The full Forged in the Barrens set has been revealed and it's time to look at all the new cards and look at how Demon Hunter will be doing this expansion. We'll be breaking each of the Demon Hunter cards down,
- You can see all the new cards in our Forged in the Barrens.
- Our deckbuilder will let you theorycraft your own decks using the new cards before the expansion arrives.
- You can simulate pack openings in our Forged in the Barrens Pack Opening simulator.
Keep in mind that this is an early look at the class before we've been able to play with the new cards, so while we try to be as accurate as possible in our predictions of what is to come, no one can perfectly predict the Hearthstone meta.
Demon Hunter Deck Themes in Forged in the Barrens
Demon Hunter gets support for a few notable themes, Deathrattle, Removal, and Aggro:
- Deathrattle - Death Speaker Blackthorn, Vengeful Spirit, Razorfen Beastmaster, Razorboar, Tuskpiercer
This is a brand-new archetype for Demon Hunter. It seems similar to the small token archetype DH had before, with the player being rewarded for killing their minions and spamming the board. It's going to be interesting to see if anything comes of this archetype. In addition to decks that are dedicated to spamming the deathrattles in a tempo/zoo fashion, there is also some potential for the deck's ability to cycle through a lot of cards very specifically.
- Removal - Kurtrus Ashfallen, Sigil of Flame
Since most of DH's cards are dedicated to the deathrattle synergy, there isn't much in the way of support for other packages. However, Kurtrus and Sigil of Flame are both quite powerful when it comes to dealing with minions in the early game. Kurtrus seems like he could find a home in a variety of DH decks, but Sigil of Flame is more suited to a Control or Combo deck.
- Aggro - Vile Call, Fury (Rank 1), Sigil of Silence
Another meager amount of cards for DH's non-deathrattle identity. Fury is the replacement for Twin Slice while Sigil of Silence seems to take the place of Consume Magic. Aggro DH fell out of favor after its last set of Darkmoon nerfs and it is too early to tell whether these will be able to bring it back.
Death Speaker Blackthorn
The supposedly 'big-payoff' for running deathrattle DH. The effect is admittedly very powerful, but the deathrattles available to DH and in Neutral aren't especially powerful outside of decent stats. This makes Blackthorn a potentially massive tempo threat the turn it is played, but pretty lacking in terms of any other kind of value. That said, the ability to instantly thin up to three cards out of your deck while also developing a threatening board could have its uses. It might make digging for combo pieces a bit easier or it might help reach some late-game payoff card.
The real tragedy of this card is that it is counter-synergistic with a lot of DH's other deathrattle cards. Things like Tuskpiercer and Vengeful Spirit draw deathrattle cards out of your deck while Blackthorn wants them to stay there so he can pull them out. I don't think this makes the cut in every list that invests in deathrattles, but its viability has the potential to increase substantially as more deathrattles come out over the next couple of years.
Kurtrus Ashfallen
Kurtrus is Demon Hunter's mercenary and is not that exciting of a card. Not saying that he isn't a good card, but he doesn't really push the envelope like Tamsin Roame or Plaguemaw the Rotting do. Kurtrus is a decent early-mid game removal tool that is quite reminiscent of Illidari Felblade, trading single-target damage for the ability to hit multiple targets. It can be very powerful to kill a couple of minions while developing a body, so I expect to see a fair amount of Kurtrus. I am not certain if he works this way, but I am also pretty sure that if your opponent only has one minion that he will strike it twice.
There really isn't much else to say about Kurtrus unfortunately. He's not a very interesting card and his application is very straightforward. Play him for a decent tempo swing and that's kind of it. He might be too slow if there is a dedicated aggro deck, but the inclusion of a decent Outcast removal card might mean that some of the Outcast synergy pushed in Darkmoon becomes more viable. He's also a great discover off of Illidari Studies.
Vengeful Spirit
Another piece to the deathrattle Demon Hunter puzzle, and quite a good one. Vengeful Spirit has the clear application of fetching deathrattles from the deck so they can be cycled with the likes of Razorboar and Razorfen Beastmaster, but the generalist 'Draw 2 deathrattle minions', means that it can draw any number of cards that might help out a more Control-oriented style for Demon Hunter, such as Taelan Fordring or the newly buffed Cairne Bloodhoof, even curving perfectly into Taelan. 4-mana 4/4 to tutor two cards is very powerful, and a tool that many over classes would be drooling over.
