Hello there! Yes, [i]you are[/i] most certainly right, here comes another fan-made concept of the death knight hero for Hearthstone! I will here present all 26 class cards, discuss some of their mechanics and synergy.
[i]Please keep in mind, this is mainly for fun and some sort of creative outlet.[/i] [b]The art used is mostly from Blizzard/TCG. Whatever art not taken from there I do not take credit for or claim to own.[/b] Please, enjoy and leave whatever comment you see fit :). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [i]EDIT: Most cards have been adjusted to maintain balance, several cards have been removed due to broken or bad mechanics and a few new cards have been added or applied to old ones. I will not list all the changes here, as it does not matter really. I will continually update the cards in this post, and when the class is somewhat well fleshed out, I will take the concept further to other forums and such. Thanks for all your input![/i]
[b]INTRODUCTION[/b]
This is Arthas Menethil, and he is of course the Death Knight hero, because... he's the Lich King, dude! And, he's here for your souls.
[b][u]Emotes:[/u][/b]
Entering battle: 1."You shall know endless torment!" 2. "Your pain shall be legendary!" Greetings: Welcome, mortal. Well played: Good, good! Thanks: Thank you, kindly. Sorry: I must apologize. Oops: Foolishness! Threaten: Frostmourne hungers!
As will become apparant the idea of "offense is the best defense" and aggressive nature of the death knight is what this is all about. By being reckless you gain some benefits. Of course, this depends on how you play and what deck you put together in the end, meaning you can play more defensive; but the class cards project some of this aggressive nature. Your minions are "disposable things", a means to an end - life in exchange for death, and then death for a new form of life. Undeath. This is the anthem of the Death Knight. To compensate for the amount of damage being thrown around, especially considering your Hero Power, there are several cards that restore health to your hero.
Okay, we'll start off with the "basics". Pardon the pun.
1. The Acolyte of Death, a basic minion. A weaker version of the Acolyte of Pain, but with a nice battlecry to give it some working space. One of the few cards that cause the Freeze effect, since it fits the theme of the Frost Death Knight.
2. Death Coil, a version of Shadow Word: Pain that factors health instead of attack. One of your control cards.
3. Blood Boil. A mix of Cleave and Avenging Wrath. Good for clearing weak minions, or creating opportunities to kill stronger minions. Of course it can be used as a straight hero damaging ability if you are lucky or the board is clear. This is a part of the Blood Death Knight aspect.
4. Essential defensive card - Vampiric Apparition. A mix of Armorsmith and Lightwell.
5. Unholy Frenzy, a simple buff, similar to Power Overwhelming that can help you clear tough minions or deal massive damage to your opponent. It can also serve as a overcosted Hunter's Mark, which can make it easier to kill of a tough minion. Inspired by the Unholy aspect of the Death Knight.
6. The Frenzied Ghoul. A low-cost creature with charge and some nice synergy with your minions. Can be good for clearing or dealing extra damage.
7. Gibbering Lich. A value card that summons a token and provides spell damage +1. Can't ask for more right?
8. We arrive at one of our defensive spells: Icebound Fortitude. Similar to Shield Block, but paired with the condition and modifier of Mortal Strike. Inspired by the Frost Death Knight aspect.
9. Our first weapon: The Dreadblade - a reverse Light's Justice. A unholy and straight-to-the-point statement that you are not fooling around.
10. Soul Reaper. A version of Shadow Word: Death and Big Game Hunter that factors Health instead of Attack. A safeguard if things get out of your control.
As you can see, a lot of the creatures here have little attack value and little health, but your spells are strong, for both protecting yourself and dealing with big minions. And there is already a clear synergistic trait here, which involves damaging and death inflicted on minions. The idea is the offensive and aggressive nature of the death knight, which serves as a defense also. No matter what, you plow through whatever obstacle is in your way and by being reckless you gain some benefits. The value lies in your minions as disposable things, a means to an end. Life for Death. This theme and feel will continue further on.
