In this Hearthstone Arena tier list, we will explore the most effective classes that will give you that winning edge you are looking for. Playing Hearthstone Arena is all about deck-building and getting those key powerful cards is the main concern. Your probability of success is by large determined by which class you take, how well you choose the cards, and of course if you are lucky enough to get the good ones. Compared to strategies in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, Arena is very different in terms of synergy and overall power levels. You will find that 2-3 powerful cards that don’t synergize at all can win you games, and building “coherent” decks usually comes back to bite you in the form of not getting enough cards that work with each other.
Picking a certain class can be for a variety of reasons. We like to experiment around in the Arena and play it causally, but some of the classes just don’t work well because they are built around cards that “need” each other. In this article, we will explore classes that have the most and the least potential for getting those 12 wins in the Arena. Do keep in mind that no class is good if you just get unlucky and are handed bad cards, it’s just the nature of the Arena. So without rambling too much, here is our Hearthstone Arena tier list.
S Tier
Shaman
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Shamans are one of the craziest, most fun, and most effective classes in Hearthstone Arena. They can evolve minions, copy powerful cards, and just summon a lot of annoying totems in no time. The basis of this class is just tempo summoning random “stuff”. The Evolution mechanic brings that X factor to the game, where cards like Muck Pools and Primordial Wave make your board very powerful. Primordial Wave with the Evolution mechanic deals with a lot of things the opponent throws at you. Do they have a bunch of level 2 Deathrattle Skeletons? Transform them into random level 1 minions. They cast a powerful buff and now they have an enhanced 10-10 monster with Divine Shield and Reborn? Devolve it and by doing it, “dispel” all the buffs it had.
This is very important since it gets rid of powerful enhancements and allows you to control the game a lot. Moreover, if you have damaged minions, you can just evolve them and have a completely new undamaged minion by doing so. On top of that, you will usually have a lot of pesky minions like Party Favor Totem and Schooling that will help you get to the later stages of the game. Glug The Gulper, JIVE, INSECT!, and Blightblood-Beserker are also obviously very powerful by themselves, but of the more overlooked cards is Criminal Lineup. This copy card is one of the game-ending cards if you manage to copy a powerful minion, but even if you copy something like a 5-5 minion with no abilities, it’s still a big nuisance since it copies it 3 times! Overall, Shamans excel at amassing armies, quirky Evolutions, and copying minions in order to get the upper hand.
Mage
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
While Mages don’t have the most powerful minions in the game, the main reason for them to be at the top of the Hearthstone Arena tier list is their versatility of deck-building. You see, when choosing a class in Hearthstone Arena, you have to take into account the amount of time you’re just gonna get suboptimal cards. Mages can deal with that very well since a lot of their cards are based on giving you more spells. Arguably the most powerful card here is, of course, Infinitize The Maxitude, be on the lookout for this one. It’s also important to note that even if you don’t get a super useful spells like Deathborne or Pyroblast in your deck building, you can get them simply by playing other minions like Chilling Despense-o-bot, Spellcoiler, or Fiddlefire Imp.
Moreover, Cosmic Keyboard and Nightcloak Sanctum can put a great amount of pressure on your opponent just based on the fact that they may not have something to deal with the extra summons from it. Again, even with a suboptimal deck, it’s pretty fun and effective to play Mage. Even though a Priest can be much more effective than a Mage, if you get bad cards as a Priest, you’re pretty much done and need to start over. You would be surprised how much you can ramp up the game even with bad Mage cards. For this reason alone, we consider Mage as one of the top classes in our Hearthstone Arena tier list.
A Tier
Warrior
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Warriors can be a hit or miss in Hearthstone Arena. In our experience, by far the two most powerful cards are The Fires of Zin-Azshari (less cost, much more reliant or RNG) and Blackrock ‘n’ Roll (more cost, extremely reliable). They fundamentally change the game and put a ton of pressure on the opponent. When we play against Warrior and he casts either of these spells, we know that it’s going to be rough. Moreover, one more sneaky card to look for is the Anima Extractor.
If the enemy doesn’t have a counter to Anima Extractor in the begging, it can get very messy as the game goes by. Damaging the surrounding minions and buffing it with something like Jam Session can very quickly get the ball rolling. You also have pretty good weapons like Imbued Axe, and powerful minions like Abyssal Bassist to go in combo with each other. Overall, the main downside of Warrior is that it can lose a tempo with drawing cards (it doesn’t have great Discovery or Draw abilities), but a lot of the time you just overwhelm your opponent with powerful minions.
