Araj the Summoner Mission Guide

This guide focuses on the Heroic Araj the Summoner encounter in Plaguelands, but also works for the normal version.

Minis in Araj the Summoner’s army

• Abomination - Noxious Presence
• Blizzard - Brittle Ice
• Gargoyle - Wing Buffet
• Necromancer - Breath of the Dying
• Skeleton Party - 5-Man
• Skeletons - Exhume
• Vultures - Migration

Other minis and map mechanics

In Heroic, every mini that Araj plays is haunted: when a mini dies, it spawns a Banshee. This does not apply to minis summoned by other minis, like Necromancer’s Skeletons, but it does apply to each mini in a Squad. Yes, Skeletons with Exhume are potentially five Banshees if played right at your base.

If you steal a haunted mini, the Banshee will spawn under your control.

Banshees will attempt to possess enemy minis when possible, but if they reach your base without finding minis to possess, they will curse the base with a powerful damage-over-time effect that deals 1000 damage over 10 seconds. Four Banshees are enough to destroy a base at the same level as they are.

Araj will periodically summon Stealth Banshees that walk through the lanes on the sides. The first pair is up at the start of the encounter, and a new pair spawns every 40 seconds: at 2:50, 2:10, 1:30, 0:50, and 0:10.

General strategy

Araj would be a frustrating fight to progress through in a fair way, but you don’t have to because Araj is made of paper. You can beat Araj with Unbound minis and rarely even need to defend your base.

Play Whelp Eggs on one side of Araj, and as the swing animation begins, play a Quilboar on the opposite side a little closer than the Eggs. Araj will pop the Eggs and then turn to shoot at the Quilboar. Whelps will pop and shoot Araj. Add some support from Execute and other Unbound minis as desired.

Sometimes, Araj will spawn a Kobold at the start, and the Kobold is haunted. You don’t want a Banshee in the middle of your push, so wait a moment in that case for the Kobold to get out of the way.

Araj may also defend itself with a Skeleton Party, which may cause many Banshees to spawn and take over your assault team. In that case, you may need to play something to stall Araj’s initial Abomination and Banshees a little while you cycle through your deck to play a new set of Whelp Eggs.