The Fate of the Lifesteal and Deathrattle Mechanics in Knights of the Frozen Throne
Last Thursday, the new Hearthstone expansion Knights of the Frozen Throne was revealed. With it, we learned of a new mechanic being introduced into the game called Lifesteal. This mechanic causes damage dealt by the card to also restore the same amount of health to the controlling player's hero.
Expansions that have introduced a new keyword see it sprinkled throughout the set, but in the case of Lifesteal, Dave Kosak, Lead Mission Designer on the Hearthstone team, said we won't see many cards with the mechanic.
Quote from Dave Kosak[19:15] We did introduce the major mechanics, like, Lifesteal is an important mechanic in the set. There's not tons of cards that use it, but there are a handful that use Lifesteal and they'll make a big impact I think on the set.
[20:30] Lifesteal is a good way for some of the classes to get healing that don't necessarily have healing. There can be minions, there can be spells, like the Priest spell we showed, Spirit Lash - not that Priests need more healing, but they have it. It's a very different kind of tool for a Priest deck to use.
Deathrattle Returns?
Now, on the subject of the Deathrattle mechanic, it will be making a bit of a comeback with the expansion! Dave Kosak says though that we shouldn't expect them to be everywhere like they were with the Curse of Naxxramas set, which depending on how you take that, conflicts with information from the announcement.
Quote from Dave Kosak[21:23] There's not necessarily a lot of Deathrattle minions. This is a set about the Lich King, so there will be some Deathrattle minions, but it might not be like Naxxramas where there were Deathrattle minions everywhere. Yeah, its a part of the set, but its not a huge part of the set.
Naxxramas for reference contained 17 cards that made use of Deathrattle, which was just over half the set! At the time with the low number of cards in Hearthstone, that was a seriously crazy amount of Deathrattle to add to the game! Considering that, you probably could add 40 new Deathrattle minions to the pool and it wouldn't feel like they were everywhere - not with all of today's archetypes.
Here's the amount of Deathrattle we've seen in other expansions:
- Journey to Un'Goro contained 19 Deathrattle cards.
- Mean Streets of Gadgetzan contained 12 Deathrattle cards.
- Whispers of the Old Gods contained 25 Deathrattle cards.
- The Grand Tournament contained 7 Deathrattle cards.
- Goblins vs Gnomes contained 12 Deathrattle cards.
Going from expansion to expansion, we've seen a high number of Deathrattle cards followed by a low number. With this being the first time they've specifically mentioned Deathrattle in their announcement outside of Naxxramas, there's a good chance we could see more Deathrattle cards than we did in the Journey to Un'Goro expansion, breaking this trend.
Quote from Jason Chayes and Ben Brode[4:48] Jason Chayes: We also have a recurring theme of Deathrattle that you're going to see coming back with a lot of the minions.
[5:08] Ben Brode: We've got a lot of cool Deathrattle cards in the set. In fact, the set has a lot of death in it.
Hey, if you look at the amount of Deathrattle cards (1) out of the currently revealed cards (5), 20% of the set is Deathrattle . If we forget the Kappa for a moment, that ratio would give us 27 Deathrattle cards; Is that enough to not be a "huge part" of the set while being a recurring theme?
For the Comments
So how do you feel about Lifesteal's limited availability in the set? What about Deathrattle making a bit of a comeback, whatever that means? Let us know in the comments below!
Eloise Interviews Dave Kosak
The above quotes come from Eloise's Interview with Dave Kosak. Check it out below!
I bet my firstborn there will be a card that reads: Whenever this attacks and kills a minion, Adapt. One of Putricide's dogs if I had to guess.
I doubt we will the adapt mechanic outside of ungoro. Adapt in itself is just a glorified discover. We will see though, maybe a few cards will have it.
intro was cringe
No, it was goofy. Appreciation for light-hearted entertainment comes with time. When you mature a little and are passed your edgy teenage phase, you might understand.
Eloise interview is awesome, thanks for sharing
You will be missed N'Zoth, the Corruptor ...
Old gods haven't roll out yet my friend.
As much as I wish so that pirate warrior can be died, but no, we are still gonna deal with them for now.
N'Zoth, the Corruptor is going to remain in standard.
Oh ok my bad, I thought Whispers of the Old Gods was going to roll out with the new extension. Then more Deathrattle cards can be an even more good news. I would have love to see Pirate warrior and Yogg-Saron, Hope's End leave though...
Here is a tip for you: if it is not the first expansion of the year, nothing rotates. Is it the first expansion of the year? No? Then, there is no reason to think anything is rotating.
"Lifesteal is a good way for some of the classes to get healing that don't necessarily have healing."
This gives me hopes about Rogue and Warlock healing. A weapon buff with lifesteal would be very good in rogue like 3 mana "Give your weapon +2 attack and lifesteal."
I'm hoping for some neutral Lifesteal as well. But for Rogues, although I hope that weapon buff with Lifesteal is a thing, I also hope there are new weapons for Rogue that are more interesting than what we've been getting.
I don't understand what the hell is with people wanting new rogue weapons still. They literally gave you a weapon buff that allows you to kill any minion you attack ans yet you still want weapons!? Blade flurry is dead and without it, any weapon based rogue is dead too. You could give them a 1 mana fiery waraxe at this point and it would probably struggle to see play in rogue.
Also, any lifesteal effect rogue gets needs to be tied to spells or minion buffs. Healing while taking face damage is counterintuitive and barely helping you stay alive.
GhostTrickx, at least if you are going to spout nonesense, make sure you are spouting idiocy that has not already been proven with weapons in game. Truesilver Champion says "hi." It is perfectly intuitive and works exactly the way it says. If you cannot understand it, then it is you that has a problem
DEVOLVE shaman tier 1 GG
Lich King, his life, Northrend, bosses from ICC, Argent Crusade, Deathknights, undead, the Scourge. It's already confirmed that some o the bosses from the mission will be coming as legendaries. Also Prince Keleseth was a dungeon boss, from Utgarde Keep, and also a member of the Blood council, a raid encounter in the Crimson Hall from ICC.
Just give us some decent deathrattles please, Tirion and Cairne are bored alone in the deck.
She's a known community figure, which happens to be a grill.