In Hearthstone, minions are the most important pieces. When the game first came out, it was mostly about fighting minion bosses. Hearthstone has changed a lot since then, but minions are still very important to almost every deck.
These strong items can do many things, such as damage, healing, making huge amounts of value, or even changing the game’s most basic rules. A minion can almost certainly give you a benefit if you need one. Hearthstone has never seen any minions stronger than these.
Crabatoa
When you compare Crabatoa to most of Rogue’s other star cards, it’s pretty pricey. But it has such a fast beat that it gets played anyway. If your opponent has a lot of minions on the board, you can use him right away to do 12 damage with two Rush minions and a weapon attack. The second weapon will do four more damage if Crabatoa stays alive.
It makes sense for any Rogue deck that wants to keep playing into later turns to include a card with such a huge effect on the board. Even the most aggressive Rogue decks will sometimes have Crabatoa as their most expensive card.
Prince Renathal
When he was first created, Prince Renathal gave you 40 Health. He was used in almost all control, combo, and even some midrange-focused decks back then. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that he completely changed the way Hearthstone works.
The final change, which took away half of Renathal’s gain, did make him a lot worse. Many decks don’t value the extra five Health that comes with having 40 cards instead of 30. Renathal is still used, though, in Control teams that don’t mind having some extra-valuable cards in their packs. Renathal is mostly pure upside in those decks.
Darkbishop Benedictus
Darkbishop Benedictus changes everything about how Priest plays. Now, that could be good or bad, depending on your point of view. There have been many attempts in Hearthstone to make the Aggro Priest strategy work, but the fact that Heal isn’t useful in these decks has made those efforts much harder.
That problem is solved by adding Benedictus to your deck, which gives you a Hero Power that even Hunter would be proud of. Of course there are some limits to the effect, but they don’t really matter in real life. That situation doesn’t really matter because most of the time, a Priest’s most powerful offensive powers are from the Shadow school. Not ideal, but it’s a small price to pay for making a deck style possible. You also have to run a five-mana 5/6 in your aggressive deck.
Golganneth, The Thunderer
With every new Hearthstone update, it seems like the cards get harder to understand. Golganneth, the Thunderer is a great example of this. He can do four different things as a Titan, and each one is stronger than the last. He can draw cards for you, remove cards from one or more targets, and, best of all, cheat mana every turn he’s on the board.
Golganneth’s skills are strong in almost all Shaman decks, but they are especially strong in combo decks that use spells to deal a lot of damage quickly and kill your opponent. In Standard, those decks have done pretty well, but Golganneth has really shown how powerful he is in Wild, where there are more cards that can use his skills.
Patches The Pirate
Patches the Pirate used to be very strong in Hearthstone, as anyone who has played known. One of the worst decks in Standard history was Pirate Warrior, which made it one of the most powerful attack decks ever.
Of course, that was back when Patches was in Charge, which meant he could change the state of the board as soon as he got there. Getting a free 1/1 while also reducing the number of cards in your deck is still incredibly powerful early on. And because Patches is so good, some Wild aggro decks include a small Pirate package. It would be silly not to run him in a Pirate deck.
Astalor Bloodsworn
The Astalor Bloodsworn monster is very valuable. He is a pace card for the early game, a defense for the middle game, and a killer for the late game. That’s all you can really hope for from a single card.
All three versions of Astalor have been nerfed since he was first released, but that hasn’t stopped people from using them in a wide range of decks. He probably won’t be the first monster you add to your deck, but you won’t regret it very often.
Zilliax
If you play Zilliax on an empty board, it’s a good character, but nothing special. A 3/2 with Taunt, Divine Shield, and Lifesteal is probably going to be annoying for your opponent, but it’s not going to end Doodle Baseball.
The fact that Zilliax comes with both Rush and Magnetic, on the other hand, changes everything. Both of them let him have an instant effect on the board. Magnetic is very dangerous; if you already have a Mech on the board, Zilliax can heal you with its stats while also using Divine Shield to protect the monster and Taunt to protect yourself.
Shudderwock
Ah, Shudderwock. You are the king of Battlecry shit. Some of the strongest effects in Hearthstone are battlecries, and Shudderwock lets you copy any of them. That is as strong as it sounds for people who weren’t playing Standard when Shudderwock came out or who haven’t looked into Wild.
When you play Shudderwock, you can get benefits like ending your opponent’s life, stopping their board, making your own board, and a lot more. You should pay attention to the Battlecry Grumble, Worldshaker, which puts your other minions back into your hand and costs one mana. You can play your Shudderwock and have it bounce back to your hand with this ability. This lets you call it again and again until your opponent dies or thinks the game isn’t worth their time anymore.
Genn Greymane And Baku The Mooneater
Not many cards in Hearthstone history have caused as much trouble as Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater. The game changes drastically because of their powers, which make your Hero Power much stronger. And unlike Battlecries, their impacts will always happen every game.
Even though those benefits were limited, they weren’t nearly enough to stop the minions from being played almost all the time in Standard, with Baku being the most annoying. In the end, they were moved to Wild early. Genn decks are still some of the strongest in the game, even though Baku isn’t used very often these days.
Brann Bronzebeard
In the past of Hearthstone, Brann Bronzebeard has been at the center of a lot of bad combos. Brann is especially strong as a Druid because the ability to change mana makes it easier to use him in a combo and get enough mana to use it quickly.
Because his ability is so simple and well-known, it wouldn’t make sense to nerf him without doing a whole new set of work. However, over the years, many of the cards Brann has backed have been nerfed. He is the ideal helper and a key part of a number of meta-topping decks.
