Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Shaman)

Gurubashi Arena is ready to play home to Azeroth's greatest troll champions. Hearthstone is preparing for Rastakhan's Rumble, which will see the game's nine classes do battle with their Loa, Spirit, and Champion.

Shacknews has been working on our card breakdowns, as usual. However, we've been saving a special section for the aforementioned Loas, Spirits, and Champions, given their prominent role in the expansion's motif. For today, Shacknews moves on to the next set of gladiators by looking at the Shaman. But first, in case you need to catch up:

Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Mage)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Paladin)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Warlock)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Hunter)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Druid)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Warrior)
Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble - Loa, Spirit, and Champion guide (Rogue)

With that out of the way, let's continue.

The Shaman Champion - Zentimo

(3) Zentimo (1/3)
Type: Minion
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Legendary
Whenever you target a minion with a spell, it also targets adjacent ones.

Card Analysis: Look at this guy! This is a champion right here, dealing out damage in threes. This is an incredible card for the Shaman player and makes the absolute most out of any Hagatha the Witch spells. It might be hard to recommend any spells with Overload, since the Overload effect will also stack. (Triple Crushing Hand sounds like a great idea until you're left with just 1 Mana Crystal on the next turn.) But there are great spells that don't have the Overload drawback.

Tidal Surge will deal 4 damage to three minions while healing for 12 health. Avalanche will free three minions, while also dealing damage. Earth Shock will Silence multiple minions. Positive spells for your own minions are just as effective, too. Give Zentimo Ancestral Spirit to keep it and his neighbors alive or give everyone a nice stat buff with Earthen Might. Running a Zoo Shaman? Use Rockbiter Weapon on three minions to clear out a pesky Taunt.

Wild players can get in on the fun, too. Jade Lightning is downright broken here, hitting three minions for 4 damage and summong a whopping three Jade Golems. Jade Shaman was a middling deck in the old metas, but becomes much more viable in what's looking to be a much more interesting Wild meta.

The Spirit - Spirit of the Frog

(3) Spirit of the Frog (0/3)
Type: Minion
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Rare
Stealth for 1 turn. Whenever you cast a spell, draw a spell from your deck that costs (1) more.

Card Analysis: This is a decent card that lets the Shaman player rummage through their deck quickly. It plays nicely with the new Haunting Visions spell, allowing for the Shaman to play this for 3 mana and draw Hex for the next turn. Hex, in turn, would then draw Volcano. It just got a little bit easier to keep the board under control, which is really all a good Shudderwock Shaman can ask for.

With all that said, Spirit of the Frog only works in the early game. Getting to the end of the game means it either won't draw any cards or it draws you a step closer to fatigue. At that point, it becomes a useless play, so I wouldn't expect to see it played too much in conjunction with Hagatha and the spells generated there.

The Loa - Krag'wa, the Frog

(6) Krag'wa, the Frog (4/6)
Type: Minion - Beast
Class: Shaman
Rarity: Legendary
Battlecry: Return all spells you played last turn to your hand.

Card Analysis: This is a fantastic Legendary and one that serves a utility of purposes for the Shaman player. Are you facing off that pesky aggro deck, but used your last Healing Rain spell the turn before? Krag'wa puts it back in your hand. Did you clear the board with your last Volcano on the last turn? Krag'wa gives it right back. Did you waste a really cool spell off Hagatha the Witch and wish you had it back? Krag'wa gives you a mulligan.

The trouble here is going to be that Shaman players, especially if they're already played Hagatha, might run the risk of filling up their hand by playing this Legendary. However, the risk is minimal and the payoff is tremendous, especially if it's played in conjunction with Zentimo. But we'll touch on that in just a moment.

Krag'wa's 4/6 stat line doesn't make it dangerous on its own, but it does make it a tough removal target. Outside of Combo pieces and burst spells, a 4/6 stat line is an unwieldly one to deal with and means Krag'wa could be standing for quite a while. At this point, maybe pack in a few Return minions to make the most of its abilities. But again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's move on to...

Team Synergies

There's so much to love about the Shaman and the way this team all synergizes. Zentimo and Krag'wa, in particular, are going to be nightmares when paired side-by-side. Zentimo can essentially bop multiple targets with Shaman spells and Krag'wa will put them right back. There's also a bench player called Bog Slosher, which can save either Zentimo or Krag'wa on the next turn and re-deploy them with a buffed stat line.

The Shaman's spells are also nicely set up to complement these minions. Haunted Visions works great for Spirit of the Frog and Krag'wa. The new Totemic Smash is a dynamite play for Zentimo. And of course, there's a lot of Healing Rain out there that can keep the Shaman player alive and frustrate those aggro and zoo players, who burn through all their resources, only to end up back where they started.

Electra Stormsurge is also going to see a lot more play in the new Shaman meta. Earlier, we mentioned the Wild combo with Jade Lightning. Now picture Electra Stormsurge casting that spell twice and literally filling the entire board with Jade Golems.

Shaman could stand out as one of the most fun classes to play in the new Rastakhan's Rumble meta and experimenting with Zentimo, Spirit of the Frog, and Krag'wa will be at the centerpiece of it.

That's all for now. We're in the home stretch, so look for the final Loa, Spirit, and Champion to be analyzed on Monday. Make sure to also check out our normal card breakdowns, which hits the Lighting Round on Tuesday. Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble is set to release on December 4.

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?