Normally I pick the class randomly in arena but I'm thinking of removing shaman from my list, despite doing well with it occasionally.
The reason is that unless you get lightning storm there are way too many situations where you can't get out of trouble. And since lightning storm is a rare (unlike swipe, consecration, holy nova, flamestrike, etc) you are in no way guaranteed to get it.
Personally I think it should be a class card its no more powerful than the other AOE I listed and its just as vital to the class function.
I disagree lightning storm with its cost to effectiveness ratio especially with a wrath of air totem makes it one of the best aoe board wipes out there. Sure you pay for it the next turn but you should be able to maintain that board control. Shamans have some of the best clear/control in the game. Hex, lightning bolt, lightning storm, fire elemental and earth shock are amazing board control and most of these are common.
Also I have run good runs on shaman without lightning storm it is just a fantastic edition on top of everything else.
EDIT: Also, the amount of people who coin to kill a Leper Gnome with their hero ability on T1 seems too damn high.
If you have 2 drop in hand that your planning on and nothing in hand that look's like a better option for coin there are cases where that seems reasonable. Every once and awhile I'll hold onto the coin too long and never actually have a need to play it if all your cards fall on the mana curve.
The alternative is waiting and hero power on turn 2 - now you have to deal with there turn 2 drop OR coining out your 2 drop early, and letting him trade up against your knife juggler/faerie dragon
Eh, the way i see it, if you dont kill it turn one or at least block it, its going to do a minimum of 4 damage to you before it dies later. thats a nice chunk for investment of a coin if you dont have anything else in your hand worth using it. I tend to play a patient game, but its still probably good to only take 2 from a gnome if you can help it.
Well first arena run went 2/3 stopped by a string of mages. Who seem to do literally everything in way less cards and with more impact than my rogue does.
Well first arena run went 2/3 stopped by a string of mages. Who seem to do literally everything in way less cards and with more impact than my rogue does.
Fun.
It sucks to lose in Arena, but 2/3 is actually pretty average. Not bad for your first run!
Get anything interesting in the pack? That's possibly my favorite part.
Well, I just finished what I thought was a pretty good draft of a priest for me...went 1-3. Pack gave me a fuckin' shieldbearer. But at least it gave me my second defias.
M A G I K A Z A M
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38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Rogue is a good arena class, but weak against mages, because they have lots of aoe board clears and you have none.
Druid is also a good arena class, by my last run of that was also 2-3. It happens sometimes.
Doesn't help when you keep getting matched up against people with awesome legendaries like Tirion, or ysera, ,or Baron Gedddon AND ragnaros, etc.
I had a run yesterday that ended 3-3 with an interesting priest deck that had two shadow madnesses, pretty excellent midgame and significant lategame, including an MC.
I lost a game to a rogue who was awful and despite having good board control cards and a much better board control class was slowly losing the board to me. Then on turn 8, he dropped Rags. Two turns later, I had just about maneuvered things to handle rags with other creatures, and he drops Ysera.
Ugh.
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
My arena prio goes Mage > Warlock > Paladin > Druid. Best of the rest is Shaman > Priest > Rogue > Hunter > Warrior (hypothetically, as I don't think I've ever picked the last three in Arena). Incidentally that's roughly how I'd rate their hero powers, though warlock/mage are switched, and paladin is way higher than he would be otherwise (around 6th).
I feel like if you stay away from hunter and warrior you'll mostly do pretty well.
Priest can be good if they get the right class cards, or terrible if they don't. Their hero power can't affect the board state either, so that can come back to bite you. I used to do well with them, then had like 3-5 disastrous drafts in a row with them, and now I avoid them like the plague.
Warlock can be unexpectedly great because he can just card draw his way to victory. If you are playing two yetis a turn and your opponent is playing one, you'll win.
I like Mage, Rogue, and Shaman because those classes have hard removal. And people like to pick big creatures in arena.
Paladin and druid aren't bad but you can start to struggle if your opponent throws out multiple legendaries.
Rogue is on my 'never pick' list. I think I don't know how to draft it.
A lot of what class I pick depends on how I'm feeling at the time, but I think pally, druid, and mage are probably the best arena classes. Warlock is actually probably my best arena class, but that's a lot of knowing the class very well because I've played so much of it, both constructed and arena. Drafting warlock is really interesting because you need to decide as quickly as possible whether you want to midrange-aggro or midrange-control. Very few arena decks are really committed to a style, but knowing whether you're drawing cards to control things or drawing cards to pump damage into the other guy affects so much of warlock play that I do think you have to commit fifteen cards into a draft.
