Hearthstone Patch 18.4 | Battlegrounds, Constructed & Dual-Class Arena

Hearthstone Patch 18.4

The 18.4 patch marks the beginning of the Masquerade Ball limited-time event and includes a major Battlegrounds update that welcomes Elementals as a new minion type! Beyond that, we’ve got a new Hearthstone Book of Heroes featuring Rexxar, the return of Dual-Class Arena, Legendary Quests and rewards, new Tavern Brawls, and more!

Please note that mobile players may need to log-in again after updating to 18.4.

You’re Invited to the Masquerade Ball!

Masquerade Title Calendar

New Battlegrounds Heroes

» Ragnaros the Firelord

  • DIE, INSECTS! [Passive]
    • After you kill 20 enemy minions, get Sulfuras.
  • Sulfuras [Passive]
    • At the end of your turn, give your left and right-most minions +4/+4.

RagnarosTheFirelord and the DIE INSECTS Hero Power pictured

» Chenvaala

  • Avalanche [Passive]
    • After you play 3 Elementals, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (2).

chenvalla and avalanche hero power picture

» Rakanishu

  • Tavern Lighting [Cost 2]
    • Give a random friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier.

Rakanishu and tavern lightening hero power pictured

» Al'Akir the Windlord

  • Swatting Insects [Passive]
    • Start of Combat: Give your left-most minion Windfury, Divine Shield, and Taunt.

AlAkirTheWindlord and swatting insects hero power pictured

Tavern Pass Pricing

Starting September 28, the price of the Tavern Pass will be reduced for the remainder of the Scholomance Academy expansion cycle! Players with the Tavern Pass will have early access to these new Heroes before they are formally released on October 13.

New Battlegrounds Minions

Elementals will always be available in the minion pool until they join the rest of the shifting minion pool in a future update.

» Sellemental

  • [Tier 1, Elemental] 2 Attack, 2 Health
    • When you sell this, add a 2/2 Elemental to your hand.

Sellemental normal picturedsellemental golden pictured is a 4 attack 4 mana minion that adds a 2 attack 2 health elemental to your hand when you sell it

» Refreshing Anomaly

  • [Tier 1, Elemental] 1 Attack, 3 Health
    • Battlecry: Your next refresh costs (0).

RefreshingAnomaly picturedRefreshingAnomaly golden pictured has 2 attack and 6 health battlecry your next two refreshes cost 0

» Party Elemental

  • [Tier 2, Elemental] 2 Attack, 2 Health
    • After you play an Elemental, give another friendly Elemental +1/+1.

PartyElemental picturedPartyElemental golden pictured has 4 attack and 4 health and reads after you play an elemental give another random friendly elemental +1 attack and +1 health twice

» Molten Rock

  • [Tier 2, Elemental] 2 Attack, 3 Health
    • Taunt. After you play an Elemental, gain +1 Health.

molten rock picturedMoltenRock golden pictured is a 4 attack 6 health taunt minion that reads after you play an elemental gain +2 heath

» Stasis Elemental

  • [Tier 3, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health
    • Battlecry: Add another random elemental to Bob’s Tavern and freeze it.

Stasis Elemental picturedStasisElemental golden pictured is an 8 attack 8 health minion with a battlecry that reads add two other random elementals to bob's tavern and freeze them.

» Arcane Assistant

  • [Tier 3, Elemental] 3 Attack, 2 Health
    • Battlecry: Give your other Elementals +1/+1.

arcane assistant picturedArcaneAssistant golden pictured is a 6 attack 4 health minion with a battlecry that reads give your other elementals +2 attack and +2 Health

» Crackling Cyclone

  • [Tier 3, Elemental] 4 Attack, 1 Health
    • Divine Shield. Windfury.

Crackling Cyclone picturedCracklingCyclone golden pictured is a 8 attack and 2 health minion with divine shield and mega-windfury

» Whirlwind Tempest

  • [Tier 4, Elemental] 6 Attack, 6 Health
    • Your minions with Windfury have Mega-Windfury.

