by stormraige23 - 3 years ago     show comments

Illidan

Have some difficulty with the solo adventures? Or just wanted to know a little bit more about the stories behind each battle? Each week I’ll write a step by step guide to each adventure and a little bit of lore background… and where it all went wrong. This week we’re exploring my namesake Illidan Stormrage. This badassmotherfucker doesn’t look nearly as badass as he should… but it does give you a feel for why he is always so angry.

Chapter 1 Prince Arthas.

Lore Background: This story starts in the middle of Warcraft 3. Before any of this there is a long history of Illidan being banished for betraying his own people… sort of… it’s a light betrayal… and it killed a lot of demons! Look what I’m saying is he isn’t the bad guy everyone says he is. Ugh… but I don’t have time to go into all the things that AREN’T in the solo adventure… wait where was I?

The story starts with Tyrande decideing that the night elves need more help against the scourge/burning crusade. Tyrande goes into the underground prison where Illidan is held in order to free him while Illidan’s brother Malfurion goes to awaken the druids of the claw. In the next chapter Illidan goes to prove his worth to both Tyrande and Malfurion claiming that his freedom will not be wasted.

On their journey Illidan comes across Arthas who challenges him to a duel. The two are equally matched and Arthas reveals that in order to become more powerful Illidan would have to consume the skull of Gul’dan, a powerful demonic artifact. Illidan searches and finds the skull, however,  in one of the weaker sections of writing in all of Warcraft 3, Illidan consumes the skull and becomes nearly all powerful. This then leads to Malfurion banishing him to the forest because…. ?!?!?!?! There’s essentially no real reason presented in the game.

Illidan kills some demons, becomes more powerful, and kills more demons. You’d think it would all be gravy… but alas Malfurion is mad because… ?!?! Not a fan of Malf. TREAT YOUR BROTHER BETTER MALFY BOY.

Strategy

Goal: Defeat 13 enemy minions. Because this has nothing to do with dealing damage it’s all about those trades baby.

Turn 1-3: Keep battlefield and Dreadlord’s Bite. Play Battlefield. Kaldorei Memories. It’s an insane card for just two mana. It is always worth it. Play Dreadlord’s bite when you draw it for it’s outcast effect.

Turn 4: Felgorger if you have the board under control or eye beam/hero power if you’re struggling for tempo. The goal should always be to clear the board when possible.

Turn 5: Eyebeam+Death’s Bite should be enough to clear most of the board.

Turn 6: The biggest pain in the ass to deal with is the devouring ghoul. There’s no real way to play around it so just kill everything when you can.

Turn 7: Keep developing and drawing cards. Arthas will likely hero power here which in the end will help you long term because it will put more dudes out on the field. Keep in mind you can always attack Arthas, it just doesn’t deal any damage. This is useful for trying to bump up the attack on your battlefields.

Turn 8: Play Gan’arg Glaivesmith+Warglaives to clear everything. If you’re lower on health eye beam should be able to help out a bit.

Turn 9: Clear the board and GG for you.

Chapter 2: Tichondrius

Lore Background. This takes place immediately after the Arthas fight and leads to him claiming the Skull of Gul’dan which causes all the other stuff that I discussed above. Illidan does GOOD here. I can’t emphasize it enough. He’s a good boy doing his best good boy work.

Mulligan: Fuck it, keep it all.

Goal: Deal 40 damage to win. Keep in mind that your upgraded hero power is busted. Abuse it however you can. Again do not concern yourself in general with dealing damage to face. You certainly can, but board is more important.

Turn 2: I like hero power+attack then play the weapon. It’s a little out of order but there aren’t any other spells you can cast to abuse the weapon really.

Turn 3: Did I mention that Kal’dorei memories is an insane card? Cast it. Then hero power and you’ve got some good damage.

Turn 4: You should be able to establish dominance of the board.

Turn 5: If the board is empty or under control go ahead and do some damage to face. Again it’s not always necessary, but it can be helpful. Did I mention hero power every turn? HERO POWER EVERY TURN!

Turn 6: Tichondrius doesn’t tend to play much for the board. The rest of the fight should be fairly self explanatory. Fight for board. If board is completely clean (as happens) then and only then go face.

