Hearthstone

Patch 25.2.2 is a data-only patch, launching today, that includes updates to Standard, Battlegrounds, Duels, and more!

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: In general, our recent patch cadence has been faster than it has been in the past. This can make it more painful when updates are a little slower, such as around the holiday break period. We’re discussing as a team how to make the patch schedule work a little better for future holiday periods.

This is the first patch after the new March of the Lich King expansion where we have enough data to make significant and informed buffs to the new cards. Now that we have seen where the set’s archetypes landed on a power basis, we know where we can safely inject a bit of power.

The following cards are being adjusted to be less powerful:

Wildpaw Gnoll

• Old: Rush. Costs (1) less for each card you’ve added to your hand from another class.
• New: Rush. Costs (1) less for each non-Rogue class card you’ve added to your hand.

​Dev Comment: Dual-class cards that are Rogue and another class will not reduce the cost of Gnoll.

Sinstone Graveyard

• Old: Summon a 1/1 Stealthed Ghost. (Has +1/+1 for each other card you played this turn!)
• New: Summon a 1/1 Ghost. (Has +1/+1 for each other card you played this turn!)

Dev Comment: We recognize that Rogue has been a little too good (for a little too long) at higher ranks. The change to the Gnoll/Maestra interaction is a major change to the class intended to substantially shakeup how it looks and plays, while the Sinstone Graveyard change gives opponents more of a chance to respond to the big Rogue pop-off turns.

Final Showdown (the first phase of the Demon Hunter Questline)

• Old: Draw 4 cards in one turn.
• New: Draw 6 cards in one turn.

Sinful Brand

• Old: [1 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Dev Comment: Demon Hunter is the other best performing class at high levels of play, so these changes are intended to adjust its power. Sinful Brand was chosen as a card to target because it punishes opponents for simply playing the game, a play pattern that we don’t like being too powerful or prevalent.

Shockspitter

• Old: [3 Mana] 2 Attack, 2 Health
• New: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Dev Comment: Hunter is the top class at most parts of the ladder. When we changed Shockspitter to 3 mana in Patch 25.0.3, we expected that it would remain powerful after that change and debated whether we should just change it to 4 at that time. We decided that we didn’t want to hit Hunter too hard all at once. Now that we’ve seen how the card performs at 3 mana, we think it can use another nudge—especially with the other top performers being adjusted down around it.

Glacial Advance

• Old: Deal 4 damage. Your next spell this turn costs (2) less.
• New: Deal 4 damage. Your next spell this turn costs (1) less.

Dev Comment: Frost Death Knight is performing well right now, so we wanted to slightly shave some of its power to make sure it stays in line with the rest of the meta after the other changes this patch. This adjustment takes away a little bit of the deck’s explosive burst-from-hand capabilities.

Astalor Bloodsworn (changes to all three phases)

Astalor Bloodsworn (phase 1)

• Old: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Protector to your hand. Manathirst (4): Deal 2 damage.
• New: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Protector to your hand. Manathirst (5): Deal 2 damage.

Astalor, the Protector (phase 2)

• Old: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Flamebringer to your hand. Manathirst (7): Gain 5 Armor.
• New: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Flamebringer to your hand. Manathirst (8): Gain 5 Armor.

Astalor, the Flamebringer (phase 3)

• Old: Battlecry: Deal 8 damage randomly split between all enemies. Manathirst (10): Deal 16 instead.
• New: Battlecry: Deal 7 damage randomly split between all enemies. Manathirst (10): Deal 14 instead.

Dev Comment: Players seem to really enjoy the power and flexibility of Astalor. At the same time, that power and flexibility has made Astalor a near auto-include in almost every deck in the meta. These changes are designed to bring Astalor’s power more in line with what we want from a Neutral, general-purpose utility card like this. We still hope and expect that Astalor remains a powerful option for many decks so that players can continue to enjoy this card.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.2.2.

The following cards are being adjusted to be more powerful:

Battlefield Necromancer

• Old: At the end of your turn, raise a Corpse as a 1/2 Risen Footman with Taunt.
• New: At the end of your turn, raise a Corpse as a 1/3 Risen Footman with Taunt.

Boneguard Commander

• Old: Taunt. Battlecry: Raise up to 6 Corpses as 1/2 Risen Footmen with Taunt.
• New: Taunt. Battlecry: Raise up to 6 Corpses as 1/3 Risen Footmen with Taunt.

Unholy Frenzy

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Dev Comment: Blood and Unholy Death Knight are both still underperforming in Standard. Death Knight is difficult to balance because individual cards within the class tend to be very strong, but we found a couple spots where we felt we could add a little bit of power to individual cards to make them more appealing.

Wither

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [1 Mana]

Bonecaller

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 2 Attack, 5 Health

Haunting Nightmare

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Haunt a card in your hand. When you play it, summon a 3/3 Soldier.
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Haunt a card in your hand. When you play it, summon a 4/3 Soldier.

High Cultist Basaleph

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Dar’Khan Drathir

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Infantry Reanimator

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Dev Comment: Most Undead aggro decks have been underperforming compared to what we were expecting. Our changes here are to encourage exploration of those archetypes. We discussed potential changes to Undead Neutral cards, but opted to target the class cards this patch instead.

Vengeful Walloper

• Old: [7 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Energy Shaper

• Old: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 5 Health
• New: [3 Mana] 3 Attack, 4 Health

Vast Wisdom

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Timewarden

• Old: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 5 Health
• New: [3 Mana] 3 Attack, 4 Health

Asvedon, the Grandshield

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Cast a copy of the last spell your opponent played.
• New: 3 Attack, 4 Health. Taunt. Battlecry: Cast a copy of the last spell your opponent played.

Disruptive Spellbreaker

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 6 Health

Last Stand

• Old: [4 Mana] Draw a Taunt minion. Double its stats.
• New: [1 Mana] Draw a Taunt minion. Manathirst (7): Double its stats.

Nellie’s Pirate Ship (the Colossal appendage to Nellie, the Great Thresher)

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They cost (1) less.
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They cost (2) less.

Remornia, Living Blade

• Old: 4 Attack, 10 Health
• New: 5 Attack, 10 Health

Dev Comment: Warrior seems to be the class that needs the most help in the current meta, so we’re giving them the most buffs here. With Last Stand, we wanted it to feel more impactful and flexible, and we have a great new mechanic in Manathirst that gives us that kind of flexibility. This isn’t the type of change that we normally do, but this was a good opportunity for us to make this card a little fresher and more interesting. We’re also making a few changes to some older, exciting cards, to provide the class that boost it needs.

Battlegrounds Updates

Hero Armor Changes

The following heroes have less armor:

• Onyxia and Sneed are now Armor Tier 2 (2-5 Armor).

The following heroes have more armor:

• Pyramad was moved to Armor Tier 3 (3-6 Armor).
• Sylvanas Windrunner was moved to Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor).

Card Changes

Thorncaptain

• Old: 4 Attack, 1 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 2 Health

Eternal Knight

• Old: 4 Attack, 1 Health
• New: 3 Attack, 1 Health

Ghoul of the Feast

• Old: Avenge (1): Give a friendly minion of each minion type +3 Attack.
• New: Avenge (1): Give a friendly minion of each minion type +2 Attack.

Pufferquil

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 2 Attack, 6 Health

Ripsnarl Captain

• Old: When another friendly Pirate attacks, give it +2/+2.
• New: When another friendly Pirate attacks, give it +3/+3.

Master of Realities

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] 6 Attack, 6 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health

Anub’arak, Nerubian King

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] 5 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Your Undead have +2 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).
• New: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Your Undead have +1 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).

Magmaloc

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 1 Attack, 1 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 5] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Soulsplitter

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 2 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 5] 5 Attack, 2 Health

Vanessa VanCleef

• Old: Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+1 permanently.
• New: Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+2 permanently.

Cyborg Drake

• Old: 2 Attack, 8 Health. Divine Shield. Your Divine Shield minions have +10 Attack.
• New: 2 Attack, 10 Health. Divine Shield. Your Divine Shield minions have +8 Attack.

Sinrunner Blanchy

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 3 Attack, 3 Health

Toxfin

• Old: Tavern Tier 6
• New: Tavern Tier 5

Grease Bot

• Old: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+2 permanently.
• New: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +3/+2 permanently.

Felstomper

• Old: 3 Attack, 7 Health. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +3 Attack.
• New: 3 Attack, 8 Health. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +2 Attack.

Sister Deathwhisper

• Old: 4 Attack, 11 Health. Whenever a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+3 permanently.
• New: 4 Attack, 9 Health. Whenever a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+2 permanently.

Eternal Summoner

• Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health. Deathrattle: Summon 2 Eternal Knights.
• New: 6 Attack, 1 Health. Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon 1 Eternal Knight.

Dev Comment: If Eternal Summoner is picked as the first pick from Professor Putricide’s hero power, you can no longer be offered a Reborn or Poisonous minion as the second option.

Duels Updates

Card Pool Update

• To the Front! has been banned from deck building and card buckets.

Hero Power Updates

• Scourging (Death Knight):
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [1 Mana]


• Illidari Strike (Demon Hunter)
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [1 Mana]


• Harvest Time! (Druid)
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [3 Mana]


• Frost Shards (Mage)
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [1 Mana]


• Call of Madness (Priest)
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [1 Mana]

Passive Treasure Update

• Bitter Cold
  • Old: +2 Frost Damage
  • New: +1 Frost Damage

Signature Treasure Updates

• Glaciaxe
  • Old: [4 Mana] 5 Attack, 2 Durability
  • New: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 2 Durability


• Wings of Glaciaxe (generated by Glaciaxe)
  • Old: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 5 Durability. Windfury, Deathrattle: Summon four 1/1 Zombies with Reborn.
  • New: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 3 Durability. Windfury, Deathrattle: Summon three 1/1 Zombies with Reborn.


• Crimson
  • Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health
  • New: 2 Attack, 2 Health


• Blade of Quickening
  • Old: [5 Mana]
  • New: [4 Mana]


• Academic Research
  • Old: [3 Mana]
  • New: [2 Mana]


• Herding Horn
  • Old: [4 Mana]
  • New: [3 Mana]


• Ol’ Faithful
  • Old: [5 Mana]
  • New: [4 Mana]


• Flo Slatebrand
  • Old: [6 Mana]
  • New: [5 Mana]


• Slate’s Syringe
  • Old: [3 Mana]
  • New: [2 Mana]


• Reno’s Torch
  • Old: Deal 4 damage. Combo: Shuffle a copy of this card into your deck that deals 2 more damage.
  • New: Deal 4 damage. Combo: Shuffle a copy of this card into your deck that deals 1 more damage.


