(Live Now!) Hearthstone 29.6.2 Patch Notes - Standard, Twist and Battlegrounds Balance Changes, Bug Fixes

Blizzard just posted 29.6.2 patch notes. It’s a balance update launching today – ~~most likely around an hour from this post (10 AM PT / 19:00 CET).~~ Update: The patch is now live!The patch contains changes for Standard, Twist and Battlegrounds modes.

In Twist, we have three Hero Power changes (all buffs). Additionally, nearly all of the Heroes got their decks adjusted – some are now stronger and others are now weaker.And finally, 15 Heroes got health adjustments. The goal is to keep all of the Heroes around the 35 HP mark and they hope that other changes will make it possible

In Battlegrounds, we have a few dozen changes to Heroes (mostly Armor adjustments), minions, buddies and spells. It’s a huge update that should shake up the meta.

Patch 29.6.2, launching today, brings balance changes and more!

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: This is a smaller patch, designed to prepare for the launch of Perils in Paradise by weakening a few cards that are warping the meta in a way that could stifle new expansion development. As a note, we want to let that early post-expansion meta develop a bit before we step in, so our next major balance pass is scheduled for slightly later than the last few (about two weeks after expansion launch instead of about 10 days).

Reno, Lone Ranger

Old: [9 Mana]
New: [10 Mana]

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Virus Module)

Old: [3 Mana]
New: [4 Mana]

Celestial Projectionist

Old: [2 Mana] 3/2
New: [3 Mana] 3/3

The above craftable cards will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 29.6.2.

Twist Updates

Dev Comment: The overall goal of these changes is to move more Heroes towards the 35 Health range. This means that, generally speaking, Heroes that had less than 35 Health before this patch had their decks adjusted to be weaker, while Heroes that had more than 35 Health before this patch had their decks (and sometimes effects) adjusted to be stronger. After these changes, we’ll continue using Health as our more regular tuning knob.

Hero Effect Changes

I am Inevitable! (C’Thun’s Passive)

Old: C’Thun starts in your hand. After two friendly minions die, give your C’Thun +1/+1.
New: C’Thun starts in your hand. After three friendly minions die, give your C’Thun +2/+2.

Boom Barrage (Dr. Boom’s Passive)

Old: After a friendly mech dies, shuffle a Bomb into your opponent’s deck.
New: After a friendly mech dies, shuffle a Bomb into your opponent’s deck and gain 1 Armor.

Feral Frenzy (Guff Runetotem’s Hero Power)

Old: [1 Mana] +1 Attack this turn. Usable twice a turn.
New: [1 Mana] +1 Attack this turn. Can be used three times in a turn.

New Hero Health Totals

The following heroes now have more Health:

Al’Akir, the Windlord: 35
Kael’thas Sunstrider: 35
Nozdormu: 35
The Lich King: 35
Forest Warden Omu: 35
Zul’jin: 35
Arfus: 30

The following heroes now have less Health:

Illidan Stormrage: 35
Leeroy Jenkins: 35
C’Thun: 35
King Krush: 35
Dr. Boom: 35
N’Zoth, the Corruptor: 35
Brann Bronzebeard: 35
Guff Runetotem: 35

Hero Deck Changes

The following heroes have had their decks adjusted:

Illidan Stormrage
Al’Akir, the Windlord
Leeroy Jenkins
Kael’thas Sunstrider
C’Thun
Nozdormu
The Lich King
Sir Finley Mrrgglton
King Krush
Forest Warden Omu
Dr. Boom
Zul’jin
N’Zoth, the Corruptor
Brann Bronzebeard
Guff Runetotem
Arfus

Dev Comment: That’s everyone except for Arch-Villain Rafaam, Xyrella, and Patches the Pirate. New decklists will be viewable from the Hero Selection screen in-game after this patch is live.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: We hope you’re enjoying the return of Buddies as well as their debut in Duos. In this patch, we’re primarily addressing Buddy performance outliers. Most of these are Tier adjustments, though some have additional changes where Tier would not have been sufficient. In addition, we also made some minion adjustments to reduce frustrating play patterns with Beasts, repeated Battlecries, and, frankly, crimes in Duos. We also gave a bit more support to underperfoming Types. We’ll continue to monitor the meta as it develops and make more adjustments as needed.

Hero Power Changes

Alexstrasza

Old: [Passive] At the start of your turn, Discover a Dragon. (Unlocks at Tier 4.)
New: [1 Gold] Discover a Dragon. (Unlocks at Tier 4.)

Onyxia

Old: [Passive] Avenge (3): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.
New: [Passive] Avenge (4): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.

