Hearthstone - Deck Guide: Handbuff Death Knight, the Strongest DK List Right Now

The list we'll discuss today might only play one legendary and be relatively simple, but it has a great win rate - 57.98%, according to HSReplay on April 21st, 2025.

Handbuff Death Knight, currently considered a tier-1 list, is a viable option for all types of players: from beginners or free-to-play players with smaller collections to competitive players.

We, at Cards Realm, tested this Handbuff DK list personally and decided to bring you a full guide on how to play it, its win conditions, best cards, and mulligan. Check it out!

Just like other popular Handbuff versions, like Hunter Handbuff, the goal is to buff the minions in your hand. It's actually quite simple: build a mighty board to put pressure on your opponent as much as you can.

Still, this list is a bit different from all the others. The Death Knight version puts even more minions in play, so it is even more aggressive. On the other side, it plays just a few spells to buff the cards in your hand.

This means you might get too many minions but no buffs, as the image below shows.

However, in general, we can easily build an aggressive board after a few turns.

Lesser Spinel Spellstone, Blood Tap, and Amateur Puppeteer are your three main cards to buff the minions in your hand. Please note that getting Corpses is critical if you want to build a strong board.

An interesting combo to buff your minions even more is playing Amateur Puppeteer and its Miniature while Brittlebone Buccaneer is in play. With its Reborn, you'll double its Deathrattle.

To avoid the problem we've already mentioned - a hand full of minions and no buffs, this list plays card draw like Chillfallen Baron and Sanguine Infestation. They'll find us what we need, and also give us more minions to buff.

Lists like these often need more time to work, so this one plays a few cards to stop enemy threats and get that time, like Dreadhound Handler, Morbid Swarm, and Poison Breath.

You can use Poison Breath on the Undead minion with Rush you get from your Hero Power. It is a great removal for most situations.

Nightmare Lord Xavius is the only legendary card in Handbuff Death Knight. It Discovers a minion from our deck and also gives it a Dark Gift, which is often incredible.

Let's move on to the stars of the deck. This list plays many cards that make your handbuffs even stronger. Shambling Zombietank and Nerubian Swarmguard summon copies of themselves when you play them. If you need Lifesteal to stay alive and stall the match, Rainbow Seamstress and Gnome Muncher are critical. They both attack on the turn you play them.

Toysnatching Geist discounts the cost of the Undead it creates by its Attack. When you buff it well, you'll be able to play really expensive minions nearly for free.

Finally, Darkthorn Quilter will deal, at random, damage equal to its Attack to all enemies, including the enemy hero, after you end each turn. This means, the more Attack it has, the better.

As this list plays so many minions, we can't mention just one or two as its main win condition. In some situations, for instance, if you're being threatened with very little life left, Rainbow Seamstress and Gnome Muncher are your best options. If you want to put pressure on the opponent, Shambling Zombietank and Nerubian Swarmguard can be the way to win.

As this deck is a bit slow, focus on the few cards you can use to beat the enemy board. Morbid Swarm, Dreadhound Handler, and Chillfallen Baron, for instance, are the best combination. With them, you'll be able to defend yourself and draw more resources at the same time.

If you're feeling a bit bold, you can keep Amateur Puppeteer in your opening hand.

Aggro

This list can control more aggressive decks, so focus on your mulligan and buffing other minions. Many of them have Taunt or Lifesteal, so you'll easily be able to deal with the pressure these decks put on their opponents.

Control

Slower decks are a bigger challenge. I highly recommend you don't wait around to play your minions. Play a few of them even before you can use all your buffs, as you'll have to attack your opponent's life points early on. It is critical.

Handbuff Death Knight is cheap, easy, and incredibly strong. I highly recommend you test it out a few times!

What did you think of this list? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!