Hearthstone League of Explorers Heroic Guide: Zinaar, Sun Raider Phaerix, Temple Escape

Completing Hearthstone's Adventures on Heroic is meant to be a challenge taken only by the toughest and most patient of heroes. But take heart, fellow Explorers. With a little deck editing, you can take them all down, earning your first step towards a special Heroic card back and all the bragging rights that come with it:

We've wrestled with the intense challenges of The League of Explorers on Heroic Mode, and outlined our winning strategies below. These strategies should largely work with the Normal bosses as well.

This week: the Temple of Orsis.

Zinaar 

Djinn's Intuition: Draw a card. Give your opponent a Wish.
Heroic: Draw a card. Gain a Mana Crystal. Give your opponent a Wish.

Zinaar's ability gives him a huge advantage, both in terms of his mana ramp and card draw. It's very easy to get overwhelmed with his minions, and his Wish cards tend to flood your hand and make it difficult to play anything. Your best bet is to use the class that can turn all those Wishes to your advantage: Mage. 

Pack a Flamewaker and Mana Wyrm into your deck, along with as many cheap spells as you can carry. He'll hit you hard early on, but save your 0-mana Wish cards for once you have at least one Flamewaker out. Since they count as spells, each time you cast a Wish the Flamewaker will hit for two random damage. If you spend the Wishes all at once, the randomized ping damage will probably be enough to severely damage his minions, and you can mop them up with whatever cheap removal spells you have in your own deck like Frostbolt. Once you establish board control he'll have an extremely difficult time regaining it, so just chip away at his health and keep his side empty.

Recommended Class: Mage
Recommended Cards: Flamewaker, Mana Wyrm, Frostbolt, Fireball

Sun Raider Phaerix

Blessings of the Sun: (Passive) Phaerix is Immune while he controls the Rod of the Sun.

The Heroic version of Phaerix is pretty tough, since his Rod of the Sun gets a boost while it's in his possession and also makes him immune. The easiest way to remove it early is with the Priest's Shadow Word: Pain, which will make you immune--albeit without the powered-up version of the Rod. But, Phaerix won't let it go lightly, and he packs lots of high-attack minions and weapons like Arcanite Reaper to get it back. 

Obviously, you can't let that happen. So pack a Taunt minion with plenty of health like Deathlord, or otherwise give a cheap high-health minion Taunt with the Sunfury Protector. Buff it up and keep it healthy with Divine Spirit and Velen's Chosen. He'll be throwing everything he has at that minion, so be sure to clear the board as much as possible. Always make sure its health stays above the current attack power of the board plus another five, because he can break out the Arcanite Reaper anytime. Packing a couple of Lightwells is helpful to this end, and if you have some minions who benefit from healing like Lightwarden or Holy Champion, they can quickly turn into powerhouses for dealing damage while you focus your mana on keeping your taunt minion healthy.

Alternately, you can pack the Priest's 0-mana Silence spell or an Ironbeak Owl, and silence the Rod as soon as you can. Phaerix will remain immune while it's on his side of the board, but without its Deathrattle effect it will be eliminated for good once you take it out. Having plenty of Taunts and healing will still be vitally important, though, because without the Rod to fight over Phaerix will go straight for your Hero.

Recommended Class: Priest
Recommended Cards: Shadow Word: Pain, Deathlord or Sunfury Protector, Divine Spirit, Lightwell; Silence or Ironbeak Owl

Temple Escape

Escape!: Encounter new obstacles!

The Temple Escape on Heroic is downright unfair, with absolutely gigantic minions lurking around every corner. Fortunately you only have to survive, so the strategy comes down to one word: stall!

One particular deck type excels at stalling, and that's the popular tournament deck known as Freeze Mage. Unlike a traditional Freeze Mage, though, you don't have to waste any deck space looking for ways to deal damage. Instead, every single card in your deck should be focused squarely on removal or roadblocks to the enemy's progress. Pack all the freezing spells you can, along with Secrets like Ice Barrier and Ice Block. Doomsayer is an absolute must, and you'll probably need to hide him behind a sticky Taunt like Slude Belcher. Even smaller, efficient Taunts like Mirror Image will do wonders, since it gives two bodies to stand between you and the tons of heavy minions.

When the Temple gives you choices, always select the one that will end the match faster. Your stalling tools aren't meant to last too long, so you need to accelerate it as much as possible. One of these will summon a War Golem, so have removal or freezing on hand to deal with it. At one point Reno will warn you that the roof is going to cave in, so don't bother laying down your Doomsayer then. The Temple collapse itself acts as a board wipe.

Recommended Class: Mage
Recommended Cards: All the Freezing spells, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, Doomsayer