Hearthstone’s Ashes of Outland expansion is coming on April 7th, and I have now gone through every class in the game and built potential decks for them. These include budget decks, updated versions of current meta decks, and brand new archetypes.
I have also examined some of the archetypes in more detail in articles I wrote for Hearthstone Top Decks, so give those a read if you’re interested in what the future of control and combo decks looks like in general:
Ashes of Outland Budget decks
Building budget decks has become harder in Hearthstone over time. In Galakrond’s Awakening, I was forced to use some Epic cards in the majority of budget decks, as only a couple of classes could still get by with basic, common, and rare cards alone.
This trend continues in Ashes of Outland: most of the build-around cards are either Epics or Legendaries.
However, the free Demon Hunter cards help, and there is still some hope for purely budget Hunter, Warlock, and Rogue decks as well.
I have built these theorycrafts for budget decks for Ashes of Outland:
- Budget Midrange Demon Hunter
- Budget Big Demon Hunter
- Budget Aggro Demon Hunter
- Budget Discard Zoo Warlock
- Budget Beast Hunter
- Budget Dragon Hunter
- Budget Stealth Galakrond Rogue
I go through these decks in more detail in my video:
Ashes of Outland Demon Hunter decks
Demon Hunter looks strong. I expect it to be very aggressive, although some slower big decks could also prove to be viable.
Demon Hunter theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Druid decks
Druid receives support for spell decks, some minor support for combo, and some support for going big. It is hard to see the new cards generating many new archetypes, but many of them slot well into existing Druid archetypes.
Druid theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Hunter decks
Hunter receives a number of interesting cards. Beast support, Deathrattle support, and even a new OTK combo are coming for the class. With strong decks already existing, Hunter is looking good.
Hunter theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Mage decks
Mage gets a pair of great new Legendary cards that fit into most Mage decks, support for a new Spell Mage archetype (unlikely to be enough yet, maybe next expansion), and support for Secret Mage, although I’m not sure if it’s enough to bring the archetype back to Standard.
Mage theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Paladin decks
Paladin gets a big Libram mechanic package and some support for Murlocs.
Paladin theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Priest decks
The new Priest cards try to not support the resurrect mechanic, but the current resurrect cards are not going anywhere. There is also some support for a tempo deck, but it seems way too fair in an unfair world.
Priest theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Rogue decks
Rogue gets two clear packages: Stealth and Secret. Secret package seems difficult to use without tutors, but the Stealth package looks much more promising with Spymistress as an incredible one-drop.
Rogue theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Shaman decks
Shaman receives support for a spell-heavy archetype, but what looks to be the strongest package is the good old Evolve. Get ready to roll the dice.
- Lackey Galakrond Shaman
- Quest Galakrond Shaman
- Quest Evolve Shaman
- Aggro Shaman
- Murloc Shaman
- Highlander Shaman
Shaman theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Warlock decks
Warlock receives support for big demons and the return of discard Zoo.
Warlock theorycrafting video:
Ashes of Outland Warrior decks
Warrior receives some control warrior replacements, some pain warrior cards, and some support for weapon use.
Warrior theorycrafting video: