(Live Now!) Patch 24.0 Notes – Castle Nathria Expansion, Battlegrounds & Duels Update, Mercenaries Event, Arena Rotation, New Game Features

Update: The patch is now live on PC. Mobile update should be released within the next couple of hours.

Patch 24.0, Murder at Castle Nathria Patch, releases tomorrow! It’s a bit later than we expected, as those patches usually land around the same time the reveal season finishes. While there’s still a week between the update and new expansion’s release, some of the features will already launch tomorrow. Here’s a summary of what’s coming in the update:

• Murder at Castle Nathria – Patch will add new expansion’s files, including all the cards, new skins etc. to the game client.
• Battlegrounds Update – We’ll get the usual stuff like new Hero (Heistbaron Togwaggle), Hero & Minion updates, but also new cosmetic – emotes. Base emotes will become available to all players and you will be able to purchase separate emote packs now.
• Duels Update – New Hero (Darius Crowley), Witchwood & Castle Nathria expansions will be added to the pool, new Passive treasures and balance changes. Importantly, all players will have access to every Hero Power & Signature Treasure for every Hero from the start, no more grinding required.
• Mercenaries Event & Updates – The mode will get the usual round of balance updates, two new Mercs (C’thun and Sir Finley), and a limited-time C’thun event starting on August 16.
• Arena Rotation – Arena gets a new rotation on August 2 (expansion launch). Taverns of Time event is gone, players will be able to draft from Core, One Night in Karazhan, Saviors of Uldum, Rastakahn’s Rumble, Scholomance Academy, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, and Murder at Castle Nathria sets.
• New Features – The game is getting new QoL features. First one is multiple favorite & random Hero skins – you can now either select multiple favorite Hero skins for each class (the game will rotate between them) or just make the choice completely random. The second one is upgraded returning player experience, it will no longer be limited to one time per account.
• Bug Fixes – We’re getting the usual round of bug fixes, but I assume that the patch will come with its own, brand new issues.

Check out full patch notes below:

Patch 24.0, launching tomorrow, sets the stage for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, launching August 2! This patch also includes updates to Battlegrounds, Mercenaries, Duels, and Arena, as well as bug fixes and more.

Murder at Castle Nathria Launches on August 2!

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, goes live on August 2! The new expansion includes 135 all-new cards, featuring 10 Legendary suspect minions, the new Infuse keyword, the all-new Location card type, and more! See all the new cards in the official card library today and don’t forget to get your pre-purchase bundle before the expansion launches.

With the launch of Murder at Castle Nathria comes a new Rewards Track with tons of cosmetics, XP boosts, packs, and a huge infusion of Gold! Check out our Rewards Track Refresh blog for all the details.

Battlegrounds Updates

New Emotes!

Starting with Patch 24.0, all players will have access to the base Battlegrounds Emotes. Players will also be able to obtain special Emotes that they can equip over the base emotes in their Battlegrounds Collection. The first set of Battlegrounds Emotes – Mystery Mayhem, will be a collection of Nathria and murder-mystery themed emotes that will be available one week after the expansion goes live! Whether you’re sweating like a suspect or casually sipping on some tea, it’s got just the emote for you.

New Hero

Heistbaron Togwaggle

• The Perfect Crime
  • [9 Gold] Steal all minions in Bob’s Tavern. Each turn, your next Hero Power costs (1) less.
  • Dev Comment: At the end of each Recruit phase, the cost of your next Hero Power will reduce by 1 automatically. Each time you use Togwaggle’s Hero Power, its cost resets to the original 9 Gold cost and starts the cycle over again.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Heistbaron Togwaggle ahead of his formal release on August 9.

Hero Updates

• The Lich King, Sneed, and Edwin VanCleef can now all target minions in Bob’s Tavern as well as friendly minions. (Effects that are not “for one turn” effects will carry over to the next Recruit phase if you Freeze that minion in the Tavern).

Minion Updates

• Red Whelp
  • Old: 1 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health

• Evolving Chromawing has been reworked and returned to the minion pool.
  • Evolving Chromawing [Tavern Tier 1, Dragon]
  • 1 Attack, 1 Health. After you Upgrade your Tavern Tier, gain +1/+1 for each friendly Dragon.

