Comprehensive Guide to Ra <3v3 Joust>

Ra is one of my most solid picks to be used in 3v3 Joust. He is a very versatile mage that deal immense amounts of damage while being able to support his allies. I mainly play Ra as a glass cannon caster relying on my positioning to survive. This guide will go over how to succeed with Ra solely for 3v3 Joust. Future updates to the guide may include other game mode builds. This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine.

2013-9-12: Published

• fixed spelling/grammar errors

2013-9-13: New chapter added

• added Synergy/Counters chapter

Pros All spells are AoE damage Good sustain Good utility Long ranged abilities

Cons No reliable escape Skills can easily dodged Squishy Lack of hard cc

Speed of Light

Speed of light is your main source of mobility. Additionally, it is the only escape ability that Ra possesses. The movement speed bonus is highly underestimated and it allows you to either put some distance between you and your pursuer or close the gap for one last hit or spell to finish the job.

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Celestial Beam

This is your main source of damage and the skill you should be maxing out first. From the mid to late game, this skill will allow you to kill all the minions except for the big minion. The skill itself is rather slow and can be hard to land but the pay off is its high magic power scaling (70%).

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Divine Light

Divine light is the only form of crowd control Ra possesses. However, it only slows for 5% which stacks up to 30% when fully stacked. Due to its weak cc and subpar damage, many consider this Ra's "useless" ability. However the blind aspect of the skill can be useful albeit situational. You can use the blind for juking and as well as a form of initiation if used correctly. I max this last.

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Solar Blessing

Solar blessing is Ra's most versatile ability. The heal is extremely useful, allowing your team to harass and poke the opposing team with almost no risk. Use it in the middle of a teamfight to heal and buff your team while debuffing and damaging the opposing team. This ability can also be a decent harass ability due to its long range and instant cast. Often times, I find myself using solar blessing to finish off an escaping enemy.

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Searing Pain

Ra's ultimate is a long ranged line nuke that deals extremely high damage. It is useful for finishing off an enemy or even just for harassing. When maxed out with Shoes of Focus and Chronos' Pendant, the cooldown drops down to around 30 seconds. At this stage, I find it extremely useful to just harass the enemy gods with the ult and wittle them down before initiating.

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NOTE: Further explanation on using skills ingame will be explained later.

meditation
Meditation

One of the best actives currently in the game. Meditation at level one allows you to restore almost your entire mana pool every 120 seconds. It is extremely cost effective at only 250 gold and can save you in tight situations where running out of mana could mean the difference between getting a kill and getting killed. I keep this at level 1 pretty much the entire game as the upgrades are not really needed.


Combat Blink

I use combat blink primarily as an escape skill especially against gods such as Hades and Sobek who can dash in and place you out of position. When playing Ra, positioning is key to success and combat blink gives you more room for error in case you mess up.

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Aegis Amulet

I don't particularly enjoy this active due to the fact that not only are you unable to move, but you are unable to be healed while under the effects of Aegis. Because Ra has no jump or dash based escape ability, using an Aegis just gives the enemy time to position themselves around you. With good positioning, there should never be a situation where this is needed.


Purification Beads

Similar to the Aegis, this item is not needed with careful positioning. However this item does become invaluable when there is an opposing Ares on the other team as the purification beads cancel his ultimate.

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Restoration Shard

Ra already has Solar Blessing for sustain which is far superior to shards. Meditation is also far superior in terms of mana gain. Stay away from this item for Ra.

sprint
Sprint

Speed of Light has a shorter cooldown and longer duration compared to Sprint which makes this item neglible even when factoring the slightly increased movement speed.

Doom Orb

Doom orb gives the most magical power in the game at max stacks making it a natural choice for Ra. Celestial Beam allows you to easily farm up stacks even after a death making it a great item for Ra. I rush this item first in order to build up my stacks sooner.


Shoes of Focus

My build focuses more on Ra being a long range poke machine especially with Searing Pain. The increased cooldown reduction will benefit Ra more than the magic penetration.


Rod of Tahuti

I like to get this item after my Doom Orb because the early magic power that you receive with Doom Orb makes the bonus from Rod of Tahuti much more stronger. Additionally, with these two items Ra is able to instantly burst down most mages and carrys with a quick Celestial Beam and Searing Pain combo.


Chronos' Pendant

Chronos' pendant gives you that extra cooldown reduction that allows you to further harass the enemy. Not much else to say about this item. More lasers. Pew Pew.