I don't have too much else to say about Spirit's applications (a trend that is true for many of the deathrattle synergies here), but I do wish if Blizzard was dedicated to pushing deathrattle DH that they would have used the 'spirit' flavor over the quilboar flavor that many of the other cards use. Especially the beast-related cards feel super out of place in DH and like they should have been Hunter cards all along. Alas, I don't suspect there will be changes in this regard.
Sigil of Flame
Sigil of Flame is reminiscent of Imprisoned Observer in that it provides a powerful delayed AoE that your opponent knows is coming and can play around with. Token-based strategies will have a difficult time dealing with this card early on since it heavily disincentivizes your opponent from developing anything more. Both Observer and Sigil also don't allow the opponent to react to the clear outside of simply not playing anything. Sigil is a bit better than Observer in this regard since it comes online earlier and does a larger amount of damage, becoming quite difficult for the opponent to play around.
Sigils' symmetrical board clear ability means that it can likely be played in a deck that doesn't try to develop its own board in the early game, such as a Control or Combo deck. The Il'gynoth OTK deck is keeping many of its tools, namely the required namesake, Mo'arg Artificer, Felscream Blast, and Eye Beam. With many other classes losing burst damage and a heavier emphasis on board interaction, Sigil of Flame might be exactly what the deck needs to climb a tier or two.
Razorfen Beastmaster
The first peak we got into Demon Hunter's puzzling new deathrattle synergy. People waited to see what would come of Blizzard's insistence on deathrattles in Demon Hunter, only to find that there really wasn't anything exciting. Beastmaster has two 'high roll pulls in Darkspear Berserker, Fishy Flyer, and Renowned Performer, which can create an annoying chain of deathrattles for your opponent to deal with. This whole package will probably see play in some form of a midrange deck with little flexibility elsewhere. While other cards in the package can thin out the deck, Beastmaster and Razorboar only pull from the hand and thus may have difficulty finding homes in decks that don't have heavy investment.
A potentially nifty use for Beastmaster and Razorboar is that they can make Outcast cards a tad easier to enable. If there is some unwieldy 3-4-cost deathrattle card clogging up your hand, pulling it out makes some needed space and positioning for Outcasts. However, I doubt this niche synergy is enough to get either card in a list that doesn't rely on using Demon Hunter's deathrattle package.
Tuskpiercer
Of all the janky deathrattle cards shoved onto Demon Hunter this expansion, this is the one I have the highest hopes for. For 1-mana you get to tutor a card and have a 1/2 weapon, which is a pretty nice value. What I like most about this and Vengeful Spirit is that they aren't reliant on the rest of the deathrattle package like Razorfen Beastmaster and Razorboar are. You can use Tuskpiercer to draw a specific card you may have built around or a generally good value card, such as Coilfang Warlord or Fel Summoner if you're chasing big demons.
I am very excited to see how the versatility of this card shapes deckbuilding for DH in the next couple of years. It can easily be run in a multitude of decks with the small caveat of including a good deathrattle or two, but that should be easy for even tempo or aggressive decks to do. The new Darkspear Berserker is a natural fit in faster decks.
Sigil of Silence
Demon Hunter is losing Consume Magic in the rotation, which was one of their more efficient ways to remove Taunt from minions so that they can reach the juicy enemy face. Sigil of Silence guarantees that you will be able to hit the enemy face since it will clear all enchantments off of enemy minions with no way for your opponent to interact with it. Since it is a Silence, it can also strip off any relevant enchantments, the most common and relevant ones being Taunt or Lifesteal. However, you could also apply this against Libram Paladins and heavily dissuade them from developing any Libram of Wisdom, lest they all get cleared.
Where Sigil falters is that unlike Consume Magic, Sigil doesn't cycle itself. What made Consume so strong was that it also drew a card when Outcasted. Sigil, while costing 0-mana and affecting the entire enemy board, still has no immediate positive effect on the board or your hand. What's more is that Kayn Sunfury is still around to bypass enemy taunts in a more immediate fashion. There is something to be said for Sigil of Silence opening a clear path for Illidari Inquisitor to hit the enemy face, but I think that Sigil of Silence will more commonly be generated than hard run.
Vile Call
Better(?) Landscaping for Demon Hunter. Unlike Druid, however, DH has a much harder time taking advantage of bodies on the board. While Druid has a plethora of buffs and synergies with minions sticking to the board, DH doesn't. On its face, two 2/2s for 3-mana is decent, decent is far from the power level Demon Hunter has gotten used to seeing in the past year. Demon Hunter is also losing a lot of its board swarm-synergy with the rotation, meaning that Vile Call is even less likely to find a home.