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Mercenaries Updates

New Limited-Time Event: C’Thun

Sensing that its Old God brethren had awakened, the ancient one C’Thun has emerged from its prison to begin its own assault on Mercenaries! Defend your Village and tame the final Old God in this limited-time event, starting on August 16. The event will consist of 10 special Tasks centered around the Old God C’Thun. Two new event Tasks can be unlocked on each of the first five days of the event, but you have until September 6 to complete all 10 Tasks. Completing all 10 Tasks will get you the C’Thun Mercenary, a random Golden C’Thun Portrait, the Diamond C’Thun Portrait, and 700 Mercenary Coins! Dragons and Protectors will be important for protecting your Village from C’Thun’s wrath.

New Mercenaries

C’Thun (Legendary Fighter)

• Old God
• 10/85 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Mind Flay 5 (Shadow): (Speed 7) Deal this Merc’s Attack damage to an enemy. Deathblow: Summon a 5/15 Tentacle of C’Thun.
  • Tentacle of C’Thun 5 (Old God): (Speed 5) 5 Attack, 15 Health. Rush. Whenever this attacks, give your C’Thun +5 Attack and Old Gods’ abilities Refresh (1).
  • Mask of C’Thun 5 (Shadow): (Speed 4, Cooldown 10) Deal this Merc’s Attack damage to all enemies. Deathblow: Restore 20 Health to friendly Old Gods.
• Equipment:
  • Heart of C’Thun 4: Battlecry: Summon a 5/15 Tentacle of C’Thun. It gains Taunt, but loses Rush.
  • Maw of C’Thun 4: Battlecry: Gain +4 Attack. Destroy a random enemy Minion.
  • Body of C’Thun 4: Bench: Gain +5/+10 after you summon an Old God.

Sir Finley (Epic Protector)

• Murloc
• 11/78 Maxed Stats
• Abilities:
  • Adventure Awaits 5 (Nature): (Speed 6) Gain +8 Health and Attack an enemy. If your opponent has fewer characters, gain Divine Shield first.
  • Murlocology 5: (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Discover a dilapidated Murloc Ability.
    • Dev Comment: This is a pool of Abilities from all existing Murloc Mercs when Finley is released.
  • Lead the Charge 5 (Holy): (Speed 3, Cooldown 1) Give a friendly character +12 Attack and Divine Shield. Give your Murlocs +5 Attack.
• Equipment:
  • Maxwell, Mighty Steed 4: Your Murlocs have +10 Health. Your Explorers have +6 Attack.
  • Exploring Monocle 4: Passive: Lead the Charge also gives Explorers Attack.
  • Finley’s Pith Helmet 4: Passive: After a friendly character loses Divine Shield, deal 10 damage to a random enemy.

C’Thun, Sir Finley, and their respective Portraits, will not initially be obtainable through packs or crafting. C’Thun and its Portraits are part of the C’Thun event. Sir Finley will be awarded for free to all players on the Murder at Castle Nathria Rewards Track, and his Portraits can be earned by players who have the Tavern Pass. C’Thun and its Portraits will be obtainable through normal means in a patch after its event ends. Sir Finley and its Portraits will be obtainable through normal means in a patch after the 24.0 expansion cycle ends. Tyrael, Yogg-Saron, and their respective Portraits, are now available through all normal means.

Merc Updates

Brann Bronzebeard

• Summit Campfire 5
  • Old: Gain +4 Frost Resistance. Your characters deal Critical Damage to enemies whom have already acted. → New: Gain +5 Frost Resistance. This turn, enemies who have acted take Critical Damage.
  • Dev Comment: In addition to being reworded and giving +1 more Frost Resistance, Summit Campfire has had some bugs addressed that prevented its full effect from working. Now, when the effect triggers, enemies who have already acted will take Critical Damage and any enemies who act after this effect goes will take Critical Damage for the rest of the turn; if Brann dies, all enemies already impacted will stay impacted, but no additional enemies will be afflicted.
• Extra Spirit 4
  • Old: Passive: If you have them in play, Elise and Reno have +5/+12. → New: Passive: Your Explorers have +5/+12.

