Cairne Bloodhoof Mission Guide

This guide focuses on the Heroic Cairne Bloodhoof encounter in Thousand Needles but also works for the normal version.

Minis in Cairne Bloodhoof’s army

• Bat Rider - Enchanted Vials
• Darkspear Troll - Headhunting
• Execute - Killing Spree
• Ogre Mage - Avarice
• Stonehoof Tauren - Momentum
• Warsong Grunts - Blood Pact
• Warsong Raider - Saboteur

Other minis and map mechanics

Cairne starts the fight with a Warsong Grunt and a Pyromancer (with Pyroblast talent in Heroic). These starting minis do not respawn. As Cairne has no Pyromancer in his deck, this is the only Pyromancer you meet during the fight.

Cairne cannot hit flying minis, but he has two Darkspear Skywatcher guards who can. They are stationary and cannot be killed. They only attack flying minis.

Cairne resurrects himself upon his first death, and in Heroic, he also summons three Cairne ghosts that will attack each lane right before the resurrection.

Cairne Bloodhoof:

• 6760 health
• Shockwave: 220 Physical damage, 1-second stun, resets Fury, 2.5 seconds attack speed, 1.6 range, cannot hit flying minis
• Reincarnation: Resurrects at 30% health

Cairne Ghost (Heroic):

• 2000 health
• Shockwave: 220 Physical damage, 1-second stun, resets Fury, 2.5 seconds attack speed, 1.6 range, cannot hit flying minis

Cairne Archer (Darkspear Skywatcher):

• Cannot be killed
• Does not move
• Spear Throw: 190 Physical damage, 2.3 seconds attack speed, 14 range, hits flying minis only

General strategy

You want to take both Towers and attack Cairne from the top left and bottom right. Sending tanks from the top left and long-range damage dealers from the bottom right often works well.

Right at the start, you want to take out the Pyromancer from behind the Grunt and defend your base.

Send a Plague Farmer with the range talent or a Meat Wagon (if no talents) to the left lane: it can take out the Tower in the valley from there without getting hit and then continue to the left Tower.