Best Legendaries to Craft for Fun or Profit: Kobolds & Catacombs
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Hearthstone player in possession of fresh dust from a new expansion, must be in want of some legendaries.
It doesn’t matter if a player pre-purchased the 50 pack bundle, or only buys packs with coins. When a new expansion is released, one question will always be asked: what legendaries should I craft?
Impatient players (like me) will usually craft what they or the community predicts the best cards will be, or simply whichever cards sounds the most fun (also me). However, frugal players know that it’s better to wait awhile and let the meta settle before spending that precious dust on a card that could very well turn out to be a dud.
Well, Kobolds and Catacombs has been out for over two months now — nerfs have come and gone, and the meta has had plenty of time to settle. It’s time to craft some legendaries! Below are the most popular, most powerful, or all-around most useful legendaries from the expansion. These are the cards the pros are running, the cards the community is loving, and the cards you will likely see again and again on the ladder. Make sure to check out the bonus section at the end for that cards that aren’t necessarily the best, but they are h*cking fun (12/10 would craft if I had the spare dust). They’re good cards, Brent.
Kingsbane
Ah, Kingsbane. The legendary Rogue weapon. Though seemingly weak at first glance, this 1/3 weapon has a deathrattle that makes it one of the best of the bunch. If for some reason you haven’t encountered this card yet (lucky you), not only does it shuffle back into your deck, but it also retains any enchantments that were cast on it.
Why It’s Good:
It really boils down to the fact that it keeps any enchantments, as mentioned above, on top of being shuffled into your deck. This means the weapon (if played right) just gets more and more powerful throughout the match. We’ve seen cards that return to your hand before, such as Tentacles for Arms and also this expansion's Val'anyr. However, neither of those come close to Kingsbane in how frequently you’ll see it in play.
Consistently buff this weapon and by the end of the game, it’s easy to reach 9+ damage with Lifesteal. This makes it beyond difficult for your opponent to maintain control and chip away at your health.
Once someone starts running this card, it almost seems inevitable that they’re going to win, even if it they have to resort to fatiguing you to death. They’re able to avoid fatigue because the weapon keeps going back into their deck, and they get all that Lifestealing goodness from hitting you in the face once all your minions are destroyed, while you no longer have any cards.
Note on Kingsbane Mill Decks: I want you to imagine the most frustrating moments in your Hearthstone career. Perhaps it was the feeling of despair and helplessness playing against Quest Rogue back during its heyday. Or maybe it was the first (50) times you played against a Mill Rogue deck (Fun Fact: Dante came back to life just to let us all know that the 10th Circle of Hell is for people who play Mill Rogue*). Remember those times? Fun stuff. Well get ready, because if you haven’t encountered a Mill Kingsbane Deck yet, you are in for a treat. It combines Mill with the almost unstoppable Kingsbane. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
*Dear People Who Play Mill Rogue, this is hyperbole. I don’t actually think this. I do vehemently dislike playing you, though.
Decks Running Kingsbane:
|
|||
---|---|---|---|
Minion (11) |
Ability (17)
|
Weapon (1)
|
Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (16) |
Ability (13)
|
Weapon (1)
|
Loading Collection |
Aluneth
Like drawing cards? This is the weapon for you, my friend. With this equipped, you draw three cards at the end of every turn. Depending on how well you support this card with the rest of your deck, it can either be a boon or a curse, so consider yourself warned!
Why It’s Good:
Put simply? The card draw. It gives you three cards at the end of each turn, which gives you a huge advantage over your opponent — as long as you can play them quickly and keep your hand relatively empty. However, it can be tricky to get right — much trickier than the other legendary weapons — because if you don’t play it right, it can become dangerous to you.
To help counter the weakness of overdrawing into fatigue, you can add Medivh to your deck to remove Aluneth, since when you play him you’ll equip Atiesh. Due to his high cost though, this strategy isn't everyone.