Elise Starseeker

• Oasis Canteen 4
  • Old: Passive: If you have Brann and Reno in play, give them +4/+4 at the end of turn. → New: Passive: Give your explorers +4/+4 at the end of each turn.

Reno Jackson

• We’re Rich 4
  • Old: Battlecry: If you have at least two Explorers in play, Restore 100 health to friendly characters. → New: Battlecry: If you control two other Explorers, restore 100 health to your characters.
• Treasure Inspector 4
  • Old: Deathrattle: Cast two random abilities. → New: Cast a random one of Reno’s Looted Powers! Twice!

Wrathion

• Old: 12/79 Maxed Stats →  New: 12/84 Maxed Stats
• Creeping Madness
  • Old: Speed 8 → New: Speed 4
• Tail Swipe 5
  • Old: Deal 20 damage, randomly to the left or right-most enemy. → New: Deal 15 damage to an enemy. Deal 5 damage to all enemies to the left or right of it.

Drek’Thar

• Old: 10/73 Maxed Stats → 10/81 Maxed Stats
• Spirit Guide
  • Old: Cooldown 1. Battlecry: If you have Shamanism, gain Divine Shield and Rush. → New: Cooldown 0. Taunt. Battlecry: If you have Shamanism, gain Divine Shield and Rush.

Brightwing

• Dev Comment: Brightwing’s fantasy of swapping between bench and battlefield struggled because of randomness. We decided to strengthen her kit overall and reduce the randomness in it so players could direct her effects and choose what she swaps with.
• Old: 7/77 Maxed Stats → 8/88 Maxed Stats
• Faerie Breath 5
  • Old: Deal 10 damage. Give a random friendly Merc on your bench +3/+5. → New: Deal 12 damage. Give the lowest health Merc on your bench +3/+10.
• Phase Shift 5
  • Old: Restore 25 Health to this Merc and swap it with the highest health Merc on your bench. → New: Restore 25 Health to this Merc. If you control another Merc, return this to your bench.
    • The Cooldown is now 1 for all levels of this Ability.
• Brightwing’s Ring 4
  • Old: Phase Shift restores 25 more Health. → New: Bench: After a Merc dies, summon this and cast Faerie Breath 5 at a random enemy immediately.
• Brightwing’s Necklace 4
  • Old:  Faerie Breath gives an additional +5 Health. → New: Battlecry: Give your lowest health Merc on your Bench +15 Health.

Lady Anacondra

• Dev Comment: Lady Anacondra always felt like a Merc that needed her Equipment just to get her Abilities to baseline levels. So we baked two of the Equipment effects into her Abilities and updated those Equipment with new Viper-summoning effects so that more players can experience that part of her kit.
• Old: 8/76 Maxed Stats → New: 9/84 Maxed Stats
• Serpent’s Bite 5
  • Old: Deal 6 damage. At the end of this turn, it takes 6 damage. → New: Deal 12 damage. At the end of this turn, it takes 12 damage.
• Mend Beast 5
  • Old: Restore 15 Health to a character. If it’s a Beast, also give it +15 Health. → Restore 15 Health to a character and this Merc. If it’s a Beast, also give it +15 Health.
• Toxic Venom 4
  • Old: Serpent’s Bite deals 4 more damage. → New: After you cast 3 Nature abilities, summon a 0/15 Nightmare Viper. (3 left!)
• Signet of the Wilds 4
  • Old: Mend Beast restores Health to Lady Anacondra as well. → New: Battlecry: Summon a 0/15 Nightmare Viper.

Morgl the Oracle

• Dev Comment: Morgle always wanted to be the healer for the Murloc party, but unfortunately other characters provided more value. We’ve redesigned his healing to give him the tools to be the Murloc healer he always wanted to be.
• Old: 9/83 Maxed Stats → New: 10/93 Maxed Stats
• Murloc Missile 5
  • Old: Deal 10 damage. Give your Murlocs +5 Health. → New: Deal 14 damage. Give your Murlocs +6 Health.
• Healing Wave 5
  • Old: Cooldown 1. Restore 15 Health. If the target hasn’t acted yet, restore 30 Health instead. → New: Cooldown 0. Restore 15 Health to a character and 10 Health to your Murlocs.
• Dousing Rod 4
  • Old: Healing Wave restores 10 more Health. → New: Passive: After one of your Murlocs takes 20 or more damage in a single hit, restore 8 Health to it.

