Hearthstone: Kel'Thuzad Heroic Guide for Priests

This post will mark the last guide regarding Hearthstone adventure mode Curse of Naxxramas as Kel'Thuzad is the very last boss of Frostwyrm Lair and thus Curse of Naxxramas. I really hope to see some more great adventures like this in the future of Hearthstone.

Kel'Thuzad is unique in that he is a two phase fight. In each phase Kel'Thuzad's hero power will change. On normal mode, Kel'Thuzad has 30 health but he also starts the fight with 10 armor. On first phase his hero power deals 2 damage to enemy hero and freezes it for 0 mana. On phase 2, his hero power will switch to taking control of a random enemy minion until the end of the turn for 8 mana. This newly mind controlled minion will be able to attack immediately. At the start of phase 2, Kel'Thuzad will also summon x2 3/3 Guardians with Taunt.

However on Heroic difficulty Kel'Thuzad has 45 health and 20 armor! His hero power deals 3 damage to enemy hero and freezes it for 0 mana on phase 1. On phase 2 he will PERMANENTLY take control of a random enemy minion for 8 mana. However, unlike on normal mode, these permanently mind controlled minions will attack one turn later. At the start of Phase 2, Kel'Thuzad will also summon x2 5/5 Guardians with Taunt! So yea, this does look pretty intimidating eh? Well with the Priest deck I am about to share with you, I defeated Kel'Thuzad on my very first try!

Phase 1

Phase 2

Kel'Thuzad will immediately switch phases when you wear down his armor. In this process he will end your turn even before you are able to do anything else, so if you are gonna play a minion, play that one first and then remove the armor. But if you take too long Kel'Thuzad will switch phases automatically by himself (some time after turn 10). The idea is to have a really good board presence before you end phase 1 so you will have a higher chance to exploit his hero power on his second phase by making him take control of weak token minions. You should also have a good board presence so you can deal with the freshly summoned 5/5 Guardians on phase 2. So if your board is weak and you have a chance to make him switch phases, don't do that just yet!

I used the usual gimmicky Priest deck I used for most Heroic Naxxramas bosses because Anduin really works great for almost all encounters. However I made some changes to the usual deck and I will talk about why I made those changes.

I am sure the first thing you realise will be the inclusion of Imp Master. Imp Master's purpose is crystal clear; to increase your chance of protecting a stronger minion from Kel'Thuzad's hero power on phase 2. If RNG is on your side Kel'Thuzad will use his 8 mana hero power to take control of a 1/1 token! In my case he took control of my Ragnaros but whatever, I still defeated him on my first attempt despite that "small" predicament which I could easily deal with by using Shadow Word Death. I included Temple Enforcer so he would give a greater buff to health so I could have stronger minions with Inner Fire and Divine Spirit combo.

Speaking of Ragnaros, I think Ragnaros is a great control minion for this encounter, which is why I included him. Kel'Thuzad will play some big minions like Spectral Knight so I thought he could be an asset and he really proved useful for me until he got mind controlled by KT's hero power. Especially at the start of phase 2 if your Ragnaros is trained like Amaz's, you might not even need to use some of your removals like Shadow Word Death or Holy Fire to deal with Guardians (which I don't recommend anyway). Because if you have Ragnaros alive on Phase 2, you should definitely have a Shadow Word Death ready just in case he gets stolen like mine did.

If you have a second Lightwell you should include that. You can replace Cabal Shadow Priest for your second Lightwell. I added Cabal Shadow Priest in case KT stole a token or my Imp Master so I'd be able to take it back but I actually never needed her. You can also replace one Temple Enforcer if you feel like it.

Mulligan: Lightwell, Northshire Cleric, Dark Cultist, Deathlord, Inner Fire! These cards are really useful for early game. Divine Spirit is also great so you can increase the longevity of such minions like Deathlord. In my case I drew Inner Fire towards turn 8 but I had my Deathlord up to about 18 Health so he actually never died in the entire fight. Lightwell is definitely the best card you can get in your starting hand though. 

Strategy: On phase 1, you try to take it as slow as possible and try to build up a very strong board by using Divine Spirit and Inner Fire on preferably Deathlords or Lightwells (don't take as long as turn 10-11 though...) and try not to use all your buffs on only one minion, otherwise if it gets stolen it will all be for nothing. Try to spread your buffs and create multiple strong minions. You will not use Imp Masters early game. You will only use them before you make KT switch phases so you will decrease his chance to mind control a strong minion. Try to keep your Deathlords alive as much as possible. Kel'Thuzad doesn't have any spells to deal direct damage to your hero except his hero power on first phase, so your priority is to keep those minions alive rather than healing yourself. Don't forget that as soon as you remove the armor, your turn will end automatically. So if you have minions to play or healing to be done, do all of them BEFORE you remove the armor.

On phase 2, always keep your Shadow Word Death in hand to deal with surprises; like if Kel'Thuzad steals your 16/16 Deathlord... I never used any removals on 5/5 Guardians of Icecrown, I handled them easily with the minions I already had and I suggest you do the same cause you never know; you might have x3 1/1 Imp tokens up and KT might steal your 10/10 Lightwell instead. You simply never know! Did I already tell you that he stole my Ragnaros when I had like 5 minions on my board? So, try not to resort to Shadow Word Death to handle with the Guardians. Holy Fire is a good spell to deal with one of them but always keep your Shadow Word Deaths.

Just like every single fight, Kel'Thuzad is also heavily relied on your RNG. Kel'Thuzad has hard removals like Twisting Nether. If you have a great board presence and KT happens to draw Twisting Nether, just concede as there is no point in trying to turn the game around cause you never will. KT will also use Blizzard but Blizzard is not as bad as Twisting Nether. In my case KT never used either of these spells so I only lost minions to his hero power.

If Kel'Thuzad doesn't draw his Twisting Nether (Blizzard won't prove very devastating as almost all your minions will be strong enough to stay alive), the chances of you losing this game are pretty slim. You must draw incredibly bad if you are to lose. 

This is another typical encounter for our typical gimmicky Priest deck, which is why I am not telling you what to do step by step as I am sure you already have a pretty good idea about what to do. You buff your minions and you build up a strong board, that is basically it. Then you hope Kel'Thuzad doesn't draw his Twisting Nether. If you look out for the things I said like using Imp Masters at the right time and not wasting Shadow Word Death on Guardians, you will be in a really good spot even if Kel'Thuzad steals one of your strong minions.

After you defeat Kel'Thuzad on Heroic mode, provided you also defeated all the other Curse of Naxxramas bosses on Heroic difficulty, enjoy your brand new stunning card back to show off to your opponents!