Welcome to Hearthstone Top Decks Best Hero Class Tier List! This list will feature the top classes in the Standard game currently and be periodically updated when new content or changes in the meta occur.
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Best Hearthstone Hero Class Tier List
Classes are broken down into three tiers: Tier 1, 2, and 3. Generally, Tier 1 will feature three best classes, these classes have either one top tier deck or multiple high to mid-tier decks. Tier 2 will usually feature classes that have a high to mid-tier deck or multiple mid-tier decks. Tier 3 contains the worst of the nine classes, these classes will have either one mid-tier deck or none depending on how the meta shakes out.
Tier 1 Hero Classes
Druid
Druid stays at the top of the meta, and it will most likely remain there until Year of the Mammooth (2017) cards rotate out of Standard. The entire year has introduced so many flexible, nearly auto-include tools for Druid that most of the current decks share the same 20+ cards core, only changing the win condition. Not only Druid has one of the strongest decks on the ladder win-rate wise (Token Druid), but the class as a whole is also the most represented one at the higher ranks. Given that Druid has at least five viable META decks (and possibly a bunch of off-meta decks too), and that they share a lot of cards, it’s often impossible to tell which deck you face until well into the mid game. Which makes it quite problematic, because different matchups require different play strategies – it’s important to know whether your opponent will flood board with Taunts, swap decks with you or try to kill you with Malygos.
Boomsday Project introduced even more powerful Druid cards, but the expansion didn’t have as high impact on the Druid class as some have expected. The thing is, when a class is already oversaturated with powerful cards, addding a few more won’t make a big difference – the deck has a 30 cards limit and you can’t put more of your broken cards in there anyway. Where Boomsday made the most impact are Combo decks. Thanks to Flobbidinous Floop and Dreampetal Florist, comboing down the opponent was never easier. Both of those cards have massive potential in multiple Druid archetypes, with Floop notably being played in nearly every single Druid archetype (in the builds not using Oaken Summons, that is) – even if not for the combo sake, getting a 4 mana 3/4 for free (Arcane Tyrant) or a better Giggling Inventor for one mana less is never bad.
Druid’s Best Decks
Hunter
Hunter used to be the king of Aggro, but it lost that title a long time ago. Harder, better, faster and stronger aggressive builds from different classes have took over the Face Hunter. And so, the Hunter needed to adapt. Right now, we have three major, viable Hunter archetypes, and none of them is Face version. Most of the new builds rely on Midrange aggression, cheating out the tempo and – most importantly – Deathstalker Rexxar. The card was a godsend for Hunter players, as it lets them come out as a victor from the most unexpected matchups. For example, a classic, aggressive Hunter has no chance against the current Odd Warrior deck – it gains way more Armor than you can handle and it can remove all of your threats. But if you slap Rexxar into the deck, suddenly you can outvalue your opponent in the long run and win the game. It’s not easy, and it will take long, but having a shot in value-oriented matchups while playing a tempo-oriented deck is incredibly important.
The most popular build by far is a Deathrattle Hunter (also called Cube Hunter). The card revolves around Deathrattle synergies, and the class abilities that lets you trigger them (Play Dead, Terrorscale Stalker). The most basic way to win the game is by summoning multiple 5/5’s from a single Devilsaur Egg, but it gets even better later. Landing a Carnivorous Cube on a bigger minion and triggering it summons two more copies (and who wouldn’t want 2x Witchwood Grizzly, Savannah Highmane or even King Krush), while also giving you AoE protection, because once Cube dies, you get another two. It also makes Kathrena Winterwisp shine – with only big Beasts in the deck (assuming you don’t draw them all before her), she pulls out 10+ mana worth of Beasts from your deck with her Battlecry & Deathrattle, on top of the 6/6 body. Two other Hunter decks are an already classic Spell Hunter (it was first made popular in Kobolds & Catacombs, but was playable through most of The Witchwood too), and then a rather new approach to the class – Spell Hunter. It trades all of the Deathrattle synergies for Secret synergies, and a more aggressive curve. It’s the fastest Hunter deck we have, but it still runs Deathstalker Rexxar just to be able to win some games after running out of steam.
While Hunter is doing amazingly well in Boomsday Project, the expansion itself didn’t really add that much to the class. Spider Bomb, while amazing, is the only Hunter card that is commonly seen on the ladder. Secret Plan is also a nice addition to the Spell version, but it doesn’t make a massive impact overall. Mech synergies, Goblin Bomb synergies etc. aren’t played, but the thing have worked out for Hunter anyway. Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that while not a Hunter class card, Subject 9 could as well be one – between drawing Secrets and Beast tag, it’s a perfect fit in Hunter and the card that made people try out the Secret build (which now works quite well).