Vile Call does at least have a variety of decks that it could be run in. The swarm ability means it could be decent in a midrange or tempo deck while the two Lifesteal bodies might actually slot it well into a slower deck. The fact that it is cheap Demons on a spell also means that it won't anti-synergize with a big Demon archetype, so perhaps this sees some play despite its underwhelming appearance.
Razorboar
The smaller companion to Razorfen Beastmaster. I, unfortunately, have little insight regarding Razorboar since are both this and Beastmaster are essentially the same card with some number tweaks and will always be included in the exact same decks due to their inherent synergy. The two create a chain of summoning deathrattle minions that can be very annoying for the opponent to deal with, but that's kind of it.
Where some deathrattle packages in other classes such as Hunter also help maintain board presence, Demon Hunter's package relies more heavily on synergistic combinations, which severely limits the variety of decks that they can be included in. It kind of reminds me of Rogue's deathrattle-synergy, getting some very strong synergistic cards but lacking the 'oomph' in the deathrattles.
Fury
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Twin Slice is gone and Fury has some VERY large boots to fill. Fury doesn't really hold a candle to ol' Twin Slice, only really becoming better at turn 10+. What's more is that a Demon Hunter is losing Blade Dance, losing even more hero attack synergy. Fury might still be run if there is a demand for cheap attack gain in Demon Hunter, but the prospects for this card are looking grim.
There wasn't even that much of a push for Aggro DH this expansion, but I guess that means there are fewer competing spots for this card.
Theorycrafting Demon Hunter in Forged in the Barrens
I have a strange and unhealthy relationship with C'thun Demon Hunter. I always think its one of the best classes to push C'Thun, the Shattered since they can mill through their deck so fast. The new deathrattle package helps Demon Hunter draw even faster, cycling through all the deathrattle minions to get to the juicy C'thun pieces. The idea is that the deathrattle cards can provide enough pressure in the early-mid game to control the board and/or pressure the opponent while you assemble C'thun. Come late-game, you should have dealt enough damage to the enemy hero that C'thun can kill them even if they buffer the damage with minions on-board. Skull of Gul'dan's discount also works pretty well for getting your Razorboar and Razorfen Beastmaster to pull some otherwise expensive deathrattles. What's also nifty is that Taelan Fordring can immediately draw your C'thun later!
Closing Thoughts on Demon Hunter in Forged in the Barrens
Forged in Barrens is a weird time for Demon Hunter. None of the pre-established archetypes like Aggro, Swarm, or Big Demon got pushed very hard and instead, we are left with a very strange package of deathrattle cards. Since deathrattle is a universal keyword, it might only take a strong Neutral card to bring the archetype into the light. However, I do have some slight worry that this means Blizzard will be too afraid to print any strong Neutral deathrattles that cost 4 or less. The community has been wrong about cards before, and I think that there might be a place for deathrattle Demon Hunter in the meta. If nothing else, I look forward to finding new ways to meme around with the archetype.
What do you think about Demon Hunter in Forged in the Barrens? Let us know in the comments below!
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Comments
DH is just a fish out of water in the dry outback setting of Barrens. Sure there's some Warlocks and demon activity but it's mostly desert and beasts.
Personally, I would have liked it if blizzard developed demon hunters existing archetypes a bit more before chasing after new ones. Big Demon Hunter and Token Demon Hunter were never really played much. I can understand them not printing more support for the same old aggro demon hunter, but this deathrattle package seems kind of random and disjointed.
Actually I really dislike the current DH playstyle (I'm more the control player) and Deathrattle Demon Hunter is the deck I'm most excited to try out when the new xpac hits.
Kurtrus Ashfallen highly likely works like Zai, the Incredible since they're worded similarly. Zai adds two copies of one card if she and that card are the only ones in your hand. Haven't found him in Duels, yet, but that is what I'm betting on. For DrDH, I think it'll fit nicely in Wild due to all the previous Deathrattles over the years. But Blizz is going to have to add some nice ones with the mini-set because it doesn't look that good for DH going into Barrens, especially in Wild.
Edit: Managed to get Kurtrus in Duels. He does NOT work like Zai. He only attacks once if there is only one enemy minion on the field.
Turn 6 going into turn 7 you'll see.
Well that sucks, maybe it's an oversight and they'll change it in the next patch?
Looks like this line wandered in from the Warlock preview:
Ack, thanks for the heads up! Clean up now :)
Got proof that Kurtrus doesn't double attack if there is only one enemy minion on the field.