Hearthstone: The Witchwood guide

UPDATED! We've now got loads of launch deck lists for you to start drooling over.

Guide by John Bedford Contributor

Published on April 12, 2018

The next Hearthstone expansion was revealed by Blizzard at the start of March, and 2018's first set is themed around a feast of spookily-themed cards. The new content will hit the game on 12th April 2018.

UPDATE: 12TH APRIL 2018

We've been adding in new and updated deck guides throughout today, and you can dip into around two dozen of the latest decks! Scroll down to the Decks section of this guide and have a browse of what's been cooked up for The Witchwood launch window!

Here are the standout facts about The Witchwood:

Release date: The Witchwood will be released on Thursday 12th April 2018.
Cards:The Witchwood set will add 135 new cards to the game, and will consist of the usual collection of creatures, minions and spells spread across individual classes and the Neutral card pool.
Single-player: The Witchwood will bring a new single-player adventure to Hearthstone! It's called Monster Hunt and plays very much like Dungeon Run but with unique heroes not found anywhere else in the game.
Pre-purchase: If you pre-purchase the 50 card expansion bundle, you'll receive a bonus 20 packs for free.
New keywords: There will be a total of two new keywords added in the next expansion, called Echo and Rush.
Echo minions can be played repeatedly on a single turn, just as long as the player has enough Mana - and the desire of course - to keep playing them.
The Rush keyword is functionally the same as Charge, but associated cards can only attack other minions on the turn they're played, not the enemy hero. This is to stop the keyword from becoming overpowered (think Grim Patron Warrior).
A new Start of Game mechanic is also being added. If you have a Start of Game card in your deck and the requirements of that card are met, you will get the benefit of its bonus effect from the very first turn of each match.
There is a new card back to collect for pre-ordering, and a new card back is also rewarded for completing an as yet unknown challenge related to Monster Hunt. Most likely it involves completing the mode with all four unique heroes.

The upcoming card set is stuffed to the brim with creatures and spells from the haunted forest of The Witchwood, where Queen Witch Hagatha rules supreme. Shaman fans should be particularly keen to hear about this new character, incidentally, as she represents the sole new Hero card that will be added with Hearthstone's expansion.

Rest assured there's plenty of content for everyone else here too. Not only are we getting the usual injection of 135 new cards to freshen up the meta, but The Witchwood will also introduce an evolution of Dungeon Run in the form of Monster Hunt. In this single-player content you'll guide one of four unique explorers through the woods, battling creatures and gathering new powerful cards as you go

In our Witchwood guide, we've got the lowdown on absolutely everything to do with the new expansion, from new keywords to the new cards themselves. Now that we're approaching launch, we'll start adding in links to our guides on the latest decks that are breaking through into the new meta.

The Witchwood Decks

We're in the process of putting together guides to some of the new decks that are hitting the meta.

Some are theorycrafted ahead of launch, so note that everything in these articles is subject to rapid change. In other words, be careful what you spend your crafting dust on and wait until the meta settles if you're unsure about investing heavily into any of these archetypes:

Druid

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Hunter

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Quest Hunter

Mage

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Paladin

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Priest

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Rogue

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Quest Rogue

Shaman

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

Warlock

Top Rated Decks

Warrior

Top Rated Decks

Experimental Decks

The Witchwood Cards

In this section you'll be able to preview all 135 of the new cards being added with The Witchwood. There's also a short FAQ on some of the obvious queries these cards have prompted, and that have since been answered by Blizzard:

Neutral cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Swamp Dragon Egg	Phantom Militia	Baleful Banker	Dollmaster Dorian
Swamp Leech	Lifedrinker	Nightmare Amalgam	Dollmaster Dorian
Lost Spirit	Mad Hatter	Voodoo Doll	Genn Greymane
Spellshifter	Night Prowler	Witch's Cauldron	Azalina Soulthief
Vicious Scalehide	Scaleworm	Sandbinder	Countess Ashmore
Blackwald Pixie	Witchwood Piper	Muck Hunter	Baku the Mooneater
Hench-Clan Thug	Chief Inspector	Worgen Abomination	-
Marsh Drake	Witchwood Grizzly	Splitting Festeroot	-
Pumpkin Peasant	Gilnean Royal Guard	-	-
Ravencaller	-	-	-
Tanglefur Mystic	-	-	-
Walnut Sprite	-	-	-
Felsoul Inquisitor	-	-	-
Swift Messenger	-	-	-
Unpowered Steambot	-	-	-
Clockwork Automaton	-	-	-
Rotten Applebaum	-	-	-
Darkmire Moonkin	-	-	-
Furious Ettin	-	-	-
Wyrmguard	-	-	-
Cauldron Elemental	-	-	-
Deranged Doctor	-	-	-

