With the new expansion “Shadows of the Shattered Realm,” Hearthstone received the Demon Hunter class on April 7. However, it simply overwhelmed the other classes and dominated the meta. Blizzard responded with an emergency nerf, but more is to come.
What was the situation? In the first nearly 48 hours, the Demon Hunter dominated the meta in Hearthstone. As the analysis website HSReplay shows, some decks had win rates between 63% and 70%. This was also pointed out by MeinMMO reader Phesias in the article about all cards in the expansion.
These were mainly Tempo Demon Hunter decks. Other variations of the class followed, such as OTK or Highlander decks. We already recommended exactly these 3 decks in a guide.
The first deck from another class achieved a win rate of 62.3%. It was the Galakrond Warlock.
How did Blizzard respond? The strength of the Demon Hunter led to many discussions on reddit and in the Hearthstone livestreams. Blizzard reacted.
In the night from April 9, a hotfix was implemented, making four important changes:
- Skull of Gul’Dan – Mana cost increased from 5 to 6
- Eye Beam – Mana cost, when outside, increased from 0 to 1
- Aldrachi Warblades – Uses reduced from 3 to 2
- Captive Antaen – Mana cost increased from 5 to 6
- Additionally, the chance for various Demon Hunter cards to appear in Arena has been reduced. You can find the exact changes on reddit.
These adjustments were implemented as an “emergency measure” into the game and appeared even without a downloadable patch. Currently, the new and old values of the cards are shown in green and red. This is expected to change once the next patch is implemented.
If needed, you can disenchant the changed cards and receive back the exact dust costs, in case you want to build another deck. However, it currently seems that the Demon Hunter remains a strong class.
Blizzard plans further nerfs for the Demon Hunter
What’s next? A data patch is expected to be implemented tonight, making the changes to the Demon Hunter permanent in the game. This will not bring any further changes initially.
However, Blizzard is likely not finished with the Demon Hunter. They are planning further adjustments to the class until it is on par with the others. When and what additional changes will follow is currently unknown.
While Hearthstone struggles with balance issues, another card game is currently planning its release. Legends of Runeterra, from the creators of LoL, is set to release at the end of April and it might be the last chance to truly impress the players.