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
8-3 Warrior! I just Arena whatever I have a 5-win quest for. Any class with a decent draft can hit 5 just on solid neutrals. Toss in some lucky epic drafts and you're set. It's fun to play around with different classes and try to see how they work, without having to put in the work to make an actual constructed deck (with cards I mostly do not have.)
Maybe I've just been fortunate to do well with rogue. Rogues weakness is no AOE clear (you can't count on drawing blade flurry and even if you can, it's pretty inefficient). Paladin and Druid are good classes, with powerful late game cards and aoe clears. They can struggle against powerful legendaries though.
I think the best rogue in arena is a tempo rogue. I actually rate saps pretty highly. If your opponent spends his whole turn putting out tirion, and you sap it, then he puts it out again, then you sap it again, you probably win. Of course, sap is a straight card disadvantage so use it sparingly. The rogue hero power is very useful and efficient early game, particularly when combined with deadly poison. I feel it is arguably actually the best hero power early game: 2 mana, deal 2 damage. A mage would have to spend 4 mana to do that. Same for a druid. You can wipe two paladin minions with one hero power. With deadly poison it's essentially a fiery war axe. I used to rate assassin's blade highly but my aggressive use of the hero power early game tends to leave me too low on health to take advantage of the 4 attacks with assassin's blade. The novice engineer going to 1-1 made the rogue hero power even better, IMO. It pretty much straight up counters not one but two novice engineers. One use will kill an argent squire, unlike for the mage or druid hero power. And so on.
Since it's hard for you to come back from a losing board position (no aoe clears) I try to focus more on early game cards. The rogue class cards lend themselves pretty well to this. Stay away from kidnapper, that card is garbage. Eviscerates and assassinates are always good.
The other nice thing about the rogue is how unpredictable it is. It can be really hard to guess how much damage a rogue can do to you in the next turn. He can do 4 damage to your face for 2 mana or bump up a minions attack by 4 for 1 mana.
If you have 10 health and a paladin has 6 mana, well, you're probably safe. Rogue can easily blow through that.
Spellpowered backstabs can be amazingly effective in fighting for board control, particularly with your hero power. Not uncommon example: Opponent 5 drops a drake. you drop a drake, backstab his drake for 3, then kill it off with your left over dagger charge.
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
Uh. You probably don't play a Loot Hoarder into an Amani, cuz that turns the Amani into a 5/1 next turn. Though I guess you could heal it with the Farseer to turn it back into a 2/3.
I would say, in general yes. Tempo remains critical in the game. Loot Hoarder, in particular, slows down your opponent a little bit without sacrificing your card advantage. Ideally, Loot Hoarder trades for a 3/2 AND draws you a card, but hey, you can't hold onto it forever waiting for that.
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
I would never play loot hoarder in the position you describe, but I think it being amani instead of crocolisk affects my decision. you have no further removal; playing the loot hoarder actually /improves/ the berserker.
Honestly, that's an awful spot. I would probably pass the turn without toteming. Every totem but the 1/1 the amani kills for free; the 1/1 enrages him. He'll hit your face instead of the totem, but the farseer can heal that up.
I think whether to play loot hoarder really depends on how they'd take it out.
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
Uh. You probably don't play a Loot Hoarder into an Amani, cuz that turns the Amani into a 5/1 next turn. Though I guess you could heal it with the Farseer to turn it back into a 2/3.
I would say, in general yes. Tempo remains critical in the game. Loot Hoarder, in particular, slows down your opponent a little bit without sacrificing your card advantage. Ideally, Loot Hoarder trades for a 3/2 AND draws you a card, but hey, you can't hold onto it forever waiting for that.
On review, this is obviously the best play.
EDIT: also, how highly I value a card draw in a situation depends critically on what else is in my deck. Do I have three copies of an AoE that will solve all my problems (he coined out the berserker, so another 2drop is coming)? Then I value card draw more highly.
Invictus on
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
If I have no other play, certainly.
A lot of people will go for the loot hoarder even if they maybe shouldn't.
I particularly like putting it my turn 2 going second. Then sometimes they spend their turn 3 killing it 'for free' with their hero power instead of developing their board.
If you DON'T play the loot hoarder because you are scared they will kill it for free, then you run the risk of them using that mana to put out another 2 drop - and your position has deteriorated.
