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Hearthstone update – major balance changes for Duels and Battlegrounds

Get all the latest info on every Hearthstone update coming to the game

Sean Martin

Published:

Hearthstone 

It’s hard sometimes to keep up with every Hearthstone update – you stop playing for a week or two, and suddenly you’re getting your ass handed to you every single round, and somehow things just aren’t clicking into place. But each Hearthstone update is important – they keep things fresh, constantly adding new minions, heroes, and quality of life changes. In the end, every Hearthstone update is what keeps the game alive. But we understand the plight of players surprised by the ever-shifting meta, so that’s why we decided to create a Hearthstone update guide.

Whether it’s updates coming to Hearthstone Battlegrounds, an update to Hearthstone gameplay, or a whopping new expansion, our Hearthstone update guide has handy sections for each patch, and what it’s introducing. We’re also going to keep updating it as new content is added to the game.

That way, each new update is easily digestible, allowing you to assimilate the new minions and heroes into your game. If you enjoy this Hearthstone update guide, be sure to check out our list of the best Hearthstone decks, and Hearthstone battlegrounds mobile guide for further helpful info!

Here is the latest hearthstone update:

Duels and Battlegrounds balance updates

This update sees a lot of balance updates coming for both Duels and Battlegrounds modes. It releases on November 5.

Mr. Bigglesworth – Duels

  •  Removed from the active Treasures pool

Party Portal – Duels

  • Old: 6 Health – New: 4 Health

Amalgamate – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 1] – New: [Costs 0]

Spyglass – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 2] – New: [Costs 1]

Canopic Jars – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 4] – New: [Costs 5]

Wish – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 11] – New: [Costs 10]

Pure Cold – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 6] – New: [Costs 5]

Crsytal Gem – Duels

  • Old: On your first turn you have 2 Mana Crystals – New: On your first two turns you have 1 extra Mana Crystal

Summoning Ritual – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 4] – New: [Costs 5]

Deadly Weapons 101 – Duels

  • Old: Give your weapon +2/+1. Combo: Also give it Poisonous – New: Give your weapon +2/+2. Combo: Also give it Poisonous

Roguish Maneuvers – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 2] – New: [Costs 1]

Totemic Power – Duels

  • Old: Summon a random Totem. If you’re Overloaded, summon a non-basic Totem as well – New: Summon a random Totem. If you’re Overloaded, summon a non-basic Totem instead

Dark Arts – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 2] – New: [Costs 1]

No Guts, No Glory – Duels

  • Old: [Costs 2] – New: [Costs 1]

Nefarian – Battlegrounds

  • Nefarian has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero pool

Wax Warband – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Give a friendly minion of each type +2 Attack – New: Give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1

Menagerist – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Start the game with a 1/1 Amalgam with all minion types – New: Start the game with a 1/2 Amalgam with all minion types

Trash for Treasure – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Cost 0] Remove a friendly minion. Get a random one from a Tavern Tier lower – New: [Cost 1] Remove a friendly minion. Discover a random one from a Tavern Tier lower

A Tale of Kings – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +1/+2. Swaps type each turn – New: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +2/+2. Swaps type each turn

Tavern Lighting – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Give a random friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier – New: Give a friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier (targeted)

Boon of Light – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Costs 3] – New: [Costs 2]

Dream Portal – Battlegrounds

  • Old: At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob’s Tavern – New: Bob always offers an extra Dragon whenever the Tavern is refreshed

Prestidigitation – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Costs 2] – New: [Costs 1]
  • Effigy removed from Secret pool

Galakrond’s Greed – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Costs 1] – New: [Costs 0]
  • No longer Freezes

Bob’s Burgles – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with minions from your last opponent’s warband – New: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with your last opponent’s warband

Lead Explorer – Battlegrounds

  • Recruitment Map now costs 2 (down from 3)

Friendly Wager – Battlegrounds

  • Now gives your gold back on ties (1 gold refunded)

Battlegrounds Minions – Battlegrounds

  • Elementals will no longer be a minion type in every match

Wrath Weaver – Battlegrounds

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

Yo-ho-Ogre – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 3] 2 Attack, 8 Health – New: [Tier 2] 2 Attack, 5 Health

Iron Sensei – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 4] – New: [Tier 3]

Southsea Strongarm – Battlegrounds

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

Ripsnarl Captain – Battlegrounds

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

Lightfang Enforcer – Battlegrounds

  • Old: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+1 – New: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+2

Gentle Djinni – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 5] – New: [Tier 6]

Lieutenant Garr – Battlegrounds

  • Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health – New: 5 Attack, 1 Health

Lil’ Rag – Battlegrounds

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

Dread Admiral Eliza – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +1/+1 – New: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +2/+1

Amalgadon – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have, Adapt randomly – New: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have among other minions, Adapt randomly

Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire is scheduled to release on November 17. The 135-card expansion introduces a brand new keyword, powerful Old God Artifacts, and the Old Gods themselves make their return.

