Hearthstone
How to beat Demon Hunters?
With the addition of the first new class since forever, it stands to reason that we will see A LOT of Demon Hunters running rampage on the ladder during the first days of Ashes of Outland. I will surely be part of this, but the predictability of the whole thing made me wonder if / how it could be exploited. Sadly, I haven't heard from @FearGralex and his Meta Breaker articles for quite a while now, so I tried my own hands at coming up with something countering Illidan (there's a lenghty guide with my train of thoughts included).
What do you think? Is Untapped Potential AND Embiggen in one deck too much? Will Warrior do better? Might Priest end up top dog because they outvalue everyone with buffs and heal? Let's have a look into those crystal balls and GET PREPARED!
Leave a Comment
You must be signed in to leave a comment. Sign in here.
With the addition of the first new class since forever, it stands to reason that we will see A LOT of Demon Hunters running rampage on the ladder during the first days of Ashes of Outland. I will surely be part of this, but the predictability of the whole thing made me wonder if / how it could be exploited. Sadly, I haven't heard from @FearGralex and his Meta Breaker articles for quite a while now, so I tried my own hands at coming up with something countering Illidan (there's a lenghty guide with my train of thoughts included).
What do you think? Is Untapped Potential AND Embiggen in one deck too much? Will Warrior do better? Might Priest end up top dog because they outvalue everyone with buffs and heal? Let's have a look into those crystal balls and GET PREPARED!
I notice I am confused. Something I believe isn't true. How do I know what I think I know?
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, hpmor.com
You didn't even include a single new card. Why did you do that? Day one is great because there is no real meta and everyone experiments with new cards. Playing old decks is just lame af.
I love Weasel Tunneler and there is nothin you can do about it.
Pure quest druid can easily beat an aggro dhunter without Imprisoned Antaen and Priestess of Fury. Even with those cards it has a decent chance.
I dont think it can beat midrange dhunters though.
Drop the Embiggen from quest builds. Its not worth it. If you're not playing many choose one cards then there's no point in handicapping your turns 1-4 and ruining your mulligan for both Embiggen and Breath of Dreams. On the other hand, I dont see why you're not playing Archspore Msshi'fn, one of the few good druid cards in AoO.
As the old tale said, "Fight Fire with Fire". Demon Hunter consists of Aggro Minions and threat to attack directly to face. You could also play aggro with Galakrond Shaman and Quest Hunter as both has many Rush minions, just need to hold them off. Because taunt is not the answer when facing Kayn Sunfury. Lifesteal would be good addition.
EDIT. It doesn't have to be Shaman or Hunter, as long as the deck is aggressive too.
Also, since we don't know how the meta will stand, I think Control Armor Warrior and Quest Priest (Priest rework has more heals) can handle plenty of damage pretty good. But this is just a theory.
Still. "The best defense is a good offense"
Knowledge is Power
Sacrificial Pact
The more Aggro the DH goes, the less resilient their board is: if you can turn initiative on your side, they will have a hard time at recovering.
If they go for Tempo, you should still be able to Control them.
I am not sure they can effectively go for Midrange with the current cards.
PS: by Midrange I mean a deck with huge Tempo swings in later turns, eg. Galakrond Rogue.
Thanks for the feedback, I took out Nourish for Archspore Msshi'fn.
I notice I am confused. Something I believe isn't true. How do I know what I think I know?
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, hpmor.com
I think the best way to beat demon hunters is to get on top of their board with cheap removal and taunts while also pressuring their Health to prevent them from attacking your board with their hero too much.
Quest druid is just too slow and will get run over too fast for it to be good against demon hunters.
Carrion, my wayward grub.
Hith them to the face.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate
I'd say you can:
a) try to be even more aggressive, for example with Aggro Stealth Rogue.
b) Play Plot Twist Control Warlock (Thijs has a nice early version of this on his YouTube), which has access to a lot of Taunts, Healing and...2x Sacrificial Pact.
c) Put too much in their way for them to handle. I'd imagine that a Taunt Warrior like my build below would make all that small minions bounce off...until they play Kayn Sunfury, but then again, your big minions would eat him alive the next turn...
Regarding your deck, I 100% second dapperdog: either drop the quest or the Embiggen, both together mean too many dead cards to overcome the initial aggression.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.