I love the Warcraft-world, it’s spinoff Hearthstone and the whole lore behind it, but the paywall of World of Warcraft always kept me from playing the original game. Luckily the solo adventures of Hearthstone make up for the lore-interpretations I missed while not playing World of Warcraft. Don’t get me wrong, I did play Warcraft III – so it’s not that I know nothing, but I’m not a lore-buff.
Ashes of Outland is Hearthstone’s fourteenth expansion, featuring 135 new collectible cards and the introduction of Hearthstone’s first-ever new class, the Demon Hunter. The expansion was released on April 7, 2020. Demon Hunters are an exciting class to play since they mix a lot of themes found in other classes. The Solo Story was added on June 16, 2020.
Demon Hunter Time
The main Demon Hunter guy (and the one who plays a crucial role in Ashes of Outlands) is Illidan Stormrage. He’s an aggressive attacker who leads his fel-infused forces into the fray. While other Heroes may buff and heal their minions, Illidan instead fuels himself with their souls when they fall in combat, taking vengeance upon his enemies.
Mix and match Hero Attack buffs with weapons to trigger powerful attacking-related effects. Slice into enemy minions, using your health as a resource. You’ll find the class lacks indirect sources of healing but instead relies on smaller chip heals via Lifesteal or Soulstones. In addition to being aggressive attackers, Demon Hunters can control the battlefield with their fel magic, benefiting from the souls of their sacrificed Illidari allies, and finding devious ways to deploy massive demons to the battlefield far earlier than expected.
Outcasts
The Demon Hunter also introduces a new class-specific keyword, Outcast. Outcast cards have impactful bonuses when played from the left or right-most position in your hand. With a bit of careful thought and turn-planning, Outcast cards can shift the tides of a match. Effects can range from drawing an extra card, summoning a minion, or reducing the costs of drawn cards. A tactical class for sure! It’s unlocked by finishing the prologue, which can be a challenge in itself since certain bosses need a very specific card-draw to defeat.
In addition to introducing the Demon Hunter and their class-specific keyword Outcast, Ashes of Outland also features imprisoned Demons—minions who enter the game in a Dormant state for two turns before awakening and unleashing devastating effects—as well as Primes—legendary minions who, upon death, shuffle a mechanically upgraded, potent version of themselves back into the player’s deck.
Ashes of Outland
Set in the alien realm of Outland—the magically shattered remnants of the planet Draenor—the expansion sees Illidan Stormrage and his Illidari disciples contend against the Rusted Legion. This mysterious new foe has wreaked destruction across Outland and is threatening to conquer the last remnants of civilization on the broken world. Like previous expansions, Ashes of Outland included an expansive single-player adventure. However, unlike the Year of the Dragon adventures, this was completely free – rejoice and keep this coming Blizzard!
The Story mode is about following Aranna Starseeker (yes, the little sister of our Druid-friend) on a journey of self-exploration, taking up arms with the Demon Hunters, and teaming up with Illidan Stormrage to take on the twisted architect of the Rusted Legion itself: Mecha-Jaraxxus. Meanwhile, the Challenge mode is where the player can build a deck and take on some of Outland’s most significant and worst raid bosses.
Trial by Felfire comprises 26 boss encounters in total, which is split into two different modes; Story and Challenges. In Story Mode, the player is given a pre-made deck for each boss encounter, controls a special hero with their corresponding Hero Power, and gets unique interactions between their hero and boss. Completing the Story will award an exclusive card back. In Challenges mode, the player needs to use their deck. Defeating all Challenges bosses will award a golden Kael’ thas Sunstrider (something I will probably never achieve). Wild decks (cards that are not in the standard meta) can NOT be used in Challenges mode. This makes Trial by Felfire; the first Heartstone adventure to ever have this restriction.
Trial by Felfire Story features 17 bosses, divided into five chapters. Most of the time, the player gets to control Aranna Starseeker, the protagonist. She also encounters new friends that accompany together on her journey to discover herself. Each of these friends is an outcast from their tribe and on the run from the Rusted Legion. When they’re won over, they can be played as cards with a special Outcast effect. Each chapter is accompanied by a poem of sorts read by Illidan since it’s told from his perspective. I finished the Trial By Felfire in a few days and did not find most of the challenges too hard. The biggest thing in Hearthstone Solo campaigns is finding out the best combo’s in the pre-made deck or a particular counter to a boss – once you have that figured out, you’re all set.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! Trial By Felfire was a nice change from the ever-lasting-dungeon runs they threw at us for the last … five? Expansions. By playing a campaign in the ‘new’ style, you can try a particular boss again, and again, and again – instead of clearing an entire run, but hitting that particular boss on level 7 (only to have to start over again). It’s less time consuming and much more practical in its current setting. Another bonus is the familiarity you’ll get with the new class by playing through the Trial By Felfire, so let’s do some Demon Hunting!
