I'm pretty excited for Knights of the Frozen Throne, and was curious if anyone had speculations/ "wouldn't it be cool if..."/ideas about what the new Rogue hero card for Valeera might do?
We've seen her in both of the initial key art images revealed for the expansion, notably with what appears to be pink glowing eyes as opposed to the pale blue eyes that literally ALL the other (undead) heroes have.
Both for reference and possibly inspiration, I've attached how she appears in each image. Eager to hear your thoughts! <3
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LauncherKeyArtVersion
AltKeyArtVersion
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Yes, SnowyYuki does mean snowy snow. That's the joke.
Well with Deathstalker Rexxar they took the Beast-theme and turned it into a Deathknight-style Hero Power, so the question would be "what Rogue-theme could be made into a Deathknight ability?"
That's actually a really smart way to look at it. I think an additional aspect that might be useful to take note of is the large amount of visual similarity between the undead Valeera and Sylvanas Windrunner (also one of the reasons I referred to her as Banshee Valeera), including relatively similar eye color (glow? not sure how to refer to it), hair color and skin tone, which is readily apparent in a variety of images from outside Hearthstone but even the card art for Sylvanas Windrunner in-game bears a pretty near resemblance (attached a somewhat closer up view of her face in the HS art in case it's helpful).
If the Banshee-like theme is taken, then maybe something along the lines of a power Sylvanas has been shown to have could be the basis for the new Hero Power. While Hearthstone and Warcraft universes are now sliiiightly divergent, I think the Wowpedia entry on her powers is still relevant here:
The Banshee Queen is aptly named. Her screams have the power to silence and weaken her enemies, or bolster the power of her allies.
Sylvanas is adept at demon magic — having the ability to drain life, create skeletons, and use mind control.
Although Sylvanas has reclaimed her undead high elven body, she still retains the ability to shift in and out of her incorporeal banshee form at will.
We've actually seen one of those reflected in her card's effect, the Deathrattle mimicking her use of Mind Control (also one of her Ultimate abilities in Heroes of the Storm). While it's definitely a prominent ability of hers, so far we've pretty much only ever seen Priest with that type of effect in a class card.
This leads me towards the other possible option I've been thinking about, which is if Mind Control doesn't seem likely to be associated with Rogue...what is something that would be valuable for Rogue and related to undeath and Icecrown Citadel...which also functions as an in-game mechanic? Well, Valeera is a Blood Elf. Within the Warcraft universe, particularly powerful Blood Elves defeated by Arthas and raised by him into undeath become vampiric beings known as San'layn.
Given that Lifesteal is one of the keywords being 'introduced' (close enough, it was neither properly keyword-ed beforehand nor seen more than a handful of places) with KFT, and Rogue's historic struggle for access to any sort of healing, I could definitely see the DK-style Hero Power as something Lifesteal-related or similarly themed. It would even kinda fit Rogue identity in-game as well (albeit with the undead twist), if the healing they finally gained access to wasn't restorative like a spell but rather gained through draining/leeching it.
As a somewhat relevant side-note to support the possibility of this theory, while a notable portion of the San'layn are magically inclined and/or predominantly magic users, it is not strictly necessary. In fact, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, the leader of the San'layn and one of the bosses we will face in the Icecrown Citadel solo content, in life was a more or less a warrior-type character. It seems that for Blood Elves, the conversion to undeath inherently conveys a variety of powers, so even Valeera the Rogue would possess them upon her return.
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SylvanasCloseUp
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Yes, SnowyYuki does mean snowy snow. That's the joke.
Could be anything really. Buffing stealthed or giving stealth to a minion would be lame and i think they're generally avoiding the stealth theme because of design space. Deathrattle is more of a Priest theme now, so don't think it will have anything to do with it too. Opponent class cards? It will be further supported, but i don't think it will have anything to do with Hero card since it would be a complete meme card. Combo related hero power? Maybe, but the pool of combo cards for that is too small.
