22.0 Patch Notes
Patch 22.0, launching tomorrow, paves the way for Hearthstone’s latest expansion, Fractured in Alterac Valley, launching December 7! The Patch also includes updates to Mercenaries, Battlegrounds, Duels, and Arena, as well as bug fixes and more.
Storm into Alterac Valley on December 7
(Updated) Fractured in Alterac Valley launches on December 7. The new expansion includes 135 all-new cards, featuring the new Honorable Kill keyword, Objective cards, and the return of Hero Cards! See all the new cards in the official card library today.
As soon as the set is live, the Battle for Alterac Vally begins! All players will compete for Honor in order to receive free rewards and claim victory for their faction. You gain Honor by playing and winning during the eligible period:
- 10 Honor for every game played
- 10 more Honor for every game won (20 total)
- 20 more Honor for every game won versus an opponent from the enemy faction (40 total)
Honor can be gained in Ranked, Arena, and Duels Modes. As you gain Honor, you climb through the ranks of your faction, and across the frozen battlefield—eventually capturing a Golden copy of the enemy faction’s leader! On January 11, all Honor will be tallied. Then, in a future update, the winning faction’s victory will be forever enshrined in Hearthstone when every player receives a Diamond copy of the winning faction’s leader card!
Clarification: The period for tallying the winning faction is from December 7 to January 11, but you can collect Honor to complete your personal Legendary Quest Chain at any point throughout the Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion. After the expansion period, the Legendary Quest Chain will be replaced with another means to earn these rewards.
Mercenaries Updates
NEW MERCENARIES
Valeera Sanguinar (Legendary Fighter)
- Blood Elf
- 13/73 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Sinister Strike 5: (Speed 3) Gain +10 Attack this turn and Attack the lowest Health enemy. Combo: Gain Stealth.
- Ambush 5: (Speed 6) Deal 10 damage. If this Mercs was Stealthed, deal 25 instead.
- Fan of Knives 5: (Speed 7) Deal 7 damage to all enemies. Your other Mercs are (3) Speed faster next turn.
- Equipment:
- Hidden Paths 4: Passive: Whenever a friendly character loses Stealth, give them +6 Attack.
- Shadow Dagger 4: Ambush is (3) Speed faster and gains “Deathblow: Gain Stealth.”
- Unnatural Smoke 4: Passive: While this Merc has Stealth, friendly characters a (4) Speed faster.
Sky Admiral Rogers (Epic Caster)
- Human
- 11/76 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Sky Guard 5: (Speed 5) Gain +5 Attack and Attack an enemy. If it’s a Pirate, gain Immune while Attacking this turn.
- Master Tactician 5: (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Deal 12 damage to an enemy, or restore 12 Health to an ally. It goes next.
- Firing Position 5: (Speed 6, Cooldown 1) Deal 20 damage to all enemies that have already acted.
- Equipment:
- Swash Buckling Sash 4: Sky Guard gives an additional +5 Attack.
- Ship’s Bell 4: Master Tactician deals 4 more damage and makes the target go last.
- Scout’s Spyglass 4: Passive: After this Merc Attacks, deal 4 damage to all enemies. (Deals Critical Damage to Pirates).
Trigore the Lasher (Rare Protector)
- Beast
- 10/80 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Frenzied Attack 5: (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. If this took damage this turn, deal 12 damage to a random adjacent enemy.
- Backlash 5: (Speed 1) The next time an enemy damages an adjacent ally this turn, Gain +5 Attack and deal this Merc’s Attack damage to them.
- Regrow Heads 5: (Speed 4, Cooldown 1) This takes Critical Damage this turn. At the end of next turn, restore this Merc to full Health.
- Equipment:
- Infused Amber 4: Frenzied Attack deals 4 more damage.
- Razor Claw 4: Backlash gives an additional +4 Attack.
- Regenarative Scales 4: Regrow Heads restores 16 Health the turn it is cast.
Vanessa VanCleef (Epic Protector)
- Pirate
- 10/75 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Burgle Barrage 5: (Speed 7) Attack an enemy. Combo: Steal 5 Attack from them.
- Makeshift Weaponry 5: (Speed 3) Spend all stolen Attack to deal that much damage to all enemies.
- Shifting Satchel 5: (Speed 5, Cooldown 1) Deal 16 damage to an enemy. Give +1 Cooldown to an Ability they didn’t use this turn.
- Equipment:
- Dreadblades 4: Burgle Barrage is (4) faster and always Combos.
- Extra Pockets 4: After using Makeshift Weaponry, this Merc keeps up to 5 Attack.
- Blade Catcher 4: Passive: Whenever this Merc is Attacked, steal 4 Attack from the Attacker.
NEW BOUNTIES
- Razorgore
- Vaelastrasz
- Chromaggus
- Nefarian
The new Bounties will be added to the Blackrock Zone. The new Mercenary Cards, Portraits, and Coins will be added to all existing relevant Mercenary item pools. Vanessa VanCleef will also be awarded for free at the start of the Fractured in Alterac Valley free rewards track, and her Portraits can be earned with the Tavern Pass. Each new Mercenary will come with its own Task Chain, similar to those of existing Mercenaries.
