(Live Now!) 24.2.2 Hearthstone Balance Update Patch Notes – 8 Nerfs and 2 Buffs in Constructed (GUFF NERFED!); Battlegrounds & Duels Changes

Hearthstone’s latest, long-awaited balance update is finally here. The patch notes are out now, and the update itself is scheduled to go live in an hour (just like always, the mobile release might be up to a few hours late). Update: The patch is now live on both PC and mobile! Enjoy!

The patch comes with many changes to Constructed, Battlegrounds and Duels game modes. All three of them are getting some quite significant alterations, which should (hopefully) result in meta changes.

If you want to read about all of them, check out the full patch notes below:

Patch 24.2.2, a hotfix patch scheduled for September 9, includes the following updates and bug fixes.

Standard Card Updates

Dev Comment: Our top priority this patch was to make the meta feel more stable and more diverse. For that reason, we focused primarily on making a moderate number of high-confidence changes this patch. We expect there will still be room for adjustment after this patch settles in, but we’d like to take the opportunity to see where these changes land before making further changes.

 

The following cards have been adjusted down in power:

Wildheart Guff

• Old: Battlecry and Hero Power granted full mana crystals.
• New: Battlecry and Hero Power grant empty mana crystals.

• Dev Comment: Ramp Druid is one of the most powerful and influential decks in the game this patch. Guff was the clear power outlier for the deck, so a change to Guff was the highest confidence change we could make. We still expect Guff to be a playable card, with an important role in these strategies, but we hope that this change will make it feel like there is more of a cost to ramping than there was previously.

Edwin, Defias Kingpin

• Old: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 3 Health
• New: [Costs 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health

• Dev Comment: There’s been a lot of attention on Edwin ever since he was buffed in the last patch—and rightfully so! Since his buff, he has been one of the most highly played and winningest cards in the game, which made him an obvious candidate for a high confidence adjustment to Rogue. When we made the initial buff, Rogue looked like it needed some help, but now that these lists have been more refined, we think Rogue will remain a player in the meta even with Edwin back at 4.

Arcane Burst (Magister Dawngrasp’s Hero Power)

• Old: Deal 2 damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +2 damage.
• New: Deal 2 damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +1 damage.

Nightcloak Sanctum

• Old: 3 Durability
• New: 2 Durability

• Dev Comment: Along with Druid and Rogue, Mage has been one of the most dominant classes since the last patch. Nightcloak Sanctum has been a clear outlier in the mid-stages of the game, and the scaling threat of Magister Dawngrasp’s hero power has been the dominant in the end game. These two standout cards were the most obvious targets for tuning down the deck’s power level, and should also make the class less frustrating to play against in the mid- and late game.

Defend the Dwarven District (the first stage of the Hunter Questline)

• Old: Deal damage with 2 spells.
• New: Deal damage with 3 spells.

• Dev Comment: Quest Hunter is a frustrating deck to play against and was poised to be a powerful meta contender after the changes to the other classes. This change is both to address the deck’s current state and anticipated relative power level after this patch.

Kael’thas Sinstrider

• Old: [Costs 6]
• New: [Costs 8]

• Dev Comment: Kael’thas, Brann, and Denathrius have appeared together as a package in a variety of decks. To address the specific interaction between these three cards, we felt the best solution was to add 2 more cost to the Brann-Kael’thas combo so that they can’t be played with 10 mana. We preferred to change Kael’thas over Brann because Kael’thas is being used primarily for things like this combo while Brann has other interesting use cases, too.

Smothering Starfish

• Old: [Costs 3]
• New: [Costs 4]

• Dev Comment: Smothering Starfish was living up to its name a bit too much. The goal for this card was for it to be a strong tech card, but the cost to include it in your deck was low enough that it was acting more like a staple than a tech card. While responding to specific meta forces, Starfish was also unintentionally snuffing out a variety of underrepresented decks. We think this adjustment will still allow Starfish to be used as a powerful tech option, but will make it less generically ubiquitous.

The above cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 24.2.2.

 

The following cards have been adjusted up in power:

School Teacher

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

• Dev Comment: When we initially changed School Teacher, it was the most played card in the game. We’re partially reverting the balance change in order to make the card feel a bit better to include in decks, while still acknowledging that its power level at launch was a bit higher than we would have liked it to be.

Alliance Bannerman

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

• Dev Comment: When we buff cards in underperforming classes, we rarely do it with the goal of immediately shooting the class to a 50% plus winrate. Our goal is to make the game more fun, something we can accomplish by bringing the class up to a level where players feel like there is something worth exploring. With the focus on high confidence changes in this patch, the change we were most confident we could give Paladin was something we’ve seen before—a reversion to a previous balance change.

Battlegrounds Updates

Armor Tier Changes

• Al’Akir, Alexstrasza, Murloc Holmes, and Patchwerk are now Armor Tier 1.
• Death Speaker Blackthorn, George the Fallen, Ini Stormcoil, Silas Darkmoon, Tamsin Roame, Vol’jin, and Xyrella are now Armor Tier 2.
• Ambassador Faelin, Cariel Roame, Deathwing, Elise Starseeker, Heistbaron Togwaggle, Lord Barov, Jandice Barov, Maiev Shadowsong, Malygos, Nozdormu, Patches the Pirate, Reno Jackson, Shudderwock, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Sneed, and Zephrys the Great are now Armor Tier 3.
• Dancin’ Deryl, Dinotamer Brann, Queen Azshara, Ragnaros the Firelord, and Y’Shaarj are now Armor Tier 4.
• A.F. Kay, Chenvaala, Galakrond, Greybough, Illidan Stormraige, Infinite Toki, Mr. Bigglesworth, Rakanishu, Skycap’n Kragg, Tess Greymane, and The Curator are now Armor Tier 5.
• Captain Eudora is now Armor Tier 6.
• C’Thun and Tavish Stormpike are now Armor Tier 7.

