Hero / Character Classes

As you begin your new game one of the elements that you must declare is the type of character you are playing - or your Hero Type - which comes in the following nine types.

To keep this educational and informative as we played the game for review and learning purposes one of the things that we did was engage other players in conversation asking for suggestions for sample decks for each of the classes - explaining that we were writing a basic guide for the game.

We include the sample decks that we were sent - and suggest that you study the makeup of each deck as well as the deck that belongs to your preferred class - because each deck actually teaches you a lot about the class and both its strengths and its weaknesses.

These are the types of decks you can expect to come up against when you play Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft!

Druid: A Warrior/Priest with animistic leanings, whose idea of a good battle involves sacrifices on both sides of the field.

x2 Acidic Swamp Ooze

x2 Claw

x2 Dragonling Mechanic

x2 Gnomish Inventor

x2 Goldshire Footman

x2 Healing Touch

x2 Ironfur Grizzly

x2 Lord of the Arena

x2 Mark of the Wild

x2 Murloc Tidehunter

x2 Novice Engineer

x2 Raid Leader

x2 Shattered Sun Cleric

x2 Stormpike Commando

x2 Stormwind Champion

Hunter: A minion-centric and minion-focused class, the Hunter is very good at taking low-end minions that other classes might consider inferior or a joke and transforming them in to large groups of nearly instant death. Don't discount what looks like a pack of vermin, because under the hands of the Hunter that vermin pack may be the death of you!

Sample Hunter Deck

x2 Animal Companion

x2 Bloodfen Raptor

x2 Core Hound

x2 Dire Wolf Alpha

x2 Houndmaster

x2 Ironfur Grizzly

x2 Kill Command

x2 Raid Leader

x2 Silverback Patriarch

x2 Starving Buzzard

x2 Stonetusk Boar

x2 Stormwind Champion

x2 Timberwolf

x2 Tracking

x2 Tundra Rhino

Mage: The Hero that is used to introduce the player to the game in the tutorial is a Mage, and that might explain why it is among the most popular classes... Or it could be the wicked nasty spells that the Mage can unleash? Either way the Mage is the primary magic-using hero in the game and a force to be reckoned with and feared.

Sample Mage Deck

x1 Arcane Explosion

x2 Arcane Intellect

x1 Arcane Missiles

x1 Azure Drake

x1 Blizzard

x1 Counterspell

x2 Fireball

x2 Flamestrike

x2 Frostbolt

x1 Frost Elemental

x1 Gadgetzan Auctioneer

x1 Ice Barrier

x1 Ice Lance

x1 Kirin Tor Mage

x1 Mana Addict

x1 Mana Wraith

x1 Mana Wyrm

x1 Mirror Entity

x1 Mirror Image

x2 Polymorph

x1 Ragnaros the Firelord

x1 Sorcerer’s Apprentice

x1 Vaporize

x2 Water Elemental

Paladin: The Warrior-Priest with a touch of passive magic, the Paladin relies upon its minions and luck for the most part, their specialty being defensive strategies and attrition. The most common victory for this Hero often comes close to being a Pyrrhic one, but in the right hands the Paladin is a truly fearsome opponent.

Sample Paladin Deck

x2 Blessing of Kings

x2 Blessing of Might

x2 Consecration

x2 Darkscale Healer

x2 Frostwolf Grunt

x2 Goldshier Footman

x2 Guardian of Kings

x2 Hammer of Wrath

x2 Hand of Protection

x2 Holy Light

x2 Ironfur Grizzly

x2 Novice Engineer

x2 Shattered Sun Cleric

x2 Stormwind Champion

x2 Truesilver Champion

Priest: Another Hero who is closely patterned after its Warcraft version, the Priest is a warrior and healing mage who specializes in dishing out the damage, marshaling minions - and keeping them healthy and in the field for longer periods of time than the other classes.