• Britz Blazebucket
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [3 Mana]


• Karl the Lost
  • Old: [8 Mana]
  • New: [10 Mana]


• Forge in Light
  • Old: [6 Mana]
  • New: [7 Mana]


• Devout Blessings
  • Old: [4 Mana]
  • New: [5 Mana]


• Herald of the Scaled Ones
  • Old: [5 Mana] 4 Attack, 6 Health
  • New: [4 Mana] 4 Attack, 5 Health


• Droplet of Insanity
  • Old: [4 Mana]
  • New: [3 Mana]


• Scion of the Deep
  • Old: [2 Mana] 2 Attack, 4 Health
  • New: [1 Mana] 1 Attack, 3 Health


• Sr. Navigator
  • Old: [5 Mana] 2 Attack, 10 Health
  • New: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 6 Health


• Staff of Renewal
  • Old: 10 Mana
  • New: 8 Mana


• Green Shell
  • Old: [2 Mana] 1 Attack, 2 Durability
  • New: [3 Mana] 1 Attack, 3 Durability


• Spymaster’s Gambit
  • Old: [7 Mana]
  • New: [8 Mana]


• Invoke the Void
  • Old: [7 Mana]
  • New: [6 Mana]


• Grizzled Reinforcement
  • Old: [5 Mana]
  • New: [4 Mana]


• Collector’s Ire
  • Old: [5 Mana]
  • New: [4 Mana]


• Brewster, the Brutal
  • Old: [7 Mana] 8 Attack, 6 Health
  • New: [6 Mana] 7 Attack, 5 Health

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug resulting in unintended changes to Magister’s Apprentice.
• [Hearthstone] Text fixes to Magister Dawngrasp and Wildheart Guff.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Hematology could be used while you have 0 Corpses, resulting in the mana being spent and no effect happening.

Patch 25.2, launching today, brings Battlegrounds Season 3 and more!

Battlegrounds Season 3 is Here!

Good news, everyone! Battlegrounds Season 3 brings Professor Putricide’s new Hero Power, Undead and dual-type minions, and tons more new and updated heroes and minions!

General Updates

• On January 17, Battlegrounds Season 2 will end and Battlegrounds Season 3 will begin. That means that rankings will reset, Battlegrounds Quests will be removed, minion pools will update, and the Battlegrounds Track will switch over. All rewards that were earned, but not yet claimed, from the Season 2 Track will be automatically claimed.
• The 15-damage Damage Cap will now persist until both a hero has died and the game has reached turn 8 (the 10 Gold turn).
• Armor will now appear overlayed on health bars on the scoreboard.
• Undead and dual-type minions have been added as a regular part of Battlegrounds. The same number of minion types will be in each Battlegrounds game (meaning an additional minion type will be excluded each game after this change). If either type of a dual-type minion is in a game, the dual-type minion will be in that game.
• Undead will appear in every lobby for 2 weeks after the patch; they will then appear in 75% of lobbies for an additional 2 weeks. Then they will be part of the regular rotation of minion types.
• For a short time after the launch of Undead, turns 5+ will be 5 seconds longer to allow players time to learn the new cards. This is expected to be reverted in a planned hotfix following the patch.

New Battlegrounds Track

When the new Battlegrounds Season begins, rewards on last Season’s Battlegrounds Track will no longer be able to be earned, all rewards that were earned and not yet claimed will be automatically claimed, and a new Battlegrounds Track will begin. The Season 3 Battlegrounds Track features 40 new Battle for Silvermoon themed cosmetics, including 4 Legendary Hero Skins, 3 Epic Hero Skins, 8 Rare Hero Skins, 1 Rare Board, 1 Rare Bartender, and 9 Rare Emotes!

For more details about the Season 3 Battlegrounds Track, see our Season 3 Announcement Blog.

Hero Updates

Professor Putricide has been reworked with new art and a whole new Hero Power for his return to the Hero Pool!

Professor Putricide

• Build-An-Undead
  • [4 Gold] Craft a custom Undead. (3 Creations left!)

​Dev Comment: When you build an Undead, you’ll be offered two sets of 3 minions to merge together. One set tends to have persistent in-combat rules while the other set tends to have keywords and in-shop effects. All minion offerings will be at or below your Tavern Tier. The Build-An-Undead pools include both minions that are available in Bob’s Tavern and minions that are unique to this effect. Putricide’s creations are unnatural, so they can’t be tripled.

Professor Putricide will be available in all games for two weeks after launch.

Millificent Manastorm (Tinker)

• Old: Passive. Mechs in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1.
• New: Passive. Whenever you summon a Mech, give it +2 Attack.

Lord Jaraxxus (Bloodfury)

• Old: [1 Gold] Give your Demons +1/+1.
• New: [1 Gold] Choose a friendly Demon. It consumes a minion in Bob’s Tavern to gain its stats.

Pyramad (Brick by Brick)

• Old: [0 Gold] Give a minion +2 Health. (Gains +1 Health each turn you don’t use this!)
• New: [0 Gold] Give a minion +1 Health. (Gains +1 Health each turn you don’t use this!)

Galewing (Dungar’s Gryphon)

• You can no longer choose the same Flight Path twice in a row.

• Westfall
  • Old: Passive. In 1 turn, give your left-most minion +2/+1.
  • New: Passive. In 1 turn, give your left-most minion +2/+2.

• Ironforge
  • Old: Passive. In 3 turns, Discover a minion of your Tavern Tier.
  • New: Passive. In 2 turns, gain 2 Gold.

• Eastern Plaguelands:
  • Old: Passive. In 5 turns, your next Tavern Tier upgrade costs (6) less.
  • New: Passive. In 3 turns, Discover a minion of your Tavern Tier.

Updated Hero Armor Tiers

Many heroes have had their Armor Tiers adjusted for the new season. All armor tiers are as follows:

New Minions

Risen Rider [Tavern Tier 1, Undead]

• 2 Attack, 1 Health. Taunt, Reborn.

Rot Hide Gnoll [Tavern Tier 1, Undead]

• 1 Attack, 4 Health. Has +1 Attack for each friendly minion that died this combat.

Thorncaptain [Tavern Tier 1, Quilboar/Pirate]

• 4 Attack, 1 Health. After a card is added to your hand, gain +1 Health until next turn.

Scarlet Skull [Tavern Tier 2, Undead]

• 1 Attack, 2 Health. Reborn, Deathrattle: Give a friendly Undead +1/+2.

Eternal Knight [Tavern Tier 2, Undead]

• 4 Attack, 1 Health. Has +1/+1 for each friendly Eternal Knight that died this game (wherever this is).

Nerubian Deathswarmer [Tavern Tier 2, Undead]

• 1 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Your Undead have +1 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).

Blazing Skyfin [Tavern Tier 2, Dragon/Murloc]

• 1 Attack, 3 Health. After you play a Battlecry minion, gain +1/+1.

Corpse Refiner [Tavern Tier 2, Undead/Pirate]

• 2 Attack, 3 Health. Avenge (4): This sells for 1 more Gold.

Jelly Belly [Tavern Tier 3, Undead]

• 3 Attack, 5 Health. After a minion is Reborn, gain +3/+3.

Ghoul of the Feast [Tavern Tier 3, Undead]

• 2 Attack, 4 Health. Avenge (1): Give a friendly minion of each type +3 Attack.

Lich Doctor [Tavern Tier 3, Undead]

• 3 Attack, 2 Health. Taunt. At the start of your turn, give your minions that died last combat +1/+1.

Felemental [Tavern Tier 3, Elemental/Demon]

• 3 Attack, 1 Health. Battlecry: Minions in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game.

Soulsplitter [Tavern Tier 4, Undead]

• 4 Attack, 2 Health. Reborn. Start of Combat: Give a friendly Undead Reborn.

Handless Forsaken [Tavern Tier 4, Undead]

• 2 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Hand with Reborn.

Possessive Banshee [Tavern Tier 4, Undead]

• 2 Attack, 7 Health. Battlecry: Give an Undead +2/+7.

General Drakkisath [Tavern Tier 4, Dragon]

• 2 Attack, 8 Health. Battlecry: Add a 2/1 Smolderwing to your hand that gives another Dragon +5 Attack.

Peggy Sturdybone [Tavern Tier 4, Pirate]

• 6 Attack, 5 Health. After a card is added to your hand, give another friendly Pirate +1/+1.

Chronormu [Tavern Tier 4, Dragon]

• 4 Attack, 4 Health. While this is in the Tavern, gain the stats of any minions sold.

Magmaloc [Tavern Tier 4, Elemental/Murloc]

• 1 Attack, 1 Health. At the end of your turn, gain +1/+1. Repeat for each minion you played this turn.

Pufferquil [Tavern Tier 4, Naga/Quilboar]

• 2 Attack, 4 Health. After a spell is played on this, gain Poisonous until next turn.

Sin’dorei Straight-Shot [Tavern Tier 4]

• 3 Attack, 4 Health. Windfury. Divine Shield. Whenever this attacks, remove Reborn and Taunt from the target.

Anub’arak, Nerubian King [Tavern Tier 5, Undead]

• 5 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Your Undead have +2 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).

Hungering Abomination [Tavern Tier 5, Undead]

• 3 Attack, 4 Health. Avenge (1): Gain +1/+1 permanently.

Cyborg Drake [Tavern Tier 5, Mech/Dragon]

• 2 Attack, 8 Health. Divine Shield. Your Divine Shield minions have +10 Attack.

Sinrunner Blanchy [Tavern Tier 5, Undead/Beast]

• 4 Attack, 4 Health. Reborn. This is Reborn with full Health and enchantments.

Titus Rivendare [Tavern Tier 5]

• 1 Attack, 7 Health. Your Deathrattles trigger an extra time.

Eternal Summoner [Tavern Tier 6, Undead]

• 8 Attack, 1 Health. Deathrattle: Summon 2 Eternal Knights.

Colossus of the Sun [Tavern Tier 6, Undead]

• 6 Attack, 6 Health. Divine Shield, Reborn.

Sister Deathwhisper [Tavern Tier 6, Undead]

• 4 Attack, 11 Health. After a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+3 permanently.

Felstomper [Tavern Tier 6, Demon/Beast]

• 3 Attack, 7 Health. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +3 Attack.

Mecha-Jaraxxus [Tavern Tier 6, Mech/Demon]

• 3 Attack, 15 Health. Battlecry: Add a random Mecha-Demon to your hand.

• Rusted Reggie: 5 Attack, 5 Health. Windfury. Can Magnetize to Mechs and Demons.

• Magtheridon Prime: 1 Attack, 10 Health. Taunt. Can Magnetize to Mechs and Demons.

• Baltharak: 10 Attack, 1 Health. Reborn. Can Magnetize to Mechs and Demons.

Greta Gold-Gun [Tavern Tier 6, Naga/Pirate]

• 2 Attack, 9 Health. Spellcraft: Make a different friendly Naga or Pirate Golden until next turn.

Minion Pool Updates

• Icky Imp and Budding Greenthumb have been returned to the minion pool.
• Peggy Brittlebone, Baron Rivendare, Saltscale Honcho, Glyph Guardian, Yo-Ho-Ogre, Stasis Elemental, Majordomo Executus, Bonker, Mechano-Egg, Baby Krush, Palescale Crocolisk, Imp Mama, Tony Two-Tusk, Draconid Enforcer, Razorgore the Untamed, Witchwing Nestmatron, Imprisoner, Khadgar, and Mythrax the Unraveler have been removed from the minion pool.

Other Minion Updates

• Micro Mummy has gained the Undead minion type.
• The Golden version of Amber Guardian will now hit two minions with the effect (giving each +2/+2 and Divine Shield), instead of doubling the effect on one minion (giving it +4/+4 and Divine Shield).

Mercenaries Update

• Sir Finley can now be acquired through all normal means.

