How to Complete the United in Stormwind Rogue, Shaman, and Warlock XP Achievements

Welcome, fellow achievement hunters.

Our stay in the famed Alliance city is finally coming to an end, and so now would be a perfect time to take one final look at your progress and decide just which Gameplay XP Achievements from this expansion could be reasonably finished in the little amount of time that remains. The clock is ticking once again. 

The expected timeframe we were working with here turned out to be on point, as we've now received the official confirmation:

Quote From Celestalon

Achievement XP swaps over from United in Stormwind achievements to Fractured in Alterac Valley achievements *tomorrow*, with the 22.0 patch.

Not much of an advanced warning there, and this mention didn't even make it into the published 22.0 patch notes. You might recall the whole confusion that took place at the end of Forged in the Barrens (back then it was all covered by us here): we did not get much information either, and what we got turned out to be wrong as the pre-expansion patch for United in Stormwind came with misleading notes that claimed players would still have an extra week to gather any remaining XP bonuses. Obviously that turned out to be an error, getting people's hopes up only to result in a fair share of anger and disappointment. 

And so we've made the reasonable assumption that Hearthstone team would continue following this philosophy until we hear otherwise. Then it came as no surprise to see this announcement of the pre-expansion patch for Fractured in Alterac Valley arriving as soon as November 30 on Tuesday and disabling all current XP Achievement gains in the process - just like its predecessors had done earlier this year. 

With all of that in mind, we wanted to send a fair reminder to everyone (better safe than sorry!), and provide a few condensed guides to take you through every achievement from United in Stormwind with the Deadmines Mini-Set included. A handful of relevant tips, tricks, and decks, without getting into all the smaller details. We will also include a relative speed rating where 1 = slowest and 5 = fastest, for quick reference. Each achievement has its own section below, so you can always scroll down or do a manual name search if looking for anything in particular. 

• Stormwind XP Achievements Set #1 - Achievements for Demon Hunter, Druid, and Hunter
• Stormwind XP Achievements Set #2 - Achievements for Mage, Paladin, and Priest
• Stormwind XP Achievements Set #3 - Achievements for Rogue, Shaman, and Warlock
• Stormwind XP Achievements Set #4 - Achievements for Warrior and Neutral Cards

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

• One extra small tip for later in the day: as long as you stay in the game even once the patch has been released (and the Battle.net client is ready to update), you would still be dealing with an older Hearthstone version where Stormwind XP Achievements have not yet been disabled. This might buy you a few extra hours at the very least! Just keep in mind that you will eventually get disconnected or kicked out, and the client will require that new 22.0 patch to proceed afterwards. For mobile devices, this "grace period" (before one is prompted to download a new patch) is actually even longer, and you could find the time to finish a few more achievements this way - as long as you don't update your game account version on the desktop (if they don't match, you likely won't be able to log in on mobile anymore until it's also patched).

Certain achievements are very grindy and will require dozens of attempts or cards being played, whereas others can be completed even within a single game or two. We try to mention this as we go. Check your current progress and identify what's in your reach within the time that remains. You may be able to finish playing 30 Deathrattle or Divine Shield minions, but perhaps not something like 100. 

Same as ever, achievements only count for Constructed, Duels, and Arena. For Standard or Wild it's good to stay at a Ranked floor where you can't lose any stars. For Duels, Casual mode is your best free ally.

Stormwind achievements as a whole seem better than many of the ones we faced with Darkmoon and Barrens. So if those discouraged you before or just weren't worth the time, it might be worth to take a closer look again. There are still some overly grindy tasks, but several achievements can be completed quickly and there is far less left to lucky chances or having to worry about pulling off wacky combos. 

If you still don't own some of the required Epics or Legendaries, best to skip any related achievements. It won't ever be worth that dust investment just for a small amount of extra Rewards Track experience. 

We tend to default to Standard format lists with the assumption that many players may not have the necessary older cards, then adding relevant notes for Wild and Duels modes where applicable. There are usually multiple alternatives or directions to take, depending on your entire collection. Let's continue with:

Rogue Stormwind Achievements - General

With Rogue, we are looking at two relatively swift "freebies", one longer grindfest (especially now that we live in the post-nerf Garrote world), and that one very odd task in which you pretty much need to rely on your opponent's cooperation (Parrrley). So there is at least that good half for the purposes of efficient XP gains. 

