Heroic bosses are hard, and it takes a lot of time to build consistent strats for all bosses, especially those that doesn't have an obvious solution and can have different number of strats
So, let's put any strats and ideas here. We can test each other's strats and optimize it quicker, so I can finally have fun watching you guys running Heroic (and raging at it).
Thaddius: http://imgur.com/b3e4l9Y
Basically using zoo warlock, seems consistent enough, maybe about 10-20% (?) chance of losing I haven't tried putting any Wotog cards though
Corruption is really useful in dealing with the turn 2 feugen and stalagg. Also obviously putting feugen and stalagg since it triggers thaddius
Edit: I made this deck before Wotog when there's a change in the AI. When I tried this deck again, I can't win because the AI keeps trading efficiently instead of hitting face :/ Have to make significant changes to this deck for sure.
Edit2: Now I use a different deck with 'stall' priest: http://imgur.com/Usyd0MP
Basically the deck is filled with board clears and heals, keep clearing the enemies until you can put feugen/stalagg and get the free thaddius to kill the opponent
The strat only have like 50/50 winrate, but I still cant find any other method that is more consistent than this, can't believe this boss become really hard due to the AI change.
Patchwerk: Shaman: http://imgur.com/nQ0Wykn Mage: http://imgur.com/ObC0aEF
Mage is quicker when things gone well due to the freezing, but shaman feels much more consistent with all the defensive and aggro tools
Mage still easily loses if she didnt draw enough defensive cards
Noth: http://imgur.com/hu6Rhld
I'm trying a face/stall warrior deck after getting inspired by the 'big minions only' tavern brawl, freeze mage is still probably more consistent (although kinda lazy to try out freeze mage right now, since i never really played it)
Out of 7 tries, I win 6, and the only time I lost was when I try to remove alexstraza to see how it goes. Although, all the wins are thanks to alexstraza, whether by damaging him or healing yourself.
Haven't put Varian wyrnn in the decklist, but it's also quite useful for card draw on late game (edit: this is a bad idea since it could put your alex on the board)
Edit: Made some adjustments http://imgur.com/wfX5FRg
Gameplan is to simply stall while wait for alex, just like playing a freeze mage. I put one secret eater so i could get rid of his ice block
Heigan: http://imgur.com/7Go63bo
Typical zoo with sac pact and saboteur to abuse the mechanics. Lights champion is useful to replace owl.
Seems consistent enough
Edit: This strat is also made before Wotog comes out. When I tried this deck again, it's less consistent although still have a pretty high winrate (maybe about 70-80% winrate). Voidcaller RNG and bad draw can easily lose you the match.
The deck still can definitely be improved
Edit2: Trying to improve the deck: http://imgur.com/gXZAu13 Added board clears wiith Hellfire and heal using Healbots, seems more consistent now
Raszuvious: http://imgur.com/Z8sNkBs
A token shaman, his hero power is strong against single targets, so I use tokens (although watch out for brawl, he have 2 of it in his deck) Shaman also have good taunts in feral spirit and thing form below I put crazed alchemist to deal with deathlords, which he often uses
The approach seems quite consistent, but the decklist isnt fully optimized yet, I lost maybe about 30% of my tries
Cards I could also try out: Cult master for card draw (there's a problem with card draw in this deck), argus, gormok, crackle for burst, harrison jones
What's funny is that he seems to prefer to attack minions with his weapon, I saw him attacked a healing/spell power totem instead of my face
Edit: Try to optimize the deck: http://imgur.com/Yq9wMev
So I removed the 1-drops since it's not so useful after all
Also, to counter Brawl, I added N'zoth to refill the board immediately. So I also add few more deathrattles with Sludge Belcher and Loot Hoarder.
Overall the deck seems more consistent than before, but there's still a bit of chance to fail with bad draw or he gets brawl at the right time, so maybe still like 20% chance to fail.
Four horsemen: http://imgur.com/v66xaNM
Watch out when using shadow word horror when you dont have ooze/jones on your hand, since his weapon could easily kill you if that happens
Gothik: http://imgur.com/I6ggJxP
Uses shaman, main gameplan is to stall/control the board until he reaches fatigue (which will happen pretty quickly since he draws two card every turn)
Evolve and recombobulator really helps to deal with the spectrals (flametongue too)
Elemental destruction is a really good tool to clear his board
Overall it seems consistent and only could lose if you have a bad draw
Kel'thuzad: http://imgur.com/sfV3Gcf
using the well-known mechanic of abusing the majordomo and let him mind control it, then use SW:D + mindblast X2 to kill him
using doomsayer before turn 11 is really good since that's the turn when the enemy switches hero power and he will mind control the doomsayer lol
Gluth: http://imgur.com/G1k7WPk
Uses paladin with lots of divine shield/token cards
Lots of good board clears with purifier/consecration/equality
Newer cards like steward, justicar, rallying blade are really useful
Although things could be dangerous if you're unlucky and didnt draw any anti-weapon card while he got a turn-1 weapon
Edit: I added 2x quartermaster which really helps in making it quicker since you often have lots of recruits in the late game. Also can help your recruits survive unstable ghoul or abomination. I replaced a minibot and an owl for the quartermasters
Faerlina: http://imgur.com/hoYay1O
Uses mostly typical zoolock cards, but I also added dragon eggs (along nerubian ones) because they're really useful in this boss. She normally dont use hero power if an egg is still on the board.
