Hearthstone Nerfs January 2022 – Alterac Valley

When it comes to Hearthstone there’s always a lot of excitement for the release of a new expansion. This was the case when it came to Fractured in Alterac Valley. However, there’s typically the inevitable backlash that comes with overpowered cards or things that make the game unfun. That’s when Blizzard generally steps in and makes some changes for the good of the metagame. We’re taking a look at the nerfs that have been announced for January 2022 in this guide!

New Nerfs

The nerfs are hitting a wide-variety of cards, not just things from the Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion. The ever present Sorcerer’s Apprentice has been nerfed heavily by doubling its mana cost.

Here’s a look at all of the nerfs:

• Shadowcrafter Scabbs – Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
• Wildpaw Gnoll – Old: [Costs 5] 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: [Costs 6] 3 Attack, 5 Health
• Cloak of Shadows – Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
• Raid the Docks – Old: Questline: Play 2 Pirates. Reward: Deal 2 damage to a random enemy twice. New: Questline: Play 3 Pirates. Reward: Deal 2 damage to a random enemy twice.
• Incanter’s Flow – Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
• Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 4]
• Rapid Fire – Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

In general, it was mostly increases to mana costs, but some cards got some additional treatment. Wildpaw Gnoll got increased in cost and had a reduction in attack. Raid the Docks had the questline increased to requiring 3 Pirates to trigger instead of the 2 it originally needed.

These should hopefully shake things up in the meta and make things feel a bit more fair when playing against things like Rogue. Wild should also hopefully be happy now that Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Rapid Fire have been heavily nerfed.

Not everything was a nerf, there was an upgrade to one card, which is the Warrior Hero card:

• Rokara the Valorous – Old: [5 Armor] → New: [10 Armor]

There aren’t just going to be nerfs in this patch, there’s a large Battlegrounds update, changes to Duels, and a variety of other updates. You can find all of the details on Blizzard’s 22.2 Patch Notes page.

That’s everything we know about the nerfs for January 2022 and the Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion for Hearthstone. You can find more details on the game in the Hearthstone section of our website.