Note: I've NEVER played Hearthstone, but I've spent hours watching my friend play Hearthstone and hours, and hours on watching streams, as a result, I have a TON of knowledge, and I'd love to share! And all the better this even gives me a chance to win a key just by doing what I like to do (making guides).
Thanks again for this awesome giveaway!
Druid
Name: Malfurion Stormrage
Unique Mechanics: Choose One is an ability which allows you to choose one of two options when playing a card. Currently, these cards are only available to the druid class. For instance Wrath or Druid of the Claw.
Hero Power: Shapeshift, gives +1 attack this turn and +1 armor. A good way to use this is to kill a minion with 1 health remaining. Even if it causes you to take 1-2 damage.
The druid class offers an immensely versatile style of play, capitalizing on the Choose One mechanic given to the druid is going to be essential if one is serious about being a great druid. Of the Choose One cards Druids have, the must haves for the druid deck are Starfall and Wrath, the combination of these cards mean continuous board control and the option to top deck better than any other class in the game. If you plan to be playing the late game druid, it will be necessary to have those cards along with Nourish. These cards will allow you to always have a card lead on your opponent. Try to refrain from using Starfall and Wrath if you can trade your minions effectively for theirs, or if you have the option to use Swipe or Savagery. The versatility of Wrath and Starfall can get you out of a bind quickly. Regardless of how you build your deck the druid spell cards are too good to pass up, as such it is important to stack some strong spell power minions such as Dalaran Mage and Azure Drake as these cards will increase your board control significantly when combined with the right spell.
Rakning
Mana Management/Early Game:
10/10
No class does it better than Druid. Druid has Inervate, Nourish, and Wild Growth
Inverate: Gives 2 mana crystals for this turn ONLY. 0 Mana.
Nourish: Gives 2 mana crystals permamently or if you chose you can only draw 3 cards instead. 5 Mana.
Wild Growth: Provide one empty mana crystal permanently. 2 Mana.
Board Control:
8/10
Swipe, Starfall, Wrath, and Soul of the Forest. All let druid have some very decent and very efficient board control. Since Wrath and Starfall let you chose between 2 choices. Any of these coupled with +X Spell Power makes Druid's board control INSANE. Also Soul of the Forest is just stupid in what it does? Have a full board of minions? Mage flamestrikes? No problem! Now you have board full of 2/2 minions! Savage Roar is a great but situational card since you have to have a full board of minions for it to be useful.
Swipe: Deals 4 Damage to one enemy, 1 damage to all other enemies. 4 mana.
Starfall: Deals 5 Damage to one minion, or 2 damage to all enemy minions.
Wrath: Deals 3 damage to 1 enemy, or deals 1 damage to one enemy and draw one card. 2 Mana.
Minions:
2/10
This is where Druid doesn't excel so much. Druid only has 1 half-decent minion.
Ironbark Protector: 8/8 with taunt (enemies MUST attack this creature) for 8 mana AWESOME deal.
Total Score: 20/30
Hunter
Name: Rexxar
Unique Mechanics: One out of only 3 classes to have secrets.
Hero Power: Steady Shot is the hunter's hero power, dealing 2 damage direct to the enemy hero. While this is very effective for bypassing enemy minions, the hunter cannot use Steady Shot on any other target, but can only deal damage to the enemy hero.
The Hunter class is super fun and powerful between it's shots and traps, and beasts. Out of all traps hunter has must haves are, Snipe and Explosive Trap providing great board control. I believe there is only one shot I really like and that's explosive shot. Being able to do 5 damage to one enemy and 2 damage to the ones next to it. Lastly, it's amazing how ALL the beast combo with each other, a 1 mana drop Timer Wolf gives all other beast +1 attack, even non-beast such as Houndmaster gives a +2/2 and taunt to a chosen beast! Hunter's are the equivilant of Slivers in MTG.
Rankings
Mana Management/Early Game:
1/10
Since you need a lot of mana to send a lot of beast at once. Your early game is terrible with no mana boosting cards and the need to rely on cards comboing on each other.
Board Control/Mid Game:
7/10
Between Explosive Shot+Trap and Snipe. And hunter's awesome weapons. Hunter's have really decent board control, but then again all of these cards cost a butt-ton of mana. Which is not what a hunter haves for a while.
