Hearthpwn

I've been playing since August 2017, and Rank 5 to Legend can be a brutal grind. I played a heck of a lot when new, and got to Rank 5 in my second month. Managed to maintain Rank 5 every month, so I knew getting Legend was a matter of time, and choosing to go for it, but I felt like I didn't want to put myself through that.

Come Witchwood, heading into May/June Odd Rogue became my main climbing deck to get to Rank 5. In June I hit Rank 5 on the 8th, the earliest Rank 5 I had gotten so far, and I decided at that point to go for Legend that month. I grinded a lot of games of Odd Rogue, good thing I found interest in the deck playing out differently over many games, got to Rank 1, 1 star. I failed and fell back to Rank 3 though. Deck tracker says I played 289 games of Odd Rogue in June, 428 in total (holy crap).

In July, I started at Rank 5. Didn't play much Ranked the first half of the month (was playing my new F2P account), but then I started picking it up again. After a whole bunch of mostly Odd Rogue games, getting to the final boss and failing, falling back down, I was getting burned out from playing the deck so much (another 191 Odd Rogue games), so I was switching decks. I then found a Druid deck on hsreplay, a Taunt Buff Druid (not your regular Taunt druid with Hadronox, this one had Strongshell Scavengers). Worked really well against matchups where I was failing with Odd Rogue, went 20-7 from Rank 3, 3stars, for that Legend finish.

So I'd say to those who get to Rank 5 mostly and hang around 5-3, just choose a month, and it can take a lot of time if you're just stubborn like me and play 100s of games only to get stuck with a deck, or perhaps quicker because you can read the meta pretty well. Regardless it'lll take a while, and gets easier the next time you try to hit Legend, from what I heard.

At this point, I felt burned out a couple of days after I hit Legend. (I started playing Gwent and other digital CCGs)

Quote from Rapidosamurai >>

Dont be sad xd im playing sice release of game and never hit legend either.. Its all about grind..my Best rank was 1 with 5 stars :/ but if you can reach rank 4 or 3 you can reach legend as well. You just need to have aa LOT, like a LOOOOOT, of free time...

 Why do people always upvote this "all about grind". Of course when you are not playing well enough you can still get legend with tons of time.

But when you focus on the game and play well, then you reach legend within 10 to 40  hours which is not a "LOOOOT of free time" and doable with a full-time job. Of course you need to play Tier 1 or 2 and play sober.

Quote from Inteceraptor >>

I started playing Hearthstone on May 1st 2015. I never expected anything extraordinary but during those 39 months I had a lot of fun moments. Been playing on NA for 39 months and on EU for about 32. My attitude with playing games is very difficult. I want to play but I hate losing. I actually just can't stand when I lose in any game. 

There were a few extremely fun decks that I enjoyed playing even when I lost. Like old [Warsong] pre-nerf Patron Warrior. I still play simular deck in wild. But in general I hit rank 5 most of the time and was logging on just go get my dailies done. In last season I reached rank 3 on EU in wild but that's my record. I never even hit rank 2 during my entire gameplay. 

And honestly I don't regret it. Maybe hitting legend is that step that I need to stop playing finally. But for now I actually want to hit legend and I'm waiting to see what Boomsday will bring to Wild meta (because I almost never play Standard). I started this season with Wild Even Shaman(12-3) and Wild Even Handlock(6-4) on EU. So in theory it's possible to get there if I had more time and wish. It goes easier when I auto squelch every opponent and disable game sounds.

That's just a message to all new players who are dissapointed they can't hit legend in their first few months playing. I can't do it for the 40th month and I'm honestly fine with it lol. And I bet there might be some other players who share somewhat the same experience to mine.

 Hey mate!
gm6 here. and here is my story: i am playing this game from beta. The main trouble was when i gave my account to another person and after a year i decided to return and made a new account (the time League of Explorers came out), i had only classic cards back then. I never hit legend and finally it became my ultimate goal to be there. You know what? I made it after almost 2 years right before the Spiteful nerf. And you know what? For making this happen i dusted all my warrior and druid cards. Just for making ONE deck. It was even paladin.

Here are several things that helped me:
1. Make your own deck for current meta or pick 1 from metastats with at least 57% win rate.
2. Do NOT switch your deck after reaching rank 3.
3. Be patient and analyze your mistakes after every game.
4. If you are on a losing streak (max 2 defeats), quit the game and return tomorrow or after some time. 
5. Know your deck and count your cards (i don't use any trackers because i play via my phone).

And the last but not the least. One thing that kept me going was: if you managed to get to rank 3 then you can do it to legend!
So if you want to hit legend, believe me, it is possible. All you need is to be focused and follow some simple tips above. GL!

Quote from Decadence99 >>

Play a tier 1 aggro deck at the start of any new expansion release. Easiest legend possible.

