Charzuull here, the best Hearthstone arena player in Romania and professional Constructed player, will talk to you about the evolution and state of the arena, in the “Kobolds and Catacombs” expansion.
After one month from the launch of K&C, many notable changes took place, with the most significant being the authoritary lead of the Hunter class.
- in Adwcta and Merps’ opinion:
- In Shadybunny’s opinion:
- in my opinion:
Although hunter holds a significant advantage in K&C due to the wonderful new cards, it still struggles to recover tempo and pass through high stats taunts. Warlock provided me with the best winrate in the first month of K&C (average of 8 wins) and I consider this class to be the most balanced overal. Honestly, I’m a little reticent to place hunter in tier 1, but the winrate speaks for itself. (2nd best winrate for me after Warlock)
Rogue, the dominant arena class for a very long time, now feels like it lacks many tools versus the other classes. The new rogue cards are pretty awful, even the Spellstone, which on average is a Assasinate with a dice roll attached to it. Priest gets a super powerful aoe in the form of Psychic Scream, which is a hard reset for the board. Still, priest needs a significant amount of favorable sequences to overcome a strong tempo barrage from any opponent, since most of his spells are very situational. And unfortunately, Shaman and Warrior are at the bottom of the arena tier, since K&C didn’t helped them at all with the new cards.
Next, I will share with you my analysis for most of the K&C cards with good potential:
- Hunter
- Candleshot : excellent card, played on turn 1 ensures that 1 extra damage you need for trades. Also helps the hunter by not receiving aditional damage. Playing this card changes the potential future turns of your opponent, so it ensures a lot of pressure.
- Wandering Monster : good card, ensures the recovery of some tempo and the presence of a random minion on the board, which can kill a attacking minion or stop a lethal at some point. At the same time, it synergises with Lesser Emerald Spellstone.
- Flanking Strike :for the first time, hunter has a removal that puts a minion on the board, which is very good for tempo. Kill Command is not that good of a card in arena, since most of the times you’re paying 3 mana for 3 damage to remove a minion. (and in about 80% of the cases it was used to clear minions, not to hit face)
- Lesser Emerald Spellstone : the best hunter card in the entire expansion, in my opinion! It represents tempo recovery and dominant pressure on the board from turn 5. On average it lands 3 bodies of 3/3 stats, which are very hard to handle by the opponent on turn 5.
- Crushing Walls : Honestly, I’ve underestimated this card at the beginning, although it’s a powerful lategame tool. And that’s mostly due to the fact that a lot of players don’t position their minions correctly, in the later stages of the game. A hard removal option that can decimate a strong board advantage, especially from the classes that rely on heavy removals (Priest, Warlock) and by playing very good stats minions.
- Druid
- Lesser Jasper Spellstone : very good addition for the druid, which desperately needed a cheap and flexible removal. Spellstone can be upgraded with Bash, Oaken Summons, Feral Rage or any other card that generates armor. (or even hero powering 3 times) Fully upgraded, Spellstone can deal 6 damage to a minion (for 1 mana), which is an insane tempo swing, with no drawbacks.
- Branching Paths : very versatile card, a bit costly at times, but overall worth it. The option to choose between draw cards, armor and attack buff for minions is something that the druid really needed. Statistics show that the most used combo is draw 1 card and buff +1 attack for minions.
- Oaken Summons : a pretty decent card, it helps the druid to gain 6 hp effectively and places a minion on the board, from the deck, of ≤ 4 mana.
- Ironwood Golem : a slightly bigger Senjin or a Fen Creeper for 4 mana if you will, this minion depends on the amount of armor the druid has, in order to attack. When it’s pulled out with Oaken Summons on turn 4, that’s the best possible scenario, since the druid surely will have at least 3 armor on the next turn.
- Mage
- Explosive Runes : probably the most powerful mage secret in the arena, it can waste a good minion in the midgame (ex: Scalebane) and burn the hp of a highter stats minion, played in the lategame (ex: Giant Mastodon). Most of the players have quickly learned to fear this secret and they prioritize playing a small minion before a larger one, even if that costs them some tempo. (also, this way they’re playing vs. Mirror Entity in the same time)
- Dragon's Fury : an extra removal for the mage (although it wasn’t needed), which depends on the spells available in the deck, at the time Dragon’s Fury is played. A 5+ damage highroll can turn the game around, if the opponent gets a good early tempo and has complete control of the board.