1. Yes, [u]secrets![/u] A mixture of Freezing Trap and Explosive Trap. Great for controlling the board.
2. Master of Ghouls, a secret that acts like a Deathrattle, but it's secret. Sort of like a Redemption, but it replaces them with another creature.
3. An interesting card. A passive minion which drains health from random minions and gives it to your hero. This provides some health regen flavor.
4. Death Advances! A crude insult to your opponent, which can turn games around if you need to clear or rush an opponent.
5. Sort of the bread and butter AoE spell for consistancy.
6. Dark Transformation, another "deathrattle" secret that summons a 3/4 minion when one of your minions dies. The Undead Monstrosity is a sizeable creature, that can be somewhat of a game changer early on.
7. Last of the commons, the common Bone Golem of Icecrown Citadel. Yes, the guys that Cleave your dps to shreds. They don't dissapoint here either. Dealing 1 damage to all minions, like a Whirlwind, this would combo nicely with Vampiric Apparition, Frenzied Ghoul or even Acolyte of Death for card draw.
Constant and sustained damage is a word to describe some of the aspect of the death knight, a constant thorn and pain in your side... like a sickness - a creeping death! And of course, some hard hits. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]RARE CARDS[/b]
It is with [i]rarity[/i] that Arthas begs for less souls...
1. Runeforge Smith, a variation of Arathi Weaponsmith, but with a Death Knight flavor and the stats of an Armorsmith. The Runeblade has low attack and durability, but has a potent effect.
2. Big lad! The slightly stronger Boulderfist Ogre with Taunt, sort of a weaker Ironbark Protector - a fierce foe to handle. The big pounder of the Death Knight minions.
3. The Val'kyr Herald. A spell damage minion with a lust for blood and vengance. If not silenced or killed this girl might get nasty. The spelldamage is a nice addition, if you want to throw this out late game and finish off some minions with spells. Otherwise it is a real threat if left unchecked.
4. The all-known Death Strike! A mix between Mortal Strike and Drain Life that can render tough foes defenseless or make the enemy hero crumble.
5. Another secret, Heart Strike. It can stop an attack or cripple the board severely. Use this to your advantage by setting up a counter attack with this secret.
Secrets and unexpected things happen in life, as that which is not alive or dead, can often haunt your days... Oblivion comes in a rain of spells and sudden doom.
1. The epic secret of the death knight: Anti-Magic Shell, which is a mix of Ice Barrier, Counterspell and Spellbender. Basically you absorb the spell and gain some armor.
2. The infamous Army of the Dead - a variation of Force of Nature. Use this to clear the board or as a finisher.
3. The best weapon in your arsenal. When any minion dies, Frostmourne drains their life force and restores 1 health to your hero.
A soulstorm for the God of Death! And the reward for you, death knight: Immortality. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]LEGENDARY CARD[/b]
There is only one unfortunately, but hey what can you do but follow the [i]legend[/i]?
1. SINDRAGOSA, THE QUEEN OF THE FROSTBROOD AND THE MOST EPIC FROST WYRM TO DATE! Basically slightly weaker legendary, stat-wise, than Ysera, at a higher mana cost. But she freezes all your enemies upon arrival and caters you with a nice spell boost, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Destruction from the skies... the earth crumble, blood freeze and flesh rot - and through the jagged cracks seep only Death. As above, so below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So the basic idea is to balance damage/death of minions with a flow of new minions and a barrage of spells.Heal, freeze, explode and rend your foes useless.
Thank you if you've read so far. I will post other card suggestions below eventually. Please leave a comment below.
Well, tell me how to make them more unique then. I have readjusted these cards over and over. To me the uniqueness comes from them being different takes of already existing cards. A 4/1 Weapon for 1 mana? A class card with Spell Damage +1? Secrets that turn minions into bigger minions? Seems pretty unique to me. If by unique you mean that the cards should have completely new mechanics to them, where I have to invent some effect or condition, that is incredibly difficult and creates less credibility. I mean, I guess I could make an effect called Contagion, which would be described as: "Characters damaged by a minion with this effect, take 1 damage at the start of each turn for 3 turns". I mean, this would be unique, but in the end it is hard to speculate about new effects and mechanics this way. Just a thought.