Special In-Game Event: Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year is right around the corner and this year we’re doing it in style with the new in-game Event System. From January 17 to January 31, you can complete daily and special Event Quests to earn Event XP towards the event Rewards Track. Complete the event Rewards Track to earn three Battlegrounds Hero Skins!

Heroic Tavern Brawl Returns!

On February 1, the fan-favorite Heroic Tavern Brawl (Standard format) is back for more grueling competition! This time, there will be a new special Legendary Quest tied to the Brawl for those who want to earn something they can use to show off their skill. Win 3 games in one Heroic Tavern Brawl run and you’ll get the new Ghoul Queen Scarlet Death Knight Hero Skin in addition to your other prizes! There will also be a Legendary Quest for players to win one game of any type in order to get a Standard Pack, so there is something for all players, even those who don’t want to participate in the Heroic Tavern Brawl.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Progression] Quests requiring you to deal damage of a particular spell type have been updated to require damage with one of two spell types.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Heart Strike was not affected by Spell Damage.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Anachronos’s effect interacted inconsistently with effects like Power Overwhelming, Habeas Corpses, and Goblin Prank. All these types of effects will now be removed when the minion returns from its journey through time.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Anachronos’s effect could cause a temporary disconnect in certain circumstances.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where Chromie’s Chaos Theory used the wrong effect animation.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where the Lor’themar Hero Skin used the wrong hero power animation.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where certain Mal’Ganis voicelines were incorrect.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where some of Ebon Assassin Garona’s voicelines and speech bubbles were swapped.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where certain card backs were automatically marked as “Favorite” when acquired.
• [Cosmetics] Corrected the “Obtained by” portion of the descriptions for the Scourge Coin and the Tinker Town Takeover Battlegrounds Board in the Collection Managers.
• [Shop] Fixed various shop presentation/visual bugs.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 25.0.4 is a data-only patch, launching today, that includes balance changes to Standard, Wild, Battlegrounds, and Arena, as well as bug fixes and more!

Hearthstone Changes

Dev Comment: Balance changes at this point in an expansion are made with early, somewhat limited data. For these changes, we like to address the most egregious power outliers and play patterns that we know we don’t like—cards that we’re likely to adjust down the line anyway as the meta evolves over time. We hope and expect to make some spicier changes in our next balance pass, once we have more data.

The following cards are being adjusted to be less powerful:

Unleash Fel

• Old: Manathirst (4)
• New: Manathirst (6)

Relic of Dimensions

• Old: [Costs 5]
• New: [Costs 6]

Dev Comment: The Manathirst on Unleash Fel felt like a non-factor that was almost always on anyway when you wanted to play the card. This change makes the card more interesting and helps reel in a Demon Hunter power outlier. Relics are prevalent and powerful—we like them and didn’t want to fully revert their power level, so we’re just touching the strongest Relic to make it a little less explosive.

Anub’Rekhan

• Old: Battlecry: Gain 8 Armor. This turn, your minions cost Armor instead of Mana.
• New: Battlecry: Gain 8 Armor. This turn, your next 3 minions cost Armor instead of Mana.

Dev Comment: This Brann-Anub’Rekhan combo is not a big winrate outlier, but it represents a play pattern we don’t like. We wanted to reduce lethality and remove the ability for the combo to let players dump their entire hand, while still allowing ramp strategies.

Boon of the Ascended

• Old: [Costs 4]
• New [Costs 5]

Priestess Valishj

• Old: [Costs 0]
• New: [Costs 1]

Dev Comment: Boon Priest is not common or overly powerful at most levels of play, but it is the best performing deck at high legend and it wins through frustrating play patterns. We wanted to give it a couple small adjustments to make it more in line with the rest of the meta, especially after the other adjustments in this patch.

Necrolord Draka

• Old: [Costs 4]
• New: [Costs 5]

Sinstone Graveyard

• Old: [Costs 2]
• New: [Costs 3]

Sketchy Information

• Old: [Costs 3]
• New: [Costs 4]

Forsaken Lieutenant

• Old: [Costs 2]
• New: [Costs 3]

Dev Comment: There are two Rogue decks that we want to adjust this patch. Deathrattle Rogue is a deck that can do some cool, fun things, but it’s too fast for most decks to deal with. We don’t want to destroy these synergies, but we do want to slow them down. Similarly, Miracle Rogue makes for very bad play experiences when their pop-off turns are too powerful too soon. We think it is fun and thematic for Rogue to have those turns where they play a bunch of cards and get rewarded for it, but we want to slow that turn down a little.

Prince Renathal

• Old: Your deck size and starting Health are 40.
• New: Your deck size is 40. Your starting Health is 35.

Dev Comment: Renathal had its run. He’s the most played card in the game and the meta has warped around him for a long time, so we are making this change to open the meta back up. At the same time, we know he’s one of the most popular cards we’ve ever made, so we wanted to preserve his core effect as an option for his fans.

Tome Tampering

• Now banned in Wild.

Dev Comment: Discard is a thematic Warlock archetype with many tools over the years. Those tools have combined into a disruptive force in the Wild meta. Tome Tampering is the powerful enabler that puts this deck over the format’s power level; banning that enabler will let players continue to use those thematic discard Warlock tools, but at a level that is more in line with the rest of the format.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.0.4 (Signature versions of Anub’Rekhan and all versions of Prince Renathal are not craftable).

We're taking a hard look at what systemic changes we want to make to Signature cards in the future, and have not finalized those decisions. This time, players who have the Signature version of Anub'Rekhan as of December 20th at 10am PST will receive a grant of 1600 Arcane Dust at login, later that week. Things may work differently in the future. We will share more information on those future plans once they're finalized.

The following cards are being adjusted to be more powerful:

Dev Comment: Death Knight is the cool new class that many players want to try out, so we’re making some adjustments to open them up a little and give them more toys to tinker with. Like with the nerfs, these buffs are designed to be higher confidence; we specifically looked for low playrate Death Knight cards that seemed primed for upgrades. We plan to take another look in the next balance pass.

Corpse Bride

• Old: Battlecry: Spend up to 8 Corpses. Summon a Risen Groom with stats equal to the amount spent.
• New: Battlecry: Spend up to 10 Corpses. Summon a Risen Groom with stats equal to the amount spent.

Malignant Horror

• Old: At the end of your turn, spend 5 Corpses to summon a copy of this minion.
• New: At the end of your turn, spend 4 Corpses to summon a copy of this minion.

Meat Grinder

• Old: Battlecry: Shred a random minion in your deck to gain 3 Corpses.
• New: Battlecry: Shred a random minion in your deck to gain 4 Corpses.

Blightfang

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health
• New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

Stitched Giant

• Old: [Costs 10]
• New: [Costs 9]

Ymirjar Deathbringer

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health

Rime Sculptor

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health

Obliterate

• Old: Destroy a minion. Your hero takes damage equal to its Health.
• New: Destroy a minion. Your hero takes 3 damage.

Blood Tap

• Old: Give all minions in your hand +1/+1. Spend 3 Corpses to give them +1/+1 more.
• New: Give all minions in your hand +1/+1. Spend 2 Corpses to give them +1/+1 more.

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest Reward Updates

• The Kidnap Sack Quest Reward has been made harder to earn.
• The Hidden Treasure Vault and Teal Tiger Sapphire Quest Rewards have been made easier to earn.
• The Partner in Crime, Pilfered Lamps, Wondrous Wisdomball, and Yogg-tastic Tasties Quest Rewards will appear more frequently.

Dev Comment: As we approach the end of the season, we want all players to have a chance to experience some of the rarer Quests they may or may not have been able to find. Enjoy!

Minion Updates

Toxfin

• Old: Tavern Tier 4
• New: Tavern Tier 6

Dev Comment: Though not a power outlier at most levels, Toxfin has a limiting effect on what playstyles feel viable in Murloc lobbies. We are pushing Toxfin up to Tier 6 as a way to open up some space for more diverse strategies.

Minion Pool Updates

• Mechano-Tank and Interrogator Whitemane have been removed from the minion pool.
• Witchwing Nestmatron, Mechano-Egg, Mythrax the Unraveler, and Seafood Slinger have been returned to the minion pool.

Arena Updates

Arena draft appearance rates have been adjusted as follows:

• Death Knight and Paladin cards that generate more cards will appear less frequently.
• Death Knight cards that remove opposing minions and leave a board presence will appear less frequently.
• Low winrate cards from low performing classes will appear less frequently.
• High winrate cards from low performing classes will appear more frequently.
• Some Neutral cards will appear more or less frequently, depending on their performance in a given class.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Potion Belt could not Discover two of the same Concoction.
• [Hearthstone] The wording on Astalor, the Flamebringer has been updated for clarity; this is not a functional change.
• [Hearthstone] Grim Patron and Gruntled Patron will now once again leave Corpses. Adjusted the Corpse Explosion interaction so that it no longer chains infinitely.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Greatsword of the Ebon Blade would lose Durability whenever any card was played, not just minions.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug that made Scourge Strike unable to be played.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where the Scourging Hero Power doesn’t work if your board is full.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Hematology and Unholy Embrace did not count as consuming Corpses.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Unholy Embrace always filled your hand if you had any Corpses to spend when you played it.

Patch 25.0.3 is a data-only patch going live today with updates to two Standard cards.

Card Updates

Dev Comment: We set up this balance window to address any changes we wanted to make immediately after the expansion launched. Shockspitter is exactly that type of card, ending games sooner, more easily, and more consistently than we intended. Sire Denathrius is a card we have had our eyes on for some time, but we wanted to see how he performed in the new expansion first. With a couple days of data, we can see that it is still a very popular and polarizing card, warping early meta development in a way we want to address before the World Championship (December 16-18).

This balance update was reserved for only the most standout cards immediately after expansion unlock. We’ll continue to keep our eye on how the metagame develops and make any further adjustments needed in our next balance window, reserved for a few weeks from now.

Sire Denathrius

• Old: Lifesteal. Battlecry: Deal 5 damage amongst enemies. Endlessly Infuse (1): Deal 1 more.
• New: Lifesteal. Battlecry: Deal 5 damage amongst enemies. Endlessly Infuse (2): Deal 1 more.

Shockspitter

• Old: [Costs 2]
• New: [Costs 3]

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.0.3. As a reminder, regular Sire Denathrius was a free card and can’t be crafted or disenchanted.

Other Hearthstone Updates

• Players who did not receive the uncraftable Legendary Sire Denathrius last expansion cycle will now be granted it upon opening their first Murder at Castle Nathria pack (along with Prince Renathal, which is already obtained in that way). It will be removed from the “Long Live the King” Achievement in a future patch to complete this swap over. As this is a grant of an uncraftable Legendary, there is no gameplay impact for any players who unlock him two different ways during that time period.

Patch 25.0, launching tomorrow, rallies the troops for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, March of the Lich King, launching December 6! This patch also includes updates to Battlegrounds, Mercenaries, Duels, and Arena, as well as bug fixes and more.

March of the Lich King Launches on December 6!

Hearthstone’s next expansion, March of the Lich King, sets off on December 6! The new expansion includes 145 all-new cards, featuring the new Death Knight class, dual-type and Undead minions, the new Manathirst keyword, and more! See all the new cards in the official card library today, and don’t forget to get your pre-purchase bundle—this time, available until up to one week after expansion unlock!

