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Hearthstone: Trial by Felfire Chapter 1 walkthrough

Illidan isn’t done telling his side of the story just yet — Hearthstone: Ashes of Outland’s brand-new Trial by Felfire solo story content, which went live with yesterday’s 17.4.1 update, continues the iconic Demon Hunter’s narrative. (Be sure to use our Demon Hunter prologue walkthrough if you still haven’t unlocked the Demon Hunter class

.)

This time the Rusted Legion and their “mindless mechanized monstrosities” have threatened to overwhelm Outland. And the only one who can stop them is… Aranna Starseeker?! Use our Chapter 1: A World in Ruin walkthrough to help guide Aranna past the Rusted Legion’s dangerous underlings.

Encounter 1: Inquisitor Dakrel

Hero Power: (1) Spread the Word: Destroy a friendly minion and trigger its Deathrattle twice.

Inquisitors are demons in the service of the Burning Legion who channel their frightening fel magic through floating green eyes. According to

We’ve encountered one in Hearthstone before in The Witchwood expansion in the form of Felsoul Inquisitor. According to Wowpedia, “of all the foul creatures that serve the Legion, the hooded inquisitors are perhaps the most mysterious, and most menacing.”

Dakrel is definitely an intimidating character, with an appearance (and voice actor) that wouldn’t be out of place in a Clive Barker film. Here’s how to make sure that Dakrel doesn’t swallow your soul.

Dakrel utilizes a mix of Priest, Mage, Demon Hunter and Warlock cards. He can flood the board with surprising quickness, so make sure to mitigate his minions and then go for face.

Tips:

  • Augmented Porcupine is usually a good play on the curve to soak up Dakrel’s board flood.
  • Use Blackjack Stunner in conjunction with Aranna’s Hunter and Rogue Secrets to remove any unwanted minions from Dakrel’s side of the field (such as Damaged Stegotron).
  • Boosting Knuckles’ stats with Helboar and playing him on the curve has often locked down the win for me; Knuckles’ ability to concurrently soak up Dakrel’s minions while dealing damage to his face is usually enough to overwhelm the Inquisitor.

Encounter 2: Xur’goth

Hero Power: (1) Rusted Gaze: Corrupt a card in your opponent’s hand. They have 1 turn to play it!

Xur’goth is a Beholder, a one-eyed floating creature in World of Warcraft lore. When Aranna comes across Xur’goth, she is attacking a female naga named Shalja, Outcast. Shalja will remain dormant on your side of the field until 3 demons are killed and has Windfury, Rush and Outcast: Add 3 Shaman spells to your hand.

This fight should be easier than the first, although if Xur’goth corrupts your best cards and forces you to play on a less than ideal curve, you can quickly fall behind.

Tips:

  • Play Infectious Sporeling as soon as possible. Xur’goth will often attack it with higher cost minions in an attempt to clear it from the field and transform their card into an Infectious Sporeling by mistake.
  • Early in the match, try to play the cards which Xur’goth corrupts, as they’ll often be the best play anyways and you can’t afford to burn cards yet; as the match goes on and your hand is filled with more cards, don’t be afraid to let her burn an unnecessary card in your hand if it means establishing board presence or making the better play.
  • Save Blackjack Stunner + Secret card removal combos for cards like Rustworn Champion.
  • If you’ve been forced to play a minion like Blackjack Stunner or Edwin Van Cleef early and ineffectually due to Xur’goth’s corruption, use your Shadowstep to bring them back when the time is right for a more efficient turn.
  • You can also use Shadowstep to have Blackjack Stunner remove more than one minion from Xur’goth’s side of the field if you haven’t already been forced to play it.
  • The easiest way to victory against Xur’goth in my experience: play Shadowjeweler Hanar and load up on Secrets.
  • If you can’t get Shadowjewler onto the field, you can keep Xur’goth’s minions off the board with smart minion trades; by the time you activate Shalja, Xur’goth should be within lethal range anyway.

Encounter 3: Zixor, Apex Predator

Hero Power: (0) Ravenous Omnivore: Gain +4 Attack this turn.

Zixor, the warp stalker and Legendary Hunter minion from Ashes of Outland is the third boss encounter in Trial by Felfire.

This fight also introduces the second Outcast to join Aranna’s side — Sklibb, a Sporelok minion. Sklibb’s ability gives adjacent minions +1 Attack and Taunt as well as Outcast: Summon two 0/6 Glowcap Mushrooms, which he starts this fight off with.

Tips:

  • Obviously, try to keep Sklibb alive. It’d be very sad if he died.
  • Sklibb’s ability works great with high health minions like the Glowcap Mushrooms, King of Beasts, Gahz’rilla, or minions with helpful card effects like Augmented Porcupine.
  • Bamboozle + Sklibb = a lot of fun.

Encounter 4: Baltharak

Hero Power: Passive, All Shall Serve: After a Demon dies, draw a card and restore 10 Health to your hero.

What would a World of Warcraft/Hearthstone narrative be without a Dreadlord encounter? Like most Dreadlords, Baltharak is a deceptive, cunning character whose Hero Power allows him to heal when his primarily Demon-centric deck is attacked. The key to defeating Baltharak? Give him what he wants.

Tips:

  • Dancing Swords and Coldlight Oracle are in your deck this match, which is not so subtle foreshadowing for what you’ll have to do to beat Baltharak: fatigue him.
  • Kill Baltharak’s Demons. Keep making him draw cards. Use your Hero Power liberally.
  • Try to save Betrayal and/or Crushing Walls for when Baltharak has more than one Pit Lord on the board.
  • Once you’ve made Baltharak burn through all his cards, continue making good trades to clear all his minions off the board before you go for his face.

Did this guide help you make your way through the first chapter of the Hearthstone Trial by Felfire solo adventure?

Ready to take on the next chapter? Jump to our Hearthstone Trial by Felfire Chapter 2 walkthrough.

Hearthstone Trial by Felfire Chapter 3 walkthrough

Hearthstone Trial by Felfire Chapter 4 & 5 walkthrough

RELATED:  11 of the best Hearthstone Classic cards we can't wait to play again
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Ninja Gaiden was my rite of passage at an early age. After finally beating that game (and narrowly dodging carpal tunnel) I decided to write about my gaming exploits. These days I enjoy roguelikes and anything Pokemon but I'll always dust off Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country and StarFox 64 from time to time to bask in their glory.

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