  • Old Gods Artifacts: Powerful spells inspired by the designs of four of the most powerful Legendary minions Hearthstone has ever seen
  • Corrupt keyword: These new cards can become corrupted when you play a higher-cost card, transforming them into a more powerful version of the original card
  • The Old Gods: Yogg-Saron, N’zoth the Corruptor, C’Thun, and Y’Shaarj, Rage Unbound mark their return to Hearthstone. These ten-cost legendary minions are set to produce some game defining moments

Hearthstone Duels

This new game mode takes inspiration from Hearthstone’s Dungeon Run modes, except this time players will be playing against each other instead of fighting the AI. Duels is completely free to play in Casual mode, however there will be a Heroic mode more akin to Arena mode. Players can pay 150 gold or $1.99/£1.99 for a Tavern ticket to try their luck at this tricky mode.

The theme for this debut season is Wizard Duels, bringing together the heroes and scholars featured in the Scholomance Academy expansion. Duels will change after the release of each new expansion, ensuring players will have fresh content to play every few months.

Pre-purchasing the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire bundle will grant players early access to the new Duels mode. This will be available from October 22 to November 11. The Duels beta will be available for all players starting November 12. There will be a ranked season of Duels that is set to take place on November 17 with season one.

The biggest system update yet

Hearthstone’s progression system is getting a much-needed upgrade, introducing an achievements system, a reward tracker, a revamped quest system, and an update profile page. All of the following changes are set to arrive on November 12.

The brand new achievements system adds a number of unique challenges to all of Hearthstone’s game modes, including the brand new Duels mode. New achievements will be added with each expansion, every future game mode release, and every major update

The old quest system is being replaced with a map that highlights your upcoming rewards called the Reward Track. Playing Hearthstone will grant you experience points which are used to unlock levels on the battle pass. There are 50 levels in total, allowing you to unlock card packs from Standard, various card backs, lots of gold, two legendary cards, and one of ten all-new Hero skins. There is a free track and a paid track that is unlocked by purchasing the Tavern Pass.

Daily quests will continue to exist, and weekly quests are being added to the game for the first time. Each week, players will be given three weekly quests to complete, though these are more difficult than the average daily quest. You can continue to reroll quests once a day, so if you have something that’s a bit too hard, just reroll for something different.

Every expansion from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire onwards will receive a 35 card mini-set half way through an expansion. This ensures the meta continues to be as fresh as possible with an injection of new cards.

Finally, players will receive a brand new profile page which displays a lot of lifetime stats from your account. Examples of these stats include showing off your current rank in Standard and Wild, your total number of wins per class, and the progress made towards your next golden portrait. Blizzard mentioned in the livestream that this is not the final profile page, so expect some changes to this system over the coming months.

fall reveal coming on october 22

Blizzard has announced that Hearthstone’s Fall Reveal is arriving on October 22 at 8am PT (4pm BST) and you can watch the stream on YouTube or Twitch. The stream will feature a number of Hearthstone announcements, with game designers Pat Nagle, John McIntyre, and John Yang speaking with host, Brian Kibler. Could it be a new game mode? A new expansion? All we have to go on is a spooky looking eye and some fairground music, so my bet is we at least get a circus-themed Halloween event.

You can also earn yourself a Scholomance Academy card pack by watching 15 minutes of the stream on Twitch.tv/PlayHearthstone, with more details on how exactly to do this, and the Fall Reveal, available on the Hearthstone website.

hearthstone update 18.4.2

On October 15 patch 18.4.2 is coming to Hearthstone, bringing with it a variety of balancing changes to Battlegrounds mode. Here’s what to expect:

  • Bartendotron has been removed from Battlegrounds
  • Ragnaros the Firelord, Sulfuras, Maiev Shadowsong are among those to have their abilities nerfed slightly
  • Chenvaala, Patchwerk, Sindragosa, and King Mukla have their abilities strengthened
  • A variety of changes to minions, including Selfless Hero, Deadly Spore, Salty Looter, Bloodsail Cannoneer, Party Elemental, Arcane Assistant, Majordomo Executus, Lil’ Rag, and Gentle Djinni

hearthstone grandmasters season two champions

Three more players have secured their places in the Hearthstone World Championship after competing in the final bouts of Grandmasters Season Two last weekend. For the Americas, Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher is representing, for Asia Pacific, Pramet “Bankyugi” Putchakan, and for Europe, Jaromir “Jarla” Vyskocil.

