19.6 Patch Notes: Constructed, Battlegrounds & Duels Balance Changes
The 19.6 patch brings pre-purchase for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Forged in the Barrens, along with balance updates for Battlegrounds, Duels, and one card in Standard—High Abbess Alura.
Standard Balance Update
- High Abbess Alura
- Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
Dev Comment: High Abbess Alura is going to 5 mana in order to push out the swing turns she enables. When an individual card contains a large amount of a deck’s winrate, as Alura does, it breaks the promises of a Hearthstone match. Instead of having a natural back-and-forth flow between players, games with a turn 4 Alura can create seemingly insurmountable board states too early in the match. At 5 mana, Alura’s identity as a big spell buildaround card remains intact but the change will give more room for games to occur before the swing and for responses to be ready after her Spellburst trigger.
High Abbess Alura will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 19.6 patch goes live.
Battlegrounds Updates
- The Darkmoon Prizes Battlegrounds event has come to an end.
- Instead of checking for triples after each minion is summoned, all minions will now summon first before any triples are generated.
» HERO POOL UPDATES
- Captain Hooktusk has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero pool.
- Y’Shaarj
- Embrace Your Rage
- Old: Start of Combat: Add a minion from your Tavern Tier to your warband. Keep it. → New: Start of Combat: Summon a minion from your Tavern Tier. Add a copy to your hand.
- Embrace Your Rage
- Elise Starseeker
- Lead Explorer
- Recruitment Map cost reverted to 3 Gold.
- Lead Explorer
- King Mukla
- Bananarama
- Big Banana drop rate increased to 1/3.
- Bananarama
- Akazamzarak
- Prestidigitation
- Ice Block can now only be Discovered once per game.
- Prestidigitation
» MINION POOL UPDATES
- Elistra the Immortal has been removed from the Battlegrounds minion pool.
- Rabid Saurolisk
- Old: 4 Attack, 2 Health. After you play a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1. → New: 3 Attack, 2 Health. After you play a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+2.
- Waxrider Togwaggle
- Old: 1 Attack, 2 Health. → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health.
- Yo-Ho-Ogre
- Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health. → New: 2 Attack, 6 Health.
- Molten Rock
- Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health. → New: 2 Attack, 4 Health.
- Arm of the Empire
- Old: Whenever a friendly Taunt minion is attacked, give it +3 Attack. → New: Whenever a friendly Taunt minion is attacked, give it +2 Attack permanently.
- Champion of Y’Shaarj
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.
- Junkbot
- Old: [Tier 5] → New: [Tier 4]
- Kangor’s Apprentice
- Old: 3 Attack, 6 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 8 Health.
Duels Balance Updates
- Gattling Gunner has been removed from the Active Treasure pool.
- Mage Armor is now a Neutral Active Treasure (formerly Mage).
- Frost Shards
- Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
Men at Arms
- Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Cost 4]
Humble Blessings
- Old: [Cost 5] → New: [Costs 3]
- Fluctuating Totem
- Old: Attack 0, Health 3. → New: Attack 1, Health 4.
- Spiked Arms
- Old: Attack 4, Durability 1. → New: Attack 3, Durability 3.
- Demonizer
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
- Killmox, the Banished One
- Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 7]
Pre-Purchase Forged in the Barrens
The Barrens are the anvil upon which the Horde as we know it was founded: A literal crossroads where the tauren, trolls, and orcs came together for the first time. Heroes are made here. Perhaps you, too, shall be Forged in the Barrens!
Forged in the Barrens will launch worldwide this Spring with 135 new collectible cards! You’ll be able to find the full schedule for card reveals and see which cards were announced today by visiting the card library here after the Hearthstone Deep Dive at BlizzConline. Check back frequently—the list will be updated with new cards as they’re revealed!
The Forged in the Barrens Mega Bundle includes 80 Forged in the Barrens card packs, 5 Golden Forged in the Barrens packs, two random Forged in the Barrens Golden Legendary cards, the Hamuul Runetotem Druid Hero, the Hamuul Runetotem card back, and Battlegrounds perks**!
The Forged in the Barrens Bundle includes 60 Forged in the Barrens card packs, two random Forged in the Barrens Legendary cards, and the Hamuul Runetotem card back!
Log into Hearthstone after the 19.6 patch goes live to receive the Shadow Hunter Vol’jin Legendary minion for free, available to play immediately!* And, to celebrate Blizzard’s 30th anniversary, all players will be able to claim the free 30 Years of Blizzard card back from the in-game shop until March 2, 2021!*
*Limit one per account.
Bug Fixes & Miscellaneous Updates
- Fixed a bug where completed Weekly Quests would not show awarded XP on the Rewards Track without relaunching Hearthstone.
- Fixed a bug where Transfer Student would not have a unique ability on the Darkmoon Faire gameboard.
- Fixed a bugged interaction between Bright-Eyed Scout and Shenanigans.
- Fixed a bugged interaction between Holy Wrath and Shenanigans.
- Fixed a bug where Sightless Watcher’s Battlecry would not offer a second copy of Sightless Watcher if one was in your deck.
- Fixed a bug where Keywarden Ivory’s Spellburst would only give one additional spell after Discovering two spells when played with Brann Bronzebeard.
- Fixed a bug where Dreaming Drake would not retain in-deck and in-hand modifications when Corrupted.
- Fixed a bug where history tiles were not showing after activating Spellburst for Glacier Racer and Imprisoned Celestial.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where minions added to the warband via Embrace Your Rage would not be summoned by Bob’s Burgles the following recruit phase.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where three Golden Faceless Taverngoers used on the same minion would combine to form another triple.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Staking the Claim would not count Keywarden Ivory as a Discover card.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Scrapmetal Demolitionist’s card text would not update throughout a run.
- Fixed a Duels bug where Instructor Fireheart would play two voice lines simultaneously.
- Duels Signature Hunter Treasure Bow of the Beast has been renamed to Carrot on a Stick.
- The Silas Darkmoon login reward will now be granted if you own a pack from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and go to the Open Packs menu.
- Increased the font size on mobile devices for the XP bar on the Rewards Track.
- Search results for any minion type in the Collection Manager will now include Circus Amalgam.
Book of Heroes Valeera – March 2
Retrace Valeera’s path to becoming an expert assassin in the next installment of Hearthstone Book of Heroes, releasing on March 2! Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Rogue pack, containing only Rogue cards from Standard!
Our next major update will include an Arena rotation and new Duels Treasures
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