Ashes of Outland, the Demon Hunter class and a complete Priest overhaul come in Hearthstone’s biggest expansion to date.
When Blizzard teased their biggest update yet, they weren’t kidding. In our dedicated article, we speculated about a new expansion, newly spoiled cards and maybe a new game mode. How about a new, 10th playable class? Well, as Illidan Stormrage himself would put it, “We were not prepared”.
A new class has been talked about to death, especially with the introduction of Monks and Death Knights in World of Warcraft. However, we were told by the devs that the nine are balanced just fine and they all have deep libraries of cards from Hearthstone’s 6 years of development and that we won’t see a new Hero in the tavern anytime soon. Well, today this changes.
New expansion - Ashes of Outland
We’re going to Outland! The new expansion will take us to one of the roughest places in the Warcraft universe and we’ll meet some iconic characters. The set comes with a brand-new playable hero, as well as the Prime cycle of Legendary minions.
Primes come as a solid mid- or early game minions (hey, we like those!) and when their Deathrattle triggers, they shuffle a supercharged version of themselves in your deck to be drawn and played later. As you can see from the picture above, the difference is mind-blowing.
New class - Demon Hunter
Enter Demon Hunter, represented by the most iconic character and originator of the very concept - Illidan.
The Demon Hunter is a brand-new class that will be implemented in a story campaign going through the life and times of Illidan - once an honorable ancient elf who got himself stuck in a love triangle among Tyrande Whisperwind and his brother Malfurion (both of whom are playable characters inside Hearthstone).
In terms of gameplay, Demon Hunters will be flashy, aggressive and totally brutal. They rely on big flashy creatures to get the job done and their Hero Power will grant them +1 Attack for the turn for 1 Mana. A powerless secure than Mage’s and Druid’s ability, as it neither strikes from a distance nor grants armor. However, it only costs 1 mana, making it perfect to put on early aggression and clear up annoying 1-Health minions.
In terms of spells, the new class will wield magic that sacrifices puny creatures to summon mighty late-game Demons, deal damage and Lifesteal to keep Illidan in the heat of battle. We are getting strong Warlock vibes here - a natural comparison, as both utilize the corrupted Fel magic.
The class also comes with its own keyworded mechanic - Outcast. If you play an Outcast card from the right or left-most side of your hand.
Finally, Illidan The Betrayer will be playable in Battlegrounds very soon - March 26!
Updated class - Priest
Yes! Finally, we Priest mains are getting some love! Priest has always been struggling to get a class identity. It is a weird jack-of-all thing. They steal cards, but not as good as Rogue. They heal, but so does the Paladin. They control, but not like Mage. Well, it helps that Anduin is now a king, because the devs are finally ready to address his problems.
Without going into too much detail, Priest now solidifies its place as a Control archetype. Many of its Classic cards are tweaked with new mana costs and its Classic Legendary - Prophet Velen is canned in the Hall of Fame. Instead, we are given a new default Legendary - Natalie Seline.
That’s not even everything that Blizzard announced! The Year of the Phoenix comes with changes to Battlegrounds, Ranked, 2 more expansions to come and tons more that won’t fit in one article. But do not fret - EarlyGame.com will keep you updated on all of that!
