Hearthstone

Patch 22.6, launching today, paves the way for Voyage to the Sunken City, Hearthstone’s next expansion, with pre-purchase options, balance changes, and more!

Pre-Purchase Voyage to the Sunken City

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Voyage to the Sunken City, is coming on April 12! Dive right into the next Hearthstone year and the sights and sounds of the lost ancient city of Zin-Azshari. Dredge the ocean floor for sunken treasures, dodge Colossal sea creatures, and come face-to-face with the vengeful Naga.

Voyage to the Sunken City includes 135 new cards, inspired by the beautiful and terrifying mysteries of the sea. You can prepare for your voyage with two pre-purchase options, starting today!

Pre-purchase

Log in and Get Blademaster Okani for Free

Log in to Hearthstone to get your first taste of the Sunken City with the free Blademaster Okani Legendary minion! This skilled fighter knows many techniques, and can counter a spell or minion. Add him to your collection as you prepare to take on the fearsome Naga.

Battlegrounds Updates

SYSTEM UPDATE

The Battlegrounds Armor System is back! Now that we’ve had some time with our Buddies, we’ve assessed how Buddies and Armor will interact and think it is a good time for Armor to return. At the start of this patch, these will be the armor ranges and placements:

Just like before, we will continue to monitor gameplay after the system goes live and might end up making adjustments in future updates.

NEW HERO

• Expedition Plans
  • Passive. Skip your first turn. Discover a Tier 2, 4, and 6 minion to get at those Tiers.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the new Hero before it is formally released on March 31.

NEW BUDDY

• [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Add a random Tier 1, 3, and 5 minion to your hand.

UPDATED HERO

• Snicker-snack
  • Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]

NEW MINIONS

• [Tavern Tier 1, Murloc] 1 Attack, 4 Health. After you summon a Murloc, gain +1 Attack.

• [Tavern Tier 2, Murloc] 2 Attack, 4 Health. When you sell this, add another random Murloc to your hand.

• [Tavern Tier 5, Beast] 7 Attack, 7 Health. Whenever this attacks, summon a 9/9 Devilsaur to attack the target first.

• [Tavern Tier 6] 5 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Discover a Buddy.

  • Some things are best left between you and your bestie. Buddies for the following heroes can’t be Discovered by Friend of a Friend: Bru’kan, Captain Hooktusk, Galewing, Jandice Barov, Kael’thas Sunstrider, King Mukla, Maiev Shadowsong, Malygos, Master Nguyen, Mutanus the Devourer, Overlord Saurfang, Silas Darkmoon, Tavish Stormpike, The Curator, The Rat King, Varden Dawngrasp, Onyxia, Queen Wagtoggle, Cookie the Cook, and Skycap’n Kragg.

MINION POOL UPDATE

• Murloc Tidehunter, Old Murk-Eye, and Maexxna have been removed from the minion pool.

UPDATED MINIONS

• Old: [Tavern Tier 1] 2 Attack, 2 Health. → New: [Tavern Tier 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] 7 Attack, 3 Health. → New: [Tavern Tier 4] 5 Attack, 3 Health.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: At the end of your turn, gain +1/+2 for each minion type you control. → New: At the end of your turn, gain +2/+2 for each minion type you control.

• Old: 7 Attack, 6 Health. → New: 9 Attack, 8 Health.

Mercenaries Updates

GENERAL UPDATES

• You will now be able to set different Equipment and Portrait loadouts for your different Parties using the same Mercenary; you will no longer be able to change these loadouts in the middle of a Bounty.
• When you get offered a Bounty Treasure for a Merc that already has a Treasure, you will be now offered the option to upgrade your current Treasure, instead of just keeping or replacing it.
• Chi-Ji is now available through all the normal ways of acquiring a Mercenary.

NEW LIMITED TIME EVENT

Time’s up! Let’s do this! On March 22, Leeroy Jenkins is charging into Mercenaries with his own special event. The event consists of 10 special Tasks starring Leeroy and the Black Dragonflight! For the first five days of the event, you can get up to two event Tasks each day, but you have until April 5 to complete all 10 Tasks. Complete all 10 Tasks to get over 750 Mercenary Coins, the Leeroy Jenkins Legendary Mercenary Card, a Leeroy Jenkins Golden Portrait, and a Leeroy Jenkins Diamond Portrait. This event is not for the faint of heart! Orcs, Humans, Dragons, and Fighters will all be needed as you form your raiding parties for this event.

NEW MERCENARIES

• Human
• 11/69 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Wild Swing 5: (Speed 7) Gain +8 Attack for 2 turns. Attack a random enemy.
  • Get Chicken 5: (Speed 2) Gain +10 Health and become Immune while Attacking next turn.
  • Leeeeeroooy Jenkiiins! 5: (Speed 0, Cooldown 1) Attack all enemies, ignoring Taunt. All characters act immediately, in a random order.
• Equipment:
  • Even Bigger Sword 4: Wild Swing grants an additional +8 Attack.
  • Heals! 4: Passive: Restore 8 Health to this Merc whenever another one of your characters restores Health.
  • Ninja-Looting 4: Passive: Gain +6 Attack whenever an enemy dies.

• Dwarf
• 13/83 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Thunder Strike 5 (Nature): (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. If they survive, deal 6 damage to them and adjacent enemies. Their next ability is (1) Speed slower.
  • Push Forward 5: (Speed 6) Friendly characters with Taunt gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy.
  • Avatar 5: (Speed 8) Gain +5 Attack (increased by Health lost). Attack an enemy.
• Equipment:
  • The Unstoppable Force 4: Passive: +6 Attack. Can’t be Frozen.
  • The Immovable Object 4: Passive: +7 Health. Taunt.
  • Avatar of Stormpike 4: Avatar also restores 15 Health to friendly Dwarves.

• Orc
• 10/73 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Blood Frenzy 5: (Speed 5) Give your Orcs +6 Attack until the end of the turn. Attack a random enemy. If you have Fel Corruption, Attack increases by +1.
  • Spirit Guide 5: (Speed 3, Cooldown 1) 15 Attack, 20 Health. Battlecry: If you have Shamanism, gain Divine Shield and Rush.
  • Fel Corruption 5 (Fel): (Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Deal 19 damage to all enemies. Deal 5 damage to your other characters. (After a friendly Orc dies, this transforms into Shamanism 5.)
    • Shamanism 5 (Nature): (Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Deal 19 damage to all enemies. Restore 10 Health to your characters.
• Equipment:
  • Glacial Blade 4: Passive: +6 Attack. After this Merc Attacks a character, Freeze them.
  • Drek’Thar’s Spellbook 4: Passive: Your characters have +5 Arcane Resistance.
  • Shimmerweed Potion 4: Battlecry: Give your characters +10 Health.

• Dragon
• 12/90 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Claws of Terror 5 (Fire): (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. If it was damaged this turn, deal 8 damage to them.
  • Elementium Armor 5: (Speed 1) Gain Taunt this turn. After being Attacked this turn, summon a 12/15 Elementium Terror with Bleed (3).
  • Destroy All Life 5 (Fire): (Speed 8, Cooldown 1) Deal 10 damage to all characters. If any die, repeat this.
• Equipment:
  • Heart of Unliving 4: Claws of Terror deals 5 more damage and affects adjacent enemies.
  • Resolve of Undying 4: Passive: Restore 10 Health to this Merc after a friendly Elementium Terror is destroyed.
  • Demon Soul 4: Passive: +4 Fel Damage. Whenever an enemy Dragon minion is summoned, gain control of it.

• Dragon
• 10/70 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Insolent Mortals 5: (Speed 4) Attack an enemy. If they have Taunt, first gain +6 Attack and then block Taunt on them this turn.
  • Deep Breath 5: (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Restore 15 Health to this Merc. Next turn, gain that much Fire Damage for 1 turn.
  • Cleanse The Nest 5 (Fire): (Speed 8, Cooldown 1) Deal 15 damage to all enemies. Deathblow: Summon a 12/12 Onyxian Whelp.
• Equipment:
  • Razor Sharp Claws 4: Insolent Mortals gives an additional +8 Attack.
  • Deeper Breath 4: Deep Breath restores 5 more Health and is (1) Speed slower.
  • Broodmother’s Rage 4 (Fire): Passive: When another friendly Dragon is destroyed, deal 7 damage to all enemies.

• Dragon
• 15/75 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Drakonid Rush 5: (Speed 6) Attack an enemy. Summon a 12/12 Dragon which also Attacks them.
  • Chromatic Infusion 5 (Shadow): (Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Choose a friendly Dragon. They steal 5 Attack from each other Dragon and restore that much Health.
  • Shadowflame 5 (Shadow): (Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Each of your Dragons deals 15 damage to the characters opposite them.
• Equipment:
  • Experimental Subjects 4: Drakonid gains +8 Attack and Divine Shield.
  • Chromatic Dragonflight 4: Start of Game: Give your Dragons +6 Attack.
  • Spare Parts! 4: Passive: After a Dragon dies, restore 10 Health to friendly Dragons.

• Troll
• 10/75 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Shadow Claws 5 (Shadow): (Speed 6) Deal 6 damage to a random enemy. Repeat for each of your Golems destroyed this game.
  • Build-A-Golem 5 (Shadow): (Speed 4) Choose a Golem. Summon it.
    • Harder 5: Summon a 20/20 Superior Golem with Taunt.
    • Better 5: Summon 2 8/8 Greater Golems with Divine Shield.
    • Faster 5: Summon 3 6/6 Lesser Golems with Rush.
  • True Shape 5 (Shadow): (Speed 8) Become a Dragon. Destroy your Golems and gain their stats. (Transforms into Reshape 5.)
    • Reshape 5 (Shadow): (Speed 6) Attack an enemy. Deathblow: Recreate them as a Golem with 14 Health.
• Equipment:
  • Mageroyal 4: Shadow Claws deals 4 more damage.
  • Kingsblood 4: Passive: Your Golems are (4) Speed faster.
  • Wildvine 4: Battlecry: Give friendly characters +4/+4.

These new Mercenaries, except for Leeroy Jenkins, will all be available through all normal ways of acquiring a Mercenary, starting on March 17. Leeroy will be earned exclusively through the Leeroy event until it is made available through the normal means of acquiring Mercenaries in the next major patch after the event is over.

NEW BOUNTIES

Six new Bounties will also be added to the new Onyxia’s Lair zone:

• Smolderwing
• Dragonbone Golem
• SI:7 Smuggler
• Onyxia
• Undead Onyxia
• Mi’da Pure Void (unlocked after the Leeroy Jenkins event)

All new Bounties, except for the Mi’da Pure Void Bounty, will be unlocked with the patch. The Mi’da Pure Void Bounty will be unlocked after the conclusion of the Leeroy Jenkins event.

Book of Mercenaries—Dawngrasp

The Battle for Alterac Valley is over. Friends and foes have fallen. The mage Varden Dawngrasp of Quel’Thalas now has the difficult task of keeping the peace between the mercenaries long enough to stop the dragons and save the world! No big deal. Can they lead the raid against Onyxia and Kazakusan, restore the fallen naaru, and save Xyrella’s daughter? Find out when Book of Mercenaries—Dawngrasp, the final chapter, launches on March 17th. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Mage pack, containing only Mage cards from Standard.

Special Dwarf Skins Legendary Quest Chain

Once the patch launches, you’ll be able to complete a Legendary Quest chain awarding cosmetic skins for some of your favorite Hearthstone Dwarves. Complete this 5-part Legendary Quest chain to get three Tavish Hunter Skins, a Brann Battlegrounds Skin, and a Golden Vanndar Legendary Mercenary Portrait!

