Herald Volazj is another gimmicky legendary to add to the priest collection alongside Confessor Paletress and to a lesser extent Vol'jin (which saw some competitive play).
After recently playing a Rogue opponent I couldn't help but compare the effects of Shadowcaster (An epic 5 mana 4/4 which reads; Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. Add a 1/1 copy to your hand that costs (1)) to Herald Volajz's effect. Being able to add a 1/1 copy of a minion to your hand gives you the bonus of enabling it's battlecry. Because of Rogue's already strong battlecry or combo minions, this card is quite effective.
It occurred to me as this particular Rogue bounced his Shadowcaster in and out of his hand coupled with an Unearthed Raptor, that it's effect is so much more competitive than Herald Volazj AND there's two of them as opposed to just the single legendary.
Herald Volazj sits awkwardly at 6 mana. In order for it's effect to work it pays to have established a worthy board. Unfortunately Priest's lack of early game minions means this task is near impossible. Not only that but Herald is competing with Priest's other more effective 6 drops such as Entomb, Cabal Shadow Priest and Sylvannas.
Herald just seems out of place.
As a committed Hearthstone player I already know not to compare one class's cards to another but as a Priest main I was hoping for a more competitive legendary in the very least.
I would love to understand more the 'design philosophies' behind priest as a class as a whole. It seems the class has no real direction.
Control Priest is all but dead with the loss of Velen's Chosen, Lightbomb and Naxx moving out of rotation.
Now one is left with assembled priest decks largely reliant on neutral archetypes: C'thun, N'zoth (Deathrattle) or Dragon decks. All of which one could argue there are far better options available in other class's.
Moving forward, I would like to see Priest have the sort of injection to it's collection as Shaman has in the last two expansions. There was a time where Shaman and Priest were both bottom tier class's and now look at where Shaman sits. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Priest.
Am I missing something or have others managed to find a deck that's working on ladder which makes good use of Herald Volazj? Let me know!
Volazj is definitely too gimmicky and mostly a "fun" card for now. But unlike Paletress, it's not bad in a vacuum since a 6 mana 5/5 and 2x 1/1's is already decent value but is being held back by lack of synergy cards . This might change in the future just like Embrace the Shadows could if they print more healing mechanics. I'm having moderately high hopes for both of them.
I agree that right now Priest is in an awkward spot and I think Blizzard realizes this and are going to fix it in the next expansion/adventure. Especially since the only Priest deck I've had some amount of success with is Dragon Priest and dragons already have an expiration date. Anything that isn't dragons is just too weak to Zoo and Shaman.
Herald Volazj is better than a good card, he's an amazing one. The problem is that people seem to have a hard time adapting their priest ot the new meta. He doesn't just slot into any of the old decks, and trying to do so results in minimal effect. What he does do, alongside N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Shifting Shade, is enable a new Deathrattle Priest, that focuses on board control equally through minion presence and spells. It's different, but very very good, and without this tentacly one, wouldn't be as good at all.
You're likely only getting 1-2 cards value out of him. You must build around him in a way. You don't slot this in and try to copy Injured blademasters. You slot this in when you've got major deathrattles, he also fits into dragonpriest well. IMO he isn't an amazing card and him netting value isn't possible when you're losing and hes the last thing you want to drop on a poor board.
Museum Curator Sylvannas Shifting Shade Cairne (not even bad in this meta weirdly enough) Twin emps Chillmaw Nshire Cleric (any c'thun activators) auchenai soulpriests
If only there was a way to combo Herald with corrupted healbots and Auchenai + Circle... or.. 2 Corrupted healbots on board, play herald, get 2 more, then embrace shadow + circle = 36 dmg? or combo them with n'zoth?!
If only there was a way to combo Herald with corrupted healbots and Auchenai + Circle... or.. 2 Corrupted healbots on board, play herald, get 2 more, then embrace shadow + circle = 36 dmg? or combo them with n'zoth?!
The ideas are starting to flow
Yes of course thats possible, but its a 5-card combo that requires you to have 2 corrupted healbots stick on the board for a turn while you have volazj and embrace in hand, and you would also need enemy minions on the board that you can trade your healbots into and have them die.
In other words it could happen once every, 20 games say? So other combos are way more consistent. Its a cool idea but not very practical in the current meta.
Herald Volazj is an awesome card, at least theoretically. Unfortunately, the fact is that it is a little too slow. I would agree that you need a decent board to drop this to get value out of Herald, which often difficult to achieve (not always, but inconsistent). Unless you can pull through some ridiculous combos (like copying a Ysera, Malygos, Sylvanas Windrunner, etc.). But definitely not at a competitive level, which I really hope to see, but it ain't happening.
Control Priest is definitely getting better in this meta, but it will probably stay at a mid-Tier 2 level or lower at best for now. Hope to see it at Tier 1 level someday!
Shifting Shade + Herald Volazj is a good T10 drop. As is Infested Tauren with him. Or Twilight Summoner, Annoy-o-Tron, or Harvest Golem if you happen to be playing on a budget with a Herald Volazj lying around. Twilight Elder gives you some bonus C'Thun boost if you're playing C'Thun style priest. Getting a little more out there here, but Knife Juggler gives you instant value and 2 more mana to drop another creature for 2 more damage. If you use Tentacle of N'Zoth you get yourself a Abomination style AoE. If you're going aggro, double or quadruple up Leper Gnomes. These are all small combos with him that are all good value for him. You don't need to have his ability to proc 3x to turn a tight game, and he is perfectly capable of giving good board presence from nothing late game.
I run a volzaj in my n'zoth priest and a lot of the time geting any deathrattle is so much value in the long game that it has won me many games i love this card even if its not "competitive"
I have also struggled to get value out of Herald in my N'Zoth deck, usually a win more card. Great video though, I will continue to search for ways to use him.