Turn 7: HERO POWER.

Turn 8: This is the turn where you should roughly be able to get the skull. Now you switch strategy and just put everything into face. You have cards for literal days so no reason not to.

Turn 9: Do you have cards? No? Then draw cards. Yes? Play those cards and hit face.

Turn 10: See above until enemy is dead.

Chapter 3: Maiev

Lore Background: Time wise this skips ahead a great deal of time. In Warcraft 3 we don’t hear from Illidan again until the expansion of The Frozen Throne. In the Night Elf campaign you start out as Maiev Shadowsong whose sole intent is to put Illidan back in jail. Does everyone remember why he was in jail? Dude did some shit where he basically allied with some demons temporarily in order to shut down all demons. I DONT KNOW WHY THEY KEEP PUNISHING HIM FOR DOING GOOD THINGS!! Anyway Maiev kinda sucks but looks so fucking cool. She pursues him all the way to the Tomb of Sargaeras. Illidan is searching for secrets to extreme power by following Gul’Dans final steps (specifically searching for the eye of Sargeras). Spoiler? Not a cool place. Maiev is the only one of her forces to make it out alive and Illidan peaces out without a scratch.

Goal: To a murder to Maiev.

Strategy: You have access to essentially infinite card draw. Play your cards as quickly as you can. It is more importantly to use your mana efficiently rather than your cards. You can get more cards. Mana? Less so.

Turn 1: Play your one drop!

Turn 2: Play your two drop (or two one drops).

Turn 3: You should be able to curve our here as well.

Turn 4: “Naga Allies” sucks a bunch of ass. 3 mana to discover a pretty… adequate card? Only play it if you have no other options.

Turn 5: This is when Maiev can start using her hero power but it isn’t really that strong. It continually equips a weapon but it’s only a 3 attack 2 durability boy.

Turn 6: If you ever have the chance to grab Mur’Gul Reaver… that card is bonkers powerful.

Turn 7: Lady Vashj is likely in your hand go ahead and play her if you don’t have a Mur’Gul in your hand. The one card I like to hold back is Wrathscale Naga unless I have a board that can do a bunch of trades.

Turn 8: Illidari Inquisitor is still fine as an 8/8 with rush, but don’t expect to also be able to go face with it. There aren’t a ton of weapons in the deck.

Turn 9: Should be able to finish the fight with your board and any damage from your hand.

Chapter 4: Malfurion

Lore Background: So these two brothers? TWO BROTHERS! Clearly not fans of each other. More specifically Malfurion not a fan of Illidan. Illidan is jealous of Malfurion. They both wanna bone down with Tyrande. That’s…. that’s basically their entire relationship. Sure sure Malfurion stans will say there’s more complex things going on but… *fart noises.*

Illidan is trying to complete a spell at the top of the world to kill the Lich King permanently…. and instead of… I dunno asking questions?! Malfurion just goes “ehhhh I’m gonna do a murder” and then TRIES TO DO A MURDER WITHOUT ASKING QUESTIONS! At least ask questions before you do a murder. Anyway Malfurion sucks thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Strategy: This is another fight where you can’t go face at all and the only goal is to literally spend as much mana as you can.

Mulligan: Make sure to keep Felrattler.

Turn 1: Play your weapon and hold on. Malfurion is likely to flood the board and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it yet. You can try and Illidari studies into a dreadlord’s bite but then you’ve got to play whatever card you draw.

Turn 2: This looks bad right? Almost definitely. Just weather the storm for another turn.

Turn 3: Felrattler! What a card. Play it and swing into something. If it’s still alive use your weapon to force it to attack something else which should clear the board. Once the board is clear this fight is EZ.

Turn 4: Try to get your dread lord’s bite to active its outcast effect. Sometimes this can be a little awkward.

Turn 5: Try to establish board as much as you can. If you can keep removing threats you’re unlikely to lose. The only real way Malfurion wins is if you let his board stick.

Turn 6-7: Try to keep the board clear. Maiev will show up around turn 7 to stop the fight. Try to build up your own board as much as possible while not concerning about your health. Your board will stick around, your health resets to 30.

