Firelord (Warcraft III)


 * You may also be looking for Ragnaros or Cyrukh, who are also known as "Firelord(s)".

The Firelord is a Neutral Hero in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and was added in August, 2004. This article is mostly about this unit, along with some notes about Firelords in World of Warcraft.

Firelords are sentient elementals, more complex and powerful beings than the mindless water elementals Alliance mages call to battle. While being neutral heroes in Warcraft III, they are vicious elites in World of Warcraft, found in the Molten Core.

Long ago, when the world was in a state of constant turmoil, the Elementals (Earth, Wind, Fire and Water) faithfully served their Old-God masters. When the Old Gods were defeated by the coming of the Titans, the Elementals were banished to an alternate plane of existence. Over time the world became Azeroth, where Human wizards learned how to call back the Elementals through the art of summoning. The Firelord is one of these liberated Elementals. Consumed by hatred for all organic life, he roams the world he once called home, sewing chaos, wreaking vengeance, and inflicting pain with extreme prejudice.

Hero names
Ragepyre, Hatespark, Blazefury, Heatflayer, Volcanus, Flashfire, Kar the Everburning, Smolderas, Singeslayer.

Other (famous) firelords in World of Warcraft
Ragnaros, Cyrukh the Firelord.

Information
The Firelord is specialized at causing damage, prioritizing the offensive a lot more than the defensive. Because of this, he is rather fragile, having a relatively small amount of HP (and mana). A good description of him would be "glass cannon". Other than this he is also very fast and agile, being able to run faster than most other heroes. He is also one of the heroes able to attack units from a distance.

It has been suggested that the lava spawns are his most useful spell, making him capable of both creeping and fighting your opponents. Soul Burn and Incinerate seems to be somewhat equal after this, though some prefer Incinerate. Generally, Incinerate is good against groups of low-HP enemies, while Soul Burn and Lava Spawns are better against fewer and thus usually stronger enemies. Volcano is powerful against bases, but as it might cause as much damage against your own army as well, any non-ultimate spell may challenge it in practical usage.
 * Spending Points

As mentioned, due to the Firelord's low HP, it is possible to kill him swiftly if you focus your attacks on him. Most of his spells can also (probably) be neutralized with dispels, so bring units with dispel-abilities to be sure.
 * Firelord Counters

Soul B urn

 * Wreaths an enemy unit in magical flames which cause damage over time, prevent the casting of spells, and reduce attack damage by 50%.

Soul Burn is a versatile spell. Its primary use is to disable and kill heroes, but it can also be used to debuff powerful units like Frost Wyrms and Tauren, and to pick off fleeing units.

This ability can be used to interrupt spells.

The buff can be removed with dispels, such as the one used by the priest.
 * Soul Burn Counters

Summon Lava Spa w n

 * Summons a Lava Spawn, a resilient and deadly fire creature. As a Lava Spawn deals damage, it consumes the flesh of its target, eventually splitting into two healthy Lava Spawns.

Lava Spawn can be used to creep efficiently, as well as to stage a rush if you can get a large enough pack of Lava Spawns while creeping near an enemy base.

Lava Spawns require 15 successful attacks to split. Lava Spawns darken each time they split. Each level of Lava Spawn has the same starting color.

An idea by a player suggests using Unholy Frenzy on the lava spawns to increase their attack-speed, causing them to rapidly split into more spawns.

Other uses for the Lava Spawns includes protecting the Firelord (as meat-shields) and scouting.

If you focus your fire on the Lava Spawns as soon as they are summoned, you might kill them before they do too much damage to your own unts. You will also prevent them from multiplying. Similar to how you counter the other spells used by the Firelord, you can use dispels to cause powerful damage to the Lava Spawns as they are summoned units.
 * Lava Spawn Counters

In c inerate (Autocast)

 * Each attack made is enchanced with living flames that cling to the target. These flames add a small amount of damage on the first attack, twice as much on the second attack, three times as much on the third attack, etc. If the unit dies while under this effect, it is incinerated, causing significant damage to all nearby hostile units.

Incinerate can be used two ways. The first style is to use it to attack weak units, causing them to damage nearby units. If you switch targets correctly, you can get many explosions in a single battle. The other style is to focus it exclusively on high hit point units and heroes, allowing the cumulative damage to really add up. This style is also useful against worker units.

