Hearthstone’s latest expansion, Ashes of Outland, went live worldwide on April 7, marking the start of the game’s Year of the Phoenix.

Ashes of Outland tells the story of Illidan Stormrage, the self-proclaimed lord of Outland, in his quest to lead his Demon Hunter army to reclaim the Black Temple — Outland’s last bastion of civilization — from the destructive Rusted Legion.

The new campaign shines the spotlight on the Demon Hunters, the first new class of heroes since the game launched in 2014. The fearsome warriors are proficient in close-quarters combat, using bladed weapons and claws. They also have massive Demon minions you can use to crush opponents.

Demon Hunters use a Hero Power called Demon Claws to boost their Attack for the cost of one mana.

The Demon Hunter hero class can be unlocked simply by completing Ashes of Outland’s prologue campaign, four single-player missions that depict Illidan Stormrage’s origin story. Finishing this initial adventure will reward you with 10 Demon Hunter Basic cards, a 20-card Demon Hunter Initiate set, and a pre-built Demon Hunter starting deck list (an open deck slot is required).

15 new Demon Hunter cards will be added to the game with each new expansion launched in the Year of the Phoenix.



However, Hearthstone fans were quick to notice the impact of the new class on the game, calling out how Demon Hunters were suddenly the only class with a win rate above 50%.

Blizzard acted just as fast to re-balance the game, however. As listed on the Hearthstone subreddit, the following balance changes have been made from the server-side (meaning players don’t need to download anything to experience the update):

  • Skull of Gul’dan — Mana cost increased from 5 to 6
  • Imprisoned Antaen — Mana cost increased from 5 to 6
  • Eye Beam — Outcast Mana cost increased from 0 to 1
  • Aldrachi Warblades — Durability decreased from 3 to 2

Blizzard made sure that players’ complaints about the Demon Hunters’ dominance were appeased as soon as possible, so the new stats will appear only in matches, not in players’ Collections. A new data-only patch is expected to be rolled out to apply the updated stats in Collections.

Specific Demon Hunter cards have also had their offering rates reduced in Arena:

● Chaos Nova● Coilfang Warlord● Command the Illidari
● Flamereaper● Furious Felfin● Glaivebound Adept
● Illidari Fellblade● Immolation Aura● Metamorphosis
● Netherwalker● Nethrendamus● Priestess of Fury
● Skull of Gul’dan● Twin Slice● Umberwing

Lastly, in an update to the subreddit post, Blizzard added that a full Arcane Dust refund will be issued for regular (100 Dust) and golden (800 Dust) copies of Skull of Gul’dan and Imprisoned Antaen. There will also be a full refund for golden Eye Beam (1600 Dust).

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