Hearthstone balance patch 17.4.1 goes live tomorrow

If you logged in to Hearthstone today, you were probably surprised by the fact that you had to download a patch.

This patch introduces the Felfire Story Adventure but also includes some balance changes that are set to go live tomorrow, June 18.

Anyone who’s played Hearthstone during the Ashes of Outland expansion knows how dominant the new Demon Hunter class has been. The Demon Hunter class has been nerfed several times already, but it remains one of the most powerful classes in the current meta. Now, another one of Demon Hunter’s primary cards will be on the receiving end of the nerf hammer.

At time of writing, Twin Slice is a zero-cost card that gives your Hero +1 attack for a turn and adds a Second Slice card to your hand. Second Slice also costs zero mana and gives your Hero +1 attack for a turn. In its new form, Twin Slice will cost one mana and give your Hero +2 attack for a turn. Second Slice will also cost one mana and grant +2 attack.

This is likely due in part to how powerful Twin Slice is when played alongside cards like Altruis the Outcast. This card deals one damage to all enemies anytime you play the right or leftmost card in your hand. Right now, Twin Slice gives you a potential combo with Altruis for zero mana.

In addition to the Twin Slice changes, this patch also introduces a number of balance updates for Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

• Lord Jaraxxus’ Hero Power Bloodfury will now cost one coin instead of two.
• Reno Jackson’s Hero Power Gonna Be Rich will now cost two coins instead of three.
• Millificient Manastorm’s Hero Power Tinker now gives Mechs in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1 instead of only +2 attack.
• Maiev Shadowsong’s Imprison has been changed so that minions you’ve made dormant no longer reduce the number of minions you see when refreshing Bob’s Tavern (unless you’re at Tier 6 and have two dormant minions in play, then it will reduce by one).

In addition to the Hero Power changes, a number of Battlegrounds minions have been updated too.

• Scavenging Hyena will now be a Tier 1 Beast instead of Tier 2.
• Rabid Saurolisk will now be a 3/2 Tier 2 Beast instead of a 3/1 Tier 1 Beast.
• Monstrous Macaw will now be a Tier 3 Beast instead of a Tier 2 Beast.

You can check out all of the exciting new balance changes when the patch goes live tomorrow.