The skies above Dragonblight stir with tension as the League of E.V.I.L. eagerly seeks to resurrect Galakrond, Progenitor of all Dragonkind, and use his great power as a tool of destruction in their sinister plans. To answer the impending threat, the League of Explorers are calling upon powerful allies, the same Dragon Aspects who defeated Galakrond once before. To turn the skies in their favor, both good and E.V.I.L. are unveiling some fresh tactics of their own…

Read on for the full details of what’s coming to the tavern with the Descent of Dragons expansion, including a major update to Battlegrounds, and how to claim the Tyrande Priest Hero and Card Back for free with the launch of the new in-game shop!

Descent of Dragons – Launching December 10

Galakrond

There are 5 new legendary Galakrond Hero Cards, one for each League of E.V.I.L. Class: Rogue, Warrior, Warlock, Shaman, and Priest. Over the course of a game, Galakrond can be powered up in three stages – each doubling the strength of his Battlecry, with his final form additionally equipping a 5/2 Claw weapon!

New Keyword: Invoke

When it comes to maximizing Galakrond’s potential, Invoke is an essential mechanic. Each time you play a card with the Invoke keyword, you will gain a class-specific bonus, wherever Galakrond is. Invoking Galakrond twice will upgrade his base form to “Galakrond, The Apocalypse”. From there, Invoking two more times will earn you his ultimate form, “Galakrond, Azeroth’s End”.

Sidequests

While the forces of E.V.I.L. are busy invoking the might of Galakrond, the heroes of good can take on new Sidequests to earn advantages of their own! Unlike the Legendary Quests you would typically build a deck around, Sidequests offer a more lightweight objective with moderate rewards that can fit into varying styles of play. Another key difference from Legendary Quests is that you can put 2 copies of a Sidequest in your deck.

Legendary Dragons

The Dragon Aspects are here in a way you’ve never seen before, along with powerful new Proto-Dragons and Togwaggle’s own candle creation, [[Waxadred]]! There’s a total of ten new Legendary Dragons joining the fight – one specific to each class, and the neutral [[Dragonqueen Alexstrasza]]. Each class-specific dragon will also have a corresponding Dragon Breath – these cards gain significant bonuses while holding a Dragon. So, remember to keep your friends close, but keep your Dragons closer!

Kronx Dragonhoof

[[Kronx Dragonhoof]], The Herald of Galakrond, can earn you a sizeable advantage whether you have already become Galakrond, or if he is still in your deck. Use Kronx to pull a fully upgraded Galakrond, or if you’ve already become Galakrond, you’ll be able to choose one of four game-changing Devastations to unleash on the battlefield!

Login Bonuses:

Spread your wings and soar into battle as the ultimate dragon! Log into Hearthstone any time within the first 90 days of the launch of Descent of Dragons and receive 3 Descent of Dragons Card Packs, plus 2 copies of [[Shield of Galakrond]] to get Invoking straight away. Additionally, when you go to open your packs, you’ll receive all 5 Legendary Galakrond Hero Cards. Now that you’re well equipped for a draconic conquest, embark on a new Legendary Quest Chain to earn gold and even more packs!

Pre-Purchase:

Descend in style with these bonuses when you pre-purchase a Descent of Dragons bundle through December 9!

• Standard Bundle: Includes 60 Descent of Dragons Card Packs, the Shattering Card Back, and a random Descent of Dragons Golden Legendary.

• Mega Bundle: Includes 100 Descent of Dragons Card Packs, the new Deathwing Warrior Hero, The Shattering Card Back, and a random Descent of Dragons Golden Legendary.

Pre-purchase Now!

Coming Soon – Galakrond’s Awakening:

The final battle in the Year of the Dragon’s solo adventure story is Galakrond’s Awakening, coming this January! We won’t spoil too much, but we hope you’re ready to battle E.V.I.L. (or good) and collect 35 new cards! More details on Galakrond’s Awakening will be coming soon.

Hearthstone Battlegrounds Updates

New Heroes:

• Edwin Vancleef
  • Sharpen Blades
    • Costs 1. Give a minion +1/+1 for each minion you’ve bought this turn.

