Rakanoth is one of the hardest bosses in the game. He boasts a combination of annoying adds and a near-instant teleport 1-shot. Chances are if you’re here you’re already familiar with the frustration Rakanoth can dish out. In order to beat Rakanoth, we have to understand Rakanoth:
Teleport Strike
His teleport strike has a visual warning. This involves him bringing his swords together, leaning back and most notably a white cloud of smoke/magic showing up around his feet. Once you see this, you have between a half second and a full second to do something about it.
When he strikes you it appears he does at least 30,000-50,000 damage everytime (Hell), although I think I’ve seen him do less. I don’t think you can beat it with armor or hp, and I don’t think dodge or block is a reliable defense either. If you’re a ranged class you will have to deal with his ensuing melee attacks, which can finish you off.
He won’t teleport if you’re close to him. This is true, be careful though because he teleports away from you and the he can teleport back on you right away. If you’re a Barbarian you can leap back up to him so he doesn’t teleport strike you again. As a Wizard / Demon Hunter I prefer to stay outside of his melee range and deal with the teleports with defensive abilities.
Any invincibility ability will save you, but leaps, vaults, teleports, etc will not save you. Although they seem to increase your dodge chance but I’m not sure.
How to avoid Rakanoth’s Teleport
Each class is different. Here are some suggestions:
Wizard: Energy Armor with Force Armor or Diamond Skin with Crystal Shell
Demon Hunter: Smoke Screen
Witch Doctor: Spirit Walk
Barbarian: Stand on top of him and Leap after him
Monk: Serenity
Other Approaches
Other approach that players take is to just gear up better and keep trying him. It might be faster for some players to die 5-10 times instead of learning the fight the hard way. There are some videos of poeple killing him in 20-30 seconds, in that case you just cross your fingers and hope he doesn’t teleport.
Important: Many of the strategies and tips I share here were originally inspired by the people at the Diablo 3 Gold Secrets Forum. If you're serious about making the big bucks in Diablo 3, or just being the best players, you need to signup ASAP.
god bless you! i was stuck here for 4-5 days now, i checked tons of videos and tactics, but with your info about the teleport i killed it on second try. (inferno, demon hunter)
I just killed Rakanoth(nightmare)using energy armor and close range attacks…attack close up ..when he teleports in close in again and make my kill
with a demon hunter and barbarian I destroyed this guy everytime but with a wizard he is driving me crazy. thanks for the help!