Acquiring any Portrait of a Mercenary unlocks use of that Mercenary with that Portrait. In special cases like this where you might get a special Portrait before the base Portrait for that Mercenary, you will only be able to play with your special Portrait, and you will still be able to receive the base Portrait from Mercenaries products. If you already own this Vanndar Portrait when you earn it from this Quest, you will receive 100 Legendary Vanndar Coins, instead.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Added the ability to play cards directly from your “mini-hand” on mobile, instead of first needing to tap to enlarge your hand.
• The Hunter Questline will no longer be progressed if the Hunter is damaged by a Cast When Drawn card that their opponent shuffled into the Hunter’s deck (such as Bombs or Agonies).
• Full-Blown Evil can now be played when there are no enemy minions for it to hit.
• Fixed a bug where Whelp Bonker was counted as a Whelp by Raid Boss Onyxia.
• Fixed a bug where Xyrella, the Devout’s Battlecry would not count Deathrattle minions that were Silenced before they died.
• Fixed a bug where Pride Seeker’s discount would not be consumed if the card played was a Choose One minion that transformed into a different minion when played.
• Fixed a bug where Pathmaker was creating game history tiles every turn while you had a Choose One card in hand.
• Fixed a bug where Cult Neophyte was increasing the cost of a Need for Greed that was drawn that turn.
• Fixed a bug where Tamsin’s Phylactery would not grant Rustwix Envoy’s Deathrattle effect.
• Fixed a bug where if you discovered a Ranked card from Palm Reading (such as Condemn), and the spelled ranked up, the spell would not get the Palm Reading discount.
• Fixed a bug where if Improved Ice Trap was played before Ice Trap, both would trigger off the same spell. Now, whichever is played first will trigger and the version played second will be saved for the next spell.
• Fixed a bug where Sir Finley and Sir Finley of the Sands’s effects could not be copied by Brilliant Macaw.
• Fixed a bug where Pilfered Power would sometimes refresh Mana Crystals instead of giving empty Mana Crystals when played with over 10 Mana Crystals.
• Fixed a bug where Unexpected Results did not account for temporary Spell Damage buffs.
• Friendly Wager, Saturday C’Thuns, I’ll Take That, and Spirit Swap hero powers will no longer be able to be triggered multiple times by Sous Chef and Elder Taggawag Buddies.
• Fixed a visual bug where minions stolen by the Loyal Henchman Buddy would sometimes show as Golden, but function like the plain copies they were supposed to be.
• Fixed a bug causing visual issues with Aranna Starseeker’s Buddy Meter the turn she transforms.
• Mercenaries event-locked Bounties will now include a “Coming Soon” message when selected.
• Updated Chi-Ji and Yu’lon’s Task 17s to both better match their respective Abilities.
• Fixed a bug where special event Tasks that required you to beat a Bounty with at least 3 Mercs of a particular type would not count if you reached the boss of that Bounty with less than that number of Mercs still alive.
• Fixed a bug where Balinda Stonehearth’s Frost Burn would not count as an Ability of either version’s spell school.
• Fixed a bug causing the Mercenaries Training Grounds search function to be unresponsive on tablet devices.
• Corrected a visual bug where Eudora’s “Prepare the Cannons” Ability stated a Cannon with 5 Attack would be summoned, instead of 0 Attack.
• Fixed a bug where Sinestra’s Wracking Swipe would activate off her own being a Dragon instead of checking for other Dragons.
• Fixed a bug where Gruul’s Dragonclaw Fist gave the wrong buff while an enemy Dragon was present.
• Fixed a bug where Edwin’s Assisted Strike Ability did not respect Taunt.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Duels achievements from tracking properly.
• Fixed a bug where the Warden’s Insight Duels Treasure did not refill all your mana if your maximum mana was more than 10.
• Fixed a bug where if Transfer Student was in your starting Duels deck, its effect would not update with each Board.
• Fixed a bug causing players to get stuck in Tombs of Terror if they choose the Sr. Tomb Diver Signature Treasure.
• The Floor is Lava and Spiked Arms will now give their Attack buff first and then deal their damage, to be consistent with cards like Inner Rage and Cruel Taskmaster.
• Added missing Mini-Set achievements for Rogue and Demon Hunter.
• The mysterious achievement that was added in 22.4, but could not be completed at that time, can now be completed.
• Fixed a bug with the “Future So Bright, Gotta Wear Shades” achievement where it was not tracking properly.
• Fixed a bug causing “phantom” achievement notifications.
• Fixed a bug causing the Collection Manager “NEW” tag to refresh after each time logging back into the client.
• Misc. other bug fixes, text improvements, and performance upgrades.

Patch 22.4, launching on February 15, includes updates to Battlegrounds, Mercenaries, Duels, Arena, the new Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set, and more!

Onyxia’s Lair Mini-Set Launches on February 15!

Things are heating back up after the cold of Alterac Valley! Enter Onyxia’s Lair in the Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set, coming February 15! After a year of growth, our heroes are max level and ready to raid with these 35 new cards. Get them in Fractured in Alterac Valley packs, or get the entire 66-card Mini-Set* for $14.99 or 2000 Gold. For the first time ever, we are also offering the option to buy an all-Golden set of all 66 Mini-Set cards for $69.99!

Onyxia’s Lair Mini-Set card reveals start today! Follow twitter.com/PlayHearthstone to catch reveals over the next few days and check out the new cards on the card library afterwards!

* 4 Legendary Cards (x1), 1 Epic Card (x2), 14 Rare Cards (x2), and 16 Common Cards (x2).

Diamond Vanndar is On His Way!

After a hard-fought battle, the Alliance claimed victory in the Battle for Alterac Valley! To commemorate their victory, all players will receive a free Diamond copy of [[Vanndar Stormpike]] upon login. Remember, even though the battle for Alterac Valley is over, you still have until the end of the Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion cycle to complete your personal event quest chain.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW HEROES

• Twice as Nice
  • Passive. After Bob’s Tavern is Refreshed, copy and Freeze one of his minions.

• Glory of Combat
  • Passive. After a friendly minion kills an enemy, give it +1 Attack permanently.

• Broodmother
  • Passive. Avenge (4): Summon a 2/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the three new Heroes before they are formally released on March 1.

HERO POOL UPDATE

• Kael'thas, Silas Darkmoon, and Chenvaala have been returned to the Hero Pool.

BUDDY UPDATE

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

NEW BUDDIES

• [Tier 2, Elemental] 3 Attack, 5 Health. “Twice as Nice” also gives the copy stats equal to your Tavern Tier.

• [Tier 4, Beast] 5 Attack, 2 Health. After a friendly minion kills an enemy, gain +1 Health permanently.

• [Tier 2, Dragon] 4 Attack, 2 Health. Whenever you summon a Whelp, gain +2/+2 permanently.

NEW SHOP ITEMS (COSMETIC)

Bob is back with another way to add flair and personalization to the Tavern: Battlegrounds Finishers! Battlegrounds Finishers are animations that replace the default Attack animation whenever your Hero wins a round of combat.* Bob’s first Finisher, Astral Impact, is a two-stage Finisher. That means that it shows a special animation whenever your Hero wins a round and then an even bigger animation when you deal 15 or more damage to your enemy! Keep a look out for more cool Battlegrounds Finishers in the future.

In addition to the first-ever Finisher, Bob’s also bringing two new Battlegrounds Boards to choose from. On February 14, at 1 p.m. Pacific, join ninaisnoob on her YouTube channel for interviews with Cosmetics Production Lead Alicia Cornelia and Features Lead Chadd Nervig about Battlegrounds Finishers and the new boards! The Jade Gardens Battlegrounds Board, pictured above, will be available as soon as the patch launches. All other new Battlegrounds cosmetics, including the Astral Impact Finisher and the Cosmic Study Battlegrounds Board below, will become available starting on February 22.

* Battlegrounds Finishers are equipped globally, so any Hero you use will use your equipped Finisher whenever you win a round of combat. Both players will be able to see the winning player’s Finisher at the end of any round of combat.

Mercenaries Updates

NEW LIMITED TIME EVENT

Starting on February 22, Mercenaries will be hosting its first-ever limited time event! Complete a chain of 10 exciting event Tasks to harness the power of Chi-Ji, and strengthen all the August Celestials. Two new Tasks will be available on each of the first 5 days of the event, but you have until March 8 to complete all 10 Tasks. Complete all 10 Tasks to earn the Chi-Ji Epic Mercenary Card, a Chi-Ji Mercenary Portrait, and over 1000 total Mercenary Coins for the new Mercenaries! As you prepare for this event to begin, make your way through all the Alterac Valley Bounties and take special care to strengthen your Beasts and Dragons, which will be essential for some of these Tasks.

NEW MERCENARIES

Long’xin (Legendary Caster)

• Dragon
• 6/86 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Celestial Breath 5 (Arcane): (Speed 7) Deal 19 damage to an enemy. Any excess damage continues right or left.
  • Starfire Blessing 5 (Arcane): (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) For two turns, gain +3 Arcane Damage and “After this Merc is damaged, deal 14 damage to a random enemy.”
  • Among the Stars 5 (Arcane): (Speed 1, Cooldown 1) Give an ally +13 Health and swap places with it. Enemy abilities targeting the Mercs swap targets (if possible).
• Equipment:
  • Bottle of Infinite Stars 4: Among the Stars gives +4 more Health and also grants Health to your Dragons.
  • Kun-Lai Crystal 4: Among the Stars starts off Cooldown. Passive: +8 Nature Resistance.
  • Band of Bursting Novas 4: Battlecry: Gain +3 Arcane Damage for each of your Beasts and Dragons that has died this game.

Xuen (Epic Fighter)

• Beast
• 9/76 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Equalizing Stike 5: (Speed 7) Choose an enemy. Set this Merc’s Attack to 5 higher than the target and Attack them.
  • Pounce 5: (Speed 4) Borrow 5 Attack from all friendly characters for 2 turns. Attack an enemy.
  • Tiger Lightning 5 (Nature): Deal this Merc’s Attack damage to a random enemy. Deathblow: Gain +5 Attack and repeat this.
• Equipment:
  • Spear of Xuen 4: Equalizing Stike sets this Merc’s Attack to an addition 4 higher than the target.
  • Celestial Chestplate 4: Pounce also steals 5 Attack from a random enemy.
  • Charged Gauntlets 4: Tiger Lightning gives an additional +4 Attack.

Niuzao (Rare Protector)

• Beast
• 10/80 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Headbutt 5: (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. If it has higher Attack than this Merc, deal 16 damage to it instead.
  • Bullish Fortitude 5: (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Gain Taunt and your other characters take 5 less damage for 2 turns.
  • Blessing of the Ox 5 (Arcane): (Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Each time a friendly character is damaged this turn, give them Divine Shield.
• Equipment:
  • Bullish Belt 4: Bullish Fortitude reduces damage taken by 5 more, but has +1 Cooldown.
  • Helm of Niuzao 4: Passive: -2/+16. After an enemy Attack this Merc, deal 5 damage to them.
  • Talisman of the Ox 4: Passive: After a friendly character loses Divine Shield, this Merc gains +6 Health.

Yu’lon (Rare Protector)

• Dragon
• 8/85 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Jade Gust 5 (Nature): (Speed 10) Deal 20 damage to an enemy. If they Attacked this turn, deal 40 damage instead.
  • Jadeflame Buffet 5 (Fire): (Speed 1, Cooldown 1) Block Taunt and Stealth on all other characters for 2 turns. Give your characters +10 Health.
  • [Updated] Enveloping Mist 5 (Nature): (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Gain Taunt this turn and +3 Nature Damage. Repeat for each other friendly Dragon.
• Equipment:
  • Jadefire Spear 4: Jadeflame Buffet gives an additional +5 Health.
  • Serpent Pendant 4: Enveloping Mist gives an additional +3 Nature Damage.
  • Pearl of Yu’lon 4: Passive: Your other Dragons take 4 less damage.

Chi-Ji (Epic Caster)

• Beast
• 7/79 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Blazing Song 5 (Fire): (Speed 3) Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Gain +3 Heal Power.
  • Inspiring Song 5 (Fire): (Speed 4) Restore 10 Health to all friendly characters.
  • Firestorm 5 (Fire): (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Deal 5 damage to all enemies, and restore 5 Health to all allies. (Increased by Healing Power.)
• Equipment:
  • Blazing Band 4: Blazing Song deals 4 more damage and gives an additional +2 Heal Power.
  • Staff of Chi-Ji 4: Inspiring Song restores 10 more Health.
  • Flameheart Crystal 4: Passive: After a friendly Beast is healed, give them +5 Health.

Long’xin, Xuen, Niuzao, and Yu-lon will all be available through all normal ways of acquiring a Mercenary, starting on February 15. Chi-Ji will be earned exclusively through the Chi-Ji event until it is made available through the normal means of acquiring Mercenaries in the next major patch after the event is over.

NEW BOUNTIES

Six new Bounties will also be added to the Alterac Valley Zone:

• Rotimer
• Ichman
• Balinda Stonehearth
• Ivus
• Vanndar Stormpike
• Kazakus

The Vanndar Stormpike and Kazakus Bounties will be added to the game after the conclusion of the Chi-Ji event. All other Bounties will be added on February 15, with the launch of the patch.

Duels Update

• Infinite Arcane has been increased from 5 Mana to 7 Mana.

