One Change for Every Class to Balance the Meta

I want to start off by saying that this article was written before the 10/19/2024 patch that reworked several cards including Cleric’s Magic Breastplate Armor. However even with the changes that patch brought I feel there are still many simple issues to tackle for each character class.

With 11 of them to balance, the game will never be perfect but we all know that several classes are either too weak overall, have only one viable build, have a glaring weakness that is easily exploited or have had everything that makes their class interesting, fun and powerful stripped away (Ranger).

Therefore the purpose of this article is to perform the thought experiment of how we might address these issues in a way that win rates are closer to 50% across the board while still retaining the flavor and theme of the classes.

So rather than massive changes let us start small and see how the data reflects these tweaks. By making just one change per class at a time we can see the impact it has and can adjust accordingly from there. This is also important as through the Arena we have seen how each class is intended to evolve as levels increase.

First, we need to look at the meta overall by taking data from Filtrophobe’s recent Meta Mashup Article and getting an overall snapshot of what the meta is today.  With level 16 data from both the public and beta queues we can see there are classes at the top of the food chain, classes that get by and classes that obviously struggle to find a place in the meta.

(Snapshots taken from Filtrophobe’s recent Meta Mashup Article that uses level 16 data from Hero Helper)

Some classes may need more revisions than others but with the minor tweaks I am about to suggest we can hopefully nudge all classes slightly closer to that balanced 50%-win rate while also injecting some thematic flavor.

Wizard

Let us start with the biggest offender of the meta. With the introduction of Ancestries, we can see that Half-Demon and Smallfolk are leading the way, followed not too far behind by Elf. We do see however that Human has struggled. This is due to the overall power level of “Treasure Map.” Half-Demon can easily make use of this to scrap cards, Smallfolk can trigger any of the bonuses nearly at will and Elf has yet another means to draw a card. Humans on the other hand must work on acquiring cards to bring map up to full potential. For now, I suggest we at least take the “Draw 1” away from Treasure Map. This will mean that for “Spellcaster Gloves” builds it will occasionally gain no effect while “Runic Robes” will frequently need to stash it for future turns to guarantee bonuses. If Wizard is still too powerful, then we can easily revisit the item to change the values or consider other target items such as the “Arcane Wand” which similarly has a stronger bonus in the Ancestry Wizards than Human.

Fighter

Surprisingly, this class is in a good state due to the prevalence of Wizard. It is also most likely the reason that Human Wizard is struggling since Fighter is the worst matchup for it among all the base classes. I suspect that Fighter’s place in the meta revolves more around the strength of other classes. Rather than buff or nerf, I suggest a tweak. The “Spiked Pauldrons” armor is widely prevalent due to being far more consistent than “Helm of Fury.” But what if Fighter had a second Guard? Thematically the “Rallying Flag” could become a champion. As a 1 Defense Guard it would provide a built in means to consistently trigger the damage from Helm. I still think it should replace a Gold but to balance it in comparison with “Sharpening Stone”, we should reduce the damage by 1 and see what kind of effect this card has on the meta.

Cleric

Next let us visit the class that struggles against the king of the meta (Wizard) but dominates the king slayer (Fighter). Ancestries are currently providing good boosts to Cleric as they tend to add qualities it lacks and desperately need in Card Draw, Scrap and Economy to bring the class to a tad under 50%-win rate. Knowing that powerful level 17+ upgrades are on the horizon I think a minor tweak to the champion “Redeemed Ruinos” is in order. Cleric frequently wishes this card were either a gold or source of damage when drawn. I suggest adding +1 gold while reducing the heal effect by 1. This makes opponents more willing to stun the champion to deny an economy bonus and thus triggering the draw effect more often. In most games opponents ignore this champion since they want to deny Cleric any further potential to buy relevant cards.

Thief

Thief will always have a place in the meta as a class that can explode with good built-in economy and healing or can fall flat on its face with inconsistent draws due in large part to “Throwing Knives.” When drawn together these cards pack quite a punch and with the popular “Knife Belt” upgrade they provide consistency to the Thief deck. But what if Thief had a way to simply throw each knife once? In keeping with the theme of a thrown knife I suggest a radical change; Adding the effect “Pay 2 Gold. Sacrifice to add +1 Combat.” As a class with an abundance of economy it can now spend it to thin out inconsistent cards. Furthermore, we may see skills such as “Distracted Exchange” and “Misdirection” become a popular choice over “Lift” as the gold generated will help pay for the removal of knives. This will also further build diversity as without knives we are more willing to lean on the “Sacrificial Dagger” upgrade and the “Silent Boots” armor. For Thieves that enjoy the draws that “Knife Belt” brings they can choose to always keep them around especially as level 17+ adds other knives to further synergize with these cards. (For precedence, a similar effect currently exists on Druid’s “Ursine Rod.”)

