Okay, so we're near the end of the AoO expansion with one month left to go, and the next expansion will very likely be announced after the felfire festival, so let's have a look at demon hunter as a class throughout its introduction.
Identity
What the class was imagined to be was, aggressively stated minions, with powerful card draw options, and clears minions using the hero via weapons etc. Its weak to board clears, have weak card generation, and supposedly big minions.
Meta Tier Performance
This needs no mention. Dhunters are currently at the top of the tier in both standard and wild, and it used to be top in arena as well until it was taken down. Suffice to say if you crafted Kayn Sunfury, Warglaives of Azzinoth, and Metamorphosis you'll not be left disappointed throughout this expansion.
Admitably, its no longer so easy to play as dhunter, at least in standard. There's plenty of counters and with a third round of nerf/change, dhunters are actually only barely on top of standard. But if ranking up is your game, then dhunters are easy picks. Even amid nerfs, changes, counters and predictability, the deck can still win with multiple options for burst and tempo.
Variety of decks in Demon Hunter Class
There's currently five archetypes of varied viability other than tempo: control, highlander, big demons, combo and token. That's a lot considering that they have the least number of cards between the classes.
Control dhunter (introduced by pro hearthstone player Eddie) is surprisingly good. In the current meta, there's just not enough healing so this deck practically kills you using nothing but Warglaives of Azzinoth + Metamorphosis. Reload via Hoard Pillager and Vulpera Scoundrel. Its actually insane how much damage you can put down with only those two cards, not even mentioning Magtheridon and Zephrys the Great. The deck preys on druids, aggro-tempo decks, mages, priest and rogues on a good day.
Highlander lacks consistency but is far from unplayable. I personally don't like the deck, and have only played limited amounts of it even in its heyday. Cant comment much, but I dont recall ever losing a match to highlander dhunters.
Big dhunter is perhaps the most interesting. Its actually not half bad, but suffers from lack of value. Pit Commander is absolutely insane, as is Coilfang Warlord. Unfortunately, the deck lacks reload, and since all Galakrond decks basically out values it, its hard to play this deck without an overwhelming sense of being screwed.
Combo dhunters are dead, basically. With Twin Slice no longer at 0 mana, you can't activate [Hearthstone Card (kael'thas) Not Found] to do that massive 20 + damage anymore. Ironically now we all got our golden kael'thas, the card is no longer relevant in standard.
Token never got off and as it stands its not going anywhere. More than any other archetype for this class, I've experimented with token dhunters to no success worth mentioning. Wrathscale Naga is excellent, but because theres no way to consistently manipulate all the 3 damage to face, the combo isnt worth preparing for. Not to mention that token dhunters can't maintain much tempo and doesnt have available the burst damage needed even if they somehow manages to stick a board.
Has the class been a net positive to hearthstone as a game?
Fans have been clamoring for a new class ever since KotFT when everyone thought death knights would make an excellent class. They've got their wish, but perhaps not in the way they hoped. The class dominated so much in its early days that opinions on dhunters as a class cannot be anything less than scornful (at least from what I've seen in both this and hearthpwn forums/comments), both at how it was designed to be OP from the start, and the multiple nerfs it had to endure, including an early nerf coming 2 weeks after the expansion started (and announced a week after it started)
I'm of the opinion that unless the next expansion quickly introduces some better taunts and healing options, the class as it stands now is not a net positive for the game. That is mostly not because the class itself is problematic, but because tempo dhunters is messing around the way how an aggro deck should theoretically work like, and the available counters to it.
The basic gameplan of an aggro deck is to pump everything in the early turns to get them to lethal range before it eventually gets outvalued around turn 5 and above, while the opponent (if not an aggro deck itself) actively removes the board as efficiently as possible, stabilizes and present a counter board for lethal. If the aggro deck is able to continuously and consistently reload, i.e. zoolock via hp, aggro rogue, and now tempo dhunter, then clearing board is no longer efficient, and the way out now is to race while staying out of lethal range.
The problem currently: There's not enough good early game taunts. And with the identity thing that team5 is subjecting the classes to means that healing options are limited. In other words, you cannot have an aggro class with an aggressive draw engine without also providing decent (but not overpowered) counter options for midrange-control decks. Unsurprisingly, the only decks that competently counters tempo dhunters are warrior, and quest warlock.
Also, aggro deck mirrors used to be a battle of efficiency, planning and tempo. Now its just about playing around Warglaives of Azzinoth, with some traditional aggro decks (primarily murlocs and token) having absolutely no counter to how warglaives work.
This is basically what aggro rogue used to be (in the early days of RoS). Raiding Party at 3 mana and un-nerf prep was the skull of its time, and its late game burst with leeroy + [Hearthstone Card (wagglepick) Not Found] is comparable to Metamorphosis finisher turns. That deck was promptly nerfed, with many players expressing their disapproval with aggro rogue's dominance and gameplan. What made it bad then but acceptable now in dhunter?
Ironically, tempo dhunters are so efficient that its nearly impossible to consider any other archetypes in the same class. So this one archetype is not only screwing everyone but warrior, its also screwing itself.
What Next?
I don't necessarily think nerfing the class for any further should be warranted. As much as I think tempo dhunters is not healthy for hearthstone, a fourth change/nerf will be ridiculous, especially with an expansion incoming in a months time. I will list down what I personally think team5 should consider in the forthcoming expansion.
- No more new direct damage dealing spells or minions for dhunter class.
- Better early game taunts. Honestly just bring back Tar Creeper. I'd even go so far as to suggest that Wax Elemental would be a good fit for the current meta.
- A better replacement for Earthen Ring Farseer. nearly everthing in classic got powercrept, why not this one? a 3 mana 2/4 taunt that heals only face for 3 is a somewhat good card against aggro. Would also give Frozen Shadoweaver a run for her money.
- Late game value cards for dhunter class. Best still if its a demon. Maybe a 7 mana 4/4, summon a random demon at the end of your turn.
- Something to help out tempo in token dhunter. Maybe a 1 mana 1/2, give your illidari initiates +1+1. Or something like Goru the Mightree for illidari initiates.
What do you guys think about demon hunters as a class, and what future can we look forward to, with the forthcoming expansion in mind?