Hero Armor Changes

The following heroes have been adjusted to have less Armor:

Galewing now has 8 Armor, and 5 Armor in Duos.
Scabbs Cutterbutter now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
Murloc Holmes now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
Xyrella now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
Rokara now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
Varden Dawngrasp now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
Heistbaron Togwaggle now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
Thorim Stormlord now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
Rock Master Voone now has 15 Armor, and 12 Armor in Duos.

The following heroes have been adjusted to have more Armor:

Buddy Changes

Vaelstrasz (Alexstrasza)

Old: [Tier 3] 4/4. Battlecry and Start of Combat: Give your other minions +2/+2.
New: [Tier 5] 6/6. Battlecry and Start of Combat: Give your other minions +3/+3.

Imperial Defender (Queen Azshara)

Old: [Tier 4] 2/4
New: [Tier 6] 4/8

Shining Sailor (Cap’n Hoggarr)

Old: 3/6. After you buy a Pirate, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the Tavern.
New: 4/7. After you buy 2 Pirates, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the Tavern.

Acolyte of Yogg-Saron (Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End)

Old: [Tier 4] 5/4
New: [Tier 5] 6/4
Curse of Flesh also now only gives one friendly minion the stats of another friendly minion, instead of two minions gaining stats of two friendly minions.

Dranosh Saurfang (Overlord Saurfang)

Old: [Tier 4] 2/2
New: [Tier 5] 6/6

Unearthed Underling (Lich Baz’hial)

Old: [Tier 3] 3/3
New: [Tier 4] 5/5

Shadow Warden (Maiev Shadowsong)

Old: [Tier 2] 4/4
New: [Tier 3] 6/6

The Nine Frogs (Doctor Holli’dae)

Old: [Tier 5]
New: [Tier 6]

Death’s Head Sage (Death Speaker Blackthorn)

Old: [Tier 5] 3/6
New: [Tier 6] 3/7

Box Cars (Snake Eyes)

Old: [Tier 4]
New: [Tier 6]

Snow Elemental (Chenvaala)

Old: [Tier 3] 4/3
New: [Tier 4] 5/4

Lantern Tender (Rakanishu)

Old: [Tier 4] 5/3
New: [Tier 5] 6/4

Wandering Treant (Greybough)

Old: [Tier 4] 2/5
New: [Tier 5] 2/7

Jr. Navigator (Elise Starseeker)

Old: [Tier 2] 3/3
New: [Tier 3] 4/4

Master Gadrin (Vol’jin)

Old: [Tier 5] 6/5
New: [Tier 6] 7/6

Sr. Tomb Diver (Reno Jackson)

Minion Pool Changes

Removed from the Minion Pool: Draconic Deathscale.
Added to the Minion Pool: Gem Smuggler, Hunter of Gatherers.

Other Minion/Spell Changes

Iridescent Skyblazer

Old: 3/7. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+2 permanently.
New: 4/8. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+1 permanently.

Trigore the Lasher

Old: 5/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1/+1 permanently.
New: 9/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +2 Health permanently.

Electric Synthesizer

Old: 3/3. Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+1.
New: 3/2. Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+2.

Tarecgosa

Old: 4/4
New: 5/5

Whelp Smuggler

Old: 2/3
New: 2/5

Roaring Rallier

Old: 3/5. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+1.
New: 2/6. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +3/+1.

Ghoul-acabra

Old: 2/11. Whenever you trigger a Deathrattle, give your minions +2/+2 permanently.
New: 3/12. After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give your minions +2/+2 permanently.

Moon-Bacon Jazzer

Old: [Tier 3] 2/5
New: [Tier 2] 2/3

Boon of Beetles

Old: [2 Gold] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle with Taunt. (4 left!)
New: [1 Gold] When you have space in combat, summon a 10/10 Beetle with Taunt.
Dev Comment: It now only summons one large Beetle, instead of four small ones.

Misc. Other Changes

Mawsworn Soulkeeper (The Jailer’s Buddy) has been removed from E.T.C., Band Manager’s Hero Power pool.
Lightning Invocation on Spirit Raptor (Brukan’s Buddy) can no longer be triggered in the Recruit phase.
Several additional Heroes will no longer be able to be paired together in Duos (Shudderwock and Zephrys, the Great were the biggest offenders with the most new banned pairings).

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

[Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Metamorphosis Illidan portrait had issues if you transformed after getting certain Health modifiers (like Prince Renathal).
[Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the Just Keep Swimming Spellcraft spell removed Stealth from Stealth minions.
[Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Ghoul-acabra’s effect couldn’t trigger during the Recruit phase.
[Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Halfu’s the Mighty (Cho’s Buddy) could cause a triple for Cho before passing the generated minion to Gall.