Hearthstone Preview: Shaman Minions and Strategy

by JR Cook - 11 years ago     show comments

In Tuesday’s Hearthstone Preview we touched upon the fact that the Shaman deck is not nearly as linear as the Warrior deck, and today we’ll really get into why. There are differences all over the place, but nowhere are they more apparent than in the minions. The Shaman minions feature spirit creatures, elementals and totems, each useful in their own fashion. The trick to the Shaman deck will be mixing them up based on your own personal gameplan for victory.

Totems

Shaman totems tend to function more as buffs than actual minions. There are seven in existence at present, and their effects range from something as simple as a two toughness totem with taunt to a downright nasty totem that reduces the cost of all your cards by one energy. While it might be tempting to run a bunch of different totems, consider this. The Shaman hero ability, Totemic Call, summons one totem at random from your deck. If you only run say, Mana Spring Totem, the card which reduces the energy cost of your others cards by one, you know that on turn two you could have access to it. Is it probably going to get destroyed? With one toughness, absolutely. It’s too good to be left alive. However, the strategy remains that running two of Mana Spring Totem and no other totems ensures that twice during the match you will have guaranteed access to a great energy source. This should drive home the fact that you’ll want to use diligence when deciding what totems make the cut.

Elementals

If I run a Shaman deck, it will absolutely be called ‘Less QQ, more pew pew’ just because of how many different lasers it has in the form of direct damage cards. That said, the biggest issue the deck is going to face is managing the balance between minions and spells. There are some great totems that could take up some of your precious deck space, and that doesn’t leave much room for the other minions. So, the question becomes, which ones do you include?

Dust Devil is a a great card to run if you’re looking to put out quick aggression against your opponent. The one energy minion comes out as a 3/1 with windfury and an overload cost of two. What that means is that, on turn two, Dust Devil will be able to attack twice per turn because of the windfury ability, assuming he does not get demolished. Given the one toughness, that’s a real possibility. The overload cost of two ensures that you won’t have any energy to use on turn two, so he’s a real gamble. If he does manage to survive for even a turn and deal six damage to your opponent, it’s worth it. If not, you’ll be looking at a quick deficit.

If you’re looking for a card to hold the line and deal a bunch of punishment while doing so, Earth Elemental is the minion for the job. This five energy beef cake comes into play with a whopping 7/8, taunt and an overload of three, so don’t plan on an eventful turn after putting him on the board. If Earth Elemental survives, expect to have great control over the board early on in the match. This guy’s just too much for most turn five minions to handle and, while he’s dominating, you should be able to fire off spells without fear of getting run over. It’s been mentioned before, but this guy is basically the poster child for Ancestral Spirit, the card which automatically resurrects a minion upon its death.

Strategy

If you enjoy a challenge, the Shaman deck is for you. You’ll be forced to make some tough calls right from the deck building stage. Is a cataclysmic barrage of spells your thing? Do you want to run something with a bit more investment in minions? How much are you willing to gamble on overload? Do you want to mess around with quick energy progression? These all need to be answered, long before the matches themselves. Upon actually getting to the fight, early turns are going to be critical.

Dust Devil is awesome if you feel like trying to press an early advantage, but as we mentioned before, should it go wrong, your second turn is non-existent and your opponent will have the chance to press their own advantage. It might be wiser to just invest in another safer turn one minion such as the widely available Leper Gnome, which, for one energy, deals two damage to the opposing hero upon dying along with negligible. Again, it’s all about how ballsy you’re willing to be.

Turns one through five will be all about reading the situation and executing correctly. If you have a set totem you want on turn two, Totemic Call and careful deck management can bring it out for you, but beware. If the totem’s too good, expect to eat some minion destruction. That said, if you have multiple totems in your deck and end up with a less stellar one, if might be possible to mind game your opponent into wasting a card on something like Healing Totem. Yes, it will heal friendly characters for one health per turn, but it’s hardly gamebreaking, and if you can sucker someone out a kill card, that’s an absolute victory. That’s a kill card that won’t be used on Earth Elemental later. Of course, it’s also possible that someone will just use a minion to destroy it, and that’s not great for you.

Careful use of the taunt mechanic can be advantageous with the Shaman deck, and some of the class cards reflect that. Stoneclaw Totem, Spirit Wolf, Feral Spirit, Earth Elemental and Ancestral Healing all feature taunt mechanics. Consider using some of these cards to build a barricade to hide behind while flinging spells and chipping away at your opponent. The choice is yours when it comes to dictating tempo. Just remember to commit to the tempo, regardless of which one of you choose. Don’t try to build something that steps on the gas hard and then tries to stall a bit. I mean, consider the deck’s hero Thrall. He was committed to being the Warchief, stalled out, and now look at his situation. Clearly, Blizzard has written the plotline of World of Warcraft just to support this argument.

Do you enjoy auto-attacking in raid and AFKing? If so, tune in next week as BlizzPro previews the Hunter, World of Warcraft’s longstanding punchline.