Arena Rotation

When Patch 22.4 launches on February 15, ongoing 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:

• Fractured in Alterac Valley
• Fractured in Alterac Valley Onyxia’s Lair Mini-Set
• One Night in Karazhan
• Blackrock Mountain
• Journey to Un’goro
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• Descent of Dragons
• Core

Book of Mercenaries—Bru’kan

The shaman Bru’kan of the Darkspear clan has done his best to prepare the young Horde mercenaries for the battle ahead, but now the moment has come. The shattered naaru has reformed and its power has resurrected the vengeful warlock Tamsin Roame as a lich! Can Bru’kan tap into the elemental energies of Alterac Valley and summon Lokholar the Ice Lord to end the war and stop Tamsin? Find out when Book of Mercenaries Bru’kan launches on February 15. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will award 1 Shaman pack, containing only Shaman cards from Standard.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• There will now be a confirmation prompt when you attempt to concede a game before you would get quest progress for that game (like “Play 3 Games” Quests and the Alterac Valley Honor Quests). We have also loosened the requirements on counting those types of Quests.
• When playing Maestra of the Masquerade, the premium level of Hero Powers will now match the premium level of the Hero (for instance, if you have a Golden Hero, your Hero Power will now be Golden, too), making for much better disguises.
• A duplicate uncraftable version of Shadow Bolt will no longer appear in the Collection Manager.
• Fixed a bug where Saidan the Scarlet could still get double-buffs from his effect, even after being Silenced.
• Fixed a bug where certain Mana Ramp cards would not grant Mana Crystals if you played Wildheart Guff and had between 10 and 20 Mana Crystals.
• Fixed a bug where playing Paralytic Poison on Kingsbane would cause the “Immune when attacking” effect to carry over onto any other weapons equipped during the game.
• Fixed a bug where the Daio Chan Valeera Hero Skin would block Baku the Mooneater’s effect from upgrading the player’s Hero Power.
• Fixed a bug where Lost in the Park (Druid’s Questline) would not progress the first time that Attack is gained after equipping Sphere of Sapience.
• Updated the priority of several Cast When Drawn cards (including Fel Rift, Bleed, and Olgra, Mankrik’s Wife) to match that of cards like Soul Shards. One result of this change is that Runed Mithril Rod will now consistently discount the next card drawn after any Cast When Drawn card that activates Rod’s effect, instead of the Cast When Drawn card itself.
• Fixed a bug in Battlegrounds causing Baby N’Zoth and Brann Bronzebeard to give an extra activation.
• Fixed a bug where Baby Elekk would not trigger for a same-statted minion if the same-statted minion’s stats changed when played (such as when another minion is giving an aura stat-buff for that type of minion).
• Updated the text of all Mercenary Task 7s from “Defeat 2 Heroic Bosses” to “Complete 2 Heroic Bounties.”
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to place Mercenaries they do not own into the Training Grounds, causing some players to get locked out of the Training Grounds.
• Fixed a visual bug causing Mercenaries Equipment Unlocks to show as one Task earlier than the actual unlock Tasks.
• Fixed a bug where Anduin’s Task 11 was tracking Damage instead of Healing.
• Fixed a bug where characters with Windfury could attack through Freeze.
• Fixed a bug where Vanessa VanCleef’s Shifting Satchels Ability was respecting Taunt even though it’s a ranged Ability.
• The stats of Eudora’s Cannons will now show on Prepare the Cannons and Primed Armaments.
• Fixed a bug that blocked some players from entering Duels if a previous Duels run ended prematurely.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes blocked the win/loss record from showing in Duels and Arena.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes changed a player’s Favorited Card Back in a Friend Challenge.
• Fixed a bug that prevented certain Card Backs from remaining marked as Favorited after logging out.
• The Immoveable Object has finally been moved! Fixed a bug preventing the “You Are Not Worthy” achievement from tracking progress.
• Misc. other performance improvements, bug fixes, and visual issues.

Patch 22.2.2, launching today, includes balance changes for Battlegrounds and Duels, along with a handful of bug fixes.

Battlegrounds Updates

MINION POOL CHANGE

• Archdruid Hamuul has been removed from the minion pool.

BUDDY CHANGES

• Old: Deathrattle: Deal 4 damage to a random enemy minion. Repeat for each of your Mechs that died this combat. → New: Deathrattle: Deal 3 damage to a random enemy minion for each of your Mechs that died this combat.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] “Wingmen” also gives “Immune while Attacking” for one attack only. → New: [Tavern Tier 3] Your first minion that attacks has “Immune while Attacking” for one attack only.

• Old: At the end of your turn, give your Tavern Tier 3 minions +1/+1. → New: At the end of your turn, give your Tavern Tier 3 minions +1/+2.

• Old: At the end of your turn, give three random friendly minions +1/+1. → New: At the end of your turn, give five random friendly minions +1/+1.

• Old: Battlecry: Discover a Darkmoon Prize from the most recent Prize turn. → New: Battlecry: Discover a Darkmoon Prize from the next Prize turn.

• Old: After you play a minion, add a Battlecry minion to Bob’s Tavern. → New: After you play a minion, add a Battlecry minion to Bob’s Tavern. Give it +2/+2.
• [Golden version] Old: After you play a minion, add two Battlecry minions to Bob’s Tavern. → New: After you play a minion, add a Battlecry minion to Bob’s Tavern. Give it +4/+4.

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

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 7 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 4] 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

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

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 4] 6 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: 7 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health

• Old: [Tavern Tier 2] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

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

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] → New: [Tavern Tier 3]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 3 Attack, 8 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 2] 1 Attack, 6 Health

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

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

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

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 2]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 5 Attack, 7 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 2] 3 Attack, 5 Health

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 7 Attack, 3 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 2] 4 Attack, 1 Health

• Old: 7 Attack, 6 Health → New: 9 Attack, 7 Health

Duels Updates

• Battle Totem, Disks of Legend, and Totem of the Dead were are all moved from Treasure Pool 2 to Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare (for real this time).

• Old: Reduce the cost of Neutral minions in your hand that cost (4) or more by (2). → New: Reduce the cost of two Neutral minions in your hand that cost (4) or more by (2).

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Lowered the difficulty of the Snowclaw, High Justice Grimstone, Captain Galvangar, Lokholar the Ice Lord, and Drek’Thar Heroic Bounties, and both Normal and Heroic versions of the Louis Philips Bounty.
• Increased the maximum number of Bladestorm activations from 30 to 50.
• Fixed a bug where Golden Kil’rek would always give two copies of the same Demon when its Deathrattle was triggered.
• Fixed a bug where Spirit of Air’s Deathrattle would sometimes apply to enemy minions.

We’re in the process of deploying a hotfix that includes some balance changes for Battlegrounds and Duels, and a handful of bug fixes.

Developer’s Note: Because this is a hotfix change, the changes will not show correctly while hovering over the minions in the shop, on the hero select screen, or when hovering over the Buddy Meter. This will be corrected in a future update.

Hero Changes

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4

Minion Changes

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] → New: [Tavern Tier 4]

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 3 Attack, 6 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 3] 2 Attack, 4 Health

Duels Updates

• All Together Now was moved from Treasure Pool 1 to Treasure Pool 2.
• Battle Totem, Disks of Legend, and Totem of the Dead were are all moved from Treasure Pool 2 to Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug where your opponent playing a Choose One card while holding a Pathmaker would cause a floating card to remain on your screen.
• Fixed a bug where Arfus would sometimes summon Reborn minions, instead of the properly resurrected 1 Health minions, when combined with Khadgar.
• Fixed a bug where certain Buddies’ on-play voicelines would not play in certain circumstances.
• Made progress on a bug where players were locked out of the Mercenaries Training Grounds. While a permanent solution is planned for Patch 22.4, restarting Hearthstone should now allow you to access the Training Grounds again if you were locked out.
• Fixed a bug where Duels achievements were not properly tracking runs.
• Fixed a bug where Duels Health totals did not match the Health totals intended for run progress.

Patch 22.2, launching on January 25, includes a massive Battlegrounds update, tons of Duels changes, balance changes for Standard and Wild, a new building to the Mercenaries Village, bug fixes, and more!

Card Updates

The following cards have been adjusted down in power level:

• Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
  • Dev Comment: Rogue has seen significant increases in playrate and winrate since the last patch, and Scabbs is a pretty clear outlier in terms of power. We expect this change to make a fairly large impact in the strength of Rogue archetypes across the board.

• Old: [Costs 5] 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: [Costs 6] 3 Attack, 5 Health
  • Dev Comment: Wildpaw Gnoll was intended to be a strong payoff for Maestra of the Masquerade’s fun effect, but it has been overperforming in this role—even in decks that don’t have dedicated Burgle strategies. We’re adjusting Gnoll to both come down a bit later, as a slightly smaller threat when it does.

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
  • Dev Comment: We’re happy with Poison Rogue when it’s a niche player in the metagame, but the current playrate of the archetype is much higher than intended. Cloak of Shadows also combined with Shadowcrafter Scabbs for frustrating play experiences. Reducing the power levels of both these pieces should bring Poison Rogue’s overall power level back in line.

• Create a Distraction (the second part of the Questline)
  • Old: Questline: Play 2 Pirates. Reward: Deal 2 damage to a random enemy twice. New: Questline: Play 3 Pirates. Reward: Deal 2 damage to a random enemy twice.
  • Dev Comment: Pirate Warrior is not a power outlier at the highest ranks of play, but it is overperforming at many of the lower ranks of play. Going from 7 total Pirates to 8 total will promote deck diversity in the Bronze through Diamond ranks.

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
  • Dev Comment: When combo Mages play Incanter’s Flow on an early turn, they can assemble their game winning combo at a very fast rate. Similar to our goals for combo-based decks in the previous patch, pushing Incanter’s Flow up a Mana will slow down combo Mages by a turn or two, giving slower strategies a better chance to thrive in the overall meta.

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 4]

• Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
• Old: Twinspell Deal 1 damage. → New: Twinspell Deal 2 damage.
  • Dev Comment: The Rapid Fire and Sorcerer’s Apprentice changes are targeted at some of the strongest decks in the current Wild metagame, to improve the long-term, overall health of the format. Both of these balance adjustments are aimed at decks with extremely efficient from-hand damage, which puts big constraints on which strategies can find success in Wild. By removing power here, the format should open up for a few more viable archetypes to see play, and for the Wild format to slightly slow down overall.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 22.2 patch goes live.

The following card has been adjusted up in power level:

• Old: [5 Armor] → New: [10 Armor]
  • Dev Comment: Rokara is one of the less viable Hero cards right now. We want each class to have exciting play options, so we’re increasing her Armor to give her more leeway in swinging into high-Attack minions, and to better synergize with some of Warrior's Armor-focused cards.

Battlegrounds Updates

GENERAL UPDATES

• Battlegrounds Buddies are here! Learn more about the new Battlegrounds Buddy System below.
• The Battlegrounds Armor System will be deactivated while we try out the new Buddy System. As of now, we plan to re-activate the Armor System in a later patch once we’ve reassessed the power levels of the Heroes with their new Buddies.
• Hero selection has also been temporarily extended by 10 seconds (to a total of 70 seconds) while players learn the new Buddy System.
• The Cost to upgrade to Tavern Tier 5 has been increased by 2 Gold. Its Cost now starts at 11 Gold.
• On January 25, the current Battlegrounds season will end, ratings will be reset to zero, and the new season will begin.

NEW BUDDY SYSTEM

Every battle’s better with a buddy! In this patch, we’ll be introducing a new Battlegrounds Buddy System! A Battlegrounds Buddy is a special minion that’s unique to each Hero, designed to synergize with that Hero’s gameplan.

Buddies are played like normal minions, but they can’t be bought from the shop. Instead, every Hero has a “Buddy Meter” that fills up during the combat phase whenever you: enter combat, deal damage to enemies, pop Divine Shields, or win or tie a combat phase. You also get a small bonus each turn for how many minions you have at the start of combat. Buddies are earned at three different rates, with those at lower Tavern Tiers being earned more quickly than those at higher Tavern Tiers. Finally, there’s a limit to how much a Buddy Meter can be filled in a given round, so that no Buddy runs away with the game.

The Buddy Meter has two sections. Fill the first section to get 1 copy of your Hero’s Buddy added to your hand. Fill the second section to get 2 more copies! After both sections have been filled, the Buddy Meter breaks and is no longer available for the rest of the match (regardless of whether you tripled your Buddy or sold any copies off along the way).

You can meet all 75 Battlegrounds Buddies by clicking on their corresponding Hero here!

NEW HEROES

• Embrace the Elements [Costs 0]
  • Choose an Element. Start of Combat: Call upon that Element.
    • Fire Invocation – Start of Combat: Double your left-most minion’s Attack.
    • Lightning Invocation – Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to 5 random enemy minions.
    • Earth Invocation – Start of Combat: Give 4 friendly minions “Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Elemental.”
    • Water Invocation – Start of Combat: Give your right-most minion +3 Health and Taunt.

• Lead the Frostwolves [Costs 0]
  • Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Attack of your highest Attack minion for next combat only.

• Lead the Stormpikes [Costs 0]
  • Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Health of your highest Health minion for next combat only.

• Deadeye [Costs 0]
  • Take aim! Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to your target. (Upgrades each turn!)
    • Aim Left! – Passive. Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to the left-most enemy minion.
    • Aim Low! – Passive. Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to the lowest Health enemy minion.
    • Aim High! – Passive. Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.
    • Aim Right! – Passive. Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to the right-most enemy minion.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the four new Heroes before they are formally released on February 8.

HERO UPDATES

• Odds for Tier 6 Dragons are no longer reduced.

• Bob’s Tavern no longer counts as being Refreshed at the start of turn if no new minions are added.

• Hero power now reads: “Give a minion Divine Shield.”
• Developer Note: This allows you to target shop minions as well as your minions.

Kael’thas, Silas Darkmoon, and Chenvaala will be temporarily disabled when the 22.2 patch launches, while we address a bug found late in testing. They will be added back into the Hero Pool in a future update.

MINION UPDATE

• Text now reads: “Battlecry: Gain +1 Health for each Health your Hero is missing.”
• Developer Note: This text change more accurately describes how the card currently works (specifically, in games where the Hero had Armor at some point). This is not a functional change to the card.

Mercenaries Updates

VILLAGE UPDATE

The Training Grounds (previously announced as the “Training Hall”) has come to Mercenaries! The Training Grounds is a new space for your Village that allows your Mercenaries to passively gain experience as you do Bounties with your other Mercs, play other game Modes, or even while you sleep! Just enter the Training Grounds, select a Mercenary you want to train, and leave them there for as long as you want. Check in on them periodically to claim their accrued experience and see how they’re doing, or pull them out when you think they’re ready to start joining you on your adventures!

The Training Grounds costs 100 Gold to create (with one slot for training) and 200 Gold to upgrade (to a total of two training slots).

