Aggro Warrior deck list guide - Descent of Dragons - Hearthstone (December 2019)

Aggro Warrior is a cross between various other archetypes for the start of Descent of Dragons. A whole bunch of cards were added to the game that help this deck succeed and synergise excellently with older aggro-based cards.

Aggro Warrior is all about going face. It’s similar to Pirate Warrior of old, and includes the new Descent of Dragons Pirate package, but isn't quite as easy to play. You're looking to play out your Pirates early, getting the tempo gameplan sorted and constantly refreshing your hand thanks to Ancharrr and Galakrond, the Unbreakable.

We’ve put together an Aggro Warrior deck list guide to help you on your way. The meta’s always developing, so we’ll keep updating this guide and adapting to the ever-shifting Hearthstone landscape.

Aggro Warrior deck list and strategy

As it’s a somewhat new archetype, given Warrior’s general presence as a control class, we’ve got the most popular Aggro Warrior deck list below. Check back for any updates, as we’re excited for this one going forward!

Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.

Deck Import ID: AAECAQcGyAOvBN6tA9KvA+iwA8XAAwywAo4F7gbnB53wAtqtA9ytA92tA/6uA6qvA+mwA4KxAwA=

General strategy

As an aggressive deck in name and nature, Aggro Warrior aims to get on board early and start hitting face straight away. Sky Raiders and Town Criers get you stable and drawing for later on in the game, and they're looking to hit face as much as they can without being out-tempoed on board.

The win condition is heavily reliant on overwhelming your opponent with minions. Livewire Lance gets you Lackeys, Inner Rage both increases a minion’s attack and activates Bloodsworn Mercenary’s Battlecry, and Grommash Hellscream is the finisher to end all finishers.

Early game: Plonk down your Town Crier or Eternium Rover and contest the board. Amani Berserker and Temple Berserker work well here too, as they force your opponent to deal with them or face being in an even worse position. Don’t worry about using a Bloodsworn Mercenary early on, especially on a Charge minion. All the chip damage you’re inflicting on your opponent matters enormously, so keep the pressure up before they can stabilise.

Mid game: Keep throwing minions at your opponent and apply the pressure. Unlike a lot of aggressive decks that rely on establishing board presence first, Aggro Warrior has so much potential from hand thanks to all the Charge cards available to the class. This means that any board presence build up is hugely dangerous to your opponent, who’ll be looking to clear it off as quickly as possible.

Cards like Frothing Berserker are especially scary, as the longer it stays alive, the bigger and badder it gets. Charge in with Kor'kron Elite, buffing and damaging your minions with Cruel Taskmaster and Inner Rage and using your Lackeys for all the effects they’re good for, from direct face damage to granting Rush to otherwise slower minions.

Late game: Your opponent’s health total should be looking rather unpleasant for them, and it’s about time you put them out of their misery. Grommash Hellscream along with a Cruel Taskmaster or Inner Rage represents a whopping 12 face damage, often enough to end the game on the spot. If not, there’s always the chance he survives given his high health total, and can be cloned with Bloodsworn Mercenary for even more damage. Bloodsworn Mercenary copies the Charge ability too, so using it on Leeroy Jenkins, Grommash Hellscream or Kor'kron Elite offers the immediate ability to hit face and kill your opponent.

Aggro opponents

Here are some important tips to help you best aggro decks:

• 1. You should be looking to out-aggro the aggro decks.
• 2. Eternium Rover works wonders against these kinds of deck, offering you armour gain and solid value trades against early drops.
• 3. If you can be more aggressive than your opponent and begin putting their health total in danger, they’ll be forced to make unfavourable trades with you, putting you firmly on the front foot.
• 4. Livewire Lance allows you to both deal with enemy threats and add a Lackey to your hand, a minion that is often able to influence the board immediately.

