Hearthstone arena what cards to take. The first steps in the arena - from noob to gladiator. Types of winning decks

hearthstonetopdecks has created a stunningly detailed guide to playing the Arena for beginners. I just couldn't help but translate it. Be careful, 14 pages A4 :)

This guide is designed to help beginners understand how the Arena works in Hearthstone. The main goal of the guide is to teach how to play endless arenas. This way you can get a source of endless gold in Hearthstone and combine it with very interesting gameplay. The guide is divided into several parts and will take you from a basic understanding of the arena to various intricacies of the game that only professional players understand. By studying the information in this article, you can become an Arena legend.

Introductory part
While playing in the arena, I see that many newcomers simply enter this mode without any idea of what they actually need to do here, they are defeated without a chance by players with experience, as a result of which newcomers feel disappointed and get a very unpleasant experience of playing in the mode. they have no motivation left to appear here anymore.
Hearthstone is only considered beginner friendly. Of course, there were some changes to improve the situation, but with each new addition the game becomes more and more complex and incomprehensible for those who start playing it.
Hearthstone has a reputation for being a "pay-to-win" game, and to some extent this is true. This seems to be true if you want to build a large collection of cards for competitive play. It is extremely difficult to do this as a beginner. I myself have been in the shoes of a “free” player and am familiar with this problem firsthand. Everything changed when I discovered the magic of the Arena.

The importance of the arena for beginners
With the release of each new addition, the importance of the arena is growing more and more, since at the moment it is the main way to earn a lot of gold in the shortest possible time. Instead of spending gold on boosters (you should almost never do this, the only exception being if you only want cards from a specific expansion and have little Arena experience), you should invest your gold in Arena and make a profit from it. Even if you play terribly and only achieve 3 wins on average, 150 gold is still worth it. You get a set of cards (100 gold), 20-25 gold, and you also get either an additional card or an additional 20-25 gold or dust. By the way, as a rule, the value of dust exceeds the value of gold. Well, of course, our goal is to make sure that we don’t stop at 3 wins. We need profit, a lot of profit!

The amount of gold received depending on the number of victories

Source: ArenaMastery

How can you start making a stable profit from the arena? You need to reach the average mark of 7. It is from this moment that the pure gold received for the Arena will allow you to start the next one. If you play better than 7 wins, this will be your net, very high profit.

Average amount of gold depending on the number of victories.

Source: ArenaMastery

I'll be honest with you, achieving a consistent seven wins every time you enter the arena is not that easy. According to a reddit post, only 9% of players can reach this mark. I think this can be somewhat demotivating. The average player in the arena reaches 3 victories. However, there is no need to despair. When you don't achieve the results you want, you just need to focus on improving your own skills as a player. It will be useful. If you are able to identify your own mistakes, you will improve from trip to trip.
Also, everything you learn in the arena will definitely help you in ranked play. Your skill in making correct exchanges especially grows.

Part 1: Arena Classes

As you know, there are 9 different classes in Hearthstone, each of them has unique abilities and characteristics, it is very important to understand all the strengths and weaknesses of your class. This will help you choose the right cards in the arena to maximize your potential and minimize your weaknesses. So that you understand which class is better to choose, just below you can find a list for all classes.
To maximize our chance of winning, we need to try to pick a Tier 1 class whenever possible. The point is that these classes have the strongest tool sets for the arena. I'm not saying that it's completely impossible to get 12 wins as a Warrior, however, it will be much more difficult, since the nature of this class, at the moment, is practically not designed for this mode.

Tier 1: Mage, Rogue, Paladin
Tier 2: Hunter, Warlock, Priest
Tier 3: Shaman, Druid, Warrior

To help you get to know these classes better, I will talk below about the strengths and weaknesses of each. This will help you understand what to expect when choosing or playing against all Tier 1 and Tier 2 classes.

Mage

Strengths

Universal Hero Power
Can adapt to any situation
Great class cards
Massive removal can win the match on its own

Weak sides

Small number of class creatures
May end up in a situation where the hand consists of defensive and situational cards

Key cards
[Wave of Fire], [Volcanic Potion], [Portal: Firelands], [Petroglyph], [Meteor], [Polymorph], [Arcanologist], [Water Elemental]
Mage has always been a strong choice for the arena and continues to be the most picked class. According to Arena mastery, 23% of players try to choose it. The main reason is that the hero power of this class is amazingly strong, and also the Mage class cards are very unbalanced in places. A recent expansion brought cards like [Meteor] and [Petroglyph] to the class, taking its already powerful arsenal to a whole new level. The mage has a huge amount of mass and targeted removal, which makes it easy to return to a seemingly completely disastrous match.

Robber

Strengths

Great Hero Power for Arena
Strong targeted removal
Can use own health as a resource in order to gain predominantly early table
Generates a lot of tempo thanks to the “chain of moves” mechanic

Weak sides

Very picky about cards with low mana costs to activate “trick combo”.
Has virtually no chance of winning if there are a lot of expensive creatures in your hand
Virtually no healing
Easily destroyed by aggressive decks

Key cards
[Backstab], [Poisoned Weapon], [SI:7 Agent], [Daze], [Evisceration], [Assassination], [Bloodthirsty Spiteful].
With the release of Journey to Un'Goro, Rogue has proven to be one of the best classes in the arena, as it has gained powerful cards like [Poisoned Weapon] and [Bloodthirsty Maleficent] that allow it to make incredible moves at incredible speed. When playing this class, you definitely need to be prepared for the fact that your opponent can destroy you in a few moves. This is especially true in matches against Mages and Hunters; sometimes they can completely ignore table control.