Minions/Late Game:
10/10
This is where hunter REALLY excels like I said earlier every minion comob's with each other so in your late game you can just send out everything you got and it'll be VERY hard for your opponent to deal with.
Total Score: 18/30
Mage
Name: Jaina Proudmore
Unique Mechanics: Rediculous amounts of board control through spells and one out of only 3 classes to have secrets.
Hero Power: Fireblast can be used against any target and can bypass units with taunt. This hero power can be used strategically to remove a Divine Shield from an enemy or to hit one of your minions with enrage to make them stronger. Note: Unaffected by Spell Power. Also can be used to kill a minion with one health remaining.
Mages use a large array of spells that cripple the opponents minions and damage their hero. Decks that contain minions that boost spell power like Kobold Geomancer or Azure Drake will be able to strengthen the mage's numerous direct damage spells and even make weak spells into formidable nukes. Minions that benefit from playing spells like Mana Addict, Violet Teacher, or Gadgetzan Auctioneer also fit well into mage decks.
Mages can turtle exceptionally well, with cards like Ice Barrier which augment the hero's ability to survive, while their early game crowd control effects, like Frost Nova and Vaporize, prevent retaliation until the mage can play powerful cards like Pyroblast.
It is possible to use the hero ability of the mage on your own minions. This can be useful for cards that benefit from taking any form of damage, especially as the mage hero power only does 1 damage.
Ranking
Mana Management/Early Game:
6/10
As I mentioned earlier in the guide. Mages can just turtle until they have much more mana and burn you down with Pyroblast and Fireballs.
Board Control/Mid Game
10/10
Mages have stupid amounts of board control, opponent summons Deathwing? Pfft Polymorph+Fireblast he's dead. Opponent summons a bunch of minions? Flamestrike, all dead.
Minions/Late Game
2/10
Mages have no way of defending themselves in late game. They only have one half-decent minion like druid and that is Water Elemental. So mages either have to full burst they're opponents down with they're mana and turtle themselves the whole game. Both options are horrible.
Water Elemental: 3/6 Minion whenever this minion is attacked or attacks freeze the attacker or the minion it attacked. 4 Mana.
Total Score:18/30
Paladin
Name: Uther Lightbringer
Unique Mechanics: Very well-rounded class and only one out of 3 classes to have secrets.
The paladin is a well-rounded class which focuses on strong minions and limiting your opponent's ability to use their own. Many paladin decks contain multiple minions and spells that use the Divine Shield mechanic to summon minions which can't be killed without at least two instances of damage. This can also be combined with many cards that the Taunt ability to create an army of minions which prove exceedingly difficult to remove, aka a "Taunt" deck. Minions with useful battlecries or effects like Argent Protector can also be revived if they die while Redemption is in play which will allow a reuse of their battlecry.
The paladin's hero power, Reinforce, summons a 1/1 minion. This can be be used together with cards that work well with more minions on the field like Raid Leader and Frostwolf Warlord.
Consecration is a powerful, board-wide spell which damages all the opponent's minions and their hero. It can be played after an Equality to completely wipe the enemy field. A riskier strategy involves playing Wild Pyromancer before Equality which will clear all minions on both sides.
Paladins also have strong self-healing abilities which allow them to survive powerful blows dealt to their hero like Holy Light and Lay on Hands.
Ranking
Mana Management/Early Game:
5/10
Paladin's early game is average. Between cheap weapons, recruits, buffs, and secrets.
Board Control/Mid Game:
7.5/10
Equality, Concentraion, and most of the secrets. Allow some pretty awesome board control.
Minions/Late Game
8/10
Pally's late game can be stupid depending on which kind of Pally deck it is. If yours is a kind of deck revolves around Pally's legendary Tirion Fordring, it's most likely GG for the opponent, cause Pally has a crazy amount of buffs. He could buff that Tirion to a 38/14 with Divine Shield and Taunt. And you can even use redemption on him... But then again you only have 1/30 chance to draw him.
Total Score: 20.5/30
Priest
Name: Anduin Wrynn
Unique Mechanics: Very RNG based with Mindgames and Thoughtsteal. Only one of 2 classes that have that can have more than 1 Hero Power.