Guff Runetotem

• Dev Comments: Guff always relied on Bramblethorn Totem to keep Living Brambles’ damage up. We built that damage into Living Brambles to give him more Equipment options, including a new option as a backline character with the Bramblethorn Totem rework.
• Old: 10/80 Maxed Stats → New: 12/91 Maxed Stats
• Living Brambles 5
  • Old: Deal 10 damage. Nature Combo: Repeat this. → New: Deal 14 damage. Nature Combo: Repeat this.
• Bramblethorn Totem 4
  • Old: Living Brambles deals 4 more damage. → New: Battlecry: Restore 20 health to your characters.

Garrosh Hellscream

• Mak’Gora 5
  • Old: Attack an enemy. It Attacks this Merc back. → New: Take 5 less damage this turn. Attack an enemy. It Attacks back.
  • Additionally, Mak’Gora is now Speed 5 at all levels.

The Lich King

• Old: 13/88 Maxed Stats → New: 14/92 Maxed Stats
• Frostbite is now Speed 5 at all levels.

Cookie, the Cook

• Cookie’s Cooking 5
  • Old: Bleed (5) to all enemies. Restore 5 Health to friendly Murlocs and Pirates. → New: Bleed (10) to all enemies. Restore 10 Health to friendly Murlocs and Pirates.
  • Dev Comment: Cookie was the first playable Merc that we designed with the Bleed effect. At the time, we thought it would be a good idea to allow Bleed to scale with Spell Damage. We’ve decided that Bleed shouldn’t be increased by Spell Damage buffs, so we’ve adjusted the base power of the Ability to compensate for that change.

Zar’jira, the Sea Witch

• Old: 8/77 Maxed Stats → New: 9/86 Maxed Stats
• Upstart Acolyte 4
  • Old: Passive: +20 Health. Whenever a friendly character is Frozen, Freeze a random enemy. → Passive: +20 Health. The first time a friendly character is Frozen each turn, Freeze a random enemy.

Uther

• Dev Comment: Uther has always struggled to find a place on the Holy team focusing on Anduin and Velen. We think this is a flavorful change and we hope this change will bring more role diversity to Holy compositions. Uther now has the distinction of being the first Protector to deal Holy damage. For justice!
• Old: Caster → New: Protector
• Old: 11/82 Maxed Stats → 12/91 Maxed Stats
• Hammer of Justice 5
  • Old: Deal 12 damage to a character. Its next ability is (3) Speed slower. → New: Deal 15 damage to an enemy. Its next ability is (3) Speed slower.

King Krush

• Old: 12/73 Maxed Stats → New: 12/76 Maxed Stats
• Devilsaur 5
  • Old: Cooldown 1 →  New: Cooldown 0

Kurtrus Ashfallen

• Old: 14/74 Maxed Stats → New: 14/77 Maxed Stats

Tavish Stormpike

• Old: 7/83 Maxed Stats → New: 8/86 Maxed Stats

Lord Jaraxxus

• Old: 10/81 Maxed Stats → 12/83 Maxed Stats

Mannoroth

• Old: 11/78 Maxed Stats → 13/84 Maxed Stats

Tamsin Roame

• Old: 9/84 Maxed Stats → 10/87 Maxed Stats

Warmaster Voone

• Old: 9/82 Maxed Stats → New: 10/90 Maxed Stats

Rokara

• Old: 10/76 Maxed Stats → New: 10/79 Maxed Stats

Ragnaros

• Old: 9/69 Maxed Stats → New: 10/75 Maxed Stats

Antonidas

• Old: 6/73 Maxed Stats → New: 7/76 Maxed Stats

Vanessa Van Cleef

• Dev Comment: Originally, the fantasy of Vanessa was that she’d steal a bunch of attack and then get a big payoff with Makeshift Weaponry. In practice, however, spending all your Stolen Attack was too high a cost. It also meant that Makeshift Weaponry was a dead Ability on her first turn. We’ve increased its base power, reworked the Extra Pockets synergy, and made the downside less punishing, so we increased the speed to 7 to compensate for those buffs.
• Old: 13/75 Maxed Stats → New: 13/86 Maxed Stats
• Makeshift Weaponry 5
  • Old: Speed 3. Spend Stolen Attack to deal that much damage to all enemies. → Speed 7. Deal 12 damage to all enemies. (Improved by Stolen Attack)
• Extra Pockets 4
  • Old: After using Makeshift Weaponry, this Merc keeps up to 10 Attack. → Battlecry: Steal 4 attack from an enemy opposite this.

