by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Of all of the Heroics in Naxxramas, Thaddius may have been the most enjoyable to solve. What starts out looking like an impossible encounter – Thaddius himself at 45 health, plus both Feugen and Stalagg on the board – is actually a very entertaining fight!

Thaddius opens every turn with his hero power, which is one of the core mechanics of the battle to be aware of. His ability to immediately deal 11 damage to you is absolutely significant – every decklist that successfully overcame this challenge required early removal tools to stay in the game.

One of the nice things about this encounter is that almost every class works. Warlock, Druid, and Priest are the strongest, with Hunter, Mage, Paladin, and Warrior coming in slightly behind them. We don’t recommend Shaman or Rogue.

Read on for what to expect in his decklist, Thaddius’ Hero Power information, and some strategic tips and tricks to ensure you positively succeed at completing the Heroic Construct Quarter.

Thaddius’ Hero Power & Decklist

Identical to its normal mode counterpart, Thaddius continues to use Polarity Shift in exactly the same manner as he did previously – automatically at the beginning of each turn and at no cost, he will swap the Attack and Health values of all minions on the board.

The Heroic decklist is also identical to the normal encounter – Thaddius just starts with Feugen and Stalagg on the board, as mentioned above. Other than his unnaturally large collection of Sludge Belchers, Thaddius has a fairly realistic, Shaman-esque decklist:

2x Forked Lightning
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Zombie Chow
2x Haunted Creeper
2x Nerubian Egg
2x Acidic Swamp Ooze
2x Supercharge
2x Dark Cultist
2x Lightning Storm
2x Shade of Naxxramas
2x Stoneskin Gargoyle
2x Unbound Elemental
4x Sludge Belcher
2x Spectral Knight

Winning Strategy

This might be the only fight in Heroic mode that doesn’t truthfully require a complete decklist. As a fight, it is predictable, enjoyable, and lots of classes work! A couple of suggestions might include:

– Murloc Warlock! Build a Murloc deck with the full selection of Murlocs, plus 1-2 Big Game Hunters, Soulfires, Shadow Bolts, and a couple of Stormwind Champions. Mulligan aggressively for your spells and Big Game Hunter as ways to remove the starting minions, and watch as your Murlocs grow out of control every turn (as the buffs are ‘auras’, and re-applied every time Thaddius uses Polarity Shift!). You can also use Corruption and Soulfire turn one for the best removal pairing available against this encounter.

– Druid, prioritizing removal. Use Naturalizes, Big Game Hunters, Swipes, Starfall, even Poison Seeds – just keep nuking his minions from orbit. You can play your own Stalagg and Feugen (which you have to have, for having beaten him on normal), and yours will both summon Thaddius (the ones that start on the board don’t have the Deathrattles). Good cards to include beyond those are things like Nerubian Eggs, Spectral Knights, Sunwalkers, and all of the high-value standard Druid cards.

– Priest works similarly to Druid, but using Shadow Word: Death as your primary removal spell. The ability to heal can also be very nice.

– Freeze Mage works, too. You can use Alexstrasza on this fight, so stalling until you can finish Thaddius with Pyroblasts and Fireballs is a legitimate option. This is frankly not the easiest method, though, given the above options.

Did something peculiar or unique work for you on this fight? If so, hit us with it in the comments! If you need help with another boss, visit our complete index of Heroic Naxxramas strategies to learn what works on each of the 15 bosses as we unveil our ideal solutions to each.