Hunter’s Best Decks
Warlock
Warlock is up there in Tier 1, but it was a very tough choice between him and Rogue. I’ve decided to put Warlock up there mostly because the class is slightly more popular and has more deck choices, but they’re close in terms of power level. After a long period where the class has nearly disappeared from the meta, Warlock became a solid contender again thanks to the cards it got in Knights of the Frozen Throne, as well as Kobolds & Catacombs. Even after Cube Warlock got nerfed (which also affected Control version quite heavily), it remained a viable, albeit off-meta deck. However, another new deck emerged in its place – Even Warlock. It’s a bit similar to the oldschool Handlock – a slow deck that doesn’t really want to play the Control game, but rather drop big minion after big minion and put lots of pressure on the opponent. And it does exactly that. As much as those decks are all fine, even right now, Warlock wouldn’t be up there without a deck that emerged again late into The Witchwood – Zoo Warlock. The most classic Warlock archetype got a new version based around – unexpectedly – Healing.
All of those decks were carried to Boomsday Project, but it’s the Zoo Warlock that really took off. Cube Warlock didn’t get anything new, besides Giggling Inventor, which is everywhere. Even Warlock can’t play Giggling Inventor, and some early builds went for as much as double Demonic Project, but as the meta became less and less combo-oriented, those were dropped, and the strongest builds right now play no new cards at all. Control version still runs Demonic Project, and Giggling Inventor, but that’s about it. But Zoo got a lot of new tools to play with. Soul Infusion and Doubling Imp combo is played in nearly every single build, notably for the synergy between two. While Doubling Imp is good by itself (or even better if it gets +1/+1 from Prince Keleseth), Soul Infusion is best when it lands on either Imp or Saronite Chain Gang, adding +4/+4 in total for just 1 mana. And then, we have The Soularium, which was dropped by some builds, but still played by most of them. The card is very weak in the early game, but later it can give you lots of extra resources, let you make a final push before you run out of steam, or even help you finding lethal. Overall, it was an amazing expansion for Zoo Warlock. Not so much for the slower archetypes, but they’re still relevant thanks to the cards they got in previous expansions.
Warlock’s Best Decks
Tier 2 Hero Classes
Rogue
Like I’ve mentioned before, Rogue almost got to Tier 1, because of two vastly different decks that made a massive impact on the ladder – Odd Rogue and Quest Rogue. While the Odd Rogue was, well, expected – after all it was already a good deck in The Witchwood and it had no reason to disappear, the Quest Rogue is very unique. It’s the first time in the history of Hearthstone when a deck was nerfed twice and it’s still one of the best decks in the game. And those weren’t just some small nerfs – both of them were significant. The deck is just broken at its core and there’s not much Blizzard can do to make it balanced other than nerfing it completely to the ground, or remaking it. The problem with Quest Rogue is that no matter whether you finish the Quest a turn later or not, no matter whether you have 5/5’s or 4/4’s, flooding the board with midrange minions every turn, until the end of the game, is too much for a slow deck to handle. Outvaluing Quest Rogue rarely happens, and when it happens, it’s usually because Rogue player made a mistake somewhere along the way. On the other hand, the deck was very weak to Aggro even before the nerfs, and it still is. If the opponent can kill you before you finish the Quest (and with almost no removals, it’s very possible), then you can’t do anything. The deck is especially scary when the meta gets slower, and it will be the case until The Caverns Below rotate out (or gets nerfed for the third time).
As for the Boomsday, it had a pretty big impact on Rogue. A classic “Miracle Rogue” has nearly disappeared and it was replaced by a more Tempo-oriented build with Sprint instead of Gadgetzan Auctioneer. The deck also runs Augmented Elekk to shuffle more free 4/4’s into the deck with Fal'dorei Strider. Then, one new archetype was created, and another one emerged after a long slumber – Deathrattle Rogue and Malygos Rogue. Both can be played thanks to the Deathrattle activators Rogue has got – Necrium Blade and Necrium Vial. Neither of them is popular on the ladder, but they are cool off-meta decks and might get stronger with the last expansion of the year. Kingsbane Rogue also made a slight comeback thanks to a Neutral Toxicologist. Technically there’s also a deck built around Pogo-Hopper, but it’s even more off-meta. As for the two mainstream decks, both decks have benefited most from Giggling Inventor. In case of Odd Rogue, it fits into the 5-drop slot (which was a bit too slow before) and protects the rest of minions really well, letting Rogue continue the aggression without worrying about getting traded off. Most popular builds also run Myra's Unstable Element as a massive refill, but opinions about this card are divided – some love it, others hate it. But, back to the Giggling, it was also the card that made Quest Rogue come back again. Before Quest is finished, it’s a really nice wall in one card – Rogue was struggling with mid game defenses, and Giggling can often stall the game for a turn or two, buying more time to finish the Quest. After it’s finished, though, it shows its full potential – three 4/4’s for 5 mana, two of which come with a Taunt and Divine Shield. With Valeera the Hollow, you can drop two copies on the same turn, basically creating a board presence that needs an immediate answer, but is very hard to clear – and then the main body can be also bounced for more.