Paladin

Strengths

Powerful buff spells
Excellent arsenal of weapons
High-quality class creatures allow you to reliably control the board
Has a lot of healing

Weak sides

There are no powerful targeted removal spells
Limited Mass Removal
It's extremely difficult to recoup

Key cards
[Silver Blade], [Seal of Kings], [Consecration], [Crested Steed], [Aldor Peacemaker], [Hawcutter], [Hydrologist], [Defender of the Hills], [Dinosaur].
Once upon a time, paladins were the absolute best class for the arena, but quite a lot of time has passed since then. After the card rotation at the beginning of the year, the class lost [Murloc Knight], [Guardian of Uldaman], and [Seal of Champions]. Playing as a Paladin is a constant concern for board control, as well as a constant regret that the removal of this class is limited, and those that are available are absolutely straightforward and obvious. Once the Paladin loses control of the board, it becomes almost impossible to regain it, since the range of any removal spells is extremely limited. However, the class still has a large number of special cards that allow the Paladin not to slide into Tier 2.

Hunter

Strengths

Aggressive play style
Can create a lot of tempo with [Deadly Shot] and [Frost Trap]
Can easily take control of the table in the early game

Weak sides

Small amount of mass removal
The deck is quite weak to taunts and healing
It's very difficult to get back into the game

Key cards
[Gem Macaw], [Sparkling Sharptooth], [Painful Bite], [Pet], [Houndmaster], [Unleash the Dogs], [Eagle Horn Bow] and [Savanna Highmane].
The Hunter is in the middle of the list of the best classes. His Hero Power supports aggressive or tempo-oriented playstyles, so you shouldn't choose slow archetypes for this class. The current arena meta is hardly a good fit for the hunter. Yes, there are a lot of Rogues here, however, at the same time there are also a lot of healing and taunts.

Warlock

Strengths

Uses own health as a resource to gain an advantage in the number of cards
Good mass and targeted removal
Decent class creatures

Weak sides

Can be easily destroyed by aggressive decks
Almost all massive removal spells also damage the Warlock himself.

Key cards
[Mighty Abyssal], [Dread Infernal], [Blast-Crystal Potion], [Darkshire Council Member], [Costic Face], [Doomguard], [Soul Siphon].
Warlock was once the best Arena class. He uses his Hero Power to put himself in a better situation due to his card advantage. However, the recent card rotation has reduced the power of this class, depriving it of such powerful cards as [Black Archaeologist] and [Imp Gang Leader]. In return, the Warlock did not receive any particularly useful class cards. Also, in the latest update, the developers reduced the chance of the appearance of [Mighty Abyssal], which sharply increases the class’s win rate. Since the Warlock's Hero Power does not directly affect the board, it is extremely easy for other classes to capture him at the very beginning of the game and calmly bring the match to Victory

Priest

Strengths

Can use his hero power to trade creatures more effectively
Powerful targeted removal
Can gain card advantage

Weak sides

Very vulnerable to creatures with 4 attack units
A huge number of useless and situational spells that are very weak in the Arena

Key cards
[Talon Priest from Cabal], [Power Word: Shield], [Shadow Word: Death], [Shadow Word: Pain] [Northshire Cleric], [Potion of Madness], [Potion of Dragonfire].
Priest is one of the few classes that didn't lose a lot of key cards in the past annual rotation. Moreover, he also received a lot of good quality cards, like [Thing of Amber], [Shining Elemental] or [Crystal Oracle]. However, this class is very sensitive to how you run your Arena card draw, which will determine how effective your Hero Power is. Especially your success will depend on whether you can find a sufficient number of cards that will increase the health of your creatures. These include [Talon Priest from Cabal] and [Power Word: Shield]. The strength of the Priest is that he can use his hero power for one of the most important elements of the Arena - for exchanges. At the same time, unlike, for example, a Paladin, who creates tokens with his hero power, he must constantly have creatures on the board in order to cast his spells. Otherwise, the Priest will simply skip moves and do nothing.

Part 2. Selecting cards

Now that you've learned about choosing the right class, it's time to learn how to build your own deck. It is the process of collecting a deck that is perhaps the most important thing that will happen to you in the near future, since it determines your playing style, your victory conditions. It's important to match your choices to your chosen class to make the most of the synergy between the two.
Your deck will consist of class and neutral creatures, as well as a number of spells. I will explain how to choose the proportion between these components of the clade. This will help you understand the different aspects and characteristics of Hearthstone creatures.
In general, I classify creatures into three groups:

Value
Effect
Situational

Value reflects the number of characteristics a creature has. The more stats it has compared to other creatures for the same mana cost, the more valuable the creature is. There is such a thing as Vanilla Test, Vanilla cards may not have any additional special attributes or effects, however, due to their excellent characteristics, they are superior to many other creatures.
The simplest examples are [Resin Guardian], which is always better than [Am'gham's Fury], and [Ice Fury] is always better than [Magma Fury]. Below is an example of one such Vanilla test.