Used shadow bolt instead of darkbomb since she have lots of dangerous 4-HP minion
I don't use knife juggler since it's RNG/situational and kind of a win-more card, while the knifes also could hit her eggs Also removed voidcaller since it's kinda slow and the deathrattle seldom have significant effect
I put a annoy-o-tron just in case I need a taunt and I can also use it in early game, and because I don't know what other card I can replace it with
The quickness of this level usually depends on how early I can get the big creatures out.
Maexxna: http://imgur.com/2GOKm4m
Gameplan is similar to Noth, just stall until you got alextraza
Ravaging ghoul/Corrupted seer/Novice engineer really helps, but make sure you dont get milled if you only use the minions over and over
A possible alternative strat is c'thun rogue maybe, with beckoner/disciple/blade of cthun to get very large cthun, though i havent tried it
Loatheb: http://imgur.com/hmFZVbo
The AI seems bugged, he almost never uses his hero power unless your HP is already really low, making this fight much easier lol
Uses paladin, the deck might still be improved but so far I never lost with it and usually kills him within 15 turns (quickest i got is 7-8 turns)
Doomsayer is really good for early game
Grobbulus: http://imgur.com/mx0xxh8
Using priest, basically just stall until you can comfortably put down your big minions.
Bog creepers, ragnaros and alexstraza is really useful, other big minions can be replaced if you want to.
Sapphiron: http://imgur.com/4VIZrb8
Similar to freeze mage, just stall then use your damage spells later in the game, duplicate is really useful to copy useful minions like sheep, healbot or leeroy. Note that alexstaza is banned in this boss
Anub'rekhan: http://imgur.com/IJCKdAY
Uses midrange hunter, maybe about 50/50 winrate, but it's the first match anyway so I can just repeat when I lose.
I can't find a way to consistently win this boss with a 'fast' deck, the 4/4 hero power is just damn strong, maybe a slower control/stall deck can be consistent. But the midrange hunter usually wins on turn 9-12 if it wins, so it should be significantly faster compared to decks like freeze mage.
Previously I tried zoo and midrange shaman but it's significantly more inconsistent.
Turns out the recent Morgl patch also changes the AI. Now the AI attack face more often than before, perhaps this is the same as the old AI. This could make some bosses harder and some bosses easier.
Some significant changes that I can think of:
- Thaddius: If it's the old AI, the zoolock deck that I previously used might work again and it could be a much easier boss now.
- Razuvious and Gluth: Now, they will probably always attack face with their weapons instead of minions (if you dont have taunt). This will make these two bosses riskier, and I probably need to put more heals/taunt if I want it to be safer.
- Loatheb: His hero power actually works now. So you'll need heals or you'll die pretty fast.
If I want to do a run again, I'll need to test all my previous decks and see how much will I need to change.
Hi copyrite, nice to see someone joining in ^^
Personally, I often take a look at the decks/tips listed in sites like the hearthstone.gamepedia.com wiki or hearthpwn/head to get a good feel for what's normally done to beat those heroics. However, they're normally 'outdated' since they don't use new cards and are done back when the AI still prefers to aggro over trade. They also normally only aim to win once while I aim to win consistently, so those decks normally aren't so optimal.
For Kel'Thuzad, I doubt a tempo-based deck like secret paladin could work because Kel'thuzad have so many HP and insane board clears after he got 8+ mana. Majordomo is the only reliable way I know to kill him at a decent speed, though things like Freeze Mage or Mill rogue might also be consistent if tuned correctly
In general, 'generic' constructed decks isn't that effective since there are deck changes that can be made to specifically counters each bosses. Usually, if there's no specific boss's mechanic to be countered, I tried out zoo and see how effective it is and what cards I can put in to counter the boss. Secret Paladin could probably also works as a good starting point and I haven't tried a lot with it, though I have a hunch that it'll be less consistent because it kinda depends on drawing the Mys. Challenger.
Also I guess I should've point out that since Karazhan patch, the AI seems to prefer to trade again just like the AI during my heroic run, though I haven't really tried any of these heroics in the last few weeks.
Interesting methods. How fast do you normally win with the freeze mage in anub'rekhan? Curator could help to draw Alextraza and Coldlight Oracle. And that Maexxna method is really interesting indeed.
Recently, I had an idea of using an Astral Communion deck for Anub'Rekhan. Basically just restart until you got the Innervate + Astral combo lol. Especially since Anub'Rekhan's deck is the most 'regular', he'll probably have no way to counter the early big minions unlike some other bosses.
If one day I'm done with BRM, seems like it might be fun playing around with your decks.
Gothik with Mill Druid: https://imgur.com/a/0KL8b
Mill Druid is really suitable in this boss since the boss draws 2 cards each turn, and he's not that strong so Mill Druid's limited control tools are enough to survive against this boss. Seems to be slightly faster than the old Shaman strats, I got around 4:00-5:20 with this deck while the old Shaman deck probably takes 4:30-5:30+.
The decklist that I posted above have lots of cards with only one copy, because I'm not sure which of those cards I need to take out of the deck. Branching Paths should also be strong for this deck, and for most Druid decks in general.
I haven't tried to make a Tempo/Midrange deck yet for this boss, probably not feasible since this boss have a strong early tempo from his Hero Power, but it'll probably save even more time if a consistent Tempo deck can be made.
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