Hero Power: All priests begin with Lesser Heal. Playing Shadowform will replace Lesser Heal with Mind Spike. Playing Shadowform for a second time will replace Mind Spike with Mind Shatter.
Lesser Heal works with Auchenai Soulpriest, allowing it to deal damage while the card is in play. Also if you have the priest legendary Phrophet Velen, you can have a Mind Shatter doing 6 damage to ANY enemy which is INSANE.
Priest has to be my favorite class in Hearthstone I can imagine how hilarious it'd be if you used a Mind Control to steal an opposing Deathwing. Or using Mind Games to summon one. And it is ridiculous how powerful Priest's hero power can get, as stated above doing 6 damage to any enemy, but you need 2 shadowforms and Phrophet Velen on the field. You really should consider putting Mind Control, Shadow Madness, Thoughtsteal, Shadowform, Auchenai Soulpriest ,and Mind Vision makes a priest deck 1000% more fun (not always better though). I really do think a shadow priest deck is vastly superior to a healing/buff priest deck. But Phrophet Valon helps either deck incredibly.
Ranking
Mana Management/Early Game:
8/10 Holy 1/10 Shadow
Great early game with Lightwell + Inner Fire+Divine Spirit then BAM you have a 10/10 Lightwell. All for 5 mana but please note for this strategy is for Healing Priest decks.
Shadow priest on the other hand don't have a good early game at all.
Board Control/Mid Game:
6/10 Holy 8/10 Shadow
Holy has Holy Nova and Temple enforcer to help with mid game and board control.
Shadow has Mind Games, Auchenai Soulpriest, Shadow Madness ,and Shadowform.
Both have Phrophet Valon.
Minions/Late Game
1/10 Holy 9/10 Shadow
Holy doesn't get any stronger at all from mid game which can be a big problem.
Shadow however gets Mind Control and at this point might already have the 2 Shadowform + Phrophet Valon combo which means he can bolt any enemy for 6 dmg for 2 mana which is just ridiculous. Also at this point Shadow now has enough mana to cast Mind Controls.
Total Score: Holy: 15/30 Shadow: 18/30
Rogue
Name: Valeera Sanguinar
Unique Mechanics:Combos, SUPER awesome early game, and all cheap cards.
Hero Power: The rogue hero power is particularly strong in maintaining board control, it is the only hero power (not including priest's shadowform's Hero Power) in the game that allows you to destroy 2 health minions without a weapon card. Particularly in arena you can often "trade" your own health early in the game to kill the enemy minions in order to establish control and force them to waste valuable removal early on. This also keeps your minions alive longer allowing them to attack multiple turns which creates value. Be careful though, don't take yourself too low attacking minions or you can tip the advantage into a disadvantage very quickly!
The rogue class has a number of different play styles. One of the main threats a rogue presents is the ability to do a lot of damage quickly, using "combo" cards and the rogue's hero power weapon to do surprising burst. Minions like Questing Adventurer, Mana Addict, and Edwin VanCleef can be buffed up to huge amounts of damage by using the rogue's arsenal of numerous low-cost spell cards while cards like Gadgetzan Auctioneer give the draw power needed to sustain combos.
A combo card is a card that has an additional effect if it is played after any other card. These effects can range from additional damage to picking up a card. Rogues are exceptional at using single target damaging abilities on both minions and heroes with cards like Eviscerate and Headcrack. This aspect can be augmented with decks focused on increasing Spell Power which allows rogues to whittle down the enemy hero with strengthened spells while also buffing weak spells like Backstab and Fan of Knives into formidable removal cards.
The Rogue hero power can also be built around with cards that buff their Weapon for one nasty hit like Assassin's Blade and Deadly Poison or cards that simply synergize well with weapons such as Blade Flurry and Bloodsail Raider.
Rogues excel at single target removal with abilities like Assassinate and Sap which give strong board control for Rogues to set up devastating combos or to keep the enemy defenseless as their hero is chipped away at.
Ranking:
Mana Management/Early Game
10/10
While Druids have godsend early game thanks to it's amazing mana management Rogues have godsend early game just due it's sheer amount of early game cards such as the infamous Defias Ringleader combo. Also Rogues have quite a few 0 mana cards.
Board Control/Mid Game
6/10
Rogues have amazing amounts of single target board control that it's truly very stupid.
Minions/Late Game
8/10
Edwin VanCleef nuf said.