However, there are two things that Rogue desperately needs and that are connected. Rogue has plenty of weapons, but barely uses any besides Hero Power. Actually, it doesn't use any other. Why? Because it has no class healing and taunts. That's the second thing. So i'm thinking of two possibilities. First one would be give Lifesteal to equipped weapon as Hero Power. That would bring weapons back big time. Second idea that would be plausible would be give lifesteal to a minion this turn only, but even that can be a bit op since rogue is known for its extremely high burst damage turns. I also though about giving spells lifesteal for a turn, but Rogue does not have many direct damage spells so that's off.
Like @Oshigawa said, Rogues lack some healing imo. So I really think that their new Hero Power could have something related to Lifesteal. What I think can happen, and would be an amazing thing to happen is giving Rogue a passive ability where "All damage dealt by weapons has Lifesteal". This would not only influence Rogues to use more weapon related cards in their decks, but would also make Valeera/Maiev much less fragile than they are regarding hitting minions directly and dying much quicker to aggro due to self inflicting damage.
I think "your hero is immune this turn" could be fun. Not sure on balance (cost vs. passive) or if it would actually be good. Encourages playing weapons (can't dagger after replacing) and Envenom Weapon that way.
I feel like people are reading way too much into that artwork. People were going on about how priest was holding shadowform, but why would your replace your hero power with death knight Anduin just to replace his hero power with shadowform? Rogue's warm color scheme makes sense for warmer eyes, I would bet that is literally all there is to it.
Well with Deathstalker Rexxar they took the Beast-theme and turned it into a Deathknight-style Hero Power, so the question would be "what Rogue-theme could be made into a Deathknight ability?" Deathrattle comes to mind, but thats already a theme in both Hunter and Priest, so having another Deathrattle class would be boring.
Rogue is already a deathrattle class whether you like it or not. Most of the rogue legendaries are deathrattle, the jades are deathrattle, Journey Below is the only deathrattle discover in standard at the moment.
Yeah, but i think the whole deathrattle thing is slowly shifting towards priest. He got 2 deathrattle cards and related quest in un'goro, rogue got 0. I think they're slowly shifting rogue towards stealth/burgle/weapons/combo. Besides, all good rogue decks are tempo based, no room for deathrattle guys.
I wonder if it will be anything with life steal or with poisonous. Maybe she will be able to give it to units, or summon plagued zombies when attacking or with her hero power. Both life steal and poisonous fit the death knight and rogue theme well.
I'm pretty excited for Knights of the Frozen Throne, and was curious if anyone had speculations/ "wouldn't it be cool if..."/ideas about what the new Rogue hero card for Valeera might do?
We've seen her in both of the initial key art images revealed for the expansion, notably with what appears to be pink glowing eyes as opposed to the pale blue eyes that literally ALL the other (undead) heroes have.
Both for reference and possibly inspiration, I've attached how she appears in each image. Eager to hear your thoughts! <3
Yes, SnowyYuki does mean snowy snow. That's the joke.
100% unabashed fangirl of Valeera Sanguinar.
We've actually seen one of those reflected in her card's effect, the Deathrattle mimicking her use of Mind Control (also one of her Ultimate abilities in Heroes of the Storm). While it's definitely a prominent ability of hers, so far we've pretty much only ever seen Priest with that type of effect in a class card.
This leads me towards the other possible option I've been thinking about, which is if Mind Control doesn't seem likely to be associated with Rogue...what is something that would be valuable for Rogue and related to undeath and Icecrown Citadel...which also functions as an in-game mechanic? Well, Valeera is a Blood Elf. Within the Warcraft universe, particularly powerful Blood Elves defeated by Arthas and raised by him into undeath become vampiric beings known as San'layn.
Given that Lifesteal is one of the keywords being 'introduced' (close enough, it was neither properly keyword-ed beforehand nor seen more than a handful of places) with KFT, and Rogue's historic struggle for access to any sort of healing, I could definitely see the DK-style Hero Power as something Lifesteal-related or similarly themed. It would even kinda fit Rogue identity in-game as well (albeit with the undead twist), if the healing they finally gained access to wasn't restorative like a spell but rather gained through draining/leeching it.