If you craft this card, it’s important to make sure that your deck is built around winning before you run out of cards. If you need ideas, check out these decks:
Decks Running Aluneth:
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (17)
|
Ability (12)
|
Weapon (1)
|
Loading Collection |
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (14)
|
Ability (15)
|
Weapon (1)
|
Loading Collection |
Dragoncaller Alanna
This legendary Mage minion has the powerful battlecry of “Summon a 5/5 Dragon for each spell you cast this game that costs (5) or more.”
Why It’s Good:
This card adds immediate presence in Big Spell decks and since the added minions are Dragons, they can’t be cleared immediately by a Priest using Dragonfire Potion, which is a nice benefit.
Alanna works really well in Big Spell decks and combines well with cards like Medivh, Spiteful Summoner, and other cards that benefit from high-cost spells. She isn’t the type of card that is good on her own, though — you have to use her in concert with other cards, so keep that in mind. If you want to read more about Big Spell Mage check out this awesome article.
When playing Alanna, try to cast at least three spells before you play her (the more the better, really) to maximize the benefit.
Decks Running Dragoncaller Alanna:
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (15)
|
Ability (14)
|
Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (18)
|
Ability (11)
|
Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
Skull of the Man'ari
There are a lot of weapons on this list, but this is the last one, I promise. This legendary Warlock weapon summons a demon from your hand at the start of your turn.
Why It’s Good:
Combining this weapon with minions like Voidlord and Doomguard can give you a devastating advantage over your opponent. It allows you to get powerful demons on the board well before you’d normally be able to play them, and saves you from spending the mana (and any negative battlecries). The key here is that you actually have to have a demon in hand at the start of the turn (the card’s effect happens before card draw for the turn). If you don’t have any demons in your hand, you get no benefits.
Decks Running Skull of the Man’ari:
|
|||
---|---|---|---|
Minion (16)
|
Ability (12)
|
Weapon (1) | Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
Rin, the First Disciple
Rin is an interesting card. I would have pegged her as more of a “fun” legendary than one that got a lot of play in serious decks, but here we are. You can find her included as an optional card in Control Warlock decks, so she isn’t as necessary to those decks as something like Skull of the Man'ari, but she is an excellent addition if you can afford her.
Why It’s Good:
First of all, it’s fun to play. I’m sure it’s not super fun for your opponent if you successfully play her and her subsequent cards and destroy their deck, but it’s probably fun for you.
Rin is a taunt minion with a very interesting deathrattle. It adds The First Seal to your hand, which sets off a very Jade Golem-like chain effect. The first seal summons a 2/2 demon and adds The Second sSeal to your hand. On and on this goes until you get to The Final Seal, with summons a 6/6 demon and adds Azari, the Devourer to your hand. Azari’s battlecry is to destroy your opponents deck.
So yeah, it takes a lot of cards, but the payoff is pretty damn big you can manage it. It should be noted that because of the high combined mana cost, this is another card that won't suit everyone.
Decks Running Rin, The First Disciple:
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (22)
|
Ability (7)
|
Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
Sonya Shadowdancer
Sonya is a legendary Rogue minion who has the passive effect “After a friendly minion dies, add a 1/1 copy of it to your hand. It cost (1).” Or in other words, make sure to clear her from the board ASAP!
Why It’s Good:
Rogues have a lot of good, low-cost minions with useful battlecry and deathrattle effects that this card can take advantage of. She’s great in combo decks and tempo decks. She enables combos easily with the low cost of the returned minion (and on top of that the minion still has whatever effect the OG card had, giving you double the benefit).
Sonya’s biggest benefit is being able to cheaply reuse poweful effects like Prince Keleseth and Jade Spirit. Make sure you keep that in mind when building your decks around her (or use it as motivation to remember to clear her as fast as you can if your opponent plays her – ignore her at your own peril).
Decks Running Sonya Shadowdance:
|
|
---|---|
Minion (24)
|
Ability (6)
|
Loading Collection |
|
||
---|---|---|
Minion (18)
|
Ability (11)
|
Playable Hero (1) |
Loading Collection |
Bonus Section!