- Raven's Familiar : a pretty weak minion (2/2 for 2 mana), with a joust effect attached, which can draw a spell. When it succedes, it’s great, otherwise it’s a rather mediocre turn.
- Shitfing Scroll : the equivalent of Shifter Zerus as a spell, this card depends 100% on RNG and can be used on any turn, when it transforms into the best option for any given scenario.
- Paladin
- Potion of Heroism : excellent card! Paladin always had problems with the lack of draws and Potion of Heroism solves this problem. (somewhat) It’s a combination of Blessing o Wisdom with Hand of Protection, with the draw effect taking place on the current turn.
- Unidentified Maul : another weapon for the paladin, with a potential greater impact than Rallying Blade, having 4 adapt effects available, with one of them activating when the Maul lands in your hand. The effects are: +1 attack to minions, 2 Silver Hand Recruits, Divine Shield for all the minions or taunt for all the minions. Divine Shield on a board of 2-3 minions at least can completely change the course of the game. The other adaptations are not that good and pretty situational. Basically, for the best case scenario, you have a 25% coin flip for Divine Shield.
- Call to Arms : great tempo card, that depends a lot on the composition of the arena deck. It’s best to be played on turn 4 or as early as possible, since in the lategame, it might be underwhelming.
- Crystal Lion: this card has very good synergy with Silver Hand Recruits (ex: amazing scenario: Stand Against Darkness + Crystal Lion for a total of 6 mana). On it’s own, the card is pretty good, better on average than a 6/6.
- Priest
- Duskbreaker : probably the best tempo recovery card for the priest, that also puts something on the board. However, it’s conditioned by having another dragon in hand. And this fact is kind of…problematic. Dragons are pretty rare and only a few of them are good in arena. (ex: Scalebane, Primordial Drake) This means that drafting lesser good cards, in the form of bad quality dragons, weakens the overall deck. Also, drafting 2 dragons and having them both available in hand in order to proc the aoe with Duskbreaker is a pretty rare scenario, to say the least.
- Psychic Scream : at the moment it’s the most powerful board reset card in the game, 1 mana cheaper than Twisting Nether from warlock. Psychic Scream also cancels buffs and deathrattles, with only the slight disadvantage of shuffling all the minions in your opponent’s deck. It’s preferable to make the best possible trades before hitting this aoe, so that the opponent will have the least value when drawing back the cards.
- Rogue
- Sudden Betrayal : an interesting secret, that enables a Betrayal type effect the first enemy minion that attacks. This minion will hit its neighbours. Although a weak card, it can be efficient vs. low skilled players or just problematic overall In lategame, when the board is controled (usually) by large minions.
- Elven Minstrel : minion with double draw attached, conditioned by combo; Minstrel is a weak stand-alone minion, but Rogue was one of the classes that always had problems drawing in arena and this card give some much needed “fuel” in mid/lategame.
- Shaman
- Unstable Evolution : a single target version of Evolve, which can recasted for every mana crystal available on that turn, until the player gets the best favorable outcome. This unique card also acts as a repair a big minion after a trade. Just beware of bad stats minions (ex: Bomb Squad, Rattling Rascal etc.).
- Crushing Hand : a very strong removal, which targets the very big minions in lategame, with the downside of having a 3 overload on the next turn. Basically, it’s a Flame Lance with the cost divided in 2 turns.
- Warlock
- Dark Pact : very good heal obtained by sacrificing a small minion (usually), this card offers a good comeback potential for the Warlock, togheter with highly efficient class aoes.
- Kobold Librarian : excellent card for the warlock, 2/1 stats for 1 mana and instant lifetap-effect.
- Vulgar Homunculus : pretty good minion, 2/4 stats with taunt for 2 mana, can be intrumental in the fight for the board if played on turn 2
- Hooked Reaver : very good minion in lategame, the Reaver becomes a 7/7 with taunt for just 4 mana, when the warlock has 15 hp or less. Without the battlecry, it’s a below average minion.
- Lesser Amethyst Spellstone : excellent card for control and heal, having aditional damage of 5 and 7, which can be upgraded by playing self-damaging cards (ex: Kobold Librarian, Vulgar Homunculus, Hellfire, etc.)