NEW MERCENARIES

• Human
• 10/73 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Flame Dart 5 (Fire): (Speed 3) Deal 10 damage. Give them +3 Frost Weakness.
  • Frost Dart 5 (Frost): (Speed 4) Deal 12 damage. Give them +3 Fire Weakness.
  • Frost Burn 5: (Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Deal 11 damage to all enemies. Either gain +3 Frost Damage or +3 Fire Damage.
• Equipment:
  • Lesser Fire Elemental 4: Battlecry: Summon a 10/15 Lesser Fire Elemental that applies +3 Fire Weakness to characters it damages.
  • Lesser Water Elemental 4: Battlecry: Summon a 10/15 Lesser Water Elemental that Freezes characters it damages.
  • Stormpike’s Salvation 4: Passive: At the end of each turn, give all your characters +5 Health.

• Orc
• 11/71 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Rending Cleave 5: (Speed 5) Attack an enemy. If it has not acted this turn, apply Bleed (8) to it and adjacent enemies.
  • Fatal Strike 5: (Speed 3) Deal 8 damage to an enemy. It can’t heal for 2 turns.
  • Frightening Shout 5: (Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Deal 10 damage to all enemies. If they have acted, the ability they used gains +3 Cooldown.
• Equipment:
  • Fury of the Frost Wolf 4: Passive: Friendly characters have +5 Attack.
  • Drek’Thar’s Boom 4: Fatal Strike also applies Bleed (5).
  • Deafening Howl 4: Frightening Shout deals 5 more damage.

• Human
• 12/73 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Creeping Madness 5 (Fel): (Speed 8) Attack an enemy. Next turn they must use a different Ability or take 20 damage.
  • Tail Swipe 5 (Shadow): (Speed 6) Deal 20 damage, randomly to the left or right-most enemy.
  • True Form 5: (Speed 3, Cooldown 2) Become a Dragon. Gain +0 Health. (Health increased by damage dealt by this Merc). (Transform into Fel Reign 5).
    • Fel Reign 5 (Fel): (Speed 8, Cooldown 1) Deal 3 damage to all enemies. Repeat 4 times. (Starts off cooldown.)
• Equipment:
  • Chimera of Fear 4: Creeping Madness makes the enemy (4) Speed slower.
  • Black Dragon Scales 4: Tail Swipe also applies Bleed (5).
  • Horn of Wrathion 4: True Form has no cooldown and also grants +6 Attack.

• Elemental
• 9/82 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Hail Storm 5 (Frost): (Speed 5) Deal 3 damage to a random enemy. Repeat 5 times.
  • Frost Shock 5 (Frost): (Speed 9) Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Their next ability gives them +5 Frost Weakness for that turn.
  • Snowball 5 (Frost): (Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Deal 10 damage. Damage increases by +5 every time another Frost ability is cast. Resets after use.
• Equipment:
  • Icy Focus 4: Hail Storm repeats 4 more times.
  • Frigid Winds 4: Passive: After an enemy acts, gain +4 Frost damage until the end of the turn.
  • Shroud of the Ice Lord 4: Passive: Friendly Elementals have +20 Health.

• Dragon
• 13/75 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Wracking Swipe 5: (Speed 6) Attack an enemy. If you control another Dragon, apply Bleed (10).
  • Mana Barrier 5 (Arcane): (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Restore 50 Health to a Dragon, its next ability is (3) Speed slower.
  • Twilight Extinction 5 (Shadow): (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Restore 20 Health to this Merc. At the end of next turn, deal 30 damage to all enemies.
• Equipment:
  • Hooked Talons 4: Wracking Swipe applies an additional Bleed (5).
  • Mana Brooch 4: Mana Barrier restores 10 more Health and reduces damage taken by 5 this turn.
  • Shard of Woe 4: Twilight Extinction restores 20 more Health and deals 10 more damage, but has +1 Cooldown.

EQUIPMENT UPDATE

For the five new Mercenaries introduced in this patch, their third Equipment will be earned by completing a specific Heroic Bounty while that Mercenary is in your Party. The Heroic Bounty needed for each Mercenary will be listed under the Equipment’s unlock criteria. This change will not be retroactive, but our current plan is to use this new system for upcoming Mercenaries in future patches. We will monitor how the new system ends up working in this patch and make adjustments if needed.

NEW BOUNTIES

A new Zone is coming to Mercenaries: Alterac Valley! The Battle for Alterac Valley has spilled over into Mercenaries, bringing with it six new Bounties:

• Ravak Grimtotem
• Louis Philips
• Captain Galvanger
• Popsicooler
• Drek’Thar
• Lokholar the Ice Lord

Dodge Stormpike bullets and Frostwolf fangs on this mammoth hunt for those sweet, sweet prizes.

Duels Updates

GENERAL UPDATES

• On January 25, the current Duels season will end, rankings will be reset, and a new season will begin.
• Duels Achievements will be updated to be hero-specific, instead of class-specific. Various in-game text will be updated to mention hero names instead of classes.
• New card buckets will be added to better support the new heroes.
• [NEW] Pool 2 Treasure offerings will now be more synergistic with your deck.

[NEW] CARD POOL CHANGES

• Embrace the Shadow, Ignite, and Korrak the Bloodrager have been banned from deck construction.

NEW HEROES

The battle for Alterac Valley rages on with Vanndar Stormpike and Drek’Thar joining Duels! They will be Hearthstone’s first Neutral Heroes, with special Treasures that allow them to ally with one of the classes in their faction! If they ally with one of their faction’s classes, they will be changed from Neutral to the Allied class for deckbuilding and throughout the run. Each also has one signature treasure that keeps them Neutral for the run, but gives them a taste of all their faction’s classes!

Drek’Thar has 3 new hero powers that you can unlock as you play:

• Warmaster’s Frenzy [Costs 2]
  • Deal 1 damage to ALL minions. Honorable Kill: Gain +1 Attack this turn.

• Harness the Elements [Costs 1]
  • Draw a spell. Reduce its Cost by (1).
  • Unlock criteria: Play 40 spells that cost 3 or more.

• War Commands [Costs 2]
  • Draw a Neutral minion that costs (3) or less. It costs (0) this turn.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 60 Neutral minions that cost 3 or less.

Drek’Thar also has 6 new signature treasures that you can unlock as you play:

• Valorous Display
  • 6 mana Spell. Discover a weapon and equip it, then destroy all minions. Allied: Warrior.

• Elemental Chaos
  • 6 mana Spell. Call upon the power of all four Elements! Allied: Shaman.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 20 Battlecry minions.

• Pact of the Lich
  • 4 mana Spell. Shuffle 5 Fel Rifts into your deck. Draw 3 cards. Allied: Warlock.
    • Fel Rifts: [3 Mana Fel Spell] Casts When Drawn Summon a 3/3 Dread Imp.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 25 Fire spells.

• Magister Unchained
  • 1 mana Spell. Until the end of your turn, after you cast a spell, draw a spell. Allied: Mage.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 50 Frost spells.

• Gift of the Heart
  • 5 mana Spell. Gain 4 empty Mana Crystals. Allied: Druid.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 25 cards with Honorable Kill.

• For the Horde!
  • 1 mana Spell. Start of Game: Draw this. Shuffle 15 Tradeable spells into your deck that Discover a spell from the Horde.
    • Power of the Horde: [0 Mana Spell] Tradeable. Discover a spell from the Horde. (Druid, Mage, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior).
  • Unlock criteria: Play 200 Neutral minions from the Year of the Gryphon.

Vanndar Stormpike has 3 new hero powers you can unlock as you play:

• Promote! [Costs 1]
  • Give a minion +1/+1 and Rush, Poisonous, Taunt, Windfury, Divine Shield, or Stealth.

• Send in the Scout [Costs 2]
  • Summon a 2/2 SI:7 Scout.
    • SI:7 Scout: [1 Mana 2/2 Minion] Deathrattle: Add a random card to your hand (from your opponent’s class).
  • Unlock criteria: Play 40 Deathrattle minions.

• Battle Tactics [Costs 2]
  • Reduce the cost of Neutral minions that cost (4) or more in your hand by (2).
  • Unlock criteria: Play 60 Neutral minions that cost 4 or more.

Vanndar Stormpike also has 6 new signature treasures you can unlock as you play:

• Forge in Light
  • 6 mana Spell. Give all minions in your hand +3/+3 and Divine Shield. Allied: Paladin.

• Spymaster’s Gambit
  • 7 mana Spell. Summon copies of each minion in your hand and give them Stealth. Allied: Rogue.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 20 Tradeable cards.

• Stalker’s Supplies
  • 3 mana Spell. Shuffle each Improved Secret into your deck. Allied: Hunter.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 25 Secrets.

• Rending Ambush
  • 6 mana Spell. Summon the left and right-most minions from your hand. They attack random enemy minions. Allied: Demon Hunter.
  • Unlock criteria: Attack 30 times with your hero.

• Devout Blessings
  • 4 mana Spell. Add a copy of each friendly Deathrattle minion that died this game to your hand. Allied: Priest.
  • Unlock criteria: Play 50 cards with Deathrattle.

• For the Alliance!
  • 1 mana Spell. Start of Game: Draw this. Shuffle 15 Tradeable spells into your deck that Discover a spell from the Alliance.
    • Stand as One: [0 Mana Spell] Tradeable. Discover a spell from the Alliance. (Demon Hunter, Paladin, Hunter, Priest, and Rogue).
  • Unlock criteria: Play 200 Neutral minions from the Year of the Gryphon.

HERO CHANGES

• Removed from the Hero Pool.
• Dev Comment: Diablo has been defeated in Duels, but can a Prime Evil ever be so easily vanquished?! We expect Diablo to return one day, it’s only a question of time, and he may have one more trick for you when he does. . .

• Old: [Costs 0] → New: [Costs 1]

NEW PASSIVE TREASURES

• After you play a Legendary minion, add a random Legendary minion to your hand.

• After you play your first minion each turn, add a 1/1 copy of it to your hand. It costs (1).

• After you cast an Arcane spell, transform a random enemy minion into a 1/1 Sheep.

• After you cast a Holy spell, summon an Ancient Guardian with stats equal to its Cost.

• After you cast your first Fire spell in a turn, add a Fireball to your hand.

• Whenever a Neutral minion dies on your turn, gain 1 Mana Crystal for that turn only.

• After you summon a Dragon, shuffle a Dream Portal into your deck that summons a Dragon when drawn.

• After you cast a spell, refresh your Hero Power.

• At the start of the game, set your Health to 10. You can only take 1 damage at a time.

• Every third spell you cast each turn costs (1).

TREASURE POOL CHANGES

• Fireshaper, Ever-changing Elixir, LOCUUUUSTS!!!, and Conduit of Storms have been removed from their respective treasure pools.
• Bag of Coins was moved from Treasure Pool 1 to Treasure Pool 2.
• Expedited Burial was moved from Treasure Pool 2 to Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare.
• Expedited Burial was removed from the Hunter (Professor Slate) Treasure Pool.
• Mantle of Ignition was moved from Treasure Pool 2 to Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare.
• Mantle of Ignition was removed from the Priest (Mindrender Illucia) and Warrior (Rattlegore) Treasure Pools.

TREASURE BALANCE CHANGES

• Old: [Costs 5] 6 Attack → New: [Costs 6] 5 Attack

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 4]

• Old: Passive: After you play a Dragon, give it Deathrattle: Go Dormant. Revive in three turns. → New: Passive: After you play a Dragon, give it Deathrattle: Go Dormant. Revive in two turns.

Special Tavern Brawl—Tavish vs. Rokara

Edwin VanCleef was defeated in the Deadmines, but agents of Lady Prestor have taken the shards of naaru to Alterac Valley, where Kazakus awaits. The Alliance and the Horde mercenaries face off for the right to retrieve the shards. In this special Tavern Brawl, you play as Tavish or Rokara and select one of your mercenary companions to join you (as your Hero Power). Each combination has unique dialogue interactions that tell more of the Mercenaries story. Try them all when this Tavern Brawl launches on January 26! Your prize for your first win in this Tavern Brawl is a Standard pack, which can include cards from any set in Standard.

Book of Mercenaries—Tavish

The hunter Tavish Stormpike never wanted anything to do with his stuck up, overbearing cousin Vanndar, but fate (and the promise of loot) have brought him back to Alterac Valley. The troll Kazakus plans to restore the shattered naaru and use its power to complete a mysterious ritual. To stop him, Tavish must overcome the Frostwolves, Horde mercenaries, angry troggs, his own family, and food poisoning! Can he stomach it? Find out when Book of Mercenaries Tavish launches on February 1. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Hunter pack, containing on Hunter cards from Standard.

The Lunar New Year Celebration Starts Soon!

