One of the strongest and most frustrating decks to play against in the current meta is the Witchwood Hadronox Taunt Druid.
But stress no more, by playing any of the best decks to beat taunt druid I’ve covered in this article you’ll have few problems with this deck.
The thing about Taunt Druid is that it’s really a form of concede deck. It sucks to carry on playing against it when you’re behind as you know there are going to be endless taunts you’ll never get through so it’s often easier to concede then play out the game.
Taunt druid works by ramping up in the early turns, dropping taunts to preserve health, then using Hadronox + Naturalize to respawn all the taunts that have died.
If that wasn’t enough to block ever dying, Druid can then play Witching Hour to bring back Hadronox and kill it again with either Naturalize or Carnivorous Cube (which brings back two more Hadronox when killed).
So, to beat Hadronox Taunt Druid you need to either:
- Rush them down with an aggro deck before they can make a taunt wall.
- OTK them which allows you to ignore their taunts.
- Or, destroy parts of their Hadronox + Naturalize combo.
There are a few decks that meet these win conditions, here are the best decks for each archetype:
Best Aggo Deck to Rush down Taunt Druid – Odd Rogue
Aggro Rogue has a good combination of minion pressure, removal, burst damage, and a hero power that does 2 damage per turn.
It’s a slightly favored matchup because the Rogue can often take advantage of the game plan of Hadronox Druid that requires several turns to ramp up and start playing taunts.
The Gameplan:
Drop minions early, use your hero power to push extra damage and remove minions, and use Vilespine to remove big taunts or Ironbeak Owl to silence them to carry on pushing damage.
Here’s the deck code for this Odd Rogue:
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Best OTK Deck to Beat Taunt Druid – Shudderwock Shaman
Shudderwock Shaman is also favored as this deck does damage and heals once you hit the Shudderwok combo.
Taunt Druid is slow enough that you can get the combo off more often than not.
There will be the rare game when they ramp too fast, or Shudderwok plays the Grumble battlecry before the Chain Gang, but you’ll have a positive win ratio once you master the deck.
The Gameplan:
Cycle cards as fast as possible to play the core combo pieces (battlecries) for the infinite Shudderwock combo:
- Zola the Gorgon
- Lifedrinker
- Saronite Chain Gang
- Grumble, Worldshaker
Shudderwock continues to do damage to face from the Lifedrinker battlecries and returns to your hand for 1-mana to be replayed.
Here’s the deck code for this Shudderwock Shaman:
AAECAaoICN4F08UCnOICq+cCw+oCp+4CnvAC7/cCC/kDgQT1BP4Fsgb7DJfBAsfBApvLAvPnAu/xAgA=
Best Control Deck to Beat Taunt Druid – Control Priest
Of all the decks to beat Taunt Druid Control Priest is the most devastating as it destroys their Naturalize’s and steals Hadronox.
The only real stumbling block is hitting your key cards before the Druid can ramp up and kill off their first Hadronox.
The Gameplan:
Cycle through your deck to find Skulking Geist and Mind Control. (or make another copy of Mind Control with Shadow Visions).
When you play Geist the Taunt Druid can no longer kill their own Hadronox after playing it in the same turn.
You can then use Mind Control to steal Hadronox. This stops them bringing it back with Witching Hour and usually sends them to hitting the concede button pretty fast.
Here’s the deck code for this Control Priest:
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