Hearthpwn

Rockbiter Weapon is receiving a nerf!

Rockbiter is the culprit of a few mass burst-damage combos in addition to being a reliable early game removal tool. Due to its strength in a variety of circumstances, it’s been one of the most widely played Shaman cards in Hearthstone’s history. Making changes to Basic cards that show up in every deck will help instigate more variety and help the Standard format succeed in the future. We’re preserving some of the synergistic potential of Rockbiter Weapon but decreasing its value as a removal tool by changing the cost of the card from 1 to 2 Mana.

We considered other Shaman cards like Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem, but these are both leaving Standard relatively soon, so we thought it would be better to change Rockbiter and improve the Standard format in a more permanent way.

Rating: 3/5, this makes it no longer blantly better compared to Lightning Bolt. Don't know if this nerf was really necessary, but i can understand it. Better 2 mana than making it minion only.

I hate this change. They completely destroy this cars as a removal but leave burst possibilities. This abosolute opposite of what they was trying to accomplish. It still can be used in broken windfury combo. 

Well... This card is completely dead now... Yeah, it needed a nerf but maybe not that much...

It's now like 2 mana 3/1 FWA.. RIP, Dead card.

meh, I'm happy with any shaman nerf but they should've just made it that a rockbitered target can only target minions. The only problem with this card was the combination with Doomhammer to the face.

2 mana 3 damage doesn't work with spelldamage, doesn't avoid taunt AND it can hit your own face....suuuure.

Goddamit Blizzard. Yes, strong cards will rotate out of standard and shaman would be left with this peace of shit and become trash class again. If it is problem with windfury burst combos, change them! Change doomhammer so its cant go face, but noooo, lets make another weak basic card.

I think nerfing rockbiter is the wrong way to go with it. 

the nerf i would like to see was to make doomhammer a 7 mana card with no overload making it used way later and being a useless card in the hand of the aggro player for two additional turns making it way slower

plus ofc not doing the overload buff stuff

No love, no hate on this one.
But still a little disappointed...

Surprised at all the negativity about this one, frankly. It does now make Lightning Bolt a better option for early removal, but the card is still certainly playable.

I do agree that this nerfs Al'Akir as a side effect, which is a little sad, but y'know they could just give him enough health to be playable without a combo....

One of the things that made Shaman so painful to play against was the x2 Rockbiter/x2 Lightning Bolt that meant that they could never lose tempo by playing early overload cards.  So frustrating to play a creature to attempt to damage (not trade) Totem Golem only to see it destroyed every time even though Shaman only had one mana.  Now Shaman's chance of doing that is halved, or he will actually be inconvenienced by his early removal. 

The main issue with this nerf is the blow it strikes to Shaman's basic cards.  Also, Thing from Below is still redonc. 

I hate this change. It doesn't change Doomhammer + rockbiter but it ruins Rockbiters ability as an early game removal spell. I would have preferred a nerf to Doomhammer. 

If they did this to rockbiten they should NERF fiery war axe for sure .

Dumb. Rockbiter wasn't the issue, windfury is the issue (Doomhammer anyone?) and I personally felt it was already distinct enough from Lightning Bolt to be fine at 1-mana; Using rockbiter is a risk since it means your hero takes face damage while using it for removal, lightning bolt doesn't suffer from this but overloads you instead, so there was a decision-making process in place already.

I predict we'll still see doomhammer wombocombos after this but fewer rockbiter uses outside of this combo. Which is to say "exactly the opposite of the nerf's apparent goal". It's also really concerning that Team 5 are nerfing yet another Basic card which could make it even tougher for a newbie to get into hearthstone in the future...

All the other nerfs make sense, but this is crap. RB is 1cc because you have to face tank when using it as removal. At 2cc it's worse than Fiery Win Axe, why use it at all except in outlier Windfury decks? 

Also, it's going to make ZERO difference to aggro and/or midrange burst. Doomhammer+Rockbiter will still be a thing.  But the nerf hits midrange hard -- and midrange will lose a lot of power once Totem Golem and TVB rotate out. 

RIP Rockbiter. And possibly midrange shaman. 

I don't know how anyone could be okay with this nerf.  Blessing of might is +3 attack permanently to a minion.  Rockbiter is only the turn it is played, the advantage is you can give it to your hero.  Well shaman salt is high, so no matter how unreasonable people will cheer.

This nerf is a trash.  Every class needs a card present in every of the class's deck, because that's what defines a class. Rockbiten Weapon is good but not overpowered in model, it shouldn't be nerfed.