If you spend 2 mana and a card and put out a loot hoarder, and the spend 2 mana to kill the loot hoarder and give you a card, it's a complete wash all around.
You will have to compare that scenario to what happens if you don't play the loot hoarder and just pass.
strategy question: do you always play loot hoarder even if opponent can remove it for "free" if you have no other 2 cost card to play (and your hero ability is useless/negligible that turn)?
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
I'm a big fan of Totem in this situation. Loot Hoarder gives you a card at best but you lose a valuable source of damage later. Against classes without pings, I think you can get a lot of value later on. If you get Searing, he kills it, you Earthen Ring, board is fine. If you get Taunt, you Earthen Ring, board is fine. Wrath of Air is always good and is kind of soft taunty. Healing totem would be a crappy pull but he's unlikely to kill it and it's another body for your Flametongue totem/Bloodlust.
Totem, Earthen Ring, Flametongue feels like it matches his plays. Totems are great, especially if you're running Bloodlust.
Edit: Kind of not what you were asking, but if their way to remove loot hoarder is to waste their turn on their Hero Power, I'd absolutely play Loot Hoarder (basically what Vorpal said).
In that specific situation with knowledge of the opponent's cards I wonder if loot hoarder would be better than totem because it at least will let you dig for a forked lightning or something to deal with the ssc->berserker->farseer situation that's coming
I dont quite get why people think the warlock hero power is super great. Yes, the effect is powerful. But 2 mana and 2 health? Not to mention blood imps taking 3 health per summon, you easily could take yourself down a third of your life by turn 4 and thats not really playing any cards other then the imps, so your opponent could be ticking away at you during that time.
If your running giants, okay thats an advantage, but the lock doesnt have a ton of self-healing going on to recover.
You know, one of my favorite things in the game has got to be using something like mind vision as a priest, and getting the enemy's weapon. There's nothing quite like your opponent thinking they're gaining ground, and then you pull out an arcanite reaper.
How is your opponent ticking away at you if you have multiple 3/2s on the table? Life, like mana crystals and cards, is a resource and being able to exchange between them is powerful. It's pretty much the same reasoning why weapons are also really good.
I honestly don't get mages. They always seem to have so much shit on the field while still having a hand overflowing with all kinds of stupid spells. Easily the most obnoxious class.
"If a cherry pie filled cape is wrong, I don't want to be right.
I'm dead serious."
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TannerMS "I'm confidence cause I'm zerg!"Registered Userregular
I dont quite get why people think the warlock hero power is super great. Yes, the effect is powerful. But 2 mana and 2 health? Not to mention blood imps taking 3 health per summon, you easily could take yourself down a third of your life by turn 4 and thats not really playing any cards other then the imps, so your opponent could be ticking away at you during that time.
If your running giants, okay thats an advantage, but the lock doesnt have a ton of self-healing going on to recover.
No one is running Flame Imps AND Life Tapping on turns 2, 3, and 4. These two plays are made by completely different styles of deck. Controlock doesn't even run Flame Imp and faster decks have 2 and 3 drops that they'll be playing instead of life tapping.
It's very difficult to take board control away in Hearthstone and it's very difficult to tick away at someone who has board control. Card advantage makes you more resilient against the kind of plays that could lose you board control.
The current Arena meta is more balanced now, although, the Hunter class still struggles greatly when given too few beasts to draft.
Paladin moves back to the top after Mage Pyroblast took a hit.
Rogue has shown the ability to play well against control heavy decks due to its low cost cards and ability to rush well.
Priest falls to Tier 2 and has seen a decline in play since the Mind Control was downgraded.
Both Paladin and Mage have been two of the most consistently played classes since closed beta began, and for good reason. They are simply a notch above most of the other classes.
Druid makes the jump from Tier 3 to 2. The class’ ability to win still hinges on drafting a decent number of class cards, namely important ones like Swipe.
Ultimately, any of the classes can get 12 wins regardless of tier. However, if you follow this tier guide and choose the better class for the current meta you will have more consistent results.
This information is based on my personal experience from playing, watching good streamers, and reading comments from the top players on the Hearthstone forums. If you find yourself unable to figure out which hero to choose at the beginning of Arena, then you may want to consider the tier list above. You can’t go wrong with choosing a Tier 1 class. You will likely win at least 6 games if you know what you are doing and don’t get completely trashed on your draft choices.
