Cannoneer is one of the monster hunters you will get to choose from in the new Monster Hunt mode. We’ll be listing all of the tips and tricks, best treasures and equipment, for you to make your way through some fierce beasts on your way to the final nemesis and then to Hagatha!
Monster Hunt is very similar to the Dungeon Run from Kobolds and Catacombs. So if you enjoyed that, then you will very likely have a good time with this single-player roguelike mode.
Cannoneer (Darius Crowley) Info: Hero Power, Starting Deck
You might recognize the Cannoneer as Darius Crowley one of the Warrior legendaries from The Witchwood expansion. He will essentially be representing the Warrior class and probably start out with a bunch of Warrior cards as his core deck.
The Cannoneer’s Hero Power is Fire! (2 Mana): Fire your Cannons! If they kill any minions, refresh this. When you start a game you will have a Cannon on your side of the board (limiting you to six minions on the board), once you use your hero power, it will deal damage to the minion directly opposite of it. If you remember the chess game from One Night in Karazhan then that is similar to this mechanic. If there’s no minion to hit, then your cannon will go to the face. You can also get cards that buff the cannons and have synergy when you use them!
Cannoneer’s Starting Deck
- Abusive Sergeant
- Extra Powder (1 Mana) – Your cannons do 2 extra damage this turn.
- Lowly Squire
- Amani Berserker
- Cruel Taskmaster
- Redband Wasp
- Bash
- Fierce Monkey
- King's Defender
- Bloodhoof Brave
Cannoneer (Darius Crowley) Best Treasures, Equipment
One of the new additions to the Monster Hunt are class-specific treasures! Below you see some of the general and Cannoneer-exclusive choices:
- Tactical Reinforcements: Whenever you fire your Cannons, reduce the cost of a card in your hand by (2). (exclusive to Cannoneer)
This treasure is one of many that interact with your Cannons. It can be especially good if you can get a cheaper Hero Power through cards like Maiden of the Lake. - Dragonfire Ammo: Passive: Your Cannons do 1 extra damage. (exclusive to Cannoneer)
A great addition to your deck in the earlier stages of your run, especially if you have few turn 2 or 4 plays. Again, this synergizes very well with multiple Cannons on the board and enables great board clear against high-health minions like Cragtorr plays for example. - Victorious Rally: Passive: Whever you fire your Cannons, give your minions +1 Attack this turn. (exclusive to Cannoneer)
Another Cannon interaction card. On first sight this treasure may look weak, but your Cannons offering both board clear and board buffs can actually be ridiculously strong! - Pillage the Fallen: Passive: Whenever your weapon is destroyed, equip a random weapon.
One of the strongest treasures for a Warrior archetype. We still can’t confirm if this is exclusive to Cannoneer; one thing that’s for certain is that this card offers infinite value, and you only need to play one weapon in your whole deck! However, if you want to focus on playing multiple weapons like Blood Razor (which by the way is incredibly good against many monsters that focus on board flooding), this may not be your number one choice.
- Entrenchment: Passive: Your minions have +2 Health.
That treasure is nothing less than the nuts. Cannoneer relies on Rush minions and steady board control through aggressive trading in combination with smart Cannon usage, so having +2 Health on all minions at all times is an incredible advantage. This passive may not be Cannoneer-exclusive, but it’s a regular pick option. Get your hands on it when you can!
- Tuskarr Raider: Minion: Rush, After this minion attacks, fire your Cannons. (exclusive to Cannoneer)
For only 4 mana, this is a great way of making use of your dear Cannons. In combination with other Cannon synergy cards, this fellow can get out of hand pretty fast, especially due to its high health. - Seabreaker Goliath: Minion: Costs (1) less for each time you’ve fired your Cannons. (exclusive to Cannoneer)
Honestly, this particular minion feels pretty underwhelming. Most of the times you want to build up and maintain tempo with Cannoneer, and this card will stay expensive for a long while before you can play it.
Cannoneer (Darius Crowley) Tips and Tricks
Smart Cannon Usage
While your Cannon ability may not seem too strong, especially without upgrades, it still can offer a ton of utility throughout your run. Smart positioning can lead to a very cheap and powerful board clear; for that you have to position your cannons between two minions so that they hit both minions for the maximum amount of damage. It can also provide great burst damage, especially if you manage to get multiple Cannons on the board. You can, for example, use one Cannon in the middle to clear minions to get the Hero Power reset while the other one repeatedly fires into the opponent’s face. You should also try to position your minions around your Cannon so that it always has two minions “in front of it”!
