Hearthstone’s Spells and Minions come with a wide variety of unique effects, but few among them can match the game-warping impact of the Hero Cards. These cards replace your Hero with a new one, changingyour Hero Powerand often coming witha powerful Battlecryas well.
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As a result, they can completely change the way a class plays. Unsurprisingly, such game-warping cards have seen quite a few nerfs and buffs across Hearthstone’s history. We’ve taken the time to narrow this list down and present you ten of the best Hero Cards that have ever been released.
10Deathstalker Rexxar
Deathstalker Rexxar has one of the weaker Battlecries on this list, although it can clear smaller boards in a pinch. As a result, this Hero Card relies even more than others on its Hero Power. Fortunately, Build-A-Beast is a value-generating machine, which is unusual for Hunter as a class.
By combining two Beasts into one, Build-A-Beast can be used to create the perfect Zombeast to suit your specific situation, ranging from simple big minions, damage dealers thanks to Charge or a Battlecry, or even board clears if you get lucky enough. And while the overall power level of value cards has gotten much higher since Deathstalker Rexxar was released, Build-A-Beast has also gained access to stronger Beasts, which somewhat balances out the power creep.
Dr. Boom, Mad Genius’ Battlecry, is a powerful defensive ability. Any Mech you play changes from an inert pile of stats to a tool for controlling the board.
Dr. Boom also comes with a multi-faceted Hero Power, shifting between a total of five abilities at the start of each of your turns. These range from gaining armor to various board-control effects to discovering Mechs to use with Dr. Boom’s Battlecry. The randomness can be problematic at times, but each of the abilities is strong enough that you should be able to find a use for it.
8Galakrond, The Nightmare
Like the other Galakrond Hero Cards, Galakrond, the Nightmare grows in power the more you play Invoke cards. And since doing so also triggers Galakrond’s Hero Power, giving you a free Lackey, you won’t lose too much tempo while leveling him up. However, the real power of this Hero Card arrives when you’ve Invoked enough to get him to his final form.
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Galakrond, Azeroth’s End draws you four cards, which is already pretty good; the fact that he also makes them free creates a staggering amount of tempo. How much tempo exactly does depend a bit on which cards you draw, but in the best-case scenarios, you can save so much mana that you basically win the game instantly.
7Bru’kan Of The Elements
Bru’kan of the Elements is built around its powerful Hero Power, which rotates between four effects: restoring six Health to you and your board, dealing two damage to all enemy minions, summoning a pair of 2/3 Elementals with Taunt, or dealing six damage to the enemy hero.
Each of these abilities is useful in different scenarios, and over the course of a long game, you can get a ton of value out of them. Additionally, Shaman has many ways to duplicate Battlecries. Casting Bru’kan’s multiple times will often end the game, either by killing your opponent or simply by putting them in a situation they can’t recover from.
6Magister Dawngrasp
Magister Dawngrasp’s Battlecry might seem random, but you can set your deck up in such a way that you aren’t leaving things up to chance. By playing only a limited number of spells of each type, you can verify Dawngrasp gets you the right one.
And the Hero Power that comes with Dawngrasp only makes them better; Mage already has ways to increase the damage of their Hero Power, and it can be extremely difficult for your opponent to avoid letting you increase it further with Arcane Burst’s effect. You will very quickly be dealing enough damage to kill them within a few turns.
5Shadowcrafter Scabbs
Shadowcrafter Scabbs’ Battlecry can flip the board in your favor in a way few others can. It doesn’t just get rid of your opponent’s board but also creates threats that are tough for them to deal with, providing offense and defense at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Sleight of Hand Hero Power lets you cheat mana for the rest of the game. That would be great in any class but is particularly useful in Rogue, whose Combo mechanic incentivizes them to play multiple cards each turn.
4Kurtrus, Demon-Render
Kurtrus, Demon-Render provides both immediate and long-term dangers. The Felbat Shriekers he summons can either help you control the board or just present decently sized threats for your opponent to deal with.
Meanwhile, the Hero Power, Ashfallen’s Fury, can output a staggering amount of damage per turn in the right situation. If you already have a large board, that damage can start coming in right away, but Demon Hunter also has plenty of ways to get immediate attacks out of nowhere. Regardless, you’re putting your opponent on a fast clock.
3Lightforged Cariel
Even by the standards of an eight-mana card, Lightforged Cariel does a lot. Dealing two damage to your enemies isn’t worth much at that stage of the game, but it’s still better than nothing. Meanwhile, her Hero Power provides constant value, allowing you to beat out control decks over long games by consistently playing decently sized threats.
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Cariel’s best feature, though, is the passive effect of The Immovable Object. It cuts the damage taken by your Hero in half, rounded up, which can end the game completelyagainst aggressive decksif they don’t have immediate access to weapon destruction, and makes life far more difficult for combo and burn decks that only have limited damage in their arsenals.
2Shadowreaper Anduin
Shadowreaper Anduin has a decent Battlecry, allowing you to remove a significant amount of damage from your opponent’s board. As a result, you may want to hold off on playing him until your opponent plays a minion that will die to it.
However, the Hero Power Shadowreaper Anduin provides is so strong that it can be worth getting going early even if his Battlecry doesn’t kill anything. That becomes even more true when combined with Raza the Chained to make your Hero Power cost zero. Add on a bunch of cheap cards, and you’re well on your way to machine-gunning your opponent to death.
1Wildheart Guff
It turns out that having access to twenty mana allows you to do some truly degenerate things. Hearthstone has no shortage of exceptionally powerful decks, but matching the combo potential of a twenty-mana Druid is basically impossible.
In most classes, having the ability to get that much mana would be limited by how long it takes to get there. However, combining the natural mana ramp Druid possesses with the mana-ramping of Guff’s Hero Power allows you to reach those levels before your opponent even hits ten mana. Better still, if you already have the mana you want, Guff gets a stronger version of the Warlock Hero Power as an alternative.
