Blizzard Hearthstone’s latest expansion has now gone live. The Ashes of Outland expansion was launched a few months after the Descent of Dragons expansion at the end of last year.
The new expansion is pretty big because the players actually get to play a new hero class, the Demon Hunter. Now, we haven’t had any new hero class ever since Hearthstone was first released, so it is a big update for Hearthstone fans from here onwards.
But even if you don’t feel like using the new hero (you may have collected or crafted great cards for another class), you will still be pampered with 135 new cards and along with them new synergies, new combo, and new meta.
Thankfully, you do not need to purchase anything to be able to use the new Demon Hunter class. Even the Prologue is free, giving you a short background story on Illidan and how he became a Demon Hunter (quite handy if you don’t play the Warcraft series).
The class itself is like a mix of Rogue and Warlock, which focuses more on hero attacks and doing card combos to outwit your opponents, plus borrowing the power of demons that can turn the tide of the battle early and unexpectedly. There is also a new mechanic called Outcast that offers free mana when you are playing the card from either left or right most position in your hand.
Some of the cards are quite powerful such as the Priestess of Fury that deals 6 damage randomly split among all enemies at the end of your turn. The legendary, Nethrandamus, is a late bloomer that can summon 2 random legendary minions that gets powerful as the game goes by.
Thanks to Blizzard, I was given a chance to open 90 of Ashes of Outland cards pack to get an early start and see what cards we have in play.
There are definitely some powerful new cards for all hero classes and this is probably the first time I actually think of going for another hero class as my main than the Mage. I’ve always fallen in love with Mage minions, spells, and mechanics. The Frost Lich Jaina was OP (Frozen Throne expansion) but even the classic Archmage Antonidas is practically an instant win if he doesn’t get countered on the next round or after.
While there are new things to play with like making a full spells-only deck in Ashes of Outlands (thanks to the “Font of Power” and “Apexis Blast“), the other classes are worth exploring too.
Shaman class seems to be getting awesome new cards like the Vivid Spores, which gives all your deathrattle minions a guaranteed second trigger in the game. If you always have your lady luck by your side, there are also many new cards that will transform your minions into random, higher cost minions.
The Marsh Hydra under the Druid class can also be troublesome in the late game if not countered quickly. With “Rush”, the card also guarantees you a random 8-cost minion as soon as the card is played.
It seems that I’ll also be playing the Priest again, thanks to many, new awesome cards that will fit any decks you are making. I’m still loving my “Active the Obelisk” deck and the new cards that boost my minions stats & giving them lifesteal will definitely come in synergy!
One class that I’m not really a fond of in this expansion is the Paladin. There are new cards that will reduce your Libram cards but there aren’t many Libram cards yet in the game and it also assumes you already have those Libram cards in your deck. I guess you can craft them if you like, but I’d rather go with another class.
Suffice to say, there are plenty of new cards for you to unlock, plenty of new strategy and synergy to make with the new cards, and even new mechanics to make a completely new deck. If you are still in love with your powerful dragon cards though (like my Mage main deck), you can still use some of the new cards in Ashes of Outland empower your current decks with no issue.
With the release of the Ashes of Outland (and a change of Hearthstone year), some of the cards within your deck must be replaced if you are playing Standard. This also means if you hate seeing another hero class card that somehow always counters your deck, there is a good chance that they are gone as well now.
If you haven’t been back to Hearthstone for a while, this might be a good chance to give it another go, especially to try out the new Demon Hunter class! Players who log in between now and 29 June will receive the Kael’thas Sunstrider Legendary minion for free!
Check out the official Ashes of Outlands blog post.