Shudderwock


 * ''For the boss of the same name, see Shudderwock (boss)

Shudderwock is a legendary shaman minion card, from the The Witchwood set.

Fixed bugs

 * Prior to a hotfix, Shudderwock did not copy Drustvar Horror's Battlecry, despite showing as activated.

Strategy
Shudderwock is a powerful value play that requires specific deckbuilding. In order to reach late game to have drawn and played Shudderwock, the deck needs a strong Control backbone. Shaman has access to several powerful control options, such as Volcano and Lightning Storm. Strong Battlecries to copy include Elise the Trailblazer, Hagatha the Witch, Kalimos, Primal Lord, Baleful Banker, and Zola the Gorgon. Shudderwock is fairly weak with targeted Battlecries like Hot Spring Guardian and Fire Elemental, since it leaves these effects up to chance.

Shudderwock can be used to close out games by repeating the Battlecries of Lifedrinker, Doppelgangster, Saronite Chain Gang, Grumble, Worldshaker, and Murmuring Elemental. Lifedrinker will deal high damage to the opponent when repeated enough, Doppelgangster will create more Shudderwocks, Grumble will return the Shudderwocks to your hand and reduce their cost to 1 allowing you to play another Shudderwock, and Murmuring Elemental will cause your next Shudderwock to activate twice. To improve the consistency of this combo, you can use Fire Plume Harbinger to reduce Murmuring Elemental's cost and Sandbinder to draw several combo pieces.

Like all combo decks, decks focusing on Shudderwock are vulnerable to Aggro and Tempo, which can defeat them before Shudderwock is properly set up.

Lore
Shudderwock is unique to Hearthstone.


 * ''The earliest mentions of this bizarre entity were recorded in nonsensical children’s rhymes. As a result, initial reports of the Shudderwock in the woods were dismissed as the hysterical prattle of an unhinged mind. The poor soul was indeed unhinged, but the Shudderwock lurking in the Witchwood is nonetheless terrifyingly real.


 * Our arcanists are as puzzled by this entity as they are by Baku the Mooneater. Like Baku, Shudderwock is unique to the Witchwood, and seems to exist somewhere on the edge of reality, defying easy description as well as physical and arcane laws. In fact, it is unclear if this creature is “real” in the way that one generally uses the word, though it certainly exists''. Was it always so, or is the Shudderwock yet another testament to Hagatha’s power?


 * Speculations as to its nature are immaterial; we would be wise to heed the oft-repeated warning to beware the Shudderwock! It is incredibly'' dangerous, warping reality wherever it walks, leaving those who meet it jabbering wrecks, pale shadows broken by darkest hex. They fail to understand they are out of time, when their speech begins to rhyme. Can they recover from this diminished state? Being devoured would be a kinder fate.


 * (Note: It seems that there was supposed to be more in this report, but it ends abruptly mid-page. Nor have we had further contact with this agent after the report was delivered. Curiouser and curiouser…)

At best guess, the Shudderwock was a before Hagatha got her claws into him.

Trivia

 * Shudderwock is a reference to the Jabberwock, a creature featured in "", a nonsense poem by included in his 1871 novel . Shudderwock's card art specifically pays homage to 's.
 * Shudderwock's flavor text is a reference to the "vorpal sword," the weapon used in the poem to slay the Jabberwock, as well as to the Vorpal Dagger Dungeon Run treasure card.
 * Shudderwock's quotes are also taken from the poem. Its entrance quote is taken from a description of the Jabberwock, its attack quote is the sound the of hero's vorpal sword and its death sound is a "burble," which is the sound the Jabberwock makes in the poem as it approaches the hero.

Patch changes

 *  - Reverted back to producing a maximum of 30 battlecries.
 * Battlecry animation speed has been doubled. Now reproduces a maximum of 20 Battlecries.
 * Added.