[Updated] Hearthstone’s annual Lunar New Year celebration is coming soon, featuring legendary quests, and more! Look for more information about the celebration in the coming weeks. In the meantime, start the celebration early with the Dancing Lion Card Back, available for free in the Shop, starting on January 25!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Updated more individual card timings to make them match the general timing rules. The most notable update in this pass is that cards with “while damaged” effects will persist through enchantments. For example, a damaged Grommash will now have 7 Attack after a Wave of Apathy, instead of 1. In this pass, Lightborn Cariel (the final reward from the Paladin Questline, Rise to the Occasion) was also updated to now work like similarly worded cards, such as Southsea Captain, when a card like Equality is played (your Silver Hand Recruits would have 3 Health).
• [Updated] Updated Friends List rank and mode display. Your Battlegrounds medal will always be shown while in the Battlegrounds game mode now, and your Hearthstone rank for the selected format will display when in the Hearthstone game mode. While in any other mode, the friends list will display your best rank between these modes, based on a rough calculation of relative rankings.
• [NEW] There was a slight tweak to how Tradeable functions under the hood, which could cause different behavior in certain situations. Tradeable now inserts the card into the deck at a random location, then draws a different card. (Previously, it was put on the bottom of the deck first, then the draw occurred, and then finally a shuffle happened.)
• Fixed a bug where Wildpaw Gnoll would occasionally have its cost increased by cards being added to your hand.
• Fixed a bug where the demons summoned by Kurtrus, Demon-Render would not get upgraded if he attacked a minion with Divine Shield.
• Fixed a bug where Maestra of the Masquerade doubled your Armor when she revealed your true identity.
• Snowfall Guardian no longer gets the stat bonus if Living Dragonbreath prevented it from successfully Freezing any minions.
• Doubling a Flanking Maneuver (like with a Solar Eclipse) will no longer give you two 4/2 Demons per initial 4/2 Demon that dies that turn.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the game to crash after playing Bloodsworn Mercenary.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the game to crash when playing Zephrys the Great.
• Fixed a bug where Pilfered Power was limited to the player having up to 10 mana, even if the player was able to have more.
• Fixed a bug where Consume Magic lost its Shadow spell school.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused players to get stuck on a “Waiting” screen when trying play Battlegrounds as a group.
• Fixed a bug where Scabbs was a bit too stealthy and would not appear in the Battlegrounds Collections display.
• Updated the representation of Mercenary Portraits while opening Mercenary Packs to make it clearer whether you got a new Portrait versus a new Mercenary Card.
• Fixed a bug where the “Maxed Out!” celebration image was uncentered and clipped.
• Fixed a bug where if the “Challenge a Friend” quest was completed in Mercenaries, only the player who had the quest would get credit for its completion.
• Fixed a bug where Antonidas’s Searing Pendant Equipment did not add +1 Cooldown to Fireball Storm.
• Fixed a bug where the Rolling Fireball Ability did not properly calculate modifiers such as Divine Shield, Fire Resistance, Fire Weakness, or Spell Damage.
• Updated the text of Valeera’s Hidden Paths Equipment to match its function.
• Fixed a bug where Cairne’s Endurance Aura would remove Taunt in situations where it wasn’t supposed to be removed (like if it was also granted by a Boon or another effect).
• Fixed a bug where Old Murk-Eye’s Primordial Fin 4 did not grant Giantfin Divine Shield.
• Fixed a bug where Bru’kan’s Chain Lightning would overkill targets that were already dealt lethal damage. Now it will skip targets that are already functionally dead.
• Updated the text of Grommash Hellscream’s Task 12 to match its function.
• Fixed a bug where Grommash Hellscream’s Staggering Slam’s Speed reduction would not be cleared if the target’s next Ability was one that summoned a minion.
• Fixed a bug where cards on the Rewards Track were not appearing in Arena offerings.
• The Collection Manager “missing” search term will now work for non-card cosmetics. This will also work for Mercenaries, Battlegrounds Heroes, and Battlegrounds Bartenders. The functionality will be added for Battlegrounds Boards in a later patch.
• Fixed a bug that blocked players from using the term search function in the Collection Manager while building a Wild deck on mobile.
• Fixed a bug where Steel Guardian Malfurion was missing his Hero Power sound effects.
• Fixed a text issue where the level 70 Rewards Track reward’s text did not match the image or effect.
• Fixed a bug where Alterac Valley collection Achievements did not count Vanndar or Drek’Thar as being owned if they were claimed before Alterac Valley launched.
• Fixed a bug where the Gesundheit achievement was not tracking correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the Third Cousins Twice Removed achievement could not be completed as written.
• Misc. other performance improvements, bug fixes, and visual issues.

Patch 22.0.2, launching today, includes balance changes for Standard and Battlegrounds, a system update for Mercenaries, and more!

Standard Balance Updates

Dev Comment: We’re coming up on two weeks since the launch of Fractured in Alterac Valley and, while players are still finding success with quite a variety of strategies, we want to open up the format further. This patch is mainly focused on weakening some of the stronger, combo-centric strategies that have had long-term success throughout the Year of the Gryphon.

The following cards have been adjusted down in power:

• Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
  • Dev Comment: Although Celestial Alignment is not usually a card used for from-hand, burst damage, it does frequently allow for absurd turns that happen a little earlier than we feel is healthy. Moving it up a mana should allow for more setup and counterplay before Celestial Alignment is cast.

• Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
  • Dev Comment: Paladins have a very consistent, powerful package of cards that they can include in quite a few distinct strategies. Alliance Bannerman is one of these cards that can fit into a wide range of decks. Lowering its Health by one should tone down Paladin decks by a small amount across the board.

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 3]
  • Dev Comment: Efficient Octo-bot has been a little too efficient at the upper echelons of play. We’re slowing it down as part of the general goal of toning down the power level of combo strategies.

• Old: [Costs 5] → New: [Costs 6]
  • Dev Comment: Snowfall Guardian was designed with the intent of giving Freeze Shaman decks a powerful tool, but it is a little too efficient at locking up the board, especially when combined with cards like Brilliant Macaw. Moving it up one mana should soften the power of this interaction.

• Old: Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it dies, restore 4 Health to your hero. → New: Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it dies, restore 3 Health to your hero.
  • Dev Comment: Touch of the Nathrezim is meant to be a solid removal option for slower Warlock decks, but the overall Health restoration in Warlock is slightly too high. This is meant to be a softer change that leaves Warlock with a powerful removal option, but reduces overall Warlock healing capabilities enough to bring that aspect of the class back in line.

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
  • Dev Comment: Runed Mithril Rod was an incredibly strong tool in the first few days after the launch of Fractured in Alterac Valley. While players were able to find a counter to it in cards like Rustrot Viper, we believe going up a Mana here will lead to healthier play patterns for the game overall.

• Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
  • Dev Comment: We’re reverting our previous change to Bloodsail Deckhand. Questline Warrior ended up slightly stronger than intended, and we believe it will continue to find success after this change.

• Old: After your opponent casts a spell, summon a copy of this. → New: After your opponent casts a spell, summon another Irondeep Trogg.
  • Dev Comment: Irondeep Trogg has the capability of running away with games very early when combined with minion buffs like Noble Mount or Doggie Biscuit. Taking into account the rest of the changes we’re making with this patch, we want to adjust Trogg to remain a viable counter to early spells, but to better match the targeted power level of the format as a whole.

• Old: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Costs 3] 2 Attack, 5 Health
  • Dev Comment: Mo’arg Artificer does too much, too efficiently for decks with large amounts of removal. Increasing its cost by one will make the card a little less efficient as a tool for cheap clears, large amounts of life gain, and combo finishers.

The collectible cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 22.0.2 patch goes live. Bloodsail Deckhand is not eligible for the dust refund, because it's a Core Set card, not a collectible one.

Dev Comment: Alongside the changes above, we’re also making a couple adjustments aimed at powering up slower Mage decks and the less powerful Hero Cards.

The following cards have been adjusted up in power:

• Old: [Hero Power Costs 3] → New: [Hero Power Costs 2]

• Old: [Costs 8] 6 Attack, 6 Health → New: [Costs 6] 4 Attack, 5 Health

• Old: [Costs 8] → New: [Costs 7]
• Old: Hero Power: Deal 1 Damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +2 Damage. → New: Hero Power: Deal 2 Damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +2 Damage.

• Old: Increase the damage of your Hero Power by 1. → New: Increase the damage of your Hero Power by 1 this game.
  • Dev Comment: This is a minor rework to make it so that Wildfire will now persist after swapping Hero Powers. Although we don’t envision this being dramatically impactful, we do think it will allow for a smoother gameplay experience with Hero Power changing cards like Magister Dawngrasp.

Battlegrounds Balance Updates

HERO UPDATES

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 1 (0 Armor) to Tier 2 (2-5 Armor)
• Sneed’s Replicator
  • Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

• Fragrant Phylactery
  • Old: [Costs 0] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its Health to all your others. → New: [Costs 1] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to all your others.

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 2 (2-5 Armor) to Tier 1 (0 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 6 (6-9 Armor) to Tier 7 (7-10 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 4 (4-7 Armor) to Tier 5 (5-8 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 3 (3-6 Armor) to Tier 5 (5-8 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 6 (6-9 Armor) to Tier 7 (7-10 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 3 (3-6 Armor) to Tier 2 (2-5 Armor)

• Armor Tier changed from Tier 4 (4-7 Armor) to Tier 2 (2-5 Armor)

MINION UPDATES

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

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

Mercenaries Update

• All Heroic Level 30 Bounties will now include at least one pile of Legendary Coins (chosen from the selection of Coins designated for each Bounty) as part of their Bounty completion rewards.

Arena Update

• Abominable Lieutenant is no longer draftable in Arena.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• The base versions of Drek’Thar and Vanndar are now eligible for full dust refunds. We will be doing a separate update later on patch day to grant additional Arcane Dust to players who already disenchanted either card.
• Fixed a bug where the Duels treasure Impcredible Trousers did not properly shuffle the imp portals.

Patch 22.0, launching tomorrow, paves the way for Hearthstone’s latest expansion, Fractured in Alterac Valley, launching December 7! The Patch also includes updates to Mercenaries, Battlegrounds, Duels, and Arena, as well as bug fixes and more.

Storm into Alterac Valley on December 7

(Updated) Fractured in Alterac Valley launches on December 7. The new expansion includes 135 all-new cards, featuring the new Honorable Kill keyword, Objective cards, and the return of Hero Cards! See all the new cards in the official card library today.

As soon as the set is live, the Battle for Alterac Vally begins! All players will compete for Honor in order to receive free rewards and claim victory for their faction. You gain Honor by playing and winning during the eligible period:

• 10 Honor for every game played
• 10 more Honor for every game won (20 total)
• 20 more Honor for every game won versus an opponent from the enemy faction (40 total)

Honor can be gained in Ranked, Arena, and Duels Modes. As you gain Honor, you climb through the ranks of your faction, and across the frozen battlefield—eventually capturing a Golden copy of the enemy faction’s leader! On January 11, all Honor will be tallied. Then, in a future update, the winning faction’s victory will be forever enshrined in Hearthstone when every player receives a Diamond copy of the winning faction’s leader card!

Clarification: The period for tallying the winning faction is from December 7 to January 11, but you can collect Honor to complete your personal Legendary Quest Chain at any point throughout the Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion. After the expansion period, the Legendary Quest Chain will be replaced with another means to earn these rewards.

Mercenaries Updates

Mercenaries will be getting its second infusion of Mercenaries, Bounties, and Bounty Bosses with the 22.0 patch! The Mercenaries listed here will enter the fray when the 22.0 patch goes live, while Vanessa will go live with the expansion on December 7.

NEW MERCENARIES

Valeera Sanguinar (Legendary Fighter)

• Blood Elf
• 13/73 maxed stats
• Abilities:
  • Sinister Strike 5: (Speed 3) Gain +10 Attack this turn and Attack the lowest Health enemy. Combo: Gain Stealth.
  • Ambush 5: (Speed 6) Deal 10 damage. If this Mercs was Stealthed, deal 25 instead.
  • Fan of Knives 5: (Speed 7) Deal 7 damage to all enemies. Your other Mercs are (3) Speed faster next turn.
• Equipment:
  • Hidden Paths 4: Passive: Whenever a friendly character loses Stealth, give them +6 Attack.
  • Shadow Dagger 4: Ambush is (3) Speed faster and gains “Deathblow: Gain Stealth.”
  • Unnatural Smoke 4: Passive: While this Merc has Stealth, friendly characters a (4) Speed faster.

Sky Admiral Rogers (Epic Caster)

• Human
• 11/76 maxed stats
• Abilities:
  • Sky Guard 5: (Speed 5) Gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy. If it’s a Pirate, gain Immune while Attacking this turn.
  • Master Tactician 5: (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Deal 12 damage to an enemy, or restore 12 Health to an ally. It goes next.
  • Firing Position 5: (Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Deal 20 damage to all enemies that have already acted.
• Equipment:
  • Swash Buckling Sash 4: Sky Guard gives an additional +5 Attack.
  • Ship’s Bell 4: Master Tactician deals 4 more damage and makes the target go last.
  • Scout’s Spyglass 4: Passive: After this Merc Attacks, deal 4 damage to all enemies. (Deals Critical Damage to Pirates).

Trigore the Lasher (Rare Protector)

• Beast
• 10/80 maxed stats
• Abilities:
  • Frenzied Attack 5: (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. If this took damage this turn, deal 12 damage to a random adjacent enemy.
  • Backlash 5: (Speed 1) The next time an enemy damages an adjacent ally this turn, Gain +5 Attack and deal this Merc’s Attack damage to them.
  • Regrow Heads 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) This takes Critical Damage this turn. At the end of next turn, restore this Merc to full Health.
• Equipment:
  • Infused Amber 4: Frenzied Attack deals 4 more damage.
  • Razor Claw 4: Backlash gives an additional +4 Attack.
  • Regenarative Scales 4: Regrow Heads restores 16 Health the turn it is cast.

Vanessa VanCleef (Epic Protector)

• Pirate
• 10/75 maxed stats
• Abilities:
  • Burgle Barrage 5: (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. Combo: Steal 5 Attack from them.
  • Makeshift Weaponry 5: (Speed 3) Spend all stolen Attack to deal that much damage to all enemies.
  • Shifting Satchel 5: (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Deal 16 damage to an enemy. Give +1 Cooldown to an Ability they didn’t use this turn.
• Equipment:
  • Dreadblades 4: Burgle Barrage is (4) faster and always Combos.
  • Extra Pockets 4: After using Makeshift Weaponry, this Merc keeps up to 5 Attack.
  • Blade Catcher 4: Passive: Whenever this Merc is Attacked, steal 4 Attack from the Attacker.

