The challenge of facing the bosses in the Plague Quarter of Curse of Naxxramas has been a little light compared to the bosses in the Arachnid Quarter (unless you’re using a Zoolock deck). However, all of that changes when you encounter the heroic mode versions of Noth the Plaguebringer, Heigan the Unclean and Loatheb. These buffed up bosses cause most players to create a unique deck specifically for the challenges ahead.
If you haven’t already checked out the strategies to defeat the normal versions of Noth, Heigan and Loatheb, head over to those articles now. While the heroic mode bosses are considerably more difficult than their normal version counterparts, many of the same strategies still apply and will be referenced throughout this article.
Noth the Plaguebringer
The heroic mode version of Noth has 45 health points instead of 30. His hero power also changes from summoning a 1/1 Skeleton whenever one of your minions dies to summoning a 5/5 Skeleton. This drastically changes how you have to play this match, and the deck you need to be using. The best strategy is to use a late game deck that’s filled with heavy-hitting, high health minions and high-damage spell cards for direct damage to Noth.
You need the beefy minions in order to defend against the 5/5 Skeletons that will inevitably spawn as the match draws on. In addition, Noth has a board clear that destroys any minion that isn’t a Skeleton. In most cases you can assume that’s virtually every minion on your side of the battlefield. Don’t over-commit on any one turn to make sure you’re not crippled when Noth clears the board.
Heigan the Unclean
The heroic version of Heigan is more similar to the normal version than Noth was to his normal mode doppelganger. His health jumps to 45, but his hero power doesn’t change as drastically. Instead of costing one mana and dealing two damage to the left-most enemy minion, it now costs no mana and inflicts three damage. This means you can expect Heigan to use Eruption at the start of every single turn. Be ready for the minion on the far left to take three points of damage automatically.
You’ll have to deal with some decent taunt minions on Heigan’s side of the board, but Mindpocalypse will help speed things up by giving you cards and an extra Mana Crystal. However, the real threat here still remains Heigan’s hero power. If you’re going to win this battle, you need to position your minions accordingly. Make sure your more powerful minions with higher health are on the left and middle, while your weaker minions are on the right. If you don’t use proper positioning you’ll end up losing minions before they get a chance to attack, but there will almost certainly be situations in which you have no choice but to sacrifice a minion to Eruption.
Loatheb
As you may have guessed, Loatheb is the hardest of the heroic mode bosses. The normal version of Loatheb has 75 health, and the heroic version gets an even bigger boost starting with 99 health. In addition, his hero power no longer costs any mana, which means your hero will be taking three points of damage every single turn. It’s not a bad idea to have some healing cards available to keep yourself alive a bit longer, but that’s the least of your worries.
You cannot use Alexstrasza at all against Loatheb. If you do, Kel’Thuzad makes an appearance and destroys the minion before it can do anything. Your best bet in this match is to fill your deck with minions that utilize Charge or have quite a bit of health (at least four health, but seven or higher is ideal). You need to have minions that can take advantage of the Spore buff. You need to take out the Spores as soon as you can, but make sure you have minions ready to utilize the buff as soon as the Spores go down.
In short, this is the normal mode Loatheb fight, but your health is going to drop much faster, and Loatheb has considerably more health. While you can win the normal mode fight with luck, it’s extremely important to keep your minions alive as long as possible to get the most out of each Spore buff. Minions that summons companions (either as a Battlecry or Deathrattle) are very good against Loatheb because it gives you an extra minion to work with.