Basically play everything you got. Which will set of all your card combos then you end up getting a 14/14 creature (Edwin VanCleef)
Total Score: 24/30
Shaman
Name: Thrall
Unique Mechanics: Overload is an ability which reduces the amount of mana available the next turn by the stated amount. This allows powerful spells to be cast for a low mana cost, allowing the shaman to deal great burst damage. The shaman has many cards allowing him to put massive power into the board in one turn, such as Bloodlust, Lightning Storm, and Lava Burst. You can also overload more mana than you will have the next turn. Currently, cards with this ability are limited to the shaman class. See Overload cards.
Hero Power: Totems are considered minions, with attack power and health. Most start with 0 attack but cards like Bloodlust or even Raid Leader can turn a board of weak totems into a force to be reckoned with.
Your totems can be helpful for survival or for aggressive play. Every time you use the shaman hero power Totemic Call, it will randomly summon a Healing Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, Searing Totem, or Wrath of Air Totem. The ability always summons a totem not in play. You can have all 4 in play at once but you cannot summon additional copies by using the hero power. Totems are not summoned from the user's deck.
The totems and their abilities are as follows:
Healing Totem: 0Attack 2HP *At the end of your turn heal all damaged friendly characters for 1HP.
Stoneclaw Totem: 0Attack 2HP *Taunt
Searing Totem: 1Attack 1HP *No special abilities (This is similar to a Silver Hand Recruit from the Paladin's Hero Power)
Wrath of Air Totem: 0Attack 2HP *+1 Spell Power
Shamans excel at field control with removal and crowd control spells such as Lightning Storm and Hex. Shamans can also play very strong spell and minion cards with Overload for very little mana at the cost of losing available mana the subsequent turn.
The very popular Murloc deck is usually used in conjunction with the shaman class due to the shaman's ability to summon totems which can either buff murlocs or contribute to the field swarming gameplay of murlocs. Bloodlust and Windfury are also very strong cards which will allow for game winning turns with buffed minions.
Ranking:
Mana Management/Early Game
7/10
OK early game. One combo that I LOVE is Flametongue totem then Coin and Dust Devil. A 5/1 minion with Windfury. And if you use Rockbitter on top of that that's a whole 16 damage to your opponent in one turn. But other than that you don't really have that much survivability. Stormforged Axe also helps you with some board control, but be sure to watch your health. Since quite a few low mana cost cards use Overload Unbound Elemental can be an awesome card!
Board Control/Mid Game
11/10
This is where Shaman truly excels.
Just like mage. Tons of minions?? Just use a ligtning storm coupled with some spell power ALL dead. Someone summoned Deathwing or some other high level creature? Just Hex. And on top of all this you have Fire Elemental and Earth Elmental. Also perhaps my FAVORITE weapon in the game Doomhammer. You can protect your Elementals with Ancestral Healing and Ancestral Spirit.
Minions/Late Game
1/10
Shaman has literally no cards for late game unfortunately.
Total Score: 19/30
Warlock
Name: Gul'dan
Unique Mechanics: The Warlock damages himself for the GREATER GOOD. Also he can transform into Lord Jarraximus setting him at 15 health, so it could be a heal or severe damage. Also the warlock is the only one out of 2 classes that has more than one Hero Power.
Hero Power: While Life Tap may seem like an unworthy trade to newcomers, the ability to gain card advantage is very strong in any CCG, making it one of the stronger hero powers in the game.
INFERNO! is the hero power granted to warlocks upon summoning Lord Jaraxxus.
Many newer players may find themselves initially turned off from the warlock as the class makes heavy use of "self-abuse" mechanics in order to gain card advantage and summon more creatures. This style of play is most evident in their hero power, which deals 2 damage to the player's own hero. Other warlock specific cards follow this trend, such as Soulfire, which requires the hero to discard a card to be put into play. Sacrificial Pact requires you to destroy a friendly minion as well.
Due to the warlock's "self-abuse" mechanics, a strategy involving Lord Jaraxxus can be used to heal your hero back to 15 hp when your health has dropped too low. This strategy is employed by many warlocks so your opponent may be expecting it. Although it is a powerful card that may turn the the tide of a game, it is best not to play Lord Jaraxxus too early in case your opponent has been hiding large amounts of burst damage in his hand.