NEW BOUNTIES

• Razorgore
• Vaelastrasz
• Chromaggus
• Nefarian

The new Bounties will be added to the Blackrock Zone. The new Mercenary Cards, Portraits, and Coins will be added to all existing relevant Mercenary item pools. Vanessa VanCleef will also be awarded for free at the start of the Fractured in Alterac Valley free rewards track, and her Portraits can be earned with the Tavern Pass. Each new Mercenary will come with its own Task Chain, similar to those of existing Mercenaries.

Battlegrounds Updates

DIABLO IS DEFEATED

You all took on the raid boss and survived! The special Diablo event is now over and Bob’s fine tavern is still standing—and preparing for the next round of new combatants. Diablo has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.

NEW HERO

• I Spy [Costs 2]
  • Discover a plain copy of a minion from your next opponent's warband.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Scabbs Cutterbutter before the Hero is formally released on December 14.

(NEW) RETURNING HERO

• Lord Barov has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.

BATTLEGROUNDS BOARDS

Bob’s got something new to show you. Introducing Battlegrounds Boards, an all-new cosmetic option for Hearthstone Battlegrounds! Battlegrounds Boards are special boards that you can bring to the combat phase of your Battlegrounds bouts. These boards sport new visuals for you to see and show off to your opponents. Because Battlegrounds Boards are shared with you and your opponent, you may not see your Board every round.

Bob’s first board is the Arena of Champions, a celebration of Bob’s favorite customer: you! Give your warbands the royal reception they deserve, with suits of armor and flourishes of purple and gold. Get yours in the shop as soon as the patch goes live!

For gameplay purposes, the bottom right portion of all Battleground Boards are simplified when playing on mobile.

Duels Updates

CARD POOL UPDATES

On December 7, Fractured in Alterac Valley and Goblins vs. Gnomes will be added to the eligible card pools. New buckets will be added to cover the cards from the newly added card sets.

NEW PASSIVE TREASURES

• Nature Spell Damage +2

• Fire Spell Damage +2

• At the start of the game, shuffle 5 Death Knight cards into your deck.

• Frost Spell Damage +2

• At the start of the game, change each Deathrattle minion in your hand and deck into a 1/1 that costs (1).

• Whenever you target a minion with a spell, cast it again on its neighbors.

• After you cast a Fel spell, shuffle 2 Fel Rifts into your deck.

• After you cast a Nature spell, give a random friendly minion +2/+2 and Taunt.

• Whenever you draw a minion, add a copy of it to your hand.

• Your hero has +2 Attack on your turn.

Ring of Black Ice – Pool 2

• Whenever a minion is Frozen, add a copy of it to your hand.

• At the end of your turn, cast a spell you've cast this turn (targets are random).

• At the end of your turn, add a random Death Knight card to your hand.

• At the end of your turn, add a Dream Card to your hand.

• At the end of your turn, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental if you've cast a Frost spell.

Arena Rotation

At the launch of Fractured in Alterac Valley, the current Dual-Class Arena event will end and the pool of eligible Arena sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:

• Fractured in Alterac Valley
• Saviors of Uldum
• Kobolds and Catacombs
• League of Explorers
• Scholomance Academy
• The Boomsday Project
• Core

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug that allowed players on certain devices to close out of the Fractured in Alterac Valley faction selection screen without choosing a faction.
• Fixed a bug causing Cram Session to not get the Spell Damage bonus from Talented Arcanist or Lab Partner.
• Fixed a bug where Brittlebone Destroyer glowed even when its effect requirements were not met.
• Updated Soul Cleave’s text to properly represent that it only hits enemy minions, not all enemies.
• Fixed a bug where cards returned to hand by Tenwu of the Red Smoke could not be further reduced by cards like Scabbs Cutterbutter.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Goblins v. Gnomes Golden cards from being crafted or disenchanted.
• Fixed a bug where cards drawn by Malygos the Spellweaver after Celestial Alignment were not impacted by Loatheb.
• Fixed a text bug causing Nithogg’s Storm Eggs to show they summoned 20/20 Devilsaurs instead of the 4/4 Drakes with Rush that they actually summon.
• Players will now be able to see their Mercenaries Party while selecting Bounty Treasures.
• Completing multiple Tasks and Bounties at the same time will no longer cause the notifications to overlap on mobile.
• Several more Daily Quests can now be completed in Mercenaries, including Challenge a Friend, Spectate and Friend, and “Play a certain number of a Type of minion” Quests. More Daily and Weekly Quests may be added or reworked for future patches.
• Fixed a bug where The Lich King’s Helm of Domination would not trigger as intended in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where Blink Fox’s Mind Thief Ability would retain a copied Ability over 2 uses, instead of only 1, while Tenth Tail is equipped.
• Fixed a bug where using Mutanus’s Devouring Attack caused Reincarnated Cairne to become invisible.
• Fixed a bug where Eudora’s Briny Bracers were giving 2 less Health
• Fixed a bug where Edwin, Defias Kingpin was showing the wrong art within its Diamond frame.
• Fixed bug causing iOS users to be incorrectly shown “low RAM” warning when entering Battlegrounds.
• Fixed a bug where Mercenaries Equipment Achievements were counting each Equipment upgrade as a new Equipment.
• Fixed a bug where Small Backpacks in Duels could draw C’Thun, the Shattered before he, well, shatters.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from using the Hero Skin picker functionality in Classic.
• Fixed a bug where Steel Guardian Malfurion and Vanndar Stormpike Hero Skins were missing their custom hero power animations.
• (NEW) Updated priority resolution when card effects conflict.

Patch 21.8, launching today, paves the way for Hearthstone’s next expansion with balance changes, Fractured in Alterac Valley pre-purchase, and more!

Choose Your Faction, Claim Your Leader

Next time you log in to Hearthstone, you will get to choose between Horde and Alliance! Your choice comes with a different free Golden Legendary ahead of the expansion. Joining the Horde will instantly get you the mighty Drek’Thar, of the Frostwolf clan! Those who aid the Alliance will instantly receive the stout Vanndar Stormpike, leader of the Stormpike Dwarves!

Pre-Purchase Fractured in Alterac Valley

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Fractured in Alterac Valley, is coming on December 7! After a year of growth, the set follows our Mercenary heroes to a frozen battlefield where they join their factions in a final showdown for honor and powerful shards of a fallen naaru!

Fractured in Alterac Valley includes 135 new cards, inspired by weather as cold as the feelings between Alliance and Horde. You can prepare yourself for battle with two pre-purchase options, starting today!

Fight for Honor and Battle for Alterac Valley!

After the expansion launches, from December 7 to January 11, all players will compete for Honor in order to receive even more free rewards and to claim ultimate victory for their faction! You gain Honor by playing and winning during the eligible period:

• 10 Honor for every game played
• 10 more Honor for every game won (20 total)
• 20 more Honor for every game won versus an opponent from the enemy faction (40 total)

Honor can be gained in Traditional, Arena, and Duels Modes. As you gain Honor, you climb the ranks within your faction and progress a Legendary Quest chain that takes you through the Alterac Valley battlefields and rewards cards from the expansion! All players who complete the Quest chain will receive the same total end rewards, including a Golden copy of the enemy faction’s leader. The order of the rewards depends on which faction you choose, and will be revealed closer to release!

At the end of the event, all Honor will be tallied and the winning faction’s accomplishment will be forever enshrined in Hearthstone, because every player will receive a Diamond copy of the winning faction’s leader card (Drek’Thar or Vanndar)! Every time a player opens their Collection, they will remember this glorious battle!

Card Balance Updates

• Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health
  • Dev Comment: We’re scaling back on Battleguard to allow a few more answers to it in the early game. Taunt Druid is performing quite well, so we’ll be monitoring it closely to determine whether any more changes are needed.

• Old: Battlecry: For the rest of the game, you have Spell Damage +3. → New: For the rest of the game, you have Spell Damage +2.
  • Dev Comment: Reducing the lethality of Questline Mage should help open up additional room for slower strategies to succeed.

• Old: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero. Shuffle 3 Bleeds into your deck that deal 2 more when drawn. → New: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero. Shuffle 2 Bleeds into your deck that deal 2 more when drawn.
  • Dev Comment: Garrote Rogue has performed quite well at higher ranks. This is a softer change aimed at increasing the breakpoint of Spell Damage needed from 2 to 3, while also making Armor a more effective counter to the strategy.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 21.8 patch goes live.

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
  • Dev Comment: Priest archetypes outside of Shadow have been underperforming relative to the field. This revert should add a bit of power back to those strategies.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW ARMOR SYSTEM

Introducing the Battlegrounds Armor System! Starting in patch 21.8, Battlegrounds heroes will be awarded Armor at the start of each game to help balance and spice up the Tavern. All heroes will get a random amount of Armor from within a range, based on their power levels, with the strongest heroes getting 0 Armor and the weakest heroes being eligible for up to 10 Armor. At launch, these will be the Armor ranges and placements:

Our plan is to review these ranges and placements as part of our Battlegrounds balancing going forward, but we also want to hear your feedback on this new system after you play with it. The system may come in and out of the mode from patch to patch as we refine the system and introduce other new features or major changes.

NEW HERO

• Fragrant Phylactery [Costs 0]
  • Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its Health to all your others.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Tamsin Roame before the Hero is formally released on November 30.

UPDATED HERO

Diablo will be sticking around a little bit longer, so that he can have another chance to make his mark before he goes. To help with that, three of the Diablo Treasures have been changed:

• Sigil of Hell’s damage has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: 1 damage → New: 2 damage
  • Tier 2: Old: 3 damage → New: 4 damage
  • Tier 3: Old: 6 damage → New: 8 damage
  • Tier 4: Old: 12 damage → New: 16 damage
• Claws of Terror’s stat buff has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: +2/+2 → New: +4/+4
  • Tier 2: Old: +6/+6 → New: +8/+8
  • Tier 3: Old: +12/+12 → New: +16/+16
• Hellfire Hooves’s Attack buff has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: +1 Attack → New: +2 Attack
  • Tier 2: Old: +2 Attack → New: +4 Attack
  • Tier 3: Old: +3 Attack → New: +8 Attack
  • Tier 4: Old: +6 Attack → New: +16 Attack

MINION POOL UPDATES

• Bristleback Knight has been removed from the minion pool.
• Mythrax has returned to the minion pool.
• Thorncaller has returned to the minion pool.

UPDATED MINIONS

• Old: 6 Attack, 3 Health. Avenge (2): Deal 6 damage to the highest Health enemy minion. → New: 5 Attack, 3 Health. Avenge (2): Deal 5 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.

• Old: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+1 permanently. → New: After a friendly minions loses Divine Shield, give it +1/+1 permanently.

• Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health → New: 3 Attack, 1 Health

• Old: 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: 3 Attack, 5 Health

• Old: Battlecry: Give a friendly Pirate +1/+1 for each Pirate you bought this turn. → New: Battlecry: Give a friendly Pirate +1/+1. Repeat for each Pirate you bought this turn.

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

• Old: Avenge (5): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently. → New: Avenge (4): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently.

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

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health. The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +2/+2. → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health. The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +3/+3.

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

• Old: Tier 3 → New: Tier 4
• Old: Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. It steals all Blood Gems from its neighbors. → New: Battlecry: Play 2 Blood Gems on a friendly minion. It steals all Blood Gems from its neighbors.

Mercenaries Updates

Several Mercenaries have been buffed.

• Old: 10 Attack, 67 Health (Level 30 stats) → New: 10 Attack, 73 Health (Level 30 stats)

Cornelius Roame

• Hold the Front
  • Old: Speed 4, Cooldown 1 → New: Speed 2, Cooldown 0
• Blessing of Sacrifice
  • Old (Rank 5): Speed 3 → New (Rank 5): Speed 2

Grommash

• Staggering Slam
  • Old: Speed 4 → New: Speed 2
• Battlefury
  • Old: Speed 9 → New: Speed 6

• Fist of Jaraxxus
  • Old (Rank 5): Speed 6, Deal 12 damage to a random enemy. Repeat for each of your other Demons. → New: Speed 4, Deal 15 damage to a random enemy. Repeat for each of your other Demons.
• Fel Infernal
  • Old: Speed 5, Cooldown 1 → New: Speed 4, Cooldown 0

• Retaliation:
  • Old: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown 0
  • Old (Rank 5): After an enemy Attacks this turn, Attack it. → New (Rank 5): After an enemy Attacks this turn, Gain +5 Attack and Attack it.

• Old: 9 Attack, 69 Health (Level 30 stats) → New: 12 Attack, 74 Health (Level 30 stats)
• Blade Dance
  • Old: Cooldown 2 → New: Cooldown 1
• Demon Shroud (Equipment)
  • Old: Take 5 less damage while Attacking. → New: Take 10 less damage while Attacking.

• Scaly Taunt
  • Old (Rank 5): Gain Taunt and this takes 3 less damage this turn. → New (Rank 5): Gain Taunt and this takes 5 less damage this turn.
• Iridescent Neckless
  • Old (Rank 4): Scaly Taunt makes this Merc take 3 less damage this turn. → New (Rank 4): Scaly Taunt makes this Merc take 3 less damage and is Immune to Critical Damage this turn.