You can see that all these creatures successfully pass the Vanilla Test, since even the first creature has 5 units of characteristics for two units of Mana, and each subsequent creature has +1\+1 for 1 unit. mana.
However, this is a very straightforward example. Let's think about what to choose if in front of you is [Skilled Gangster] and [Priestess of Elune]. Both cards cost 6 mana, however, their effects are completely different. [Skilled Gangster] has 14 stat points, which is superior to [Big Fist Ogre] 6/7, which has 13 stat points. [Priestess of Elune] has 9 stat points, which is a far cry from the standard 13 points, so essentially you're paying 4 stat points for an effect that restores 4 health points to your hero. Who should I choose?
Of these two options, you need to choose [Skilled Gangster], since it has significantly better characteristics, and most importantly, the amount of health, because [Priestess of Elune] can be killed by [Illusionist], which costs only 3 units of mana. So if this happens, you will quickly find yourself lagging behind and these 4 units. your hero's health will not help you in any way.
What are “effect cards”? The name says it all, these are those cards that have a special attribute that does something important. You will rarely come across a choice of several cards with a good effect, so as a rule, the questions “which card with an effect should I choose?” will not arise. By good effect I mean that this card will be useful in almost any situation. These are, for example, [Treasure Collector], [Slum Trader], [Prehistoric Dragon].
But situational cards belong to the third type. To activate them, some important conditions must be met. Without them, the card will not bring maximum benefit. Such cards include, for example, elementals and cards that require playing an elemental during the previous turn. Situational maps also include technical maps. One of the most notable examples is [Hungry Crab], which requires a Murloc on the board in order to get the most out of it. You will lose tempo if you play this card without an activator and gain tempo if you play it with an additional condition. Other popular options for situational cards in the arena are [Voracious Slime] and [Mental Technician]. Remember that you don't always have to try to play these cards to their maximum advantage, sometimes it is better to play [Voracious Slime] on turn 3 without its Battlecry instead of skipping that turn.

Every time you draft a card, your goal is to create a combination of these three creature types, but in certain proportions. There should be no more situational cards than valuable cards or cards with effects. When you choose a situational or effect card, you should ask yourself how the card fits into your class, as well as pay attention to the stats. If you're playing a control class like Mage or Priest, health is more important than attack. So you should choose a 4/5 creature instead of a 5/4. By analogy, when playing an aggressive class like Hunter, you should choose a creature with a high attack rating.
Another very important aspect during drafting is the mana curve, which depends on the class you choose. You shouldn’t bother with this from the first moves, but by map 20-25, pay attention to this if you already have a lot of heavy creatures for 6 or 7 units. mana, you must definitely dilute them with small creatures for 2 units. mana, because if you skip your turns and don’t summon small creatures, you simply won’t have time to play later creatures, and your opponent will kill you faster.
At the end of your draft, your mana curve should look something like the one below. They roughly demonstrate mana curves for different playstyles. Keep in mind that these are only 3 of many ways to play this mode. You could very well build a Hunter deck with a lot of heavy minions and use a more controlling playstyle. However, these three options are the most common archetypes in the arena.

Control. This is an example of a deck with a strong late game. You may be surprised by the number of cards for two mana, but you will need them in order to take the game to a later stage where you will max out your deck. The goal is to take control of the early table and maintain it until the late game, where your cards will be more valuable than your opponent's. As a rule, Priests, Warlocks, and Mages use exactly this mana curve.

Aggressive. The absolute opposite of the previous style. Built on a huge number of creatures for a low amount of Mana. You won't have any tools to win the late game, but you don't really need to. Your task is to destroy your opponent as early as possible, until he can stabilize the situation. Great for classes like Hunter, Rogue, and even Mage if you can build the right deck for it.

Midrange. This archetype fills the zone that lies between the aggressive and control archetypes. As a rule, he goes for 4-mana creatures and this option often turns out to be very versatile. He has quite a few creatures to take control from the first turns, but the deck also has every chance of winning in a prolonged match. This tactic is best suited for the Paladin, since this class has a very large number of powerful cards for 4 mana, but, however, any class can build a similar deck.
For beginners, the drafting process can be very difficult because they are simply not familiar with most of these cards. So it often makes sense to use external services to evaluate cards. For example, Heartharena. This is a great additional feature that will tell you the rating of each card you are offered during the draft. Additionally, this app also tracks your mana curve and increases or decreases your card rating based on it so that you don't end up with bad decks. This is a great starting point. Keep in mind that these estimates are not the ultimate truth; sometimes you should trust your own feelings. The application is available only to PC users, but the site is accessible from any platform.

Part 3. How to play in the Arena?

Now that you've fully built your own deck, it's time to start the match. However, before you click the “Search Opponent” button, take a look at your deck and ask yourself questions

“What kind of deck do I have?
“Is it about getting the most value out of the cards, or is it a tempo deck?”
“How can I win?”

This will mentally prepare you to create a game plan against your future opponents.