Sample Priest Deck

x1 Acidic Swamp Ooze

x2 Boulderfist Ogre

x2 Chillwind Yeti

x2 Darkscale Healer

x1 Divine Spirit

x1 Gnomish Inventor

x1 Gurubashi Berserker

x2 Holy Nova

x2 Holy Smite

x2 Ironfur Grizzly

x1 Mind Control

x2 Northshire Cleric

x2 Power Word: Shield

x2 River Crocolisk

x1 Shadow Word: Death

x2 Shadow Word: Pain

x2 Shattered Sun Cleric

x1 Stormwind Champion

x1 Voodoo Doctor

Rogue: The Thief Class in the game, this Hero is the only one with access to the powerful Combo keyword - and in the right hands with a player who knows just how to leverage that, they can be a real spanker of a damage dealer! The specialty of the Rogue is to maximize the functionality of low-end weapons of all types as well as low-end minions, causing them to give their all in defense of their liege lord.

Sample Rogue Deck

x2 Assassination

x2 Backstab

x2 Darkscale Healer

x2 Deadly Poison

x2 Fan of Blades

x2 Geomancer Kobold

x2 Hidden Blade

x2 Ogre Magi

x2 Rayorfen Hunter

x2 Sap

x2 Sen'jinu Shieldmasta

x2 Shattered Sun Cleric

x2 Sprint

x2 Stormwind Champion

x2 Voodoo Doctor

Shaman: This magic-wielding Hero relies on Totems and the symbolic side of magery as its core weapons, delivering devastating nature-based spells and good physical damage rates from its summoned minions.

Sample Shaman Deck

x2 Ancestral Healing

x2 Bloodlust

x2 Fire Elemental

x2 Flametongue Totem

x2 Frost Shock

x2 Frostwolf Grunt

x2 Gnomish Inventor

x2 Hex

x2 Novice Engineer

x2 Raid Leader

x2 Razorfen Hunter

x2 Rockbiter Weapon

x2 Sen'jin Shieldmasta

x2 Stormwind Champion

x2 Windfury

Warlock: The true strength of the Warlock class is not their magery abilities - other heroes can do that - and it is not their control over minions - other heroes do that too and most even better. No, the true strength of the Warlock is a combination of unpredictability and a willingness to exchange life force for power - and when they do it at just the right and pivotal moment, you will quickly learn why they are one of the most despised classes in the world of Warcraft.

Sample Warlock Deck

x2 Blood Imp

x2 Demonfire

x2 Doomguard

x2 Drain Life

x2 Felguard

x2 Flame Imp

x2 Hellfire

x2 Mortal Coil

x2 Power Overwhelming

x2 Shadow Bolt

x2 Shadowflame

x2 Soul Fire

x2 Succubus

x2 Voidwalker

x2 Void Terror

Warrior: The Hero that gives the game its name - slayer of Orcs across multiple realms - a leader of men and minions, this heavily armored, heavily armed fighter gives as well as it takes but more often than not is on the giving end when it comes time to battle. While this is not the hero for everyone, when the Warrior is being directed by a player who knows their business look out! Because the Warrior is in the Death Business, and Business is Good!

Sample Warrior Deck

x2 Arcanite Reaper

x2 Boulderfist Ogre

x2 Chillwind Yeti

x2 Cleave

x2 Execute

x2 Fiery War Axe

x2 Gnomish Inventor

x2 Gurubashi Berserker

x2 Heroic Strike

x2 Kor'kron Elite

x2 Rampage

x2 Sen'jin Shieldmasta

x2 Shield Block

x2 Slam

x2 Windfury Harpy

First Decks and Basic Strategies

The process of creating your first deck will be a challenging task for the new player - particularly when you don't know all of the classes or which one you prefer. Another aspect of the process is effected by the need to make do with basic cards since you do not have the luxury of a wide collection of cards or the money (Dust) to create them.

While your deck - any deck - will contain cards specific to your class, they will also contain a larger percentage of Neutral Cards - which is good for you because that describes the bulk of the basic cards! You'll want the bulk of your spread to be spent in 1 and 2 mana cards, with a few 3's and 4's thrown in.

Even if you want to spend serious money making more advanced cards available early in the process, our advice is against it - for not only will using the more basic cards teach you far more than putting up expensive cards it will help you to learn the various relationships between the cards and the different combinations you can manage with them.

Take the time to play the early matches with basic cards - trying the different classes - the result will be the gain of knowledge in massive amounts.