I like the general idea of your cards but i'm stuck to some point: I can't see any finisher in there. For example, the legendary, it is supposed to be some kind of finisher for your particular class. Grommash for 12 damage charge, jaraxxus to regain health and flood the board, antonidas to gain ridiculous amount of fireballs, etc... Even cenarius can serve as an expensive savage roar. But here, sindragosa does nothing like this. It freezes your opponent's, which is good, but you don't have any spell or minion that can get value out of the frozen enemies nor any great spell as a finisher which can take great advantage out of the +1 spell damage. So sindragosa here is a great body on the board (even if 10 mana may be a bit expensive, i couldn't tell), but he would be good as a neutral legendary i think, rather than a class specific one, know what i mean?
In general, all classes have their own finish mechanics, but here, besides keeping alive (which is not "obtained" by sindragosa, which could be if he costed way less (with tinier stats of course) so you could take the board back in the same turn with a spell for example) but maybe there is not enough ways to stay alive then, i think. maybe it could be interesting to add a little bit more of heal effects or gaining armor so you wouldn't get so quickly get down. I don't know, it's just a general idea, i haven't reread all the cards while writing but i had this feeling that there weren't so many ways to keep alive long enough to "use" your opponent, which is, if i got it right, the purpose of this class.
Words "Death Knight" are associated with Necrotic Strike for me as for WoW PvP player. So I would like to see hero power in this style but I personally have no idea what it could be.
Hm, interesting point about the finisher, or lack thereof. Well, yea perhaps the Legendary could be changed to another one, or maybe even adjusted. As for finishers, I would argue that Army of the Dead, Frostmourne indeed are finishers. Fair enough, AOTD it is 5 damage total unbuffed, but consider that it is five bodies on the board.
At 10 mana, spend 6 on Army of the Dead, with something like a Raid Leader, that would turn into 10 damage. Add Unholy Frenzy for 1 mana on one of them and that's 14 damage. I mean, Force of Nature is probably better. But the cards here are not the only cards one can add to a deck. They are class specific.
Picture Frostmourne with Spiteful Smith enrage. That's a 7/3 weapon. Add the hero power, that's 9/3 potentially each turn. If you can get one or two of those swings in there, that's almost 2/3 of the opponents health. And that's just with weapon synergy.
Val'Kyr Herald for +1 spell damage, Death and Decay for a 5 mana flamestrike. AND that's +1/+1 on the val'kyr for each minion killed. Consider there's 3 minions, the Val'kyr turns into a 7/7 minion. Unless your opponent can deal with that. Add Unholy Frenzy, or Stormwind Champion, Dire Wolf, Dark Iron Dwarf, Abusive Sergeant or even Shattered Sun Cleric for a massive minion. Hell, add leroy in there for next turn with unholy frenzy or any of the minions listed above, after you've beaten them with ur 7/7 Val'kyr.
The finisher is maybe harder to achieve, and dependant on combos, but hey... so is hunter and druid. but a board of frozen minons and hero upon Sindragosa arriving, can leave the board severely in your favor. But yes, there might be something to consider that the Army of the Dead is a weaker finsisher. I still think there's creative ways of making these class cards synergize with neutral cards.
That could work. The thing about the Anti Magic Shell, Soulstices. Like a reverse Spell Damage effect I guess. The problem is that things like that are hard to phrase on cards without making things confusing or sound overpowered, cuz they're not in the game (at least to my knowledge). I don't know. I tried to play with the concepts of the established mechanics, to convay some realism to the cards.
Yeah i guess it could work, the synergies with the army of dead. I still consider sindragosa as a too "neutral" legendary though but with some tweaks, it could easily become a good way to prepare the army's rush i think.
