We've got an exciting day today with the release of the Forged in the Barrens mini-set, Wailing Caverns, arriving this afternoon. Since this isn't a full expansion launch and we're only seeing 35 new cards we don't have to be as prepared but it's always nice to have a one-stop shop to know what is happening.
Welcome to the Wailing Caverns survival guide!
The Wailing Caverns Mini-Set
- 35 new collectible cards have been added to the game - 4 of them are legendaries!
- The new cards can be opened in Forged in the Barrens packs or purchased in a special bundle for 2000 Gold (or $15 USD).
- A new mechanic, Adventurers, has arrived - more on that later.
- More spell school support has arrived for some classes and others see more tribe or mechanic synergies.
If you would like to see all the new cards, you can find the full list of them over here. Golden cards will be in our database as soon as possible after the patch goes live.
Wailing Caverns Adventurers?
Adventurers are new minion tokens that are each 2 mana with 2/2 stats that can be summoned by certain new cards. There are eight in total and they each have their own special effect.
Here are the cards that can summon adventurers:
And here are the adventurers:
Patch 20.4 Features
There are several features and additions you should be aware of that are arriving with the 20.4 patch today.
- Paladin Nerfs are Coming for First Day of School and Hand of A'dal!
- Mutanus the Devourer and Guff Runetotem Join Hearthstone's Battlegrounds Alongside a New Demon Minion
- 94 Card Backs and 11 Hero Skins in Hearthstone Will be Purchasable for Gold
- Book of Mercenaries Xyrella Goes Live on June 3, Guff Runetotem on June 15
- Malfurion Gets the Hearthstone Book of Heroes Treatment on June 22
Budget-Friendly Theorycraft Wailing Caverns Decks
We've got a few decks to shine the spotlight on for the Wailing Caverns. You can read our short write-up on these decks over here.
Wailing Caverns & Forged in the Barrens Achievement Guides
We started launching our achievement guides over the past couple of weeks and wanted to let you know this process will continue next week and will include updates for any Wailing Caverns achievements we may have. If you're looking for any help on existing achievements, which can help you earn some last-minute gold with that sweet XP to buy the new mini-set, you should check out our Forged in the Barrens Achievements Overview. Alternatively, click on any of the class images below to get to our guides that are already published.
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
Comments
I think this site has not mentioned it (yet), but it seems that, starting from patch 20.4, expansion pre-orders heroes are going to gradually appear in the in-game shop to be purchased, specifically, Mecha-Jaraxxus and its card back are in sale NOW for 15 bucks (cannot be purchased with gold though).
Don't craft Mecha'Thun for the Stealer deck. There's a better version out there, people call it Darkest Hour 2.0
https://twitter.com/Husky0821/status/1400665704559366146?s=19
The new Shaman spell DOES overload each time it's cast. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Kinda frustrating, but I guess it makes sense. The more it scales in damage the more it scales in cost.
The fact that it is a board clear does make it kinda interesting. You clear your opponents board for 1 mana, then on their turn they can play more minions and you won't be able to respond because of the overload. It is effectively a cheap board clear that gives your opponent extra time to recover from.
Guessing usual patch delay on mobile?! Got a notification about card backs in shop but there was no update, can’t get the bundle in the shop, and no card packs/portraits in shop either.
Desktop version is updating as we speak. But yes, mobile patches are usually a few hours later.
The real question is, when are we getting the mercenaries MODE? I'm tired of these single player storylines with book of heroes/book of mercenaries. I want the Roguelite mercenaries mode that they promised for Q1/Q2. :(
There are still 2 months until the next expansions. It's probably launching as either part of the fire-festivale or next expansion's pre-purchase.
In fairness, they didn't promise anything about the timing of the Mercs. mode. True, it had been listed as a 'new game mode' in both the Year of the Phoenix and Gryphon schedules, but all direct mention of the mode has said it will be ready when its ready. It's a bit frustrating for us for a while, but it's the best approach imo.
That's not 100% true. There are some differences between the mode in the two Roadmaps:
- unlike Duels, they revealed the second new game mode as part of the last expansion (it was "Spell locked" before). Which means that they weren't sure if they could make it in time (which turned out to be true)
- They never really talked about the new game mode in the Year of the phoenix, but announced it together with an gameplay description for the Year of the gryphon
- The mode was just called "new game mode" in the Year of the Phoenix Roadmap, but "Mercenaries" in the Year of the Gryphon one and is there planned for the first phase (aka this expansion).
Last but not least it's also important to keep in mind that the mode has been in the works for well over a year now and has been silently delayed once already. I can't imagine them delaying another time when they already felt comfortable announcing it. Plus the merc team is currently entierely focused on shiping the mode accoarding to the Q&A.
I am buying the mini-set for gold. Ridiculous good value, so a no brainer.
But I wonder if there are any consensuses to open Barrens/Standard packs before of after purchase of the mini-set?
I can see pros and cons with both before & after but can't really make up my mind.
Or it is just in the category "really does not matter"?
open before because there's a higher chance you get cards that might get nerfed in the near future (even if nothing in this set looks nerf-worthy at all)
If you're still missing rares or commons from before then you should open afterwards obviously
Would definitely recommend opening packs AFTER purchasing the mini-set. Main reason being, it increases your chances of getting missing cards that aren't in the miniset. You ideally wouldn't want extra duplicates from the mini-set as they decrease the value of the mini-set bundle. I'd also recommend not opening any packs at all and save them for the next expansion (if they standard packs).
I didn't buy the mini-set for DMF and instead went the pack route, still missing cards 😒
Actually if you buy the mini set for gold it doesn't matter if you open it before the release or after you bought the mini set for gold. What you should not do is to open the packs while you haven't purchased the mini set. So if you don't have the 2000 gold, packs are for keep for a few days.
After I think, otherwise you run the risk of getting epics or legendaries from the miniset when you could have got stuff you'll be missing
As cool as the budget decks sound, I'm intrigued by Shattering Blast and freeze mage, especially since it's probably good at handling big buffed minions from Paladin.
That being said, I'm definitely gonna try out a big Demon Hunter deck.
Agreed, ever since Pit Commander was released in AoO, I've wanted big demon DH to be a thing. Let's hope today is the day