Mulligan
The first action you take during a match in Hearthstone is you look at your hand and discard the cards you don't need. You only want cards that you can use in the early game to compete for board control, so as a general rule, you should discard all cards that cost 3 mana or more. However, there are situations where you might want to keep something heavy if you already have a few early game cards. For example, you have [Fireman], [Amanian Berserker], [Voracious Slime], and also [Frosty Yeti]. In this case, it's wise to keep your entire hand to effectively play minions on the mana curve.

Exchanges
In the arena it is almost never possible to simply attack the opponent's face; even the most aggressive decks try to make trades that are profitable for themselves. If you keep your opponent's board empty, you reduce the risk that he can strengthen his creature and make a trade that is favorable to him. Your task is to try with all your might to prevent him from gaining control of the table.
At the same time, if all possible exchanges on the table are not favorable to you, you can try to become an aggressor and try to destroy your opponent’s hero. If you're not sure whether to trade, ask yourself these questions:

“How important is possible damage to the face?”
“What can my opponent do to punish me if I don’t trade?”
“How will this punishment affect my situation?”

If after these questions you feel that face damage is more valuable or punishing your opponent will not have much impact on your situation, go all-in and attack your opponent’s hero.
For example, in the late game you have [Bittertide Hydra] on the board while your opponent has [Young Brewmaster] on the board. In such a situation, of course, you need to attack the opponent's face to deal 8 damage. Why? First of all, because the opponent will not put up with your creature with eight attack units on the table in any case, and if he has some kind of removal, he will definitely use it. If you attack with [Hydra of Bittertides] an enemy [Young Brewmaster], then you will, of course, kill this 3/2 creature, however, the opponent can simply use [Portal: Firelands] or [Fireball] to finish off your [ Hydra of Bitter Waves] and then the opponent will not receive 8 points of damage. If you attack an opposing hero, he will also kill your [Bitter Waves Hydra] with a spell + his own creature, but at the same time he will have 8 less health.
But there is also a situation where your opponent can severely punish you for refusing to exchange. For example, you have [Talon Priest from Cabal] on the board, while the Paladin has [Warden of Mirkwood]. You decide to attack the face instead of trading with the creature. What can happen in this case:

The paladin will cast a creature for 4 units. mana, so you'll do it right by hitting three to the face.
The paladin will pick up [Silver Blade] and kill your 3/4 creature, and his 3/3 will remain on the table.
The paladin will cast [Seal of Kings] on his 3\3 minion, turning it into a 7\7, then trade with your minion and have a 7\4 minion on the board.
The paladin uses [Portal: Silvermoon] on a 3\3 creature, boosts it to 5\5, then trades with yours, as a result he will have two creatures on the table: 5\2 and a random one for 2 units. mana.

As I said earlier, the Paladin's strength lies in strong buff cards, which often cost 4. mana. So, almost always the best solution is to trade with creatures in order to prevent the opponent’s class from realizing the full potential.

Game Around Secrets
Paladins, Mages, Hunters are the classes that have access to secrets. This type of card is very powerful, so you have to predict which secret your opponent might have. If you are careful, you can minimize the negative effects.

Against Mage:

[Reflected Essence] and [Potion of Transmutation] are activated when you play a minion. First, for testing, you should summon some of your weak creatures.
[Anti-Magic] and [Mana Bond] are activated when you cast a spell. Try to play something less important first. For example, [Coin].
[Steam Turn] or [Ice Barrier] activates when a creature attacks an opponent's face. Always attack with the weaker creature first.
[Spellbinder] activates when your spell targets a creature. Play less valuable spells first.
[Ice Block] activates when lethal damage is dealt to an opponent. Try to ensure that your opponent has 1 unit before activating the ice block. health. This will help you finish him off the next turn.

Against the Hunter:

[Frost Trap] activates when you attack with a creature. Attack with either a low-cost creature or a creature with a useful warcry.
[Focus Cotus] activates when you cast a spell. Try to cast cheap spells first and then kill the cat with your massive removal.
[Explosive Trap] or [Redirection] activates when your creature attacks an opponent's face. Try to trade your 2 units first. health and then attack the face. [Redirection] is better to lure out with a creature with a small amount of attack.
[Snake Trap] activates when you attack an opponent's minion. Try not to attack his creatures until you can respond to the snakes.

Against Paladin:

[Tit for Tat] activates when your opponent takes damage from any source. Try to use your hero power or the creature with the lowest attack first.
[Self Sacrifice] activates when you attack with a creature or weapon. Choose the right tactics. Attack first with a creature you don't want to trade, or conversely, activate the secret first with something less valuable, and then attack a creature with more attack.
[Repentance] activates when you play a minion. Play a minion with less health first, ideally one.
[Retribution] or [Kodo Escape] activates when you kill an opponent's minion. First, kill some weak enemy creature with a harmless battle cry, the ideal option is a creature that the paladin creates with his hero power.

