Raiding Curse of Naxxramas Heroic Mode Bonus Stage: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
FeaturesGaming July 27, 2014 Jason Dayrit 0
Having just finished the Arachnid Quarter made me happy, but Malfurion seems to have some unfinished business with Faerlina. We head back into Naxxramas to prove once and for all that going all Druid on the three bosses can be done!
Heroic Grand Widow Faerlina was a great challenge to players going through Curse of Naxxramas. While the fastest and proven way was to use an aggro deck full of cheap minions. This meant that you could empty your hand faster and play around her Rain of Fire ability.
Druid has been one of the classes in Hearthstone that I’ve grown comfortable with, and I noticed that I beat Heroic Anub’Rekhan with a Ramp Druid and Heroic Maexxna with a Recursion Heal Druid. For Faerlina, I used a Zoo. That did not sit well with me so I headed back into the Arachnid Quarter to prove that a Druid deck can also beat her.
The deck
This deck was inspired by several factors. First off, the old version of Handlock used the core of Ancient Watcher and Sunfury Protector to provide early game defense. It’s also part Token Roar Druid, thanks to Power of the Wild, Savage Roar, and Force of Nature. Ever-trusty Leeroy Jenkins has been my mascot and deserves a place in the deck.
Strategy
Typical Druid is a slow deck. It bides its time, accumulating mana, dropping down minions as needed, and controlling the board all the way to the endgame.
In Faerlina’s case, time is not on your side. To be more specific, your hand is not on your side. This is why I opted to put in resilient minions like Argent Squire and Harvest Golem. They’re cheap, and can stand up to Rain of Fire. Additional targets early on are needed because the Rain can hit you, too!
I tried keeping the mana cost within easy reach of one Innervate, so hand-emptying can be done as quick as possible. This is the reason why Imp Master was picked over Violet Teacher. She comes in one turn earlier and already spits out an Imp at the end of the turn. Given that Faerlina’s AI attacks you over your minions, the Imp Master is relatively safe from retaliation (barring the Rain, of course).
Taunting the Ancient Watcher allows you to soak Faerlina’s damage gained from her Worshipper, and you have enough removal at your disposal to take key targets out. In a pinch, you can use your Keeper of the Grove to either enable the Nerubian Egg or the Ancient Watcher so you can attack while still be safe thanks to his taunt.
With the Watcher’s high health and cheap cost, the Rain’s damage can be mitigated, allowing you more time to dig for your Imp Master and Roar. Mind Control Tech, if lucky and set up right, can help you win the game since Faerlina likes to summon a few big minions late in the game.
The key is to get the threats of the board out of the way with your minions and buffs, so you can empty your hand and whittle away at her health as soon as possible.
Budget swaps
Leeroy is the only Legendary in the deck, so an Arcane Golem can replace him in a pinch. Druid cards like Mark of the Wild, Bite, and Claw can all benefit the deck at some point, to provide resilience to existing minions and buff up your damage output.
Here’s the Druid decks I used to beat all of Heroic Arachnid Quarter:
Jason Dayrit
Jason is a gadget junkie, a gear head, and an aspiring Internet Supervillain. He is also the EIC of twenty8two.com.
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