Hearthstone’s 17.6 patch dropped a massive bomb introducing balance changes, tons of Battlegrounds stuff, and the first pieces of content for the upcoming Scholomance Academy. Did it nerf Demon Hunter? Of course, it nerfed Demon Hunter!
Wow. We haven’t seen this happen before. Ever since the release of Hearthstone’s 10th class, poor Illidan has been continuously nerfed with what seems to be every new patch. 17.6 was a juicy one, so let’s go through all the changes!
Balance Update
Dragonqueen Alexstrasza
- Old: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, add 2 other random Dragons to your hand. They cost (0).
- New: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, add 2 other random Dragons to your hand. They cost (1).
Corsair Cache
- Old: Draw a weapon. Give it +1/+1.
- New: Draw a weapon. Give it +1 Durability.
Metamorphosis
- Old: Swap your Hero Power to "Deal 5 damage." After 2 uses, swap it back.
- New: Swap your Hero Power to "Deal 4 damage." After 2 uses, swap it back.
Kayn Sunfury
- Old: 3 Attack, 5 Health
- New: 3 Attack, 4 Health.
Warglaives of Azzinoth
- Old: [Cost 5]
- New: [Cost 6].
Dragoncaster
- Old: [Cost 6]
- New: [Cost 7].
Fungal Fortunes
- Old: [Cost 2]
- New: [Cost 3].
Galakrond, the Nightmare
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 1 card. It costs (0).
- New: Battlecry: Draw 1 card. It costs (1).
Galakrond, the Apocalypse (Rogue)
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. It costs (0).
- New: Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. They cost (1).
Galakrond, Azeroth’s End (Rogue)
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 4 cards. It costs (0).
- New: Battlecry: Draw 4 cards. They cost (1).
Battlegrounds Update
New hero: Tess Greymane
Bob’s Burgles [Cost 1]
Refresh Bob’s Tavern with minions from your last opponent’s warband.
Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Tess Greymane before the hero is formally released on July 28.
Updated hero: King Mukla
Bananarama [Cost 1]
Get 2 Bananas. At the end of your turn, give everyone else one.
Battle Brand [Cost 1]
Refresh Bob’s Tavern with Battlecry minions.
Updated hero: Aranna Starseeker
Demon Hunter Training [Passive]
- Old: After you Refresh 7 times, Bob always has 7 minions.
- New: After you Refresh 5 times, Bob always has 7 minions.
Aranna old Battlegrounds hero power always gave 7 minions in bobs tavern after refreshing 7 timescardchanges_arrow.pngAranna's new hero power always gives 7 minions in bobs tavern after refreshing 5 times.
Updated hero: Captain Hooktusk
Trash for Treasure [Cost 0]
- Old: Remove a friendly minion. Discover one from a Tavern Tier lower.
- New: Remove a friendly minion. Get a random one from a Tavern Tier lower.
Hooktusk's old battlegrounds hero power used to discover a minion from a tavern tier
Hooktusk’s new Battlegrounds hero power instead gives a random minion from a tavern tier lower.
Pirates are no longer guaranteed to appear in every Battlegrounds game.
New Minion: Amalgadon
[Tier 6, All] 6 Attack, 6 Health
Battlecry: For each different minion type you have, Adapt randomly.
Amalgadon is a 6 attack 6 health minion with the ALL tag, Battlecry: For each different minion type you have, Adapt randomly.
Updated Minion: Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
- Old: [Tier 5]
- New: [Tier 6]
Game Improvements & Bug Fixes
A couple of neat little things are introduced.
From now on, when the card back is set to random, it also shows up when we’re opening packs. Also, we have an offline icon in the UI. Yay?
Bundles, Bundles
Lastly, Blizzard has put some bundles of cards of the upcoming set for pre-purchase and they include some free and exclusive goodies, as it is the tradition with this sort of thing. You can see the full list here.
And you can see more card game content right here on EarlyGame!