The Mega Pre-Purchase Bundle is entirely focused on the Hearthstone mode this time, granting more cards than ever before, including Signature cards, Signature Packs, and the entire 49-card Path of Arthas set!*

* Path of Arthas includes 26 distinct Death Knight cards (2 copies of each, except for 1 copy of each of the 3 Legendary cards) that are not part of March of the Lich King and can’t be opened in packs. In addition to being included in the Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle, Path of Arthas cards can be crafted or purchased as a complete set after the expansion goes live.

With the launch of March of the Lich King comes a new Rewards Track with tons of cosmetics, XP boosts, packs, and a huge infusion of Gold! Check out our Rewards Track Refresh blog tomorrow for details.

Undead Invade the Tavern

A new minion type has been added with March of the Lich King, Undead! Hundreds of minions from past card sets have been given the new Undead type, along with an army of minions in this expansion. With the addition of Undead, we’ve also added Dual-Type Minions so that we can best capture the essence of these minions. Some past and new minions will now feature two minion types, such as Undead Dragons and Demon Pirates.

The Reborn keyword is making its return in March of the Lich King, and it will become a keyword we regularly use going forward. Minions with Reborn return to life with 1 Health the first time they die. Reborn is commonly featured on Undead minions, but you might occasionally see it on other cards as well.

Card Updates

Theotar, the Mad Duke

• Old: [5 Mana] 3 Attack, 3 Health
• New: [6 Mana] 4 Attack, 4 Health

Dev Comment: The release of a new class is an incredibly exciting moment for Hearthstone players everywhere, and a moment that we want to be as enjoyable and accessible as possible. Knowing the importance of this new class release, our plan with Theotar was to test out a smaller change to the card (from 4 to 5 mana in Patch 24.4.3) before potentially moving for a larger change if necessary. Theotar’s play rate did not drop as far as we would have liked it to with the smaller change, and is still higher than we would like it to be leading into March of the Lich King. Our aim with this second change is to lower the card’s play rate to ensure that the release of Death Knight is as fun as possible for players with a wide variety of interests and experience levels.

Ice Revenant

• Old: Whenever you cast a Frost spell, gain +2/+2.
• New: Whenever you cast a Frost spell, gain +1/+1.

Dev Comment: The nerf to Ice Revenant might appear out of place, but it feels like a necessary one in a world where Death Knight has access to multiple cheap Frost spells (like Horn of Winter). In testing, we were frequently seeing Ice Revenants at game-ending sizes as early as turn 4, and the card was simply overshadowing many of the new and exciting things in the set.

Signature Cards are Here!

Signature is a new cosmetic quality (like Golden or Diamond) that cards can have, starting with Patch 25.0, featuring full-art images! Signature cards can’t be crafted or disenchanted; they can only be opened in packs or obtained through special means. Two are included in the Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle, along with regular and Signature March of the Lich King packs that will give you chances to open more! Learn more about Signature cards and Signature packs in our Expansion Announcement blog and explainer post.

Death Knight Prologue Available December 6

Play through the iconic story of the haughty prince Arthas Menethil as he forsakes the Light and becomes The Lich King, Hearthstone’s first Death Knight! The prologue will show you the strength of the Death Knight as you explore its new Hero Power and three Runes: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Complete the Death Knight Prologue to unlock the Death Knight class and immediately receive 32 free Death Knight cards, added to the Core Set.

Death Knight Launch Event Starting December 6

To celebrate the launch of the March of the Lich King, a special expansion launch event will be taking place using the new Events system. From December 6 to December 20, complete daily Event Quests to earn Event XP on a special Event reward track! Complete the Event rewards track to get 6 Signature cards (2 copies each of three non-Legendary cards), a March of the Lich King pack, and a special Card Back.

A Winterveil Event will be coming later this patch. Stay tuned for more details on that event in the coming weeks.

Tavern Brawl: A Lich King Recipe – December 7

The deck recipe brawl is back for March of the Lich King! Choose one of Hearthstone’s now 11 classes and play with a battle-ready Standard deck. But this time, there’s a twist! When you choose Death Knight, you will randomly play with one of three decks, each highlighting a different rune.

Battlegrounds Updates

The following updates will go live with Patch 25.0, on November 29.

New Hero

Enhance-o-Mechano (Armor Tier 1)

• Enhancification
  • Passive. After each Refresh, give a minion in Bob’s Tavern Taunt, Reborn, Windfury, or Divine Shield.
  • Dev Comments: The odds for each enhancification are equal (25%), except that a minion won’t be given a keyword it already has. So if ALL minions in a shop offering already have one of the keywords, it will roll something else.

This new hero will be available in all lobbies for two weeks after patch launch.

New Quest Reward

Enhance-a-matic: At the start of your turn, get an Enhanced Part that gives +5/+5 and a random bonus.

Enhanced Parts:

• Mega Horn: Give a minion +5/+5 and Taunt.

• Blazing Blades: Give a minion +5/+5 and Windfury.

• Bunker Plating: Give a minion +5/+5 and Divine Shield.

• Death Rewinder: Give a minion +5/+5 and Reborn.

Dev Comment: The odds for each of the Enhanced Parts are equal (25%).

Mercenaries Updates

• Rattlegore can now be earned through all normal means.
• Chromie can be obtained on the 25.0 Rewards Track.

New Mercenary

Chromie (Epic Protector)

• Gnome—4/84 Maxed Stats
• Abilities
  • Rewind 5: (Arcane-Speed 8) Deal 17 damage to a character. Deathblow: Its neighbors go last next turn.
  • Reading Chromie 5: (Arcane-Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Deal 22 damage. Gains +5 damage each time you cast an ability with higher speed than this.
  • Change the Timeline 5: (Arcane-Speed 5, Cooldown 2) Gain +20 Health. For two turns, abilities with higher speed act first. (Starts off Cooldown.)
• Equipment
  • Stroke of Midnight 4: Battlecry: Activate Change the Timeline for one turn. It goes on Cooldown for 2 turns.
  • Chaos Theory 4: The first time this Merc dies, rewind to the start of the turn and give your characters +8 Health.
  • Body Euphoria 4: Start of Game: Give your Gnomes +10/+20.

Chromie and her Portraits will not initially be available through packs or crafting. They will be available through all normal means in a patch after the end of the 25.0 Rewards Track.

Duels Updates

General Updates

• On November 29, there will be a major change to how Duels card buckets function (discussed below).
• On November 29, March of the Lich King, Path of Arthas, and Knights of the Frozen Throne will be added to the Duels card buckets (subject to the new buckets logic). At the same time, Knights of the Frozen Throne will also be added to deckbuilding.
• On December 6, the current Duels season will end, ratings will be reset, and ongoing runs will be concluded.
• On December 6, March of the Lich King and Path of Arthas will be added to deckbuilding and the two new Death Knight heroes will be added to the hero pool.
• Death Knight deckbuilding rules will apply to the initial Duels deckbuilding phase, just like the Hearthstone mode.
• You are not required to complete the Death Knight Prologue to unlock the Death Knight heroes in Duels. However, you won’t have the Death Knight Core Set available to you in deckbuilding if you haven’t unlocked the class. If you don’t have any Death Knight cards, you will only be able to use Neutral cards in your deckbuilding.

Card Bucket Revamp

With Patch 25.0, the Duels card bucket system will be getting a major update. The “Group Learning” bucket will be removed entirely. All other buckets will be adjusted to give cards by expansion, instead of by grouped type of effect. Cards for buckets will be generated based on cards from your deck, then a bucket will be generated based on the associated bucket pool.

New Heroes

Shai Shadestorm (Death Knight)

• Hero Powers
  • Ghoul Blitz: [2 Mana] Summon a 1/1 Ghoul with Charge and Reborn. It dies at end of turn.
  • Gathering Storm: [2 Mana] Gain a Corpse. Draw a card.
  • Lichborne Might: [1 Mana] Give a friendly minion +3/+3. It dies at the end of your turn.

• Signature Treasures
  • Gluth: [4 Mana Minion—Undead Beast]
    • 4/2. Battlecry: Give your other Undead +2/+1 and Reborn.
  • Glaciaxe: [4 Mana Weapon]
    • 5/2. Deathrattle: Equip a 2/5 Wings of Glaciaxe.
      • Wings of Glaciaxe: [4 Mana Weapon] 2/5. Windfury, Deathrattle: Summon four 1/1 Zombies with Reborn.
  • Remembrance of Ice: [6 Mana Spell—Frost]
    • Resurrect the minions your Frost spells have killed this game.
  • Unholy Embrace: [4 Mana Spell]
    • Spend up to 10 Corpses and add an Unholy Rune card to your hand for each.
  • Gluth-sicle: [7 Mana Minion—Undead Beast]
    • 6/4. Battlecry: Summon two Undead from your deck and Freeze them.
  • Inexorable Ghoul: [5 Mana Minion—Undead]
    • 5/5. Rush Revive: (2)

Scarlet Leafdancer (Death Knight)

• Hero Powers
  • Blood Parasite: [2 Mana] Summon a 2/1 Bloodworm with Lifesteal.
  • Hematology: [1 Mana] Spend up to 3 Corpses. For each, reduce the cost of a card in your hand by (1).
  • Scourging: [2 Mana] Discover an Undead.

• Signature Treasures
  • Runed Soulblade: [4 Mana Weapon]
    • 3/4. After your hero takes damage, deal 1 damage to all enemies and lose 1 Durability.
  • Scourge Strike: [3 Mana Spell]
    • Gain 1 Corpse, destroy 1 enemy minion, and draw 1 card. (Improves during run)
  • Crimson: [1 Mana Minion—Undead Beast]
    • 1/1. Whenever your hero is healed, this minion gains that much Attack and Health.
  • Ironweave Bloodletter: [3 Mana Weapon]
    • 3/2. Battlecry: For the rest of the game, whenever you consume one or more Corpses, restore 2 Health to your hero.
  • Greatsword of the Ebon Blade: [3 Mana Weapon]
    • 1/5. Whenever you play a minion, give it Reborn and this loses 1 Durability.
  • Contagion Concoction: [2 Mana Spell]
    • Infect a minion with “Deathrattle: Deal 3 damage to your hero, then infect a neighbor.”

New Passive Treasures

Cadaver Collector [Pool 1]: After the first time you gain a Corpse in a turn, gain 1 additional Corpse.

Blood Shields [Pool 1]: After the first time you spend a Corpse in a turn, gain 1 Health.

Ghouls Rush In [Pool 2]: After the first time your spend a Corpse in a turn, summon a 2/2 Risen Ghoul with Rush.

Cold Feet Pact [Pool 2]: At the end of your turn, summon a Risen Groom with stats equal to half your Corpse total.

New Active Treasure

Tiny Thimble [Pool 1]: 3 Mana, 3/3 Minion—Undead. Rush, Deathrattle: Add a Regular-Size Thimble to your hand.

• Regular-Size Thimble: 4 Mana, 5/5 Minion—Undead. Rush. After this attacks and kills a minion, gain +2/+2.