Druid cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Witchwood Apple	Witching Hour	Wispering Woods	Duskfallen Aviana
Druid of the Scythe	Forest Guide	Gloom Stag	Splintergraft
Ferocious Howl	Bewitched Guardian	-	-

Hunter cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Hunting Mastiff	Duskhaven Hunter	Rat Trap	Houndmaster Shaw
Dire Frenzy	Wing Blast	Toxmonger	Emeriss
Vilebrood Skitterer	Carrion Drake	-	-

Mage cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Snap Freeze	Cinderstorm	Book of Specters	Archmage Arugal
Black Cat	Bonfire Elemental	Arcane Keysmith	Toki, Time-Tinker
Vex Crow	Curio Collector	-	-

Paladin cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Rebuke	Paragon of Light	Hidden Wisdom	The Glass Knight
Sound the Bells!	Bellringer Sentry	Cathedral Gargoyle	Prince Liam
Ghostly Charger	Silver Sword	-	-

Priest cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Divine Hymn	Holy Water	Vivid Nightmare	Chameleos
Squashling	Coffin Crasher	Glitter Moth	Lady in White
Quartz Elemental	Nightscale Matriarch	-	-

Rogue cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Cheap Shot	Pick Pocket	Spectral Cutlass	Face Collector
Blink Fox	Mistwraith	WANTED!	Tess Greymane
Cutthroat Buccaneer	Cursed Castaway	-	-

Shaman cards - The Witchwood

Note: Hagatha the Witch's hero power is Bewitch.

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Zap!	Blazing Invocation	Totem Cruncher	Hagatha the Witch
Witch's Apprentice	Earthen Might	Bogshaper	Shudderwock
Ghost Light Angler	Murkspark Eel	-	-

Warlock cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Witchwood Imp	Dark Possession	Ratcatcher	Glinda Crowskin
Duskbat	Curse of Weakness	Deathweb Spider	Lord Godfrey
Fiendish Circle	Blood Witch	-	-

Warrior cards - The Witchwood

Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Woodcutter's Axe	Redband Wasp	Town Crier	Darius Crowley
Warpath	Militia Commander	Deadly Arsenal	Blackhowl Gun Turret
Rabid Worgen	Festeroot Hulk	-	-

Here are some quick confirmed facts about the breakdown of the cards that will be released with The Witchwood expansion:

Each class will receive two class-specific Legendaries. This has been an established pattern for some time now.
Cards that effectively already feature the Rush mechanic (such as Charged Devilsaur) will not have their keyword text changed. Unstable Evolution will similarly not be updated to accommodate the Echo keyword.
With regards to those special cards that demand an even or odd costed deck, cards costing 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 Mana will count as even. Cards costing 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 will be considered odd (naturally enough).

Baku the Mooneater / Genn Greymane Interactions

With regards to the Neutral Legendary Baku the Mooneater, this character's Battlecry will only affect the hero power you begin the game with. It won't interact with any of the Hero cards introduced with Knights of the Frozen Throne.

How does Baku affect your Hero Power in the first place though? The effect is basically identical to the transformation effects provided by our old favourite from The Grand Tournament, Justicar Trueheart.

Here's how the Justicar shook things up back then, and how Baku will similarly affect the meta!