WhirlwindTempest picturedWhirlwindTempest golden pictured is a 12 attack and 12 health minion that reads your minions with windfury have mega-windfury

» Wildfire Elemental

  • [Tier 4, Elemental] 7 Attack, 3 Health
    • After this attacks and kills a minion, deal excess damage to a random adjacent minion.

WildfireElemental picturedWildfireElemental golden pictured is a 14 attack and 6 health minion that reads after this attacks and kills a minion deal excess damage to both adjacent minions

» Deadly Spore

  • [Tier 4] 1 Attack, 1 Health
    • Poisonous.

DeadlySpore picturedDeadlySpore golden pictured is a 2 attack 2 health minion with poisonous.

» Majordomo Executus

  • [Tier 4] 6 Attack, 3 Health
    • At the end of your turn, give your left-most minion +1 / +1 for each Elemental you played this turn.

MajordomoExecutus picturedMajordomo Executus golden pictured is a 12 attack and 6 health minion that reads at the end of your turn, give your left-most minion +2 attack and +2 health for each elemental you played this turn.

» Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare

  • [Tier 5] 4 Attack, 4 Health
    • After you play an Elemental, Elementals in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game.

Nomi,KitchenNightmare picturedNomiKitchenNightmare golden pictured has 8 attack and 8 health and reads after you play an elemental, elementals in bobs tavern have +2 attack and +2 health for the rest of the game

» Lil' Rag

  • [Tier 5, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health
    • After you play an Elemental, give a random friendly minion stats equal to the Elementals tavern tier.

LilRag picturedLilRag golden pictured is an 8 attack 8 health minion that reads after you play an elemental, give a friendly minion stats equal to the elemental's tavern tier twice.

» Tavern Tempest

  • [Tier 5, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health
    • Battlecry: Add another random Elemental to your hand.

TavernTempest picturedTavernTempest golden pictured is a 8 attack 8 health minion with a battlecry that reads add two other random elementals to your hand

» Lieutenant Garr

  • [Tier 6, Elemental] 8 Attack, 1 Health
    • Taunt. After you play an Elemental, gain +1 Health for each Elemental you have.

LieutenantGarr picturedLieutenantGarr golden pictured is a 16 attack 2 health taunt minion that reads after you play an elemental, gain +2 health for each elemental you have.

» Gentle Djinni

  • [Tier 6, Elemental] 6 Attack, 8 Health
    • Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon another random Elemental and add a copy of it to your hand.

Gentle Djinni picturedGentleDjinni golden pictured is a 12 attack 16 health taunt minion with a deathrattle that reads summon two other random elementals and add copies of them to your hand.

Battlegrounds Ratings Update

External Battlegrounds ratings will be reset for all players and a new progression system will be introduced. The new system is similar to the progression system players are familiar with from our constructed Ranked mode.

Players will see their rating reset to 0, and all new players will start with 0 rating. With every Top 4 placement, players will gain rating—up to 300 per win. A player’s rating will never go below 0, and they cannot lose rating until they’ve climbed above 2000.

Here are the nuts and bolts of how the new system works:

  • Between 2000 and 6000 rating, every 500 rating (2500, 3000, etc.) will act as a new rating floor where you cannot lose rating.
  • Below 6500 rating, players will earn a small bonus to their rating gains at the end of each match, which will in turn make for a faster climb.
  • Rating losses will remain consistent.

Matchmaking will now be done based on the player’s invisible internal rating, which we’ve been tracking since Battlegrounds launched. Internal ratings for players will not be reset and will not be affected by the above modifications to external ratings. When your external rating is lower than your internal rating, you will gain rating faster. Read more about the ratings update in our Dev Insights blog! 

Please note that your rating will not visibly reset until you’ve played at least one Battlegrounds game!

Card Balance Updates

» Tortollan Pilgrim

  • Old: Battlecry: Discover a copy of a spell in your deck and cast it with random targets. → New: Battlecry: Discover a spell in your deck and cast it with random targets.
old Tortollan Pilgrim's battlecry read Discover a copy of a spell in your deck and cast it with random targetscardchanges_arrow.pngnew tortollan pilgrim's battlecry reads Discover a spell in your deck and cast it with random targets.

