We now have all the details for the nerfs that are coming next week! This is the second balance patch we're getting during Ashes of Outland and the second time Demon Hunters are getting hit with the nerf bat. In addition to the nerfs, here are things of note.
- Only three of these cards will be eligible for dust refunds - none of which are Outland cards.
- An update has added that Golden Altruis the Outcast and Battlefiend will be both be eligible for dust refunds.
- Bad Luck Albatross, Bloodbloom, and Open the Waygate.
- Millhouse is being changed in Battlegrounds to increase the cost of his Tavern Tiers by 1.
- The Lurker Below is now properly tagged as a Beast.
- Zephrys the Great received a bug fix and change (details below).
Quote From Kerfluffle In our recent Reddit AMA, we spoke on a few balance updates we intend to make soon. We’re now ready to share the full details of these updates, which will be included in the 17.0.2 patch planned for early next week.
Balance Updates*
Neutral –
- Old: Cost 6 mana → New: Cost 7 mana.
- Old: Cost 3 mana → New: Cost 4 mana.
- Old: 3 Attack / 3 Health → New: 3 Attack / 2 Health.
Demon Hunter –
- Old: Cost 3 mana, 3 Attack / 2 Health → New: Cost 4 mana. 4 Attack / 2 Health.
- Old: 2 Attack / 2 Health → New: 1 Attack / 2 Health.
- Old: 7 Attack / 4 Health → New: 6 Attack / 4 Health.
Warlock –
- Old: Destroy a Demon. Restore 5 Health to your hero. → New: Destroy a friendly Demon. Restore 5 Health to your hero.
- Old: Cost 2 mana → New: Cost 4 mana.
Paladin –
- Old: Cost 6 mana → New: Cost 5 mana.
Mage –
- Old: Cast 6 spells that didn’t start in your deck. Reward: Time Warp. → New: Cast 8 spells that didn’t start in your deck. Reward: Time Warp.
*The following cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks after the 17.0.2 patch has been released:
- Golden Altruis the Outcast
- Golden Battlefiend
- Golden/Normal Bad Luck Albatross
- Golden/Normal Frenzied Felwing
- Golden/Normal Open the Waygate
- Golden/Normal Bloodbloom
Battlegrounds
Millhouse Manastorm
- Old: Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 3 Gold. → New: Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Tavern Tiers cost (1) more. Start with 3 Gold.
Bug Fixes
The Lurker Below is now properly tagged as a Beast.
Fixed a tracking issue that prevented 500 wins with Demon Hunter from being achieved.
Fixed a bug where Zephrys the Great would not offer a lethal option if your hero had a large amount of Attack.
Zephrys the Great has been updated to accommodate the Sacrificial Pact and Glaivebound Adept changes.
Comments
IMHO, warlock is really the class being nerfed the most, as now it will struggle in its best match up : DH. I don't see gala warlock standing a chance vs Tempo DH now.
I just hope I won't have to craft Jaraxxus to make the class viable now, as I really don't like this mechanics.
DH's changes are kinda cosmetic imho, the fact that [Hearthstone Card (Altruis the Outcast) Not Found] still can hit face, that [Hearthstone Card (Glaivebound Adept) Not Found] still does 4 damage and that fiend still is one of the best tier 1 ever, makes me think tempo DH will still be pretty strong. Kael'thas nerf may not hurt combo DH that much either.
As for Libram paladin, don't think this change will be enough but maybe it can become a good tier 2 deck...
If Warlock needs JAraxxus to be viable they're already completely fucked.
You're more likely to need Plot Twist than J-raxx
yeah I hope so, I had nice versions of quest warlock or big warlock when the extension came out, could be cool if they became viable.
I was talking about Jaraxxus cause apparently it was a reason for the nerf of sac pact : people couldn't play Jaraxxus cause Zephrys would insta kill them....
A lot of these nerfs seemed...underwhelming.
Altruis the Outcast and Kael'thas Sunstrider had their mana cost increased by 1, Glaivebound Adept to have that apparently paltry slap to the hand by having his 7 attack reduced by 1. All this seemed to be to be balanced to ensure a slower dhunter aggro deck (due to the not insubstantial nerf to Battlefiend) are not too slow to succeed against spell druid and other dhunter decks.
Frenzied Felwing change is perhaps massive, since it can now be AoE down along with the other aggro cards from dhunters, but its still a ridiculously good card in an aggro deck so I don't predict this card getting dropped any time soon. Bad Luck Albatross is another nerf that generally make it less of an auto include, but a 4/3 is still not too bad, even at 4 mana. Only time can tell if 2 copies of 4 mana 4/3 is too much to see inclusion into decks that plays it.
That change to Open the Waygate. 2 extra to its requirements. Hardly slowing it down against anything but hyper aggro. Not exactly what I had in mind.
And the best nerf/buff to warlock. Sac Pact not longer a 0 mana destroy a key dhunter minion, and no longer troubling the dreams of Lord Jaraxxus. Not that it changes much in the matchup since warlock still have the cards to remain Illidan's strongest enemy.
So I guess not much will change after all.
`Blizzard nerfs cards to hard the become unplayable now!`
`Blizzard doesn´t nerf them hard enough this won´t change anything`
I think it´s a good thing they are actually trying to balance the cards, rather than nuke them from orbit like they have done in the past. Also keep in mind they tend to nerf more cards now rather than nerf one card hard.