Below are my favorite legendaries from this expansion that didn’t make the list. They might not see as much play, or be recommended as often as the cards above, but they are fun to play. If you have some extra dust around or you prefer to craft fun cards first, check these out:
What about you, what are your favorites? Do you recommend crafting these cards, or do you think there are better ones in this set? Which Kobolds and Catacombs legendaries did you craft? Make sure to let us know in the comments below!
Also be sure to check out our Legendary Tier List & Crafting Guide!
Thank you for all that effort you are giving for us!
Some notes on other legendaries ...
Zola the Gorgon -- Great for Quest Priest and highlander decks.
Rhok'delar -- OK for hunter outings.
Geosculptor Yip -- Probably will be the cornerstone of an eventual control warrior deck. Hopefully that day will come.
King Togwaggle -- I might retry this in a druid deck, as I've been running into a lot of control/combo decks and could use a new troll deck aside from warlock deck destruction using Gnomeferatus, Howlfiend, etc. Gold card, so it's got dust value.
Dragon Soul -- I slotted this as an option in Big Priest. Has come in useful that way, proccing 1-3 dragons per game. May have its time in the sun sometime in a later expansion.
Master Oakheart -- I wonder if this will become the successor to N'Zoth. So far I've only regularly and successfully used it in a jade/dragon druid deck. Used it to accelerate deathrattle decks, but seemed expensive and underpowered in pulls. Fun and interesting, though.
Landed Woecleaver recently, but haven't figured out a good deck for it. Still getting the hang of warrior.
/crafted Rin and Master Oakheart from this expansion
Great write up!
Only the secret mage decks will cost me less than 4500 dust.. so sad :(
Great article and very entertaining!
I've had horrible luck with drop rate this expansion, but tremendous luck with drop quality as most of these I've been lucky enough to obtain naturally.
I have just enough dust for a legendary craft and am contemplating adding Rin to my collection, but am also thinking of saving it for the next expansion. Decisions decisions...
I'm leaning towards 'craft it' for exactly your reasoning; I enjoy playing fun decks regardless of win rate. Rin seems right up my alley.
I'd recommend against Rin, for competitive use it isnt that potent, and for fun its outclassed by several other cards
If u have all the other cards, YES !
Take note that both Jade & N'zoth will rotate our of Standard pretty soon, but I am sure Sonya can be utilized in other decks as well. I am strongly considering to craft her myself.
"Kingsbane, seems weak at first glance." I don't get how this community doesn't see clear value. I never craft any cards for the first 2-3 weeks of an expansion due to low dust. Kingsbane was my only legendary I ever crafted the first day. Kingsbane was and is one of the best legends of this expansion from day one.
First card I intentionally crafted Golden my self
I certainly see it played well in ranked. I've had to retool a couple of my decks to be ready for it lately.
You’re my kinda nerd. Great writing. Allusion to classic lit should intersect with hearthstone more often.
Don't get me wrong, I love high skill ceiling decks which Bane Rogue undoubtly is and I love playing it for quests/fun, but it is so situational that I don't see any competetive viability outside Conquest Tournament where you target certain (control) deck (which is not good idea imo either).
No mention of Zola the Gorgon? I know it's not a must include in a lot of decks but I feel it's stronger than a lot of cards mentioned here and also has a better chance of being viable in future decks.
Zola is especially fun in wild, since if you combine her with Elise Starseeker....you get an all-golden legendary deck!
I like her simply because any minion I already have can be a golden with her. Especially cool with minions that have REALLY cool golden animations, like C'thun.
I crafted Zola a few weeks after expansion and absolutely love the card. I think we may need to wait until next expansion to see it truly shine. It is still a great card and I use it in my jade decks. It's absolutely insane in Shaman with Rumble. It's a good feeling on turn 10 to Zola a Jade Chieftain, Rumble the Zola + Chieftain and then drop the 1 mana Chieftain. Plus you keep Zola in hand for another Jade target. It can be pretty disgusting.
You know, Rhok'delar is a fun legendary as well. Even without Barnes + Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound combo, it's really fun, not so competitive, but fun.
Aside from the outdated decks, why is Geosculptor Yip on the list with Warrior in this state....? AndThe Darkness got even more fringe, after the nerf to Raza the Chained.