 That's true short games make a difference 8 -  10 hours and you get there in no time. Guys that's easy I went from rank 10 to Legend in ~130 games, which is probably equal to like ~40 control games. And if you think it is boring, aggro decks also need piloting, and the competition spirit of rank 1-3 is awesome, and you get to make lots of friends.

Well guys, you might wanna join this group then: https://discord.gg/B4zh3z

Basically, we're a discord group full of people who were like you, stucik in rank 5 - rank 1 and never made it to legend. 

However, I coached a couple of people and some of them were able to reach legend because of that. If you're interested in ever reaching legend u should just join for coaching, or for fun ofc! :D

Same but October 2014 is when i started. My best is several rank 3 and i'm rank 4 today almost exclusively standard though.

Climbed from 8 to 4 on the 1st of August and i'll probably stop here. Just doing the dailies and whatnot till the end of the month. I just want to collect as many cards as i can and as a f2p player i try to gather that gold the best i can.

Fun is what you make of it i guess :D

i hit legend for the first time when witchwood released and ive been playing since nax. normally i just play a deck i like to play, and go to rank 5 or so, which is fun. When i reached legend i played with even paladin and had a lot of fun,  until rank 3-4 when i realized i had really good odds of reaching legend with the deck that season, so i played 4-5 hours straight and got there. They say you can reach legend with "any" deck, but honestly, in my own experience, the amount of time you need to spend with a "fun" deck compared to a tier 1 deck is just redicolous. ive "tried" grinding with tier3-4 decks before, and it took way more time then i wanted to put in so i just gave up. Dont know what winrate i had that time, but it felt like 75% (probably not) but it definetly felt different than the coin toss win rate im used to at that rank. If your really want to get there, i recommend jumping straight onto the tier 1 deck after boomsday releases, before any nerfs etc. 

Im kind of glad ive already managed to reach legend and get that juicy card back, as i wont be tempted to make a pointless push again. If youve reached rank 5 you can definetly make it happen, if you put enough time into it. And there are decks that can get you there far more easily than others. 

Same here, playing for three years and i don't give a fuck. All i care about is memes.

 MY highest rank is rank 5, but my friend help me to get the legend card back. But i've never used it because it isnt mine lol

I want to tell you my story! Last season July  in wild I reached rank 5 from rank 8 on the first or the second day of the season. I don't remember which it was. I then decided to try for legend for the first time. At that point I had played this game for 4 years. Few rank 5 finishes and a few rank 4, but never higher.  My goal was to play 20 games each day after work. This was hard because I usually play 100 or so games per month. My schedule was basically wake up, go to work, come back from work, play hearthstone and go to bed. 

I first chose to pilot Even Shaman and I did reach rank 3 with it eventually. Many days I was stuck at rank 3-4. Then something happened and the meta shifted. I was losing ton of games and decided to change deck! Bold move I know. I was hesitant at first, but actually I was quite bored of Even Shaman after 80 games. I changed to Odd Rogue. I manages to reach rank 2 with it but then hit a wall. I was stuck there multiple days and eventually fell back to 3. Meta had once again shifted! I changed to Renolock and to my surprise I did climb faster with it despite of longer games because my win rate was better. 

 I eventually reached legend for the first time with Renolock on the 14. day of the season after 200 games or so. I was extremely happy and quite relieved. No more ladder anxiety. It truly was a grind and it felt like a second job. There were days when I played 30-40 games and didn't gain any stars. It was frustrating, but I just continued to push that play button. Point of my story is that reaching legend is definitely a feat and you should be proud of it even if someone on this forum tells you "it's super easy. Just pick a tier 1 deck and play a lot" or "Anybody can reach legend". Also changing decks is not necessarily a bad thing. If you're facing only control decks there's no reason to play aggro. On top of that just keep pushing the play button and maybe consider it's your job or something to play at least that 20 games per day. Because some people are just not playing enough games to reach legend including me!

I hope this helped anyone trying to get that gorgeous legend card back! 

Quote from TheNaughtyGoblin >>

U guys are all try hards, I have been playing since before the first expansion and have never played a meta deck consistently enough (because it  far far too boring) to get past rank 15. 

 I don't know about that, I got to rank 5 in Wild with a Summoning Stone druid

How to get Legend in one day ? 

( dont do it please )

Quote from KickMachine5 >>..

,,,,His story….

 This KickMachine5 really sums it up how it is for most people, nicely done. I want to add the people who say it's easy, probably have already spent a lot of time playing card games before. Of course some people make easy legend from start but they are a tiny but loud and proud minorty. Don't let yourself get distracted from them.

How I think it's the easiest reaching legend:

- Play wild. If that counts as legend for you, I think it's easier. But I have to admit for most people wild doesn't count. Also its much easier to get to high legend ranks in wild compared to standard.

- Go for the final push not before the last couple of days in the month. Last day especially will feel much easier because everybody already climbed up, and with them did the skill level. This is by far the most important thing to do.

