RA POWER, Everything Build - Season 11

Ra was surprisingly not my first God to master, but he is incredibly fun to play. His abilities take a bit of know how to land, but when you melt someone with his ultimate, Searing Pain, it is incredibly satisfying. He is a very strong mage, well balanced. This guide, when used correctly can work wonders for you. You can melt all of the squishies on the other team while also having the sustain to survive a Loki. Your only real counter against this build is Silence, so beware the likes of Chaac and Eset.

You will not regret choosing Ra. He is a consistently solid choice. LET'S BURN SOMETHING!

This is a list of the foreseeable pros and cons of my build! This is simply the strengths and weaknesses of the build.

PROS
You hit like a truck starting in the mid-game
Your ultimate is always up when you need it late game
After your mana pool is secure (Third Item) you shouldn't have to back
The power of your heal mid/late game will repeatedly surprise assassins, earning you kills (if played correctly)
Large amount of health keeps you from being "squishy" and makes your heal worth its weight in gold

CONS
Lots of stacks, full power doesn't come quick
Silence is death (Chaac, Nox, Eset, Khepri, etc.)
Landing all abilities takes a bit of skill

I'll start with his skills. Familiarize yourself with the skills young grasshopper. Wax on...Melt off.

Celestial Beam

This is money. This is where the main damage comes from. It sits at 335 max damage before the scaling is added in, and that, my friend, is why we max this first. Now, this build will get you beyond enough Magical Power (MP) based on how well you are able to stack. Add in that scaling, and this ability will hit for almost a TON of HP by the end of the game (before protections are factored in.)

Using this skill is all about timing and prediction. If you can catch someone on a thin pathway (Jungle in Joust anyone?) then it can be easier to land. But just throwing it through the creeps at the other team is an easy way to miss. Like Searing Pain (Ult), and Solar Blessing, this ability can be casted through walls. This is one of my favorite things about Ra. In Joust, cast this ability from the Damage Camp area to surprise them, or run into their jungle and angle one to try to catch a fleeing or teleporting enemy. One final note, STACKING. This ability will fill your Warlock's Sash and your Book of Thoth for you. Make sure your mates know that you are stacking, I mean seriously stacking, and just throw a Celestial Beam at every wave of enemy creeps.

Divine Light

This is Ra's ability that does the least potential damage. However, the slow is what we're after here, and it does not scale. Therefore, we level this skill last. This skill is a big reason why you are able to survive Loki and similar assassins. As soon as you smell a rat or see someone coming for you, immediately pop this ability, throw down your Solar Blessing and begin trying to line up you Celestial Beam/Searing Pain. When you think of this ability only use it's damage to guarantee a kill, in almost every situation, save this ability for defense/retreat.

Solar Blessing

This skill is alone what makes this build work on Ra. This is, hands down, the best healing build I have ever played with Rod of Asclepius. The build yields so much Ra power (get it? heh) that the heal hits for over 200 per second late game with full stacks. That means over 1200 healing if you use the entire duration. Use this during the stacking/laning phase to heal yourself and lane buddies. Also, use it offensively if you plan to run into it and cast from there.

This is the real reason that I can survive Loki. A full build Loki approaches me and I use my Divine Light and throw down my heal. He ults me. But in jumping on me, he come into my slow and my blessing, which is hitting for over 200 per pulse on him and on me. One Celestial Beam later, Loki has been slain. If you are standing in Solar Blessing at max stacks, Loki is dumb for ulting you. Another important reason this works is the Warlock's Sash. It gives you the health that you need to survive and allow your heal to save you.

Searing Pain

The reason most people pick Ra. You've probably been burned by this one before (...heh...) This is an incredible ability. It is a Sniper like shot that inflicts huge damage on a line. The best part: it can go through walls. Again, basing out power on less than full stacks (about 800 MP), this ability hits for 1500 Damage minus protections. As soon as I get this ability in Joust, I throw a celestial beam, and if I catch an enemy, I hide in one of the jungles and gamble a through the wall snipe to kill the enemy and get first blood. This is often a waste of an ultimate, but it scares the hell out of you foe, and when you land it, it is almost more satisfying than a Scylla ultimate.

This ultimate gels well with long, narrow paths (i.e. Jungle) and with hard CC (Artemis Traps/Hog, ***bakharna's Mesmerize, Change's Ultimate, Ne Zha's Ultimate, Sylvanus root (if your fast enough), Bacchus Knockup, and others too.) Line it up and fire. You miss, Oh well... You hit, almost guaranteed death. This officially has enough Damage to burst down a Vamana who is in his Ult.

