by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Heroic Kel’Thuzad was actually not a tremendously difficult fight, once you became familiar with the mechanics. He starts with 45 Health, but immediately adds 20 Armor at the beginning of the encounter.

The encounter is split into two phases, based around one of either the removal of the entirety of Kel’Thuzad’s Armor, or a randomly triggered timer on or after turn eight. If you successfully remove all of his Armor, he will end your turn at that exact moment.

Upon entering the second phase, his available Hero Power will change, moving the fight from its initial DPS race flavour to a slightly more manageable pace. He does, however, spawn two Guardian of Icecrown minions when phase two begins.

Read below for Kel’Thuzad’s decklist, as well as images of his Hero Powers, then our recommendation for a successful deck and strategy to defeat him with!

Kel’Thuzad’s Hero Powers & Decklist

In the first phase, Kel’Thuzad has access to Frost Blast, which will allow him to deal three damage directly to your Hero at the start of every turn. This limits you to a clock of 10 or less turns to move him into the second phase, unless you have healing abilities.

For phase two, Kel’Thuzad has the ability to take control of one of your minions at random. This means that you want multiple minions on the board at all times, preferably of low value. He will not use this power consistently, as he will generally prefer playing his own cards over using this weaker ability.

Knowing what Kel’Thuzad has to throw at you better equips you to play around it. This is his complete decklist:

2x Frost Shock
2x Zombie Chow
2x Frostbolt
2x Acolyte of Pain
2x Dark Cultist
2x Shade of Naxxramas
2x Shadow Bolt
2x Skeletal Smith
1x Stoneskin Gargoyle
1x Cone of Cold
1x Shadow Madness
2x Abomination
2x Sludge Belcher
2x Spectral Knight
1x Blizzard
2x Frost Elemental
2x Twisting Nether

Winning Deck & Strategy

Our recommendation for a deck to defeat this encounter is one that uses multiple low cost minions, like a Zoo Warlock deck. BlizzPro staffers successfully bested this fight with many other classes, including Paladin and Priest, but some of those decks require more expensive/rarer cards. Here is an example of a Zoo deck using exclusively common and rare cards, including a few you’ll have picked up during Naxxramas itself.

Your objective is to build a snowballing board presence quickly in the first few turns, ideally dealing the 20 Armor damage in four to five turns. Mulligan aggressively for tempo-positive minions, like Flame Imp, Undertaker with Zombie Chow, Abusive Sergeant, and Knife Juggler. If you lose your early minions to Kel’Thuzad’s Frost Shocks or Frosbolts, you may find that particular attempt unsuccessful. Generally, though, this strategy is repeatable, and you should get the kill in a few ‘pulls’!

Tips for a successful engagement:

– Don’t empty your hand on to the board on turns seven and beyond, in case Kel’Thuzad draws into one of his Twisting Nether cards.
– Take advantage of when he plays Zombie Chow as an opportunity to heal up, especially if you want room to use Life Tap!
– Make sure to keep your health at whatever his board presence damage plus about seven is – so, if he has a Sludge Belcher up, you want at least 11 health. This keeps you out of lethal range if he has his Frostbolts in hand – and rest assured, he doesn’t miss lethal.

Did a different decklist work better for you? Share your thoughts with us in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our complete index of Heroic Naxxramas strategies for tips and tricks on all of the encounters as we share them.

Note: Kel’Thuzad is one of the three encounters in Naxxramas on which use of Alexstrasza is disabled.