How to beat Felstorm Run in Hearthstone’s Trial by Felfire Adventure

The first major roadblock players might encounter in Hearthstone’s newly-released adventure, Trial by Felfire, is the Felstorm Run encounter. You need to survive until the turn timer counts down to zero. But, as most players will find out, the AI places more and more minions as the game goes on, and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed.

Well, fear not! We have a winning strategy for you. If you follow it to the letter, your chances will significantly improve.

Spoiler alert: it involves always keeping your hand as full as possible, by not playing many cards — while abusing your Hero Power.

Start every turn by doing some quick math with your Hero Power

You hero power deals one damage (split between all enemies) for each card in your hand, so start by taking a good look at the initial board the AI has when you start the encounter. Can you kill it using your hero power? If so, do it, and pass. If not, restart the encounter until you do.

In the early game, you will keep repeating that strategy: use your Hero Power a lot and play as few cards as possible. The more cards in hand, the more damage you do, so you don’t want to play as few cards as possible while you wait for the timer to tick down.

Take a look at the above picture: nine cards in hand, and the enemy board has seven total health. What to do? Use your hero power, and pass. That’s it. That’s the ideal turn, that you want to see as often as possible.

Play order is important. Remember to maximize your hero power before playing cards — unless playing said cards would result in more damage than the damage you will lose for having one less card in your hand. For instance: if you see four two-health oozes on the board, and you have Exhaust Backfire — that card that deals two damage to every enemy minion — don’t use it, if your hero power will deal at least eight damage. It’s easy to overlook this. Which is why the first thing you do, before playing any cards, is math.

It bears repeating: even if it looks tempting to do so, don’t play cards. You’ve got a Target Dummy, which costs zero? Keep it in your hand. One less card in your hand is one less damage from your hero power every turn. That’s far more important than the measly two damage it would block.

In fact, save all your minions for as late as possible — preferably, only play them if their presence means that, on the following turn, an enemy minion will attack it and die.

The winning strategy is to keep both boards empty the whole time — yours, by not playing anything and the enemy’s by clearing it with your hero power.

Key cards to help you survive past the early rounds

Keeping the board clear with your Hero Power will work for a while. But at a point, you’re going to need to use other tools to survive long enough to escape.

• Turbo Boost! usage is crucial. Save at least one for the end of the game, when you’re about to be overwhelmed — it can end the encounter immediately if you have only one or two turns left to go, as seen in the picture above.
• Save Infernal Cannon (the card that blasts a random enemy for eight and steals another one) for later, when the opponent only has strong minions. This is another key card. You will want to clear the weaker foes first, and use it when there are only strong minions left. If you can follow it up with your hero power, after stealing a minion, even better.
• Save Exhaust Backfire for when:
  • it will kill a lot of minions, because the enemy board is full of minions with only one or two health left or…
  • there is a Mo’arg Artificer in the enemy board (which means they will all take four damage instead of two).
• Refueling is the hardest card to use. It seems like it would be pretty bad to add two turns to your escape, doesn’t it? But filling your hand gives you a very high advantage, and you have a chance of drawing extra Turbo Boosts!, which will counteract the turn loss.
  • Play this card once, early on in the game, for a very nice boost to your chances with the extra cards in your hand. As the encounter goes, repeat this as necessary. Don’t fret about the extra turns!
  • For an example, picture this scenario: you’re confronted with a single enemy minion that has six health, and you have five cards in hand. You use Refueling. You now have eight cards in hand. You use your hero power to kill the minion. You’ve cleared the enemy board, and your hero power is stronger for the next turn.
  • Two extra turns to end the encounter? That won’t matter as soon as you draw a Turbo Boost! And since you’re not playing many cards anyway, mana to play them should never be a problem.

I wouldn’t say that “the only winning move is not to play,” but it’s close enough. Playing as few cards as possible, keeping your hands full, and using your hero power to clear as much as possible, drawing cards when necessary to facilitate this, and saving up on your best cards (Exhaust Backfire, Infernal Cannon, and Turbo Boost!) for the late game should net you your victory. You’ve got this!