Rogue’s Best Decks
Warrior
Warrior was near the bottom of the tier list for a long while – ever since Fiery War Axe nerf killed Pirate Warrior, no new Warrior deck made a massive impact on the meta (and trust me, lots of them have tried – Dead Man’s Hand, Recruit, Tempo, even new versions of Pirate Warrior). Quest Warrior has succeeded, but only briefly – the deck popped into a meta a few times, but then it disappeared as quickly and unexpectedly. However, Warrior players can rejoice, as the class has finally got itself a Tier 1 deck. It’s only one deck, and it has some clear weaknesses, but it’s quite popular and strong. The deck is Odd Warrior, which was first introduced in the last expansion (The Witchwood), where it was quickly replaced by the regular Warrior decks (which have also disappeared eventually). The deck suffered from lots of issues, including limited removals (since many cards, such as Warpath, Execute or Blood Razor weren’t available for obvious reason) and no real win condition in slower matchups. Boomsday Project fixed both of those issues.
First of all, in terms of extra removals, two new cards were introduced – Dyn-o-matic and Supercollider. Both of them were pretty underrated before the expansion, and both of them turned out to be game changers for Warrior. First one can either remove a single mid range minion or a few small ones while leaving a 3/4 body behind, while the second one usually clear two minions the moment its played, and then makes positioning very awkward for the opponent – both of them for just 5 mana. In terms of the late game win condition, on the other hand, Dr. Boom, Mad Genius came to the rescue. Not only the card is much better in a Control deck than the current Warrior’s Hero (Scourgelord Garrosh), but it also fits into the deck because of the odd mana cost. Omega Assembly also made its impact, giving Warrior way more resources to work with in the late game. Then, when we add more cards such as Eternium Rover (not played by every build, but it’s quite popular), Zilliax and Giggling Inventor, it will turn out that Odd Warrior is THE most “Boomsday” deck, as it runs 10-12 new cards, unlike most of the other decks, which only add a couple of them.
Notably, Odd Quest Warrior is also getting some traction lately. It trades a lot of the value and removal tools regular build has for an even better late game win condition – 8 damage Hero Power. Some more off-meta builds are played, such as the regular Control Warrior, Recruit Warrior or Tempo Warrior, but they’re very rare and don’t make any real impact on the meta.
Warrior’s Best Decks
Mage
Mage is doing okay in the current meta, but barely. Two most notable Mage decks are the same decks we had for a while already – Big Spell Mage and Tempo Mage. The first one didn’t get anything amazing from Boomsday Project – it runs the same Giggling Inventor everyone does (and admittedly, the 2/1 body is pretty tempting after Frost Lich Jaina, because it turns into a Water Elemental) and one unique card – Astromancer. Since your hand sizes are usually massive, having a way to capitalize on that can give you an alternative win condition. However, the problem with this deck is still apparent – most of the time it’s “Jaina or bust”. The deck relies completely on its Death Knight Hero card, so much that it can’t do a lot without it. The other deck, which actually got more new, interesting tools is Tempo Mage. Cosmic Anomaly added even more reach to the deck (the card sticking to the board, which happens often than you might imagine, often wins you the game), and it also combos very well with the new Shooting Star – 3 x 3 damage works very well, mostly versus faster decks, but it’s also a good way to get through e.g. Saronite Chain Gang against slower builds. And finally, we’ve got Stargazer Luna, a very impactful, new card. Given that the deck’s curve is really low, it’s very likely that Luna can draw you two, or sometimes even more cards in the mid/late game. Even dropping her on T3 is not that bad – she demands an immediate answer, and you can follow her up with Arcane Anomaly, which they might no longer be able to kill. However, the Tempo Mage’s main problem is meta. Most notably, Odd Warrior is a TERRIBLE matchup and it’s quite popular, but board-oriented tempo decks such as Odd Rogue or some Hunter variants are also poor matchups. If a meta changes, there is a serious chance that Tempo Mage will be a better option, but it’s just not the case yet.
Players have tried more decks, such as Spell Damage Mage, combo decks with Luna's Pocket Galaxy etc. but none of them do work well enough.