Arena Updates

On December 6, when March of the Lich King launches, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The eligible card sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:

• Core
• Curse of Naxxramus
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• Knights of the Frozen Throne*
• The Witchwood
• United in Stormwind
• March of the Lich King
• Path of Arthas

Additionally, Death Knight will be added as a playable class in Arena. When playing as a Death Knight, Arena deckbuilding will dynamically update as you pick cards so that the Death Knight Rune system is followed.

* As a reminder, Knights of the Frozen Throne will be rotated back out of the Core Set with the launch of March of the Lich King.

New Feature: Improved Duplicate Card Handling

We often include specific non-disenchantable cards as part of Reward Tracks, Events, Achievements, and Shop purchases. Starting with 25.0, if you claim one of these, but already own a lower quality copy that’s disenchantable, you’ll get a popup that offers to re-roll the lower quality copy to a different card of the same rarity from that card set.

For example, Diamond Grand Magister Rommath is on the March of the Lich King Tavern Pass. If you already own a Golden Rommath when you claim the Diamond, you’ll immediately get a popup offering to reroll Golden Rommath into a different March of the Lich King Golden Legendary (which, of course, respects duplicate protection). This feature also applies when you find a Signature card in a pack!

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Countered Secrets would not be revealed when Countered.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Immolate would not destroy cards that were Infused after being Immolated.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Afterlife Attendant would not progress a Huntsman Altimor’s Infuse form if the Infuse counter went to 0 while Altimor was in the deck.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Soul Seeker could result in an invisible card being summoned in certain circumstances.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Disarming Elemental’s Battlecry would not trigger if the person playing Disarming Elemental had an empty deck.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Silas Darkmoon’s rotation effect would kill Doomsayer.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Akama Prime was not stealthy enough and would lose Stealth when attacking.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Lotus Assassin was too stealthy and wouldn’t lose Stealth after Flare was played.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where certain visuals would remain on the board if the card causing them was Countered.
• [Battlegrounds] Elder Taggawag (Queen Wagtoggle’s Buddy) will now no longer have its effect blocked just because you control an “All” typed minion.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where The Golden Hammer Quest Reward could be used on an already-Golden minion, and then would result in that minion losing its Goldenization the following turn.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Leeroy Jenkins’s effect doesn’t work if he is mortally wounded and saved, and then later killed.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Ethereal Evidence didn’t respect minion type bans when offering Quest Rewards.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug causing disconnects and crashes under certain circumstances.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug that could lock players into a Bounty if they had an active Bounty with a mystery node when the Mysterious Stranger was removed from mystery nodes.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where completing a Heroic Bounty would not count for Tasks requiring a Normal Bounty completion.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where Neeru Fireblade’s Imp-losion only dealt damage once.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where PVE enemies would go first in Speed ties.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where the “Complete My Deck” feature did not work with Prince Renathal decks.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the level 100 Rewards Track Hero Skin could not be selected.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where players who reached the level 400 Rewards Track cap would no longer receive quests.
• [Shop] Fixed a bug where the “Back” button’s selection space was too small and placed where players could sometimes accidentally click into a product when they meant to go back.
• Misc. other improvements and bug fixes.

Patch 24.6.2 is a data-only patch (no app-store update required) launching today with the following updates:

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest and Reward Updates

• Golden Hammer and Kidnap Sack have been returned to the Quest Reward Pool.
• Hire an Investigator (Quest)
  • Old Baseline: End your turn with unspent Gold 3 times.
  • New Baseline: End your turn with unspent Gold 2 times.
• Volatile Venom (Quest Reward)
  • Old: Your minions have +8/+8. After they attack, they die. Horribly.
  • New: Your minions have +7/+7. After they attack, they die. Horribly.
• Tiny Henchmen, The Golden Hammer, and Volatile Venom have been made easier to earn.
• Stolen Gold has been made harder to earn.
• Interrogator Whitemane and Vigilant Stoneborn have been added to the pool of Neutral minions available in one of Wonderous Wisdomball’s lucky rolls.

Armor Tier Updates

• C’Thun has less Armor (moved to Armor Tier 4).
• The Jailer has more Armor (moved to Armor Tier 4).

Arena Updates

• Fixed a bug where the Basic set was missing from the draft pool.
• Increased the appearance rate of class cards globally.
  • Dev Comment: We will be carefully monitoring class balance as class cards become a more defining aspect of Arena draft and will make adjustments in the future if needed.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug with deck codes and decks not saving correctly.

Patch 24.6.2 is a data-only patch (no app-store update required) launching today with the following updates:

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest and Reward Updates

• Golden Hammer and Kidnap Sack have been returned to the Quest Reward Pool.
• Hire an Investigator (Quest)
  • Old Baseline: End your turn with unspent Gold 3 times.
  • New Baseline: End your turn with unspent Gold 2 times.
• Volatile Venom (Quest Reward)
  • Old: Your minions have +8/+8. After they attack, they die. Horribly.
  • New: Your minions have +7/+7. After they attack, they die. Horribly.
• Tiny Henchmen, The Golden Hammer, and Volatile Venom have been made easier to earn.
• Stolen Gold has been made harder to earn.
• Interrogator Whitemane and Vigilant Stoneborn have been added to the pool of Neutral minions available in one of Wonderous Wisdomball’s lucky rolls.

Armor Tier Updates

• C’Thun has less Armor (moved to Armor Tier 4).
• The Jailer has more Armor (moved to Armor Tier 4).

Arena Updates

• Fixed a bug where the Basic set was missing from the draft pool.
• Increased the appearance rate of class cards globally.
  • Dev Comment: We will be carefully monitoring class balance as class cards become a more defining aspect of Arena draft and will make adjustments in the future if needed.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug with deck codes and decks not saving correctly.

Patch 24.6, launching today, is a massive patch that kicks off Hearthstone’s next event, immediately adds Knights of the Frozen Throne to the free Core Set for a limited time, reworks Mercenaries systems, refreshes Battlegrounds, and paves the way for Hearthstone’s new Death Knight class and next expansion: March of the Lich King!

Table of Contents

• Hearthstone Updates
• Battlegrounds Updates
• Mercenaries Updates
• Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

Pre-Purchase March of the Lich King

Hearthstone’s next expansion, March of the Lich King, is coming on December 6! The Lich King is back, and he’s leading his Undead army in an assault on the Blood Elf city of Silvermoon. In this expansion, you can become a Death Knight, the all-new playable class, and use Corpses left on the battlefield to fuel your evil power. Or you can channel magic from the Sunwell with the new Manathirst keyword that makes your cards more powerful as the battle rages on. The armies are gathering. It is up to you to decide whether you will join, or stand against, the March of the Lich King!

March of the Lich King includes 145 new collectible cards. The March of the Lich King Mega Bundle is entirely focused on the Hearthstone mode, granting more cards than ever before, including new Signature cards, Signature Golden Packs, and the entire Path of Arthas set. You can learn more about Signature cards and Signature Golden Packs in the Expansion Announcement, and you can learn more about the Death Knight class and the Path of Arthas set in the Death Knight Deep Dive.

This time, for the first time ever, both March of the Lich King pre-purchase bundles will also be available for one week following the launch of the expansion! Get them now to start rocking your new card back right away, or get them after the expansion goes live—whatever works best for you.

Pre-purchase

Log In and Channel the Power of the Sunwell for Free!

Log in to Hearthstone now for your first steps in the March of the Lich King with the free The Sunwell Legendary Neutral spell!* The Sunwell’s magic is limited only by your hand size! Add it to your collection and see what blessings The Sunwell holds.

* Limited one per account. After Patch 25.6, Sunwell will be granted upon opening your first March of the Lich King pack, instead of upon logging in.

New Cosmetic: Legendary Hero Skins!

Like our Full Hero Skins, new Legendary Hero Skins feature impressive new come into play and hero power animations, a unique hero tray, and new voicelines. They then go even further by replacing your hero frame and portrait with a completely 3D character model! They also have custom character animations for a variety of actions, like attacking, summoning minions, casting spells, emotes, and more!

To celebrate the upcoming Death Knight class, our first Legendary Skin will be Arthas Menethil, for the upcoming Death Knight Class! It will be available for prepurchase as part of the Arthas Menethil Bundle, starting on November 8.

This bundle will be available for purchase in Patch 24.6 and 25.0 after the expansion launches, but the contents of it will not be usable until the Death Knight class unlocks with The March of the Lich King on December 6.

New Event System, Knights of Hallow’s End Event, and Knights of the Frozen Throne’s Return to Standard!

We’re introducing a new Events System and interface with Patch 24.6! Now, instead of just Legendary Quests, players can complete thematic Event Quests to earn XP on an Event-specific reward track. Additionally, in-game events will have their own special place in the Journal. When an event is live, there will be a seasonal wax seal over the Journal. Open the wax seal and you will be directed to a special Journal tab for that event, which will show Event Quests, rewards, and duration all in one thematic spot!

The first event with this new Events System will be the Knights of Hallow’s End Event, which starts with Patch 24.6. To kick off that event, the entire Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion will be temporarily Standard legal and FREE for all players! Now you can relive the first time The Lich King came to Hearthstone as you prepare for his return in December.

Use the Knights of the Frozen Throne cards to complete special Event Quests and Daily Quests, to earn Event XP.* Complete the entire Event reward track during the Event period and you’ll get two Battlegrounds Emotes, a Standard Card Pack, a Murder at Castle Nathria Pack, two March of the Lich King Packs, and a Banshee Tyrande Hearthstone Hero Skin!

The Knights of Hallow’s End Event will last for two weeks after the launch of Patch 24.6. Knights of the Frozen Throne will be part of the Core Set from the launch of Patch 24.6 until March of the Lich King launches on December 6!

* Event XP can also be earned by just playing regularly, but completing Event Quests is the fastest way to complete the entire Event reward track.

Return to Top

Battlegrounds Updates

General Text Updates

• Changed all instances of “gain 1 Gold this turn only” to “gain 1 Gold.” This is not a functional change.
• Changed all instances of “gain a Blood Gem” to “get a Blood Gem.” This is not a functional change.

New Hero

The Jailer (Armor Tier 3)

• Runic Empowerment
  • [1 Gold] Give a minion +1/+1. Upgrades after 9 friendly minions die.

This new hero will be available in all lobbies for two weeks after patch launch.

Hero Updates

The following Heroes have hero power updates:

C’Thun (Saturday C’Thuns)

• Old: [2 Gold] At the end of turn, give a friendly minion +1/+1. Repeat 0 times. (Upgrades after each use!)
• New: [2 Gold] At the end of turn, give a friendly minion +1/+1. Repeat 0 times. (Upgrades each turn!)

Infinite Toki (Temporal Tavern)

• Old: [1 Gold] Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a minion from a higher Tavern Tier.
• New: [1 Gold] Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include two minions from a higher Tavern Tier.

The Rat King (A Tale of Kings)

• Old: Passive. Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +2/+2. Swaps type each turn.
• New: [2 Gold] Discover a minion of a specific type. Swaps type each turn.

The following Heroes have less Armor:

• Bru’kan, Pyramad, and The Rat King are now Armor Tier 1 (0 Armor).
• Lich Baz’hial is now Armor Tier 2 (2-5 Armor).
• Deathwing, Infinite Toki, Kurtrus Ashfallen, and Tavish Stormpike are now Armor Tier 3 (3-6 Armor).
• Onyxia is now Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor).