[b]Death Knight Class Concept[/b]
Hello there! Yes, [i]you are[/i] most certainly right, here comes another fan-made concept of the death knight hero for Hearthstone! I will here present all 26 class cards, discuss some of their mechanics and synergy.
[i]Please keep in mind, this is mainly for fun and some sort of creative outlet.[/i] [b]The art used is mostly from Blizzard/TCG. Whatever art not taken from there I do not take credit for or claim to own.[/b] Please, enjoy and leave whatever comment you see fit :).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i]EDIT: Most cards have been adjusted to maintain balance, several cards have been removed due to broken or bad mechanics and a few new cards have been added or applied to old ones. I will not list all the changes here, as it does not matter really. I will continually update the cards in this post, and when the class is somewhat well fleshed out, I will take the concept further to other forums and such. Thanks for all your input![/i]
[b]INTRODUCTION[/b]
This is Arthas Menethil, and he is of course the Death Knight hero, because... he's the Lich King, dude! And, he's here for your souls.
[b][u]Emotes:[/u][/b]
Entering battle: 1."You shall know endless torment!" 2. "Your pain shall be legendary!"
Greetings: Welcome, mortal.
Well played: Good, good!
Thanks: Thank you, kindly.
Sorry: I must apologize.
Oops: Foolishness!
Threaten: Frostmourne hungers!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]THE CONCEPT AND THE INSPIRATION[/b]
As will become apparant the idea of "offense is the best defense" and aggressive nature of the death knight is what this is all about. By being reckless you gain some benefits. Of course, this depends on how you play and what deck you put together in the end, meaning you can play more defensive; but the class cards project some of this aggressive nature. Your minions are "disposable things", a means to an end - life in exchange for death, and then death for a new form of life. Undeath. This is the anthem of the Death Knight. To compensate for the amount of damage being thrown around, especially considering your Hero Power, there are several cards that restore health to your hero.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]HERO POWER[/b]
Pretty basic hero power, which let's your hero gain +2 attack the turn it is used. Inspired by the Horn of Winter ability from WoW.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[u][b]THE CARDS[/b][/u]
[b]BASIC CARDS[/b]
Okay, we'll start off with the "basics". Pardon the pun.
1. The Acolyte of Death, a basic minion. A weaker version of the Acolyte of Pain, but with a nice battlecry to give it some working space. One of the few cards that cause the Freeze effect, since it fits the theme of the Frost Death Knight.
2. Death Coil, a version of Shadow Word: Pain that factors health instead of attack. One of your control cards.
3. Blood Boil. A mix of Cleave and Avenging Wrath. Good for clearing weak minions, or creating opportunities to kill stronger minions. Of course it can be used as a straight hero damaging ability if you are lucky or the board is clear. This is a part of the Blood Death Knight aspect.
4. Essential defensive card - Vampiric Apparition. A mix of Armorsmith and Lightwell.
5. Unholy Frenzy, a simple buff, similar to Power Overwhelming that can help you clear tough minions or deal massive damage to your opponent. It can also serve as a overcosted Hunter's Mark, which can make it easier to kill of a tough minion. Inspired by the Unholy aspect of the Death Knight.
6. The Frenzied Ghoul. A low-cost creature with charge and some nice synergy with your minions. Can be good for clearing or dealing extra damage.
7. Gibbering Lich. A value card that summons a token and provides spell damage +1. Can't ask for more right?
8. We arrive at one of our defensive spells: Icebound Fortitude. Similar to Shield Block, but paired with the condition and modifier of Mortal Strike. Inspired by the Frost Death Knight aspect.
9. Our first weapon: The Dreadblade - a reverse Light's Justice. A unholy and straight-to-the-point statement that you are not fooling around.
10. Soul Reaper. A version of Shadow Word: Death and Big Game Hunter that factors Health instead of Attack. A safeguard if things get out of your control.
