The final two chapters of the Tombs of Terror arrive later today! Brann Bronzebeard will be joining our squad of heroes giving us some access to the Warrior and Hunter dual-class.
Adventure unlocks at 1 PM Eastern (10 AM Pacific, 7 PM CEST). Check out Blizzard's Preview of Chapter 4 here.
Chapter 4 Boss - Icarax, Plague Lord of Wrath
Someone is not happy we've been killing all their plague lord buddies! Icarax seems to be some sort of Warrior (Enrage) and Priest (Trickyness) when you look at its hero powers, which might be scary. Commanding Scream is the first hero power we'll be fighting which mimics Commanding Shout without the card draw. Following that up at 200 health is Wrath Smash which makes one think that there are going to be plenty of cards being played that will damage your minions (and likely his as well). Lastly, at 100 health, Icarax will stop fooling around and bring out Hand of Defiance which assuming we're correct about the self-damaging prophecy, our minions aren't going to be allowed to do any damage, swapping their high attacks into high health. Taking cards that benefit from enrage-style effects may be able to give you bonus value, though that can also be deciphered based on this chapter's twist - more on that in a moment.
This Plague Lord was likely going to be called the Plague Lord of Enrage, but that would be too confusing for players.
Chapter 4 Twist - Plague of Wrath
Following up on the whole enrage nonsense, anytime minions take damage in this chapter, they will gain an extra attack! Use it to your advantage to deal devastating damage to your foes but be careful when you enrage your enemies.
Our Hero, Brann Bronzebeard
Brann is a Warrior and Hunter which gives him access to flavor of those classes. Don't forget, you can play the chapter with any of the heroes.
Hero Powers
Signature Treasures
This is the upgraded Excavator when you defeat all 4 chapters.
Chapter 5 - DO NOT ENTER!
The final chapter will unlock upon clearing the first four and with it, we'll be granted access to the Inner Sanctum.
According to client data, the plot twist is the same Twist - Plague of Murlocs from the first wing and there is no final boss. We know though that through card data, Tekahn, Plague Lord of Flame, is the final plague lord and there is a special, friendly hero - Saviors of Uldum. Whatever is going to go down in this wing shall remain mostly a surprise, but it looks like this may be a very epic battle.
How did you feel about the Tombs of Terror? What did you open up in your Golden Classic Pack? Tell us all about it in the comments below!
Comments
Chapter 4, breezed through with Brann, double Capture the Flag, the 0 mana spell that refreshes your mana and a full hand to use it on, and the basic treasure, power, and deck. Final chapter, Reno did 172 damage, passed his 22 damage Torch and a few other things on to Elise as they were in my hand when Reno died, Finley took over with 56 left, never needed Brann. Had cleared a plague on all heroes so I had at least the four treasures for each, Finley also had the fifth (Karl the Lost) but didn't need any of his treasures.
Ultimately, I have really enjoyed this adventure, and will try to go back and clear a few additional plagues with other heroes. So far I've only cleared Chapter 1 in Heroic so I've got that to do too.
The interaction of Tekahn and Rafaam in the final fight, and the "Final Plague" that Tekahn releases near the end of the fight have gotten me very excited to see what the third chapter of the Year of the Dragon will bring to Hearthstone!
Side Note: Reno died in spectacular fashion during my run, which is typical Reno! I had cast Shadow of Death on Tekahn's Octosari earlier in the game, and when my first one died it drew the remaining cards in the deck for the first hero. Next turn another Octosari died, over drawing me so freaking hard! I went up to 9 fatigue on the final draw! It was glorious!!!
Brann is my favorite of the explorers, hands down.
that being said, the fourth and final bosses in normal mode were surprisingly weak, given how intimidating their powers are.
i think Monster Hunt handled the multi-hero boss fight better, but this was a decent attempt, Tekahn just didn't feel like a big enough threat. I'm comparing him to final bosses like Kel'thuzad, Nefarian, and even Hagatha. Those battles had special effects and artwork to express that this was "it," the big showdown. Tekahn felt big technically, not visually.
Now heroic is going to be another thing entirely
I'm not sure where else to post this, so I'll do so here: While I did find the final two chapters enjoyable, they were far from challenging, and I found the ending very anticlimactic. (SPOILERS BELOW)
Icarax itself seems ironically much more tame of a fight than the other Plague Lords, so I think they did themselves a disservice by making it the semi-final boss. Aside from that, the Tekahn fight was the biggest disappointment of all, because everything from the difficulty to even the presentation felt unimpressive. This is a final boss with recycled artwork from a collectible card, no alternate art for different phases, only a small cameo from the frequently-mentioned and anticipated Rafaam (their evil partner), and it's essentially just another Plague Lord. Not only that, but the resolution after the fight feels really sorry. Rafaam is simply gone, we see more (albeit very well-made) recycled artwork and we're told (not shown) Dalaran is also just gone! Shows over! Come back in a few months!
