How strong was the Firelord?
There was no definite answer, because after the War of the Dominators in the primordial age, the Firelord had never again fought on Azeroth. Three hundred years ago, the arrival of his avatar alone had covered Searing Gorge and the Burning Steppes in magma.
Yet in the game, Ragnaros had not seemed all that powerful. Even the weakling demigod Cenarius, together with the two Archdruids Malfurion and Hamuul, could suppress the Firelord head-on.
Game stats naturally could not be applied to the real world, but Dick could be certain of at least one thing: if the Firelord descended upon Azeroth in his complete form, raising endless magma from underground in an instant and flooding a fifth of the Eastern Kingdoms should pose no problem.
From that perspective, the Firelord's strength was considerable. But one-on-one, he was probably only somewhat stronger than an ordinary Wild God at most, certainly nowhere near Archimonde's level.
However, Dick was not worried at all about the Firelord Avatar in Molten Core, because Hamuul had personally led the Archdruids to hunt down the fire steward, Majordomo Executus. The Firelord's avatar slept in Azeroth's core, and only this Fire Elemental commander, whom he trusted most, could summon Ragnaros's avatar.
Majordomo Executus was truly out of luck. According to Thaurissan's description, that Fire Elemental was Heroic at most. With an Epic Hero on his trail, there was surely no escaping.
Thaurissan, meanwhile, led Shadowforge City's high-ranking fighters against Ragnaros's other minions, such as Magmadar, the hideous magma behemoth that devoured more than a dozen Dark Iron Dwarves every month. That was the Firelord's favorite hound, which had followed him into the mortal world, along with the other two Fire Elemental leaders.
Dick led his own squad straight into the deepest part of Molten