These players are joining Brian “bloodyface” Eason, Sato “glory” Kenta, Vladislav “SilverName” Sinotov, and Fan “iG.Syf” Yilun at the World Championships, which take place between December 12-13. For more details on the matches, and each player’s fight to earn a Grandmaster spot, see the official post on the Hearthstone website.

hearthstone grandmasters playoffs 2020

This weekend is the final of the Hearthstone Grandmaster’s Season Two playoffs, which sees players competing to become regional champions, earn part of a massive prize pool, and one of three remaining Grandmaster spots in the Hearthstone World Championship. The final takes place between October 9-11 and kicks off at 2am PDT (10am BST).

If you want to watch if for yourself, tune in to the Hearthstone Esports YouTube channel. For more details on the tournament structure, available languages, and who’s casting the event, check out the Hearthstone website.

Hearthstone update 18.4: Masquerade Ball

Masquerade all is a brand new in-game event in Hearthstone. It features a makeover for the tavern, weekly new content, including Tavern Brawls and the dual-class arena, and a new Hearthstone book of heroes experience.

Here’s the full round-up:

  • Elementals: this is a brand new minion type for Hearthstone Battlegrounds. It’s made up of four new heroes, 16 minions, and will arrive alongside a new progression system and ratings reset
  • Dual-Class Arena: this mode returns as part of the Masquerade Ball, allowing you to mix and match the powers from two different classes
  • Tavern Brawls: three Tavern Brawl events will take place during the Masquerade Ball. Rise of the Zombeasts (September 29) sees you create an undead army, Masquerade Ball (October 7) sees a revamp to how minions work, and Boss Battle Royale (October 14) sees you battle ten bosses
  • Book of Heroes: there’s new Book of Heroes chapter, which focuses on Rexxar, and it’s completely free

For full details, check out the patch notes post on the official Hearthstone site.

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.2: Forbidden library

Hearthstone update 18.2 brings plenty to the game, including the Forbidden Library event, and some new faces in Battlegrounds. Here are all the details:

  • Forbidden Library: this event kicks off on September 8, bringing weekly introductions of content to the game, including…
  • Battlegrounds Parties: as part of the Forbidden Library event, you can play Battlegrounds with up to seven friends. If you want a private game, queue with five or more, or for placement in ranked, four or fewer
  •  Book of Heroes: on September 15, this new free single player mode will follow Jaina’s backstory in becoming a powerful mage. If you beat all eight bosses you’ll receive a mage card pack, and there are ten more hero stories coming over the next 12 months
  • Heroic Brawliseum: on September 22, Brawliseum comes to Hearthstone – a heroic tavern brawl where you pay 1000 gold, or $9.99, to enter a series of highly competitive games with big rewards. Keep dueling until you’ve won 12 games, or lost three. Also Brawliseum is definitely a word…

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.2: HEROES

Update 18.2 brings some new battlegrounds heroes with it:

Lord Barov – Battlegrounds

Jandice Barov – Battlegrounds

Forest Warden Omu – Battlegrounds

 

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.2: MINIONS

Mecharoo has been removed from Battlegrounds, and there is a new minion in update 18.2:

Micro Mummy – Battlegrounds

  • Tier 1
  • 1 Attack, 2 Health
  • Reborn: At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Attack

As well as some balancing changes to others in battlegrounds and the main game:

Pack Leader – Battlegrounds

  • Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +3 Attack – New: 2 Attack, 3 Health. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +2 Attack

Secret Passage – Hearthstone

  • Old: Replace your hand with 5 cards from your deck. Swap back next turn – New: Replace your hand with 4 cards from your deck. Swap back next turn

Cabal Acolyte – Hearthstone

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

Totem Goliath – Hearthstone

  • Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health. Overload (2) – New: 5 Attack, 5 Health. Overload (1)

