The final month of the year moves along with another diligent dust refund reminder following only a week and a half after the previous one took place. And once more the subject matter only has to do with two specific cards, while overlapping with a different, more recent large balance patch. As the Lich King mercilessly proceeds on a killing spree of Castle Nathria's questionable royalty, it's time to relive the crucial nerf to a certain Big Bad; and that of one other poor creature:
- Sire Denathrius - Now Endlessly Infuses every (2) ticks (up from 1).
- Shockspitter - Cost is now 3 mana (up from 2).
In reality, this is some of the leanest dust refund pickings ever: while it always helps that one card is just a Common from the newest expansion (multiple potential copies!), for most players there won't be any disenchanting gains to be had from the Legendary in question - regular Sire Denathrius came free of charge from the Murder at Castle Nathria's Rewards Track, thus inheriting the Uncraftable status. Rather unfortunate.
Quote From Blizzard The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 25.0.3. As a reminder, regular Sire Denathrius was a free card and can’t be crafted or disenchanted.
We are back to Blizzard's blog post warnings as well, unlike what happened with Theotar, the Mad Duke and Ice Revenant. Those two had actually remained disenchantable for their full value for the extra 2-3 days longer than what we would've normally expected, so make of that what you will. We might be headed for another little dust refund extension when it comes to Shockspitter and golden Sire Denathrius as well, but there is no way to know with these things for sure. If you wish to be certain, best get in there as soon as possible for that final search across the card collection and perhaps some added pack opening.
At least until then, the two listed cards will remain disenchantable for their respective 'base craftable' dust values: 3200 per the Golden Legendary copy, plus 40 per regular Common card and 400 for its gold version, respectively.
Castle Nathria Echoes
This isn't even the first time Golden Sire Denathrius has been eligible for such disenchanting perks - as the card actually joined forces with Murloc Holmes at the very start of Murder at Castle Nathria for a special yet extremely short dust refund window. Back then, it was done to accomodate anyone who might've pre-ordered the Mega Bundle, chose to open their expansion packs during the pre-release Fireside Gatherings, or jumped straight into doing just that on the release day, even before looking at the Rewards Track and claiming their Uncraftable copy.
Seeing as the whole thing had merely lasted a few days and was only communicated through the fine print in the Blizzard blog post (plus reminders such as ours), chances are there were still many players holding onto their Golden Denathriuses once everything was said and done. Now they've been given another shot to get something out of their forgotten shiny copies.
For anyone else, perhaps a fancy once struck to craft the golden version of the card when it was all mighty and powerful. Could be good to take that investment back while you can. Or if you are one of those unlikely players who already owned all Legendaries from the set and have somehow ended up with the most fortunate lucky pull.
Now, if you belong to a different subset of players: those who've never played Hearthstone during Castle Nathria and thus never claimed their free copy of Sire Denathrius from the Rewards Track, there is a very tiny possibility you could still stumble onto Golden Denathrius in the future - simply through opening Standard card packs. And we wouldn't really want that to happen. The most efficient remedy? Grab one Murder at Castle Nathria pack for the free uncraftable Legendary grant. Or just craft Sire in gold, and then disenchant it outright while the dust refunds are still active - which would also ensure the duplicate protection lasting for eternity.
As for the card itself and its current power level? Just as so many decks had insisted on using Sire Denathrius in almost every possible instance, now barely any faithful followers remain. If you've got a Golden copy to disenchant, you really shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
Oh That’s So Shocking, My Lich King
This is where the true dust refund value of this little window lies. Shockspitter has sort of got caught in Denathrius' web, as the very quick and surprising small balance patch then singled it out as the only new card from March of the Lich King which wasn't allowed to remain in its original form for more than 3 days. Was it fully deserved when compared to all the other outliers that eventually became apparent (plus the evil influence of one Brann Bronzebeard)? Debatable, but here we are.
Following this particular nerf, the card (and the Hunter class) has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth... until the latest twist on Monday, when the larger amount of other balance changes have actually propelled Shockspitter back into the meta over the past few days.
Regardless, the verdict remains the same as ever: best disenchant every single copy you might get your hands on, while it's still possible to benefit from the full dust value. The card is of a Common rarity, i.e. the easiest kind to find while opening the current expansion (or even Standard) packs. There is a very good chance your collection will be replenished with the extra copies of Shockspitter long after this dust refund window is over. And if you somehow keep dodging the card, but get the urge to try out a special Hunter deck anew - recrafting is your ultimate friend.
Other Current Dust Refunds
Another dust refund overlap, for the second time in a row this month alone. When does that ever happen? The latest massive balance patch has been brought up on more than one occasion, seeing as it has added so many more precious cards that are currently eligible for full dust refunds. While this isn't the main topic of this particular reminder, here is the full list for reference:
- Unleash Fel
- Sinstone Graveyard
- Sketchy Information
- Relic of Dimensions
- Boon of the Ascended
- Forsaken Lieutenant
- Tome Tampering
- Anub'Rekhan
- Priestess Valishj
- Necrolord Draka
That's full round 10 choices. Prince Renathal not mentioned, because neither the regular nor the golden copy can be disenchanted - therefore we do not care about it here.
In any case, no need to worry about these ones just yet. Still well over a week to go. And we will be back for a supersized reminder after the New Year, once that particuar deadline becomes an imminent reality.
Refund Command in the Collection Manager
One of our all-time favorite quality of life improvements is now well over a year old! And yet it's still worth talking about.
By typing 'refund' in the card collection search box, you will be able to easily locate all of the currently eligible cards and decide whether or not to turn any of them into precious arcane dust. Do note that Hearthstone's crafting UI has received a small revamp with the most recent patch, and now you might need to make sure that the "premium" option is chosen before being able to view Golden versions of the cards.
Quote From Blizzard Searching “Refund” in the Collection will now populate with cards eligible for a dust refund.
P.S. Sometimes you may encounter a rare bug where refundable cards don't show as such in your collection, or don't display their full arcane dust values - even though the refund window is still technically active. Always restart your Hearthstone client and double check again in such cases, or try to confirm this with other players; it's often just the sync issues or occasional server disconnects that are to blame.
Did you or anyone you know still have a copy of golden Sire Denathrius lying around? How many Shockspitters have been turned into the shiny powder by now? Let us know how much arcane dust you find yourself sitting at across your card collection!
Comments
So just to clarify, if we Dust common and rare cards, we WILL get them again if we just open more packs constantly?
With Commons you stand a very good chance of doing so, statistically, given a certain number of packs opened in the coming weeks/months. With Rares I find it can be more down to luck (based on previous disenchants/refunds, I eventually had to recraft a copy of Irondeep Trogg and Wildpaw Gnoll once I wanted to use them again). And Standard packs currently account for all 6 last expansions, so it's a bit harder to count on those.
I dusted my two copies of Shockspitters as soon as nerf hit. I recently got another one so nice to get a reminder to recheck.