Hearthstone: Hex Lord Malacross Guide - How to defeat Malacrass, tips, Prize Fighters and Shrines

Now that the meta has started to settle a little, we're all looking forward to getting stuck into the new single player content that's being launched as part of the Rastakhan's Rumble expansion.

This time around it's called Rumble Run, and will once again see you facing off against a series of boss encounters that will become increasingly tricky to tackle. Along the way you'll gain new spells and minions from beating these bosses.

Before starting your run, you'll first of all have to choose your team by picking their Shrine. This is a powerful passive minion that provides a bonus passive effect on the board, and so you'll likely want to build your deck around it over time.

As you head through each Rumble Run attempt, you might find yourself facing off against the mighty Hex Lord Malacross, who essentially represents the Mage class in Hearthstone.

In this article you'll find details of Malacross's Shrines and minions, and we also have strategy advice for handling the encounter now that the Rumble Run mode has been live for a short while.

Head back to our core Rumble Run guide for more help with the latest single-player content.

This article contains additional reporting by James Pickard

Other Rumble Run boss guides:

• Wardruid Loti - Wardruid Loti guide (Rumble Run)
• Zul'jin - Zul'jin guide (Rumble Run)
• Hex Lord Malacrass - Hex Lord Malacrass guide (Rumble Run)
• High Priest Thekal - High Priest Thekal guide (Rumble Run)
• Princess Talanji - Princess Talanji guide (Rumble Run)
• Captain Hooktusk - Captain Hooktusk guide (Rumble Run)
• Zentimo - Zentimo guide (Rumble Run)
• High Priestess Jeklik - High Priestess Jeklik guide (Rumble Run)
• War Master Zoone - War Master Voone guide (Rumble Run)

Hex Lord Malacrass Shrines

If you find yourself fighting Hex Lord Malacrass then he'll start the game with one of the following three Shrines. The one he gets is chosen completely at random:

• Jan'alai's Flame: Your Hero Power costs (0). Whenever it kills a minion, refresh it
• Jan'alai's Mantle: Has Spell Damage +1 for each spell in your hand
• Jan'alai's Progeny: Whenever your Freeze a character, put a Frostfire into your hand

Hex Lord Malacrass Cards

Malacrass comes with a collection of extremely potent minions, and you might even have the chance to unlock one or more of them for your deck. Here's what you're likely to face in the Malacrass fight:

• Fan of Flames: Start of Game: Draw this. Battlecry: Upgrade your Hero Power
• Fireslinger: After you cast a spell, cast a Fireball at a random enemy
• Frostweaver: Your Hero Power also Freezes the target. If the target is a Frozen minion, destroy it
• Glyph Guardian: Whenever a character is Frozen, gain Spell Damage +1
• Razzle Dazzler: Taunt. Battlecry: Fill your hand with Arcane Missiles
• Showstopping Conjurer: Rush. Overkill: Draw a spell from your deck

Hex Lord Malacrass Tips and Strategy Advice

Hex Lord Malacrass can either be a hilariously easy encounter or a particularly troublesome one depending on the Shrine he gets. Here’s some advice for dealing with all of them:

Jan'alai's Flame:

• This deck is built around Malacrass’ hero power, so expect to see cards such as Daring Fire-Eater as ways to buff it further.
• Where possible, try to avoid playing minions that only have one Health. They’ll just be easy pickings for his hero power and if there’s a Pyromaniac on the board you’ll give him some immense card draw value too!
• Malacrass will also bring back some old Inspire cards into the deck, so it’s worth removing them when they come into play.
• As for killing off the Shrine, that can definitely be less of a priority, especially in the earlier rounds when sending eight damage to his life total is more worthwhile than stopping a free hero power every turn.
• Once you reach the mid game and your minions move into higher Health totals then the hero power becomes far less threatening anyway, so don’t be too concerned if it’s going to survive for a number of turns.

Jan'alai's Mantle:

• This Shrine can enable some ridiculous plays for Malacrass. He holds a lot of spells in this deck so assume that at least half of his hand is spell cards.
• While there are some huge plays to be made with this effect, though, we once again have to thanks Hearthstone’s moronic A.I. for being unable to put it to full effect. Expect Malacrass to waste big board clears and damage spells on your weak minions in the early turns.
• Once your weaker minions are out of the way you should be able to stick on the board much more easily and take down the Shrine. Once it’s dormant then a lot of the deck’s power vanishes.
• On a turn before his Shrine revives, though, make sure you don’t overcommit too hard onto the board. It’s almost guaranteed the next spell he plays will be some form of board clear such as Arcane Explosion or Blizzard.
• Malacrass also brings Ice Block back out of the Hall of Fame for this deck. When there’s a Secret in play be aware that your next hit may not be the one that kills him.

Jan'alai's Progeny:

• Naturally this deck is packed full of Freeze effects, so expect a slow a frustrating game ahead where Malacrass will try to stall you as much as possible.
• The late game is where this deck thrives too, with cards such as Archmage Antonidas and Malygos, so try to end the contest as soon as possible.
• Frostweaver can be a painful card to deal with when combined with all the Freeze effects in the deck. When this minion enters play make it your priority over everything else or your entire board could disappear before you know it.
• Similarly, Glyph Guardian represents some serious power if left unchecked. All the Freeze effects could stack up some insane bonus Spell Damage.