Hearthstone 25.2.2 Patch Notes – 25 Constructed, 17 Battlegrounds and 31 Duels Balance Changes + Bug Fixes

Blizzard has just dropped patch notes for the long-awaited 25.2.2 update and it’s massive. I believe it’s overall the biggest balance update in the history, with a grand total of 73 changes (25 for Constructed, 17 for Battlegrounds and 31 for Duels). It also contains some minor bug fixes.

The patch is releasing today – probably around an hour from when we post those notes. We’ll update this post when it goes live. Update: Patch is now live on both PC & mobile!

I’ll make a list of all of the Constructed & Battlegrounds balance changes below, then you can find full patch notes at the bottom.

Constructed Balance Changes

Nerfs

• Wildpaw Gnoll – Now costs 1 less for each non-Rogue class card you’ve added to your hand. (It will no longer work with Rogue cards you draw when disguised through Maestra of the Masquerade)
• Sinstone Graveyard – Summoned Ghost no longer has Stealth.
• Final Showdown – The first phase of the Quest requires 6 draws (up from 4).
• Sinful Brand – Now costs 2 mana (up from 1 mana).
• Shockspitter – Now is a 4 mana 3/3 (up from 3 mana 2/2).
• Glacial Advance – Your next spell this turn costs (1) mana less (instead of 2).
• Astalor Bloodsworn (Phase 1) – Now has Manathirst (5) (instead of 4).
• Astalor, the Protector (Phase 2) – Now has Manathirst (8) (instead of 7).
• Astalor, the Flamebringer (Phase 3) – Now deals 7/14 damage without/with Manathirst (down from 8/16 damage).

Buffs

• Battlefield Necromancer – Raise a Corpse as a 1/3 Footman (instead of 1/2).
• Boneguard Commander – Raise up to 6 Corpses as 1/3 Footmen (instead of 1/2).
• Unholy Frenzy – Now costs 2 mana (down from 3 mana).
• Wither – Now costs 1 mana (down from 2 mana).
• Bonecaller – Now is a 2/5 (up from 2/4).
• Haunting Nightmare – Both main body and summoned Soldier are now 4/3 (up from 3/3).
• High Cultist Basaleph – Now costs 4 mana (down from 5).
• Dar'Khan Drathir – Now costs 7 mana (down from 8).
• Infantry Reanimator – Now costs 5 mana (down from 6).
• Vengeful Walloper – Now costs 6 mana (down from 7).
• Energy Shaper – Now is a 3 mana 3/4 (down from 4 mana 3/5).
• Vast Wisdom – Now costs 2 mana (down from 3).
• Timewarden – Now is a 3 mana 3/4 (down from 4 mana 3/5).
• Asvedon, the Grandshield – Now is a 3/4 with Taunt (up from 3/3 without Taunt).
• Disruptive Spellbreaker – Now is a 4/6 (up from 4/5).
• Last Stand – Now is a 1 mana spell that reads “Draw a Taunt minion. Manathirst (7): Double its stats.” (instead of a 4 mana spell drawing a Taunt minion and doubling its stats).
• Nellie, the Great Thresher – Pirates you get now cost (2) mana less (up from 1).
• Remornia, Living Blade – Now is a 5/10 (up from 4/10).

Battlegrounds

Buffs

• Pyramad and Sylvanas Windrunner Heroes now have more Armor.
• Thorncaptain is now a 4/2 (up from 4/1).
• Pufferquill is now a 2/6 (up from 2/4).
• Ripsnarl Captain now gives +3/+3 (up from +2/+2).
• Master of Realities is now a Tier 4 4/4 (instead of Tier 5 6/6).
• Vanessa VanCleef now gives your Pirates +2/+2 (up from +2/+1).
• Toxfin is now Tier 5 (down from Tier 6).
• Grease Bot now gives Divine Shield minions +3/+2 (up from +2/+2).

Nerfs

• Onyxia and Sneed Heroes now have less Armor.
• Eternal Knight is now a 3/1 (down from 4/1).
• Ghoul of the Feast now gives minions +2 Attack (down from +3).
• Magmaloc is now a Tier 5 3/3 (instead of a Tier 4 1/1).
• Soulsplitter is now Tier 5 5/2 (up from Tier 4 4/2).
• Cybork Drake is now 2/10 and gives your Divine Shield minions +8 attack (instead of 2/8 that gives +10 Attack).
• Sinrunner Blanchy is now a 3/3 (down from 4/4).
• Felstomper is now a 3/8 that gives summoned minions +2 Attack (instead of 3/7 that gives +3 Attack).
• Sister Deathwhisper is now 4/9 that gives Undeads +1/+2 (instead of 4/11 that gives +1/+3).