Whirlwind Effects and Rush Minions
Crowley is a Warrior after all, so you have access to a lot of Whirlwind effects and Rush minions. The Rush mechanic was born to compete in a minion-heavy game of Hearthstone, and the Monster Hunt provides exactly that! Trading with your Rush minions and Whirlwind effects can lead to incredible Cannon board clears or easy lethal opportunities with cards like Grommash Hellscream or Frothing Berserker.
The Inspire Mechanic
Guess what? Inspire is back, and it’s great! Minions with the Inspire keyword will most definitely snowball your board. Cards like Kodorider or Kvaldir Raider often won’t be removed immediately, and that will cost your opponent greatly! Try to pair these minions with treasures that synergize with your Cannons to get the most out of your Hero Power.
Cannoneer (Darius Crowley) Card Choices
We’ll explore the Cannoneer’s theme options once the Monster Hunt is released. If you didn’t play Dungeon run, you will get to pick from sets of cards that essentially have themes. Generally, it’s best to stick to a similar theme, but sometimes you’ll want to mix and match depending on the card selections.
Armory
Late game cards that gain you armor or synergize with armor and armor gain. Examples include Ironforge Portal & Geosculptor Yip.
Attack!
Minions with charge and rush are to be found here. Leeroy Jenkins and Militia Commander are some examples.
Berserker
Damage your minions and gain buffs and more! Cards like Frothing Berserker and Death's Bite reside in this bucket.
Commander
Likely stuff to lower your hero power and synergize with the cannons. I’ve seen Commanding Shout and Maiden of the Lake in this bucket.
Dragonfire
If you are looking for Dragons then you found the right bucket! You’ll find cards like Faerie Dragon and the old Blackrock Mountain Dragon: Chromaggus.
Legends
Legendary cards are here to help you defeat your foes, expect to see stuff like Ysera and Woecleaver.
Pirates
Your old favorites from Aggro Pirate Warrior are here and ready to fight it out for you!
Strike
Weapons and damages spells are under strike. Look for Gorehowl and stuff like Slam.
Vanguard
Taunt based options like Sludge Belcher are here to protect your face!
Warcry
You can find cards with battlecry in this bucket, you’ll see stuff like Dark Iron Dwarf and Azure Drake.
Monster Hunter Guides
Learn more about the Monster Hunt and the rest of the Monster Hunters with our in-depth guides!
- Full Monster Hunt Guide: Bosses and Treasure List
- Houndmaster Tips and Tricks Monster Hunt Guide
- Time-Tinker Tips and Tricks Monster Hunt Guide
- Tracker Tips and Tricks Monster Hunt Guide
- Cannoneer Tips and Tricks Monster Hunt Guide
Cannoneer (Darius Crowley)’s Nemesis: Lord Godfrey
In some runs when you reach the end of your monster hunt with the Cannoneer then you will be face off against Lord Godfrey. This is a unique fight exclusive to the Cannoneer!
- Health: 60
- Hero Power: Pistol Barrage (1 Mana) – Deal 2 damage to a minion and the minions next to it.
- Flavor: The Lord of Shadowfang Keep has a bullet to pick with Crowley.
Lord Godfrey’s Deck
- Saboteur
- Hunter’s Insight (3 mana) – Reduce the cost of all cards in your hand by (3)
- Twilight Summoner
- Grim Patron
- Savannah Highmane
- Crushing Walls
- Bittertide Hydra
- Exploding Bloatbat
- Gurubashi Berserker
- Acolyte of Pain
- Hunting Mastiff
- Gahz'rilla
- Hunter's Mark
- Seeping Oozeling
- Clockwork Automaton
- Dart Trap
- Explosive Trap
How to beat Lord Godfrey
Compared to other final bosses like Azalina Soulthief or Scarecrow, Lord Godfrey seems to be a piece of cake. His deck mainly contains Hunter cards combined with more aggressive neutral minions. The only real threat of his list is Gahz'rilla which can get out of hand pretty quickly if you don’t run removal like Execute. Other than that, most of your Taunt and Rush minions should take care of his line-up; your Cannons will help with minions like Savannah Highmane, and can snowball you to victory if you can hit Bittertide Hydra multiple times with it.
