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Hearthstone Guide

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Jul 29th, 2014
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  1. Hearthstone
  2.  
  3.  
  4. Getting Started
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  6. Once you’ve finished downloading the game and start for the first time, you will play through the tutorial with the Mage class. The tutorial will walk you through the basics of the game. After completing the tutorial you will be free to explore the main menu. Play mode, Solo Adventures, and The Arena are available from the start. The game should present you some quests to help guide you through the interface and into co-op vs AI mode. Practice against the computer and continue completing quests for rewards. Between July 22 and August 22 accessing the Naxxramas Adventure will open the first wing for free, so be sure to do that.
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  8. After completing all of the introductory quests and trying out all the game modes, your first goal should be leveling all of the classes to level 10. This will unlock all of the basic cards for each class and provide you with a 100g reward. With this goal in mind, you are ready to start playing hearthstone! :)
  9.  
  10.  
  11. Basic Strategy
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  13. 1) Control the board! This means attempting to kill your opponent’s minions during your turn. The attacking player has the advantage in hearthstone, because they choose which minions fight each other. Try to set up advantageous battles where your cheaper minions take out stronger ones, or your stronger minions destroy weaker ones and survive.
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  15. 2) Try and spend all of your mana each turn. There’s no advantage to leaving mana unspent, so try and use every last mana crystal. Generally you want to play your 4-6 mana cost cards as soon as you can, otherwise you might not get the chance to later in the game. Plan ahead when mulliganing, playing cards in your first four turns, and when using the coin.
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  17. 3) Hold onto your spells until you can make the most of them. Spells are generally very powerful and can destroy minions that cost more than the spell, or take out multiple minions. Sometimes using a spell too early instead of playing a creature will allow your opponent to flood the board with their own creatures, making it hard for you to come back.
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  19. 4) Don’t sweat life totals - Card advantage is key. “Card Advantage” is the difference between the cards you have in play + the cards in your hand and the cards your opponent has in play + the cards in their hand. Having more cards means you have more options, and more ways to pull ahead and win. A simple example of this is a situation where your Chillwind Yeti (4/5 minion) attacks the opponent’s Acidic Swamp Ooze (3/2 minion). Your Yeti will survive with 2 HP, forcing your opponent to use an additional card to destroy it. Your yeti just traded 2 cards for 1, a net +1 card advantage.
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  21.  
  22. How to Get Better Cards
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  24. You get cards from opening packs and crafting. Packs are 100 gold, and contain 5 random cards, at least one of which is Rare or better. Crafting is a system which allows you to disenchant unwanted cards for arcane dust, and spend this dust to create new cards of your choosing. Adventure modes such as Naxxramas are also a way to obtain cards. In Naxxramas you unlock each “wing” by purchasing it for 700 gold or $5. Each boss of the wing rewards a new card, and defeating all the bosses rewards you with a legendary card.
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  26.  
  27. The Arena
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  29. Arena is a game mode that costs 150 Gold to enter, and allows you to draft a deck of random cards. These cards are pulled from the entire card pool, so you have the opportunity to play with cards that you don’t own. In the Arena you play against other players until you lose 3 games (or win 12). You’re rewarded with a card pack and an assortment of gold, arcane dust, and individual cards based on your performance.
  30. 4-3: Getting a 4-3 record in arena guarantees a reward of at least 50 gold and a pack. This is the point where the arena rewards “break even” with the entry fee of 150 gold. Aim for 4 wins when you play in the arena, though the prizes for less than 4 wins are still good!
  31. 7-3: Getting at least 7 wins in the arena guarantees a reward of at least 150 gold (and a pack), allowing you to enter the arena again immediately.
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  33.  
  34. Earning Gold
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  36. Earn gold by completing daily quests. You can abandon a quest and get a new one once per day by clicking the red “X” in the top right corner on the quest in the quest log. Quests can be completed in “Play” mode and “Arena” mode.
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  38.  
  39. Crafting
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  41. In your collection menu click the “crafting” tab in the upper right. You can browse all of the craftable cards in hearthstone. Right click cards for more info, including how much dust you get for disenchanting the card, and how much dust it will cost to craft the card. (Note that “Basic” cards you receive for leveling up and “Soulbound” cards you receive from special events and future game modes cannot be disenchanted or crafted). Cards will have different disenchant and crafting costs based on rarity.
  42.  
  43. [Rarity]: [Disenchant] | [Crafting Cost]
  44. Common: 5 Dust | 40 Dust
  45. Rare: 20 Dust | 100 Dust
  46. Epic: 100 Dust | 400 Dust
  47. Legendary: 400 Dust | 1600 Dust
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  49. (Golden cards give and cost roughly 8x-2x more dust)
  50.  