Druid - Dire Shapeshift: Gain 2 Armor and +2 Attack this turn
Hunter - Ballista Shot: Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero
Mage - Fireblast Rank 2: Deal 2 damage
Paladin - The Silver Hand: Summon two 1 / 1 Recruits
Priest - Heal: Restore 4 Health
Rogue - Poisoned Daggers: Equip a 2 / 2 Weapon
Shaman - Totemic Slam: Summon a Totem of your choice
Warlock - Soul Tap: Draw a card [Cost reduced to 1 Mana]
Warrior - Tank Up!: Gain 4 Armor

Baku's partner in crime Genn Greymane is a slightly simpler affair to get acclimatised to. If your deck only contains even-cost cards, then Genn will reduce the cost of your Hero Power to just one Mana.

We've been working on a series of articles look at the impact of both of these new cards on all nine of the Hearthstone heroes. Check the following links for more detail in each case:

Baku the Mooneater	Genn Greymane
Odd Druid	Even Druid
Odd Hunter	Even Hunter
Odd Mage	Even Mage
Odd Paladin	Even Paladin
Odd Priest	Even Priest
Odd Rogue	Even Rogue
Odd Shaman	Even Shaman
Odd Warlock	Even Warlock
Odd Warrior	Even Warrior

New Shaman Hero card: Hagatha!

Back in August's Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion, Blizzard introduced the concept of Hero cards to Hearthstone. All nine heroes in the game received an alternative character with a devilish new hero power to help define them.

In the Witchwood expansion the Shaman only will receive a new Hero card, and it's the Witch of the Witchwood herself, Hagatha. Hagatha is described as a dark shaman who has twisted the woods around Gilneas.

Hagatha the Witch does three damage to all minions when played and grants you five points of Armour. You'll also gain a new passive Hero Power which pops a random Shaman spell into your hand every time you play a minion.

The Witchwood: Rush and Echo keywords

We've got a separated page dedicated to the new Witchwood keywords, but here are some quotes from the developers on how they work, taken straight from the trailer above:

”Echo means you can play the same card multiple times in the same turn. If you had six Mana, you could play Phantom Militia twice. If you had nine Mana you could play it three times. All kinds of crazy Echo cards are in the set.”

”Rush minions can attack other minions as soon as they enter the battlefield. It's not like Charge - only against minions. It's too powerful with Charge, but with Rush you can hit minions hard and fast.”

The Witchwood: Monster Hunt

Dungeon Run was an incredibly popular single-player addition to the game when Kobolds and Catacombs was released in December last year, and the team is building on that concept with Monster Hunt!

This new mode will see four intrepid adventurers (who are, in fact, completely new characters for the game) embark on a trip into the grim and foreboding forest. You'll need to steer your choice of hero through eight deadly encounters, before coming out top in a showdown with the mode's final boss.

Along the way you'll collect cards and other treasures that will strengthen your deck even further. It's all very reminiscent of Dungeon Run, but make sure you check out our complete Monster Hunt guide for all the latest info on the mode as it's revealed. We'll be adding in tips and tricks for beating the various encounters there as well, so expect lots of updates.

What fate will befall Dungeon Run when the new expansion arrives though? Well, the team has confirmed that Dungeon Run will still be available to play once The Witchwood arrives. As for its future after Kobolds and Catacombs rotates next year, that's less certain. As the designers themselves have acknowledged though, there's plenty of time to work that one out.

The Witchwood: Pre-order information

You can pre-order The Witchwood expansion over at the official site. Packs are only available after the expansion has been released, which will take place on or before the 30th April 2018.

The pre-order bundle costs £44.99 (or equivalent in your local currency), and contains 70 packs, rather than the 50 you typically get from a bundle of this cost. You'll also receive a special card back if you pre-order as well.

The Witchwood: New game board

As you surely could have guessed for yourself by now, The Witchwood will add a new playable game board to Hearthstone. Expect the usual secrets and interactions to mess around with at launch, but here's how the board looks in screenshot form:

The Witchwood: New card backs

There are two new card backs coming with The Witchwood and we've highlighted them for you below. The one on the left is for pre-ordering the expansion, while the one on the right is related to Monster Hunt. If it works the same as Dungeon Run, you'll receive this card back when you beat the challenge with all four of the unique heroes:

The Witchwood: Trailers, gameplay footage and cinematics

Here's all of the video content that's been released by Blizzard so far. Although we've posted it at the top of this page, we've also included the original reveal just to make sure we have everything in one place!

Announcement trailer