Hero Changes

Toggwaggle – Perfect Crime

• Old: 9 Gold
• New: 10 Gold

Minion Changes

Nether Drake

• Old: 5 Health
• New: 4 Health

Legion Overseer

• Old: Minions in Bob’s Tavern have +2/+2.
• New: Minions in Bob’s Tavern have +2/+1.

Amber Guardian

• Old: Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +3/+3 and Divine Shield.
• New: Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +2/+2 and Divine Shield.

Lava Lurker

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

Party Elemental

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

Yo-Ho-Ogre

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

Quest and Quest Reward Changes

As a reminder, Quests and Quest Rewards in Battlegrounds are not static. Quests have baseline values that are adjusted game-by-game, based on several factors, including the value of the Reward they are paired with.

Quest baseline adjustments:

Track the Footprints

• Old: Have Bob’s Tavern Refreshed 10 times.
• New: Have Bob’s Tavern Refreshed 9 times.

Follow the Money

• Old: Spend 30 Gold.
• New: Spend 33 Gold.

Reenact the Murder

• Old: Have 18 friendly minions die.
• New: Have 19 friendly minions die.

Reward text adjustments:

Tiny Henchman

• Old: At the end of your turn, give +2/+2 to 3 friendly minions of Tier 3 or lower.
• New: At the end of your turn, give +3/+3 to 3 friendly minions of Tier 3 or lower.

Alter Ego

• Old: Even Tier minions in Bob’s Tavern have +6/+6. (Swaps to Odd next turn!)
• New: Even Tier minions in Bob’s Tavern have +7/+7. (Swaps to Odd next turn!)

Staff of Origination

• Old: Start of Combat: Give your minions +15/+15.
• New: Start of Combat: Give your minions +12/+12.

Reward difficulty adjustments:

• Teal Tiger Sapphire, Snicker Snacks, and Red Hand were made generally easier to earn.
• The Smoking Gun, Mirror Shield, and Stolen Gold were made generally harder to earn.

Duels Updates

Hero Power Updates

No Guts, No Glory

• Old: 1 Mana
• New: 2 Mana

War Commands

• Old: 2 Mana
• New: 3 Mana

Dino Tracking

• Old: Passive Hero Power. At the start of your turn, Discover which card you draw.
• New: [2 Mana] Discover a card from your deck.

Frost Shards

• Old: 1 Mana
• New: 2 Mana

Signature Treasure Changes

Gift of the Heart

• Old: [5 Mana] Gain 4 empty mana crystals. Allied: Druid.
• New: [6 Mana] Gain 3 empty mana crystals. Allied: Druid.

Traktamer Aelessa

• Old: 2 Mana
• New: 3 Mana

Magister Unchained

• Old: 2 Mana
• New: 3 Mana

Sr. Excavator

• Old: Draw 3 cards. Any minions you draw cost (4) less.
• New: Draw 2 cards. Any minions you draw cost (2) less.

Shadow Word: Void

• Old: 4 Mana
• New: 5 Mana

Elemental Chaos

• Old: 6 Mana
• New: 8 Mana

Green Tortollan Shell

• Old: 1 Mana
• New: 2 Mana

Safe Harbor

• Old: 2 Mana
• New: 5 Mana

Scales of Justice

• Old: 6 Mana
• New: 8 Mana

Warden’s Insight

• Old: 3 Mana
• New: 4 Mana

Marvelous Mycelium

• Old: Discover a Choose One card. It has both effects combined. Shuffle this card into your deck.
• New: Discover a Choose One card, then shuffle it into your deck. It has both effects combined. Repeat 3 times.

Passive Treasure Changes

Arctic Armor

• Old: Whenever you Freeze an enemy, gain 1 Armor.
• New: After the first time you Freeze an enemy each turn, gain 1 Armor.

Forgotten Depths

• Old: At the start of game, put 3 Colossal minions on the bottom of your deck. They cost (3) less.
• New: At the start of the game, put 2 Colossal minions on the bottom of your deck.

Wither the Weak

• Old: After you cast a Fel spell, deal 2 damage to the lowest-Health enemy.
• New: After you cast a Fel spell, deal 1 damage to the lowest-Health enemy.

Potion of Sparking

• Old: After a friendly Rush minion attacks an enemy minion, deal 1 damage to adjacent enemy minions.
• New: After a friendly Rush minion attacks an enemy minion, deal 1 damage to a random adjacent enemy minion.

Freeze Solid

• Old: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy, double it.
• New: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy, deal 1 more.

Glacial Downpour

• Old: At the end of your turn, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental if you’ve cast a Frost spell this turn.
• New: At the end of your turn, summon a 2/1 Ice Shard if you’ve cast a Frost spell this turn.

Special Delivery

• Old: After you play a Rush minion, summon a copy with 1 Health.
• New: After you play your first Rush minion in a turn, summon a copy with 1 Health.

Cookie’s Ladle

• Moved from Pool 1 to Pool 2.

Oops, All Spells!

• Removed from all Passive treasure pools.

Party Replacement

• Removed from all Passive treasure pools.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Battlegrounds] Added a cap to the Sort It All Out and Unmask the Culprits Quests, limiting the top-end requirements needed in order to complete the Quest.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Lich Baz’hial’s Hero Power could not be used if your hand was full.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Kael’thas’s Verdant Spheres would not give a buff if the minion was Magnetized.

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