As a somewhat relevant side-note to support the possibility of this theory, while a notable portion of the San'layn are magically inclined and/or predominantly magic users, it is not strictly necessary. In fact, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, the leader of the San'layn and one of the bosses we will face in the Icecrown Citadel solo content, in life was a more or less a warrior-type character. It seems that for Blood Elves, the conversion to undeath inherently conveys a variety of powers, so even Valeera the Rogue would possess them upon her return.
Yes, SnowyYuki does mean snowy snow. That's the joke.
100% unabashed fangirl of Valeera Sanguinar.
Could be anything really. Buffing stealthed or giving stealth to a minion would be lame and i think they're generally avoiding the stealth theme because of design space. Deathrattle is more of a Priest theme now, so don't think it will have anything to do with it too. Opponent class cards? It will be further supported, but i don't think it will have anything to do with Hero card since it would be a complete meme card. Combo related hero power? Maybe, but the pool of combo cards for that is too small.
However, there are two things that Rogue desperately needs and that are connected. Rogue has plenty of weapons, but barely uses any besides Hero Power. Actually, it doesn't use any other. Why? Because it has no class healing and taunts. That's the second thing. So i'm thinking of two possibilities. First one would be give Lifesteal to equipped weapon as Hero Power. That would bring weapons back big time. Second idea that would be plausible would be give lifesteal to a minion this turn only, but even that can be a bit op since rogue is known for its extremely high burst damage turns. I also though about giving spells lifesteal for a turn, but Rogue does not have many direct damage spells so that's off.
Whatever it is i'm looking forward to it!
Like @Oshigawa said, Rogues lack some healing imo. So I really think that their new Hero Power could have something related to Lifesteal. What I think can happen, and would be an amazing thing to happen is giving Rogue a passive ability where "All damage dealt by weapons has Lifesteal". This would not only influence Rogues to use more weapon related cards in their decks, but would also make Valeera/Maiev much less fragile than they are regarding hitting minions directly and dying much quicker to aggro due to self inflicting damage.
I haven't thought of that, but yes, it could be passive and still be balanced :)
I think "your hero is immune this turn" could be fun. Not sure on balance (cost vs. passive) or if it would actually be good. Encourages playing weapons (can't dagger after replacing) and Envenom Weapon that way.
CCGing since '98.
I feel like people are reading way too much into that artwork. People were going on about how priest was holding shadowform, but why would your replace your hero power with death knight Anduin just to replace his hero power with shadowform? Rogue's warm color scheme makes sense for warmer eyes, I would bet that is literally all there is to it.
Yeah, but i think the whole deathrattle thing is slowly shifting towards priest. He got 2 deathrattle cards and related quest in un'goro, rogue got 0. I think they're slowly shifting rogue towards stealth/burgle/weapons/combo. Besides, all good rogue decks are tempo based, no room for deathrattle guys.
I wonder if it will be anything with life steal or with poisonous. Maybe she will be able to give it to units, or summon plagued zombies when attacking or with her hero power. Both life steal and poisonous fit the death knight and rogue theme well.
Banshee Valeera hero power : Equip a 1-2 poisoned weapon Kappa .
Maybe something like:
2 mana, equip a 2/2 Bone Dagger with life steal and poisonous. When attacking put a Ripped Out Bone in your hand
Ripped Out Bone: 0 mana card that does nothing (or maybe one damage or something)
That sounds cool. I hope it's gonna be cheap.
There's a hint on reddit and twitter hinting at new rogue card. Can check it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/6ooto8/new_frozen_throne_teaser_posted_on_nga_possibly/?st=j5fjv6yr&sh=86294372
There's an image of Razorfen Hunter, Mad Scientist, Stubborn Gastropod and SI7 Agent. Wonder what it could hint to?
Bleed = +1 more from all of your damage sources.
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/240800-hearthstone-board-improvement-idea#c6
Awesome!
Cool stuff!!
Those are great ideas, and even kinda incorporate part of the teaser hints from the post someone else linked! I love the Bleed idea too
Yes, SnowyYuki does mean snowy snow. That's the joke.
100% unabashed fangirl of Valeera Sanguinar.