Once you’ve cleared the normal mode versions of Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester and The Four Horsemen, you can move on to the Shaman and Warlock class challenges, or take on the heroic mode versions of each boss. It’s important to note that most believe the three Military Quarter bosses are more difficult than most of the bosses in the Arachnid and Plague Quarters. That holds true for the heroic versions of these bosses, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be defeated with a few adjustments to your deck of choice.
When fighting the heroic mode bosses, there are a few things you need to remember. Most heroic mode bosses have more health than their normal mode counterparts. In addition, their hero powers are buffed in some way and they usually have a more powerful deck or more powerful versions of individual cards to play. It’s a good idea to be versed on the normal mode versions of Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester and The Four Horsemen before you head into the heroic mode battles.
Instructor Razuvious
The heroic version of Instructor Razuvious has 55 health compared to the 40 health of the normal version. In addition, his hero power now inflicts four damage instead of three, and only costs one mana. Because of this, you should expect Razuvious to use his hero power almost every turn.
While the increased health and buffed hero power are significant, the real concern in this battle is the Massive Runeblade. The weapon costs three mana, so expect to see it as early as turn two (with Coin). The weapon inflicts 10 damage to a minion and 20 damage to your hero, so it’s extremely important to do everything you can to avoid taking damage directly to your hero. Just between the Massive Runeblade, and Razuvious’ hero power, he can inflict 24 damage to your hero in a single turn.
Razuvious has four Massive Runeblade cards in his deck, which means you need a large number of taunt cards to make sure you have one in play whenever Razuvious equips the weapon. At the beginning of the battle, use the Mind Control Crystal card (it’s always the first draw) to take control of the two Understudy minions that Razuvious starts the match with. If you happen to have another taunt card ready to lay down, go ahead and use that instead, then pull the Understudy minions once that taunt is destroyed.
Priest is the preferred class to take on heroic Razuvious simply due to the Mind Vision and Thoughtsteal spells that can potentially give you a Massive Runeblade to use against Razuvious. If you’re not big on Priest, make sure you have Acidic Swamp Ooze, Harrison Jones or the Bloodsail Corsair to deal with the Massive Runeblade when it appears. Even with these cards, Razuvious can still get at least one attack off with the Massive Runeblade, so it’s imperative to have a taunt minion already in play. Keep in mind Razuvious has Brawl cards and The Black Knight for turns five and six respectively. Be ready with more taunt cards should Razuvious use these.
Gothik the Harvester
There’s nothing really special that sets the heroic mode battle apart from the normal battle against Gothik the Harvester. He has 45 health instead of 30 and better cards in his deck, but not quite as many of the Unrelenting minions, which means you won’t have to deal with the various Spectral minions on your side of the board quite as much. They are still a pain, and you will still need to have ways to clear them, but they aren’t as much of a concern in heroic mode as they were in normal mode.
Gothik has plenty of Abomination taunt minions to play, but you need to be ready to deal with an Undertaker as soon as it appears. It’s not uncommon to see Gothik cover Undertaker with one of his taunt cards, so direct damage is best here. Gothik has plenty of Deathrattle cards, and every single one will buff the Undertaker. If you allow it to live too long, it could cause you serious problems.
To summarize, you need a decent amount of direct damage, as well as ways to deal with the Spectral ghosts. This can either be buffing them so you can trade with Gothik’s minions, using cards that will place them in your hand where they can do no harm or using something along the lines of a Freeze Mage deck to slow down the Unrelenting minions to avoid the Spectral ghosts for as long as possible.
The Four Horsemen
The battle against the Four Horsemen in heroic mode is basically going to be the same strategy you used for the normal battle. Baron Rivendare now has 14 health instead of only seven, but you still need to destroy or disable the three Horsemen minions before you can attack Rivendare. In addition, the Runeblade now gets an attack buff of +6 once all three Horsemen minions are destroyed.
To deal with the Runeblade threat, you want to have as many Silence cards in your deck as possible (Ironbeak Owl, Silence, etc.). Alternatively, you can use cards that destroy weapons, such as Acidic Swamp Ooze, Harrison Jones or the Bloodsail Corsair. Rivendare also uses a lot of spell cards (he doesn’t have any normal minions aside from the Horsemen), so Loatheb is a great card for this battle and you are guaranteed to have it by this point in Naxxramas. Deathlord is another great card for this battle, which you’re also guaranteed to have at this point.