Mage’s Best Decks
Tier 3 Hero Classes
Shaman
Shaman is not in the best state right now, but it’s also not THAT bad. For a while, Shudderwock combo build was one of the best deck choices in The Witchwood. However, it’s no longer the case in Boomsday Project. The meta is not as good for it as it was, and there are other, better combo deck choices. Even Shaman, despite having a rather solid win rate, is a very unpopular choice, so it mostly stays as an off-meta deck. But we’ve got one new contender, a deck that wasn’t really named yet. Some call it Tempo Shudderwock Shaman, others just Midrange Shaman, but one thing is sure – it’s really unique. It was popularized early into the expansion by the likes of Ike, Crane and Zalae. Right now, it’s still a solid choice, but the early “wow” factor has disappeared once other players on the ladder have learned what it can do and how to play against it.
Boomsday Project didn’t have a massive impact on Shaman. The most notable new card is Electra Stormsurge, which made its way to many Shaman builds. Being able to duplicate any spell is very powerful. Depending on the matchup, you can go for a double Lightning Storm (4-6 AoE damage, or 6-8 with Spell Damage Totem), double Healing Rain (24 healing) or even just a Far Sight (extra card draw + discount). The Tempo Shudderwock (or Midrange) build also uses Giggling Inventor, but that’s not a big deal given that nearly half of the meta decks do just that. Even Shaman got a new, solid 2-drop option – Menacing Nimbus, which is played by roughly half of the builds. Then, we have Thunderhead (and a few Overload cards) as well as Arcane Dynamo as more uncommon choices. The first one is amazing in Even Shaman, as it creates a big board presence, but the problem is that there aren’t many Even Overload cards you want to run, making it much worse than it could be. And Arcane Dynamo is played mostly as a way to discover Bloodlust – the card is a massive win condition in the deck that wants to flood the board all the time.
Shaman’s Best Decks
Paladin
Fast Paladin decks were the go-to aggressive builds in the last few expansions. Regular Aggro Paladin and Murloc Paladin were both very popular during Year of the Mammoth. However, the class has really peaked during The Witchwood. First, Even Paladin and then, after Call to Arms got nerfed, Odd Paladin. The last is basically the only common Paladin build right now, but “common” is also a stretch. With only roughly 3% representation of its most popular build at the higher ranks, and 4.5% overall class representation, you don’t meed Paladins very often.
Odd Paladin has two main issues right now. First, Boomsday Project didn’t make almost any impact on the class. While lots of players have experimented early with Mech-oriented build, it wasn’t good enough. In fact, the most popular build at the time I’m writing this doesn’t even run a single Boomsday Project cards. Some other builds play Glow-Tron, Mecharoo and Giggling Inventor, but those aren’t enough to elevate Odd Paladin to a higher tier. Current meta is the second issue. Most notably, Odd Paladin loses to the Odd Warrior, which got popular lately, and all kinds of Druids, which are always popular. In case of Druid ,Spreading Plague completely destroys Odd Paladin, and even if you have Void Ripper to counter it, you usually still have to sacrifice your entire board, which is means that the card had its impact anyway. On the other hand, Odd Paladin works quite well vs Hunter and Rogue, so not all hope is lost yet – depending on the meta you face, it might still be the right choice.
What’s worth noting is that some players are experimenting with OTK Control Paladin, and it actually works better than expected. It’s still in the early phases of experimentation at the time I’m writing this, but if it takes off and becomes a solid meta deck, it might push Paladin a big higher on the tier list.
Paladin’s Best Decks
Priest
Priest takes the not-so-honorable final spot on this tier list, after dominating the meta for a while in mid-to-late Year of the Mammoth. Highlander Priest was one of the most powerful decks Standard format has ever seen, and even after it got nerfed, Priest was still carried by the Dragon package. After the Dragon-related cards such as Drakonid Operative, Netherspite Historian and Book Wyrm, but also strong removal cards such as Potion of Madness and Dragonfire Potion have all rotated out, Priest was left in a weird spot. I think Zetalot was the first player who put Mind Blast into a more Control shell, and a new archetype was created – the only Priest archetype that made a real impact on Year of the Raven so far. It dropped the late game value tools and went for a combo win condition – instead of outlasting the opponent, you can just kill him. Shadowreaper Anduin, while not as good as it once was with Raza the Chained, can still dish out some serious damage over multiple turns.