I think Kaelthas should have been changed to "only the third spell in the turn", I think this is bananas when it gets more than once, specially in druid token.
My two cents:
Kael'thas Sunstrider - 1 mana is a nice way to slow it down but not kill it. I think Combo decks need to exist even if they aren't my fav archetype to play with or against, so I'm glad they didn't change the ability.
Bad Luck Albatross - I feel this change moves it out of auto-include territory and into a deliberate tech card choice. Now you'll only include it if you specifically want to shut down highlander/pure paladin/spell mage, but it's wayyy worse against everything else.
Frenzied Felwing - Feels like a fair nerf. Still a good aggressive card but much easier to remove.
Altruis the Outcast - Guys, I know the 4 attack makes it stronger, but going up by 1 mana is a big deal. This ain't a buff. Combined with the change to Kael'thas it is way harder to do massive burst with him cause you'll have less mana to play cards on the same turn.
Battlefiend - Called this one before it was even released. Great change.
Glaivebound Adept - I didn't think this needed a nerf, but eh, sure I guess? Feels more in line with Fire Elemental now.
Sacrificial Pact - Feels like a really healthy change. Looking forward to more Lord Jaraxxus ;)
Libram of Justice - It's a nice buff. I doubt it's enough to really push Paladin up, but it helps. I've been playing a lot of Librams lately and there are a lot of times where it cost just a tiny bit too much. Now you can fairly reliably expect it to cost 3ish mana by the time you need it (if not less).
I don't play wild, so I don't know/care about Bloodbloom or Open the Waygate.
Kael'thas nerf is utterly pointless. They only deck that's even relevant for is combo Dh, and only if you have a taunt up so they can't kayn you. Spell Druid is going to become a problem sooner or later and with all their ramp, 6- or 7-mana makes no difference whatsoever.
I really like the Battlefiend nerf to a 1/2.
Bye bye to:
T1: Play 2/2 Battlefiend.
T2: Play the second 2/2 Battlefiend + Hero Attack + 1x 3/2 Battlefiend attacks = 26 Health and 2x 3/2 Battlefiends.
I'm not gonna miss you.
Really happy to see Sac Pact no longer target enemy Demons. Now players can play Jaraxxus without auto-losing against highlander decks.
Emphasis on "auto."
You do realize that the REAL reason they nerfed it was because they didn't want it being used as a 0 cost free easy removal against Demon Hunter's big demons. No longer being able to target Jarraxus is maybe the reason they cited in the AMA blog but the fact it took them 6 years to change this? RIGHT WHEN demons are now being played left and right? Sorry but no. The real reason is that Sac Pact was a niche tech card prior to DH release. After DH release it became a core tech/removal against any Demon Hunter matchup making the Warlock Vs DH matchup favored for the warlock.
But yes, now people can play Jarraxus without auto losing.
While the appearance of DH is undoubtedly the reason why Sac Pact is being played and got targeted, the Jaraxxus point only really became a thing 8 months (not 6 years) ago when Zephrys turned up and is absolutely relevant here: it is not just warlocks suppressing use of Lord J., it is the large number of singleton decks too. I could honestly see them making a change to not target Lord J. around now even if DH hadn't been introduced.
Ultimately any change that makes the players happy is justified, and in this case the Jaraxxus aspect is a legitimate part of why people would be happy about it (especially as he's a fan favourite card).
No one is saying Jaraxxus was "the real reason." Jaraxxus is a curb cut effect. I just appreciate it.
OBLIVION!!
Altruis the Outcast is still broken.
Many of the other nerfs are also more delicate than I expected, but they could be fair enough at least for Wild (enough room for Aggro to step once again into the fray, and in turn generate more preys for Control).
In Standard I expect DH to stay pretty dominant tbh...
Wait, is this actually a buff to Demon Hunter,? FailFish
Only from warlock's perspective. As far as the other 8 classes are concerned DH absolutely does get weaker.
Altruist cost/body nerf is the proof that they dont play HS. The face effect still untouched without any clue.
I feel shame for them.
I don't agree with Sacrificial Pact. It only removes one minion and is only played by one class. It didn't need a nerf. Neither did Bad Luck Albatross. It's the only way I can think of to mess with highlander decks that I can think of and everyone can play it. Making it cost 1 mana more is just nonsense. I really don't understand some of the cards they nerf sometimes.
On SacPact it's because it renders a Classic Legendary worthless for at least the next full year in Standard and literally forever in Wild i.e. "cheaper" to nerf that than to retool Lord Jaraxxus, which right now simply cannot be played given the number of decks that run Zephrys the Great - including a large number of NON-Highlander decks that just hold Zephrys/nu-Alex until the end of the game when their deck "becomes" highlander by draw.
I don't necessarily disagree with you on Albatross though - it's a strong neutral that gets played in a lot of decks. It's just Blizz's Consistently Inconsistent (TM) policy in regards to those cards: certain very strong/versatile neutrals that see play in a lot of decks like Zilliax & Tar Creeper run their whole 2 years with no nerfs; others get nerfed/HoF'ed. My general take is it seems to come back to their statements about "design space" i.e. BLIZZ knows what the next 2-3 expansions look like already so they're getting ahead of a problem they know (or assume) is coming down the pike.