey, if you think using VP + smash to kill one hero is worth it, your opinion.
And its not about accuracy, any competent player will just sidestep into outer ring. With that bonus speed everyone got few patches ago its no issue.
4 man hit. Where? in QM?
It is instant cast. You canāt interrupt it, no matter how pixel-perfect your stun is. If rag pressed the button - itās out. Most even non-channeled abilities are still interruptible.
I think you are mistaking āuninterruptibleā with āinstantā
Ragās hammer may be uninterrutible. But itās not instant.
Instant means that you press R and the ultimate happens. Like void prison.
With hammer you press R and the enemy has at least 1 second time to react before the hammer falls.
That is not an instant.
I think he means instant cast. Not that it hits instantly.
Trust me I can hit smash all day but, at high level of play its used more to control lanes w/o physicly being there. That is invaulable in the game. If you think this game is all about teamfights your playing the wrong game. This game is all about defending your forts and pushing the enemy teams forts down. Team fights are 2nd.
Think about defending you minions as well. If you clear all the enemey minions on a lane you get a free push. I cant tell you how many times I have won games cause I used lava wave to help push when the enemy team was focused on fighting us. The lava wave helpedthe minions push and destroy a keep.
Also one wave = the exp of one death. So you can cary a couple death feeds of you poor teamates.
If you get the minset of not letting one minion past your guns ever you and not focusing on pointless team fights you will cimb to plat easy.