25.4 Patch Notes – Return to Naxxramas Mini-Set, Battlegrounds, Mercenaries & Arena Updates, New Cosmetics, Bug Fixes

Earlier today, Blizzard posted notes for the upcoming Patch 25.4. Here’s a quick summary of what’s coming in the update releasing tomorrow (Tuesday, February 14):

• Return to Naxxramas Mini-Set – 38 brand new cards you can purchase either with Gold or real money. You can find a full list here.
• Battlegrounds Updates – New Hero (Teron Gorefiend) and a few general updates.
• Mercenaries Update – The biggest post-launch update for the mode, introducing new Mercs, dual-type Mercs, Factions (extra minion types) as well as end-game Mythic Boss Rush content. However, it’s also the final Mercenaries update – the mode will still be maintained with bug fixes and balance changes if necessary, but new content will no longer be added.
• Arena Update – A new Arena season starts, all the current runs will be retired and players will be able to draft from a new pool of expansions. Every retired run will be refunded with a free ticket, so it’s worth starting a run and playing until 2 loses! Arena will also get a new, live leaderboard – you will be able to see who are the top Arena players in a given season whenever you want.
• New Cosmetics – Blizzard announced the “Corgi Cup” event, rewarding cosmetics related to Corgi (the dog breed). Not sure what it’s all about, we don’t have any details yet. On top of that, three of the old, iconic cards will get a Diamond version (Reno Jackson, Patches the Pirate, Zola the Gorgon)
• Bug Fixes & Game Improvements – Just like always, the patch launches with a lot of smaller updates and bug fixes. The biggest one is probably added Corpse counter for every class. Now when you steal a Death Knight card that utilizes Corpses, you will be able to take advantage of its extra effects.

Read full patch notes below:

Return to Naxxramas on February 14

Reinforcements are on their way to the Battle for Silvermoon in the March of the Lich King Mini-Set: Return to Naxxramas! A new Location, a new Colossal minion, several new Dual-Type minions, and more can be found in this Mini-Set of 38 all-new cards to add to your collection. Get them in March of the Lich King packs, or as a complete 72-card* Mini-Set. Get the normal version in-game for 1500 Runestones or 2000 Gold, or get the all-Golden version for $69.99 or 10,000 Gold. The all-Golden version comes with a bonus Diamond copy of the Thaddius, Monstrosity Legendary minion!

* 4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 17 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2).

Battlegrounds Updates

 

General Updates

• You can now see how many cards your opponent has in their hand during combat.
• Drek’Thar, Greybough, N’Zoth, Onyxia, The Jailer, and Vanndar will now only be offered in games where at least one of Beasts, Demons, Mechs, or Undead are in the minion pool.
• Cyborg Drake and General Drakkisath received text-only updates to improve their clarity; neither change was a functional change.

New Hero

 

Teron Gorefiend (Armor Tier 1)

• Rapid Reanimation
  • [0 Gold] Choose a friendly minion. Start of Combat: Destroy it. Once you have space, resummon an exact copy.

Teron Gorefiend will be guaranteed in every lobby for two weeks after his launch. Except that, during this initial period and going forward, Teron Gorefiend will not be offered in any lobbies in which neither Undead nor Beasts are in that game’s minion pool.

Mercenaries Updates

Introducing Mythic Boss Rush

Mythic Boss Rush is here for action-packed end-game Mercenaries PvE content! At its core, Mythic Boss Rush is like a Zone where all the Bounties are short battles against a series of Bounty Bosses—without any filler, like Points of Interest or regular minion battles. Each day, a new Boss Rush will become available until they reset weekly.

Each Boss Rush consists of 3 Bounty Boss fights and then a final fight of two Bounty Bosses at the same time! The bosses all have random anomaly effects that make them stronger, based on a sliding difficulty setting you can choose for yourself. You earn Renown for each Boss Rush clear, with most of your rewards coming from your first clear, based on the difficulty setting you chose.

In Mythic Boss Rush, Renown can be spent to upgrade your Mercenaries even beyond Maxed! Spend your Renown on Abilities, Equipment, or shared Treasures, and get additional stat boosts with your upgrades. Those upgrades persist from Boss Rush to Boss Rush, from week to week, so you can take on tougher bosses and get more rewards over time. These upgrades don’t carry over to the other parts of Mercenaries, so you don’t need to keep pushing if you’d rather focus on The Fighting Pit or regular Bounties.

You’ll be able to unlock Mythic Boss Rush via a free upgrade to the Travel Point. The upgrade becomes available once you’ve unlocked Heroic Bounties and have at least one Maxed Merc.