Neutral

(Those changes were classified as neither straight-up nerfs or buffs by Blizzard)

• Anub’arak, Nerubian King is now Tier 4 4/3 that gives your Undead +1 Attack (instead of Tier 5 5/4 that gives +2 Attack).
• Eternal Summoner is now a 6/1 with Reborn and Deathrattle: Summon 1 Eternal Knight (instead of 8/1 with Deathrattle: Summon 2 Eternal Knights).

Duels

There are 31 more changes in the Duels mode, too much to write everything down. You can find all of them (as well as all the nerfs & buffs listed above + bug fixes) in the official blog post below:

Patch 25.2.2 is a data-only patch, launching today, that includes updates to Standard, Battlegrounds, Duels, and more!

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: In general, our recent patch cadence has been faster than it has been in the past. This can make it more painful when updates are a little slower, such as around the holiday break period. We’re discussing as a team how to make the patch schedule work a little better for future holiday periods.

This is the first patch after the new March of the Lich King expansion where we have enough data to make significant and informed buffs to the new cards. Now that we have seen where the set’s archetypes landed on a power basis, we know where we can safely inject a bit of power.

The following cards are being adjusted to be less powerful:

Wildpaw Gnoll

• Old: Rush. Costs (1) less for each card you’ve added to your hand from another class.
• New: Rush. Costs (1) less for each non-Rogue class card you’ve added to your hand.

​Dev Comment: Dual-class cards that are Rogue and another class will not reduce the cost of Gnoll.  

Sinstone Graveyard

• Old: Summon a 1/1 Stealthed Ghost. (Has +1/+1 for each other card you played this turn!)
• New: Summon a 1/1 Ghost. (Has +1/+1 for each other card you played this turn!)

Dev Comment: We recognize that Rogue has been a little too good (for a little too long) at higher ranks. The change to the Gnoll/Maestra interaction is a major change to the class intended to substantially shakeup how it looks and plays, while the Sinstone Graveyard change gives opponents more of a chance to respond to the big Rogue pop-off turns.

Final Showdown (the first phase of the Demon Hunter Questline)

• Old: Draw 4 cards in one turn.
• New: Draw 6 cards in one turn.

Sinful Brand

• Old: [1 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Dev Comment: Demon Hunter is the other best performing class at high levels of play, so these changes are intended to adjust its power. Sinful Brand was chosen as a card to target because it punishes opponents for simply playing the game, a play pattern that we don’t like being too powerful or prevalent.

Shockspitter

• Old: [3 Mana] 2 Attack, 2 Health
• New: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Dev Comment: Hunter is the top class at most parts of the ladder. When we changed Shockspitter to 3 mana in Patch 25.0.3, we expected that it would remain powerful after that change and debated whether we should just change it to 4 at that time. We decided that we didn’t want to hit Hunter too hard all at once. Now that we’ve seen how the card performs at 3 mana, we think it can use another nudge—especially with the other top performers being adjusted down around it.

Glacial Advance

• Old: Deal 4 damage. Your next spell this turn costs (2) less.
• New: Deal 4 damage. Your next spell this turn costs (1) less.

Dev Comment: Frost Death Knight is performing well right now, so we wanted to slightly shave some of its power to make sure it stays in line with the rest of the meta after the other changes this patch. This adjustment takes away a little bit of the deck’s explosive burst-from-hand capabilities.

Astalor Bloodsworn (changes to all three phases)

Astalor Bloodsworn (phase 1)

• Old: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Protector to your hand. Manathirst (4): Deal 2 damage.
• New: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Protector to your hand. Manathirst (5): Deal 2 damage.

Astalor, the Protector (phase 2)

• Old: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Flamebringer to your hand. Manathirst (7): Gain 5 Armor.
• New: Battlecry: Add Astalor, the Flamebringer to your hand. Manathirst (8): Gain 5 Armor.

Astalor, the Flamebringer (phase 3)

• Old: Battlecry: Deal 8 damage randomly split between all enemies. Manathirst (10): Deal 16 instead.
• New: Battlecry: Deal 7 damage randomly split between all enemies. Manathirst (10): Deal 14 instead.

Dev Comment: Players seem to really enjoy the power and flexibility of Astalor. At the same time, that power and flexibility has made Astalor a near auto-include in almost every deck in the meta. These changes are designed to bring Astalor’s power more in line with what we want from a Neutral, general-purpose utility card like this. We still hope and expect that Astalor remains a powerful option for many decks so that players can continue to enjoy this card.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.2.2.

