Class

Class is the primary determinant of a hero's powers and abilities, and the strongest factor in deck selection. While each hero represents a unique character with their own personality, portrait and sounds, their class determines their Hero Power and which class-specific cards they are able to play. Each hero belongs to only one class (often multiple heroes represent each class) though all heroes of a given class function identically, using the same cards and Hero Powers.

Cards which are dual-class will have one background color on the left and another on the right. For purposes of "another class" cards, both halves must be different from the player to qualify.

Hearthstone's classes mirror those of World of Warcraft. The exceptions are Monk and Evoker, which are not currently represented at all.

Level and experience

Main article: Level

New players start with only the mage class available, and must unlock the others through defeating them in matches in either Practice mode or Play mode. Unlocking all 11 original classes also unlocks various other game features: the Arena, adventures, and "Expert" difficulty Practice mode.

Each class begins at level 1 and can gain levels by earning sufficient experience (XP). Heroes can reach a maximum of level 60. XP is gained through playing games in any game mode. Winning games against real players awards bonus XP.

Since the Core set implementation, up to level 10, reaching levels in a class will unlock new Core class cards. when the sum of level of all classes reach certain thresholds, the player will be rewarded Core neutral cards.

Ben Brode has stated that experience gains are based on several factors, primarily the number of cards played and the number of minions destroyed. Prior to this statement, one player attempting to discover the underlying formula asserted that experience earned per match was based on either the number of actions taken or the number of cards played during the course of the match. For example, losing a game where the player played no cards and took no actions will reward no XP, while winning in the same conditions will provide a small amount of XP.

List of classes

Playable classes

• Death Knight: Fallen champions of the Scourge who fight with cursed Runeblades. Death Knights have access to great power, but must choose what three Runes they wish to draw power from -- Blood to drain life and fortify themselves, Frost to manipulate mana and freeze foes, or Unholy to raise corpses and enhance their undead allies.
  Death Knight cards have a very dark - almost black - blue frame, with frosty blue highlights and ice covering parts of the border.
• Demon Hunter: Agile fighters who call upon demonic allies and fel magic. Outcasts of society, Demon Hunters attack with their blades and claws, using fallen allies to fuel their power. Not ones to shy away from a fight, Demon Hunters specialize in granting their hero Attack damage for one turn.
  Demon Hunter cards have a dark green frame with fel green highlights that resemble Illidari tattoos.
• Druid: Shapeshifting protectors of the wild, with powerful Taunt minions and adaptable Choose One effects, druids are also able to accelerate their rate of mana accumulation, allowing them to access high-mana-cost cards earlier than their opponents. Druids are a versatile class, capable of using the forces of nature and primal rage to crush their enemies or empower their allies.
  Druid cards have a brown frame with yellow highlights that resemble thorns.
• Hunter: Trackers and huntsmen, with a synergy with Beasts, a selection of bows, and a supply of cunning deadly traps, hunters never miss their mark. Whether unleashing their Beasts upon the enemy or sniping them from afar, hunters possess relentless and immediate damage capabilities.
  Hunter cards have a forest green frame, with a thin border in the shape of leaves or shrubs.
• Mage: Masters of arcane, fire and frost, mages wield formidable single-target and area of effect damage spells, and can freeze enemies in their tracks. Mages have a strong spell-synergy, capable of turning minor incantations into devastating Fireballs, and can employ a range of magical Secrets to redirect enemy effects, protect themselves from damage, or stop the deadliest foe or spell in its tracks.
  Mage cards have a light blue frame, highlighted by a thick line of arcane runes.
• Paladin: Stalwart champions of the Light, wielding sturdy weapons and gifting the recruits of their order with Divine Shields and a range of powerful Blessings. Paladins can also have a range of spells to heal themselves or smite their enemies, weaken foes, and Secrets to protect vulnerable targets.
  Paladin cards have a yellow frame with rays of light eminating from around the card art.
• Priest: Devout healers with powerful restorative abilities, Priests use the power of Light to sustain themselves and their allies while pacifying enemies, but they can also use their darker abilities to manipulate and destroy enemies, peering into or even seizing control of their opponents' minds.
  Priest cards have a white frame, highlighted by a simple series of downward-pointing lines.
• Rogue: Subtle and evasive assassins, using flurries of swift sharp strikes to slice and incapacitate enemies, rogues prefer to wield light daggers, laced with deadly poisons. Rogues prefer to assault their opponents in rapid bursts of activity, activating Combos to gain powerful additional effects.
  Rogue cards have a black border, highlighted by angular lines.
• Shaman: Masters of the elements, shamans command the service of mighty elementals, and even the Elemental Lords themselves. Shamans can Overload their mana in order to rise to the needs of the moment, with their attacks producing varying potency. Shamans can also summon Totems to boost their powers.
  Shaman cards have a dark blue frame, highlighted by a lightning design.
• Warlock: Calling nightmarish Demons to their aid, warlocks are willing to sacrifice their own life, cards, and even their own minions to overwhelm their enemies. Regarding their own lifeblood as nothing more than a currency, warlocks readily trade away their Health to draw additional cards, but must often pay a terrible price for the services of the infernal beings with whom they consort.
  Warlock cards have a purple frame, with a border of demonic sigils around the card art.
• Warrior: These lords of war use heavy weaponry and deadly attacks to slam and devastate the battlefield. While their skill with armor and shields allows them to soak up the mightiest of blows, their gladiatorial bloodlust brings synergy with Enrage and on-damage effects, sending their minions charging at the enemy.
  Warrior cards have a red frame, with spikes protuding from the highlight lines.