Battlegrounds Updates
DIABLO IS DEFEATED
You all took on the raid boss and survived! The special Diablo event is now over and Bob’s fine tavern is still standing—and preparing for the next round of new combatants. Diablo has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
NEW HERO
Scabbs Cutterbutter- I Spy [Costs 2]
- Discover a plain copy of a minion from your next opponent's warband.
Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Scabbs Cutterbutter before the Hero is formally released on December 14.
(NEW) RETURNING HERO
- Lord Barov has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
BATTLEGROUNDS BOARDS
Bob’s got something new to show you. Introducing Battlegrounds Boards, an all-new cosmetic option for Hearthstone Battlegrounds! Battlegrounds Boards are special boards that you can bring to the combat phase of your Battlegrounds bouts. These boards sport new visuals for you to see and show off to your opponents. Because Battlegrounds Boards are shared with you and your opponent, you may not see your Board every round.
Bob’s first board is the Arena of Champions, a celebration of Bob’s favorite customer: you! Give your warbands the royal reception they deserve, with suits of armor and flourishes of purple and gold. Get yours in the shop as soon as the patch goes live!
For gameplay purposes, the bottom right portion of all Battleground Boards are simplified when playing on mobile.
Duels Updates
CARD POOL UPDATES
On December 7, Fractured in Alterac Valley and Goblins vs. Gnomes will be added to the eligible card pools. New buckets will be added to cover the cards from the newly added card sets.
NEW PASSIVE TREASURES
Natural Force – Pool 1- Nature Spell Damage +2
- Fire Spell Damage +2
- At the start of the game, shuffle 5 Death Knight cards into your deck.
- Frost Spell Damage +2
- At the start of the game, change each Deathrattle minion in your hand and deck into a 1/1 that costs (1).
- Whenever you target a minion with a spell, cast it again on its neighbors.
- After you cast a Fel spell, shuffle 2 Fel Rifts into your deck.
- After you cast a Nature spell, give a random friendly minion +2/+2 and Taunt.
- Whenever you draw a minion, add a copy of it to your hand.
- Your hero has +2 Attack on your turn.
Ring of Black Ice – Pool 2
- Whenever a minion is Frozen, add a copy of it to your hand.
- At the end of your turn, cast a spell you've cast this turn (targets are random).
- At the end of your turn, add a random Death Knight card to your hand.
- At the end of your turn, add a Dream Card to your hand.
- At the end of your turn, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental if you've cast a Frost spell.
Arena Rotation
At the launch of Fractured in Alterac Valley, the current Dual-Class Arena event will end and the pool of eligible Arena sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool:
- Fractured in Alterac Valley
- Saviors of Uldum
- Kobolds and Catacombs
- League of Explorers
- Scholomance Academy
- The Boomsday Project
- Core
Bug Fixes & Game Improvements
- Fixed a bug that allowed players on certain devices to close out of the Fractured in Alterac Valley faction selection screen without choosing a faction.
- Fixed a bug causing Cram Session to not get the Spell Damage bonus from Talented Arcanist or Lab Partner.
- Fixed a bug where Brittlebone Destroyer glowed even when its effect requirements were not met.
- Updated Soul Cleave’s text to properly represent that it only hits enemy minions, not all enemies.
- Fixed a bug where cards returned to hand by Tenwu of the Red Smoke could not be further reduced by cards like Scabbs Cutterbutter.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Goblins v. Gnomes Golden cards from being crafted or disenchanted.
- Fixed a bug where cards drawn by Malygos the Spellweaver after Celestial Alignment were not impacted by Loatheb.
- Fixed a text bug causing Nithogg’s Storm Eggs to show they summoned 20/20 Devilsaurs instead of the 4/4 Drakes with Rush that they actually summon.
- Players will now be able to see their Mercenaries Party while selecting Bounty Treasures.
- Completing multiple Tasks and Bounties at the same time will no longer cause the notifications to overlap on mobile.
- Several more Daily Quests can now be completed in Mercenaries, including Challenge a Friend, Spectate and Friend, and “Play a certain number of a Type of minion” Quests. More Daily and Weekly Quests may be added or reworked for future patches.
- Fixed a bug where The Lich King’s Helm of Domination would not trigger as intended in certain circumstances.
- Fixed a bug where Blink Fox’s Mind Thief Ability would retain a copied Ability over 2 uses, instead of only 1, while Tenth Tail is equipped.
- Fixed a bug where using Mutanus’s Devouring Attack caused Reincarnated Cairne to become invisible.
- Fixed a bug where Eudora’s Briny Bracers were giving 2 less Health
- Fixed a bug where Edwin, Defias Kingpin was showing the wrong art within its Diamond frame.
- Fixed bug causing iOS users to be incorrectly shown “low RAM” warning when entering Battlegrounds.
- Fixed a bug where Mercenaries Equipment Achievements were counting each Equipment upgrade as a new Equipment.
- Fixed a bug where Small Backpacks in Duels could draw C’Thun, the Shattered before he, well, shatters.
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from using the Hero Skin picker functionality in Classic.
- Fixed a bug where Steel Guardian Malfurion and Vanndar Stormpike Hero Skins were missing their custom hero power animations.
- (NEW) Updated priority resolution when card effects conflict.