The following cards are being adjusted to be more powerful:

Battlefield Necromancer

• Old: At the end of your turn, raise a Corpse as a 1/2 Risen Footman with Taunt.
• New: At the end of your turn, raise a Corpse as a 1/3 Risen Footman with Taunt.

Boneguard Commander

• Old: Taunt. Battlecry: Raise up to 6 Corpses as 1/2 Risen Footmen with Taunt.
• New: Taunt. Battlecry: Raise up to 6 Corpses as 1/3 Risen Footmen with Taunt.

Unholy Frenzy

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Dev Comment: Blood and Unholy Death Knight are both still underperforming in Standard. Death Knight is difficult to balance because individual cards within the class tend to be very strong, but we found a couple spots where we felt we could add a little bit of power to individual cards to make them more appealing.

Wither

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [1 Mana]

Bonecaller

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

Haunting Nightmare

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Haunt a card in your hand. When you play it, summon a 3/3 Soldier.
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Haunt a card in your hand. When you play it, summon a 4/3 Soldier.

High Cultist Basaleph

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Dar’Khan Drathir

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Infantry Reanimator

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Dev Comment: Most Undead aggro decks have been underperforming compared to what we were expecting. Our changes here are to encourage exploration of those archetypes. We discussed potential changes to Undead Neutral cards, but opted to target the class cards this patch instead.

Vengeful Walloper

• Old: [7 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Energy Shaper

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

Vast Wisdom

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Timewarden

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

Asvedon, the Grandshield

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Cast a copy of the last spell your opponent played.
• New: 3 Attack, 4 Health. Taunt. Battlecry: Cast a copy of the last spell your opponent played.

Disruptive Spellbreaker

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

Last Stand

• Old: [4 Mana] Draw a Taunt minion. Double its stats.
• New: [1 Mana] Draw a Taunt minion. Manathirst (7): Double its stats.

Nellie’s Pirate Ship (the Colossal appendage to Nellie, the Great Thresher)

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They cost (1) less.
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They cost (2) less.

Remornia, Living Blade

• Old: 4 Attack, 10 Health
• New: 5 Attack, 10 Health

Dev Comment: Warrior seems to be the class that needs the most help in the current meta, so we’re giving them the most buffs here. With Last Stand, we wanted it to feel more impactful and flexible, and we have a great new mechanic in Manathirst that gives us that kind of flexibility. This isn’t the type of change that we normally do, but this was a good opportunity for us to make this card a little fresher and more interesting. We’re also making a few changes to some older, exciting cards, to provide the class that boost it needs. 

Battlegrounds Updates

Hero Armor Changes

The following heroes have less armor:

• Onyxia and Sneed are now Armor Tier 2 (2-5 Armor).

The following heroes have more armor:

• Pyramad was moved to Armor Tier 3 (3-6 Armor).
• Sylvanas Windrunner was moved to Armor Tier 4 (4-7 Armor).

Card Changes

Thorncaptain

• Old: 4 Attack, 1 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 2 Health

Eternal Knight

• Old: 4 Attack, 1 Health
• New: 3 Attack, 1 Health

Ghoul of the Feast

• Old: Avenge (1): Give a friendly minion of each minion type +3 Attack.
• New: Avenge (1): Give a friendly minion of each minion type +2 Attack.

Pufferquil

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

Ripsnarl Captain

• Old: When another friendly Pirate attacks, give it +2/+2.
• New: When another friendly Pirate attacks, give it +3/+3.

Master of Realities

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] 6 Attack, 6 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health

Anub’arak, Nerubian King

• Old: [Tavern Tier 5] 5 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Your Undead have +2 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).
• New: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Your Undead have +1 Attack for the rest of the game (wherever they are).

Magmaloc

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 1 Attack, 1 Health
• New: [Tavern Tier 5] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Soulsplitter

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

Vanessa VanCleef

• Old: Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+1 permanently.
• New: Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+2 permanently.

Cyborg Drake

• Old: 2 Attack, 8 Health. Divine Shield. Your Divine Shield minions have +10 Attack.
• New: 2 Attack, 10 Health. Divine Shield. Your Divine Shield minions have +8 Attack.

Sinrunner Blanchy

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

Toxfin

• Old: Tavern Tier 6
• New: Tavern Tier 5

Grease Bot

• Old: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+2 permanently.
• New: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +3/+2 permanently.