I apologize if this comes across as bitter or ungrateful; I mean only to sound disappointed, because I'd anticipated a big battle setting up the final chapter of The Year of the Dragon's story. The end of Tombs of Terror was not at all bad, but it was only passable for me. Hopefully, Blizzard gave us a good-enough adventure this time so that they can focus their efforts into really wowing us with the finale.
What a disappointment, one-shotted both Bosses, for the second one, i did not even use elise.
:(
In the end I really liked the finale. It felt easy, but really well though.
*SPOILER WARNING AFTER THIS*
All you progress tranfer to this final fight with each explorer bringing their own treasures to the mix.
In the end I got 4 plaguelords with finley, 3 with elise and 3 with Reno, (didnt use brann yet).
The final phase felt nice. (couldnt test the second one as I just dealt enough damage to go from 218 to 97 in a turn)
*SPOILER WARNING OVER*
I really desire to see how this trilogy will end.
Just finished wing 4, and ive got to say that the warrior/ hunter combo is the one that ive enjoyed the most. There are some pretty disgusting things that you can do with rush minions (akali pulling a direfrenzied scalehide is a thing of beauty), and the enrage mechanic leads to some bloodlust-esque damage from seemingly innocuous boards. If you are offered Gahzrilla and he wont completely screw the synergies on your deck, pick him, you wont regret it.
the finale was a bit...underwhelming...like I just picked Finley with the Murloc Hero power because I had no idea how it was gonna work...and I just steamrolled the boss. I hope it's a bit more challenging on Heroic.
That being said, I'm legitimately excited for the next expansion and how the story wraps up. Will definitely get the adventure, although I'm not sure if I'll committ my gold to it.
I think the final plague is reffering to the new cards that are added to standard.
Icarax?
Ok, who dropped their Bionicles in my Hearthstone? (not that I'm complaining)
@Lemushki - Agreed, the final Monster Hunt encounter was a really fun fight. Time will tell.
Right now I'm a little irritated at the Adventure, simply because I steamrolled wins in Normal with Reno and Finley and was well progressed in Heroic clearing. Then Elise comes out and I struggle to even clear a wing with her. Really not a fan of her available options.
@Bystekhilcar (Tried making a good and detailed comment, but chrome crashed on me 2 times near the finish so I will have to rush it)
Gotta agree with you here too. Elise´s options just feel underwhelming in comparison with Finley and Reno, and although I was able to beat the first 2 plague lords with her, I had to really cheese it with the third one. She does have an easy infinite combo (with the moonfires and spell duplication), but it doesnt feel really fun to play. Defeated the third plague lord like that with her, because it didn´t feel that she was able to do so with my other options. (Even easier for me as I got the passive that summons a minon for each spell you cast. Was able to get the combo between turn 2 and 5 consistently.)
On the other side, Brann seems more in line with the first 2, so I really want to see him in action.
Elise is a bit tricky to make work because most of her treasures are pretty weak by themselves and you rely on passives and buckets.
Deathrattle works pretty well if you get the passive that gives DR minions Reborn. Spell damage is also not that bad, especially with the Moonfire Hero Power.
I basically beat the third chapter on heroic in one run by picking Phaoris Blade and just using the passive that gives you armor on minion death to stack it until I could just one shot the plague lord.
Plague Lord of Flame, Year of the Dragon, reSummon that which was long Dead. Deathwing ?
The final expansion does has hints of the Dragonsoul .
Really wish I didn't have to wait until 1pm after my lunch break is over.
@Elric
That and the "final plague" that Tekahn releases in the final stage of the battle does have some connection to Deathwing and the Cataclysm as well. As you may know from lore, Deathwing's was influenced by a powerful evil force. Some have also speculated maybe a Caverns of Time connection in the third expansion. Maybe Rafaam took an artifact that will help him go back in time and bring forward some old, powerful foes? Which would be similar to resurrecting them if he brought a long dead enemy to the present.
Can't wait to see what it is!
Really excited for brann and the final wings. Hope this feels kinda like the final battle in monster hunt. I really liked how it played out with all the heroes combined.
If it ends up being better. It would be a surprise for sure. But a welcomed one