K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness

K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness is the final boss in Chapter 2 of Tombs of Terror.

Decks
This boss has 30 cards for each of three phases. During the phase change, K'zrath's deck is replaced by a new one and he draws three extra cards before his main deck. But if the battle continues after defeat in the second or third phase, K'zrath won't have extra cards in the second or third phase respectively.

Strategy
For Phase 1, it is important to plan out your plays a turn ahead. A good way to solve the problem of minions rotating is to pick cards during the run that generate 1/1s and other cards that on their own are poor, but has synergy with your deck. Combine this with the Band of Scarabs to make rotated minions significantly weaker and be willing to sacrifice the extra potential damage from the twist rather than betting on a large minion hitting what you need it to based on RNG. Survival is more important for both this and the next phase.

For Phase 2, placement of minions is critical. If you're lucky and the boss summons 1/1s then you can circumvent the loss of minions, while Divine Shield is invaluable to ensure that your minions live long enough to push through to Phase 3.

In Phase 3 you can be much more aggressive; don't worry about minions having their health reduced, because it only affects one minion, so its effectiveness is significantly reduced the more minions that you control. If you were lucky enough to get LOCUUUUSTS!!! treasure, then you can start to hammer the face, remember that it is not exclusively targeted towards minions, meaning that for 6 Mana you get 28 push damage if needs be. Combine this with Rocket Backpacks and you get huge burst damage and a good degree of board control, and as they're only 2/2s it is irrelevant if the health of one is reduced to one. Finley's Pith Helmet is another good counter to the Phase 3 Hero Power, as you can cycle health buffs to further render it irrelevant.

One problem that comes with the boss is the C'Thun hanging over the match, which can easily get to 30/30, making LOCUUUUSTS!!! even more valuable as potentially it reduces the battlecry damage significantly, assuming no trading before the boss plays C'Thun. Another is that you can easily get overwhelmed if the boss casts Psychic Scream when you have no cards in hand, so play conservatively, chipping damage down and controlling the board, while trying to maintain card advantage. Bubble Blower Hero Power is excellent for this, as it gives you one minion per turn for 1 Mana. If you manage to keep the board locked down then over successive turns you can easily build up card advantage.

Glyph of Warding will give you a huge advantage in this fight because K'zrath won't be able to play the strongest cards in his deck (Old Gods) and it also neutralises Doomcaller's ability to shuffle C'Thun into deck.

Overall, this boss required you to think ahead and make smart plays; make value trades when possible, if you can push face safely then do it, but don't be greedy, and make sure your hand has around six or seven cards to give you enough options. With a bit of luck and decent planning it is possible to defeat the boss in one sitting, though it certainly is somewhat RNG dependent.

Introduction

 * Reno Jackson
 * ''Your madness has no effect on me, because banana phlegm, farthing flymum..
 * Sir Finley
 * ''I shall not succumb to your madness! I do worry about Reno, however.
 * Elise Starseeker
 * ''I feel… confused. This creature is warping our minds!
 * Brann Bronzebeard
 * ''Madness! MADNESS! No, no - stay focused, Brann.


 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''Prepare to lose your minds!
 * ''Release your will. Succumb to the madness!
 * Your bravado masks your weakness, human. (vs. Reno Jackson)
 * Your companions look down on you, beast. (vs. Sir Finley)
 * Genius is just a gateway to madness, elf. (vs. Elise Starseeker)
 * Your companions are thieves, dwarf. (vs. Brann Bronzebeard)

Player's returning after defeat
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * Phase 1
 * ''I am not your only enemy here.
 * ''Deceivers surround you...
 * Phase 2
 * ''Your purpose wanes with each strike!
 * ''Traitors fill your ranks.
 * Phase 3
 * ''You must be mad to keep coming back!
 * ''Watch as your minions betray you further!
 * ''Will you let them stab you in the back again?

Battle
Emote Response
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''Beware. In just an instant, friend can turn foe.

Hero Power
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * Systematic Betrayal
 * ''The nightmare twists and turns...
 * ''Welcome to your new reality.
 * ''Nothing is as it seems...
 * ''Your mind shatters, piece by piece...
 * Evoke Panic
 * ''THIS is madness!
 * ''Reason means nothing.
 * ''A seed of chaos in every heart...
 * ''What will break you?
 * Murmurs of Mortality triggers
 * ''Trust no one.
 * ''Heed the whispering voices...
 * ''Surrender to fear!
 * ''Tsol si dnim ruoy!
 * ''Em ot gnoleb uoy!

Idle
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''Anyone who is not you is an enemy.
 * ''Friendship is only an illusion. It is easily shattered.
 * ''None have fought beside you without thinking of fighting against you.
 * ''I began as anxiety, turned to dread, grew into fright, and matured into madness.
 * ''Great minds are undone by the smallest questions.
 * ''Jealousy and paranoia are my playthings. Also crossword puzzles.

Phase changing
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * Transition to Phase 2
 * ''Sanity is a precious thing to waste...
 * Transition to Phase 3
 * ''You will never recover from this!

Twist - Plague of Madness triggers
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''The road to insanity is seldom smooth...
 * ''Your worst fears, realized!
 * ''You were right to worry...

Boss cards
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * Plague of Madness
 * ''How quickly they turn...
 * ''I see my words are getting through to you...
 * Clever Disguise
 * ''You can never tell...
 * Shadow Madness
 * ''No one is safe.
 * Surrender to Madness
 * ''Why not?
 * Spreading Madness
 * ''Yes...
 * Sahket Sapper
 * ''Dread the unknown.
 * Devour Mind
 * ''Oh, did you need that?
 * Mind Control
 * ''Idle minds are a Plague Lord's playthings...

Player's cards
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * Mind Vision
 * ''What you see may shock you...
 * Mogu Cultist
 * ''Ah, cultists... so easy to mold to my purposes!
 * Plague of Madness
 * ''So you are beginning to understand...
 * Mass Hysteria
 * ''
 * Blatant Decoy
 * ''Appearances can be deceiving.

Death
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''What have you done?

Defeat
 * K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness
 * ''The cruelest betrayal is the one you bring upon yourself.
 * ''Lose your mind--lose it all...
 * ''Your "friends" would have done this to you anyway...

Reno Jackson
New Emote
 * Reno Jackson
 * ''Maragibo, safluses!
 * ''Hergling flur dianomomo.
 * ''Coconut… boot… kahoogling.
 * ''Ah, cowda hericken zar zar.
 * Elise Starseeker
 * ''Oh no… I think the madness has taken hold of Reno…

Lore
K'zrath is unique to Hearthstone. It is one of the five sources of plagues that Rafaam has unleashed into Uldum. K'zrath is the embodiment of the Plague of Madness.

Patch changes

 * Saviors of Uldum logo.png Hotfix (2019-09-21): Fixed the issue causing Plague Lord persistent health fail to save.
 * Added.