Niuzao

• Old: 10/80 Maxed Stats → New: 10/87 Maxed Stats

Vanndar

• Old: 13/83 Maxed Stats → New: 13/86 Maxed Stats

Deathwing

• Old: 12/90 Maxed Stats →  New: 14/94 Maxed Stats

Onyxia

• Old: 10/70 Maxed Stats → New: 11/75 Maxed Stats
• Broodmother’s Rage 4
  • Old: Passive: When another friendly Dragon is destroyed, deal 7 damage to all enemies. → New: Passive: When another friendly Dragon is destroyed, deal 7 Fire damage to all enemies.
  • Dev Comment: This Equipment was already dealing Fire damage, so this is just a wording update to clarify the effect.

Lady Vashj

• Old: 10/75 Maxed Stats → New: 12/81 Maxed Stats

Captain Hooktusk

• Old: 10/75 Maxed Stats → New: 13/83 Maxed Stats

Trigore the Lasher

• Backlash 5
  • Old: Gain +5 Attack. Each time an enemy damages an adjacent ally this turn, deal this Merc’s Attack damage to them. →  New: Gain +5 Attack. After an enemy damage an adjacent ally this turn, deal this Merc’s Attack damage to them.
  • Dev Comment: This is not a functional change to Trigore, just a wording update. We also fixed a bug so that Trigore no longer hits after Trigore is functionally dead and no longer hits enemies who are functionally dead.

Murky

• Old: 11/79 Maxed Stats →  11/80 Maxed Stats
• Marching Murlocs (Summoned by the March of the Murlocs Equipment)
  • Old: Speed 5 → New: Speed 4

Duels Updates

General Updates

• On July 26, the current Duels season will end, ratings will be reset, and ongoing runs will be concluded.
• The Witchwood and Murder at Castle Nathria expansions are coming to Duels!
  • The Witchwood will be fully usable in Duels on July 26. Murder at Castle Nathria will be added to card buckets and Discover effects with Patch 24.0 on July 26, but those cards will not be able to be used in initial deckbuilding until they are released on August 2.
• The new hero (below) will be available with the patch launch on July 26.
• All hero powers and signature treasures are now available for all heroes, for all players, no matter what. No more unlock requirements!

New Hero

Darius Crowley

• Hero Powers
  • Fire!
    • [2 Mana] Fire your Cannons! If they kill any minions, refresh this.
  • Fire Away!
    • [2 Mana] Fire your Cannons! Give your minions +1 Attack.
  • Fire at Thee!
    • [3 Mana] Fire your Cannons twice!
• Signature Treasures
  • Safe Harbor
    • [2 Mana Spell] Choose a minion and put it into your hand. It costs (0).
  • Grizzled Reinforcement
    • [6 Mana Minion] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Summon an extra Cannon.
  • Tuskarr Raider
    • [4 Mana Minion-Pirate] 3 Attack, 9 Health. Rush. After this minion attacks, fire your Cannons.
  • Seabreaker Goliath
    • [10 Mana Minion-Pirate] 15 Attack, 15 Health. Costs (1) less for each time you’ve fired your Cannons.
  • Deck Swabbie
    • [3 Mana Minion] 1 Attack, 4 Health. At the end of your turn, fire your Cannons!
  • Draconic Munition
    • [1 Mana Spell] For the rest of the game, your cannons deal 1 extra damage.