Felstomper

• Old: 3 Attack, 7 Health. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +3 Attack.
• New: 3 Attack, 8 Health. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +2 Attack.

Sister Deathwhisper

• Old: 4 Attack, 11 Health. Whenever a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+3 permanently.
• New: 4 Attack, 9 Health. Whenever a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+2 permanently.

Eternal Summoner

• Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health. Deathrattle: Summon 2 Eternal Knights.
• New: 6 Attack, 1 Health. Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon 1 Eternal Knight.

Dev Comment: If Eternal Summoner is picked as the first pick from Professor Putricide’s hero power, you can no longer be offered a Reborn or Poisonous minion as the second option.

Duels Updates

Card Pool Update

• To the Front! has been banned from deck building and card buckets.

Hero Power Updates

• • Scourging (Death Knight):
    • Old: [2 Mana]
    • New: [1 Mana]

• • Illidari Strike (Demon Hunter)
    • Old: [2 Mana]
    • New: [1 Mana]

• • Harvest Time! (Druid)
    • Old: [2 Mana]
    • New: [3 Mana]

• • Frost Shards (Mage)
    • Old: [2 Mana]
    • New: [1 Mana]

• Call of Madness (Priest)
  • Old: [2 Mana]
  • New: [1 Mana]

Passive Treasure Update

• Bitter Cold
  • Old: +2 Frost Damage
  • New: +1 Frost Damage

Signature Treasure Updates

• • Glaciaxe
    • Old: [4 Mana] 5 Attack, 2 Durability
    • New: [4 Mana] 3 Attack, 2 Durability

• • Wings of Glaciaxe (generated by Glaciaxe)
    • Old: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 5 Durability. Windfury, Deathrattle: Summon four 1/1 Zombies with Reborn.
    • New: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 3 Durability. Windfury, Deathrattle: Summon three 1/1 Zombies with Reborn.

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

• • Blade of Quickening
    • Old: [5 Mana]
    • New: [4 Mana]

• • Academic Research
    • Old: [3 Mana]
    • New: [2 Mana]

• • Herding Horn
    • Old: [4 Mana]
    • New: [3 Mana]

• • Ol’ Faithful
    • Old: [5 Mana]
    • New: [4 Mana]

• • Flo Slatebrand
    • Old: [6 Mana]
    • New: [5 Mana]

• • Slate’s Syringe
    • Old: [3 Mana]
    • New: [2 Mana]

• • Reno’s Torch
    • Old: Deal 4 damage. Combo: Shuffle a copy of this card into your deck that deals 2 more damage.
    • New: Deal 4 damage. Combo: Shuffle a copy of this card into your deck that deals 1 more damage.

• • Britz Blazebucket
    • Old: [2 Mana]
    • New: [3 Mana]

• • Karl the Lost
    • Old: [8 Mana]
    • New: [10 Mana]

• • Forge in Light
    • Old: [6 Mana]
    • New: [7 Mana]

• • Devout Blessings
    • Old: [4 Mana]
    • New: [5 Mana]

• • Herald of the Scaled Ones
    • Old: [5 Mana] 4 Attack, 6 Health
    • New: [4 Mana] 4 Attack, 5 Health

• • Droplet of Insanity
    • Old: [4 Mana]
    • New: [3 Mana]

• • Scion of the Deep
    • Old: [2 Mana] 2 Attack, 4 Health
    • New: [1 Mana] 1 Attack, 3 Health

• • Sr. Navigator
    • Old: [5 Mana] 2 Attack, 10 Health
    • New: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 6 Health

• • Staff of Renewal
    • Old: 10 Mana
    • New: 8 Mana

• • Green Shell
    • Old: [2 Mana] 1 Attack, 2 Durability
    • New: [3 Mana] 1 Attack, 3 Durability

• • Spymaster’s Gambit
    • Old: [7 Mana]
    • New: [8 Mana]

• • Invoke the Void
    • Old: [7 Mana]
    • New: [6 Mana]

• • Grizzled Reinforcement
    • Old: [5 Mana]
    • New: [4 Mana]

• • Collector’s Ire
    • Old: [5 Mana]
    • New: [4 Mana]

• Brewster, the Brutal
  • Old: [7 Mana] 8 Attack, 6 Health
  • New: [6 Mana] 7 Attack, 5 Health

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug resulting in unintended changes to Magister’s Apprentice.
• [Hearthstone] Text fixes to Magister Dawngrasp and Wildheart Guff.
• [Duels] Fixed a bug where Hematology could be used while you have 0 Corpses, resulting in the mana being spent and no effect happening.

Source