• Felfin Navigator
  • Old (Rank 5): Give your other Murlocs +3/+5. → New (Rank 5): Give your other Murlocs +5/+5.
• Giantfin
  • Old (Rank 5): 16 Attack, 16 Health → New (Rank 5): 20 Attack, 20 Health
• Primordial Fin (Equipment)
  • Old (Rank 4): Giantfin gains +8 Attack. → New: Giantfin gains +8 Attack and Divine Shield.

• Old: 9 Attack, 76 Health (Level 30 stats) → New: 11 Attack, 76 Health (Level 30 stats)
• Hulking Overfiend
  • Old: Rush. Deathblow: This Attacks the lowest Health enemy. → New: Battlecry: Attack the lowest Health enemy. Deathblow: Attack the lowest Health enemy.

• Orc Onslaught
  • Old: Speed 7 → New: Speed 5

• Old: 8 Attack, 69 Health (Level 30 stats) → New: 10 Attack, 72 Health (Level 30 stats)

• Old: 9 Attack, 69 Health (Level 30 stats) → New: 12 Attack, 69 Health (Level 30 stats)

• Siphon Life
  • Old: Speed 7 → New: Speed 6

Arena Updates

• Deeprun Engineer is now banned in Arena.

Book of Mercenaries Scabbs

There is a traitor in the Stormwind court, and superspy Scabbs Cutterbutter is on the case! The mercenary rogue's search for the truth will lead him to the depths of the Stormwind Stockade and an unlikely ally. Together they must escape and race to the Deadmines where a band of pirates led by the rebel Edwin VanCleef seek to smuggle the gathered shards of naaru out of Stormwind. Find out where they're headed when Book of Mercenaries Scabbs launches November 16. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Rogue pack, containing only Rogue cards from Standard!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug where Dormant cards would not show a preview on hover while dormant.
• Fixed a bug where Celestial Ink Set would not lose durability in some cases where it should’ve.
• Fixed a bug where Tyrantus was missing the Cannot be Targeted by Hero Powers and Spells trait.
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to move Tradeable cards around during the other player’s turn.
• Fixed a bug where Monstrous Parrot would not trigger Deathrattles last triggered by other cards like Oblivitron or Necrium Blade.
• Fixed an extremely rare occurrence where a minion’s health could get so large in Battlegrounds it could be deleted from the warband entirely.
• Fixed a bug where minions that had their Blood Gems stolen by Necrolyte no longer have a +0/+0 enchantment banner.
• Updated Edwin’s Sharpen Blades Battlegrounds Hero Power text to reflect that it’s restricted to friendly minions.
• Fixed a bug where Battlegrounds party invites would not send if the receiving player was editing a deck.
• Fixed a bug where the loading screen wheel would appear zoomed in if a player joined a Battlegrounds party while spectating a game.
• Fixed a bug where players could become stuck in the Mercenaries tutorial.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where equipping Grommash’s Halting Sash would decrease the speed reduction of Staggering Slam.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where claiming completed tasks could make non-completed tasks appear completed.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where completing two tasks at the same time could cause a visual overlap of their pop-ups.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where the Majordomo Executus bounty was incorrectly named as the Ragnaros bounty on story task 22.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Varden Dawngrasp’s Deathrattle’s were not affected by Frost Damage modifiers.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Lady Anacondra’s Mark of the Viper 3 would apply to King Krush twice.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where campaign tasks were missing their flavor text.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Seal of Light could retarget an enemy if the originally targeted friendly minion died before the ability was used.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where the Majordomo Executus bounty could be unlocked prematurely.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Mr. Smite’s Sharpened Scabbard would show inconsistent numbers between passive and enchantment text.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Cookie, the Cook’s Cookie’s Cooking would not provide extra healing despite having Iron Ladel equipped.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Rokara’s Task 3, Surprise! referenced and ability Rokara doesn’t have.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Mirror Clone could cause the duplicate minion to change position with other Mercenaries.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Scaly Taunt would not reduce damage.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Hunting Shroud 1 would not add Attack for Bear Trap 2.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Soul Burn would not update to reflect Spell Damage.
• Fixed a Mercenaries bug where Jaina’s Ice Block Talisman would not activate.
• Multiple Mercenaries packs can now be purchased at the same time with Gold.
• Fixed a bug where player Gold totals would not update after buying a Mercenaries pack until the client was restarted or a different pack type was purchased.
• Added tooltips and corrected typos for several abilities in Mercenaries.
• Fixed text issues for several Mercenaries related Achievements.
• Updated several Mercenaries tasks that had outdated or incorrect text.
• Fixed a Duels bug where Quel’Delar would be shuffled into your deck instead of being added to your hand at the start of the game.
• Fixed a Duels bug where Fire Stomp would not update to reflect Spell Damage.
• Fixed a Duels bug where Legendary Loot’s card text did not match its functionality.
• Fixed a Duels bug where favorite card backs were not being applied to decks.
• Fixed a bug where both the legacy and core set versions of a card could be added to Tavern Brawl decks when using Complete My Deck.
• Fixed a bug where choosing a Hero Skin at the end of the Rewards Track would not mark it as owned until the journal was reopened.
• Fixed a bug where the in-game Shop button was difficult to click on pop-ups.
• Fixed various localization issues.

Patch 21.6, launching November 2, brings big updates across Hearthstone, including a Mini-Set full of scoundrels and scallywags! Arrrrr you ready?!

Deadmines Mini-Set Launches on November 2!

Delve into the Deadmines in the United in Stormwind Mini-Set, coming November 2! Edwin VanCleef and his crew are waiting for you with 35 unique new cards featuring Pirates and new Tradeable synergies! Get them in United in Stormwind packs, or get the entire 66-card Mini-Set* for $14.99 or 2000 Gold! Card reveals will take place over the weekend and the full Mini-Set will be published in a PlayHearthstone.com blog on Monday, November 1. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay updated on the latest!

* 4 Legendary Cards (x1), 1 Epic Card (x2), 14 Rare Cards (x2), and 16 Common Cards (x2).

Mercenaries Updates

Mercenaries is getting its first content update! Five iconic swashbucklers are raiding the mode with unique new Abilities and Pirate Type synergies! On top of that, we’re introducing three new Bounties and Bounty Bosses for your new recruits to take on.

NEW MERCENARIES

• Edwin, Defias Kingpin (Legendary Fighter)
  • Pirate
  • 13/80 maxed stats
  • Abilities:
    • Assassin’s Blade 5: Speed 5. Attack an enemy. If it hasn’t acted yet this turn, gain +5 Health and Attack it again.
    • Assisted Strike 5: Speed 5, Cooldown 1. Gain +5 Attack for each friendly Pirate and Attack a random enemy. Combo: Gain Immune while Attacking this turn.
    • Kingpin’s Bounty 5: Speed 4, Cooldown 2. Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Repeat for each other Pirate you control. Deathblow: Restore 25 Health.
  • Equipment:
    • Black Flag 4: Passive: Adjacent Pirates’ Abilities are (4) Speed faster.
    • Round of Drinks 4: Assisted Strike is (3) Speed faster and always has Immune while Attacking.
    • Even Shares 4: Kingpin’s Bounty restores 10 more Health and affects all friendly characters.

• Sneed (Epic Protector)
  • Pirate
  • 7/77 maxed stats
  • Abilities:
    • Bzzz!!! 5: Speed 6. Deal damage equal to your Attack. If Activate Saw is active, also damage target’s neighbor.
    • Activate Saw 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1: Gain +6 Attack for 2 turns. Attack a random enemy.
    • Disarm 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1: Attack an enemy. Give it –5 Attack permanently.
  • Equipment:
    • Skull Dust 4: Bzzz!!! Gains Bleed (5).
    • Titanium Blades 4: Activate Saw gives +4 Attack and lasts 1 more turn.
    • Extra Blades 4: Sneed starts with Activate Saw 5 active for 1 turn.

• Eudora (Epic Fighter)
  • Pirate
  • 10/78 maxed stats
  • Abilities:
    • Coup d’Etat 5: Speed 4. Attack an enemy. If it’s the left or right-most enemy, fire Eudora’s Cannons at it.
    • Prepare the Cannons 5: Speed 7, Cooldown 1. Summon a Cannon to the left or right of this Merc. (Starts off Cooldown.)
    • Covering Fire 5: Speed 7, Cooldown 1. Restore 12 Health to a friendly Merc and return them to your bench. Fire all your Cannons.
  • Equipment:
    • Shrapnel Shot 4: Cannons deal 5 more damage.
    • Primed Armaments 4: Battlecry: Summon a Cannon.
    • Briny Bracers 4: Passive: +2/+10.

• Mr. Smite (Rare Protector)
  • Pirate
  • 7/75 maxed stats
  • Abilities:
    • Smite Slam 5: Speed 8. Gain +5 Attack for each enemy with 40 or less Health. Attack an enemy.
    • Avast ye Matey 5: Speed 2. Gain Taunt this turn. After an enemy Attacks this Merc gain +5 Attack.
    • Overboard 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1. After another friendly character is damaged this turn, gain +10 Health and Attack a random enemy.
  • Equipment:
    • Sailor’s Cap 4: Mr. Smite gains an additional +4 Attack from Smite Slam.
    • Heavy Anchor 4: Overboard grants +6 Attack if the damaged friend is a Pirate.
    • Sharpened Scabbard 4: Whenever another friendly Pirate Attacks, gain +4 Attack.

• Cookie, the Cook (Rare Caster)
  • Murloc
  • 6/70 maxed stats
  • Abilities:
    • Fish Feast 5 (Nature): Speed 2. Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Deathblow: Give +15 Health to all friendly characters.
    • Cookie’s Cooking 5 (Nature): Speed 5, Cooldown 1. Bleed (5) to all enemies. Restore 5 Health to friendly Murlocs and Pirates.
    • Go Fish! 5 (Nature): Speed 4, Cooldown 1. Summon a random fish for your opponent, with a Deathrattle that benefits you.
  • Equipment:
    • Seasoned Pan 4: Fish Feast gives +5 Attack as well.
    • Iron Ladel 4: Cookie’s Cooking restores an additional 5 Health.
    • Appetizers 4: Start of Game: Give friendly characters +9 Health.

NEW BOUNTIES

• Highlord Omokk
• General Drakkisath
• Rend Blackhand

The new Bounties will be added to the Blackrock Zone. The new Mercenary Cards, Portraits, and Coins can be obtained through Mercenary Packs, similar to how Mini-Set cards are added to their expansion’s existing packs. They will also be added to all other places where these items can normally drop (such as from Bounties or the Fighting Pit), and any other future ways that these items will be able to be obtained. All future Mercenaries will continue to be added to that same general pool. Each new Mercenary will come with its own Task Chain, similar to those of the existing Mercenaries.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW HEROES

• Realm of Terror [Passive]
  • Passive. Every 4 turns, ALL enemies fight the Lord of Terror and your warband for loot.

Diablo is a special event character that will only be in Battlegrounds for a limited time. In that time, he will be equally available to all players, not just those who have Battlegrounds perks.

• Sneed’s Replicator [Cost 1]
  • Give a friendly minion: Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of the same Tavern Tier.

• Stir the Pot [Cost 0]
  • Throw a minion in your pot. When you've gathered 3, Discover from their minion types.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Sneed and Cookie the Cook before they’re formally released on November 16.

Duels Updates

When the 21.6 patch goes live on November 2, all players’ Duels ratings will be reset and the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card start deck will be updated to include cards from the new Deadmines Mini-Set. Please note that 21.6 will be the first time that players with active Heroic runs are cashed out for rewards based on their run progress when the patch goes live, and those players will be compensated with a Tavern Ticket (much like how active Arena runs are cashed out when sets rotate). Additionally, card buckets will be adjusted to account for the new Mini-Set cards.

LIMITED-TIME NEW HERO

Diablo will be Duels’s first dual-class character, combining powerful Warlock and Warrior card pools and effects!

Diablo has 3 new hero powers that you can unlock as you play:

• Primal Power [Cost 3]
  • Deal 3 damage to yourself, then gain 3 Attack and 3 Armor.

• Demonic Transformation [Cost 1]
  • Discard a random card. Add a random Demon to your hand with the same cost. It costs (2) less.
  • Unlocked by summoning 25 minions with 8 or more Attack as Diablo.

​

• Doom Charge [Cost 6]
  • Discover a minion from your deck. Summon a copy that attacks a random enemy. Then, it dies.
  • Unlocked by gaining 66 Armor as Diablo.

Diablo also has 5 new signature treasures, 3 of which can be unlocked as you play (there is a 6th treasure coming in the future, but it will be unusable at patch launch):

• Claws of Terror
  • 6 mana weapon. 6 Attack, 3 Durability. Start of Game: Draw this. Also damages adjacent minions.

• Fire Stomp
  • 3 mana spell. Deal 3 damage to ALL enemy characters. Restore 1 Health for each enemy hit and 1 additional Health if it dies.

• Apocalypse
  • 8 mana spell. Destroy all minions. Your opponent takes double damage for the rest of the game.
  • Unlocked by destroying 150 characters as Diablo.

• Soulstone Trap
  • 3 mana spell. Destroy a minion. Gain Attack and Armor equal to its Attack and Health.
  • Unlocked by playing 30 weapons as Diablo.

