It's BlizzConline weekend and excitement is strong in the air with so many fresh announcements! We're going to be talking about one of the big ones, Shaman getting their hero power changed, but to bring you up to speed on other news, we've got a small recap for you!
- The next Hearthstone expansion got revealed - Forged in the Barrens.
- Preorders are purchasable - the Mega Bundle will feature the first ever Tauren Hero Portait, Hamuul Runetotem.
- A handful of cards have already been revealed: check them out here!
- We've seen some of the new cards that will be part of the upcoming Core set: Ysera the Dreamer, Malygos the Spellweaver and Deathwing the Destroyer - click here if you want to know more about them!
- We already know some returning cards from the past: Annoy-o-Tron and Tomb Pillager are back in Standard.
- Hearthstone Mercenaries is the new game mode - it won't come out before the release of Forged in the Barrens, but it will be playable before the second expansion of the Year of the Gryphon hits.
With that out of the way, let's dive into what is going on with Shaman when the core set arrives.
Balance Changes
One of the most interesting announcements regards the Shaman overhaul - we don't know all the relevant information yet, but we got informed that its Basic and Classic set will undergo a process similar to the one happened to Priest around a year ago. To be precise, at least three existing cards will get buffed:
- Lightning Storm - damage dealt to enemy minions will be increased from 2-3 to 3 - no more highrolls and lowrolls!
- Feral Spirit - Overload reduced from (2) to (1) mana.
- Earth Elemental - Overload reduced from (3) to (2) mana.
Overall, a set of buffs we deem necessary due to the powercreep the game has gone through and the very likely initial overestimation over the implications of the Overload mechanic - in a world with Void Drinker and Carousel Gryphon, no one is going to pay 8 mana for a 7/8 (unless Zephrys the Great has other plans for you).
Roll the Bones Totems
Moreover, Shaman's Hero power, Totemic Call, will receive a slight change. It will still summon a random basic Totem out of four, but Wrath of Air Totem will leave to make room for Strength Totem, a more board-centric minion that has a chance of scaling if left unchecked - something that any of the original Totems weren't able to do.
Although we didn't see this change coming, we definitely agree with it. With the introduction of Strength Totem, the devs are likely aiming to give Thrall a less highrolly Hero Power, by being able to generate a favorable outcome more often than not. This new Totem encourages a proactive game play, very similar to the Mech Paladin of a few expansions ago with Micro Mummy, which is what Shaman already wants to do with cards like Totemic Reflection and Splitting Axe.
Many have suggested that they should've removed Idiot Totem instead, but you have to consider that having a 25% chance to get Spell Damage might mess in the future design of some spells. They want Shaman to have Spell Damage synergy and they have showed it multiple times in the past and present (Rune Dagger, Ras Frostwhisper, Imprisoned Phoenix, Primordial Studies and the new Novice Zapper), but they probably don't want to leave that synergy's vision to chance.
RIP Odd Shaman
On a side note, this change will probably mean the death Wild Odd Shaman, which heavily relied on consistently getting Spell Damage synergy by rolling multiple Wrath of Air Totems and bursting down the opponents - you'll be greatly missed.
If you wanna take it for a last spin, here's a list we're sure you'll enjoy. As some of you may notice, this build is less centered about Totem synergy (only 1 Totemic Reflection), but it runs lots of burst and the recent "enhancement" package with Inara Stormcrash, Whack-A-Gnoll Hammer and Stormstrike. Definitely a to-go deck if you want to have fun and make your opponent mulligan the wrong cards.
What do you think about the change to Shaman's Hero Power? What about the buffs to some of Shaman's core cards? Let us know in the comments below!
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 12 - Day 2 [Finished]](dark-beyond-reveals-day-2-thumb.webp)
Comments
WATER! FIRE! EARTH!
... biceps?
Meh. They could've at least given it a unique color and style like the others. This is more generic than my local market's 'Frosty Flakes'.
Sad. Wrath of Air Totem is definitely the second-best Totem most of the time, and I always liked its ability.
If they're reworking this, then I would actually like to see Healing Totem get buffed to also restore Health to your hero since it's a very situational but still potentially useful roll.
I would have preferred them just to add Strength Totem to the totemic pool, instead of removing Wrath of Air...
RIP ODD Shaman, it was decent but now it's murdered. (Just when it got more and more support.)
I wished they removed Searing Totem instead of Wrath of Air Totem, would have been better i.m.o. (And would make it so all shaman HP totems have 0 atk and each with a unique effect. Searing Totem has always been the boring odd one.)
Sure it COULD restrict disign space to keep Wrath of Air Totem, but it is one of the only reliable ways for shaman to get spell damage. My actuall guess as to why they removed it is because they didn't want shaman to have a totem that gives spell damage for all spell types. (Or they want to reprint Wrath of Air Totem as a new card in an upcoming expansion..)
Likely due to two reasons. One, we mat be seeing more spells that can go face soon for Shaman. Two, they gave us Zekhan posing a generic troll. With this 1 drop and the removal of the Air totem I am expecting more spell damage in general for Shaman in the future. We’ve already seen Bru’kan. While Bruh’s spell damage is specific to Nature spells, that’s like 90% of Shaman’s spells, maybe more, so most likely always useful.
It might be fun to bring back Wrath of Air Totem as a Core card someday, maybe with the cost buffed to 0 mana.
Air Totem = Best Totem!
RIP my friend! I’ll see you in Classic mode.
By the way, there is email with 2 new cards - Blademaster Samuro and Chain Lightning.
where revealed during stream tho
It's okay if they believe replacing the Spell Damage Totem will be better for the future. But they could have buffed or reworked Searing Totem into something less awful. Paying two mana for a 1/1 that does nothing is terrible. It works for Paladin because they are inherently a buff based class and they summon 1/1s consistently. Shaman gets a 1/1 only 25% of the time, the class isn't good at buffing minions and most of the time you need something else. The only time the 1/1 isn't a total liability is when the board is completely empty. In every other scenario it is simply a waste of two mana. This won't alleviate the consistency issues of the Shaman Hero Power. If every totem could do something different but all were useful in some way then it would be up to the player to discover the best way to utilize RNG to their favor. But the 1/1 will keep getting in the way of that. The Shaman Hero Power will remain inconsistent. They really missed the opportunity to actually make the class better imo.
I have always thought they should make it a 1/2 totem.
Every totem is an 0/2 with a special ability, Taunting, healing, spell damage, attack buffs. Searing Totem's special ability is that it can attack. So make it a 1/2. It just seems like the logical thing to do.
Also dont forget, the shaman Hero power will still be useless ocne have all 4 basic totems on board(why cant even let it summon a basic 0/2totem with no effect is beyond me)
Agree, even letting it being 1/2 (to be 2 health as all other totems) would be good change
Give it freeze! And let the freeze shaman arise!
I get why do it, i still wish wouldve replaced searing totem(or reworked into 0/2 that shotos a firebal for 1dmg at enemy (minion).
And now they have 2 earth totems ;1fire and 1water(healing stream) instead of 1 of each.
Aslo healing totem should heal face again like used to back in Beta.
The buffs i like but im still not sure earth elemental will actully be all that good without more elemental/overload synergy but atleast can follow it up with a 4drop now instead of 3drop or a hp + 1drop.