Tier 2 and 3 now have just as much ability to get to 12 wins (except for Hunter) as Tier 1, but these decks are hit or miss during draft and it may require a skilled player to be able to reach 12 wins. All 3 have the ability to be a very powerful class when given a decent draft. When you don’t get those cards it’s usually bad news, but that can be said about many of the classes. Hunter is odd man out right now. The class needs an adjustment.
I'm not sure I agree with his hunter remarks, as the ones I've seen have all done really well against me and have been most of my losses lately. Also, Warrior can be good, but you really need to get a couple axes and get one in your hand early. I also wonder why warlock is so low on the board, I figure he'd be perfect for arena. I agree with Paladin Mage Rogue being tops though. Although I don't quite understand building a good rogue deck. I'm never sure if I want more low cost minions to hit combos, or just draft normal and take the big minions when they're that good.
My Shaman deck is presently named "answers" because there are just so many ways to clear a board.
Opponent double yetis on turn 8.
Totem call, Bloodmage, Ancient Mage, Forked Lightning
I only have a single Lightning Storm and don't have any lava bursts, and I still find ways to wipe. Pyromancer, Mind Control Tech, Spirit Wolves - fantastic.
Ancient Mage and Unbound Elemental both trade very well for control.
I had an idea for the most annoying deck in the world.
2 x ooze
2 x fairie dragon
2x owl
2 x big game hunter
2 x shadow word pain
2 x shadow word death
2 x emperor cobra
2 x soulpriests
2 x faceless manipulators
1 x tinkmaster
1 x baron geddon
2 x holy fire
2 x mind blast
1 x holy nova
1 x shadowform
1 x mind control
1 x doomsayer
2 x stampeding kodo
I had an idea for the most annoying deck in the world.
2 x ooze
2 x fairie dragon
2x owl
2 x big game hunter
2 x shadow word pain
2 x shadow word death
2 x emperor cobra
2 x soulpriests
2 x faceless manipulators
1 x tinkmaster
1 x baron geddon
2 x holy fire
2 x mind blast
1 x holy nova
1 x shadowform
1 x mind control
1 x doomsayer
2 x stampeding kodo
Any deck running 2x mindblast and 2x holy fire needs a prophet velen.
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
My Shaman deck is presently named "answers" because there are just so many ways to clear a board.
Opponent double yetis on turn 8.
Totem call, Bloodmage, Ancient Mage, Forked Lightning
I only have a single Lightning Storm and don't have any lava bursts, and I still find ways to wipe. Pyromancer, Mind Control Tech, Spirit Wolves - fantastic.
Ancient Mage and Unbound Elemental both trade very well for control.
Mine's called RNGeeeeesus, because it contains as much RNG as possible, rounded out with all my other legendaries and just good Shaman cards:
I dont quite get why people think the warlock hero power is super great. Yes, the effect is powerful. But 2 mana and 2 health? Not to mention blood imps taking 3 health per summon, you easily could take yourself down a third of your life by turn 4 and thats not really playing any cards other then the imps, so your opponent could be ticking away at you during that time.
If your running giants, okay thats an advantage, but the lock doesnt have a ton of self-healing going on to recover.
I would stay away from flame imp in arena.
In constructed, only aggro warlocks should be taking flame imp, IMO. And they should absolutely not be life tapping for quite some time.
2 mana is completely fine if you are life tapping around turn 6 on. 2 life is a small price to pay to be able to put out 2 minions for your opponents 1. This is with arena in mind, where people tend to play lots of mid range efficient minions. If you are playing twice as many of those minions you're going to do pretty well.
Broke rank 13. I am running into two types of players now. Those who I think are new by the cards I see like Yeti and those like me moving up with more advanced decks. The priest I played earlier was annoying less because of his cards but because he stole 2 of my 3 legendaries with thought steal/mind vision along with a combo. The druid I just beat I think he over played his hand and doesn't quiet get how pally control tempo works. His biggest mistake was laying down 3 2 health minions on the board for me after turn 4. Didn't even need to use an equality for the wipe. Also let me clear his big drops the next turn with the saved combo.
At this rank I am seeing a ton of slower decks though which my deck does really really well against.
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TannerMS "I'm confidence cause I'm zerg!"Registered Userregular
Broke rank 13. I am running into two types of players now. Those who I think are new by the cards I see like Yeti and those like me moving up with more advanced decks. The priest I played earlier was annoying less because of his cards but because he stole 2 of my 3 legendaries with thought steal/mind vision along with a combo. The druid I just beat I think he over played his hand and doesn't quiet get how pally control tempo works. His biggest mistake was laying down 3 2 health minions on the board for me after turn 4. Didn't even need to use an equality for the wipe. Also let me clear his big drops the next turn with the saved combo.
