The third wing of Hearthstone’s first adventure is now open, so players can now take on some of the most iconic fights that Naxxramas had to offer back in the days of hardcore raiding. Players will square off against Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester, and The Four Horsemen in normal and heroic modes, along with two new class challenges. Let’s look at what players will unlock in this wing and how to take on the challenging heroic boss modes.
Card Unlocks
Baron Rivendare: If deathrattle ever becomes a serious deck template to build around, you can definitely expect to find the Baron leading the charge.
Dancing Swords: I’m not sure about this one yet. A 4/4 for three is downright amazing, but will you be able to find a deck aggressive enough to completely ignore the downside and push through? Could be a winner.
Deathlord: A cheap, giant body with a potentially disastrous downside. Against decks with small creatures, the downside doesn’t matter much, but if your opponent happens to pull Ragnaros or Ysera on your critter’s unfortunate demise, you’re going to have a bad time.
Reincarnate (Shaman): What’s better than triggering your deathrattles? Doing it on the cheap for 2 mana and getting a fresh copy! While only Shamans will have access to this card, it might find a home.
Spectral Knight: The Faerie Dragon’s much bigger, more expensive brother. Possibly too expensive to justify playing in a 5 slot, but the ability is not to be dismissed.
Voidcaller(Warlock): I have a feeling that this minion is going to be played a lot in Warlock templates moving forward – Nothing like getting a demon that would normally have a come-into-play drawback launched into the fray for free.
Heroic Encounters
Instructor Razuvious
This is the easiest of the new encounters – prepare to turtle up. The key here is to prevent Razuvious’s weapon from hitting you for 20+ points of damage using taunt minions and of course, our friend the Acidic Swamp Ooze. It’s also possible to freeze Raz to keep him from crushing you for insane damage, but filling the board with great taunting creatures via Sunfury Protector/Defender of Argus is a good bet, and ending with traditional large minions. Raz will continually pummel forces with his pocket 4 damage, but it’s really not a factor if you’ve build with enough meat to put in front of the continual assault.
Gothik the Harvester
This can be an extremely challenging encounter, as Gothik will outramp you, outcard you, and push all his dead minions over to your side of the field to become nasty damage over time burdens. I used a Paladin deck to dull Gothik’s madcap assault, using the classic Equality/Consecration combo with Sunfury Protectors, Defenders of Argus, Sludge Belchers, Mind Control Techs, and Guardian of Kings to stabilize and steal. Sea Giants were also a nice card to have around, as the board will rapidly fill with dead and dying chaff. This is a stabilization fight, if you manage to survive the assault and find a use for the ghosts that occupy your side of the table, you should be able to win.
The Four Horsemen
This fight can be tricky on heroic, with Baron Rivendare starting the fight with three massive creatures and the looming threat of a killer weapon should they all die. I used a Mage deck to put the freeze on the intitial, overwhelming assault and to facilitate the eventual takedown. Using the standard Mage suite of fire and ice (Ice Lance, Frostbolt, Cone of Cold, Fireball, Blizzard, Flamestrike, and Pyroblast) and using Ice Barrier, Ice Block, and Vaporize powered by Kirin Tor Mages, you’ll be able to take down all three Horsemen minions safely behind traps and deal the killing blow with spells. Because Rivendare’s weapon is so deadly, I also used 2 copies of Acidic Swamp Ooze and a card I’ve never actually pulled out of my virtual binder before – Harrison Jones, Raider of the Lost Horsemen.
Other Naxxramas guides: