28.4.1 Patch Notes

Patch 28.4.1, launching today, brings bug fixes and balance changes to Hearthstone and Battlegrounds!

Dev Comment: This is our first balance patch after the launch of the Delve into Deepholm mini-set. The overall goal of the patch is to help the mini-set launch in two ways: 1) reducing the power and popularity of some of the dominant decks from before the mini-set that are continuing to see lots of play; and 2) toning down some mini-set cards that didn’t land how we wanted.

It’s too early in the new meta for buffs, but we’ll keep an eye out for those opportunities in our upcoming balance patches. Looking a little further ahead, some of the cards we’re adjusting are cards that will be rotating out of Standard with the next expansion—we'll take another look at them when the time comes to see if they should be reverted once they’re out of Standard.

Velarok the Deceiver (created by Velarok Windblade)

Shattershambler

Dev Comment: Excavate Rogue is an example of a pre-mini-set deck that we wanted to tone down a little to make room for new strategies. We’re happy that our recent buff to Velarok has facilitated this deck that people clearly love playing, and we don't want to undo that, but it’s just a bit too powerful and popular. These changes to Velarok and Shattershambler reduce the early-game blowout potential of Excavate Rogue to keep what’s fun about playing the deck, but give opponents more of an opportunity to respond.

Cactus Construct

Herald of Nature

Pendant of Earth

Shattered Reflections

Dew Process

Dev Comment: There were a few powerful Druid archetypes that we wanted to address in this patch. Cactus Construct is a powerful card across Druid decks that had room to be a bit weaker. The Herald of Nature change makes early Treant Druid boards a little easier to react to. Pendant of Earth was adjusted so that it can still be a strong defensive tool later in the game, but isn’t as strong as an early, proactive stall tool. Shattered Reflections was causing too many