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Herald Volazj is another gimmicky legendary to add to the priest collection alongside Confessor Paletress and to a lesser extent Vol'jin (which saw some competitive play).
After recently playing a Rogue opponent I couldn't help but compare the effects of Shadowcaster (An epic 5 mana 4/4 which reads; Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. Add a 1/1 copy to your hand that costs (1)) to Herald Volajz's effect. Being able to add a 1/1 copy of a minion to your hand gives you the bonus of enabling it's battlecry. Because of Rogue's already strong battlecry or combo minions, this card is quite effective.
It occurred to me as this particular Rogue bounced his Shadowcaster in and out of his hand coupled with an Unearthed Raptor, that it's effect is so much more competitive than Herald Volazj AND there's two of them as opposed to just the single legendary.
Herald Volazj sits awkwardly at 6 mana. In order for it's effect to work it pays to have established a worthy board. Unfortunately Priest's lack of early game minions means this task is near impossible. Not only that but Herald is competing with Priest's other more effective 6 drops such as Entomb, Cabal Shadow Priest and Sylvannas.
Herald just seems out of place.
As a committed Hearthstone player I already know not to compare one class's cards to another but as a Priest main I was hoping for a more competitive legendary in the very least.
I would love to understand more the 'design philosophies' behind priest as a class as a whole. It seems the class has no real direction.
Control Priest is all but dead with the loss of Velen's Chosen, Lightbomb and Naxx moving out of rotation.
Now one is left with assembled priest decks largely reliant on neutral archetypes: C'thun, N'zoth (Deathrattle) or Dragon decks. All of which one could argue there are far better options available in other class's.
Moving forward, I would like to see Priest have the sort of injection to it's collection as Shaman has in the last two expansions. There was a time where Shaman and Priest were both bottom tier class's and now look at where Shaman sits. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Priest.
Am I missing something or have others managed to find a deck that's working on ladder which makes good use of Herald Volazj? Let me know!
Volazj is definitely too gimmicky and mostly a "fun" card for now. But unlike Paletress, it's not bad in a vacuum since a 6 mana 5/5 and 2x 1/1's is already decent value but is being held back by lack of synergy cards . This might change in the future just like Embrace the Shadows could if they print more healing mechanics. I'm having moderately high hopes for both of them.
I agree that right now Priest is in an awkward spot and I think Blizzard realizes this and are going to fix it in the next expansion/adventure. Especially since the only Priest deck I've had some amount of success with is Dragon Priest and dragons already have an expiration date. Anything that isn't dragons is just too weak to Zoo and Shaman.
Herald Volazj is better than a good card, he's an amazing one. The problem is that people seem to have a hard time adapting their priest ot the new meta. He doesn't just slot into any of the old decks, and trying to do so results in minimal effect. What he does do, alongside N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Shifting Shade, is enable a new Deathrattle Priest, that focuses on board control equally through minion presence and spells. It's different, but very very good, and without this tentacly one, wouldn't be as good at all.
Trying Real Hard To Keep Hunter Relevant
You're likely only getting 1-2 cards value out of him. You must build around him in a way. You don't slot this in and try to copy Injured blademasters. You slot this in when you've got major deathrattles, he also fits into dragonpriest well. IMO he isn't an amazing card and him netting value isn't possible when you're losing and hes the last thing you want to drop on a poor board.
Museum Curator
Sylvannas
Shifting Shade
Cairne (not even bad in this meta weirdly enough)
Twin emps
Chillmaw
Nshire Cleric
(any c'thun activators)
auchenai soulpriests
If only there was a way to combo Herald with corrupted healbots and Auchenai + Circle... or.. 2 Corrupted healbots on board, play herald, get 2 more, then embrace shadow + circle = 36 dmg? or combo them with n'zoth?!
The ideas are starting to flow
Renounce Darkness
Herald Volazj is an awesome card, at least theoretically. Unfortunately, the fact is that it is a little too slow. I would agree that you need a decent board to drop this to get value out of Herald, which often difficult to achieve (not always, but inconsistent). Unless you can pull through some ridiculous combos (like copying a Ysera, Malygos, Sylvanas Windrunner, etc.). But definitely not at a competitive level, which I really hope to see, but it ain't happening.
Control Priest is definitely getting better in this meta, but it will probably stay at a mid-Tier 2 level or lower at best for now. Hope to see it at Tier 1 level someday!
A Priest Main since March 2014.
Shifting Shade + Herald Volazj is a good T10 drop. As is Infested Tauren with him. Or Twilight Summoner, Annoy-o-Tron, or Harvest Golem if you happen to be playing on a budget with a Herald Volazj lying around. Twilight Elder gives you some bonus C'Thun boost if you're playing C'Thun style priest. Getting a little more out there here, but Knife Juggler gives you instant value and 2 more mana to drop another creature for 2 more damage. If you use Tentacle of N'Zoth you get yourself a Abomination style AoE. If you're going aggro, double or quadruple up Leper Gnomes. These are all small combos with him that are all good value for him. You don't need to have his ability to proc 3x to turn a tight game, and he is perfectly capable of giving good board presence from nothing late game.
Trying Real Hard To Keep Hunter Relevant
I run a volzaj in my n'zoth priest and a lot of the time geting any deathrattle is so much value in the long game that it has won me many games i love this card even if its not "competitive"
I'm just going to plug this video in of a legend player doing something similar to what I said. Saw it yesterday and had to share! It's pretty awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGDxoxyOus
Renounce Darkness
I have also struggled to get value out of Herald in my N'Zoth deck, usually a win more card. Great video though, I will continue to search for ways to use him.