The fight will switch up so now you can use both brother’s powers. You’re now fighting some random death knight? This dude doesn’t actually exist so who cares what his name is.

Turn 8+: The fight here is quite simple. You have an advantage in card draw. Hero power, and minions. Draw cards. Play cards. Hit face. I can’t imagine why you’d want to use your hero power to heal… just draw cards with it if you need to. A fun gross combo is Solar Eclipse+Way of the Ancients… but the animation speed will take roughly sixty five days.

Lore Note: After this fight Malfurion finally realizes “hey maybe I was being shitty.” Hey Malf… my boy? You were. It look you too long to realize it.

Chapter 5: Magtheridon

Lore Background: Illidan decides to go to Outland to run away from the demon Kil’Jaeden. The solo adventure doesn’t really explain why so here’s the quick version. Illidan tries to kill the Lich King because while the Lich King was originally created to help create chaos and create an army that the burning legion could use to consume the world the Lich King actually has other ideas. The Lich King now wants to destroy the Burning Crusade so he can rule. Now WoW  and expanded lore slightly dispute who created the Lich King… but during Warcraft 3 it was the Burning Legion. Illidan agrees to kill the Lich King for Kil’Jaeden (Bad move Illidan) in exchange for power and safety. It doesn’t work because Maiev sucks so he runs away.

On his way to Outland he runs into Prince Kael’Thas and his Blood Elves. They are refugees of the war and trying to survive and find a source of mana that can satiate their people’s thirst for it after losing their beloved Sunwell. Illidan promises to help in exchange for their aid. Illidan, his trusted Lieutenant Lady Vashj, and new ally Prince Kael’thas peace out and find a portal to Outland. Illidan quickly dispatches the majority of the orcs that are there and marches on to the palace of Magtheridon in order to lay claim to the dreaded Black Temple.

Note Magtheridon and Mannoroth are both Pitlords and I have confused them many times. Mannoroth was the original tempter of the orcs who cursed them with demon taint… heh… taint… and Magtheridon is in charge of Outland until Illidan comes along. it might not matter in any important way… but there’s a fun fact for you at your WoW parties.

Goal: DO A MURDER

Strategy: You’ve got some insanely powerful boys. Kael’Thas is as he is in standard, but Akama and Lady Vashj are different. Akama deals a paltry three damage from a spell burst, but use it when you can. Lady Vashj has a frenzy that draws cards and reduces their cost. It’s your most powerful ability. Abuse is as much as possible.

Turn 1: Trigger Lady Vashj and play a battlefiend.

Turn 2: Your hero power is now a bit different. It’s one of the few times that you want to hero power before you play any cards. Trade your hero cards as often as possible. It doesn’t really matter if they die since they will quickly come back, and the sooner that Vashj dies the quicker you can trigger her ability to draw more cards.

Turn 3-5: Trade your hero’s as much as possible. Your main goal should be to abuse their mechanics and draw all of the cards.

Turn 6: Likely a big swing turn for Magtheridon, but once he plays all of his big demons he needs to take a chill pill. Save some removal for this turn or one of his big swing turns. You can more quickly recover than he can. If you do get to cast “Naga Allies” the only one worth it is to grab the Greater Myrmidon.

Turn 7+: Watch out for his hero power, but by and large he should only have that one big turn. After that… play your stuff. Keep a clean board and smash his face. You’ll have to be a little careful about drawing your entire deck because you will… but it should be about the same turn that you smash his face.

Chapter 6: Anub’Arak

Lore Background: This fight doesn’t actually happen in quite it appears to. But a lot of time takes place between chapters 5 and 6? Like… A lot… Illidan takes charge of Outland and becomes the undisputed ruler of the world. He is shortly found by Kil’Jaeden… you know, the dude he was fleeing from? He’s then told “Hey if you don’t go back and kill Arthas I’ll kill you and all your allies for real.” Illidan quickly pops right back into a portal to go back to Azeroth to finish the job. He starts a ritual at Northrend that will melt the Frozen Throne and cause the Lich King to die.

Strategy: Turns 1-3 your hero power is back to busted. Abuse it every single turn.