Don't be afraid of secrets. By keeping them in mind, you can choose when to activate them. For example, let's imagine that you are playing a Mage against another Mage, and the opponent played a secret. You attacked your opponent's hero, so you know the secret doesn't interact with your creatures, and when you cast a spell, you know it doesn't react to the spell. Your hands are free. However, if you are not sure that the opponent does not have [Anti-Magic], the best supplies, for example, are your [Portal: Firelands], even if some of the opponent’s creatures have such an attractive 5 units of health. If you spend mana on a spell and nothing comes out, there's a high chance you'll lose. So, it’s better to wait for some cheaper and useless spell to check what secret your opponent has.
The game is around the opponent's removal.
You should always keep in mind that your opponent can play massive removal at any time and clear your table. So, do not oversaturate the battlefield, this is one of the main conditions in the correct game. This means that it is better to keep some cards in your hand so as not to give them to your opponent just like that. For example, you are playing against a Mage, your opponent's next turn will be the seventh, and you have [Ancient Brewmaster], [Dark Iron Dwarf] and [Frosty Yeti] on the board. And the opponent has no creatures. In this case, you have two choices - you can play some creature from your hand and with some chance it will also be destroyed by a wave of fire, or you can not play it. If your opponent decides to use [Fire Wave] in this situation, you will still have a 4\1 creature on the board, and your opponent will have an empty board. So, in this particular situation, it is much better not to play anything. However, if your opponent's [Fire Wave] was destroying all of your minions, it would make sense to play some minion with 5+ health. health. Although it would be severely injured, you would still retain control of the table.
You must always remember all the massive removal of your opponent. You can even write them down for yourself and hang them in front of your eyes.

Mage: [Arcane Blast], [Cone of Cold], [Blizzard], [Wave of Fire], [Volcanic Potion]
Rogue: [Betrayal], [Fan of Blades], [Vanish]
Paladin: [Equality], [Consecration], [Avenging Wrath]
Priest: [Ring of Light], [Potion of Dragonfire]
Druid: [Swipe], [Starfall]
Shaman: [Forked Lightning], [Portal: Maelstrom], [Thunderstorm], [Volcano]
Hunter: [Explosive Trap], [Painful Bite], [Volley], [Explosive Shot]
Warlock: [Hellfire], [Twisting Nether], [Doom!]
Warrior: [Whirlwind], [Cleave], [Brawl]

Remember that proper positioning of minions on the board is very important against some types of massive removal. And the effectiveness of [Meteor], [Painful Bite] and [Explosive Shot] will depend on how you place your creatures. Place the most valuable creatures on the far left and on the far right sides.
If you have two removal spells in mind, play against the one that will hurt your board situation the most. I remember a situation when I was playing against a Warlock, on my board there was [Insidious Hatchling] and a pack of other creatures for 1-2 mana. When I attacked the opponent's hero with a chick, I decided to choose me with +3 health units or disguise. I decided that the opponent could easily deal with [Cunning Hatchling] with the help of his targeted spells and chose disguise. However, I was wrong, my opponent had [Hellfire] and he cleared my entire table. If my [Cunning Hatchling] was killed by a targeted removal like [Blast Crystal Potion], there would still be enough minions left on the board to win this matchup. So, of course, I would need to choose +3 health, then my [Cunning Hatchling] would survive [Hellfire].

Adaptation to the situation
Games don't always go according to your plan; the main goal of the match is victory, not survival. So, to win, sometimes you need to make risky decisions, especially if the game is not going in your favor. Ask yourself this question often:

“What's the worst thing my opponent can do to get me back in the game?”

Even if you think such situations are unlikely, it is very important to prepare for them. For example, you're in a mirror match with another Paladin and you have [Tirion Fordring] and two other mid-range minions on the board. You are in the lead position in this match and are ignoring the possibility that your opponent has [Mental Technician]. You summon a fourth minion, your opponent casts [Mental Technician] and takes your [Tirion Fordring]. This is just one example.
However, if you see that your opponent's creatures are generally more valuable than yours, and you are losing turn after turn, it probably makes sense to change your game plans and go for an aggressive match. You can start attacking your opponent's face much more often and try to only play cards that have the most tempo. In this case, ask yourself a different question. For example:

“What risks can I take to get back into the game?”
Sometimes you need to stop playing around your opponent's removal and play all the cards you have. Of course, if your opponent has suitable removal, you will lose, however, this is an arena mode, not a ranked mode. So, the opponent may not have removal spells at all. In some situations you will have absolutely nothing to lose. You would still lose even if you didn't commit aggression.

Part 4. Lessons from defeats

Everything comes to an end sooner or later, including the trip to the Arena. Few of us have ever achieved 12 wins. If you've ever done this, congratulations. If you have never succeeded in this, then nothing terrible has happened. The most important part is the experience you have. The first thing you should do is evaluate your picks during the draft. Have there been cards in your deck that you thought would be useful, but never came into use? Maybe you packed too many early creatures into your deck and completely forgot about the late game? What would happen if you chose other cards? What difference would it make in your situation?
Then you need to evaluate your performance. There are two types of errors:

Technical
Errors in decision making.