As you can see, a lot of the creatures here have little attack value and little health, but your spells are strong, for both protecting yourself and dealing with big minions. And there is already a clear synergistic trait here, which involves damaging and death inflicted on minions. The idea is the offensive and aggressive nature of the death knight, which serves as a defense also. No matter what, you plow through whatever obstacle is in your way and by being reckless you gain some benefits. The value lies in your minions as disposable things, a means to an end. Life for Death. This theme and feel will continue further on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]COMMON CARDS[/b]
Let's stay on [i]common [/i] ground...
1. Yes, [u]secrets![/u] A mixture of Freezing Trap and Explosive Trap. Great for controlling the board.
2. Master of Ghouls, a secret that acts like a Deathrattle, but it's secret. Sort of like a Redemption, but it replaces them with another creature.
3. An interesting card. A passive minion which drains health from random minions and gives it to your hero. This provides some health regen flavor.
4. Death Advances! A crude insult to your opponent, which can turn games around if you need to clear or rush an opponent.
5. Sort of the bread and butter AoE spell for consistancy.
6. Dark Transformation, another "deathrattle" secret that summons a 3/4 minion when one of your minions dies. The Undead Monstrosity is a sizeable creature, that can be somewhat of a game changer early on.
7. Last of the commons, the common Bone Golem of Icecrown Citadel. Yes, the guys that Cleave your dps to shreds. They don't dissapoint here either. Dealing 1 damage to all minions, like a Whirlwind, this would combo nicely with Vampiric Apparition, Frenzied Ghoul or even Acolyte of Death for card draw.
Constant and sustained damage is a word to describe some of the aspect of the death knight, a constant thorn and pain in your side... like a sickness - a creeping death! And of course, some hard hits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]RARE CARDS[/b]
It is with [i]rarity[/i] that Arthas begs for less souls...
1. Runeforge Smith, a variation of Arathi Weaponsmith, but with a Death Knight flavor and the stats of an Armorsmith. The Runeblade has low attack and durability, but has a potent effect.
2. Big lad! The slightly stronger Boulderfist Ogre with Taunt, sort of a weaker Ironbark Protector - a fierce foe to handle. The big pounder of the Death Knight minions.
3. The Val'kyr Herald. A spell damage minion with a lust for blood and vengance. If not silenced or killed this girl might get nasty. The spelldamage is a nice addition, if you want to throw this out late game and finish off some minions with spells. Otherwise it is a real threat if left unchecked.
4. The all-known Death Strike! A mix between Mortal Strike and Drain Life that can render tough foes defenseless or make the enemy hero crumble.
5. Another secret, Heart Strike. It can stop an attack or cripple the board severely. Use this to your advantage by setting up a counter attack with this secret.
Secrets and unexpected things happen in life, as that which is not alive or dead, can often haunt your days... Oblivion comes in a rain of spells and sudden doom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]EPIC CARDS[/b]
No pun... I'm sorry, epicly so.
1. The epic secret of the death knight: Anti-Magic Shell, which is a mix of Ice Barrier, Counterspell and Spellbender. Basically you absorb the spell and gain some armor.
2. The infamous Army of the Dead - a variation of Force of Nature. Use this to clear the board or as a finisher.
3. The best weapon in your arsenal. When any minion dies, Frostmourne drains their life force and restores 1 health to your hero.
A soulstorm for the God of Death! And the reward for you, death knight: Immortality.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]LEGENDARY CARD[/b]
There is only one unfortunately, but hey what can you do but follow the [i]legend[/i]?
1. SINDRAGOSA, THE QUEEN OF THE FROSTBROOD AND THE MOST EPIC FROST WYRM TO DATE! Basically slightly weaker legendary, stat-wise, than Ysera, at a higher mana cost. But she freezes all your enemies upon arrival and caters you with a nice spell boost, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Destruction from the skies... the earth crumble, blood freeze and flesh rot - and through the jagged cracks seep only Death. As above, so below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the basic idea is to balance damage/death of minions with a flow of new minions and a barrage of spells.Heal, freeze, explode and rend your foes useless.
