The ideal situation against the big bad lich boss.
The ideal situation against the big bad lich boss.

Beating Heroic Kel’Thuzad was a pain.

What are Kel’Thuzad’s advantages over you in Heroic? EVERYTHING!

He starts off with 20 armor and 45 health.

If you’ve played against him then you probably already know that he has two hero powers.

His first hero power is used for free very turn. It freezes you and deals you 3 damage.

His second hero power is unlocked when you remove Kel’Thuzad’s armor or when you finish your tenth turn, whichever comes first.

The second hero power costs 8 and allows Kel to steal a random minion from your side of the board. And when his hero power changes he also gets two 5/5 minions with taunt.

Plus he’s got some of the best cards in the game in his deck.

I tried so many decks against him. I tried Paladin, Shaman, and Mage before I landed on Divine Spirit/Inner Fire Priest once again.

The Paladin deck I tried was too slow to build a board presence against Kel’Thuzad. The 3 damage a turn from his hero power brought me down before I could get the buff train rolling on my minions.

My Shaman deck focused around dealing lots of early damage with Dust Devils, but Kel killed the Dust Devils every time with Frostbolt.

The Mage deck I created had some success. It could consistently survive to Kel’Thuzad’s second stage, but it faltered at that point.

The Mage deck was a Secret deck. Mad Scientist and Ethereal Arcanist featured heavily in it.

I usually broke through Kel’s armor with a buffed Arcanist.

Then Kel would transform, drop two huge taunt minions, and steal my Arcanist.

I couldn’t figure out a way to recover from that.

Sooo… Back to the Divine Spirit/Inner Fire Priest! Here’s the deck list:
Circle of Healing x2
Silence x2
Inner Fire x2
Power Word: Shield x2
Northshire Cleric x2
Divine Spirit x2
Lightwell x2
Loot Hoarder x2
Novice Engineer x2
Deathlord x2
Imp Master x2
Stoneskin Gargoyle x2
Shadow Madness x2
Lightspawn x2
Holy Nova x2

Just the usual jazz for Divine Spirit/Inner Fire, but with the addition of a bit more card draw to get the required pieces. The Loot Hoarder and Novice Engineer will hopefully take some of Kel’s removal spells with them as well.

The Silence is added to remove any taunts that Kel might get. Racing him was how I won and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Silence. Ironbeak Owl might work just as well though.

Getting a big beastie should be fine, but then Kel will transform and get his minion stealing power. What do we do then?

That’s why I put Imp Master in. Kel will steal a 1 attack creature more often than not, so he’ll just avoid using the ability entirely.

Shadow Madness is also quite useful against Kel’Thuzad because he runs Dark Cultist and Sludge Belcher. If they die on your side of the field then you get the deathrattle as well!

While the deck is pretty simple, the boss fight is still quite hard. I beat Kel’Thuzad on my tenth try after going into fatigue and being one turn from losing.

But I unlocked this baby!

Heroic Naxxramas

So good luck taking down the Heroic bosses of Naxxramas. My other Heroic boss guides can be found here: Maexxna, PatchwerkGlobbulus, GluthThaddiusSapphiron, Everyone else.

-Mister Ed

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

88 – DM & Roleplaying Tips with Balance of Aksio (Jay + Sandra! and 3RPG) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Our guests today are Jay and Sandra from the 3RPG podcast. Their podcast is a talk show, typically with three hosts. Unfortunately the third host Chris was unable to make it.Jay and Sandra are working on a RPG product dubbed The Balance of Aksio. It's a new narrative fantasy TTRPG system with point buy character creation. The world within Balance of Aksio grew out of games that Jay and Sandra have been playing together since high school. Lots of history from important characters over the in-game centuries they have been playing. Balance of Aksio comes with numerous storytelling aids to help with character decision making, generational play, and how to cover long gaps between adventures.Balance of Aksio also introduces a unique idea for running your NPCs. Rather than make all the decisions yourself, Jay and Sandra recommend outsourcing the NPC actions to people you know outside of the campaign. Give those people a profile of the NPC and the decision they are facing. Then let those people decide what the NPC would do without your own biases as a GM entering the equation. Quite a clever way to introduce new developments in your game that even you can't predict!There's a 3RPG Podcast website and the show itself is available on all major podcast platforms.I guested on the 3RPG podcast for episode 61. Check it out!Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 88 – DM & Roleplaying Tips with Balance of Aksio (Jay + Sandra! and 3RPG)
  2. 87 – Adapted Azeroth D&D (Flare and Akridon)
  3. 86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen)
  4. 85 – Medical Doctor D&D (Justin and Oops! All Healers!)
  5. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)