Hearthstone’s new adventure has just launched, pitting the forces of good and E.V.I.L. against one another in a series of set piece encounters. Much like the old Adventures of the past, these battles are fought against specific pre-made decks, with a twist that you’re also using similar ones in the Story mode. However, you’re left to your own devices on Heroic, forced to rely on your own collection to beat the baddies (and the good guys as well). Have no fear: we’ve collected a set of decks and a handful of handy tips for you to conquer Heroic mode!
Check out Heroic Guides for other chapters here:
- Chapter 2 (Clash at Wyrmrest) Heroic Guides
- Chapter 3 (Air Battle Over Dragonblight) Heroic Guides
- Chapter 4 (Showdown in Dalaran) Heroic Guides
The Simple Solution
The way the encounters of Galakrond’s Awakening were constructed in Week 1 means that you can basically take any sort of OTK deck and beat the bosses with it – especially if they use cards from Wild, skyrocketing your potential power level. Since the opponents use (almost) identical decks in the Story mode and Heroic, and the main differences come from the mana cost of their Hero Power and their health total, these encounters are not particularly difficult. A standard Holy Wrath Paladin build with a Platebreaker or Alexstrasza tech for specific encounters will get you through both pathways without any problem, and the same holds true for something like Mecha'thun Warlock. (You can find these decklists below.) With that in mind, we decided to have a bit of fun with (and at the expense of) these enemies and decided to show them who’s really the boss by using a random assortment of decks, basically any of which you can rely on to take them down in Heroic.
League of E.V.I.L. Side
- Format:
- Posted By:
12,200
Finley’s Hero Power only costs one mana on Heroic (give a friendly minion Divine Shield and Rush), and the “plot armor” fake Secret he casts on turn one in the Story mode is replaced with the Unite the Murlocs quest. Other than that, this encounter is basically identical to the normal version, and any deck which can ignore the board will get things done. A standard Holy Wrath Paladin build will be just fine for you – just keep in mind that Finley’s assortment of random Murlocs can generate a Coldlight Oracle, potentially ruining your moment of triumph!
- Format:
- Posted By:
- 5,200
Though a 1 mana 4/4 may seem like an incredibly strong tempo play, the fact that it arrives Frozen and that the AI doesn’t prioritize it every turn makes it much less powerful than it may seem. This also means that Chenvalaa will run out of cards surprisingly quickly – and since it relies on Freeze cards, it also lacks strong board clears to come back after you take over the board. In fact, even a perfectly normal Wild Secret Mage – not exactly known for its board-building prowess – was enough to beat Chenvalaa down purely by tempo. If you want to stick to the OTK approach instead, keep in mind that the boss has 30 Armor on top of its standard 30 health, so a Platebreaker is pretty important for those strategies.
- Format:
- Posted By:
- 11,280
This time, Reno’s hero power is an auto-cast after every spell, which means anything can happen. We defeated this encounter with a Cubelock deck with a bunch of eggs in order to have a strong insurance policy against randomly generated AoE effects. With only 30 hit points at his disposal, Reno is also easy to take down with combo tools.
League of Explorers Side
- Format:
- Posted By:
- 5,680
- 1Mecharoo2
- 2Galvanizer2
- 3Goboglide Tech2
- 3SN1P-SN4P1
- 4Explodinator2
- 4Replicating Menace2
- 5Faceless Corruptor2
- 5Wargear2
- 5Zilliax1
- 6Gyrocopter2
If you want maximum style points and the best possible roleplay experience, we suggest a Mech Paladin for this one. You basically beat the Boomster at his own game while putting your faith in the light. Even a Standard build is sufficient for this one: though SUMMON THE BOTS! is only one mana on Heroic, it is still slow. Just make sure the respect an early Mechwarper, clear Mechs whenever possible (the rest you can pretty much ignore) and watch out for the turn ten power spike off the back of the Omega cards. Also, there’s Boom Barrage. It’s pretty much useless once you get your Magnetic buffs online, but it only costs two mana so it can ruin your day nevertheless early on. (Boom also has 30 Armor, something to keep in mind for OTK and combo decks.)