Technical errors in Hearthstone have virtually no impact on the game; this applies more to games of a different genre, like Dota or League of Legends, where correct clicks, APM and other such things are important. However, they also exist in Hearthstone. For example, if you have not composed the sequence of actions correctly. Let's say you have 2 paladin recruits, with [Dire Wolf Leader] standing between them, and your opponent has a creature with 6 units. health. You can make a mistake and start attacking from left to right, causing the first paladin recruit to deal 2 damage. damage, then 2 units. damage with [Dire Wolf Leader] and, after his death, the buff of the right Paladin Recruit will disappear and he will only deal 1 damage. damage Or, for example, you are playing against a Shaman and you have two creatures, one of them is wounded. You decide to attack with a wounded creature, it survives, your healing totem restores 1 unit to it. health. However, if you attacked an opponent's creature with your creature at full health, the totem would restore 1 unit. health to both creatures.
Errors in decision making are something that are very difficult to notice during the game, but very often understanding them helps you improve your level of play greatly. If you are analyzing past matches, you should ask questions:

Did I play as optimally as possible?
Did I have a chance of winning?
Were there any risks I took that I shouldn't have taken?
Have I made any mistakes?
Should I be more patient with massive removal?
Should I have played more aggressively?

Also, when you watch streams of other players in the arena, read guides or study card ratings, keep in mind that there may be conflicts of opinion on any issue. The only opinion you should take into account is your own opinion, which is based on your personal experience.

Jun 28, 2019 Game guides

Locations in AFK Arena are divided into several types: some are designed for leveling up and strengthening characters, others- to purchase valuable loot and resources. The main role in the game is given to battles in PvE mode: the main story campaign is built on the mechanics of confronting mobs. However, the project is a casual card game with an online component, which is why it contains social interaction components.

What is Hero Arena?

Arena of Heroes - a place where real players fight for resources.

It opens at stage 3 and offers 3 free battles every day. After 3 free attempts, to start a battle you need to purchase a special ticket, the cost of which is 100 diamonds.

After pressing the “Challenge” button, a menu opens with a random selection of 5 players: two- rank lower, three- higher rank. The choice of player level affects the number of points you will receive for winning or lose for losing. After each victory, the player receives a random bonus in the form of gold (90 thousand coins) or the Hero’s Essence.

Every day during the two-week battle season, the player receives a payment in the form of a fixed amount of diamonds. Their number directly depends on their place in the general table of ranks. At the end of the season, each participant in battles in the Arena receives a final reward in the form of valuable resources. Particularly generous gifts are presented to those who take prizes.

Duel of Legends

Duel of legends - This is a competition in which users who have completed stage “9-20” of the main story campaign can take part. Such strict conditions make it possible to weed out inexperienced players, leaving only the most seasoned and brave heroes in the Arena. The tournament is held within one server, and on its basis it is determined who will represent this server at the Grand Championship of Legends.

Legends Championship

Participants of the interserver Championship are divided into 8 groups of 8 people each. The selection follows the rules of the knockout tournament, and each player who makes it here receives a temporary buff for all hero cards up to level 240 and mythical clothing sets. At the same time, all effects from the relics are canceled to provide participants and their characters with equal fighting conditions.

The duration of the Legends Championship is one week. After the winner is identified, a week-long break is announced, after which the Championship grid is formed anew and the tournament is held again. It is also worth noting that quarter-finalists, semi-finalists and finalists of the drawing, in addition to resources, are awarded a special profile frame.

Conclusion

In that in the guide we looked at all the possibilities of the Arena of Heroes- from participation in weekly events to the Duel and Championship for the title of the most powerful AFK Arena user. All these activities in one way or another help level up the characters, reaching new gaming heights. Go for it!

Arena play is often frustrating unless you have some specialized knowledge and skills. This guide is the first in our series of articles about the Arena, and it is intended to give you a better understanding of what how to succeed in the Arena.

Luck is an integral part of the Arena, but the purpose of our guide is to show you what you can take the most correct decisions, and these decisions will favorably influence your results.

1. About the Author

This article was created Sottle’om, a professional player Hearthstone from UK, participant H2k. Sottle regularly plays Arena, streaming it on his Twitch channel and explaining all his actions. He has a record win rate of 72%, which makes him one of the best players in the Arena.

2. Introduction

2.1.Getting started

Arena provides you with the ability to build a deck from random cards. The arena is a place where you can test your luck and skills, knowledge of game mechanics, against other players.

The first Arena is free, however subsequent Arenas will cost you 150 in-game gold or $1.99(99r.). The Arena can offer any cards, regardless of whether you have them in your collection or not.

2.2.Choice of a hero

As soon as you enter the arena, you will have to choose 1 of 3 randomly presented heroes. What class cards you can use depends on your decision.

2.3.Deck construction

After choosing a hero, you begin build a deck. You will be offered 3 cards of the same rarity, this will continue until you select 30 cards.

1st;10th;20th;30th elections will always consist of at least rare cards, while the rest can only be rare, epic and legendary with a certain chance.

2.4.Playing in the Arena

Once you've built your deck, you'll be ready to fight against other players. By clicking the “Play” button, you will start the game against an equal opponent, which will be selected for you in accordance with your game rating and the number of victories in this Arena.

Arena ends immediately after 12 wins or 3 losses or after deciding to leave this arena ( by clicking the “Retreat” button).

2.5.Rewards for the Arena

Each victory improves your key, from which the cost of the reward depends. The number of packs (containing a reward) is veiled from 2 to 5. At least one of the packs will contain a booster with cards that almost covers the cost of entry to the Arena.

The remaining packs contain gold, dust, additional boosters, cards (sometimes gold). Now we will show you possible reward options(except for a guaranteed booster with cards). Please note that these details may vary slightly.