The following Heroes have more Armor:

• Patchwerk is now Armor Tier 2 (2-5 Armor).
• Alexstrasza and Ambassador Faelin are now Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor)
• Chenvaala, Mr. Bigglesworth, and Zephrys the Great are now Armor Tier 5 (5-8 Armor)

New Battlegrounds Quests

Hire an Investigator: End your turn with unspent Gold 3 times.

Crack the Case: Have friendly minions attack 11 times.

Remember, these are just the baseline Quest completion requirements. Actual requirements in-game vary based on the Reward these Quests are paired with and several other factors.

New Battlegrounds Quest Rewards

Blood Goblet: At the end of your turn, give your right-most minion Attack equal to your missing Health.

Essence of Zerus: At the end of your turn, add a “Shifter Zerus” to your hand which transforms into random minions.

Hidden Treasure Vault: At the start of your turn, gain 1 Gold. (Upgrades each turn!)

Ethereal Evidence: At the start of every turn, choose from 2 new Rewards.

Volatile Venom: Your minions have +8/+8. After they attack, they die. Horribly.

The Golden Hammer: Spellcraft: Make a friendly minion Golden until next turn.

Sinfall Medallion: After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tavern Tier +2/+2.

Kidnap Sack: Spellcraft: Choose a non-Golden minion. Add it to your hand.

Battlegrounds Quest and Quest Reward Updates

• Quest: Find the Murder Weapon has had its baseline completion requirement reduced from 17 to 14.
• Reward: Anima Bribe has been removed from the Reward pool.
• Reward: Theotar’s Parasol has been returned to the Reward pool.
• Reward: Stolen Gold has had its appearance rate reduced by 50%.

New Minions

Dozy Whelp (Tavern Tier 1, Dragon)

• 0 Attack, 3 Health. Taunt. Whenever this minion is attacked, gain +1 Attack permanently.

Patient Scout (Tavern Tier 2)

• 1 Attack, 1 Health. When you sell this, Discover a Tavern Tier 1 minion. (Upgrades each turn!)

Bristlemane Scrapsmith (Tavern Tier 3, Quilboar)

• 4 Attack, 4 Health. After a friendly Taunt minion dies, get a Blood Gem.

Faceless Disciple (Tavern Tier 3)

• 6 Attack, 4 Health. Battlecry: Transform a minion into one of a Tier higher.

Vigilant Stoneborn (Tavern Tier 4)

• 2 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Give a minion +6 Health and Taunt.

Ball of Minions (Tavern Tier 4, All)

• 5 Attack, 5 Health. When you sell this, give its stats to a random friendly minion.

Interrogator Whitemane (Tavern Tier 5)

• 8 Attack, 5 Health. Start of Combat: Give the enemies opposite this Taunt. They take double damage.

Vanessa VanCleef (Tavern Tier 5, Pirate)

• 3 Attack, 7 Health. Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+1 permanently.

The Walking Fort (Tavern Tier 6)

• 4 Attack, 6 Health. At the end of your turn, give 4 friendly Taunt minions +4/+4.

Minion Updates

Prophet of the Boar

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Once per Turn: After you play a Quilboar, gain a Blood Gem.
• New: 2 Attack, 3 Health. Taunt. After you play a Quilboar, get a Blood Gem.

Tarecgosa

• Old: This permanently keeps enchantments from combat.
• New: This permanently keeps your enchantments from combat.

Dev comment: Tarecgosa will function the same way as it does now. This change is to prevent Tarecgosa from keeping negative enchantments, like Interrogator Whitemane’s added this patch.

Minion Pool Changes

• Spawn of N’Zoth, Gemsplitter, Reef Explorer, Nightmare Amalgam, Nosy Looter, and Yrel have been removed from the minion pool.
• Menagerie Mug has been returned to the minion pool.

New Battle Bash: Hallow’s End Collection

Battle Bash is a new way for you to earn a limited-time* curated collection of Battlegrounds cosmetics, including at least one Legendary item! Purchasing access to the Battle Bash means you earn one “Hammer” with each Top 4 finish during the Battle Bash period. Each Hammer can then be used to Bash for a random prize from that Battle Bash collection.

The first Battle Bash will be the Hallow’s End collection of ten items (purchasable for money or 1000 Runestones), including two Legendary items: a Legendary Board, a Legendary Strike, a Rare Bartender, 5 Epic Skins, and 2 sets of three Rare Emotes!

Purchasing this first Battle Bash will immediately unlock 2 Hammers. On top of that, Bob will give all players one free Bash to try it out. That means you have a random chance to get your favorite prize for free! It also means that if you purchase this Battle Bash, you only need seven Top 4 finishes during the Battle Bash period to unlock all the prizes. This first Battle Bash period will last for three weeks from the initial Battle Bash offering.

* Each Battle Bash collection will only be available as a whole collection for a limited time. However, individual items within a Battle Bash may become available at a later time. Items within each Battle Bash have different pull weightings. For more details, see the full disclosures site.

Battlegrounds Lobby Legends Returns

You can watch the best of the best battle it out in the fresh Battlegrounds meta when Lobby Legends returns on November 12! Keep an eye out for more event details closer to the event’s start.

Return to Top

Mercenaries Updates

New Renown System

You’ve dominated the Bounty Board and your best Mercenaries are beyond Maxed. Your reputation precedes you, and you’ve achieved great Renown in your Village. With Patch 24.6, you’ll be able to convert your excess coins into Renown. Daily Tasks are being reworked (discussed below) and, in their place at the Campfire, you’ll receive a selection of offers to exchange Renown for Coins for a Mercenary you own, but haven’t yet Maxed.

The conversion rates from excess coins to Renown are as follows:

• 10 Rare Coins = 1 Renown
• 5 Epic Coins = 1 Renown
• 2 Legendary Coins = 1 Renown

The conversion rates to then exchange Renown for Coins from Mercs you haven’t Maxed are as follows:

• 100 Renown = 50 Rare Coins
• 150 Renown = 50 Epic Coins
• 250 Renown = 50 Legendary Coins

In the future, this system will be updated to incorporate Renown into the upcoming end-game system. More information will be shared about that update at a later time.

Task System Rework

All Task chains are now available whenever you want! Active Task chains are those for the Mercs that are in your Party at that time, so you can work on up to six Task chains at a time, and you can switch those Task chains up just by switching up your Party. This means players can easily select exactly which Task chains they want to work on, and efficiently clear their Tasks in a way that makes sense for them!

In addition to all the Tasks for all Mercs, there will also be extra miscellaneous Tasks mixed in with the daily Renown exchange offerings, so you will still get opportunities to grow even after completing all the main Task chains. Finally, as the Mysterious Stranger’s job is now done, they will no longer appear in mystery nodes—they will be replaced by the Cursed Treasure node.

New Limited-Time Event: Rattlegore

RATTLEGORE! Rattlegore has escaped and is making its way to terrorize your Village, starting on November 1. The event will consist of 10 special Tasks, centered around Rattlegore. Two new event tasks will be unlocked on each of the first five days of the event, but you have until November 29 to complete all 10 Tasks. Completing all 10 Tasks will get you the Rattlegore Mercenary, two random Golden Rattlegore Portraits, and 700 Mercenaries Coins! Orcs, Beast, and Demons will be helpful in completing this special event.

New Mercenary

Rattlegore (Epic Protector)

• Undead—12/30 Maxed Stats
• Abilities
  • Rusted Blades 5: (Speed 2) Gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy. Make this ability (2) speed slower.
  • BONEFLAME!!! 5: (Fire – Speed 4) Deal 16 damage. Deathblow: Gain +3 Fire Damage.
  • Confusing Bruising 5: (Shadow – Speed 1, Cooldown 2) Gain +15/+15 and Attack an enemy. Die at the end of turn.
• Equipment
  • Spooky Scary 4: Deathrattle: Fill your Board with 9/9 Skeletons.
  • A Solid Education 4: Deathrattle: Resummon this as a 10/70 without this Deathrattle.
  • Rattling Bones 4: Deathrattle: Resummon this with -2/-5.

Rattlegore and its Portraits will not initially be available through packs or crafting. They will be available through all normal means in a patch after the Rattlegore event ends.

Arena Updates

When Patch 24.6 goes live, all current Arena runs will end, and Hallow’s End will come to Arena! Dual-class Arena is back, and this time we’re kicking it old school. The eligible sets will be all sets from Classic through League of Explorers, and that’s it! No modern cards. But there’s a catch—Demon Hunter is still in the game. If you pick Demon Hunter, you could end up with the Demon Claws hero power, but no Demon Hunter class cards will appear.

Dual Class Arena will last until March of the Lich King launches on December 6. The eligible card sets during this period will be:

• Basic
• Classic
• Curse of Naxxramus
• Goblins vs Gnomes
• Blackrock Mountain
• The Grand Tournament
• League of Explorers

Note that this throwback event uses the Basic and Classic sets, not the more modern Core Set.

Improved New and Returning Player Deck System

New and returning players* will now be able to borrow a selection of competitive decks for one week following their return, before choosing one to claim at the end of that Loaner Deck period. In Patch 24.6, there will be 6 Loaner Decks they can try during that period.

* Includes players who didn’t play the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion. See the official post for decklists and eligibility details.

Return to Top

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Quests] Some Daily and Weekly Quests will now include an arrow at the bottom. Press this arrow to be taken directly to the part of the client where that Quest can be completed.
• [Hearthstone] The Hearthstone tutorial can now be skipped by pressing “Leave Tutorial” in the in-game menu.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Blademaster Okani’s ability could be wasted if a spell was also Countered at the same time by Ice Trap.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual mobile bug with destroying a Location with Demolition Renovator.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Reno the Relicologist could cause disconnects under certain conditions.
• [Battlegrounds] The Battlegrounds Track will now open to the page of the most recently earned item.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where some Alternate Bartenders were not saying their voicelines as frequently as expected.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bugged interaction between the Time Thief Darkmoon Prize and the Secret Sinstone Quest Reward.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions summoned off the Evil Twin Quest Reward were not copied by Khadgar. There remains a visual bug where the now copied Evil Twins will not have their mustaches; we will award them the appropriate facial hair in a later patch.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Leeroy Jenkins killed the last minion that damaged him, not the one that dealt him lethal damage.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where Ysera’s Nightmare Ability was being treated as a Nature Ability instead of a Shadow Ability.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where Genn’s Smooth Transformation Equipment would trigger while he was on the bench.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug with the “One of the Classic Blunders” Achievement.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug with the “Shut Up, Dad” Achievement.
• [Collection] You can now search “tag:imp” or “tag:whelp” to return all cards in your collection that have those tags. You can type just “imp” if you want all text matches as well as all cards with the Imp tag.
• [Misc.] Fixed a bug causing computer opponents to make unexpected plays.

Patch 24.4.3 is a data-only client patch, scheduled for October 13, that includes the following updates and bug fixes:

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: The meta is relatively stable right now, with just a few outliers. Our goal with this patch is to reduce frustration and give weaker decks a bit more breathing room by reducing the overall power level of Hunter.