How to Complete the "A Girl Has No Face" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 4/5. 

One might wonder just what could this title be referring to... (hint: likely a certain Game of Thrones).

Maestra of the Masquerade, the card that has earned this rare dubious honor of being banned from any competitive Hearthstone tournaments (at least for the time being). Luckily for Standard or Wild ladder, it's just a bit of harmless fun while spreading appropriate confusion. 

If you have Maestra, it's just as simple as queueing up a number of times and hoping the RNG is on your side, with no one class repeating itself too much. That latter part is the only variable - some people will need a greater amount of tries to get there. Luckily there is no need to play through all these games. 

Due to the other achievements, Maestra of the Masquerade makes for a flexible inclusion in just about any Rogue deck. We will settle for Find the Imposter variant here.

How to Complete the "Expecting an Exploding Pen?" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 5/5. 

Very straightforward. It should but take one game of SI:7 Rogue. Find the Imposter isn't particularly difficult to complete (just perhaps a little slower than your average Quest) - once Spymaster Scabbs lands on the board, that's already almost job done (there are only 5 Gizmos in total, all 1-cost). Only a matter of having spare mana afterwards, and an enemy target for Fizzflash Distractor.

How to Complete the "Nobody Makes Me Bleed My Own Blood" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 1/5.

Nothing 'hard' per se about this, but it's likely to take very long. Especially now that Garrote shuffles 2 Bleeds into the deck and no longer 3. It's still possible to stack a ton of Spell Damage and card draw (there are only so many options to generate extra copies of Garrote, Rogues are generally better at pretending that they are wannabe Mages), yet it might not make enough of a difference speed-wise.

Honestly, unless you've already played hundreds of Garrotes and only need a few more games to hit that stage completion, better ignore it at this point. And don't forget to disenchant the card for that dust refund if you haven't yet! 

• Duels mode: early round decks have fewer cards, making it easier to draw into Garrote and Bleeds (but harder to stack Spell Damage combos with limited deck space). Ace in the Hole is very helpful as a starting treasure.
• Wild format: Augmented Elekk shenanigans are a fine possibility. Plenty of extra draw options with the likes of Stowaway; you could set up some long Bleed cycles. 

How to Complete the "They're More Like Guidelines..." Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 2/5. 

Possibly the only achievement of its kind in the entire Stormwind package: Parrrley (arrr) works best if the person on the other side decides to play along and use the Parrrleys you give them back at you (if you get so lucky, the achievement easily turns into 5/5 in terms of speed completion). But if they are stubborn enough never to exchange the cards with you or just concede prematurely, the entire back and forth game begins anew. And that can be rather frustrating. 

It's a fun and creative take in theory, just perhaps not the best choice if you are trying to rush against the clock and ensure that achievement completion. Stranger kindness can go a long way here. 

There is an alternative route in which one can try to be self-sufficient (which means generating as many extra Parrrley copies as possible), but that's not really a good idea for Standard: the options are very limited. If your opponents aren't in the mood to help at all, Wild mode would be the only viable option (a handful of ideas can be found below).

• The following section is all about Wild mode cards:
• Remember our good friend Lorewalker Cho? He used to be one of the go to cards for many achievements during the Darkmoon and Barrens times. Even better if the opponent also uses any Parrrley they get.
• You could try to get lucky with Mimic Pod or Thistle Tea, however it's not the greatest chance in the world.
• Archmage Vargoth can be of assistance, Cobalt Spellkin and Vulpera Scoundrel for extra generation (but remember the pool of available cards is also so much larger).
• Finally, Valeera the Hollow with her Shadow Reflection hero power. 

Shaman Stormwind Achievements - General

Honestly, Shaman's Stormwind achievement set doesn't include many intricacies: The Brave and the Bolner apart, no task asks you to own and play multiple expensive cards, and both Overdraft and Tiny Toys can be easily generated through other tools. You don't want to skip this one.

How to Complete the "Debt Forgiveness" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 5/5.

