How to survive the Military Quarter - Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas tips and guide

Three out of five quarters in, and Naxxramas is getting about as strange as it sounds. The name of this new section is the Military Quarter, and it's a training camp for Death Knights.

Hearthstone aficionados may spot that the Death Knight is one of the most sought-after legendaries in the game. Sadly, you don't win one for completing the quarter.

Indeed the cards on offer are some of the less interesting we've seen so far in Naxxramas. But the final reward, the legendary Baron Rivendare, is worth the effort. He boasts a fascinating hero power that doubles the deathrattle effects of all your minions.

So if you're in a hurry to win that tasty card, and to blaze through this quarter as part of your quest to win the Heroic card back, here's some strategies to help you on your way.

That's the last time I'm attempting to spell that name. But however terrifying his etymology, this boss on normal is about the easiest fight seen in Naxxramas so far.

He starts with two 0/7 taunting minions called Understudies. They look insurmountable until you realise that you start with a 1 1 mana card which switches them both to your control.

It's tempting to burn that on your opening turn, but whatever difficulty you're playing on, save it. The Instructor often opens with an Master Swordsmith which will buff one with +1 attack. Wait and see if that happens before getting them to switch sides.

Once you've got them, it's pretty hard to lose, even with his ability to deal three direct damage for 2 mana. Whatever deck you use, be sure to pack some Acidic Swamp Ooze though. Otherwise he can heft a weapon that does ten damage in a single attack.

He's a much tougher proposition on heroic, though. That hero power becomes 4 damage for 1 mana and he starts with extra health. Luckily, there's a tailor made combo that makes the fight a breeze.

Build your favourite model of Priest deck, but be sure to include those aforementioned Oozes, and two each of Divine Spirit and Inner Fire. Then mulligan until you've got the latter two in your hand.

Hey presto. Once you cast both spells, your 0/7 taunter becomes a 14/14 taunter, and the heroic instructor looks beatable after all.

We've gone from one of the most awkward names in the dungeon to one of the silliest. But this fight is no laughing matter. It's tough, but entertainingly creative.

On normal, Gothik has the bog-standard Warlock power of draw a card for two mana. The interest comes from his deck, which is packed with minions with an odd deathrattle. When destroyed, they return to life on your side, with their attack reduced to zero and the ability to do you a point of damage each turn.

This is even more annoying than it sounds. As well as doing damage they clutter up your side of the board and stop you summoning more desirable minions. And since they have zero attack, you can't get rid of them by smashing them into enemy troops.

The answer is simple: make them fight for you instead. Build a basic Paladin buff deck with cards like Blessing of Kings and Raid Leader. Toss in almost anything that gives taunt, or even a temporary bonus to attack and those ghostly millstones become heavenly hosts.

This strategy is also quite effective on Heroic, although you'll need some luck to pull it off. The reason for the sudden difficulty jump is that Gothik's hero power now costs 1 mana but nets him a crystal too. So he can keep an almost unstoppable flow of cards onto the board.

If buffing the unwanted minions he dumps on you isn't working, you can instead try and keep pace with him instead. Build a Druid deck that tries to push up mana fast with cards like Innervate and Wild Growth. Then use all that power to put down big taunting minions early, to try and protect you from the onslaught.

But even that approach will work better if you can weave some attack buffing minions into your deck too.

The names are just getting silly now. I'm not even going to look up what they're all called. Although it's pretty fun to watch them all talking to each other.

The trick here is that there are, in effect, four bosses to beat on one go. The actual boss only has seven health. But he has four 1/7 minions on the board, each with a special power that makes the actual boss untouchable until they're dead.

Their deck also contains some tasty weapons and scary buff cards for the horsemen that start on the board. But for all the imagination that's gone into making this look a challenging fight, it's pretty easy on both modes.

If you've got the rare Priest card Mass Dispel that silences all enemy minions on the board, it's simple. Slap it down and all the horsemen lose their protective power. Then you just have to muster seven damage total to win the fight.

If you don't have that, just grab your standard Priest deck and add in the Shadow Words Pain and Death. Chances are they're already in there.

Mulligan until you've got both. Shadow Word Pain will wipe out a starting horseman. Shadow Word Death will wipe out a buffed one. Once you've chewed through all three, the focus is right back on the paltry health total the boss himself actually has.

The first challange is a pre-made Shaman deck against Gothik. This is so easy it's almost insulting.

You've got a surplus of Flametongue Totems in the deck which give adjacent minions +2 attack. Just pop them down next to the annoying ghosts you end up with and you'll soon have a powerful army to cut Gotick down to size.

The Warlock deck against the four horsemen is much trickier. The cards you're given, while powerful enough, don't have any such obvious synergies with one another.

What you do have is several copies of Voidcaller, the card you win for completing this challenge. On dying, it puts another demon from your hand onto the board for free.

So make sure you've got a suitable stock of demonic cards and start summoning and disposing of the Voidcallers. As the enemy ranks thin, yours will swell. Victory needs a bit of luck, especially since the Four Horsemen start with three minions and your deck takes a while to build momentum. But it shouldn't take many tries to avert the apocalypse.

Then you'll have used your superior strategic prowess to conquer the military quarter from its undead owners. The march through Naxxramas continues next week.