Hearthstone’s legendary minion cards have always been some of the strongest in the game. Some of them have been incredibly powerful staples for all kinds of setups, while others have absurdly powerful effects that have entire decks built around them. Not every strategy needs one, but there’s at least one that can fit into almost any deck you build.
The current standard metagame features tons of these cards, meaning many of these are some of the most important cards to be aware of in Hearthstone’s primary format. If you’re looking for something to spice up your deck, or need to know what sort of threats your opponents might have, these are the most serious legendary minions in standard to worry about.
10 Deathwing, Mad Aspect
When talking about anything in the sphere of World of Warcraft, it’s hard for the cataclysmic dragon Deathwing to not come up in some form, and this very much includes Hearthstone. This particular rendition of the dragon comes with an intense 12 health and 12 attack; furthermore, as it enters, it attacks every other minion in play.
Deathwing is quite expensive at eight mana, but it uses it to do whatever you need on the board when you play it. It works as a removal spell to destroy everything on the board, but if there aren’t any creatures, it can also just win the game on its own with a few short attacks. Just be careful playing Deathwing on a full board, since it’ll also fight with your other minions as well as your opponent’s.
9 Kanrethad Ebonlocke
While Deathwing is very much a versatile end threat, Kanrethad is much more of a necessary first card in an aggressive Warlock deck. This card only costs two mana for a three power and two health minion, but it’ll reduce the cost of all other demon minions by one mana for as long as it’s in play.
This is an exceptional boost to your speed and quickly opens up the ability to play multiple spells in a single turn. If you just need a beater, though, Kanrethad attacks very smoothly and will shuffle an eight-mana demon into your deck for later, which can also summon three demons that died early in the game when it enters.
8 Lord Barov
Lord Barov is sort of like a smaller version of Deathwing, Mad Aspect, as it does a similar job of being able to destroy every minion in play very quickly. For three mana, this creature sets the health of all other minions to just one point, and when it dies, it deals one damage to all minions in play.
This essentially means Lord Barov can kill nearly everything in play, and with only two toughness, it’ll have no trouble dying when it hits almost any minion in the game. It’s an extremely cheap way to clear the board late in a match, but Lord Barov can also just help you stop an opponent’s fast start if you need it right on turn three.
7 Flik Skyshiv
Multiple of the creatures mentioned earlier do a great job of blowing up the board, but often all you need is to kill one specific minion to get ahead of your opponent in any online card game. This is what Flik Skyshiv does, having four health and attack points while destroying a minion and its copies when it enters play.
This seems unexciting for six mana, but an important note is that Flik Skyshiv’s copies can also include the hand and deck of both players alongside whatever is in play. This means you can occasionally ruin their options for later turns, and let you build your board while they have to quickly change their strategy.
6 High Abbess Alura
One of the quickest ways to get ahead in any card game is casting free spells, and that’s exactly what High Abbess Alura strives for. This five mana creature has a spellburst ability that triggers when you cast a spell with it in play, which will cause it to cast a random spell directly from your deck and target Alura if possible.
This target restriction means you can’t run many removal spells, as they can risk killing her on entry, but it does mean that anything that lets you draw cards or buff stats can turn her into an unstoppable threat. Alternatively, you could also build a deck with a small list of abnormally expensive spells to eliminate the randomization, making her guaranteed to have a valuable effect.
5 Mozaki, Master Duelist
Mozaki is absolutely terrifying if she comes down as early as turn five, as she can give most aggressive Mage decks an absurd advantage with just one trigger of her ability. Casting spells with Mozaki in play will passively grant you additional spell damage, meaning you can turn your burn spells into way more powerful effects for their mana cost.
Essentially, Mozaki acts as the final spell you play while you craft your hand and board. Once she’s down, you should play all the draw spells first before annihilating your opponent with increasingly harsh damage spells. With eight health, Mozaki can also survive lots of removal and attacks, so even as a distraction, it’ll buy any Mage player plenty of time.
4 Y’Shaarj, The Defiler
The last titanic legendary minion worth mentioning is Y’Shaarj, the Defiler, a massive finisher who will basically end the game if they’ve been casting corrupted cards before turn ten. When entering play, this minion will put a copy of each Corrupted card you’ve played into your hand, but reduce their cost to zero for that turn.
This means you’ll essentially cast ten turns worth of spells in a single turn, as well as getting this monster with ten attack and ten health. You definitely can’t put it in every deck, especially if you plan to win earlier than turn 10, but any deck based around the Corrupt mechanic will come close to winning any time this resolves.
3 Jandice Barov
The greatest way to cast free spells is when you can do it for very little mana, and Jandice does exactly that as late as the fifth turn. This five mana minion will summon two random minions that cost five mana, one of which you choose to die if it takes any damage. The list of minions that can appear is immense, but their effects are varied and many include other Legendary minions.
By choosing which minion has the hidden vulnerability, you can almost never be set back by this detriment. It’s usually easiest to put it on minions with low health that won’t feel the weakness. Alternatively, you can also equip it to minions with Deathrattle to immediately get that ability, a far easier process than waiting for thicker minions to fight it out over multiple turns.
2 N’Zoth, God Of The Deep
Much like Y’Shaarj, N’Zoth is a spectacular expensive finisher that essentially lets you play several cards in a single turn, but it’s far easier to build around than the Corrupt mechanic. Instead, N’Zoth simply resurrects a friendly minion of each minion type when it comes into play.
This just means you have to have creatures in your deck, and with any aggressive strategy, you’ll almost always have at least half of your spells dead by the time you can cast N’Zoth. Its body is not spectacular, but the cards that come into play will surely give you the lead in any matchup where you’re behind or even with your opponent.
1 Zephyrs The Great
Zephyrs might not seem as significant or dramatic as some other high-costed monsters, but its effect is powerful in a way that’s unique to any other card in the game. When this two mana minion enters play, you’ll wish for the perfect card and add it to your hand. This essentially means it’ll give you a selection of three cards from any set and any class, and you can put it into your hand.
Any deck can play Zephyrs, and by having two health and three attack, it’ll often fit in perfectly because it’s coded in a way to give extremely powerful options based on the cards in play and in your hand. If this card resolves early, it can often help your curve no matter your deck; conversely, late in the game, Zephyrs can give you ideal finishers if you don’t have high-cost minions in hand.