At this rank I am seeing a ton of slower decks though which my deck does really really well against.
Around rank 7 the hunter aggro picks back up, it's pretty frustrating to play 50% of my games against balls to the walls aggro and 50% against super slow control. Making card picks that work against both is hard -_-
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CreamstoutWhat you think I program for, to push a fuckin' quad-core?Registered Userregular
I'm around 13 as well, all I see is slow druid/paladin or Hunter decks. I can generally beat the slow decks with my Mage Control Deck, but the Hunters are tough, I have to draw really well to beat them.
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ObiFettUse the ForceAs You WishRegistered Userregular
RNGesus hates me. I've opened probably 15+ packs and haven't seen an epic or legendary. Also, two more arena runs end at 3 and 2 wins.
First was a Druid (had to choose between Druid/Rogue/Warrior) that was never given a chance to choose any removal. Not a single one. It got 3 wins off of a decent curve of minions and playing the tempo well. Whenever it came up against removal heavy decks, I had no chance.
Second was a Mage. Picked up two flamestrikes and ~4 frostbolts but minion choices were relatively weak. Never saw a flamestrike in all 5 games, many of which went 10+ turns and I could have easily won if I had EVER topdecked one of them.
Now I am out of gold and left to grind dailies for a couple more days until I can get back to 150.
Posts
I disagree lightning storm with its cost to effectiveness ratio especially with a wrath of air totem makes it one of the best aoe board wipes out there. Sure you pay for it the next turn but you should be able to maintain that board control. Shamans have some of the best clear/control in the game. Hex, lightning bolt, lightning storm, fire elemental and earth shock are amazing board control and most of these are common.
Also I have run good runs on shaman without lightning storm it is just a fantastic edition on top of everything else.
King krush is nearly as good as a rag since rag tends to get removed quickly at least youll get one good charge at 8/8 (or more with buffs).
I don't think there are any hunter decks that can reach turn 9 and still win.
Eh, the way i see it, if you dont kill it turn one or at least block it, its going to do a minimum of 4 damage to you before it dies later. thats a nice chunk for investment of a coin if you dont have anything else in your hand worth using it. I tend to play a patient game, but its still probably good to only take 2 from a gnome if you can help it.
Fun.
Druid is also a good arena class, by my last run of that was also 2-3. It happens sometimes.
Doesn't help when you keep getting matched up against people with awesome legendaries like Tirion, or ysera, ,or Baron Gedddon AND ragnaros, etc.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
Get anything interesting in the pack? That's possibly my favorite part.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
So nothing good so far.
http://www.arenamastery.com/sitewide.php
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I had a run yesterday that ended 3-3 with an interesting priest deck that had two shadow madnesses, pretty excellent midgame and significant lategame, including an MC.
I lost a game to a rogue who was awful and despite having good board control cards and a much better board control class was slowly losing the board to me. Then on turn 8, he dropped Rags. Two turns later, I had just about maneuvered things to handle rags with other creatures, and he drops Ysera.
Ugh.
Priest can be good if they get the right class cards, or terrible if they don't. Their hero power can't affect the board state either, so that can come back to bite you. I used to do well with them, then had like 3-5 disastrous drafts in a row with them, and now I avoid them like the plague.
Warlock can be unexpectedly great because he can just card draw his way to victory. If you are playing two yetis a turn and your opponent is playing one, you'll win.
I like Mage, Rogue, and Shaman because those classes have hard removal. And people like to pick big creatures in arena.
Paladin and druid aren't bad but you can start to struggle if your opponent throws out multiple legendaries.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
Rogue is on my 'never pick' list. I think I don't know how to draft it.
A lot of what class I pick depends on how I'm feeling at the time, but I think pally, druid, and mage are probably the best arena classes. Warlock is actually probably my best arena class, but that's a lot of knowing the class very well because I've played so much of it, both constructed and arena. Drafting warlock is really interesting because you need to decide as quickly as possible whether you want to midrange-aggro or midrange-control. Very few arena decks are really committed to a style, but knowing whether you're drawing cards to control things or drawing cards to pump damage into the other guy affects so much of warlock play that I do think you have to commit fifteen cards into a draft.