New Factions and Updated Types

We’re adding Factions to Mercenaries! Factions are an additional classification system for grouping Mercs (similar to Types), representing various groups of characters in the game. A Mercenary’s Faction is depicted by a flag in the upper right corner of their card. These Factions are Horde, Alliance, Explorer, Empire, Legion, and Scourge. Additionally, “Pirate” is being converted from a Type into a Faction. We’re updating how several Abilities, Equipment, and Treasures interact with these new Factions, allowing for new synergies across types. Finally, we’re giving several Mercs a second Type with new dual-type Mercenaries, for even more potential combos and synergies between your Mercs!

Check out the recent Mercenaries Update for more information about dual-Types, the new Factions, and more.

New Mercenaries

 

Jandice Barov (Legendary Caster)

Undead-Human, Scourge—6/74 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Wondrous Rapidity 5: (Arcane – Speed 4) Deal 14 damage to enemies opposite this. If you don’t have an Image, summon one.
  • Phantasmal Image: Undead 0/1. Can’t Attack. Deathrattle: Give a random enemy +5 Arcane Weakness.
• Mistress of Illusion 5: (Arcane – Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Summon an Image with “Deathrattle: Give a random enemy +5 Arcane Weakness. Whenever this Merc takes damage this turn, that Image takes it instead.
• Whirl of Illusion 5: (Arcane – Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Deal 15 damage to a random enemy. Each friendly Images repeats this. If you don’t have an image, summon one.

Equipment:

• Vengeful Rune 4: Deathrattle: Deal 4 damage to a random enemy for each friendly Undead that has died this game.
• Phantasmal Guardian 4: Passive: Takes 4 less damage for each friendly Image. Your Images have +24 Health.
• Ritual Tome 4: Passive: Whenever one of your Images dies, gain +4 Arcane Damage until the end of the turn.

 

Lord Godfrey (Epic Caster)

Undead-Human—12/80 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Cursed Bullets 5: (Shadow—Speed 3) Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Give them +3 Shadow Weakness.
• Brutal Backhand 5: (Shadow—Speed 6) Gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy. Deathblow: Deal damage equal to this Merc’s Attack to adjacent enemies.
• Pistol Barrage 5: (Shadow—Speed 9, Cooldown 1) Gain +5 Health and deal 11 damage to all enemies. Repeat for each of your Undead that have died this turn.

Equipment:

• Spectral Spectacles 4: Cursed Bullets always deals critical damage and gives +2 more Shadow Weakness.
• Gilnean Rapier 4: Brutal Backhand grants an additional +4 Attack.
• Worgen Tooth Necklace 4: Passive: Has +4/+4 for each enemy of a different role.

 

Lilian Voss (Epic Fighter)

Undead-Human, Horde—12/88 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Reluctant Leadership 5: (Speed 5) Attack an enemy. Your Undead characters deal 6 damage to it.
• Rescue Mission 5: (Speed 9) Give a character “Deathrattle: Summon a 5/5 Rescued Student.” Summon a 25/25 Stringent Follower with Taunt.
  • Rescued Student: Undead-Human, Horde
  • Stringent Follower: Undead-Orc, Horde
• Fainting Feint 5: (Speed 2, Cooldown 2) The first time this dies this turn, resummon it with 30 Health remaining. Attack an enemy. (Starts off Cooldown)

Equipment:

• Tears of the Fallen 4: Passive: After one of your other Mercs dies, summon a 25/25 Stringent Follower with Taunt.
• Gandling’s Register 4: Battlecry: Summon two 10/10 Rescued Students.
• Blades of the Annointed 4: Passive: Your other Undead characters have +4/+4.

 

Arfus (Epic Fighter)

Undead-Beast, Scourge—12/87 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Fetch! 5: (Speed 5) Attack an enemy and steal 5 Attack for your other friendly characters.
• Frigid Bark 5: (Frost – Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Give all enemies +5 Frost Weakness. Your next Frost ability casts twice.
• The Frozen Bone 5: (Frost – Speed 7, Cooldown 1) Attack all enemies and slow them by (5) this turn. Deal damage to each equal to their highest speed ability.

Equipment:

• His Master’s Voice 4: Passive: +4 Attack. This Merc’s abilities are (4) Speed faster if a friendly Lich King is in play.
• Good Boy 4: Passive: +10 Health. After a friendly character dies, gain +2 Frost Damage.
• Downward Dog 4: Deathrattle: Enemies are permanently (4) Speed slower.