  51.  
  52. What to Craft
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  54. This is mostly up to you - some players only disenchant multiples, others disenchant every card they don’t use. When starting I suggest choosing 2-3 of your favorite classes and disenchanting all common/rare cards of the classes you don’t plan on playing (these are easily obtainable later). When it comes to crafting cards, crafting neutral cards that you can use in all decks should be your first priority. The number of neutral cards can be overwhelming, so I’ve made a table of what neutral cards to keep and which ones you should craft. Every neutral card not listed here can be safely disenchanted - you’ll probably never use them.
  55.  
  56. Neutral Cards:
  57.  
  58. Commons:
  59. Craft: (1) Argent Squire - Argent squire is a fantastic 1-cost card, and has great synergy with Defender of Argus
  60. Keep: Abusive Sergeant, Leper Gnome, Shieldbearer, Southsea Deckhand (Rogue)
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  62. Craft: (2) Loot Hoarder - Drawing cards is always great, Loot Hoarder is a worthwhile upgrade over Novice Engineer
  63. Keep: Amani Berserker, Dire Wolf Alpha, Faerie Dragon, Ironbeak Owl
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  65. Craft: (3) Harvest Golem - A staple in almost every deck, Harvest Golem can be a nightmare for your opponent to remove from the board
  66. Keep: Acolyte of Pain, Earthen Ring Farseer, Scarlet Crusader
  67.  
  68. Craft: (4) None - These commons are overshadowed by Chillwind Yeti, Sen’jin Shieldmasta, and Defender of Argus
  69. Keep: Dark Iron Dwarf, Spellbreaker
  70.  
  71. Rares:
  72. Craft (1): None
  73. Keep: Lightwarden (Priest), Murloc Tidecaller (Murloc), Secretkeeper (Paladin), Young Priestess
  74.  
  75. Craft: (2) Knife Juggler - Can deal tremendous damage if it isn’t handled immediately by your opponent
  76. Keep: Ancient Watcher, Sunfury Protector, Wild Pyromancer
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  78. Craft: (3) None - These cards are overshadowed by Harvest Golem
  79. Keep: Coldlight Oracle (Murloc), Coldlight Seer (Murloc), Imp Master, Injured Blademaster (Priest)
  80.  
  81. Craft: (4) Defender of Argus - Possibly the best neutral card in the game, this is a must-have
  82. Keep: Twilight Drake, Violet Teacher (Druid), Ancient Mage (Shaman)
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  84. Craft: (5) Azure Drake - Two powerful effects in one card make this a staple for any deck that runs more than 4 damaging spells
  85. Keep: Abomination, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Stampeding Kodo
  86.  
  87. Craft: (6) Argent Commander - This card almost guarantees a 2-for-1 trade with its divine shield, a powerful card in every deck
  88. Keep: Sunwalker
  89.  
  90. Epics:
  91. (2) Doomsayer
  92. (3) Big Game Hunter, Blood Knight, Murloc Warleader
  93. (5) Faceless Manipulator
  94. (7+) Sea Giant, Mountain Giant, Molten Giant
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  96.  
  97. Legendary Cards
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  99. Every pack has roughly a 5% chance to contain a legendary card. Legendary cards range from being situationally very powerful, to downright awful. Most legendary cards that are played in many decks are just marginally better than common or rare cards, so don’t worry if you don’t have them - your decks can still be very competitive. Every class has one class-specific legendary card, most of which are pretty good. If you save up dust to craft a legendary card, you’ll probably want to craft a neutral legendary card so you can use it in all of your decks. Generally you will want to keep the neutral legendary cards listed below.
  100.  
  101. Bloodmage Thalnos
  102. King Mukla
  103. Leeroy Jenkins
  104. Captain Greenskin
  105. Harrison Jones
  106. Cairne Bloodhoof
  107. Sylvanas Windrunner
  108. The Black Knight
  109. Baron Geddon
  110. Ragnaros the Firelord
  111. Alexstraza
  112. Malygos
  113. Onyxia
  114. Ysera
  115. Deathwing
  116.  
  117.  
  118. Classes
  119.  
  120. Hearthstone has 9 different classes, each with their own flavor. Each class has its own unique hero power, along with “class cards” which are exclusive to the class. Every class can use a shared pool of “neutral cards”, but even among neutral cards some lend themselves more to one class over another. It is important to know which class(es) or playstyle you want to focus on in order to decide which cards to craft. I’ll provide a general description of each class and some of the mechanics of their cards and hero power. I recommend considering which hero you like aesthetically and strategically and focus on one or two to get started.
  121.  