Death Knight
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
This class is generally considered a good all-rounder. First off, keep in mind the following Death Knight rules in the Arena. Your first few cards are going to decide what type of deck you will have. So for example, if you pick 1 Frost Rune card, then you can’t pick 3 Blood Rune, or 3 Unholy Rune cards later on, and if you pick, let’s say, a 2 Blood Rune card after the first one, now you have a 1 Frost Rune/2 Blood Rune deck…you get the picture. So, the nature of a lot of Death Knight cards is very good in an Arena setting, especially Blood Death Knight cards. For example, just getting Blood Boil can turn around a game very quickly by clearing the opponent’s field and healing you with an absurd amount of health.
Moreover, a lot of the cards just work well with each other and don’t need any special combos in order to be effective. For example, just getting Hollow Hound can decimate enemy minions and heal you a lot, regardless of other cards you have in your deck. When talking about the most powerful cards, this is where Death Knight becomes extremely bothersome (for the other player). Cards like Alexandros Mograine and Lord Marrowgar can just decide the game in an instant. Death Knight cards are made to work with each other so you won’t have to pick a specific style while building the deck, rather you just have to get the most powerful cards and they will synergize (most of the time) naturally.
B Tier
Demon Hunter
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Demon Hunters can really be a double-edged sword (no pun intended). You usually go with an aggressive playstyle, and the deck-building will force you to go with the Weapons route. Going for the kill directly is usually the way, and building your deck around that is a good idea. So going for a lot of weapons like Bone Glaive, and Magnifying Glaive is an optimal choice, moreover picking up every Glaiveshark will synergize very well with your strategy. The biggest hurdle or trap to avoid is going for the Relic-only deck or full Outcast build. It’s just a complete “bait”, you will end up with a mixed deck that doesn’t have much synergy, and even if it does have some, it’s wont be that powerful.
So let’s talk big scary cards. Demon Hunters have some of those. First off, let’s start with a lesser one, Abyssal Bassist, this card will synergize very well with your weapons and you will be able to cast it at a very low cost. That said, the card that synergizes with weapons the most is the Illidari Inquisitor, this card is not only a powerful nuke, but is only a Rare, which means you will be able to get it more often in the deck-building phase. Of course, potentially the most powerful card is Xhilag of the Abyss, it can deal damage instantly after you end your turn, and it forces your opponent to react hard after as the damage of the Stalks ramps up very quickly. Keep in mind that in order to actually play these cards, you have to survive the first half of the game, which means getting some Taunt defensive minions too. Overall, with the right picks, Demon Hunter can have an excellent run, but its unreliability is what holds it back from being at the top of our Hearthstone Arena tier list.
Hunter
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
You usually can’t go wrong with Hunters. They have a lot going for them, and with a good “core” strength that comes from Dormant Seeds and minion-clearing cards like Wild Spirits and Marked Shot. The special ability (2 Damage to Enemy Hero) is not something to look over, since in the Arena, all cards have “less value” and thus the value of our hero power is increased. You will find that with a few minions and hero power spam, your opponent’s HP will go down pretty quickly. Moreover, the Candleshot and Keeneye-Spotter combo is a very nasty one, since you can take out any minion’s very low “investment”. Spells like Collateral Damage also be used to clear bothersome enemy minions and wreak havoc on the opponent.
Of course, when talking about more powerful cards, we for sure have to include King Krush and Hollow Hound. Getting Faithful Companions is a very good combo with the previously mentioned cards. For example, you cast it, summon 2 King Krushes, and attack the enemy directly. Or you summon Hollow Hound and now you have 2 AOE, Lifesteal minions with Rush that can clear the enemy board and heal your HP to the max…pretty powerful. Also, just regularly summoning Hollow Hound and giving it 2-3 Bananas can win you the game alone. All in all, hunters can be very deadly with the right cards and are reliable even with bad ones. While Hunters can be very viable, the competition is fierce, and that’s the main reason it goes on the B tier in our Hearthstone Arena tier list.
Priest
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
The ultimate “annoying” class and, we admit it, it’s one of our favorite classes to play with. Priest excels in controlling the battlefield, and they are very good in an Arena environment. The best thing Priests have is the ability to copy enemy cards with minions like Mind Eater and Psychic Conjurer. Cathedral of Atonement can also ramp up and change the game, considering how much it gives you for only 3 mana. Furthermore, legendaries like Blackwater Behemoth are for sure one of the better ones since they have good stats, will attack the turn you summon them, and usually, you can copy it with Power Cord: Synchronize. Having 2-3 of these in one battle is not that difficult to achieve, and is usually game-ending. Moreover, if your opponent happens to have a powerful minion, you can just copy it. This gives you great deal of versatility to your play style.
On top of all this, you have a lot of board-clearing cards like Dissonant Pop that are very effective for its 6-mana cost. We have to mention our dear beloved Sister Svalna in the combination of Love Everlasting. Svalna is very powerful when played alone, but in combination with Love Everlasting, it’s nearly unbeatable in the Arena. We managed to get these two cards only one time in our deck building, and we had a score of 12-2 (those pesky Mages). Usually, the most difficult time you have is with Mages, since you don’t have that face (direct) damage and they can just keep getting more spells and nuking you without interference or pressure.
