by Jeremy Waxman on May 21, 2015
So far, we've gone over how to start out with the Mage and Priest, two heroes who look to control the board through spells while trying to build up the minion line. This is a somewhat common theme, but the Warrior does things a bit differently. He's not afraid to armor up, grab a weapon and head right into the battle himself to start the destruction. Let's go over everything you need to know in order to start playing the Warrior effectively. In this series of guides, we’ll be taking a look at what makes each class tick, as well as providing a starting point for playing them effectively. We’ll be taking the sample deck lists provided by the Trump’s Teachings video series that came out before any new sets, or expansions, to show that solid mechanics can still win you games when you haven’t yet played a single match or opened even one pack.
(Note: For the purpose of these guides, we’ll assume you’ve hit level 10 with each hero, giving you all of the free cards. If you haven’t yet reached level 10, simply play against the beginner AI until you get there. You can use the decks provided, but might need to make a few substitutions until you’ve unlocked your free cards.)
Through sheer intimidation! Also, a bit of armor never hurt.
If you want to proceed with the Warrior, you're in luck. Garrosh just so happens to be the Hero of choice for one of the most popular competitive decks right now, and compared to some others, it's not incredibly expensive to craft.
This deck focuses on two main cards: Grim Patron, and Frothing Berserker. The Patron is obviously the deck's namesake, and can quickly be used to flood the board with copies of itself when combined with cards such as Whirlwind and Cruel Taskmaster. The same principle applies to the Berserker, enabling it to become huge with only a few of the right effects being activated. When these are combined with Warsong Commander, they'll have Charge, meaning you don't need to wait an extra turn for your minions to attack; you're ready to start the beat down right away. It is a combo deck at heart, but with a variety of ways to activate the key win conditions, it is remarkably consistent in the right hands. Unlike some other combo-oriented decks that can lose immediately if they don't draw the right opening hand, Patron Warrior has multiple avenues to victory, making it both a fun and lethal deck to play. Here's an example of a full decklist from Forsen, the winner of the recent HTC Invitational:
I've found the Warrior to be a fun class to play right at the beginning, stacking your armor and doing the dirty work yourself. For players that really like to feel proactive, this is probably a great class to start with. I myself plan on working towards building a Patron Warrior deck, as I've always been a huge fan of combo decks, and this is a great one to start with. He might not be for everyone, but for those that feel drawn to Garrosh Hellscream, he's prepared to reward those that wish to tread the path of a Warrior.