Honestly, the easiest Shaman achievement out of the 4. You don't even have to own Overdraft, as there are multiple ways for you to generate it (Wandmaker, Pandaren Importer, Venomous Scorpid), which is not an irrelevant point for all our budget readers out there! This combo can be executed in both Standard and Wild, with relative ease in each.

Let's start with Standard. You need a 6-card-combo in order to ensure your achievement completion in a single turn, and here's how we suggest you to proceed:

1. Play double Diligent Notetaker.
2. Play Lightning Bloom, and get two copies back from each Notetaker.
3. Play the two Blooms alongside the other one you included in your deck.
4. At this point you'll have 2x4=8 Overloaded Mana Crystals, which means that you only need another one.
5. Play another Overload spell of your choice, but be sure to save up one mana for your Overdraft.
6. Play Overdraft.

Any other cheap Overload combinations might also synergize well enough in your favor. In order to get this achievement you'll need as much card draw as possible, hence all the Bloodmage Thalnos/Tradeable package.  

For Wild, one card will singlehandedly carry you: Spirit of the Frog. Draw half of your deck thanks to it and then blast your opponent down with a chubby Overdraft.

How to Complete the "Little Legends" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 3/5.

Do not worry, as we did the math for you: right now, there is a total of 74 collectible 5-Mana minions in Standard, 22 (!) of which are Legendaries. This means you have roughly a 30% chance to get a Legendary unit per Tiny Toys roll: not bad!

Moreover, there's no problem if you don't own the spell since there are multiple ways for Shaman to generate it - and we're going to put all of them to use. Diligent Notetaker is a pretty sweet way to get a second copy of your Tiny Toys and therefore speed up the process by a good margin.

• Wild format note: actually not as recommended, as the pool of 5-cost minions only becomes more diluted. 

How to Complete the "The Brave and the Bolner" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 1/5.

Very slow achievement to be completed, and you cannot get past the fact that you necessarily need to own Bolner Hammerbeak: for as much as that card has potential to become good in the future, we wouldn't suggest you to craft it just for this occasion.

For the achievement itself, you need lots of patience and cheap Battlecries: long story short, Elemental Shaman is exactly what you're looking for.

Potential bugged workaround: early on there were reports of a silly bug where Bolner Hammerbeak plus Kazakus, Golem Shaper resulted in an instant achievement completion with a crazy progress score in the thousands. Apparently this hole still might not have been patched, but we couldn't test it retroactively and confirm either way. Try it if you wish, that would make this achievement's speed rating immediately go up to 4 or 5. 

• You might wish to opt for a slightly less aggressive version, and that's a fair choice: replacing Doomhammer with Auctionhouse Gavel for example, in order to set up cheaper Battlecry chains ahead of time. Replacement spells can include Lightning Bloom and Serpentshrine Portal. 
• Another alternative includes various low mana cost Battlecry minions, chiefly with Youthful Brewmaster to bounce back Bolner Hammerbeak.
• Finally, Wild format offers greater choice as usual: from Elementals (Fire Plume Harbinger, Bog Slosher), to various copy effects (Zola the Gorgon, Baleful Banker, even Barista Lynchen). Sludge Slurper alone can make for quite a chain with repeatedly generated Lackeys.

How to Complete the "Thanks for the Loaner, Thrall" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 4/5.

This achievement is too unreliable to be completed in Standard, but fortunately you can do it in Wild with a 100% Standard list: that's a very good deal, right? In fact, there are currently only four 6 mana Weapons in Hearthstone's eternal format, two of which are Legendaries: Aluneth & Val'anyr, the other two being Epic: Hammer of the Naaru & Sul'thraze. This means that you have no less than 50% chance to get your XP!

Here's what you need to do in order to set everything up for Suckerhook to work as you wish:

1. Equip your Doomhammer (free for everyone) or Boggspine Knuckles.
2. Play Suckerhook (one at time!).
3. Pray to RNGesus.
4. Done!

• A small probability exists where you could see this achievement completed through playing Raid the Docks (as in Pirate Warrior). The Juggernaut has a chance to spawn Suckerhook, as well as provide you with a free weapon. But then it still needs to randomly transform into what's required, and the stars truly need to align for this to happen. So treat this more as a bit of amusing trivia rather than reliable advice. 

