Blizzard plans to continue rolling out the Curse of Naxxramas expansion over the next four weeks. If you play the new solo adventure during the first month it’s available, you get the first wing free (saving you $6.99 or 700 gold). However, just playing the expansion isn’t enough. There are plenty of cards up for grabs and we know you want those cards. To help out, we played through the first wing to bring you a few tips to help you along the way.
It should be noted that the Zoolock deck for Warlock is very good against all three first wing bosses, but not everyone has access to that deck or even wants to play through it as a Warlock. If you can defeat Anub’Rekhan, you will earn two Haunted Creeper cards. It’s a 1/2 beast (spider) with a Deathrattle that summons two 1/1 spiders (that are not considered beasts).
Anub’Rekhan’s hero power summons a 3/1 Nerubian. This means it can probably trade with most of your early game minions. Keep this in mind when you’re building a deck for this match. Mages and Rogues can counter this with their own hero powers, although Rogues will take some damage for their efforts. Shamans can summon totems to deal with them as well, but the totem is random, which means you may not get one that can deal with the Nerubian properly.
You also need to watch out for Anub’Rekhan’s Nerub’ar Weblord minion. It’s a two-mana card that makes all minions with Battlecry cost two additional mana. While this isn’t a big issue once you get to the mid-game, it can be trouble early on. If your deck uses a lot of low-mana Battlecry cards, you may want to look into changing things up a bit.
For the most part, Anub’Rekhan tries to gain board control early on, then hold on to it as long as possible in an effort to finish you off. Mage and Rogue spells work well to help you keep up during the first few turns. You can certainly perform well with other classes, but it can be more difficult depending on your draw order. Just make sure you have cards that can deal with Anub’Rekhan’s hero power and avoid Battlecry cards if you can.
Once you get through the first few turns, you don’t have much to worry about when it comes to Anub’Rekhan. It doesn’t have a significant end game strategy. As long as you have a few cards that can deal with Abomination (4/4 taunt with a Deathrattle that deals two damage to all characters) and Deathlord (2/8 taunt with a Deathrattle that forces you to play a random minion from your deck), there’s nothing of considerable note in Anub’Rekhan’s end game deck.
Your biggest concern throughout the entire battle against Anub’Rekhan will probably be the Shade of Naxxramas card. It’s a 2/2 card with Stealth, which gains 1/1 at the start of Anub’Rekhan’s turn. If you don’t have any area attacks that will hit all enemy minions, this can be a tough card to deal with. Luckily, Anub’Rekhan almost always attacks with the card after one or two turns, so it’s rare to see it at anything higher than 4/4 before it can be attacked individually. Still, if you have a means to clear out this card when it’s played, do so.
As you approach end game against Anub’Rekhan, play your high health taunt cards. Anub’Rekhan has limited resources to dispose of these taunt cards and will be at your mercy. Even with normal high-mana cards, you should be able to have your way with Anub’Rekhan. Essentially, if Anub’Rekhan doesn’t take control of the game before turn five or six, you have a significant advantage.
