| Set: |  Forged in the Barrens |
|---|---|
| Type: | Minion |
| Class: |  Mage |
| Rarity: |  Legendary |
| Cost: | 4  |
| Attack: | 3  |
| Health: | 3  |
| Abilities: | Battlecry, Deal damage, Freeze |
| Wiki tags: | Area of effect, Freeze-related |
| Artist: | Arthur Bozonnet |
Varden Dawngrasp could wield fire, summon hailstorms, and morph a night elf into a sheep with a snap of their fingers. Knowing how malleable reality could be, certain labels felt downright trivial.
- For other representations of Varden Dawngrasp, see Varden Dawngrasp (disambiguation).
Varden Dawngrasp is a legendary mage minion card, from the Forged in the Barrens set.
How to get
Varden Dawngrasp can be obtained through Forged in the Barrens card packs, through crafting, or as an Arena reward.
| Card | Crafting cost | Disenchanting |
|---|---|---|
| Varden Dawngrasp | 1600 | 400 |
| Golden Varden Dawngrasp | 3200 | 1600 |
Strategy
Varden Dawngrasp plays similarly to playing 
Frost Nova, but for 1 extra mana, providing a 3/3 body, and also acts as removal for Frozen minions. If you also happen to have Flurry (Rank 1), you could combo the two cards to freeze up to 3 enemy minions and then deal 4 damage to them using Varden. However, personally Varden has a playstyle that plays more like a stall card that also gains you some board advantage. Worth noting that Varden only hits minions, so you can't use them as a burst tool with cards like 
Freezing Potion or Frostbolt.
Varden is great with many different freeze type effects, like 
Shatter, Blizzard, and 
Ray of Frost, the latter of which has the same damage properties as Varden. As of the Wailing Caverns mini-set release, Varden also synergizes with Shattering Blast for a full board clear.
Please add any available information to this section.Quotes
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Lore
Varden Dawngrasp is unique to Hearthstone as one of the ten mercenaries introduced in Forged in the Barrens.
Varden Dawngrasp is also a non-binary blood elf[1], using they/them pronouns.
Varden apparently used to study under 
Kael'thas Sunstrider, and was deemed an outcast and suspected of being a traitor after Kael's betrayal to the Blood Elves. They end up doing a job for Kazakus, which details about it to be revealed soon. They then run into the Alliance Mercenaries, and after losing to Kurtrus Ashfallen and his group, they were sent to the Stormwind Stockades to be punished for helping Kazakus (unwillingly) try to take Xyrella's Shard. Not much is known after that, although they do end up beaking out of the Stockades at some point.
They also featured as one of Rokara's allies in her Book of Mercenaries, alongside Bru'kan, Tamsin Roame and Guff Runetotem. Their Hero Power in the adventure Freezes an enemy minion, which, alongside their Battlecry and artwork, suggests an association with the Frost specialization.
The elf child with the slingshot prior to saluting, wearing a brimmed cap.
Amongst the four children Elise was guiding ~1m21s into the reveal trailer of Journey to Un'Goro (they salute her at the end) three resembled adult mercenaries later seen in the Forged in the Barrens set: the slingshot-wielder resembles Varden while the orc resembles Rokara and the tauren resembles Guff Runetotem. After this was highlighted on Reddit,[2] Matt London initially replied to a "kids are all grown up?" question about this on Twitter stating it was non-coincidental, implying it was intended.[3], but later the day in response to a reaction[4] stated he did not intend to confirm anything.[5]
Other depictions of a red-haired elf child in Journey to Un'Goro are in the 
Choose Your Path and Fire Plume's Heart spell cards, though the character in them is wearing a short full-brimmed hat like Elise the Trailblazer or Sir Finley's, not a long front-brimmed cap.
Trivia
- Varden Dawngrasp is the first confirmed non-binary character to be introduced to the Warcraft franchise.
- Varden is voiced by Kayleigh McKee, a transgender voice actress.[6]
- They are depicted in the art for Flurry and its upgrades and
Shattering Blast.
Gallery
  Varden Dawngrasp, full art |
Patch changes
- Patch 20.0.0.77662 (2021-03-25): Added.
References
- ↑ Cam Shea (2021-03-19). We Reveal a Hearthstone: Forged in the Barrens Legendary Card!. IGN.
- ↑ TEnOTT. Mercenaries reminds me Ungoro adventure kids.
- ↑ "No coincidence ;-)" —Matt London on Twitter. (2021-03-22).
- ↑ "Update: Matt London now states that he did not intend to confirm this. We're leaving the article as-is, just take it with a grain of salt." —Journey to Un'Goro's Junior Explorers Have All Grown Up! Some Story of The Mercenaries Confirmed by Blizzard.
- ↑ "This was not intended as confirmation. Sorry! You’ll have to wait a little longer to learn more about the mercenaries." —Matt London on Twitter. (2021-03-22).
- ↑ Kayleigh McKee on Twitter. (2021-03-24).