Warlock Stormwind Achievements - General

Two of these achievements used to be far easier before the nerfs to The Demon Seed and Runed Mithril Rod, respectively. So if you are late to the party (or have disenchanted the cards for dust refunds back then), that probably means not bothering with either. On the upside, the remaining two tasks here are fairly easy to set up and complete.

How to Complete the "My Little Dreadsteed" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 4/5. 

Any variant of Warlock can do just fine here, as it's only a matter of getting Dreaded Mount into the hand (making it a natural mulligan target), landing the effect on any small minion to spawn the steed, and then just surviving long enough from there.

Unless you run into a very mean opponent who runs silences for some weird reason, your very own little pony shall be immortal and safe (Tamsin's Dreadsteed honors the original Dreadsteed, which back in the day didn't even have to wait until the end of the turn in order to respawn). 

We'll lean towards something cheaper here, as poor Zoolocks have been a forgotten breed during this expansion.

• Wild format: some good removal like Defile or Plague of Flames, healing with Dark Pact or Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, or (re-)drawing with The Soularium or Plot Twist.

How to Complete the "Share Your Pain" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 1/5. 

Only one way with very notorious The Demon Seed and the resulting Blightborn Tamsin. And you cannot even head to Wild mode anymore for this, as the evil Questline has been banned there. Painful indeed. 

So it's down to just playing the more cycle-heavy Standard lists for the fatigue game, actually doubling down on this strategy by including (also nerfed) Runed Mithril Rod. The Demon Seed is actually harder to complete these days, so unless you are already very close to being done and just need a few extra ticks of progress - not recommended.

How to Complete the "Simply Enchanting" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 2/5.

Just as above, except that Runed Mithril Rod did not survive the nerfs nearly as well as The Demon Seed, and it's not as common of an inclusion in the decks anymore. That makes the whole discounting business somewhat harder to pull off. 

Similar decklists, but not worth the bother unless you are already very close to completion. 

• Wild mode: it's actually a solid idea to take a different non-Questline direction just to benefit from Rummaging Kobold and Hoard Pillager. The rest is all about some good removal and cycle options.

How to Complete the "Who Ordered Imps?!" Stormwind Achievement

Speed Rating: 4/5. 

Tradeable to the rescue. Just like with "My Little Dreadsteed", a matter of drawing the Wicked Shipment card (main mulligan target), and then repeating the deed several times after it's been shuffled again into the deck. Your board needs to be empty at the very end in order to spawn all imps. 

It's probably faster to use only one copy, as they upgrade separately and will otherwise get in each other's way. But if you wish to have a backup to more easily draw into and don't mind using up the 1 mana on more trading, feel free to add another.

Hullbreaker (the other mulligan target) can actually act as a tutor of sorts for the purpose of this achievement - provided there aren't (m-)any other spells in the deck. It might only be a little harder to survive by relying solely on minions to tide you over. 

• Wild mode: same old, same old. Can have fun with Plot Twist and/or more useful minions to back up the Hullbreaker strategy.

Closing Words

It's probably not worth trying to chase them all, unless you are a die-hard completionist. Pick and choose based on what looks feasible with only so much time left. Simply playing various modes for the past few months might've brought you close to the finish line of particular achievements. Might not be a whole lot of bonus XP all in all, but it's still good for a few extra packs. 

Any provided speed rating is relative and we could argue about specific numbers (remember we are viewing this from the angle that is Standard format; having certain Wild cards could absolutely change the score for the better). Taking into consideration all the time and effort required to complete these goals, our reasoning was as follows: 

• 1 - Likely too random or too long if your progress is near 0%. If multiple stages, partial completion at least possible.
• 2 - Fairly time consuming, but with a clearer end in sight. Still not a great choice if near 0% progress.
• 3 - Doable with some patience, while not taking terribly long.
• 4 - Rather easy to set up and execute.
• 5 - Basically free XP if you got the cards.

Our community members were once again on point with separate achievement threads for Stormwind and Deadmines throughout the expansion. The special #achievements channel on our Discord server remains open for questions just as well, and we won't miss any comments here either. 

Best of luck if you attempt any last minute achievement hunting. Let us know how many of these have you managed to complete, and whether your final speed runs ended up in any bonus XP gains. Sharing other tips and tricks is also welcome!