I think the best rogue in arena is a tempo rogue. I actually rate saps pretty highly. If your opponent spends his whole turn putting out tirion, and you sap it, then he puts it out again, then you sap it again, you probably win. Of course, sap is a straight card disadvantage so use it sparingly. The rogue hero power is very useful and efficient early game, particularly when combined with deadly poison. I feel it is arguably actually the best hero power early game: 2 mana, deal 2 damage. A mage would have to spend 4 mana to do that. Same for a druid. You can wipe two paladin minions with one hero power. With deadly poison it's essentially a fiery war axe. I used to rate assassin's blade highly but my aggressive use of the hero power early game tends to leave me too low on health to take advantage of the 4 attacks with assassin's blade. The novice engineer going to 1-1 made the rogue hero power even better, IMO. It pretty much straight up counters not one but two novice engineers. One use will kill an argent squire, unlike for the mage or druid hero power. And so on.
Since it's hard for you to come back from a losing board position (no aoe clears) I try to focus more on early game cards. The rogue class cards lend themselves pretty well to this. Stay away from kidnapper, that card is garbage. Eviscerates and assassinates are always good.
The other nice thing about the rogue is how unpredictable it is. It can be really hard to guess how much damage a rogue can do to you in the next turn. He can do 4 damage to your face for 2 mana or bump up a minions attack by 4 for 1 mana.
If you have 10 health and a paladin has 6 mana, well, you're probably safe. Rogue can easily blow through that.
Spellpowered backstabs can be amazingly effective in fighting for board control, particularly with your hero power. Not uncommon example: Opponent 5 drops a drake. you drop a drake, backstab his drake for 3, then kill it off with your left over dagger charge.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
by free I mean this situation -
I went first, opponent is priest coined out 2/3 (amani but any 2/3 would be the same decision)
I'm a shaman without 3/2 to play. My options are either totem or loot hoarder, my turn 3 play is earthen ring farseer, I have no turn 4 play (bloodlust, fire elem, windfury, and flametongue totem in hand). Opponent has ssc AND shadow word pain in his hand but I didn't know that.
Based on how that game went my opinion is ALWAYS play loot hoarder if you have no other option, since it would make your future options better. But watching some streams the "pro" players sometimes don't do it.
Uh. You probably don't play a Loot Hoarder into an Amani, cuz that turns the Amani into a 5/1 next turn. Though I guess you could heal it with the Farseer to turn it back into a 2/3.
I would say, in general yes. Tempo remains critical in the game. Loot Hoarder, in particular, slows down your opponent a little bit without sacrificing your card advantage. Ideally, Loot Hoarder trades for a 3/2 AND draws you a card, but hey, you can't hold onto it forever waiting for that.
I would never play loot hoarder in the position you describe, but I think it being amani instead of crocolisk affects my decision. you have no further removal; playing the loot hoarder actually /improves/ the berserker.
Honestly, that's an awful spot. I would probably pass the turn without toteming. Every totem but the 1/1 the amani kills for free; the 1/1 enrages him. He'll hit your face instead of the totem, but the farseer can heal that up.
I think whether to play loot hoarder really depends on how they'd take it out.
On review, this is obviously the best play.
EDIT: also, how highly I value a card draw in a situation depends critically on what else is in my deck. Do I have three copies of an AoE that will solve all my problems (he coined out the berserker, so another 2drop is coming)? Then I value card draw more highly.
If I have no other play, certainly.
A lot of people will go for the loot hoarder even if they maybe shouldn't.
I particularly like putting it my turn 2 going second. Then sometimes they spend their turn 3 killing it 'for free' with their hero power instead of developing their board.
If you DON'T play the loot hoarder because you are scared they will kill it for free, then you run the risk of them using that mana to put out another 2 drop - and your position has deteriorated.
If you spend 2 mana and a card and put out a loot hoarder, and the spend 2 mana to kill the loot hoarder and give you a card, it's a complete wash all around.
You will have to compare that scenario to what happens if you don't play the loot hoarder and just pass.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
I'm a big fan of Totem in this situation. Loot Hoarder gives you a card at best but you lose a valuable source of damage later. Against classes without pings, I think you can get a lot of value later on. If you get Searing, he kills it, you Earthen Ring, board is fine. If you get Taunt, you Earthen Ring, board is fine. Wrath of Air is always good and is kind of soft taunty. Healing totem would be a crappy pull but he's unlikely to kill it and it's another body for your Flametongue totem/Bloodlust.