Turns 4-6: Work on building up some useful cards.

Turn 7+: Anub’arak’s hero power really isn’t THAT strong. No real reason to rush through things. Take your time. There’s plenty of life steal so make sure to use your health as a resource. Face tank most things and you should swim by fairly easily. I will say Lord of Outland is a very fun and cool card. I wish it existed in standard.

Chapter 7: Arthas… Part 2…The New Batch?

Lore Background: This is basically the exact same fight as Chapter 6. In Warcraft 3 during the undead campaign the player takes control of both Arthas and Anub’arak and fights to maintain control of the Scourge. They make their way to Northrend where they find Illidan trying to destroy the Lich King. So… it’s the same time and place as the last fight. What is unique to both the Warcraft 3 campaign mission and this fight is that both revolve around controlling obelisks. If either team control four obelisks the mission is over as they have unlocked the Frozen Throne and either save or destroy the Lich King. In this mission you don’t have to worry about Arthas controlling the obelisks so don’t freak out too much if it happens very early on.

Goal: Gain control of all four obelisks.

Turns 1-3: Not much to do. This is essentially an OTK Demon Hunter build. Your goal during these turns should be to draw cards and deal AOE damage when applicable. You don’t lose when Arthas gains control of all four obelisks so there’s no rush. Arthas also doesn’t deal a lot of damage so there isn’t much of a threat outside of that either.

Turns 4-6: Just like in a typical OTK DH deck your goal should be to draw cards, play cost reduction cards, and copy your demons that make minions take double damage from spells.

Turns 7-10: Take is slow and steady. Arthas will play a lot of Taunt so take advantage of your hero power to clear them out.

Turn 10+: There should be a turn that becomes readily apparent of AOE Damage+Mo’arg+Lady Vashj where you can do enough damage to finish off Arthas’ pathetic minions.

Quick note: Why the fuck did they decide to have Illidan do multiple fights that he HAS to lose because of lore? He loses against Maiev, he loses against Arthas… it feels weird. AND THATS NOT ALL

Chapter 8: Akama/Maiev… again…

AKA The Black Temple

Lore Background: This is a fairly massive time skip forward. This is after World of Warcraft and not until late in The Burning Crusade. In one of my least favorite twists that WoW ever pulled… Illidan is now an objectively awful dude? He went from complicated and doing the bad thing for good reasons to… just shitty? Anyway Akama comes in and kicks his ass with about 40 other adventurers. Good time. Also ANOTHER FIGHT ILLIDAN LOSES?! Can’t Illidan win… ONCE?!

Strategy: You’ll have to kill Akama and then survive for four turns while Maiev tries to kill you. That’s kind of her thing. She is ALWAYS wanting to murder Illidan… she’s a bit focused.

Turns 1-3: Not much to be had. Keep the minion that allows you to death rattle gain a mana crystal. And play them as you get them. Your hero power… sucks by the way. Don’t use it unless you have literally no other options.

Turns 4-6: Akama will play essentially an elemental shaman that is very board centric. As long as you maintain decent control on the board you should be fine.

Turn 7-10: This is when you should start drawing some of Illidans insane cards. For example “Summon Shadow Demon” is nutty powerful. Play it the second you can. Remember that you will have to hold off some of your AOE cards to counter Maiev when the fight switches to her. Don’t throw out your entire hand for a lethal. I pulled off a neat little lethal from 60 HP with the following play. Three shadow demons in play, smack in face with shadow demons, Ll’gynoth+Mo’Arg+ Felscream Blast for 42 damage.

MAIEV SWITCH.

One of the nice things is that if you do the above play as suggested you will deal damage, but your minions won’t die…yet.

This will cause Maiev to discard her whole hand once she reloads when your minions officially “die” causing their death rattles to trigger.

Turn 1-2: Hopefully you’ve kept some AOE of some sort. if you haven’t then this can get a little tricky. The board is now full, but it’s very little health. Clear them out and you should stabilize.

Turns 3-4: Recognize your brilliance. You finally did it. Great job.

Make sure to check back next week as I’ll try and get one of these bad boys done each week!