The warlock's Life Tap is useful for gaining card count advantages without wasting spots in your deck with draw cards. Warlocks are considered a "late game" class with their life tap allowing them to draw cards to survive until expensive and powerful cards can be put into play or to create combos which can create strong monsters such as Void Terror. Although many cards inflict self-harm, other warlock cards can offset this by healing the warlock such as Drain Life and Sacrificial Pact. Molten Giants are very effective in warlock decks with their self-harming nature and can be played for little or no mana late into the game.
Warlocks are also able to play an early game rush down deck, utilizing low cost cards with penalties like Blood Imp, Flame Imp, Succubus, and even a mighty Pit Lord. Although risky against late game cards and AoE, especially in conjunction with heavy Life Tap usage, using this deck the warlock can finish a game very quickly with careful use of powerful buffs such as Power Overwhelming and Demonfire.
Ranking:
Mana Management/Early Game:
9/10
Blood Imp+Fire Imp+Void Walker = Most annoying cards ever. And Soulfire+Power Overwhelming allow you take out creatures as powerful as 10ish health in EARLY game.
Board Control/Mid Game:
4/10
Hellfire, Shadowflame, and Doomguard all are good cards for the mid game. But other than that nothing really...
Minions/Late Game
11/10
"TRIFLING GNOME! YOUR ARROGANCE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING!!!!"
Lord Jarraximus, Twisting Nether, Siphon Soul, Dread Inferno, 2 mana for 6/6 Inferno it's too much!! o.O
Total Score: 24/30
Warrior
Name: Garrosh Hellscream
Unique Mechanics: The Warrior utilities armor.
Hero Power: In contrast to health, armor can be stacked indefinitely. The Hero Power gives +2 Armor every time you use it.
The warrior in Hearthstone is best played as an aggressive mid-range (lacking many low-cost, weak monsters), combo, or control deck. Warrior cards and mechanics tend to favor attacking, and having creatures that can deal and take damage. The premier mechanic of the Warrior class is Enrage, which give an attack buff to a creature when it takes damage, like Grom Hellscream, and pseudo-enrages, like Gurubashi Berserker and Frothing Berserker. One effective combo strategy with this class is to combine the Charge mechanic with enrage in order to buff and attack to do substantial damage in a single turn. Warriors class ability gives him 2 armor per turn giving him a defensive option every turn.
Warriors have many cards that benefit from damaged minions such as Battle Rage, which allows you to draw a card for every damaged minion, and Armorsmith, which increases your armor anytime a minion is damaged. Along with these cards are many cards that cause or can cause damage to your own minions such as Whirlwind or Cruel Taskmaster.
Warriors have a large amounts of effective defensive cards along with their hero power which allows for a more controlling strategy where they can stall the game long enough to be able to freely play high cost and powerful cards that can win the game on their own. Additionally, the Warrior's many weapon cards and armor buffs allow the hero to kill the opponent's creatures himself while taking minimum damage, all while gaining card advantage and waiting for mana to play more expensive cards.
Ranking:
Mana Management/Early Game
4/10
Lack of direct damage is why the score is pretty low. But TONS of combos.
Board Control/Mid Game
6/10
Brawl and Weapons such as Gorehowl allow very decent board control. But nothing else really but your combos.
Minions/Late Game
6/10
Only one card useful in late game. And that is warrior's legendary essentially 10/9 with charge for 8 mana, crazy deal.
Well there you guys my ~Hearthstone Classes Guide~! I'll definitely improve it in the future if I get a Hearthstone beta key!!
Last edited by turtle328; Wed, 23rd-Oct-2013 at 9:40 AM.
I've just started playing Hearthstone yesterday! But I realized how many mistakes I've made. So I want you guys to judge what parts of my guide need the most work cause I don't even know where to start o.O
well, I think your Hunter topic is fairly correct (but I'm pretty new as well, may be wrong).
Since Hunter is such a lategame hero, I have to make sure that I have enough early game cards to defend very early attacking, but after that I feel a lot stronger and if I deflect early attacks am able to dictate late game play generally.
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Alternates being known as AurA and AxS.Kumo
After playing a lot of games of Hearthstone I am confident that Mage is 100% also a late game class. Mage's spells are just nasty coupled with Spell Power.
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