Position on board is key as well, as his Hero Power works similar to cards like Cone of Cold; try to station your Cannons between your minions so that Godfrey can only hit one or two of them.
Maybe I just got lucky but my first two treasures were “start with an extra mana” and “reduces the cost of minions that cost 5+ to 5”. As the rounds went one I transitioned to playing standard berseker and rush cards to stacking op 5+ worth cards, because I would always choose the most expensive cards after the rounds. I crushed the boss, no challenge at all.
Dragonfire Ammo (+1 dmg from cannons) + Tactical Reinforcements (reduce mana cost of cars in your hande) make up for an excellent combo. You have to use your cannon A LOT at the beggining of most matches, building tempo for a middle game turnaround. You will have to sustain some damage, since healing is almost non-existant, so weapons are not suitable for this strategy. You must absolutely get 2 copies of Brawl and Execute, to deal with both large foes and wide boards.
As for the final boss, he can remove most of your minions with ease, so don’t try to go wide on board. Go for the long game, never go face unless his board is clear. Save your Extra Powder card or Bash for his Grimm Patron, Execute for Gahz’rilla, and abuse Bittertide Hydra with as many hits as you can.
Piece of cake compared to to Azalina & Scarecrow? Are you smoking crack? Godfrey is 100x harder than both of those. Almost always starts off with reduce all cards by 3, then lays down a bunch of minions that 1 damage can’t exactly plink through, if you’re unlucky he drops Gahz’rilla or Gurubash or Acolyte for card drawi or Patron or Twilight Summoner or Oozelight who copies the only deathrattle he has… Twilight Summoner. So yeah he basically plays just about ANY card in his deck save 3 and you’re screwed. If you start to get a bit of a push… crushing walls, bend over don’t bother lubing up.
Am I missing something? This doesn’t seem like tips and tricks, but more a general overview stating the obvious. I guess I was looking for more strategy level do’s and don’ts.
I had a lot of success with the First Aid Ability (heal all friendlies for 2), Grim Patron’s, and “Berserker” card sets especially Frothing Berserker and Death’s Bite. Basically built the old combo deck with Victorious Rally (+1 atk) for extra dmg and first aid to heal up my Patron’s. Squire and Wasp for early game presence or just use your hero power. I didn’t have taunts or big creatures.
Cannoner is by far the hardest, most unfun and boring one, i have cleared the other 3 but this one is SO so hard.
Its impossible to build rush decks, cause all opponents play insane amount of aoe.
And if you go big, you loose to the ones who takes out big things for free and play one them self every turn.
2 bosses actually beat me on turn 6 i was totally run over.
I have yet to find a working plan for this run! 🙂
Nevermind, i finnaly find the trick. Just get lucky and get 2x Dragonfire Ammo.
Work insane with maiden and was an easy win
Yeah the “trick” just get 2x Dragonfire Ammo… kind of like my trick for Shaw just get +2 Attack to the dogs, then 5/1 rush for 2 mana rolls over everyone.
You might want to go for 2 pots of vitality. I just fatigued Godfrey to win.:)
How do you ever beat that mill boss forvorn lovers seems impossible!
Dont see any tips in the guide above, just a list of what cards buckets you can get, which treasures and so on.
No actual tips on how to beat this guy.
Shaw and tracker were super easy, cleared ith with both of them on 1st try for 3 times now.
Darius seems to be very inconsistent in his buckets
Easily the easiest for me; finished the run first try, getting lucky w/ Dragonfire Ammo and Tactical Reinforcements, picking up Inspires and Maiden of the Lake whenever possible. Simply try to optimize the cannon, killing as many things as possible, then Maiden (with Tactical Reinforcements proc) into a huge ping turn. Was insanely fun; probably the most fun I had during the entire Monster Hunt lol
The only thing I didn’t like was that the pack quest wanted 10, so I had to win two rounds and quit (cuz I wanted to speed through the thing lol).
There is also a unice minion 3 mana (i don’t remember the name) with battlecry: summon another cannon.