The all-new March of the Lich King Hearthstone expansion features the Death Knight class, Undead minions, Runes and the Manathirst keyword! Here are the details.
The next Hearthstone expansion is March of the Lich King, and it introduces the Death Knight class, Undead minions and the Manathirst keyword! The new Hearthstone expansion also features Runes for the Death Knight class plus 203 new cards and will launch on December 6th.
Death Knight class arrives in Hearthstone with Corpses!
March of the Lich King introduces the Death Knight class in Hearthstone. When players complete a free prologue, they will unlock this 11th playable class. According to Blizzard, this class comes with 68 class cards, including 32 free Core Set cards.
The Death Knight class in Hearthstone has the Ghoul Charge hero power plus makes use of the new Corpse resource mechanic.
Here are the details:
- Ghoul Charge: Summons a 1/1 Ghoul with Charge. It dies at the end of the turn.
- Corpse: Every time a friendly minion dies, it’s counted as a Corpse.
In addition to Battlefield Necromancer, here are some more Corpse cards from the new expansion:
- Army of the Dead (5 mana, Shadow spell, Holy rune): Raise up to 5 Corpses as 2/2 Risen Ghouls with Rush.
- Corpse Explosion (5 mana, Shadow spell, Blood rune): Detonate a Corpse to deal 1 damage to all minions. If any are still alive, repeat this.
- Vampiric Blood (2 mana, Blood rune): Give your hero +5 Health. Spend 3 Corpses to gain 5 more and draw a card.
- Defrost (2 mana, Frost spell, Frost rune): Draw a card. Spend 2 Corpses to draw another.
- Lord Marrowgar (8 mana 9/7, Undead, Unholy rune): Battlecry: Raise ALL of your Corpses as 1/1 Risen Golems with Rush. For each that can't fit, give one +2/+2.
Undead minion type in March of the Lich King
Undead minions in March of the Lich King emphasize the power of characters who just keep coming back. Minions from previous expansions have been updated with the Undead minion tag to showcase this. What this also means is that some minions are now dual types.
Here are some Undead minions in addition to Invincible, Patchwerk and Lord Marrowgar:
- Nerubian Flyer (2 mana 2/3, Undead): Battlecry: If a friendly Undead died after your last turn, summon a 2/2 Nerubian.
- Gnome Muncher (6 mana 5/6, Undead, Blood rune): Taunt, Lifesteal. At the end of your turn, attack the lowest Health enemy.
- Bone Flinger (2 mana 2/3, Undead): Battlecry: If a friendly Undead died after your last turn, deal 2 damage.
- Scourge Rager (3 mana 5/4, Undead): Reborn. Battlecry: Die.
- Unliving Champion (3 mana 3/2, Undead): Battlecry: If a friendly Undead died after your last turn, summon two 3/2 Zombies.
- Skeletal Sidekick (1 mana 1/2, Undead): Battlecry: Give a friendly Undead +2 Attack.
Meanwhile, as one can see from Scourge Ranger and Invincible, the Reborn keyword is returning and staying as a mechanic.
Manathirst keyword in Hearthstone
Speaking of keywords, Manathirst is the new one arrive in March of the Lich King. Cards with the Manathirst keyword have additional powers when players have enough mana. Additionally, Mana is not consumed to trigger the bonus effect.
A couple of other Manathirst cards include:
- Arcane Bolt (1 mana, Arcane spell): Deal 2 damage. Manathirst (8): Deal 3 damage instead.
- Sunfury Clergy (3 mana 2/4): Battlecry: Restore 3 Health to all friendly characters. Manathirst (6): Restore 6 Health instead.
With March of the Lich King, the next expansion for Blizzard’s digital card game, players will take up the mantle of the new Death Knight class, plus apply a new layer to deckbuilding with Runes, exclusive to Death Knights.
Runes in Hearthstone: a new system for deckbuilding
The Death Knight class also uses the all-new Rune system for Blood, Frost and Unholy abilities. While Blood has health manipulation for control gameplay, Frost consists of icy spells for direct damage. As for Unholy, it’s good for getting swarms of minions across the in-game board.
Here's how these Runes can be used for building decks:
- Blood Runes: Fight for board control and play big minions. These decks drain opponents thanks to health manipulation magic.
- Frost Runes: Blast opponents with icy and direct damage. These types of decks involve spell synergy and mana control. The icy part means freezing enemies as well.
- Unholy Runes: Make use of the new Corpse resource mechanic by raising Undead armies. These decks let players flood the board with minions.
Below are more cards with rune indicators:
- Blood Boil (5 mana, Shadow spell, Blood rune): Lifesteal. Infect all enemy minions. At the end of your turns, they take 2 damage.
- Dark Transformation (2 mana, Shadow spell, Unholy rune): Transform an Undead into a 4/5 Undead Monstrosity with Rush.
- Plague Strike (2 mana, Shadow spell, Unholy rune): Deal 3 damage to a minion. If that kills it, summon a 2/2 Zombie with Rush.
- Glacial Advance (3 mana, Frost spell, Frost rune): Deal 4 damage. Your next spell this turn costs (2) less.
- Horn of Winter (0 mana, Frost spell, Frost rune): Refresh 2 Mana Crystals.
- Obliterate (2 mana, Blood rune): Destroy a minion. Your hero takes damage equal to its Health.
- Overseer Frigidara (6 mana 5/6, Frost rune): Battlecry: Draw 2 spells. If they're both Frost spells, deal 2 damage to all enemies.
Legendary Cards and Knights of the Frozen Throne returns
“Upon logging in to the game, players will also receive the first ever neutral Legendary spell, The Sunwell, to help fight against the advancing Scourge,” Blizzard also revealed.
As Hearthstone players anticipate the March of the Lich King expansion, they can enjoy some Knights of the Frozen Throne shenanigans. Cards from the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion have returned to Standard on a temporary basis. These cards are also free to every player as part of the Core Set until the launch of March of the Lich King!