Hearthstone’s latest patch will bring a lot of changes to the Battlegrounds game mode as well as the Darkmoon Prizes. Along with this, patch 20.8 in Hearthstone also focuses on the upcoming United in Stormwind expansion.

The United in Stormwind Expansion

In another redefining expansion, United in Stormwind will be available worldwide, with an August 3 launch scheduled. Three new card types will be added to the deck, namely Tradeable cards, Questlines cards and Mounts and Profession Tools. The United in Stormwind kicks off the Phase 2 Roadmap for Hearthstone for the Year of the Gryphon, with Mercenaries set to be released in this phase. 

Cards with the Tradeable keyword can also be played like a normal card. But, players have the option to incur one Mana crystal for the given turn to exchange the card with something else in your deck. 

Questlines can be accessed by all of the 10 classes, with the quest highlighting the journey of their respective Mercenaries through Stormwind. Questlines start off as legendary spells and will earn their players some kind of reward on completion of each questline before turning into a legendary mercenary minion after completion of the entire quest. 

New mounts and Profession Tools have been introduced. Mounts can be added to the respective hero to go to war themselves while Profession Tools are mount-like cards that add effects instead of the ability to attack. 

Players can pre-purchase the United in Stormwind Expansion. The pre-purchase bundle includes 60 United in Stormwind packs, two random United in Stormwind Legendary cards, and the Lady Katrana Prestor card back. However, the Mega Bundle will include 80 United in Stormwind card packs, five Golden United in Stormwind card packs, two random United in Stormwind Golden Legendary cards, the Lady Katrana Prestor Mage Alternate Hero, the Lady Katrana Prestor card back, the Ve’nari Alternate Battlegrounds Bartender (Pre-Purchase) and Battlegrounds Perks.

Bartender Ve’nari will also be available for purchase as a standalone item before the launch of the United in Stormwind expansion while the Battlegrounds Perks will be available upon purchase and expire at the end of the United in Stormwind expansion cycle. The Standard Bundle will see players incur a cost of 49.99 USD while they will have to spend 79.99 USD for the Mega Bundle.

Battlegrounds Updates – Heroes and Minions

A new Hero and a new Minion have been added through patch 20.8, with Kurtrus Ashfallen set to be released officially on July 15 but available to be played by users who have Battlegrounds Perks. Kurtus Ashfallen has Attack and Health modifiers based on the number of minions the players buy in a single turn. The Archdruid Hamuul is a new Tier 6 Minion with its Battlecry equipping the Bob’s Tavern with your most common minion type. As far as Heroes are concerned, The Lich King has returned from dormancy while Shudderwock has been temporarily removed from the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.

Galakrond’s Greed has been reworked to now have 1 Mana Cost while adding a randomization factor to the Higher tier minion you will look to replace your chosen minion from Bob’s Tavern. Trade Prince Gallywix has now had his Smart Savings turn into a Passive, allowing the user to earn one extra gold for every minion sold. Maiev Shadowsong’s Imprison now will need 3 turns to return the chosen Bob’s Taven card from dormancy but will equip it with an extra Health Point as well. Edwin VanCleef’s Sharpen Blades now gives a minion 2 additional Attack instead of just 1 for every minion bought in that turn. Dinotamer Brann has also been reworked, with the Battle Brann turned into a passive, equipping players with a Brann Bronzebeard in their hand after they buy 5 Battlecry minions. Illidan Stormrage’s Wingmen will now also equip the left and right-most minions with +2 Attack along with making them attack immediately. Sindragosa’s Stay Frosty is no more a passive but will still cost 0 Mana. Players can now freeze a minion by choice, with the rest of the characteristics remaining the same. Guff Runetotem’s Natural Balance has been nerfed and will only equip friendly minions with just 1 additional Attack instead of 2. Overlord Saurfang’s For the Horde! will now give 2 Attack to the next minion you buy in that turn. N’Zoth’s Avatar of N’Zoth now enables players to start the game with a Fish with 2 Attack and 2 Health, double respectively of the earlier stats. The Curator’s Menagerist will now enable players to start with an Amalgam of 2 Attack instead of just 1. King Mukla’s Bananarama has had its Big Banana rate increased to 50%. 

Coming to the minions in the Battlegrounds, Lieutenant Garr, Refreshing Anomaly, Pack Leader, Soul Juggler and Nathrezim Overseer have received a buff in the Health department while the likes of Razorgore the Untamed and Bigfernal have had both their Attack and Health points buffed. The Deflect-o-bot now gains 2 Attack instead of just 1 upon summoning a Mech during combat. Mama Bear has received a buff of a point each to the Attack and Health while also giving the summoned Beast 5 Attack and Health instead of 4. 