• Horns of Flame
  • 3 mana weapon. 0 Attack, 3 Durability. At the start of your turn, add a random Shadow or Fire spell to your hand.
  • Unlocked by playing 100 Shadow or Fire spells as Diablo.

ACTIVE TREASURE UPDATE

• Add a Diablo Signature Treasure card to your hand. Shuffle this into your deck.
• Pool 2
• Available to all heroes except for Diablo.

HERO UPDATES

• Starting in Patch 21.6, all original Scholomance Heroes will have all their unlock requirements removed.

Dev Comment: School's out for Summer!

PASSIVE TREASURE UPDATES

• Old: At the end of your turn, transform a friendly minion into one that costs (1) more. → New: At the end of your turn, transform a friendly minion into one that costs (2) more.

• Old: Whenever your weapon is destroyed, equip a random weapon of the same cost. → New: Whenever your weapon is destroyed, equip a random weapon of the same cost. Give it +1 Attack.

• Old: Whenever a Demon dies, draw a card and deal 1 damage to your hero. → New: Whenever a Demon dies, draw a card.

• Old: After a friendly Dragon dies, give your minions +1/+2. → New: After a friendly Dragon dies, give two minions in your hand +1/+1.

• Old: After you play a minion, deal 1 damage to it and give it +1 Attack. → New: After you play a minion, deal 1 damage to it and give it +2 Attack.

• Old: Your Weapons cost (1) less. → New: Your Weapons cost (1) less. At the start of the match, draw a weapon.

• Old: Whenever you play a Nature spell, restore 2 Health to your hero. → New: Whenever you play a Nature spell, restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.

• Old: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy minion, destroy it. → New: Whenever you deal damage to a Frozen character, double it.

• Old: After you cast a Fire spell, summon a 1/2 Flame Elemental. → New: After you cast a Fire spell, summon a 1/2 Flame Elemental and add one to your hand.

• Old: Whenever you play a Holy spell, give all friendly minions +1 Health. → New: Whenever you play a Holy spell, give all friendly characters +1 Health.

• Old: After you play a Legendary minion, reduce the cost of a random minion in your hand by (1). → New: After you play a Legendary minion, reduce the cost of a random card in your hand by (2).

• Old: At the start of your turn, give a random minion in your hand +1/+1. → New: At the start of your turn, give two random minions in your hand +1/+1.

• Old: Your Taunt minions cost (3) less, but not less than (1). → New: Your Taunt minions cost (3) less, but not less than (2).

• Old: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (1), but not less than (1). → New: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (1), but not less than (2).

• Old: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give a minion in your hand +3/+2. → New: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +2/+2.

• Old: After you destroy a minion with a Shadow spell, add a copy of that minion to your hand. → New: After you destroy a minion with a Shadow spell, add a copy of that minion to your hand. Reduce its costs by (2).

• Old: After the first enemy dies each turn, raise a 1/3 Bloated Zombie. → New: After the first enemy dies each turn, raise a 1/1 Bloated Zombie.

• Old: At the start of the game, equip a random Legendary weapon. → New: On your first turn, Discover a Legendary weapon.

• Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, destroy the minion with the lowest Health. → New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, trigger the Deathrattle of a friendly minion.

• Old: Your Battlecry cards cost (1) less, but not less than (1). → New: Your Battlecry cards cost (1) less, but not less than (2).

• Old: After you play a minion, shuffle two copies of it into your deck. They cost (1). → New: After you play a minion, shuffle two copies of it into your deck. They cost (3).

• Old: At the start of the game, destroy all minions in your deck. Your spells cost (1) less and gain +2 Spell Damage. → New: At the start of the game, destroy all minions in your deck. Your spells cost (1) less.

• Old: Your Neutral minions cost (1) less and have +1/+1. → New: Your Neutral minions have +1/+1 and cost (1) less, but not less that (2).

• Old: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (2) less. → New: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (2) less, but not less than (2).

PASSIVE TREASURE POOL UPDATES

• Small Pouches, Rhonin’s Scrying Orb, Caltrops and Scattered Caltrops have been removed.
• Small Backpacks has returned to Duels in Pool 1.
• Book of Wonders, Cannibalism, Starving, From the Swamp, and All Together Now have been moved from Pool 2 to Pool 1.
• Elixir of Vigor, Ooops, All Spells!, Meek Mastery, and Rally the Troops have been moved from Pool 2 Ultra Rare to Pool 2.

Arena Rotation

When the Deadmines Mini-Set unlocks on November 2, the Arena will include cards from the following sets:

• Deadmines Mini-Set
• United in Stormwind
• Ashes of Outland
• Rise of Shadows
• Knights of the Frozen Throne
• Journey to Un’Goro
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• Core

November 2 also marks the start of the Hallow’s End Dual-Class Arena event. Pick a class’s costumed portrait, then pick another class’s hero power, and build a deck from a combination of the two!

Battle-Ready Decks Return November 2!

Battle-Ready Decks will return to the shop for a limited time with four decks (Rogue, Druid, Hunter, or Paladin) designed to be immediately competitive in the latest meta—some of these are so fresh that they include Mini-Set cards! 21.6 Battle-Ready Deck recipes will be added to the patch notes here when they become available for purchase on November 2 for $14.99 and will be limited to one per account.

Agents of SI:7 – Rogue

Go go Gizmo! Utilize the agents of SI:7 to collect sneaky Spy Gizmos that can surprise your enemies and swing the battle in your favor. Contains 30 Cards total, 24 disenchantable: 3 Legendary, 4 Epic, 6 Rare, 11 Common.

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• 2x (0) Shadowstep
• 1x (1) Find the Imposter
• 2x (1) Prize Plunderer
• 2x (1) Secret Passage
• 2x (1) SI:7 Extortion
• 2x (1) Spymistress
• 2x (2) SI:7 Skulker
• 2x (2) Swindle
• 1x (2) Tenwu of the Red Smoke
• 2x (3) Greyheart Sage
• 2x (3) SI:7 Agent
• 2x (3) SI:7 Operative
• 1x (4) Edwin, Defias Kingpin
• 2x (4) SI:7 Infiltrator
• 2x (4) SI:7 Informant
• 1x (6) Battleground Battlemaster
• 2x (7) SI:7 Assassin

Swaming Squirrels – Druid

Swarm the enemy with early Taunts, Squirrels and a Peasant!? Go nuts with powerful token-based synergies and finish with Arbor Up! Contains 30 Cards total, 30 disenchantable: 2 Legendary, 4 Epic, 12 Rare, 12 Common.

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• 2x (1) Adorable Infestation
• 2x (1) Druid of the Reef
• 2x (1) Guardian Augmerchant
• 2x (1) Peasant
• 2x (1) Vibrant Squirrel
• 2x (2) Bonechewer Brawler
• 2x (2) Composting
• 2x (2) Encumbered Pack Mule
• 2x (2) Far Watch Post
• 2x (2) Razormane Battleguard
• 2x (3) Oracle of Elune
• 2x (4) Park Panther
• 2x (5) Arbor Up
• 1x (5) Greybough
• 2x (5) Teacher's Pet
• 1x (6) Cornelius Roame

Dwarven Defense – Hunter

Cast damage dealing spells to fend off enemies. Once you've cast 6, turn the tables of battle with the aid of Tavish, Master Marksman. Contains 30 Cards total, 21 disenchantable: 4 Legendary, 3 Rare, 14 Common.

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• 1x (0) Devouring Swarm
• 2x (1) Arcane Shot
• 1x (1) Defend the Dwarven District
• 2x (1) Overwhelm
• 2x (1) Tracking
• 2x (1) Wound Prey
• 1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos
• 2x (2) Bola Shot
• 2x (2) Explosive Trap
• 2x (2) Manafeeder Panthara
• 2x (2) Quick Shot
• 2x (2) Wandmaker
• 2x (3) Aimed Shot
• 1x (3) Professor Slate
• 2x (3) Venomous Scorpid
• 2x (4) Piercing Shot
• 1x (4) Rinling's Rifle
• 1x (5) Barak Kodobane

Knights of Stormwind – Paladin

Defend Stormwind through unity and honor! Strengthen your minions with powerful hand buffs to overwhelm your foes. Contains 30 Cards total, 23 disenchantable: 3 Legendary, 2 Epic, 9 Rare, 9 Common.

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• 2x (1) Argent Squire
• 2x (1) Knight of Anointment
• 2x (1) Prismatic Jewel Kit
• 2x (1) Righteous Protector
• 2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron
• 1x (2) Deeprun Engineer
• 2x (2) Encumbered Pack Mule
• 2x (2) Hand of A'dal
• 2x (3) Alliance Bannerman
• 2x (3) Catacomb Guard
• 2x (3) Goody Two-Shields
• 1x (4) Blademaster Samuro
• 2x (4) First Blade of Wrynn
• 1x (5) Blessing of Authority
• 1x (5) Overlord Runthak
• 2x (6) Battleground Battlemaster
• 1x (6) Highlord Fordragon
• 1x (6) Mr. Smite

Book of Mercenaries Cariel – Coming November 9!

The paladin Cariel Roame has returned home to find Stormwind in flames. Her sister Tamsin has summoned the dreadlord Anetheron and assaulted the city with an army of demons. Cariel and her companions are the city's last line of defense. At least one mercenary won't make it out alive. Find out who when Book of Mercenaries Cariel launches November 9. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Paladin pack, containing only Paladin cards from Standard!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• The following cards have been added to the Shadow Spell School: Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, Mask of C’Thun, Idol of Y’Shaarj. Trifle with the Old Gods at your own risk!
• A Bleed that is Cast When Drawn will now consume the temporary Talented Arcanist Spell Damage increase.
• Temporary Spell Damage will no longer apply to delayed effects like sigils or secrets. (For example, playing Prestor’s Pyromancer and then Flame Ward will consume the temporary Spell Damage effect, but will not apply the additional Spell Damage when the Flame Ward is eventually triggered).
• Fixed a bug where playing an additional copy of Razormane Battleguard would cause an additional Taunt minion to be discounted that turn.
• Fixed a bug where Prismatic Jewel Kit would trigger from transform effects.
• Fixed a bug where Blightborn Tamsin did not redirect damage that was redirected back at the player through Eye for an Eye.
• Fixed a bug that caused Rat King to duplicate itself when paired with cards that trigger extra Deathrattle effects.
• Fixed a bug that caused Alexstrasza the Life-Binder to be unable to deal damage to a player when the player activated an Ice Block and then changed heroes.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Supercollider animation to play twice.
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause a card to show the wrong Cardback and be unable to be flipped over during pack openings.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Battlegrounds matchmaking in friend lobbies.
• Fixed a bug that caused Early Access heroes to be unevenly distributed when guaranteed in every game. We are re-enabling the system that guarantees that Early Access heroes are offered in every game where players have Battlegrounds Perks.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Tarecgosa from keeping all buffs gained in combat.
• Fixed a bug where Dynamic Duo’s effect would not trigger from Charlga playing a Blood Gem on itself.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Mercenaries Welcome Bundle shop image to sometimes display a random Epic as part of the bundle, instead of the random Legendary that is actually part of the product.
• Updated some Mercenaries tasks that could not be completed as written.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Bear Trap ranks 2-5 from working properly with Rigged Wiring ranks 1-3.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Blink Fox’s Mind Thief Ability from copying Abilities that summon minions.
• Updated the art on some Mercenaries Abilities that were incorrectly still displaying temp art.
• Updated miscellaneous descriptions on some Mercenaries Abilities and Equipment to fix typographical errors, better match style guides, and/or clarify their text.
• Updated some Mercenaries Treasure names that incorrectly used Roman numerals.
• Fixed a bug that required you to restart your client after unlocking Wild for you to be able to access Wild.
• Fixed a bug that caused some in-game purchases to not immediately appear as “owned” after purchasing.
• Fixed a bug that rarely caused achievement progress and points to show as empty upon login.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some achievements from being able to be completed or claimed.
• Fixed a bug with the seamless re-connect feature.
• Updated Unity version.
• Fixed bugs causing crashes and miscellaneous other general performance issues.
• (NEW) You will no longer be prompted to auto-complete an invalid deck every time you click "Done" while editing it. The "Complete My Deck" button will continue to let you automatically finish an invalid deck if desired.
• (NEW) We've added a landing page to the Heroes tab of the Collection manager to show your currently-favorited heroes, organize all heroes by class, and more easily track your collection.

The 21.4.4 patch, releasing later today, includes bug fixes, Battlegrounds updates, and miscellaneous non-player-facing backend updates.

Battlegrounds Updates

MINION UPDATES

Omega Buster

• Old: 6 Attack, 6 Health. Deathrattle: Summon six 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn’t fit, give your Mechs +1/+1. → New: 5 Attack, 5 Health. Deathrattle: Summon five 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn’t fit, give your Mechs +1/+1.

Holy Mecherel

• Old: 8 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 6 Attack, 4 Health.

Recycling Wraith

• Old: After you play an Elemental, your next Refresh costs (0). → New: After you play an Elemental, your next Refresh costs (1) less.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Added missing lightning bolt symbol to signify some Avenge triggers.
• General performance updates to Mercenaries mode.
• Fixed Diablo’s Apocalypse Ability to show the correct damage numbers while Magma Horn is equipped.
• Fixed a text error where Jaina’s Task 2 stated the wrong Ability name.
• Fixed a bug preventing privacy settings from being saved for new players.