C Tier
Rogue
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
While we admit Rogues can be good in some situations, their lack of synergy is the biggest issue. Probably the worst thing you can do is go for a Pirate or Weapon build. It usually just backfires and sets you up for huge failure in the deck-building phase. The synergy with weapons and minions is rarely effective and you just don’t have enough damage like Demon Hunter to go straight for the throat. This puts you in a very awkward position. What you can try to do is go with the plagiarism route. Usually, you will do fine if you manage to get a few Plagiarizarrr, Potion Belt, and Plagiraze to steal some good cards that can sustain yourself with enough firepower and versatility.
Moreover, picking up Jackpot! is always a nice plus, since it can really change the game (if you’re lucky of course). Crabatoa seems to be underwhelming (considering it’s a Legendary) in this case, since other classes have much more powerful alternatives. But, this is Arena, so the threshold of power is much lower, which makes Crabatoa viable. Moreover, if you’re going with the plagiarism route, Tess Greymane is also a good pick, but she won’t be that effective. With Rouges, beggars can’t be choosers in Hearthstone Arena. Overall, it can be fun to play Rogue a few times, but soon you will get frustrated with the lack of coherency in the deck.
Paladin
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
On paper, Paladins should be good in the Arena, considering they have a lot of buffs and spammy minions, but the reality is a bit different. While Paladins can be good if you get certain Legendaries, they usually lack that punching power when playing aggressively. Starting off with getting cards that buff your Silver Hand Recruits can be a viable strategy, but going all in on this usually doesn’t pan out well, because you will rarely get enough synergistic cards in the deck-building phase. Nevertheless, getting Warhorse Trainer, with something like Stand Against Darkness is a good combo and if your opponent doesn’t have a board clear, they are in for a lot of trouble.
You will need something to disrupt the enemy, and that’s where Horn of the Wildlord is. Furthermore, turning the tide to your advantage can be done with Divine Toll and The Leviathan, although the said Legendary isn’t too powerful for a 7-mana card. Of course, the most powerful card is The Countess and if you manage to get this one, it will just change your game completely. It’s one of the best cards in the Arena because it literally gives you 3 Legendaries for a low cost that you get to Discover. Moreover, look for a board clear like Consecration because you really don’t want your enemy to take control of the board when playing as a Paladin.
D Tier
Druid
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Such a shame that Druid is in a low place since we love to play with it. Nevertheless, there are some things you can do to make it work. The biggest problem with Druid is that there are just too many Aggro cards that don’t yield good results. So getting 1-mana aggro cards should be avoided if you’re not going for an ultra-aggressive deck (usually doesn’t work because of a lack of synergy). Getting some good 2-3 mana cost minions in combination with multiple summonses and then casting Soul of the Forest is one of the ways to make your early-mid game good. Moreover, if you happen to get Timber Tamboruine, or Rythm and Roots, that can seriously ramp up your game.
Usually, the best thing to do is to save your minions and then try to buff them in one go, cause you just won’t have the cards to keep up with summoning more of them. As far as defensives go, managing to get an Underking is a good place to start and will provide you with a lot of armor. There aren’t many game-ending cards, but Cenarius comes close (if you already have some minions in play). Moreover, Miracle Growth can provide you that additional sustainability and power. Finally, if you happen to get Convoke the Spirits, that’s great, just don’t expect something magical to happen, usually summoning a few okay-ish minions is all it does. Druids don’t hold a good place in our Hearthstone Arena tier list mainly because of the lack of punching power and synergy the deck building provides.
Warlock
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Okay, we mentioned the lack of synergy frequently in the lower-tier classes, but Warlock takes the cake. He is the king of having cards that don’t work well with each other, and it gets frustrating very quickly. Going for an Imp build and you took a few Fiendish Cricle cards? Too bad you only got 4-5 Imp cards and now you have a bunch of 1-1 scuffed imps sitting on the board. Want to go for the Abbysal Curse build? You’re out of luck, now you only have 3-4 cards that do that mechanic and you just waste precious mana and effects on dealing few damage to the opponent. This is usually what building a deck with a Warlock looks like.
If you happen to play with it, we just suggest you go for Demons and try to get Demonic Dynamics and Fiddlefire Imp (for the spells). To deal with the key enemy minions and sustain yourself, Drain Soul and Siphon Soul are solid choices. Of course, one of the big problems with Warlock is the late game. You need to literally pray for Symphony of Sins or Lord Jaraxxus because they are just miles ahead of any other card you can get, especially Symphony of Sins. All in all, we are sad to put Warlocks in the last place in our Hearthstone Arena tier list, but it is what it is.
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