Control opponents

These tips will ensure you find a win against other control decks:

• 1. Don’t play around board clears too much. If they’re there, you’re in trouble, but if the opponent hasn’t drawn them, you’re golden.
• 2. Reborn minions like Temple Berserker can be really annoying for foes to properly clear, meaning they’ll likely stick around longer and deal damage to the opponent constantly while they wait to draw a response.
• 3. Remember that SN1P-SN4P and Zilliax can magnetise onto friendly Mechs for immediate damage.
• 4. A Frothing Berserker played on turn 3 can spell doom for a control opponent, as it’s unlikely they’ll be able to handle such constantly-building pressure until it’s too late.

Aggro Warrior Mulligan guide

Keep hold of these cards when you start off:

• 1. Town Crier: Hear ye, hear ye, establishing board presence as well as drawing a Rush minion is a really good turn 1 play.
• 2. Eternium Rover: Cleaning commencing… of your opponent’s early drops, especially if you can magnetise a SN1P-SN4P onto this.
• 3. Temple Berserker: If you’ve got this guy in your opening hand, keep hold. A 2 mana 1/2 looks a bit rubbish, but with its Reborn effect this minion is sticky and always resurrects with a boosted attack stat.
• 4. Livewire Lance: Offers immediate damage as well as a Lackey, huge value in the early game.

Aggro Warrior tips, combos and synergies

Aggro decks get a bad reputation for being brainless and easy. We wholeheartedly disagree with such a sentiment, and this one especially requires a level of attention in order to find lethal in all situations. Here’s our best tips for making the most of Aggro Warrior:

- Remember, your Bloodsworn Mercenary is massively powerful when copying minions with Deathrattles, meaning it can flood the board with beefed-up mechs if the board state allows.

- Livewire Lance adds a Lackey to your hand, which gives you a strong Battlecry effect if played correctly. You’ll need to always be looking out for lethal with Goblin Lackey or Kobold Lackey especially, as they often represent the immediate damage you need to secure victory.

- Battle Rage is a fantastic way to refill your hand after playing out a bunch of stuff. Remember that your Hero counts towards the draw, so if you’ve taken face damage you get that extra draw. It might even be worth hitting a minion with your weapon to ensure you’ve taken a bit of damage - health is just a resource after all.

- Bloodsworn Mercenary offers the opportunity for massive burst damage with your Charge minions. Leeroy Jenkins with a Battle Rage puts the minion’s attack at 8, and copying it with Bloodsworn Mercenary gives you 16 damage (provided the enemy doesn’t have taunts) for just 8 mana.

- Restless Mummy is exceptional for clearing enemy Taunts out of the way. Its Reborn ability allows it to attack twice with Rush in one turn, dealing 6 damage, as long as it takes 2 damage during the first attack.

- Cruel Taskmaster gives a minion a permanent +2 attack, but can also be used to damage enemy minions if it’s absolutely necessary.

- Town Crier will always draw you a Rush card, meaning you’ll get Zilliax, Restless Mummy or Militia Commander - all extremely impactful plays.

Aggro Warrior card choices and substitutions

Aggro Warrior needs a certain few cards to work reliably. Here are our most important choices:

• Leeroy Jenkins: The quintessential Charge minion, this guy acts as a great finisher either on his own or combined with the strong synergies found in this deck.
• Grommash Hellscream: When damaged he has 10 attack and Charge. We’ll say that again. 10 (Ten) attack and Charge (!) This can be buffed even more with a couple of Inner Rages and a Cruel Taskmaster to really shock your opponent in the late game.
• Town Crier: You need to get on the board early, and this guy gets it done and starts your card draw to boot.
• Battle Rage: Being an aggressive deck, you’ll need to refill your hand every once in a while, and given that this deck aims to keep friendly minions damaged, Battle Rage can draw a huge amount.
• Zilliax: Can be magnetised onto Eternium Rover and SN1P-SN4P for direct damage or Rush in to whack enemy minions out of the way, healing you in the process if needed.
• Kor'kron Elite: It’s a card from the Basic set, so it’ll be in your collection no matter how F2P you are. The Charge ability is so rare in Hearthstone these days, and for 4 mana it offers immediate damage and combo potential.
• Bloodsworn Mercenary: The card this deck was built around, Bloodsworn Mercenary can be used to apply pressure early on as well as finish opponents off when combined with Charge minions.