Fanboys Anonymous

Well, I gotta hand it to 'em. I wanted a challenge, and I certainly got one. Blizzard really tightened their grip around players' necks this time around. The second wing, the Plague Quarter, was quite a trip—and had me humbly searching the Internet for a way to defeat the two final bosses on Heroic.

It's not that it was incredibly difficult. There are certain gimmicks one can figure out with particular bosses. Once you try out a certain deck appropriately set up to handle, let's say, Raise Dead (as is Noth the Plaguebringer's Hero Power) it should be quite easy.

Only it isn't; there's certain timing and some specific key cards that make a world of difference. I attempted Noth the Plaguebringer with my cool mage deck and figured out that minions is not the way to go. The best is either a paladin with an avalanche of Divine Shields and Equality/Consecration combos along with heals or a spells mage. Noth's Raise Dead spell is quite annoying, for every time one of your minions dies, he gains a 1/1 Skeleton; 5/5 on Heroic.Yikes!

Needless to say, I had some trouble, and my mage didn't cut it. I had to use my warrior, and it worked. Noth, two attempts. Heigan the Unclean came next.

That Elven Archer is not a good idea versus Noth in Heroic mode...

This is where it got interesting, and if it wasn't for Deathwing, I would have perished. His Eruption Hero Power is the most challenging yet (until I got to heroic Loatheb, that is). It deals 2 damage to your leftmost minion. On normal mode however, I managed to get by with Deathwing. Good thing I silenced some of his Voidcallers.

Loatheb is the most fun I've had in a game since Tetris, or level 30 in Doom 2 with God mode, or Minecraft. He can cast two spells: Sporeburst and Deathbloom that will summon a Spore. Once this spore dies… all of your minions receive +8 attack. Needless to say, it was fun. I thought he would be a huge challenge, given his starting health at 75, but that wasn't the case.

Next, were the equally fun Hero challenges: hunter and mage!

The hunter is a pure gimmick and fun deck; all you have are Webspinners! Their deathrattle? Summons a random beast to your hand. Fun! Loatheb's Spores made it quite quick though. Aw.

The hunter class challenge is just plain fun

The next challenge was the mage. This was purely academic, to instruct one on how to use the Duplicate secret spell. One of your minions died? No problem, two of them will appear in your hand It is now a permanent addition do my mage deck. Especially useful with Mana Wyrms and Kirin Tor Mages.

So we enter Heroic mode. Noth was only defeated with my spells-only mage and a lucky draw. The 5/5 Skeleton minions mean one thing: if you play a minion, let it be a powerful one, that will compensate its Deathrattle and the appearance of a 5/5 enemy.

Defeated Heigan in Heroic with this Warlock deck

Loatheb-killer deck

Now, this is the part where I thank the Hearthstone community for sharing some deck info. It took me an enormous amount of tries with a variety of heroes and an assortment of Deathrattle minions. Heigan's Hero Power now dealt 3 damage. Sure, only one damage in difference from the normal mode, but it was enough to have me wuss out and seek help. I found a warlock deck that worked wonders and defeated him in one try.

Loatheb though, was the hardest yet. His Hero Power deals 3 damage to your hero, and he starts out with a Fen Creeper hanging around his side of the board, and a Spore, which is a hint to this puzzle-boss. So, if on his first turn he lays down a Deathcharger, you're looking at 8 damage by your second turn. That's just insane. Needless to say, I tried many Priest and Warrior decks, since those are the ones that can heal and raise shield… to no avail.

I finally found a decent warrior deck online and tried it 4 times until I finally buried Loatheb. Once you have board control, it's all good. Just keep raising shield and have some minions on your side, and you'll only be dealt 1 damage due to his Hero Power. Pacing and luck is everything with this boss, as I drew Inner Rage and Execute in my starting hand, successfully destroying his Fen Creeper.

And that's it for the Plague Quarter! It was the most fun and challenging yet, and I'm also glad the hero challenges were fun and useful too. The only thing I'll add is that the class challenges should have you build a randomized deck, like The Arena makes you do. That way you have to figure out the synergy for the new class-specific cards.

Adios! See you in the Military Quarter! Comment below and list your winning decks against Loatheb and Heigan.

Loatheb in Heroic mode is just plain pain