Finishing the Arena without ever winning, you will receive from 20-25 gold or dust.
Finishing the Arena with 1-3 wins, you will receive about 50 gold or dust, practically paying for the entrance to the arena (taking into account the booster with cards).
Finishing the Arena with 4-6 wins, you will receive up to 100 gold or dust. You have already paid for the entrance to the arena.
Finishing the Arena with 7-9 wins, you will receive enough gold to buy another entrance to the arena. In addition, quite often you can get an additional booster with cards, or a card (possibly gold).
Finishing the Arena with 10-12 wins, you will receive a huge amount of gold (up to 500). And you will also quite often receive an additional booster with cards.

3. When should you start playing in the Arena?

Of course, luck is an important part of the Arena, but Your ability to build a deck, knowledge of game mechanics and experience play a key role. Since entering the Arena costs in-game gold or real money, you must clearly understand all the mechanics of the game (described here) before entering the Arena.

4. Choosing a Hero

Every heroic class has a chance of winning, as long as you understand basics of playing for this class and you have a good idea about all the cards in this class. You must always remember that no matter which class you choose, your the goal remains the same: find the best advantage from the situation, build up an advantage, and control the table.

5. Card selection

Basically, you should always try to choose cards that will bring you maximum benefit for its price. But don't forget about the mana curve. In short, you should try to build a deck with a balanced mana curve ( There should not be too many/too few cards for 1,2,3,4...6,7+ mana crystals).

There should be an order of magnitude more creatures and spells for 2-4 mana than others, since During this period of the game it is very important for you to establish control over the field. And there may be fewer creatures and spells with high mana costs (6 and above).

5.1. Creature Selection

When you choose a creature, you should think about what effect does it have on the table?. If you want to be sure of a creature's value, add up its attack and health stats and divide by 2. The resulting number should be equal to or greater than its mana cost.

For example, it costs 4 mana, and the sum of the attack and health indicators is 9, which makes it quite effective. But in addition to this rule, you must consider other factors.

Some creatures have pretty bad stats for their mana cost, but they're often compensated by various card effects, such as Defender of Argus. An example of a card with poor stats for its mana cost is Ironforge Gunsmith.

You will need a lot of experience to learn to give an accurate assessment of each card in terms of stats and mana costs. Because only by playing this or that card will you be able to recognize its strengths and weaknesses. Below we will show you some more examples.

In the Arena a creature's health is valued more than attack power, because high health makes it more difficult for the enemy to deal with your creature. Creatures with high attack may seem attractive because they can deal a lot of damage, but without enough health, they simply may not survive until the next turn to deal that much damage.

For example, he looks strong because he has 5 attack units for 3 mana, but he has too little health and he will die with any removal ( destruction spell), any 1-mana creature, and most hero abilities.

The exception to this rule is creatures with attack less than 3 units. It's very easy to explain: Even if the creature has a high health indicator, it will be easy for the enemy to deal with it with the help of several creatures, without losing them.

These creatures with high health will be able to survive the turn, but will not be able to make good trades or put significant pressure on the opponent.

That's why it's a great card. For 4 mana this creature has stats of 4/5, which allows him not only to survive the move and make an effective exchange with a creature for 3 mana, but it is also possible to survive the exchange. This will mean that the enemy will have to spend 2 cards (or more) on your 1 creature.

As for 1 mana drops – most often we don't need them, for example - Murloc Raider, a practically useless creature. But there are exceptions - cards that have a strong effect. These include the Abusive Sergeant, who, using his Battle Cry will help you make a profitable exchange.

Another example of a not bad card for 1 mana is Worgen Scout. This creature has the effect “ Disguise", What allows him to wait for a convenient moment for you and not die from the ability of the enemy hero.

So you can wait until the enemy puts up a creature for 2-3 mana with 2 units of health, and then it is profitable to exchange with this creature. An elven archer is also not a bad option: Early in the game, her warcry will allow you to finish off enemy minions.

5.2. Selecting Class Cards

Every deck in the Arena must have a good supply of spells, which will help you maintain or gain control of the field. In cases where you do not have the opportunity to choose a strong creature ( we talked about this earlier), you can take a spell that guarantees you an advantage and can significantly delay the enemy.

It doesn't matter what class you play as - you are the same should take several spells to control the board in the early stages of the game. They will be able to maintain pressure ( The situation is assumed when you have several creatures, but you do not want to exchange them and then use a spell for this).

Very strong class cards include some Paladin and War weapons, various spells with AoE (The property of a card or its ability to cause damage to a specific area rather than a single target) effect: Fire Wave, Swipe.

They will give you the opportunity to destroy 1-2 (or more) enemy cards for 1 of yours. You need these class cards to save/intercept control over the table in the middle or late stages of the game.

5.3. Card combinations

Building decks based on different combinations of cards is a good idea, as long as the cards in your deck don't lose their value in situations where you fail to make a combination. This means that in the Arena you should always try to avoid cards that are only good in combination with others, because you have no guarantee that you will be able to find the missing part of the combination.

Some cards like: Dark Iron Dwarf and Sin'dorei Priest, combine with many cards, and therefore they will always be a good choice for your deck.