According to the official developers’ release,” We will be swapping out over 30 existing minions for new ones specifically designed to play off the core fantasy of that Type and re-emphasize how the Types play, giving the entire mode a massive refresh! For instance, Pirates will have a bigger emphasis on amassing Gold and treasure, with new cards like Briny Bootlegger and Nosy Looter.”

The return of the Darkmoon Prizes

Darkmoon Prizes will once again feature, albeit in just one of every four Battlegrounds matches. The Might of Stormwind will limit the number of minions buffed to just 3 random ones. The Good stuff will equip minions in Bob’s Tavern with 2 additional Health points for the rest of the game instead of just 1 previously. Great Deal will now reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by 3 instead of 2 at the end of the player’s turn. I’m Still Just a Rat in a Cage has been moved from Prize Turn 3 to Prize Turn 2. 

Duels Updates

Passive Treasures Cannibalism, Rally the Troops, Orb of Revelation, Band of Bees, and From the Swamp have been moved to Treasure Pool 2. Dragonblood, Hold the Line, Invigorating Light, Endurance Training, Corrupted Felstone, Flame Waves and From the Swamp have been buffed while nerfs have been handed to Special Delivery, Orb of Revelation, Rally the Troops and Cannibalism. Band of Bees has had its passive reworded, with the functionality remaining intact.

Return of the Fire Festival

The Fire Festival has returned and the Brawl will remain open for three weeks from July 6 to 27, finishing at 10:00 am Pacific Time. Complete Legendary quests for up to 6 Year of the Phoenix packs and finish all 7 quests to earn the Druid of the Flame Malfurion Hero Skin! Ragnaros’ Fire Festival Tavern Brawl will return on July 7, and on July 14 a completely revamped Burndown Brawl will take its place.

The New Books

The Book of Mercenaries Kurtus will be released on July 13, in line with the hero’s addition to the Battlegrounds mode in Hearthstone from July 15. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Demon Hunter pack, containing only Demon Hunter cards from Standard.

The Book of Heroes Gul’dan is releasing on July 20, with the book narrating the journey of Gul’dan, who is on a mission to harness and garner as much power as he can before it is too much for him. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Warlock pack, containing only Warlock cards from Standard.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• A Daily Quest has been added for Nozdormu Day, which will appear on the 15th of every month if you have an available Daily Quest slot.
• Fixed a bug where Dark Inquisitor Xanesh was missing its keyword tooltip for Corrupted.
• Fixed a bug where the card generation animation would play twice if granted a ranked spell from Onyx Magescribe.
• Fixed a bug where High Abbess Alura would take no damage after casting Eye of C’thun with her Spellburst effect, despite VFX showing damage taken.
• Fixed a bug where Southsea Scoundrel was not drawing a card for the opponent if it was a ranked spell.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where picking a non-Golden Tough Tusk with Mr. Bigglesworth’s Hero Power would equip the minion permanent Divine Shield.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Tough Tusk would retain Divine Shield on defeated player’s boards.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Dynamic Duo would lose its stats after being tripled if Vol’jin’s Hero Power was used on it at any point.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug causing Reborn Rights (The Lich King’s Hero Power) to permanently give a minion Reborn under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where incorrect VO would play when target buffing friendly minions.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where Lady Anacondra would sometimes cast Serpent’s Bite on an already Poisonous minion.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where the AI would sometimes not attack with Deviate Nightmare if it was their only minion.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Xyrella where Garona’s Hero Power read “…Kingslayers” instead of “…Kingsbane”.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Heroes Anduin where Lightspawn could be discovered with a 3-mana cost.
• Fixed a bug where the last two class challenges for some Adventures were not accessible on mobile devices.
• Fixed a bug where Golden Core Set cards drafted in Arena would not be Golden once in a match.
• Fixed a bug where the XP earned indicator was not showing on the end of the match screen.
• Fixed a bug where the XP earned indicator would not play the level-up animation after leveling.
• Fixed a bug where some players would be queued for a Casual game when intending to queue for Ranked.
• Fixed a bug where ranked medals would persist on the friends list, even after a friend had logged off.
• Fixed a bug where notification for the last Legendary a friend opened would be displayed after adding a new friend, regardless of how long ago the Legendary had been obtained.
• Fixed a bug in the profile page where the tooltip for Arena wins was incorrect.
• Fixed a bug where the Sir Annoy-O Hero Skin entrance animation was missing trumpets.
• Players can log in after the 20.8 patch update to earn Flightmaster Dungar for Free. The minion costs 3 Mana and has the same Attack and Health points as the cost. The Battlecry allows Flightmaster Dungar to choose a flightpath and go Dormant and awaken with a bonus provided the flightpath is completed.