Deck Guide: Elemental Shaman - Shaman is Back in the Meta!

After the first Perils in Paradise balance update, some decks lost some space, as others gained some.

Elemental decks, however, remained strong, and Elemental Mage became the second most victorious list according to HS Replay. If you want to check out how to play with this deck, which has no epics or legendaries, just click here.

As for Elemental Shaman, it is currently the fourth-best deck in the meta, with a 58.16% win rate, according to HS Replay on August 10th, 2024.

Unsurprisingly, Elemental Shaman includes 27 Elementals. Your goal is to play them as much as you can, considering this deck also includes cards that are better when you do so, such as Flame Revenant, Lamplighter, Skarr, the Catastrophe, as well as other minions.

One detail that sets this list apart from the Elemental Mage list is that it has even less spells, and, instead, it plays Magatha, Bane of Music. She is the only tribeless minion in the deck, and will be your main source of card draw. Otherwise, this deck only has two spells, so the chance you'll give your opponent one of your spells is quite low.

The idea behind playing just these two spells is so that you'll always have an Elemental to play, and the list itself already includes many 1 and 2-cost minions, precisely so that you start playing them already in the first few rounds.

Minions

For the first turn, we have Shock Hopper, Glacial Shard and Fire Fly.

As for the next turn, there are four options, each different in their own way. You can fight the enemy board with Rolling Stone's Rush, create more resources to your hand with Shale Spider and Menacing Nimbus, or use Flame Revenant to buff the stats of your next Elementals.

Meltemental has great stats compared to how much it costs, but its drawback is that it will always be Frozen. Its Taunt will be incredibly useful to hold off enemy pressure, as well as defending important minions, such as Flame Revenant.

Minecart Cruiser also has great stats compared to how much it costs, and also has Rush. Its drawback would be the fact it has Overload (2), but you won't have to deal with that if you played an Elemental on the previous turn, which is quite likely, considering this list.

Lamplighter was slightly nerfed in the last balance patch, and now costs 4 mana instead of 3. However, this didn't alter this deck's win rate all that much, considering you usually play this card in your final turns, when you've already increased its damage to eight or nine. In this same balance patch, they also buffed it and gave it +1/+1 to make up for the extra mana.

Another minion that is better when you play Elementals is Living Prairie, which gives your board a lot of value.

As for a card that also gives you a lot of value, but in your hand instead of your board, we have Magatha, Bane of Music, which, as we mentioned before, is your main source of card draw.

One of the main characters in this list is also Incindius which shuffles 5 Eruptions in your deck; when you draw them, you'll deal damage to all enemies. You'll upgrade these Eruptions after each turn Incindius remains on the board.

As we're talking about dealing damage to all enemies, it's important to mention Skarr, the Catastrophe, which does exactly that. Its effect improves after each turn in a row you've played an Elemental.

Kalimos, Primal Lord is the most flexible card in this list, and its Elemental Invocation gives you four options: fill your board with 1/1 Elementals, Restore 12 Health to your hero, deal 6 damage to the enemy hero, or deal 3 damage to all enemy minions. It is efficient in many situations, as you can use it defensively or offensively.

Finally, the most expensive minion in this list is Azerite Giant, but you can even cast it for free, depending on how many turns in a row you've summoned Elementals.

Spells

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, we only use 2 copies of a single spell. Trusty Companion is a great low-cost buff, and also another source of card draw in this deck.

Unlike Elemental Mage, which relies heavily on Lamplighter, Elemental Shaman gives you multiple win conditions. Of course, two Lamplighters in a row can still defeat an enemy, so keep that in mind.

Nonetheless, we have other win conditions that stand out, like the Incindius + Meltemental combo. You'll use Incindius' Taunt to protect it for as many turns as you can, and thus deal more and more damage with your Eruptions until you can defeat your enemy. Magatha, Bane of Music will help you draw your Eruptions.

Another minion that can, potentially, win you some games is Kalimos, Primal Lord, if you use it to deal damage to the enemy hero directly through its Elemental Invocation.

Notice that neither of these options deal more than twenty damage, so I strongly suggest you attack your opponent's face as much as you can early on. After all, this deck plays many low-cost Elementals with great stats, so try to make the most out of them!

Your Mulligan is quite simple: look for 1 and 2 cost Elementals. Maybe the only exception to this rule is Glacial Shard, as it is more useful when your opponent plays another minion first.

Still, if it is your only option in your starting hand for your first turn, keep it, so you can start playing Elementals one turn after another.

Otherwise, just look for cheap minions.

Against fast decks, the best thing you can do is lean on Rolling Stone, Minecart Cruiser, and Living Prairie, as they have Rush.

Flame Revenant is also great for these matchups, as it buffs your board and makes it easier to deal with this type of opponent.

Control

Your main game plan is still the same against control decks.

Focus on playing minions every turn and dealing damage bit by bit. You won't have to deal with any enemy pressure, and you'll also have time enough to draw your Lamplighters. When you can already deal eight or nine damage with it, use them and win the game.

If that's not enough, remember: you have other win conditions.

Elemental Shaman is relatively easy to play, so I strongly recommend it for new players, or players that don't want to master extremely precise combos to win a match.

I hope you learned something from this article and that you enjoyed reading it.

What do you think of this deck? Tell us all your thoughts in our comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!