- Format:
- Posted By:
- 9,340
- 1Ice Lance2
- 2Arcanologist1
- 2Frostbolt2
- 2Medivh’s Valet2
- 2Primordial Glyph2
- 3Arcane Intellect2
- 3Frost Nova2
- 3Ice Barrier2
- 3Ice Block2
- 4Fireball2
- 6Blizzard1
- 7Archmage Antonidas1
This monstrosity starts with 150 health, but unlike in Naxx, Alexstrasza is legal in this adventure. As such, a straightforward Freeze Mage build will easily get you through this one. Just like Chenvalaa, the emphasis on Freeze cards means the boss will have trouble dealing damage from hand, making Doomsayers very reliable, sometimes even without a board freeze effect. Playing Archmage Antonidas on an empty board is also surprisingly safe. 15 damage is all you need post-Alexstrasza, so feel free to use everything else in the deck in order to clear the board. A word of caution: since Chenvalaa has a lot of Molten Giants at its disposal, you don’t want to do any face damage to it before playing Alexstrasza, and you should only do so when you have everything ready in your hand to finish it off the following turn.
- Format:
- Posted By:
- 16,360
- 0Sacrificial Pact2
- 1Kobold Librarian2
- 1Plague of Flames1
- 1The Soularium1
- 2Defile2
- 3Sense Demons2
- 3Treachery1
- 4Bloodbloom1
- 4Voidcaller2
- 5Cataclysm1
- 7Lord Godfrey1
- 9Voidlord2
- 10Bloodreaver Gul’dan1
There’s no way we could round out this guide without highlighting Mecha’thun Warlock, the panacea of this Adventure. Simple and straightforward, either with the Cataclysm builds or the Emperor Thaurissan–Grim Rally setup. We’ve beaten the encounter with the latter just to be fancy, but you can find both lists here (second one below). Kriziki’s hero power only costs one mana on Heroic and it also starts with 30+30 health. The hero power makes Doomsayer clears a little bit less effective than they would normally be, but you still shouldn’t have many problems getting to your mechanical god to finish things off. Just make sure you won’t overdraw a key card because of Diamond Winds and to math out fatigue stages with Bad Luck Albatross in mind!
- 0Galakrond’s Awakening Heroic Guide – Chapter 1 (Battle of the Frozen Coast)1
- 0Galakrond’s Awakening Heroic Guide – Chapter 1 (Battle of the Frozen Coast)1
- 0Galakrond’s Awakening Heroic Guide – Chapter 1 (Battle of the Frozen Coast)2
- 0Galakrond’s Awakening Heroic Guide – Chapter 1 (Battle of the Frozen Coast)2
- 0Galakrond’s Awakening Heroic Guide – Chapter 1 (Battle of the Frozen Coast)2
- 1Grim Rally1
- 1Plague of Flames2
- 1Supreme Archaeology1
- 1The Soularium1
- 2Curse of Weakness2
- 2Plot Twist2
- 6Aranasi Broodmother2
- 7Lord Godfrey1
Yellorambo
Luci Kelemen is an avid strategy gamer and writer who has been following Hearthstone ever since its inception. His content has previously appeared on HearthstonePlayers and Tempo/Storm's site.
Check out Yellorambo on Twitter!
Exodia Dk paladin for avalanchen is a fun deck to try
I used 2 decks:
PapaJasons #29 Galakrond Warrior W1 and Standard Highlander Mage.
Galakrond Warrior was able to beat most matches by pure aggression. The bosses where aggression didn’t work, especially the high Health Bosses, Highlander Mage with Alexstrasza came in handy. You don’t really need to attack them, just build a board, wait for Alex and finish them off.
Standard quest resurrect priest deals well with all encounters. Also Galakrond rogue with tech Alexstrasza is wonderful vs Avalanche. Flick shines in there.
Well, I defeated the first boss (evil side) with a classic galakrond rogue of ranked, the next three boss (2 evil e one good) with a galakrond warrior (again no change from ranked) and the last 2 (good side) with a quest resurrect priest (wild version) without either Katrina Muerte (not in my collection).