Hearthstone: How are the classes doing nerf update

Hearthstone: December 2018 balance update, a bunch of leaves were nerfed

Recently, Blizzard has nerfed a bunch of cards, affecting decks like Odd Paladin and Kingsbane Rogue. This update also affects the Druid class when Nourish and Wild Growth were changed.

It’s still too early to predict how they will affect the current meta, so we can use the track deck tool at HS Replay to get a rough idea of ​​how players react. HS Repaly uses the most downloaded track deck software in the game to see which decks gamers are having the most success with.

In terms of win rate, Hunter, Warrior and Paladin are at the top. Paladin previously had the highest win rate, but has now dropped due to the nerf Odd Paladin. However, Paladin is still one of the three classes with a win rate above 50%, so don’t expect the Paladin class to disappear completely. Sure, gamers will take a little more time to find alternatives to Level Up in the deck, but for now, Paladin is still living well in the meta.

It seems that Druid is the class most affected by these changes. Out of a total of 9 classes, Druid currently has the lowest win rate, reaching 43%. The number of Druid players also dropped to the bottom of the table. Nourish and Wild Growth play an important role in this process, but surely gamers will soon find a new way to use Druid.

Hunter is still the top deck in terms of win rate and popularity, leading many on the Hearthstone reddit to wonder why this class hasn’t been mentioned yet. Secret and Spell Hunter have continued to dominate the game since Rastakhan’s Rumble launched on December 4, and the changes to Paladin, Rogue, Druid make Hunter stronger. Maybe Blizzard still doesn’t know how to balance the deck without changing the new hero card, Zul’Jin.

Zul’jin is the cause of the Hunter explosion. This card allows Hunter to cast all spells he has cast in that game, in one turn. This means that the cards used secret and cards used to deal damage, or summon minions are all recast.

There are many ways to defeat Spell/Secret Hunter with other classes. However, with a 52% win rate and 31% popularity (followed by Warlock at just 13%), it’s clear that Hunter is out of control.

Another class that has a high win rate and popularity despite being nerfed is Rogue. The class is currently the third most popular and has the fifth highest win rate. Kingsbane is still the most prominent archetype deck, so don’t worry if you spend a lot of dust on this deck and assume it’s useless after the nerf.

While this discussion only took place a few days after the update, it does give you some idea of ​​how people reacted when Blizzard changed the game. Druid used to be one of the most popular decks in the ladder and people now consider it useless. It may take some time for the Druid experts to find a new direction for the class, so don’t think that the Druid is ‘dead’.

When the first expansion of 2019 comes out, that means dozens of cards in the Standard will rotate, including The Frozen Throne. When the Frozen Throne is rotached, most of the Hero cards will be unusable in Standard. This will change the meta so much, no one knows how the game will turn out at that point.

If your favorite deck is nerfed, don’t worry. It is highly likely that the early 2019 meta will be changed rapidly.