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Work in Progress: More items to come later

This guide will refer to the match in 3 phases, the early game, mid game, and late game. The description of the phases are based off solely on my own opinion.

Early Game Levels 3-5 Before first teamfight Farming and harassing

Mid Game Levels 7-19 First tower is destroyed Teamfights occur frequently

Late Game Level 20 Phoenix is destroyed or under attack Items are all maxed out

NOTE: The bullet points are not "requirements" for these "phases". They are just general guidelines of things that can or usually do happen around this time.

Right when the game starts, buy your items and head over to the blue buff. Be wary of any incoming early ganks from the opposing team. Ra is not dependent on blue buff however having it early can be beneficial.

When the first minions engage each other in battle, place your Solar Blessing on the ranged creeps. If you are lucky, sometimes you may be able to hit the other gods. Wait for one of the melee minions to almost die and cast Celestial Beam on all the minions. It should kill all the ranged minions and some of the melee minions if you are lucky.

Most of the early game, you will just be farming the minions with your Celestial Beam and Solar Blessing. If you run out of mana, simply use your meditation. It is actually more beneficial to cast your spells and use meditation to start the cooldown so you can have it ready before the first teamfight. Usually in the early game I only use meditation once as the increased mp5 from doom orb and leveling up is enough to sustain my mana pool.

Do NOT use your Celestial Beam as an attempt to harass the enemy. It can be easily dodged and the damage is not that substantial this early on. Use it to push and farm the minions as you approach the mid game.

When you have around 1300 gold, recall back to base and finish your Doom Orb as well as buying Shoes.

Now that you have gotten your Doom Orb, farm the whole minion wave using your Solar Blessing and Celestial Beam. You should be able to easily dispatch of the whole minion wave and quickly gain stacks. Be wary of the opposing enemies and position yourself out of range of their initiation. You generally want to hover in the back and only move forward to briefly cast your spell and back.

When the first team fight starts, cast your Solar Blessing first on as many of the enemy gods as well as your own teammates as possible. Follow up immediately with your Celestial Beam. At this point, if the fight went in your favor the enemy should be fleeing. Pop Divine Light to increase your movement speed and chase them down. If they are low enough, use Searing Pain to snipe them.

As the mid game progresses, your basic gameplay does not change much. Continue to push/farm the minions with your Celestial Beam saving your Solar Blessing to either heal or harass.

As you approach late game, Ra becomes invaluable as a wave clearer and poker. Your Searing Pain should be near spammable and you should always use it to harass. Try and focus on one target to hit, usually their mage or carry or other squishy. Even landing just one of your ults can usually bring that squishy down to around half health. If they recall, use this opportunity to engage on the enemy forcing a 2v3 situation. If they stay, you can still engage or even wait for another laser which will either kill them or near cripple them forcing them to recall anyways.

Late game Ra is all about wittling down the enemy gods to make the upcoming battle much easier to engage. Many times, the enemy will become impatient and initiate on your team even going so far as to tower dive.

Main points is to remember to keep the spacing between you and the other team to avoid being initiated on and instagibbed.

• All of Ra's abilities excluding Divine Light can be cast through a wall. Take advantage of this in order to land your abilities.
  
• Good positioning is vital to Ra's survival. With no reliable escape skill, getting caught off guard will almost always result in a death.
  
• Solar Blessing's damage is constantly underestimated. While being chased, cast down solar blessing and move through it causing your pursuer to either take damage or move around it.
  
• Solar Blessing can also be used to force your opponents in one direction allowing you to easily land your Celestial Beam.

Hades

His ult Pillar of Agony brings the enemy close and compact into one area. Perfect for shredding them with your combo.


Ares

Similar to Hades, Ares' No Escape can bring them together in one spot. It is easy to predict when it will drag the enemy gods so I tend to time my ult by casting it before they are pulled so that it hits them all easily. Shackles also greatly reduces their movement speed which allows you to easily land your spells.

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Loki

This guy is a pain in the ***. Ra's biggest weakness is an assasin able to get up close and personal. While you can usually avoid these encounters through careful positioning, Loki's Vanish allows him to sneak up and easily dispatch Ra. If you try and run, his behind you allows him to murder you. My advice would be to cast Solar Blessing and just run around in it and hope that either that scares him off or your teammates come help in time. Combat blink becomes invaluable in this situation allowing you to blink away.

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Work in Progress: More to come later

This guide is subjective to the opinion of the author. Feel free to leave comments and your own opinions on the guide in the comments below. If you enjoyed this guide, I am also interested in knowing what other guides you would want to see.