Five ways to legend with Aggro Demon Hunter

Evil draws close, my friends! Today, I’d like to break from our usual topic (wild) to bring you a Standard Demon Hunter build guide! 

Anyone playing standard right now will immediately want me to address the elephant in the room, Cheese Paladin. Every build I dive into here has the Cheesy Paladin menace in mind, and almost every one of these decks is a good option to try if you are having trouble escaping the cheese on the ranked ladder.

Disruption Aggro Demon Hunter

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Disruption Demon Hunter is the one deck I’m going to post the full winrate and recent games list. I do that for two reasons: I used Disruption Aggro to hit legend this month, and also, simply for emphasis. The Disruption Demon Hunter deck is the real deal. I have been beating Warriors and Paladins alike with this build. Many parts of the deck are common inclusions in standard Demon Hunter aggro, so allow me to elaborate on the very effective disruption package.

Illidari Studies, Cult Neophyte, and Mana Burn combined with a very fast aggressive shell work wonders disrupting Combo decks like Paladin and Demon Hunter, while also being very strong against Control strategies like Warrior and Warlock. Mana Burn specifically is a card that really shines alongside Wriggling Horror and Voracious Reader. Illidari Studies is not only just a very powerful, versatile card; It also ties the entire package together.

Given the small pool of outcast cards (11), Illidari Studies has a 49% chance to hit either of these options. Hitting one of these two cards with Illidari Studies is the game plan for many matchups in the standard format. Star Student Stelina often beats Cheesy opponents by itself. On the other hand, Glide allows you to beat decks like Combo Demon Hunter by waiting until they draw a lot to activate it.

Aggressive Outcast Demon Hunter

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I’ve played just over forty games with Aggressive Outcast Demon Hunter, changing it frequently. Overall, I am currently sitting at 56% WR, and I know Outcast can do better. Speed is the biggest problem with the outcast strategy. The Outcast build wins long games with Altruis very consistently. However, without one-drops, it is very hard to race decks like Token Druid. Besides Altruis, Outcast lacks burst potential, which can make control decks a lot harder to beat. 

I have tried cutting Mana Burn for Battlefiend and lowering the curve, but my win rate went down. I know there is a version of Outcast that can hedge those poor matchups against Warrior and Druid, but this is currently my most successful build. Please, give Outcast a try! I need help optimizing this strategy, and I would love to see what ideas you all have! 

Can you make the Fel’s work in Aggro Demon Hunter?

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Felfire Deadeye is a card I have been working on for a while now. I feel equipped to make this promise: Felfire Deadeye will impress you when you start playing with it. Finding the best home for Felfire Deadeye, however, is another story. 

Fair the Fel fare their fair share of the Darkmoon Faire? I would say so! These cards are all extremely powerful! However, I have yet to find the best way to use them. Having success with Fel-less builds also doesn’t help the case for these three. Tons of potential here for sure, but these Fel options may need another set to get their fair share of my playtesting time.  

With the unique design of these fel-cards, it’s likely some, if not all, find their way into the Core set for 2021. To read more about the Core Set & set rotation, read more in our 2021 Standard Rotation guide. 

Low Soul Demon Hunter

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Low Soul is a deck I have been working on for quite some time, and I have passed 50 games with this build a while back. Before Shadowhoof Slayer causes an uproar, I would like to point out the breaking point it provides:

Now, consider our Demon hunter Tools:

Low Soul Demon Hunter’s earlier iterations played Umberwing for the same breakpoint, and I now consider Shadowhoof core in this Low Soul strategy. Being able to play Bladed Lady when you have both Lady and a four attack card in hand is very important, and that is what Shadowhoof provides. Overall, Low Soul has a robust, straightforward game plan, load up on damage and get ‘em dead. 

In essence, you can win many matchups based on this fact alone, mainly ignoring your opponent and counting to 30 damage. While that is great, shoes commonly feel bad on the other foot, and Combo decks (including our favorite Cheesy friends) are really difficult to beat. They can generally ignore everything we do, and Low Soul can’t really come back from a big swing like Let’s Duel, Tip the Scales, and Commencement. While the soul fragment package in Demon Hunter as a whole may have already past its prime, Low Soul is still a very powerful deck. Increasing the curve is an option. Feel free to make that change of your own volition! I like a lower curve with my Bladed Lady’s, but more than one road leads to success.

Murloc Aggro Demon Hunter (Try at your own risk)

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Yes, I have been playing Murloc Demon Hunter. My buddy presented me with a challenge: Climb with Murlocs in the February season. Being a true Illidari and not a cheesy sellout, I built about four different Murloc Demon Hunter versions. Here were the parameters: 

1. At least one Murloc tribal synergy.
2. At least 8 Murlocs (Hench-Clan Hogsteed counts)

That’s it.  After quite an experience brewing and testing, I was able to climb from Bronze 10 to Diamond four exclusively with Murlocs Demon Hunter. As a result of this, I declare my above build the absolute best possible Murloc Demon Hunter deck (given the rules above). I mrrgled to Diamond 4 (then hit a hard wall). Can any of you mrrgle further than I did? If anyone can build a better Murloc Demon Hunter deck, please, comment below or reach out to me on Twitter!

 I will be extremely impressed and happy to pass off my completely fictitious though a very important self-proclaimed title of best Murloc Demon Hunter brewer! Try the Murgle challenge out and have some fun before Hearthstone’s next expansion! Let me tell you. I received a TON of salty friend requests while Murgling through the ranks, so by participating, you are also doing your part to put toxic players in their place. 

I wish all of you luck on the ranked ladder! I have put a lot of work into brewing Demon Hunter decks; if any of that work helps even one of you get to that rank you need to get to, that will all be worth it. These decks are all pretty cheap to craft, so if you are at a rank wall and already have an established Demon Hunter collection, try some fun with these! I’m also very excited to see any improvements you guys make!

Closing note: I will have to take some time away from Hearthstone in the coming weeks. My wife and I have bought our first house! Especially for those following me for Odd Demon Hunter, I will be back as soon as possible with more content! As for now, we have a ton of moving to do! 

Hold the Black Temple down for me, guys. 

    -Maym