- As soon as you get to rank 3-2 or 1, you will notice an increase of difficulty. There will be almost no meme decks left and just highly competitive tier lists. But if you have a winrate of over 55% rom rank 5 to rank 3, you should feel confident to be having the ability to hit legend. Even at rank 1, play as you would play at rank 5 but take your time. Rank 1 personally usually feels the easiest, because most people there get nervous and misplay the most! Also don't worry if you have to play against a legend player at rank 1. If he is rank 17844 he will probably just play some meme deck and is the way easier opponent then the tryhard rank 1 roping and bm guy.

-Play a top tier deck. Tier one if possible, but if its your playstyle a tier 2 deck is also fine, depending on the meta. Stick to the deck as soon as you have a decent winrate. If your winrate is bad over a period of let's say at least 15-20 games, you should switch. Take a deck with a low skillcap. Those are mostly aggro or zoo decks, because of they're straight forward gameplan. Its also better because faster to climb. If you don't respect them play some control deck and if you like to suffer try some combo decks. You will find such decks here at hearthpwn. But sites like viciussyndicate, metastats or hsreplay will tell you much more about the tier.

-I read many times people saying: "You should watch a pro playing." I slightly disagree with that, it's just as time consuming as playing yourself. Do your own mistakes and learn from it. Also watching your own replays I think is overrated, if you are not trying to dive into like really high legend ranks and are already a very experienced player. Better probably is letting a friend spectate you and he will tell you what he would have done differently. 

I hope I could help

If you lack time, play an aggro deck. I got from r16 to legend with pirate warrior in 10h of gameplay, in a month thats not alot. So you can do it, just dont play malygos druid that takes 20 minutes to finnish a game, play a deck like odd paladin. Ofc I play what I want because I do have alot of free time, get legend the first day of each month and reach atleast top 150 each month. Right now Im playing token druid and Im doing good with it. Also, hitting legend isnt even that hard or time consuming, its just that alot of people I see at r6 trying to climb with 4 hours of free time a day, a slow deck and making alot of missplays. I wish I had a tip for missplayers but I seriusly dont.. my only advice is dont be stupid :)

Been playing for about three years as well, and just hit legend in Wild for the first time yesterday! I too thought that I would just be a rank 5 or 4 player, but I had a very good first two days of the season with Odd Rogue. Hope the OP will hit legend, if I can do it then you can!

I made Legend few times. for me after hitting legend the first time and getting the amazing card back,

the game somehow relaxed on me a bit. (made it first with aggro murloc pally before the nurf, super OP and freezing mage)

I proved my self I can do it, and from there mostly rank 5 and maybe more for golden epic ;-) dust.

But yeah for me hitting legend was a must !

First time I felt: Now I can put the card back and memes all day....  which I did for some time.

You need good nerves for this game, if you don't , go play overwatch...

Win or Lose , Enjoy the way, if not, uninstall play something else.

Quote from Gooaa >>

Yeah, ditto, since beta, I just don't play too much to hit legend. It is just a matter of free time.

 No it's not. Time can matter but if you're not good enough to maintain a W/L % above 50% at ranks 5-Legend, you will not get there.

There's many people that just don't have the skills. How many games & hours  do you play per month ?

For example, there's this guy in my friend list that has been around rank 17-16 for years and he has over 5k wins.. it's not normal for someone with that much experience to be stuck at those level, I don't want to brag (that's not the point) but I could get from rank 20 to 5 in a day or 2 if I tried.

Ok, so here's the thing with the legend grind (and for the record, I've only NOT hit legend twice since the release)

The OP mentions hating losing and that being a big issue with playing enough to get there.  The only way I've managed to keep playing this long is to remember something a friend once told me about poker.  A single hand (or in hearthstone case, a single match) isn't the game.  The salt thread is filled with people talking all sorts of "fuck this game, I played perfectly and lost".  First of all, you probably didn't, but more importantly, OF COURSE YOU DID.

If you play a game with any aspect of RNG, perfect play does not control a single match.  It's a fairly frequent occurrence in Hearthstone to play perfectly and lose a game.  It is quite literally no fault of yours that you lost.  However, perfect play guarantees BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that you will squeeze the highest possible win percentage out of your deck.  The only X factor in the long run is whether or not you play a deck that's capable of winning more than 50%.

Winning Hearthstone has less than zero to do with any one match.  Play skill is by far the most important variable in hitting legend and high ranks, but you have to let the wins come.

Starting at rank 5 zero stars, a 55% win rate will get you to legend in approx. 250 games.  First you have to play up to that win rate.  Second you have to play 250 games.  What you don't have to worry about is winning or losing any one particular game along the way.  In fact, worrying about that is the worst thing you can do.

Having said all that, there's no shangri la awaiting you at legend rank, if you enjoy the game at rank 4 you don't need to kill yourself over it.

Cheers

"Play skill is by far the most important variable in hitting legend and high ranks"

Could be the funniest thing I've read all year. 

Same.  One of these months I'll go for it.