Hearthstone: Kobolds & Catacombs - Analyzing Skull of the Man'ari

As part of its upcoming Kobolds & Catacombs expansion, Hearthstone is adding an interesting new mechanic that takes weaponry to a (literal) new level. Legendary weapons are now a part of the game, giving each of the game's nine classes a Legendary weapon to wield. Each of these weapons has the potential to impact the game in various ways and Shacknews is going to break each of these arms down one-by-one.

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We're nearing the end of the weapon analyses. So for the sixth analysis, let's take a look at the demonic Warlock. And for its weapon, the Demon army only grows.

(5) Skull of the Man'ari (0/3)
Type: Weapon
Class: Warlock
Rarity: Legendary
At the start of your turn, summon a Demon from your hand.
Source: Atlas on YouTube

Skull of the Man'ari At A Glance

The most pedantic way to describe Skull of the Man'ari would be to call it Alarm-o-Bot: The Weapon. At its most basic essence, that's what this weapon is. It takes a minion from your hand and puts it on the battlefield. And because it comes at the start of the player's turn, that minion won't be able to attack right away.

Given that this weapon only works with Demons, the 5-mana cost might be too slow to work with most decks. But it might also prove more useful than one might think, so let's break this down a little further.

Skull of the Man'ari Synergies

This is obviously going into any kind of Demon Warlock deck. It's a highly beneficial weapon that can get Demons out onto the playing field, but without any of the negative Battlecries that a lot of them have. Flame Imp won't shoot you in the face, Lakkari Felhound won't discard two cards, and Doomguard can come out swinging right away. Freeing up that excess mana can mean a lot in the later game, especially because it means those Demons can get buffed up with something like Bonemare.

But what some Hearthstone theorists on Reddit and Hearthpwn have pointed out is that this also frees up precious mana to start the Rin, the First Disciple cycle. Bringing out small Demons for 5 mana is exceptionally costly, unless Skull of the Man'ari is already putting bodies on the board. That helps minimize this strategic risk a lot. It's still a long way to get to Azari, the Devourer, but the idea doesn't seem as ridiculous as it did a few weeks ago.

Just be careful when trying this strategy, because there's going to be more than one instance where Skull of the Man'ari isn't able to stop itself. If it accidentally pulls Azari and just throws it on the board, its Battlecry won't activate and it means all of that work towards getting this guy out there will have been all for naught.

Keleseth Warlocks might also want to look into this weapon, simply because it keeps the assembly line of low-cost minions going. If most of those lower-cost minions are Demons, it means potentially getting multiple minions out on a single turn while still keeping the Warlock's Hero Power card draws going.

There are still three more weapons to break down and Shacknews will be here to analyze them before the expansion's release. Kobolds & Catacombs is set to hit Hearthstone on Thursday.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?