Thank you if you've read so far. I will post other card suggestions below eventually. Please leave a comment below.
-Gulliroy
Well, tell me how to make them more unique then. I have readjusted these cards over and over. To me the uniqueness comes from them being different takes of already existing cards. A 4/1 Weapon for 1 mana? A class card with Spell Damage +1? Secrets that turn minions into bigger minions? Seems pretty unique to me. If by unique you mean that the cards should have completely new mechanics to them, where I have to invent some effect or condition, that is incredibly difficult and creates less credibility. I mean, I guess I could make an effect called Contagion, which would be described as: "Characters damaged by a minion with this effect, take 1 damage at the start of each turn for 3 turns". I mean, this would be unique, but in the end it is hard to speculate about new effects and mechanics this way. Just a thought.
I like the general idea of your cards but i'm stuck to some point: I can't see any finisher in there.
For example, the legendary, it is supposed to be some kind of finisher for your particular class. Grommash for 12 damage charge, jaraxxus to regain health and flood the board, antonidas to gain ridiculous amount of fireballs, etc... Even cenarius can serve as an expensive savage roar. But here, sindragosa does nothing like this. It freezes your opponent's, which is good, but you don't have any spell or minion that can get value out of the frozen enemies nor any great spell as a finisher which can take great advantage out of the +1 spell damage. So sindragosa here is a great body on the board (even if 10 mana may be a bit expensive, i couldn't tell), but he would be good as a neutral legendary i think, rather than a class specific one, know what i mean?
In general, all classes have their own finish mechanics, but here, besides keeping alive (which is not "obtained" by sindragosa, which could be if he costed way less (with tinier stats of course) so you could take the board back in the same turn with a spell for example) but maybe there is not enough ways to stay alive then, i think. maybe it could be interesting to add a little bit more of heal effects or gaining armor so you wouldn't get so quickly get down. I don't know, it's just a general idea, i haven't reread all the cards while writing but i had this feeling that there weren't so many ways to keep alive long enough to "use" your opponent, which is, if i got it right, the purpose of this class.
amaz also made a deathknight concept class
but all this is nonsense unless blizzard adapts such cards/class
Words "Death Knight" are associated with Necrotic Strike for me as for WoW PvP player. So I would like to see hero power in this style but I personally have no idea what it could be.
x16 Legend
The highest legend ranks:
I actually love your concept of DK class and I think it is superiour to Amaz's because I consider his to be a bit too powerful. Great job man
Favourite HS quote?
"Did I miss it?" - Doomsayer
Also I'm thinking about secret called "Anti-Magic Shield": you or your minion take (3)* less damage when your enemy casts damaging spell.
* not sure about this number
x16 Legend
The highest legend ranks:
Hm, interesting point about the finisher, or lack thereof. Well, yea perhaps the Legendary could be changed to another one, or maybe even adjusted. As for finishers, I would argue that Army of the Dead, Frostmourne indeed are finishers. Fair enough, AOTD it is 5 damage total unbuffed, but consider that it is five bodies on the board.
The finisher is maybe harder to achieve, and dependant on combos, but hey... so is hunter and druid. but a board of frozen minons and hero upon Sindragosa arriving, can leave the board severely in your favor. But yes, there might be something to consider that the Army of the Dead is a weaker finsisher. I still think there's creative ways of making these class cards synergize with neutral cards.
Thanks, Ascate2 :) Spend my whole weekend tweaking this stuff :P
That could work. The thing about the Anti Magic Shell, Soulstices. Like a reverse Spell Damage effect I guess. The problem is that things like that are hard to phrase on cards without making things confusing or sound overpowered, cuz they're not in the game (at least to my knowledge). I don't know. I tried to play with the concepts of the established mechanics, to convay some realism to the cards.
Yeah i guess it could work, the synergies with the army of dead. I still consider sindragosa as a too "neutral" legendary though but with some tweaks, it could easily become a good way to prepare the army's rush i think.
Moved to off topic, this is where we keep fan creations.