 

Mr. Bigglesworth (Epic Caster)

Undead-Beast, Scourge—8/78 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Deadly Cute 5: (Shadow – Speed 4) Deal 12 damage. Summon two 5/5 Pretty Kitties.
  • Pretty Kitty: Undead-Beast, Deathrattle: Deal 5 damage to a random enemy.
• Headpats 5: (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Give your Beasts +3/+8 and a random keyword.
• Feline Fine 5: (Shadow – Speed 9, Cooldown 1) Deal 15 damage to an enemy. Trigger one of your Deathrattles at random.

Equipment:

• Playful Ooze 4: Deadly Cute deals 4 more damage.
• Extra Bone 4: Deathrattle: Give your Undead, Beasts, and Scourge characters +5/+10.
• Purrfect Plot 4: Deathrattle: Fill your board with 5/5 Pretty Kitties.

 

Kel’Thuzad (Rare Protector)

Undead-Human, Scourge—8/85 Maxed Stats

Abilities:

• Archlich’s Edict 5: (Frost – Speed 4) Deal 12 damage to an enemy. Your Undead characters deal 3 more damage to that target this turn.
• Curse of the Scourge 5: (Shadow – Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Give a friendly character +16 Attack and Taunt this turn and Deathrattle: Deal 11 damage to all enemies.
• Frost Blast 5: (Frost – Speed 5, Cooldown 2) Freeze an enemy and deal 21 damage to adjacent enemies.

Equipment:

• Phylactery of Kel’Thuzad 4: Each time an Undead character dies, Kel’Thuzad takes 2 less damage, up to a total of 8.
• Don’t Hurt My Kitty! 4: Each time a Mr. Bigglesworth is damaged, Kel’Thuzad deals 8 damage to all enemies. Your Kel’Thuzad and Mr. Bigglesworth have +20 Health.
• Bloodsurge 4: Passive: Whenever one of your Undead act, your summons gain +4/+4.

 

Arena Updates

 

New Arena Leaderboard!

With Patch 25.4, we’ll be introducing a new Arena leaderboard to the Hearthstone Leaderboards page. Arena will be able to be selected from the dropdown and will automatically update throughout the season, like the other modes.

Similar to before, standings will be based on a modified average wins per Arena run throughout an entire Arena season (minimum 30 runs). Will you be an Arena leader?

New Arena Season

On February 14, when Return to Naxxramas launches, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The eligible sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:

• Core
• Forged in the Barrens
• United in Stormwind
• Fractured in Alterac Valley
• Voyage to the Sunken City
• Murder at Castle Nathria
• March of the Lich King (including Return to Naxxramas)
• Path of Arthas

 

Duels Update

• Cards from Return to Naxxramas have been added to deckbuilding and card buckets.

 

Corgi Cup Cosmetics

The Corgi Cup, the biggest event in the sport of Corgle, brings out all the biggest—and stumpiest—athletes and corgi fans! Celebrate the Corgi Cup with special corgi-themed Hearthstone skins and Battlegrounds emotes. Why? Why not?!

 

New Diamond Versions of Iconic Cards

Reno Jackson, Patches the Pirate, and Zola the Gorgon now have shiny new Diamond versions that you can earn by completing the Legendary 5 Achievement for their respective original sets. The Diamond versions of Reno and Zola will be unlocked in Core when they are unlocked through their Achievements.

 

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Features] Expanded audio settings.
• [Features] Hearthstone Tutorial is now replayable.
• [Hearthstone] All classes will now have Corpses tracked throughout the game, in case they generate a Corpse-spending card. The Corpse Counter will be displayed while there are any Death Knight cards in a zone you can see (like in your hand or in play).
• [Hearthstone] Several minions have had their minion Types adjusted to better match what they are.
• [Hearthstone] Souleater Scythe’s effect will now trigger after any “Start of Game” effects.
• [Hearthstone] Double Cross can no longer trigger if your hand is full.
• [Hearthstone] Scribbling Stenographer will no longer be discounted if the card played is Countered.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where both Blademaster Okani and Objection can both Counter the same minion played (thus wasting one of the Counter effects).
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Lady S’Theno counted Armor as though it were Health.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where School Teacher’s Nagaling could not properly use temporary mind control effect cards.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Malignant Horror could sometimes summon a copy even when it was functionally dead.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Scourge Illusionist’s effect was not limited to minions.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where certain minions would cause a brief pause when the Shop is refreshed.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Vast Wisdom did not trigger the Staking a Claim passive treasure.
• [Arena] Fixed a bug where The Sunwell was not able to be drafted.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where Prince Renathal sometimes did not work with the “Complete My Deck” function.
• [Collection] Fixed a visual bug with the Omen hero skin’s hero tray.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

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