The one notable outlier that is not getting changed, but which we are keeping a close eye on, is Prince Renathal. He is powerful and popular, but we don’t want this patch to completely shake up the meta, because we have something fun coming in Patch 24.6 and we want to see how Renathal performs in the next expansion before making changes to him.

The following cards have been adjusted down in power:

Theotar, the Mad Duke

• Old: Costs 4
• New: Costs 5

Dev Comment: Theotar is a defining card in the current meta. He plays an important role in giving players agency against powerful late-game plays, but he can also be very frustrating to lose to. We don’t want him to be one of the most popular cards in the next expansion, and our goal with this change is to lower his playrate across all ranks. If his playrate doesn’t drop significantly with this change, we’ll evaluate further changes at the next opportunity.

Stag Spirit Wildseed

• Old: 5 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health

Bear Spirit Wildseed

• Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health
• New: 2 Attack, 4 Health

Harpoon Gun

• Old: After your hero attacks, Dredge. If it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (3).
• New: After your hero attacks, Dredge. It it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (2).

Dev Comment: Hunter has been the most popular and arguably the most powerful class in the game for some time, especially in lower ranks. These changes are meant to address some of the sharper play patterns this class is capable of, while simultaneously lowering the overall class power level.

The above craftable cards, as well as Spirit Poacher, Stag Charge, Wild Spirits, and Ara’lon will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 24.4.3.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: This is a smaller update, as we’ve spread our recent changes across the last few hotfix patches. Battlegrounds players should expect a bigger Battlegrounds update with the next major patch, Patch 24.6.

Hero Update

Fungalmancer Flurgl – Gone Fishing

• Old: Passive: After you sell 4 minions, get a random Murloc.
• New: Passive: After you sell 5 minions, get a random Murloc.
• Fungalmancer Flurgl has been moved from Armor Tier 1 (0 Armor) to Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor)

Quest Reward Update

The Smoking Gun

• Old: Your minions have +5 Attack.
• New: Your minions have +4 Attack.
• The Smoking Gun is now easier to earn.

Minion Updates

Nether Drake

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] 0 Attack, 4 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 3] 1 Attack, 5 Health

Twilight Emissary

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 4 Attack, 4 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 2] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Dark Force Malygos was not able to be claimed or equipped.

Patch 24.4, launching on September 27, includes the new Murder at Castle Nathria Mini-Set, a returning Battlegrounds Hero, several Mercenaries updates, and more!

Maw and Disorder Mini-Set Commences on September 27

Sylvanas has been accused and must stand trial before the Jailer! Get all the Accusations, new synergies, and courtroom characters in this Mini-Set of 35 all-new cards to add to your collection. Get them in Murder at Castle Nathria packs, or as a complete 66-card* Mini-Set. Get the Normal version in-game for 1500 Runestones or 2000 Gold, or get the all-Golden version for $69.99 or 7000 Runestones.

* 4 Legendary cards (x1), 1 Epic card (x2), 14 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2)

Battlegrounds Updates

General Updates

• Another Hidden Body has been returned to the Quest Reward pool. Its animation has also been sped up.
• Another Hidden Body has been made more difficult to earn.
• When creating a private lobby, players can now invite friends of their invited friends.

Returning Hero

Sylvanas Windrunner (Armor Tier 1)

• Reclaimed Souls
  • [1 Gold] Give +2/+1 to your minions that died last combat.

This new hero will be available in all lobbies for two weeks after patch launch.

New Cosmetic: Legendary Battlegrounds Boards

Introducing Legendary Battlegrounds Boards! Legendary Boards have six different visuals one for during the recruit phase and one for the combat phase, as well as special modifiers for when you are in the Top 4, when you are on a winstreak, when you are at low Health, and when you land a big hit! Experience the whole range of Legendary animations with the new Murloc Hideaway Legendary Battlegrounds Board, available starting October 11.

Mercenaries Updates

General Updates

• C’Thun can now be earned through all normal methods.
• New Keyword: Charge! Characters with Charge immediately Attack a chosen target when summoned. This is like Rush except that Rush characters Attack a random enemy character when summoned while Charge lets you choose.

New Mercenaries

Murloc Holmes (Legendary Protector)

• Murloc – 13/87 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Hot on the Case 5: (Fire - Speed 9) Gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy. It takes Critical Damage after it acts next turn.
  • Elementary! 5: (Nature - Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Give a friendly character Divine Shield. If they lose it this turn, they gain +5/+10 and Attack the enemies opposite them.
  • And the Killer Is! 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) Deal 16 damage to an enemy. Make a prediction for a bonus.
    • First to Arrive 5: Deal 16 damage to an enemy. If it acted first this turn, deal 16 more and they act last next turn.
    • Last on the Scene 5: Deal 16 damage to an enemy. If it acts last in combat, deal 10 damage to all enemies.
    • Obviously the Murderer 5: Deal 16 damage to an enemy. After it destroys two Mercs, it takes 80 damage.
• Equipment:
  • Trusty Sidekick 4: Battlecry: Summon a 12/30 Watfin (Beast) who Attacks enemies who damage your Murloc Holmes.
  • Paid Up Front 4: Battlecry: Gain +4/+4 and this Merc’s Abilities Refresh (1).
  • Suspect Everyone 4: Passive: After an enemy casts a 4, 5, or 6 Speed Ability, deal 8 damage to them.

Ysera (Legendary Fighter)

• Dragon – 8/84 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Verdant Breath 5: (Nature - Speed 5) Deal 12 damage to an enemy. Restore that much Health to another friendly Dragon.
  • Emerald Dream 5: (Nature - Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Choose a Dream card to cast.
    • Emerald Drake 5: (Dragon) 25/20. Rush.
    • Ysera Awakens 5: (Nature) Deal 20 damage to all enemies and 5 damage to all other friendly characters.
    • Nightmare 5: (Shadow) Give a character +30 Attack, at the end of each turn they take 20 damage.
  • Emerald Oracle 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) Choose One:
    • Restore 20 Health to a character. Your Mercs’ abilities are (5) Speed faster this turn.
    • Restore 20 Health to a friendly Merc and return it to the bench.
• Equipment:
  • Ysera’s Vengeance 4: Verdant Breath deals 5 more damage.
  • Dream Infusion 4: Passive: After one of your characters dies, restore 7 Health to your Dragons.
  • Emerald Majesty 4: Ysera Awakens also restores 15 Health to this Merc.

Bwonsamdi (Epic Fighter)

• Troll – 3/89 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Soul Subjugation 5: (Shadow - Speed 9) Deal 28 damage. Deals 3 less damage for each time this was damaged this turn.
  • Irrefusable Offer 5: (Shadow - Speed 1) Choose one of Bwonsamdi’s Deals. Increase the Cooldown of this ability by 1.
    • Deal of Time: All abilities with initial Speeds of (5) or faster are (5) Speed slower next turn. All others are (5) Speed faster.
    • Deal of Vanity: Gain +5 Health. All enemy abilities this turn target this (if possible).
    • Deal of Fear: This takes no damage this turn. Return all Mercs to the Bench at the end of the turn.
  • Binding Contract 5: (Shadow - Speed 2, Cooldown 2) Deal 12 damage to an enemy. If this Merc dies this turn, deal 90 more.
• Equipment:
  • Arena Contender 4: Battlecry: This Merc’s abilities Refresh (2). Deathrattle: Your abilities Refresh (2).
  • New Client 4: Resurrect one of your Mercs that died this game, with 24 Health remaining.
  • Spirit of the Dead 4: Passive: After one of your characters dies, restore 7 Health to your Trolls.

Korrak the Bloodrager (Legendary Caster)

• Troll – 11/60 Maxed Stats
• Deathrattle: Destroy a random Minion. This Merc returns to life with their Health.
• Abilities:
  • Mounting Anger 5: (Speed 5) Gain +5 Attack this turn and Attack an enemy. (Increases by +3 after use).
  • Eat the Dead 5: (Speed 4) Gain +8 Health. Health gain increases by +8 each time a character dies. Resets after use.
  • Blood Rage 5: (Speed 6, Cooldown 2) Distribute 20 damage to random enemies. (Increased by this Merc’s missing Health).
• Equipment:
  • Winterax Strong 4: Mounting Anger increases by an additional +4 Attack after use.
  • Honor Bound 4: Eat the Dead only increases when a friendly character dies, but increases by an extra +12.
  • The Everliving 4: Blood Rage gains: “Deathblow: Restore 20 Health.”

Archimonde (Epic Caster)

• Demon – 10/86 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Finger of Death 5: (Fel - Speed 4) Deal 12 damage. Gain +3 Fel Damage.
  • Rain of Chaos 5: (Fel - Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Deal 18 to all enemies. Your Fel abilities are (3) Speed faster next turn.
  • Doomfire 5: (Fel - Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Give all enemies +5 Fel Weakness this turn. Deal 10 damage to them after they act.
• Equipment:
  • Edict of Argus 4: Doomfire’s Fel Weakness is permanent.
  • Archimonde’s Gold Coin 4: After a Demon dies, restore 10 Health to all friendly Demons.
  • The Infernal Codex 4: Finger of Death gains “Deathblow: Gain +4 Fel Damage.”

Prince Malchezaar (Rare Protector)

• Demon – 12/79 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Party Crasher 5: (Speed 3) Attack an enemy. If it is a Protector, it takes 10 more damage this turn.
  • Check Your Weapons 5: (Fel - Speed 5) Deal 18 damage to the highest Attack enemy. If it is a Fighter, its Attack is permanently halved, rounded up.
  • All Realities 5: (Shadow - Speed 3, Cooldown 2) Deal 25 damage to the next enemy who acts this turn. If it’s a Caster, set its remaining Health to 5, instead.
• Equipment:
  • Flying Axes 4: Passive: +15 Health. Battlecry: Change a random enemy Merc’s Role to Protector.
  • Parrying Blade 4: Battlecry: Permanently reduce enemy Protectors’ and Casters’ Attack by 10.
  • Three Moves Ahead 4: Passive: Enemy Casters’ Abilities are (2) Speed slower.

Neeru Fireblade (Rare Caster)

• Orc – 9/84 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Command Demon 5: (Fel - Speed 5) Summon a Wild Imp 5. Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Your Imps will target it this turn, if able.
    • Wild Imp 5: (Demon) 5/15. At the end of the turn, deal 12 Fel damage to a random enemy.
  • Burning Blade Portal 5: (Fel - Speed 5, Cooldown 2) At the end of your turn, fill your board with Wild Imps 5.
  • Imp-losion 5: (Fel - Speed 6, Cooldown 2) Destroy a friendly Imp. Deal 10 damage plus its Attack and Health to a random enemy 3 times.
• Equipment:
  • Jumbo Imps 4: Wild Imp has +15 Health.
  • Combustible Imps 4: Wild Imp has “Deathrattle: Deal 12 Fel damage to a random enemy.”
  • Demon Armor 4: Passive: Your Demons have “Immune while Attacking.”