» Guardian Animals

  • Old: [Cost 7] → New: [Cost 8]
old guardian animals cost 7 manacardchanges_arrow.pngnow Guardian Animals cost 8 mana

Tortollan Pilgrim and Guardian Animals will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 18.4 patch goes live.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

  • Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Micro Mummy would cause a crash when tripled. Micro Mummy has returned to the Battlegrounds minion pool.
  • Collection manager pages can now be scrolled with a mouse wheel on Mac and PC.
  • Galakrond will no longer lose its partially invoked status when being shuffled back into your deck from hand.
  • The mana reduction from Nature Studies is now cleared if the spell is countered.
  • Golden Sightless Watcher’s history tile now correctly shows the gold/non-gold status of the discover options, rather than forcing them to all be gold.
  • Mystical Mirage now restores your original hand correctly at the end of the turn when double cast from cards like Electra Stormsurge.

Dual-Class Arena

dual class arena is returning (but you need to update to 18.4 first)

We’re giving all players one free Arena ticket to celebrate the return of Dual-Class Arena! When you start an Arena run during the Masquerade Ball event, you’ll choose a Hero before choosing a Hero Power from a different class. Card offerings will feature cards from BOTH classes, in addition to neutral cards!

October 7 – Masquerade Ball Tavern Brawl

new tavern brawl called Masquerade Ball is on its way

Grab a costume, it’s time to dance! When you play a minion in this Tavern Brawl, it transforms into a minion that costs (2) more. When that minion dies, the original minion is revealed and re-joins the fight!

October 13 – Hearthstone Book of Heroes: Rexxar

book of heroes rexxar is coming soon

Journey with Rexxar in the next installment of Hearthstone Book of Heroes and find true heroism in the heart of the wild! Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Hunter Pack, containing only Hunter cards from Standard!

October 14 – Boss Battle Royale 3 Tavern Brawl

boss battle royale 3 tavern brawl is coming soon

Dress up as big bad bosses from past battles and crash the party! The Boss Battle Royale 3 Tavern Brawl features 10 playable bosses, each sporting a unique Hero Power.

Playable bosses:

  • Dr. Boom
  • Mother Sharaz
  • White King
  • Cenarius
  • Baduu Prime
  • Kriziki the Winged
  • Lich Baz’hial
  • Rotwing
  • Hagatha the Vengeful
  • Illidan Stormrage

Complete Legendary Quests

complete 3 quests that each reward 3 packs!

Starting September 29, players can complete a chain of Legendary Quests to earn a total of 9 card packs! Quests will be initially available on the following dates:

  • September 29, 10:00 AM PT: Play Dual-Class Arena to earn 1 Scholomance Academy pack, 1 Ashes of Outland pack, and 1 Year of the Dragon pack.
  • October 6, 10:00 AM PT: Play 50 cards in any mode to earn 1 Scholomance Academy pack, 1 Decent of Dragons pack, and 1 Year of the Dragon pack.
  • October 13, 10:00 AM PT: Defeat Leoroxx in Hearthstone Book of Heroes: Rexxar to earn 1 Scholomance Academy pack, 1 Saviors of Uldum pack, and 1 Year of the Dragon pack.
 

Complete a Secret Quest

There is a secret quest to get golden transfer student, but you can't complete it until Book of Heroes Rexxar unlocks!

After a thorough examination of garments in our lost and found cupboard, Transfer Student has embarked on a laborious journey to find the perfect costume for the Masquerade Ball! We’ve identified an itinerary in the dormitory that outlines an intention to visit Dalaran, Uldum, Dragonblight, and the Black Temple. Scribbled on the back is mention of playing Rexxar’s tale in Hearthstone Book of Heroes, and at least one match in both Battlegrounds and Arena.

Retrace their steps and you’ll be rewarded with two golden copies of Transfer Student! Good luck!

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