Incinerate’s explosion only hurts hostile units.

A unit which incinerates (dies while under the effect of Incinerate) leaves no corpse. This is a useful detail against opponents playing Undead.

Apparently, Incinerate can't be dispelled. The best protection against it would be healing the affected units before they die and explode.

V olcano (Ultimate)

 * Causes the ground to erupt into a massive Volcano. Every 5 seconds, a wave of molten rocks is hurled from the Volcano at nearby ground units and buildings, causing 100 damage to each target and stunning it for 2 seconds. Buildings take 2 times more damage from molten rocks than units do.

Volcano is typically used to destroy bases, but it can also be used against clustered units, or if you are really desperate, to disrupt channeled spells. It will damage your own units as well, so be careful when using it. As the spell must be maintained to get the full effect (it is channeled), it might be a good idea to have the Firelord use a potion granting him invulnerability before starting it.

The volcano can (like most other volcanoes) destroy trees. The affected area is so large that it could potentially ruin an opponent's ability to gather lumber, by wrecking the areas being harvested. Even if a few trees (or mushrooms, in the case of Outland) are left standing, it would greatly slow down the lumber-income as the workers would have to run farther and soon force the opponent to look for lumber elsewhere. Keep in mind, however, that this tactic wouldn't work on Night Elves.

If the Firelord moves or is stunned, the spell will be canceled and not do its full damage.
 * Volcano Counters


 * You can interrupt this spell with spells such as:
 * Humans: Mountain King - Storm Bolt
 * Humans: Mountain King - Bash
 * Orcs: Tauren Chieftain - War Stomp
 * Orcs: Witch Doctor - Stasis Trap Ward
 * Orcs: Shadow Hunter - Hex
 * Night Elves: Druid of the Talon - Cyclone
 * Undead: Dread Lord - Sleep
 * Undead: Dread Lord - Inferno
 * Undead: Crypt Lord - Impale
 * Neutral: Dark Ranger - Silence
 * Neutral: Goblin Tinker - Cluster Rockets
 * Neutral: Fire Lord - Soul Burn
 * Neutral: Fire Lord - Volcano (That's right, to stop a volcano you can use another volcano! This is what you can call "fire against fire"!)

World Editor description

 * Mystical Hero, adept at disrupting spells and dealing large amounts of fire damage. Can learn Soul Burn, Summon Lava Spawn, Incinerate and Volcano. Attacks land and air units.

Quotes
Ready What Yes Attack
 * “Beware - I live!”
 * “I'm lit!”
 * “You may speak.”
 * “Fire away.”
 * “I'll light the way.”
 * “It shall be.”
 * “The order's given.”
 * “It is done.”
 * “Consuuuume.”
 * “Ashes to ashes.” (A reference to the phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust")
 * “You'll be cleansed by fire!” (This quote is similar to Ragnaros' famous quote "BY FIRE BE PURGED!". While Ragnaros and the Firelord are related lore-wise, it is unknown if there is any specific connection between these quotes.)''

War cry Pissed Death
 * “Everything shall burn!”
 * “I will reduce all to ashes.”
 * “Damn... moths...” (groan) (Referring to how moths are attracted to light)
 * “No thanks, I don't smoke.”
 * “Am I hot or what?”
 * “Why is that bear with the forest ranger hat keep following me?” (Smokey the bear reference)
 * “So thirsty...” (throaty, dry gurgle)
 * “I am the lord of all fire! (sound of splashing water, followed by the Firelord saying in a meek and high-pitched voice:) “Hey, that wasn't funny.”
 * “WRAAHH!” (Followed by the sound of his armor clashing to the ground as his fiery body disintegrates.)

Note: All of his quotes also contain the sound of fire in the background.

Other notes

 * The Firelord, along with the Goblin Alchemist and Goblin Tinker, is one of the neutral heroes having no appearance in the official campaigns.
 * Blazefury, which is a random name for the Firelord in WarCraft III, is a sword in World of Warcraft.
 * The Firelords in the Molten Core will use Soul Burn, Incinerate and Summon Lava Spawn, just as in WarCraft III. The only spell they lack is Volcano, which would probably be too much to handle for most players anyway.