Ranger

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A class once so powerful that Ruksak rode it to Diamond 45 (and beyond) has now become the worst overall base class. Ancestries currently do little to improve it while recent and past nerfs have stripped this cycle maniac of all powerful tools and flavor. To start “Parrot” should be reverted to provide a Draw upon entering the discard pile rather than healing. This will allow the Elf ancestry to shine while also creating a very enjoyable play pattern that at the height of popularity brought this class to an almost 50%-win rate. (Which is the entire goal of this article)

Alchemist

On the Beta side we see that several classes remain strong despite the prevalence of Wizard. The Alchemist has been a thorn in the side through many revisions due to a combination of draw and sacrifice effects. To combat this, I suggest a change to “Crucible.” Sacrifice is powerful but provides good flavor here. The draw however allows the card to be very consistent especially as the Alchemist acquires cards. I think by simply changing “Draw it” to “Put it back” we retain the theme while also slowing down Alchemist’s ability to pop off. When revealing a recently purchased card the Alchemist will feel forced to put it back and not further their sacrifice advance that their Abilities provide.

Barbarian

The strength of Barbarian is currently on the rise as it has a good matchup in classes that either take time to develop or aggressive classes that have much less starting health. Like Fighter, its strength ties to what is currently prevalent in the meta. By keeping an eye towards the future and eventually inevitable addition of Ancestries to the Beta classes “Plunder” should be reduced to acquiring cards that cost 2 or less for free (3 or less when Berserked). This keeps the card in line with Orc’s “Bully” while also preventing Ogre from acquiring powerful 3 cost combat cards since Ogre’s downside is making them all cost 4. Realistically this card is often used to acquire Fire Gems but occasionally can rip powerful cards 4 cost cards off the row. By reducing this effect Barbarians are still a damage powerhouse but will struggle to improve their already powerful base damage kit.

Bard

Bard was largely forgotten as an unfavorable market row against an aggressive class can mean certain death in 5 turns or less. However with Arena showing us Bard’s potential, it began to see an uptick in play and actually sits at a tad below 50% win rate.  For the sake of consistency I think the “Necro Dirge” should exist as a base card in the deck rather than a level 5 upgrade. The other three faction cards are received at levels 1-3 without a choice. By adding this to level 1 we give Bard +1 starting damage, sac potential and open up a potential upgrade choice at level 5. The other level 5 option, “Dancing Blade” can stay as it adds a way for Bard to clear early champions and an opposing counterpart would be “Soothing Blade” that provides 2 healing instead of 2 combat to allow Bard some built in sustainability against aggressive classes. (Both options would upgrade the Dagger)

Druid

Druid is in an odd place. On a large scale it struggles but at the very top of the Meta a few players pilot it to high win rates. Their dependence on champions can make them a liability and their armors completely miss the mark with class flavor. To start I would like to see the “Circlet of Flowers” armor have one additional line of text that reads “If it is a champion of cost 2 or less place on top of your deck instead.” This allows for Druid to further lean on champion focus while also giving increased play rates to the many 2 cost champions added in the Dungeons set.  

Monk

Monk has a great theme of constantly returning cards from the discard pile to enable consistent damage or healing as needed. It benefits greatly from card draw and keeping a split deck. However, it is also a high health class (77 max health as Human) with access to multiple forms of healing. This makes for very oppressive matchups against Fighter and Barbarian as the Monk (when piloted correctly) is nearly invulnerable. The easiest tweak would be to simply reduce all Combat and Healing values on their Abilities. If still too strong, Monk can always be revisited to reduce the draw effects as well. The main problem is the values of the abilities are all over the place and the scaling is inconsistent. The healing goes 4->6->11->16 and one of the damage values somehow ends on 14. To keep this consistent and balanced the entire Ability tree should be adjusted below as seen below so that all values start on 4 with upgrade choices increasing them to 6 and eventually 8.

Necromancer

Like the Bard, I think the change should revolve around the “Dagger” upgrade.  As of recent changes the Necromancer is now stuck with this card permanently.  The level 5 upgrades depicted below should simply replace the worst card in all of Hero Realms (the Dagger) rather than a starting gold. This would both further the Economy Build of Necromancer while allowing the aggressive build one more means of ensuring their Skill is used every turn.  Hopefully this will not only maintain its current 50% overall win rate, but will slightly encourage some build diversity, especially with the additional healing added to the “economy” upgrade choices.

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I encourage those in the community with the time and skills to tackle these issues in the “Lua Script” format. With the built in game mechanics of creating custom cards and classes all of my proposed changes can actually be tested.

Now will all of these result in a perfect meta?  Far from it. However I believe in the method of making minor tweaks and seeing how they play out. Most of these are small enough changes that all can be implemented at once and the players themselves can show Wise Wizards and the Community as a whole where the balance changes need to be made through the data it will create.