The Four Horsemen Heroic

Difficulty: 5/5
Attempts: more than 30 (without gambling for cards)
          Yay, 3rd wing of Naxxramas! Ol' good Military Quarter. I remember wiping all night long in Naxxramas back in the 2006 ^^ Yeah, those good days. But back to the present!
          Non-heroic bosses were easy as usual, killed all three bosses with standart zoolock deck. I my heroic path from most interesting fight from my point of view - The Four Horsemen. I knew fight will be hard, but I didn't expect it to be this VERY hard. Very challenging boss, 4 classes, several deck revisions, more than 30 attempts (not counting gambling for cards).
          My first idea was obvious - a priest with Shadow Word: Pain, Cabal Shadow Priest and of course Ooze, since his weapon hits hard. About 15 attempts was in vain. He was killing be far too fast - 6 damage from first turn, 8 damage from second (+weapon). Even if I managed to kill 2 of them with SWP his secrets revived or buffed other Horsemen - paladin secrets were insane in this fight. EVEN after I killed all three (happened twice) I didn't have ooze yet, and he finished me swiftly with 8 attack sword.
          Second idea was zoolock - to spam them with units - total fail. Then I tried a frostmage. Nova+Elemental+Blizzard+Frostbolt+Lance and so on. Mirror Images, Fireball, and finally Flamestrike. This worked fine, but still not enough. All I need is to survive till Flamestrike. Same as with priest I even managed to kill three Forsemen of board, but he finished me with sword.
          My last idea was to make a paladin with maximum defensive cards: Humility and Aldor Peacekeeper to counter Paladin buff secret. Some units with healing to survive unit late game. Blessing of Kings was very useful. Molten Golem is much pick. This worked better than previous decks - on 5th try I finally won.
          Hardest fight so far.

p.s. I know I didn't use Kodo - problem is I didn't spend real money on cards, so I still don't have many important cards.

Noth the Plaguebringer Heroic

Difficulty: 3/5
Attempts: 6 (without gambling for cards)
          For Noth I used almost the same deck with few differences - I got rid of Mirror Images (two fine skeletons could raise from small gnomes), but picked more heavy units. After few wipes I also removed Water Elementals - this unit is fat, but not fat enough to survive the onslaught. Keep the board under your control and hit Noth to the face.

Heigan the Unclean Heroic

Difficulty: 2/5
Attempts: 5 (without gambling for cards)
          Tactics for first three heroic bosses was quite obvious, but I had no idea what to do with next three. I tried Anub'Rekhan with several different decks - no chance, don't know what to do with him. Then I tried Heigan. I tried Zoolock deck, since Heigan damages no more than one unit with ability, then if there will be many units you wont notice one is gone. But in additional to his ability Heigan uses medium strength units, easily overwhelming weak Zoolock army. You just cant get through 2/8 taunt without losing all your horde of 1 HP units. Then my thoughts was - if he wipes my army I will not use an army at all! Who can survive without an army? Sorceress can! I made heavy spellpower deck with few heavy units, who don't afraid of his 3 damage ability, to finish the boss.
          A lot of spells, maximum amount of freeze spells and units, so I can survive till Flamestrike. After several revisions it finally worked.
          Check the amount of secrets ;)

 

 

Loatheb Heroic

Difficulty: 3/5
Attempts: 5 (without gambling for cards)

          Only chance to win versus this boss is to rush him before he kills you with his ability. His extra mechanics is spore - a 0/1 unit with deathrattle: "Give all enemy minions +8 attack". My thoughts was: 1) you need as many units as possible - units with summon via battlecry or deathrattle (First is Haunted Creeper ofc, then Harvest Golem, Murloc Tidehunter and Nerubean Egg), so with one spore you can get many units with heavy attack, 2) his first units need to be dealed with ASAP (Only warlock could make it on the first turn, saving unit by combing Divine Shield unit - Agrent Squire and 0 mana damage spell - Soul Fire), 3) you shouldn't lose HP (that's why I removed Flame Imps) and possibly try to restore some (Earthen Ring Farseer and Voodoo Doctor, but not Proestess of Elune  - too expensive). Units with deathrattle also helped to deal with his cards like kill everyone and summon Treants or to deal 1 damage to everyone.

          I replayed the game till I had Argent Squire and Soul Fire in my hand. My first turn was to put Squire and kill Spore via Soul Fire. I could use Elven Archer and kill that spore too, but in my case I could kill his 3\6 taunt and didn't lose an unit. Then just spam as many cards as possible to get maximum possible damage in one turn. Here is killshot and screen of deck: (clickable)

Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas Heroic!

Another challenge on the horizon! And where? In the card game!
Half of the year has passed since release of Hearthstone game and here it is - the very first add-on to the great Blizzard game. The AI was weak, but it was not needed - arenas and ladder provided enough fun to play. But I like PvE much more than PvP and to be honest I waited till Blizzard update the AI or create new challenge. And here it is - Naxxramas! New PvE bosses with updated AI to defeat! Again to be honest AI wasn't updated much - it is still weak and quite stupid, but heroic bosses really provide a challenge to play. Just imagine - a hero with 45 HP and 4\4 ability summon for 2 mana! o_O Or another boss - 99 HP and ability to deal 3 damage for 0 mana! Sounds impossible, huh? Well, time for fight then!


#hearthstone #heroic

Abub'Rekhan Heroic

Difficulty: 4/5
Attempts: about 15 (without gambling for cards)
          First, but hardest of all bosses. His ability is extremely powerful - 4/4 unit from the very first turn (he always have coin). What can you do on first, second, third turns if he put 4\4 every turn? I tried about 6 different decks before coming to right one. Priest with maximum mind control power and unit removals: Mind Control (obv.), Cabal Shadow Priest, Mental Dislocator, board control aoe - Auchenai priestess + Circle of healing, Holy Nova. Card-copy worked perfectly too (Mind Vision and Thoughtsteal) - is was great to get 2\8 or 3\5 taunt. Especially funny was to hit Anub with his own Locust Swarm!
          But all this still wasn't enough. Even Doomsayer didn't help - he always killed him with 4\4+spell. My next idea was to use power of Divine Spirit + Inner Fire to get one uber tough unit, since Anub does not have removals. With luck it finally happened.

 

Bosses were hard and fun, just as Blizzard promiced. Cant wait for next week!

 

Maexxna Heroic

 

Difficulty: 3/5
Attempts: 7 (without gambling for cards)
          Quite tough boss. I tried different decks before I found right one. My thoughts was - I need units with battlecry, since Maexxna removes them, I can use up to 2 battlecries every turn. In my mind tactic was easy - Maexxna put mostly weak units with 1 attack, or even Nerubian Eggs, so you just need to wait until she put 6 units with 1 attack and two eggs - this will be a total of 6 damage every turn. You can use Guardian of Kings to outheal this damage and for example Elven Archer to deal damage to Maexxna. But this was boring, I decided I will defeat Maexxna by attacking, not defending. Despite her ability I will take board control!
          First several turns I could only use healing (Voodoo Doctors, Earth Ring Farseers) and sometimes units so Maexxna wont overload my hand. And in same time I tried to take board control. Since Maexxna removes 2 units every turn, that was obvious you need to put more than 2 units every turn! Cheap units, especially units with summon, like Murlock Tidehunter and Dragonling Mechanic worked well. Maexxna removes this units with her ability and next turn you can use them again to get even more summons! I tried to take board control with all my cards - Consecration, swords, summons, chargers. And when I finally got my board control I could finish the boss. Check my deck!

 

 

#hearthstone #heroic #maexxna