There are a large number of cards that you need to try not to take it into the deck. For example, Murlocs. All Common rarity Murloc cards have bad stats and effects for their mana cost, and then you will have to rely on Rare Murlocs. When choosing between three Rare cards, one of which is Murloc, in our opinion, the best solution would be to choose another Rare card with greater value ( usefulness of the card in a certain situation).

Since in Hearthstone Several additions were released, combinations and interactions of cards with each other began to play an important role in the Arena. With every addition that brings us new special types of creatures (Mechanisms, Dragons, Creatures with Death Rattles), many different combinations also appeared. For example, the creatures from the Naxxramas expansion with death rattles still remain strong and relevant.

The same can be said about Mechanisms from the Goblins and Dwarves add-on. Gears usually have excellent stats and abilities that justify their mana cost. For example: or Spider Tank. This means that you can easily take several Mechanisms, and then put together any combination with them, as a nice bonus.

The Black Mountain update brought us cards that are based on combinations with dragons. For example, Blackwing Technician or Blackwing Destroyer. Unlike the previously mentioned creatures, Gears, in order for these cards to recoup their mana, you you need to have a sufficient number of dragons in your deck. Therefore, we do not recommend adding such cards to your deck if you have not previously managed to get the required number of dragons.

6. Conclusion

The arena can be a great place for a beginner to gaining gaming experience while he collects for playing Constructed. Once you decide to delve into the Arena and learn even more about it, we advise you to check out our more detailed Arena guides.

To achieve success in the Arena, As always, you will need gaming experience, knowledge of game mechanics, so don’t be upset if your first Arena was not the most successful.

If you like playing in the Arena and are striving for self-improvement - spending gold on the Arena is always more profitable than just buying booster packs with cards.

Translated TrickyCrab, edited Oleg Aleksashin, designed mus1q.

The Arena in Hearthstone is a place where cards are not a hindrance for beginners, but few people know that the function of selecting players based on their experience, or as Blizzard themselves say “matching each other in skill level,” does not work here. Here there is no mercy for beginners, because apart from it, I do not use any of the methods of selecting players (at least until this moment).

Heartstone Arena Matchmaking happens completely by accident. Therefore, your opponents may include both a Legend and a simple man in the street who has decided to fight his first battle in an as yet unknown game mode. That is why it makes sense to go there constantly only when you can make a streak of 3 or more victories there, which will come with experience, or to complete a difficult daily task, as I wrote in.

This Heartstone Arena Guide I created it to share my experience and thereby speed up your learning.

Arena in Hearthstone doesn't rely on your knowledge of decks, which typically use huge stacks of cards to achieve overall effectiveness. Yes, we can still collect two or three cards from a bunch, at best, which we may never end up with together. However, this does not mean that they are not worth taking, but your primary goal should be completely different.

The only task that lies before you when building a deck for the arena in Heartstone, choosing the best card from the three offered. But before I tell you how to make this choice correctly, you must understand an important feature of battles in this mode.

How to play in the Heathstone arena?

Since the majority of Arena decks in Heartstone are made up of creatures - Mass spells have higher priority here than in normal game mode. Of course, you can argue, because starting the battle you control the board and do not allow the enemy to summon more creatures, sacrificing your own. But, at one point, closer to the 10th move, he will start throwing many small creatures at once. This is where your spell will come in handy.

In addition, having such a spell, you can forget about killing enemy creatures (in some cases), and by focusing on his face, let him summon them even more.

For the same reason, you need to know cost of enemy mass spells, and the damage from them. This will help you understand if he has them at a certain point in the game, and whether you should play more creatures before then, and which ones.

How to choose cards for the Hearthstone arena?

Now that you understand how to play in the arena in Hearthstone, all that remains is to understand how to properly build a deck and choose the right cards to play and win.

So, the maximum characteristics of creatures at a certain level will help you make the right choice. For example, for 4 mana a good creature will have the maximum characteristics for this cost: 4/5 (health is more important than attack, and a 5/4 creature will be worse).

Mana	Characteristics
1	1/3 (2/1)
2	2/3 (3/2)
3	3/4 (4/2)
4	4/5
5
6	6/7 (good bonus)
7+	bonus parameters are more important than characteristics.

At the same time, this characteristic is total, and if after death a creature leaves behind another, their characteristics are summed up. It follows from this that the best card in terms of characteristics for 2 mana will be , and for 3 - .

The only advice on choosing bonuses that I can give to a beginner who has no idea about running cards, and in my opinion, at the same time, the best choice of a card for the arena in Hearthstone would be a creature that combines high characteristics and taunt. Your own intuition will help you understand how good the bonus of one creature is in comparison with the bonus of another.

Don't forget about crooked mana, just like don’t try to build an aggro deck with small cards (usually nothing good comes of this). Your deck should have creatures at every level, you should not take a lot of very expensive creatures (7+ no more than 3). I recommend building midleta game decks that have the most creatures for 3-4 and 4-5, respectively.

Well, our guide to the Hearthstone arena has come to an end, and at the end of it, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with, although not useful, but very interesting information.

Luck is an integral part of the Arena, but the purpose of our guide is to show you what you can take the most correct decisions, and these decisions will favorably influence your results.