  122. Warrior is a class focused on weapons and armor. Weapons are cards that allow your hero to attack at the cost of 1 weapon durability and health (if you attack into an enemy minion). The Warrior’s hero power gives 2 armor — Armor is additional hit points that build up on your current HP pool, meaning armor can take your effective HP above 30. Warriors usually play aggressive decks focused on maximizing damage with weapons, or control decks focused on destroying creatures and surviving with a combination of spells and armor, then finishing off the opponent with powerful legendary creatures. If you enjoy crashing into your opponent with big weapons and creatures, play Warrior.
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  124. Shaman is all about the elements. Shamans use powerful spells and creatures that can rapidly swing the game in their favor, but have the drawback of “overloading” your mana crystals. Overload is a mechanic that blocks off a certain number of mana crystals from being used the turn after you play a card with overload. Shaman’s hero power summons one of four random totems with a beneficial effect. Shaman decks are typically mid-range, meaning they control the early game with spells and then play powerful minions before control decks have the chance to use their most powerful cards. If you enjoy strategic gameplay and don’t mind elements of randomness, Shaman may be the class for you.
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  126. Rogues are masters of the shadows, and thus many of their cards incorporate “Stealth” - a mechanic which makes their minions untargetable by attacks and spells. Rogues have other tricks up their sleeve, such as cards that return minions to your opponent’s hand or “Combo” cards which have additional effects if played after other cards during your turn. Rogue’s hero power equips them with a 1/2 Dagger, which can be buffed further with their Deadly Poison enchantment. Rogue favors mostly aggressive, board-control oriented decks, and is also one of the most challenging classes to play. Try out Rogue if you enjoy a challenge, or if you just want to play as the most badass woman in Hearthstone (Valeera).
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  128. Paladin is a class focused on healing and providing “Divine Shield” to minions, which is a shield that prevents a single source of damage. Paladins have a wide range of supportive spells and minions which lend themself well to both aggressive and controlling playstyles. “Equality” is the single card that is the core of the Paladin class, it’s a spell that changes the HP of all minions to 1, allowing for sweeping board wipes that swing the momentum of the game. Paladin also employs the use of “Secrets”, which are trap cards that only activate on your opponent’s turn once they fulfill a certain condition. Paladin also has arguably the strongest class-specific legendary card, Tirion Fordring. Paladin is by far the dorkiest class in Hearthstone.
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  130. Hunter decks employ synergistic effects between cards in the “Beast” archetype. Hunters also employ secrets in the form of hunter traps. Because of the synergistic effects between Hunter cards, this class requires the most careful planning and forethought. Hunter players must carefully consider the sequence of the cards that they play, always keeping in mind that holding onto a card might allow them to execute a valuable combo later in the game. Hunter is the class for players who like combo-oriented decks, or who like the Beast archetype.
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  132. Druid is one of the most consistent and powerful classes in Hearthstone. Druid has such a wide range of individually powerful cards that an endless number of strategies and archetypes are viable for the class. Druid’s signature mechanic is “Choose One:” where you can pick one of two effects when playing a card. The flexibility and strength of Druid’s class cards make it a good class for beginners and advanced players alike. Druid decks are typically very straightforward mid-range decks, and this is a great class for anyone just picking up the game.
  133.  
  134. Warlock utilizes the “Demon” archetype of cards, which sacrifices HP or force you to discard random cards in exchange for their above-average stats. Warlocks are best known for their extremely powerful hero power, which allows them to draw additional cards at the cost of life and mana. This hero power is so potent that every Warlock deck is designed explicitly around its use. The most popular Warlock deck is “Board Control Warlock” which uses the combination of low-cost creatures and Warlock’s hero power to flood the board and overwhelm the opponent. If powering down your opponent with more cards or the Demon archetype appeals to you, play Warlock.
  135.  
  136. Mage is the class you initially start with, and features some of the most powerful basic cards available to any class. Mage has powerful spells that deal direct damage, and bulky creatures to back them up. The “Freeze” mechanic is the trademark of the mage, which prevents frozen creatures from attacking. Mage is also the only class that can defeat an opponent entirely with direct damage from spells, a strategy that is difficult to counter. Mage’s downside is that none of their cards have any explicit synergy or effects that work in combination, the cards are just individually strong. Mage is the class for players who enjoy spell-oriented gameplay.
  137.  
  138. Priest is a class that revolves around healing minions and manipulating their HP and attack totals with buffs. Priest can also utilize unique cards that change healing into damage, or even change their hero power for the remainder of the match. Priest is the least consistent class on the ladder because of their reliance on combos, but it has proven itself to be a powerful class in tournament play. I recommend picking up Priest after crafting cards and mastering several other classes, but there are many dedicated Priest players who have great success with the class.
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