• Sylvanas Windrunner
  • Banshee’s Blessing
    • Costs 0. Remove a friendly minion to give adjacent minions +1/+1.

• Arch-Villain Rafaam
  • I’ll Take That!
    • Costs 1. Next combat, add a plain copy of the first minion you kill to your hand. (Note: this is an unbuffed, non-golden copy.)

Heroes leaving:

• Patches the Pirate
• Bartendotron
• Pyramad
• Professor Putricide
• Trade Prince Gallywix

Heroes returning:

• Millificent Manastorm
• Lich Baz’hial

New Minions:

• King Bagurgle
  • 6 Attack. 3 Health.
  • Battlecry and Deathrattle: Give your other Murlocs +2/+2
• Floating Watcher
  • 4 Attack. 4 Health.
  • Whenever your hero takes damage on your turn, gain +2/+2.

Balance Changes:

• Minions
  • Lightfang Enforcer
    • At the end of your turn, give a friendly Mech, Beast, Murloc and Demon +2/+2. → At the end of your turn, give a friendly Mech, Beast, Murloc and Demon +2/+1.

• Heroes
  • Millificent Manastorm
    • Tinker
      • All Mechs in Bob's Tavern get +1/+1. → All Mechs in Bob's Tavern get +1 Attack.
  • Patchwerk
    • All Patched Up
      • Starts at 60 Health. → Starts at 50 Health.
  • A. F. Kay
    • Procrastinate
      • Skip your first 2 turns. Start with a minion from Tavern Tier 3 and Tavern Tier 4. → Start with two minions from Tavern Tier 3.
  • The Rat King
    • King of Beasts
      • Whenever you Hire a Beast give it +1/+2. Swaps type each turn. → Whenever you Hire a Beast give it +1/+1. Swaps type each turn.
  • Lich Baz’hial
    • Graveyard Shift
      • Get a Coin and take 3 damage. → Get a Coin and take 2 damage.
  • The Great Akazamzarak
    • Prestidigitation
      • Will now be harder to get Ice Block consecutively.
      • Removed Hand of Salvation as a possible secret.

Advanced Stats v1:

Advanced Stats are now live for players who own 10 or more Descent of Dragons Card Packs, which will retroactively include data from matches played since November 5. From the Battlegrounds lobby screen, advanced stats can be accessed by clicking “More”. We’ll be continuing to add more features and stats with future updates!

A Note on Performance:

With this update, players on low-end devices may experience degraded performance. We’re continuing our efforts to address this issue and optimize Hearthstone Battlegrounds – and we’ll have more to share soon.

Features and Events

New In-game Shop

Hearthstone’s in-game shop is being redesigned to improve navigation and accessibility, with these changes rolling out globally December 9-10. In the new shop, you’ll find bundles, Card Packs, Alternate Heroes, and more together in a single location – additionally, Adventures and Wild Card Packs are being added, with the option to purchase Wild Card Packs using gold.

Claim the Tyrande Whisperwind Priest Hero and Card Back for free!

On December 10, we’re bringing back fan favorite Tyrande for everyone! Stop by the new in-game shop to claim the Tyrande Priest Hero and Card Back for free!

Sylvanas Windrunner Hunter Hero and Card Back

Also coming to the shop on December 10 for a limited time, the Sylvanas Windrunner Hunter Hero and Card Back will be available for $9.99!

Heroes rotating from the shop

On December 10, we’ll be rotating the current lineup of Heroes available in the shop – they may return at a later date, but for now, be sure to take advantage of the current Hero sale featuring Magni, Medivh, and Alleria!

Special event cards moving back to Wild

During the Doom in the Tomb event, 23 cards from Wild were released to be playable in Standard. On December 5, these cards will return to Wild, and any temporarily granted copies will be removed.

Winter Veil Celebration

Snowy cheer will be filling the tavern starting on December 11, with festive board dressings and the return of Winter Veil emotes! Grab your favorite ornament…al axe and wreak havoc in the Decorating Dalaran tavern brawl to earn the Winter Veil Treat Card Back!

Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite Hearthstone pal? Celebrate the season with the new Winter Veil Wonder Bundle, available from December 19 until January 7 for $24.99! Included in this bundle:

• The new Dame Hazelbark Druid Hero and Card Back
• 30 Card Packs – 6 packs each from Saviors of Uldum, Rise of Shadows, The Witchwood, The Boomsday Project, and Rastakhan’s Rumble

• The Arena draft pool has been updated:
  • Basic
  • Classic
  • Blackrock Mountain
  • The Grand Tournament
  • One Night in Karazhan
  • Knights of the Frozen Throne
  • Rastakhan's Rumble
  • Descent of Dragons

Game Improvements and Bug Fixes

• Echo
  • Copies of cards with the Echo keyword can no longer cost less than (1). Full Arcane Dust refunds will be available for the following cards until December 19:
    • SN1P-SN4P (Normal Only)
    • Glinda Crowskin (Normal and Golden)
    • Sound the Bells (Normal and Golden)
  • Dev Comment: This change is targeted at a very popular deck in Wild that utilizes SN1P-SN4P along with the Echo mechanic to generate extremely large minions or near infinite damage. This change should put a stop to that interaction while having very limited impact on the average use case for Echo cards. Glinda, SN1P-SN4P, and Sound the Bells were the three cards that took advantage of generating 0-cost copies through Echo, so we've opted to refund all three of those cards as a result.
• Zephrys improvements
  • Fixed a bug where minions with both Stealth and Taunt (such as Wardruid Loti) weren’t properly accounted for.
  • Fixed a bug where weapons would sometimes be offered as a removal option against Stealthed minions.
  • Druid Choose One cards now account for having the ‘Choose Both’ effect
  • Fixed a bug where Starfall could be offered as removal against a single minion.
  • Fixed a bug where Earth Shock was incorrectly offered as removal against targets that were reduced to 1 health by Shrink Ray or Equality.
  • Adjusted how Zephrys values enemy Deathrattles.
  • Fixed a bug with lethal calculations including Rush minions not eligible to attack heroes.
  • Fixed several bugs involving certain cards not being offered:
    • King Krush
    • Faceless Manipulator
    • Shadow Madness
    • Doomhammer
• Battlegrounds
  • Fixed an issue where tripling Replicating Menace could add the incorrect stats to the target Mech when magnetized.
  • Fixed an issue where tripling Replicating Menace did not double its card effects.
  • Fixed an issue where Ice Block could trigger during the Recruit phase.
  • Fixed an issue where players could sometimes not recruit a minion during their first Recruit phase.
• Fixed an issue where Poisoned Blade would get replaced by Ancient Blades instead of getting +1 Attack.
• Shirvallah is now discounted by spells that get countered, but will no longer be discounted by spells that are paid for with health.
• Fixed an issue where minions summoned from Deathrattle effects would sometimes not appear in the correct position.
• Fixed an issue where taking Fatigue damage would improperly extend the current turn.
• Shadow Reflections generated by Valeera the Hollow now function properly if discarded and then created by Soulwarden.
• Fixed an issue where shapeshifted Druid cards had a last known in-hand cost equal to 0, which triggered Darklight Torch when looking at even cost cards. Shapeshifted Druid cards now retain their pre-transformed cost.
• Buffs made to C'thun while it is still in the deck (and not from Ritual cards) now count towards all "If your C'thun as at least 10 attack..." effects.
• Fixed an issue with Curator, in the One Night in Karazhan Adventure, where Rush minions would forget to check if the opposing hero had Taunt when looking for valid targets.
• Fixed an issue where the client was not considering cards that read a value from a variable rather than the card text when determining spell damage. The damage itself was calculated correctly but the visual indication of spell damage was missing.
• Cards that “transform a minion into a random one that cost (1) more/less”, like Evolve or Devolve, will now always reroll the minion, even if no minion exists in the target-cost minion pool. The minion will be rerolled at the nearest possible cost. Examples:
  • When you Devolve a Target Dummy, because there is no negative-cost minion, it will transform into a random 0-cost minion.
  • When you Evolve a Shirvallah, the Tiger, because there is no 26-cost minion or another 25-cost minion, it will transform into a new Shirvallah the Tiger.