Totem, Earthen Ring, Flametongue feels like it matches his plays. Totems are great, especially if you're running Bloodlust.
Edit: Kind of not what you were asking, but if their way to remove loot hoarder is to waste their turn on their Hero Power, I'd absolutely play Loot Hoarder (basically what Vorpal said).
If your running giants, okay thats an advantage, but the lock doesnt have a ton of self-healing going on to recover.
I'm dead serious."
No one is running Flame Imps AND Life Tapping on turns 2, 3, and 4. These two plays are made by completely different styles of deck. Controlock doesn't even run Flame Imp and faster decks have 2 and 3 drops that they'll be playing instead of life tapping.
It's very difficult to take board control away in Hearthstone and it's very difficult to tick away at someone who has board control. Card advantage makes you more resilient against the kind of plays that could lose you board control.
http://freethnkr.com/hearthstone-tips/
He has a tier guide for hero's with explanations, and it makes sense to me.
http://freethnkr.com/hearthstone-best-arena-class-tier/
I'm not sure I agree with his hunter remarks, as the ones I've seen have all done really well against me and have been most of my losses lately. Also, Warrior can be good, but you really need to get a couple axes and get one in your hand early. I also wonder why warlock is so low on the board, I figure he'd be perfect for arena. I agree with Paladin Mage Rogue being tops though. Although I don't quite understand building a good rogue deck. I'm never sure if I want more low cost minions to hit combos, or just draft normal and take the big minions when they're that good.
Opponent double yetis on turn 8.
Totem call, Bloodmage, Ancient Mage, Forked Lightning
I only have a single Lightning Storm and don't have any lava bursts, and I still find ways to wipe. Pyromancer, Mind Control Tech, Spirit Wolves - fantastic.
Ancient Mage and Unbound Elemental both trade very well for control.
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
2 x ooze
2 x fairie dragon
2x owl
2 x big game hunter
2 x shadow word pain
2 x shadow word death
2 x emperor cobra
2 x soulpriests
2 x faceless manipulators
1 x tinkmaster
1 x baron geddon
2 x holy fire
2 x mind blast
1 x holy nova
1 x shadowform
1 x mind control
1 x doomsayer
2 x stampeding kodo
Any deck running 2x mindblast and 2x holy fire needs a prophet velen.
Mine's called RNGeeeeesus, because it contains as much RNG as possible, rounded out with all my other legendaries and just good Shaman cards:
2x Forked Lightning
2x Young Priestess
2x Knife Juggler
2x Mad Bomber
2x Demolisher
2x MCT
2x Chain Lightning
2x Lightning Storm
2x Stampeding Kodo
Sylvanas
Ragnaros
Ysera
2x Stormforged Axe
2x Feral Spirit
2x Hex
Leeroy Jenkins
Harrison Jones
Cairne Bloodhoof
Okay. Technically, I could put in Alarm-o-bot, but fuck that shit. Tinkmaster's going to be next, but I don't know what to take out for it
I would stay away from flame imp in arena.
In constructed, only aggro warlocks should be taking flame imp, IMO. And they should absolutely not be life tapping for quite some time.
2 mana is completely fine if you are life tapping around turn 6 on. 2 life is a small price to pay to be able to put out 2 minions for your opponents 1. This is with arena in mind, where people tend to play lots of mid range efficient minions. If you are playing twice as many of those minions you're going to do pretty well.
PSN: Vorpallion Twitch: Vorpallion
At this rank I am seeing a ton of slower decks though which my deck does really really well against.
Around rank 7 the hunter aggro picks back up, it's pretty frustrating to play 50% of my games against balls to the walls aggro and 50% against super slow control. Making card picks that work against both is hard -_-
First was a Druid (had to choose between Druid/Rogue/Warrior) that was never given a chance to choose any removal. Not a single one. It got 3 wins off of a decent curve of minions and playing the tempo well. Whenever it came up against removal heavy decks, I had no chance.
Second was a Mage. Picked up two flamestrikes and ~4 frostbolts but minion choices were relatively weak. Never saw a flamestrike in all 5 games, many of which went 10+ turns and I could have easily won if I had EVER topdecked one of them.
Now I am out of gold and left to grind dailies for a couple more days until I can get back to 150.
Xbox Live / Steam
OTOH, if you disenchanted 17 packs, you'd have enough dust to craft a Legendary...
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists