I got to rank 15 or so pretty quickly this month, but I'm currently having trouble with the Hunter decks that go straight for the face. I was thinking of making a heal-focused taunt deck but given how fast these hunter decks I've been seeing are, I don't if that's viable due to the speed. Any advice on what class / style to play to get past the hunter swarm?
This is unfortunately where Hunter is overpowered, the answer is it depends on what type of hunter you're facing. Basically, "midrange" hunter =/= face hunter; they're both ridiculously fast compared to most decks though, but the "midrange" version is a tad bit slower (basically I think they just named it midrange because they want to think they're not playing an aggressive deck when they are). Face hunter will use cards like Glaivezooka, Wolfrider, and Leper Gnome while the other type uses cards like Sludge Belcher and Savannah Highmane.
For Face Hunter: Any priest or control warrior should do well
For "Midrange" Hunter: Face Hunter (ironically) and Rogue (assuming you get enough clears) are viable.
The two best cards to race against face hunters are ironically both 5-drops Sludge Belcher and Antique Healbot. Often when I'm facing hunter, I mulligan for my low drops and Antique Healbot, which can quickly put you out of hunter range. The reason being that face hunter has a limited amount of damage, which is why they don't bother with board control and instead go face unless there's a taunt available. This means that the longer the game lasts, the worse position they'll be in. Antique Healbot both prolongs the game and adds a slight board presence, making it the number one counter to face hunter. Sludge Belcher stalls face hunter, but if you're in lethal range it won't help you much.
Against the, in my opinion, more deadly midrange hunter, the key is to maintain health while avoiding their threats. They usually have 6 main threats, 2 Animal Companion, 2 Savannah Highmane, Dr. Boom and Ragnaros the Firelord. Your two options when playing against this deck is to either rush it down before it gets too powerful, or to outlast its threats and hero power and subdue it. As Freezy mentioned, keeping your board presence powerful but not too numerous helps avoid the large swings gained from Knife Juggler and UTH.
As for what classes do best against them, the classes that an mitigate the hunter's hero power are the best choices, so Warrior, Priest and Druid. Classes that can keep up with hunter, such as Mage and Rogue also do quite well. Paladin and Hunter do okay because, well hunter is a mirror match, and paladin has its share of heals and divine shield+taunts. Warlock is the worst class against hunter because of their vulnerability to burst damage. You'll notice that handlock and hunter cannot coexist in the same meta.
Moral of the story, pretty much anything you play will have a 50% base chance against hunter, which is why it is so consistent. Adding taunts and healbots to the deck will help against hunters but might weaken you against other decks. So basically use any deck you want and if you see a lot of hunters, tech it for heals/taunts and don't play warlock.
i think priest still counters aggro pretty hard. get a good pyromancer/archenai turn and you're set. Steal his minions and shadow madness to set off traps or to deny his mad scientist.
Priest is decent against all other matchups too, except for maybe rogue...
I got to rank 15 or so pretty quickly this month, but I'm currently having trouble with the Hunter decks that go straight for the face. I was thinking of making a heal-focused taunt deck but given how fast these hunter decks I've been seeing are, I don't if that's viable due to the speed. Any advice on what class / style to play to get past the hunter swarm?
This is unfortunately where Hunter is overpowered, the answer is it depends on what type of hunter you're facing. Basically, "midrange" hunter =/= face hunter; they're both ridiculously fast compared to most decks though, but the "midrange" version is a tad bit slower (basically I think they just named it midrange because they want to think they're not playing an aggressive deck when they are). Face hunter will use cards like Glaivezooka, Wolfrider, and Leper Gnome while the other type uses cards like Sludge Belcher and Savannah Highmane.
For Face Hunter: Any priest or control warrior should do well
For "Midrange" Hunter: Face Hunter (ironically) and Rogue (assuming you get enough clears) are viable.
Play my deck and be happy.
My decks that led me to legend in the past: [LEGEND] Tempo Inner Priest | [S25 LEGEND] Murlocadin Divine | [S19 LEGEND] TempoMage | [S18 LEGEND] MechMage
The two best cards to race against face hunters are ironically both 5-drops Sludge Belcher and Antique Healbot. Often when I'm facing hunter, I mulligan for my low drops and Antique Healbot, which can quickly put you out of hunter range. The reason being that face hunter has a limited amount of damage, which is why they don't bother with board control and instead go face unless there's a taunt available. This means that the longer the game lasts, the worse position they'll be in. Antique Healbot both prolongs the game and adds a slight board presence, making it the number one counter to face hunter. Sludge Belcher stalls face hunter, but if you're in lethal range it won't help you much.
Against the, in my opinion, more deadly midrange hunter, the key is to maintain health while avoiding their threats. They usually have 6 main threats, 2 Animal Companion, 2 Savannah Highmane, Dr. Boom and Ragnaros the Firelord. Your two options when playing against this deck is to either rush it down before it gets too powerful, or to outlast its threats and hero power and subdue it. As Freezy mentioned, keeping your board presence powerful but not too numerous helps avoid the large swings gained from Knife Juggler and UTH.
As for what classes do best against them, the classes that an mitigate the hunter's hero power are the best choices, so Warrior, Priest and Druid. Classes that can keep up with hunter, such as Mage and Rogue also do quite well. Paladin and Hunter do okay because, well hunter is a mirror match, and paladin has its share of heals and divine shield+taunts. Warlock is the worst class against hunter because of their vulnerability to burst damage. You'll notice that handlock and hunter cannot coexist in the same meta.
Moral of the story, pretty much anything you play will have a 50% base chance against hunter, which is why it is so consistent. Adding taunts and healbots to the deck will help against hunters but might weaken you against other decks. So basically use any deck you want and if you see a lot of hunters, tech it for heals/taunts and don't play warlock.
Good luck, hope this helps.
i think priest still counters aggro pretty hard. get a good pyromancer/archenai turn and you're set. Steal his minions and shadow madness to set off traps or to deny his mad scientist.
Priest is decent against all other matchups too, except for maybe rogue...
this has been working for me through 15
http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-deck-building/36546-first-share-mid-range-priest