Archwitch Willow – Hearthstone

  • Old: [Cost 9] 7 Attack, 7 Health – New: [Cost 8] 5 Attack, 5 Health

Darkglare – Hearthstone

  • Old: [Cost 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health. After your hero takes damage, refresh 2 Mana Crystals – New: [Cost 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health. After your hero takes damage, refresh a Mana Crystal

Scholomance academy

Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Scholomance Academy is now live, and brings with it lots of new minions, mechanics, and updates:

  • Dual Class-cards: making up 40 of the 130 cards coming in Scholomance, Dual Class-cards mix together the strengths of separate classes to create something new. Dual Class-cards also have a shared legendary minion, which is their professor
  • Spellburst keyword: this new keyword activates when you cast a spell, providing a one-time effect
  • Studies: these are new spell cards that let you Discover – choose from a selection of three cards – and immediately reduce the mana cost of the next you play

There’s also still another Hearthstone update yet to come, with a new Hearthstone mode on the horizon, and a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds gameplay feature. Stay tuned for more info!

hearthstone update 18.0.2

Hearthstone update 18.0.2 is here, bringing a few balancing changes to various cards while removing some Battlegrounds minions. Here are the main changes:

  • Lady Vashj is removed from battlegrounds
  • Kael’thas Sunstrider is nerfed
  • Gentle Megasaur and Arcane Cannon are removed from Battlegrounds

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.0.2: HEROES

Here are the hero changes in Hearthstone update 18.0.2:

Captain Eudora – Battlegrounds

  • Buried Treasure ability now has five digs instead of four

Reno Jackson – Battlegrounds

  • Gonna Be Rich ability now costs zero instead of two

The Lich King  – Battlegrounds

  • Reborn Rites ability now costs zero instead of one

Galakrond – Battlegrounds

  • Galakrond’s Greed now freezes the minion it adds to the tavern

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.0.2: MINIONS

Here are the minion changes for update 18.0.2:

Kael’thas Sunstrider – Hearthstone

  • Old: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (0) – New: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (1)

Mindrender Illucia – Hearthstone

  • Old: [Cost 2] – New: [Cost 3]

Rabid Saurolisk – Battlegrounds

  • Old: 3 Attack, 2 Health – New: 4 Attack, 2 Health

Rat Pack – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 2] – New: [Tier 3]

Pack Leader – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 3] – New: [Tier 2]

Monstrous Macaw – Battlegrounds

  • Old: 3 Attack, 2 Health – New: 4 Attack, 3 Health

Primalfin Lookout – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 5] – New: [Tier 4]
  • Only Discovers minions from your current Tavern Tier or below

Nat Pagle, Extreme Angler – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Overkill: Summon a 0/2 Treasure Chest – New: After this attacks and kills a minion, add a random minion to your hand
  • Minions generated are from your Tavern Tier or below

Mama Bear – Battlegrounds

  • Old: [Tier 6] 5 Attack, 5 Health – New: [Tier 5] 4 Attack, 4 Health
  • Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +5/+5 – whenever you summon a Beast, give it +4/+4 

Goldrinn, The Great Wolf – Battlegrounds

  • Old: Deathrattle: Give your Beasts +4/+4 – New: Deathrattle: Give your Beasts +5/+5

Hearthstone update 18.0

Scholomance has now arrived, but Patch 18.0 made a minor Hearthstone Battlegrounds update before the expansion dropped. Here are the biggest changes in Hearthstone update 18.0:

  • New battlegrounds minions and hero
  • Zoobot and Menagerie Magician are removed from Battlegrounds

hearthstone update 18.0: heroes

Here are the new heroes in update 18.0:

Mr. Bigglesworth (Battlegrounds)

HEARTHSTONE UPDATE 18.0: minions

Here are the minions added in Hearthstone’s 18.0 update:

Menagerie Mug – Battlegrounds

  • Tier 2
  • 2 Attack, 2 Health
  • Battlecry: Give 3 random friendly minions of different minion types +1/+1

Menagerie Jug – Battlegrounds

  • Tier 4
  • 3 Attack, 3 Health
  • Battlecry: Give 3 random friendly minions of different minion types +2/+2

If you want to play Hearthstone for yourself, check Google Play and the App Store to download!

Sean is a freelance feature journalist for Pocket Tactics, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, EGMNOW, Wireframe, and PCGN. He enjoys Roblox, deck builders, strategy, and loves Bad North a little too much.