Others

• Neutral: Neutral cards do not belong to a specific class, but can instead be used in any class of one's choosing.
  Neural cards have a grey frame, highlighted by darker grey lines.
• Dream: Dream cards, generated only by a few cards such as Ysera, are considered an unique class in the game's data. For gameplay purposes however, they are considered Neutral.
  Dream cards use Hunter's colors.

Related cards

For Wild format listings, see Class-related/Wild format

Design

• One rule for the developers in class design is to make sure that each of the classes "feels very strongly like its World of Warcraft class." This encourages the maintenance of constraints such as which classes have access to weapons and Secrets.

• As of Goblins vs Gnomes, adding specific minion type "themes" to classes is one "fun" way in which the designers aim to "make each class feel distinct and have its own flavor".

• Along with Hero Powers, class-specific cards are the main way of creating distinct playing styles and experiences for the different classes. However, in some cases effects allow players to use cards belonging to another class, such as Unstable Portal, Piloted Shredder or Grand Crusader. When a class starts imitating a behaviour specific to another class, this is known as "class bleed". In many cases, a small amount of class bleed can be fun and interesting, but too much can cause the classes to lose their sense of uniqueness or even their identity. As a result the developers try to maintain "the right amount" of class bleed in the game. For example, when designing the Discover keyword, the developers intentionally restricted the effect to class and neutral cards, as the keyword's initial ability to draw cards of any class added too much class bleed to the game.

• While class power is something the designers constantly struggle to balance, ultimately they feel having all classes precisely balanced is less important than ensuring that each has a time to shine.

• Class identities, which describe the strengths, limitations and weaknesses of each class, have only been formally described in June 2019. The hope is to avoid endless debates about whether a given new class-specific card does or does not fit in its class identity.

History

• The only World of Warcraft classes currently missing from Hearthstone are monk and evoker, with Demon Hunter and Death Knight being added in April 2020 and December 2022, respectively.
• In August 2014 Yong Woo stated, "the fact of the matter is that we already have 9 classes, and we feel there already is a ton of diversity and we frankly think that it has enough complexity right now for most people to sink their teeth into. So currently, we have no plans to add additional classes." In December 2014 Ben Brode stated "There are pros and cons [to adding a new class] and we have to figure out when, if ever, the right time would be." Brode elaborated: "A good design exercise is to think: "How many classes is too many?" My sense is that it's closer to 9 than to 20." In July 2017, Blizzard announced the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion, which would feature the brand new hero card type, allowing Hearthstone's nine classic heroes to transform into death knight versions of themselves. When asked if this implementation of death knights had killed the possibility of whole new classes ever coming to the game, Mike Donais replied that "We’ve always said that we like the nine classes we have. We work really hard to try to give some class identity to those nine classes, and it’s tough, because nine is a lot. Adding a tenth or eleventh class isn’t something we’re interested in. It’s too hard to make class identity exist when there are that many different classes. So yeah, we’re not excited about the idea of making new classes."
• Prior to the Core set implementation, up to level 10, reaching every even level in a class would unlock a pair of basic class cards. Above level 10, golden versions of existing class and neutral cards were granted upon reaching certain levels. Raising your first class to level 10 also completed the hidden "Level Up" quest, awarding the player one card pack. You must also have had at least one level 20 class to participate in Tavern Brawls. Aside from these restrictions and rewards, experience and level do not affect gameplay in any way.

Trivia

• The class colours in Hearthstone are notable for not always matching the traditional colours for those classes from World of Warcraft. Specifically, the rogue in World of Warcraft uses yellow, the paladin uses pink, the warrior uses brown, the druid uses orange, the demon hunter uses purple, and the death knight uses red. There are also numerous differences in shade, such as the hunter, which uses a deep green as opposed to its traditional avocado-like shade. According to Lead Artist Ben Thompson, this is because the colours in World of Warcraft were chosen largely based on suitability for use in the game's chat interface; with Hearthstone the developers therefore decided to choose in some cases new colours that they felt better suited the classes.
• In August 2016 Ben Brode stated that of all the classes he felt the team had the hardest time designing warlock spells, stating "We need to carve out more design space for them."
• At one point during the game's initial development there were two heroes for each class, one representing the Alliance and one representing the Horde. For details on early choices for each class, see Design and development of Hearthstone.