Firelord (Warcraft III)

The Firelord is a Neutral Hero in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and was added in August, 2004.

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.

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

• NOTE: Most of the firelords listed here later appeared in World of Warcraft. See Firelord → Firelands for details.

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 his lava spawns be of first priority because they assist him in taking down creep camps further. Their ability to split and prolong their lives, even if only a short duration, also adds fuel to the fire.

• Spending Points

For his remaining two abilities, it all depends on how the Firelord will be worked towards. Against strong armies that generally prioritize heavy units and heroes, Soul Burn would take higher priority, because it acts as a single-targeting Howl of Terror and Silence in one, which can stop enemy Heroes from casting spells and high-damaging units from dealing as much damage. If going against armies with no bulk, Incinerate would take higher priority.

Volcano is a risky move as while it can stun the enemy, it also damages your own.

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

• 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. It is highly effective against enemy heroes and lone powerful creeps. For example, casting it on a Bandit Lord would temporarily prevent him from using Divine Shield, where he can be quickly killed before he has a chance to use it. It is essentially a one-target version of the Dark Ranger's Silence spell and Pit Lord's Howl of Terror.

As a general negative effect, it may be dispelled of to remove its effects.

• Soul Burn Counters

• 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.

The Lava Spawn multiplies after performing 15 attacks. It goes through a rather lengthy spewing animation - if the spawn is killed during this animation, then the additional spawn will not appear. The spawn darkens after each multiplication and also adds an additional 12 seconds to its timer. They're essentially a mobile version Shadow Hunter's Serpent Wards.

Using Unholy Frenzy and Bloodlust can increase the amount of lava spawns due to their increased attack speed. .

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

• 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.

This spell is similar to the Searing/Cold Arrows spell, dealing additional, although very minor, damage to his attacks. Each attack adds additional bonus damage, and if the unit is killed under this status, it explodes and damages everything else near it. The damage only affects enemy units, so there is no risk of unintentional friendly fire from these explosions. Like the Dark Ranger's Black Arrows spell, units killed by Incinerate leave no corpse behind. This is important for any player seeking to resurrect, reanimate or store corpses.

• Causes the ground to erupt into a massive Volcano. Every 3 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 3 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.

Like the Dreadlord's Infernal summon and Blood Mage's Flame Strike, the volcano can destroy trees.

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

• Volcano Counters

• 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.

• See Warcraft III Firelord quotes

• The Firelord, along with the Alchemist and 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 also a sword in World of Warcraft.