New Passive Treasures

• Location, Location, Location! [Pool 1]
  • Passive. Start the game with a Location of your class in play.
• Be Our Guest [Pool 1]
  • Passive. At the start of the game, shuffle 3 Legendary Invitations into your deck.
• Brittle Bones [Pool 2]
  • Passive. After you destroy a minion with a spell, summon a Volatile Skeleton.
• Ring of Haste [Pool 2 Ultra Rare]
  • Passive. Every third minion you cast each turn costs (1).

Card Pool Changes

• The following cards have been banned from deck creation: Twig of the World Tree, Genn Greymane, Baku the Mooneater, Prince Renathal, Open the Waygate, Blackwald Pixie
• The following card is no longer banned from deck creation: Lightning Bloom.
• The following card has been removed from the passive treasure pool: Plaguebringer.

Balance Changes

• Bubble Blower [Hero Power]
  • Old: 1 Mana → New: 0 Mana
• Demon Blood [Hero Power]
  • Old: Give a random Demon in your hand +2/+1. → New: Give a random Demon in your hand +2/+2.
• Marvelous Mycelium
  • Old: Discover two Choose One cards. They have both effects combined. Shuffle this card into your deck. →  New: Discover a Choose One card. It has both effects combined. Shuffle this card into your deck.
• Flames of the Kirin Tor
  • Old: Passive After you cast your first Fire spell in a turn, add a Fireball to your hand. → New: Passive After you cast your first Fire spell in a turn, add a random Fire spell to your hand.
• Sr. Excavator
  • Old: 5 Mana → New: 6 Mana
• Ol’ Faithful
  • Old: 4 Mana →  New: 5 Mana
• Titan-Forged Grapnel
  • Old: 4 Mana → New: 5 Mana
• Stalking Pride
  • Old: 7 Mana → New: 5 Mana
• Magister Unchained
  • Old: 1 Mana → New: 2 Mana
• Tempest’s Fury
  • Old: 3 Attack → New: 2 Attack

Arena Updates

On August 2, when Murder at Castle Nathria launches, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The eligible card sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:

Core
One Night in Karazhan
Saviors of Uldum
Rastakahn’s Rumble
Scholomance Academy
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
Murder at Castle Nathria

New Feature: Multiple Favorite/Random Hero Skins

Players can now favorite multiple heroes from the same class in the Hearthstone Collection Manager. If a deck has no specific hero assigned to it, a random hero will be used each game. By default, the random hero is pulled from your pool of favorites, but you can also opt into total randomness by unchecking the “Favorites Only” toggle on a deck, expanding the pool to all eligible heroes you own, just like with card backs. The “Favorites Only” toggle starts checked, but if you decide to uncheck it, we leave it unchecked for future decks you create.

Updated Returning Player Experience

It is once again an amazing time to come back to Hearthstone! The quest rewards and free deck offered to Returning Players are no longer limited to once per account. Anyone who has been gone from the game for 120+ days will receive the Returning Player rewards, even if they’ve gotten them before! Let your friends know!

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• You can now hold down the Spacebar to continuously open packs.
• Uncraftable cards will no longer show up when searching “refund” in the Collection Manager.
• Fixed a visual bug where the filter in the Collection Manager would appear blank on some devices.
• Fixed a visual bug with the 1000 wins animation.
• Fixed a bug preventing Drakonid Operative’s effect from triggering.
• Fixed a bug where if you attack a minion and then play Multi-Strike, you are unable to then attack the enemy hero.
• Fixed a bug where Eureka! summoning a Colossal minion that had its cost reduced would result in the Colossal minion summoning double the appendages.
• Fixed a bug causing some players to get stuck in the Mercenaries tutorial.
• Fixed a bug sometimes causing error messages after getting a new Mercenary.
• Fixed a bug where players would sometimes upgrade a Mercenary’s Ability or Equipment and the upgrade wouldn’t take effect.
• Improved the appearance of tooltips, addressing issues such as lengthy tooltips getting cut off in Mercenaries.
• Weakened and slowed down the Doppelgangster encounter.
• Fixed bugs and wording issues with various Mercenaries Abilities, Equipment, and Treasures.
• Fixed a Duels bug preventing deck codes from working with Neutral heroes.
• Improved shop lag and performance issues.
• Fixed bugs preventing the “Harold Who” and the “Killamari” Achievements from tracking.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Source