Nemsy Necrofizzle (Rare Caster)

• Gnome – 9/70 Maxed Stats
• Battlecry: Summon a 10/25 Boggy Elemental with Taunt.
• Abilities:
  • Boggy Blast 5: (Nature - Speed 7) Deal 15 damage. Summon a 10/25 Boggy with Taunt. If you already have Boggy, give it +15 Health instead.
  • Erupting Fungus 5: (Nature - Speed 4) Choose a friendly character. After it survives damage this turn, it deals 18 damage to a random enemy.
  • Bogonomics 5: (Nature - Speed 3) Give a friendly character +5/+10 and Taunt. If you have Boggy, give it +5/+5.
• Equipment:
  • Bog Moss 4: Boggy gains “Adjacent characters take 7 less damage.”
  • Fishing Lure 4: Boggy gains +10 Health and “After this is attacked, Attack a random enemy.”
  • “Fresh” Peaches 4: Boggy gains “At the end of the turn, give your Taunt characters +12 Health.”

Garona Halforcen (Rare Fighter)

• Half-Orc – 10/84 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Smoke and Knives 5: (Shadow - Speed 8) Attack an enemy and deal 20 damage to an adjacent one. If this isn’t already a Fighter, become one and deal 26 instead.
  • Shimmering Toxin 5: (Nature – Speed 1) Gain +10 Attack. Take 12 less damage this turn. Become a Protector. (Starts off Cooldown)
  • One and the Same 5: (Cooldown 1) Discover a Lineage Ability. Combo: Become a Caster first.
    • Dev comment: When Abilities Discover an Ability, that includes the Discovered Ability’s Speed. A “Lineage Ability” is a selection from several classic Orc Abilities.
• Equipment:
  • Shadowstep 4: End of Turn: If you control another Merc, gain +4/+5 and return to the bench.
  • Halforcen Legacy 4: Battlecry: If you control another Orc, gain +3/+10. Repeat for Dranei and Human.
  • Knife of Indecision 4: Battlecry: Gain +15 Health and become Neutral.

Khadgar (Epic Caster)

• Human – 10/82 Maxed Stats
• At the end of the turn, if all three of your basic Abilities are upgraded, transform into Archmage Khadgar.
• Abilities:
  • Arcane Surge 5: (Arcane - Speed 6) Deal 16 damage. Upgrade Blizzard to Root all enemies.
  • Blizzard 5: (Frost - Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Deal 14 damage. Upgrade Hearthfire to grant +5 Attack.
  • Hearthfire 5: (Fire - Speed 2) Give your characters +12 Health. Upgrade Arcane Surge to be (2) Speed.
• Equipment:
  • Bakin’ Bacon 4: Start of Game: Upgrade Hearthfire. Khadgar gains +8 Health.
  • Bitter Chill 4: Start of Game: Upgrade Blizzard and it Refreshes (1).
  • Boon of Atiesh 4: Archmage Khadgar has an extra +3 Fire, Frost, and Arcane Damage.

Archmage Khadgar (Transformed Form)

• Human – 10/82 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Prismatic Bolt 5: (Speed 2) Deal 16 damage. Gain +1 Fire, Frost, and Arcane Damage.
  • Archmage Nova 5: (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Cast all of Khadgar’s upgraded abilities.
  • Triune Supremacy 5: Discover one of Khadgar’s upgraded abilities.

Medivh (Legendary Protector)

• Human – 11/86 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Arcane Rift 5: (Arcane - Speed 5) Deal 12 damage. Your next Arcane ability this turn deals Critical Damage.
  • Mage Guard 5: (Arcane - Speed 3) Give a friendly character +15 Health and Taunt this turn. After it is Attacked this turn, it gains +3 Arcane Damage.
  • Summon Raven Familiar 5: (Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Summon a Raven Familiar with “Spell Resistance +10” and the “Birds of a Feather 5” Ability.
    • Raven Familiar: (Beast) 10/20. Spell Resistance +10.
      • Birds of a Feather 5: (Arcane - Speed 6) Deal 8 damage. (Increases by 5 when you use another Arcane ability.)
• Equipment:
  • Unstable Rune 4: Battlecry: Summon a 0/10 Arcane Ward with “Counter the first Ability used each turn.”
  • Medivh’s Locket 4: After you summon a minion, give it +4 Arcane Damage.
  • Staff of Atiesh 4: Start of Game: Give friendly Casters +5/+10.

Tess Greymane (Rare Protector)

• Human – 16/92 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Yoink! 5: (Shadow - Speed 4) Deal 15 damage. Transform into a one-time copy of the ability the target cast this turn. (if possible)
  • Moonlight Resolve! 5: (Arcane - Speed 3) Restore 25 Health. Transform into a one-time copy of the last enemy ability cast this turn. (if possible)
  • Princess Power! 5: (Cooldown 1) Discover an enemy ability. Cast 12 unique abilities this game to transform into What I’m Capable Of!
    • What I’m Capable Of!: Cast 5 random abilities you’ve cast this game at an enemy. (if possible)
• Equipment:
  • Cloak of Shadows 4: Yoink! And Moonlight Resolve! Transform permanently. Their initial effects are improved by 6.
  • Steadfast Convictions 4: Passive: +4/+8. After this deals damage to a Merc, gain Role advantage.
  • Tools of the Trade 4: Start of Game: Transform Yoink! and Moonlight Resolve! Into random single use enemy abilities. Gain +15 Health.

Genn Greymane (Epic Protector)

• Human – 12/89 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Blistering Bullet 5: (Fire - Speed 2) Deal 12 damage. Transform into a Worgen.
  • Spacemaker 5: (Fire - Speed 6) Deal 18 damage. Gain +3 Attack.
  • Beastly Beauty 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) 15/20 Human. Taunt. Battlecry: Give your other Humans and Worgen +4/+6.
• Equipment:
  • Blood Moon 4: Battlecry: Gain +7 Attack. Transform into Genn’s Other Form.
  • Smooth Transformation 4: End of Turn: Transform into Genn’s Other Form and gain +8 Health.
  • Gilnean Strength 4: After one of your characters casts an even-Speed ability, restore 10 Health to them.

Genn Greymane (Worgen Form) (Fighter)

• Worgen – 12/89 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Moonlight Strike 5: Deal damage equal to this Merc’s attack. Transform into a Human.
  • Ankle Breaker 5: Attack an enemy. It’s (5) Speed slower while this is a Human.
  • Beautiful Beast 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) 20/15 Worgen. Charge. Battlecry: Give your other Humans and Worgen +6/+4.

Aranna Starseeker (Rare Caster)

• Night Elf – 9/81 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Edge Cancel 5: (Speed 6) Gain +7 Attack this turn and Attack an enemy. If it has less Attack, return this to the bench.
  • Felodic Intonement 5: (Fel - Speed 9) Deal 22 damage to an enemy. Set its Attack to 0 until next turn.
  • Aggrobatics 5: (Fel - Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Deal 10 damage to an enemy and swap with an ally across from it. Enemy abilities targeting the Mercs swap targets (if possible).
• Equipment:
  • Unbreakable Backpack 4: Battlecry: Gain +2 Fel, Arcane, and Nature Damage. Gain +1 more for each of your other Night Elves and Demons.
  • Iambic Pentameter 4: Passive: Enemies across from this have -8 Attack.
  • Glaive Land 4: Battlecry: Gain +5 Health and Role advantage against this Merc’s current Role.

Merc Updates

Some existing mercs have been updated to incorporate the new Charge mechanic.

N’Zoth

• Spawn of N’Zoth 5
  • Old: Rush. Immune while Attacking.
  • New: Charge. Immune while Attacking.

Zar’jira, the Sea Witch

• Wavethrasher 5
  • Old: Rush. Passive: Has +10 Attack for each Frozen character.
  • New: Charge. Passive: Has +10 Attack for each Frozen character.

C’Thun

• Tentacle of C’Thun 5
  • Old: Rush. Whenever this attacks, give your C’Thun +5 Attack and Old Gods’ abilities Refresh (1).
  • New: Charge. Whenever this attacks, give your C’Thun +5 Attack and Old Gods’ abilities Refresh (1).
• Heart of C’Thun 4
  • Old: Summon a 5/15 Tentacle of C’Thun. It gains Taunt but loses Rush.
  • New: Summon a 5/15 Tentacle of C’Thun. It gains Taunt but loses Charge.

Warmaster Voone

• Evasive Wurm 5
  • Old: Divine Shield, Rush.
  • New: Divine Shield, Charge.

King Krush

• Devilsaur 5
  • Old: Rush.
  • New: Charge.

Old Murk-Eye

• Gigantfin
  • Old: Rush.
  • New: Charge.

New Zone and Bounties

We are welcoming the Darkmoon Troupe to Mercenaries in a brand-new Zone, spanning 11 new Bounties. We are also adding five new Bounties to the Felwood Zone, and 3 more new Bounties to the Blackrock Mountain Zone.

Duels Updates

• Maw and Disorder Mini-Set cards can now be used in building a starting deck.
• Card buckets were added and adjusted to incorporate Maw and Disorder Mini-Set cards.
• Sire Denathrius has been removed from all card buckets.

Arena Updates

On September 27, when Maw and Disorder launches, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The eligible card sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:

• Core
• Blackrock Mountain
• Kobolds & Catacombs
• Ashes of Outland
• Journey to Un'goro
• Rise of Shadows
• Murder at Castle Nathria (including Maw and Disorder Mini-Set)

Early Progression and Milestone Offer Updates

Apprentice (new player ranks) and low internal-rating players (colloquially called “MMR”) may now face up against AI opponents when playing on the ranked Standard ladder. This will help said players have a more fun experience while learning the game. Experienced players will not face these AI opponents, and they will have no impact on MMR, leaderboards, or legend ranks. Most players advance beyond the affected MMR range upon leaving Silver or Gold ranks.

Additionally, milestone shop offers are returning to celebrate Standard ladder progression in October. This time, some players will be offered Battle-Ready Decks as part of those offers. Upon reaching Bronze, those players will be offered a Battle-Ready Deck for their most-played class. Upon reaching Platinum, they will be offered a second Battle-Ready Deck for their second most-played class.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Necrolord Draka’s Maldraxxus Dagger now caps out at 10 mana.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where players could not play minions onto a full board, even if space was being cleared, until after animations and effects resolved.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where playing Gone Fishin’ with an empty deck did not draw a fatigue card.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where The Leviathan would sometimes summon a blank space instead of its appendage.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Deathborne did not summon a Volatile Skeleton if the minion went Dormant when killed.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Bibliomite revealed the card returned to its owner’s deck.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where if a card selected by a “Suspicious” card was transformed, opponents would be offered the new transformed card instead of the original card chosen.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug that resulted in a Flightmaster Dungar copied from an opponent getting extra effect activations.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where if the last minion to die was a Golden Summoned minion, Victim’s Specter would give a copy of that minion that granted a triple reward.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Reborn Rites persisted for an extra turn if the target was tripled by Victim’s Specter.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug that in certain edge cases could prevent minions from properly tripling.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a visual bug where Battlegrounds Rating did not appear correctly on mobile.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Training Session did not function properly with Sire Denathrius.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the notification would not show when new Battlegrounds rewards were able to be claimed on the Battlegrounds Track.
• [Mercenaries] Fixed a bug where players were sometimes unable to edit their Party on mobile.
• [Solo Content] Fixed a bug that prevented players from entering certain solo content if they owned some portion of the solo content, but not all of it.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug in tracking the Flower Power achievement.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug causing the Journal notification to persist even if there were no notifications to clear.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.