- Possesed Lackey: very poor minion stats-wise, but with an insane potential to pull out a big demon from your deck (ex: Doomguard, Voidlord etc.) As any minion with deathrattle, it’s susceptible to silence. I don’t recommend drafting the Lackey unless you already have 1 big demon, or even 2.
- Voidlord : wonderful stand alone minion. 3/9 taunt with 3 aditional 1/3 taunts spawned by deathrattle (6/18 stats total), it offers the warlock a wall of taunts, very difficult to manage for the opponent. It’s susceptible to silence, but you never hold this on turn 9 or 10 just for the possibility of a silence/hard removal.
- Warrior
- Reckless Flurry : a unique board clear, conditioned by the amount of armor available. This is problematic, since the warrior rarely has time to stack armor in the arena. Although, with the help of Drywhisker Armorer http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/drywhisker-armorer.png , Reckless Flurry can clear the board with no difficulty.
- Gemstudded Golem : a pretty big taunt, with the ability to attack enabled by having 5 armor, this minion can absorb a lot of damage and kill many smaller minions that were played before turn 6.
- Neutrals
- Stoneskin Basilisk: trully excellent card, probably the best overal minion of the expansion. Even for the classes equipped with a ping (Mage, Rogue and Druid) is troublesome sometimes to remove this minion. Still, it’s vulnerable to Scorp-o-Matic and Potion of Madness type effects and let’s not forget the always efficient silence.
- DragonSlayer: decent minion, 4/3 stats for 3 mana, but when it has a chance to hit it’s battlecry, it becomes excellent. (good targets: Scalebane, Hoarding Dragon, Midnight Drake) It’s impossible to play around this card, a good player will never sacrifice his tempo with a Scalebane because of a potential DragonSlayer, that might be found in the opponent’s hand, exactly on that turn.
- Lone Champion : pretty underwhelming minion, unless it’s played on a empty board, at which moment it becomes a 2/4 taunt with divine shield, pretty good value. In the lategame can also be good, after a heavy board clear, Lone Champion can be played for value and followed by a bigger minion. Also, this play could annoy any class without ping.
- Cursed Disciple : verry aggressive minion, basically a 5/1 with a divine shield, can be difficult to handle for the classes without ping
- Carnivorous Cube : pretty insane card, can get value only limited by your experience and creativity
- Green Jelly : a cheaper and weaker version of Hogger, but more useful overall. It it manages to spawn 2 taunts, it’s already good value. There’s a good number of situations when the opponent cannot kill a ½ taunt and the Green Jelly could close him completly.
- Hungry Ettin : very resilient minion, great stats, which can clean up all of the minions played until turn 6, including the one generated by the battlecry. Unlucky scenarios for the battlecry: Doomsayer, Stubborn Gastropod.
- Spiteful Summoner : probably the most interesting minion in the whole expansion, with huge highroll potential. It works best with classes with expensive removals (Mage, Warlock, Priest).
- Corridor Creeper : although it’s pretty insane in Constructed, in Arena it’s rather slow. Only if it’s played with less than 5 mana, it’s good value, but you will never keep this in mulligan, since it takes a long time before you can play it.
- Violent Wurm : big lategame minion, powerful, very problematic for the opponent in case he doesn’t have a hard removal (like Polymorph)
- Master Oakheart : huge tempo swing in one card! Oakheart in a perfect scenario, will be played after the board suffered a hard reset (ex: Psychic Scream, Twisting Nether) and fills up the board again. It’s important to remember that it depends a lot on the composition of your deck and the minions that were played until Oakheart gets slammed on the board. If for example, your 1 and 2 mana minions were all used, then it will pull out only a 3 mana minion, which is super weak for tempo. So this card kind of binds you to get a lot of early game.
Like I said in the beginning, I approached the most interesting cards, with the highest potential to change the course of the game. I will not touch the garbage/mediocre cards, since it’s pretty pointless. (ex: Grand Archivist , Dragonhatcher , Silver Vanguard etc.)
* for a good tierlist, visit: Lightforge http://thelightforge.com//TierList *
This were my thoughts for the arena changes since Kobolds & Catacombs arrived, I wish you the best of luck on your drafts!
Thanks, interesting one!
nice article! have a good day all.
yeah nice one