We've got a happy holidays treat from the Hearthstone team with a balance patch coming out later today to bring us buffs, nerfs, and a card ban. The patch is targeting Standard, Wild, Battlegrounds, and Arena. We've summarized all the non-Battlegrounds changes down below; if you want more in-depth information, Blizzard has written dev commentary that you can find at the end of this post.

What do you think about this balance patch that focuses on 20 different cards?

A Note on Dust Refunds

As usual, all the cards below that are craftable can be disenchanted for their full dust value for a period of two weeks - until January 2.

Due to Blizzard being uncertain about the changes they are going to be making for Signature Cards, any players with the Signature version of Anub'Rekhan as of December 20 at 10 AM PST, will receive 1600 Arcane Dust at login later in the week. This is not a standard distribution going forward, things may change regarding Signature Card refunds.

Death Knight Card Buffs

Card Nerfs

Wild Card Bans

Arena Updates

Quote From Blizzard

Arena draft appearance rates have been adjusted as follows:

  • Death Knight and Paladin cards that generate more cards will appear less frequently.
  • Death Knight cards that remove opposing minions and leave a board presence will appear less frequently.
  • Low winrate cards from low performing classes will appear less frequently.
  • High winrate cards from low performing classes will appear more frequently.
  • Some Neutral cards will appear more or less frequently, depending on their performance in a given class.

Bug Fixes

Quote From Blizzard

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Potion Belt could not Discover two of the same Concoction.
  • [Hearthstone] The wording on Astalor, the Flamebringer has been updated for clarity; this is not a functional change.
  • [Hearthstone] Grim Patron and Gruntled Patron will now once again leave Corpses. Adjusted the Corpse Explosion interaction so that it no longer chains infinitely.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where Greatsword of the Ebon Blade would lose Durability whenever any card was played, not just minions.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug that made Scourge Strike unable to be played.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where the Scourging Hero Power doesn’t work if your board is full.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where Hematology and Unholy Embrace did not count as consuming Corpses.
  • [Duels] Fixed a bug where Unholy Embrace always filled your hand if you had any Corpses to spend when you played it.

Developer Commentary on Patch 25.0.4

Quote From Blizzard

Dev Comment: Balance changes at this point in an expansion are made with early, somewhat limited data. For these changes, we like to address the most egregious power outliers and play patterns that we know we don’t like—cards that we’re likely to adjust down the line anyway as the meta evolves over time. We hope and expect to make some spicier changes in our next balance pass, once we have more data.

The following cards are being adjusted to be less powerful:

Unleash Fel

  • Old: Manathirst (4)
  • New: Manathirst (6)

Relic of Dimensions

  • Old: [Costs 5]
  • New: [Costs 6]

Dev Comment: The Manathirst on Unleash Fel felt like a non-factor that was almost always on anyway when you wanted to play the card. This change makes the card more interesting and helps reel in a Demon Hunter power outlier. Relics are prevalent and powerful—we like them and didn’t want to fully revert their power level, so we’re just touching the strongest Relic to make it a little less explosive.

Anub’Rekhan

  • Old: Battlecry: Gain 8 Armor. This turn, your minions cost Armor instead of Mana.
  • New: Battlecry: Gain 8 Armor. This turn, your next 3 minions cost Armor instead of Mana.

Dev Comment: This Brann-Anub’Rekhan combo is not a big winrate outlier, but it represents a play pattern we don’t like. We wanted to reduce lethality and remove the ability for the combo to let players dump their entire hand, while still allowing ramp strategies.

Boon of the Ascended

  • Old: [Costs 4]
  • New [Costs 5]

Priestess Valishj

  • Old: [Costs 0]
  • New: [Costs 1]

Dev Comment: Boon Priest is not common or overly powerful at most levels of play, but it is the best performing deck at high legend and it wins through frustrating play patterns. We wanted to give it a couple small adjustments to make it more in line with the rest of the meta, especially after the other adjustments in this patch.

Necrolord Draka

  • Old: [Costs 4]
  • New: [Costs 5]

Sinstone Graveyard

  • Old: [Costs 2]
  • New: [Costs 3]

Sketchy Information

  • Old: [Costs 3]
  • New: [Costs 4]

Forsaken Lieutenant

  • Old: [Costs 2]
  • New: [Costs 3]

Dev Comment: There are two Rogue decks that we want to adjust this patch. Deathrattle Rogue is a deck that can do some cool, fun things, but it’s too fast for most decks to deal with. We don’t want to destroy these synergies, but we do want to slow them down. Similarly, Miracle Rogue makes for very bad play experiences when their pop-off turns are too powerful too soon. We think it is fun and thematic for Rogue to have those turns where they play a bunch of cards and get rewarded for it, but we want to slow that turn down a little.

Prince Renathal

  • Old: Your deck size and starting Health are 40.
  • New: Your deck size is 40. Your starting Health is 35.

Dev Comment: Renathal had its run. He’s the most played card in the game and the meta has warped around him for a long time, so we are making this change to open the meta back up. At the same time, we know he’s one of the most popular cards we’ve ever made, so we wanted to preserve his core effect as an option for his fans.

Tome Tampering

  • Now banned in Wild.

Dev Comment: Discard is a thematic Warlock archetype with many tools over the years. Those tools have combined into a disruptive force in the Wild meta. Tome Tampering is the powerful enabler that puts this deck over the format’s power level; banning that enabler will let players continue to use those thematic discard Warlock tools, but at a level that is more in line with the rest of the format.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.0.4 (Signature versions of Anub’Rekhan and all versions of Prince Renathal are not craftable).

We're taking a hard look at what systemic changes we want to make to Signature cards in the future, and have not finalized those decisions. This time, players who have the Signature version of Anub'Rekhan as of December 20th at 10am PST will receive a grant of 1600 Arcane Dust at login, later that week. Things may work differently in the future. We will share more information on those future plans once they're finalized.

The following cards are being adjusted to be more powerful:

Dev Comment: Death Knight is the cool new class that many players want to try out, so we’re making some adjustments to open them up a little and give them more toys to tinker with. Like with the nerfs, these buffs are designed to be higher confidence; we specifically looked for low playrate Death Knight cards that seemed primed for upgrades. We plan to take another look in the next balance pass.

Corpse Bride

  • Old: Battlecry: Spend up to 8 Corpses. Summon a Risen Groom with stats equal to the amount spent.
  • New: Battlecry: Spend up to 10 Corpses. Summon a Risen Groom with stats equal to the amount spent.

Malignant Horror

  • Old: At the end of your turn, spend 5 Corpses to summon a copy of this minion.
  • New: At the end of your turn, spend 4 Corpses to summon a copy of this minion.

Meat Grinder

  • Old: Battlecry: Shred a random minion in your deck to gain 3 Corpses.
  • New: Battlecry: Shred a random minion in your deck to gain 4 Corpses.

Blightfang

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

Stitched Giant

  • Old: [Costs 10]
  • New: [Costs 9]

Ymirjar Deathbringer

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

Rime Sculptor

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

Obliterate

  • Old: Destroy a minion. Your hero takes damage equal to its Health.
  • New: Destroy a minion. Your hero takes 3 damage.

Blood Tap

  • Old: Give all minions in your hand +1/+1. Spend 3 Corpses to give them +1/+1 more.
  • New: Give all minions in your hand +1/+1. Spend 2 Corpses to give them +1/+1 more.