The deck worked quite well throughout The Witchwood, but it fell flat in the Boomsday Project again. At least on the ladder, because it’s still a quite common pick in tournaments (but that’s another story). The problem is similar to the one Paladin has – Boomsday didn’t add any new, good cards to the deck (again, Giggling Inventor is the only one), and the meta is much more hostile to Control Priests. All kinds of slow Druids (especially Togwaggle) and Warrior are very bad matchups. Not unwinnable, but I’d put some of them at 25/75 against Priest.
However, one thing Boomsday Project did well for the Priest is introducing A LOT of off-meta decks. Some of them have serious potential, and might even be a higher tier decks in the future. The most notable one is Mecha'thun Priest, but other mainly combo-oriented builds such as OTK Topsy Turvy / Test Subject build, or combo build with Zerek's Cloning Gallery. They’re all out there, and despite not being very popular, one of them might pull the Priest out of the dumpster in the future.
Any plans on updating this after today’s expansion release? Hoping so! 🙂
Or rather, making a 2020 version, I mean. xD
I hope this one will update soon, especially with the new build and the new set of cards. By the way, my favorite hero would be the Priest but when it comes to daily rank match, I use my rogue.
When i saw Rouge Decks i saw Thijs and his sick plays, i want to see him live and watch him compete on WCG event.
Standard Constructed Class Tier List was just updated. Comments below this are about one of the previous versions of this article.
I think this needs another update soon.
this my my guess before i looked at the page. heh close enough. i rated pali higher cause more decks.
paladin
warlock
priest
mage
druid
hunter
rogue
shaman
warrior
It is not fair !!!
From the begining of THIS game rogue WAS LIKE DEVIL ( hot (bc of valeara) and powerful (bc of maiev)XD).
In EVERY expan it was THE BEST AT FIRST but the WORST AT LAST of the year they nerf OR hall of famed many of its card and the hero power too ! (Att:Newbie please check the old rogue dagger)
Im myself ply ALL my ranked match as RoGue and i wont give it up .dusted my most other card for getting whole class card rogue and cards are important for it.
DeaR blizzard please do sth
(Plz dont nerf edwin :|)
Rogue players say sth !
i play rogue since i started to play hearthstone. i loved miracle rogue.. but now h is pretty horribl to play and i have to this shit with sprint witch isnt funny. pls blizzard make rogue great again
In the warlock section, it says that Kabal Lackey is now a warlock card and can summon demons…
Fixed, thanks!
Is Silver hand Paladin a thing?
I like the deck idea, but to what extent is it a tier 1? I played against several (when playing cubelock, warlock control, murloc paladin and tempo mage) and to me it seemed weak… Any feedback from anyone who has used a list of it?
According to the tier lists, it’s one of the best decks on the ladder.
And it’s all over the higher ranks. When I was grinding Legend a few days ago, 30-40% of my matchups were Silver Hand Paladins.
Well, my feedback is the same, I have played against many, but I had no difficulty in winning (and I am playing with some variety of decks). That’s why I would like to know against what it is good to be so used in the meta…
It’s good against other Paladin deck (Murloc), against Tempo Secret Mage, against most of Priest builds (best against Spiteful version, but it has positive matchups against Combo, Big and Control too). The only bad, common matchup is Control Warlock. Cube Warlock can be hard if they roll Voidlord, but not so much if it’s Doomguard. Jade Druid can also be punishing (uhh, Spreading Plague really destroys the deck), but not as much.
Like I’ve said, the deck is all over Rank 5 – Legend and high Legend. It wouldn’t be if it wasn’t good. Those ranks are most competitive and people really play the best decks there.
Your deck might be good against them, you might have gotten lucky, they might have been playing poorly, you didn’t even specify the rank you’re playing at. Don’t get me wrong, I respect your opinion, but I just have to believe the tier lists which gather thousands of games every day (HSReplay, Vicious Syndicate) a bit more when it comes to the deck’s power. Especially since my own experience lines up with them quite well, as I know for a fact that the deck is indeed strong right now (even if not the #1 deck on the ladder, I think it’s among a few best ones).
Your explanation makes sense, I mostly play warlock, and I usually only use lists of paladin or mage when I’m doing daily quests. As for rankings I finish every month in low legend (between 3000-1000), but I do spend little time with the game, basically I do the daily questions and some games with the list that I like most until completing a hour and half or two hours. So it’s normal
that somethings may escape me since I do not test everything, and do play consistently only with what I like most. That’s the main reason for my question.
Druid at the top? Does this list seem outdated?
The list was a bit outdated, but it just got an update 🙂
Ty for article but it is possessed lackey not kabal lackey
i love playing rogue that is really the only thing i play except for mage im a beginner, my mage is lvl 26 my rogue is a 23. I play rogue more often cause i got lots of good cards in it.
Keep going it s a great class!