A bit of a different build, but it's power is wonderful. Also, you must try Warlock's Sash before you refuse it because of the Health meshing well with Ra's Heal, Solar Blessing.

Chronos Pendant

I like this item because it yields decent power and MP5. I love this item because of the passive. All abilities will now come up faster. More Searing Pain, more Celestial Beams, more Solar Blessings...sorry Divine Light, I'll use you about the same amount as before. But being able to spam these abilities nonstop keeps your passive stacked and helps you stack those stackable items.

Warlock's Sash

Do not skip this item. It gives you a quick boost to Magical Power and Health. Basically more sustain and more killing power. You want this online as fast as possible because it takes 100 Stacks to fully stack it, and that takes few minutes to do. It's not too bad though thanks to Celestial Beam.

The importance of the health from this sash cannot be overstated. Ra needs the HP to make his heal worth anything, and like I said before, he will be healing almost as effectively as he will be dealing damage in the late game. Rush this item now!

Pendulum of Ages

It should be obvious. We are going for Ra Power! We want the passive from this item that matches up VERY WELL with the passive from Book of Thoth. It also provides valuable mana sustain at the early levels of the game.

Book of Thoth

Another stacking item seems ridiculous, but as long as you get it around when you have 25 stacks on your Warlock's Sash, then it will finish stacking at the same time the Sash does.

Rod of Tahuti

The passive makes this item almost a need for almost every burst mage, especially those with CC considering the Red glyph version of this. An increase in power when they are low health gives you a huge spike, especially as you stack out your Sash and Book. Get this only after the stacking items and pendant.

Obsidian Shard

I have never used this build and been behind to the point of not being able to afford this item, but obviously, if you are behind, trade this out for one of the situational items. Ra gets kills because of his high damage though. I love the Spear of Desolation when I'm ahead for the CDR, but this Shard will burn even tanks. It snowballs your damage out of control. SPEAR of DESO or SPEAR of MAGUS are great options as well here.

These items can be exchanged for Chronos Pendant or Spear of Desolation if you feel like you have a situation that merits it. Being behind in gold is a good reason to skip Spear. If your abilities are normally off cool down when you need them, then you might not need Chronos (I always need it though). Here are some options:

Bancroft's Talon/Typhon's Fang

This item is for the risk taker. I do not often grab it because you have to be low health to get the full effect. Also, Ra's abilities are easy to miss, so the lifesteal will not do as much as on other mages such as Anubis. Ra's heal also keeps him out of low health range for the most part.

Spear of Desolation and Spear of the Magus

I'll say this in case it isn't obvious. Obsidian Shard is a must-pick-up item if the other team is building more than one hero with heavy magical protections. If there are two guardians or a guardian and a tank warrior or tank mage like Zhong Kui or Hades, then you should stick with the Shard.

BUT

Spear of the Magus will offer consistent penetration against gods who do not have huge numbers of protections. Ra’s slow and heal stack this items passive really quick as well.

AND

Spear of Deso decreases cooldown even more!

The general rule on this is like this: for extremely tanky, high protection gods, use percentage penetration like Obsidian Shard or Magus. For base protections on gods, like offensive warriors or all hunters/assassins, flat penetration from Spear of Desolation will more than get the job done.

Teammates

Ra works really good with good crowd control. I'll give a few examples.

1. Ares
2. ***bakharna
3. Ne Zha
4. Artemis
5. Khepri
6. Sylvanus
MOST GUARDIANS

Enemies

Silences are the death of Ra as well as long stuns. If one of these is picked, consider going Purification instead of Santuary.

1. Isis
2. Change
3. Anubis
4. Nox
5. Khepri
6. Chaac
BEWARE SILENCE AND STUNS

Thanks for reading my guide, if you have any comments, comment down below and I will try to address them as soon as possible. Have fun playing as one of my favorite gods, RA.

12/07/2016
UPDATE: Added Pros/Cons section, Updated friends and foes list, Added Update Log.

11/25/2018
UPDATE: Updated for Season 5
UPDATE: Added Spear of the Magus and Mages Blessing

02/03/2024
UPDATE: Updated for Season 11
UPDATE: Altered and updated build for removed and added items