Patch 26.4, titled Audiopocalypse, is a mini set that introduces even more content to Season 4 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds. 38 new cards have been added to the pool of cards inside the Festival of Legends packs, which is sure to shake up the metagame. Duels are also receiving the Diablo treatment, with unlimited access to all of Diablo’s Hero Powers and Treasures for a limited time. The release of the set will also have special Tavern Brawl events, which will last 2 weeks each and reset after the first week. After the first Brawl ends, another special Tavern Brawl will be available for 2 weeks as well. A small and very appreciated change that went under the radar for many people is that all old Hearthstone Adventures can now be purchased from the shop with in-game gold.
From June 6th to June 20th, a special quest event, titled “Epic Duels of Rock Legends,” will include a small rewards track. When completed it will provide a single Standard, March of the Lich King, and Festival of Legends pack. Completing event quests will provide event XP used to unlock the three packs in total.
A preview of the special event rewards track.
From June 7th to June 21st, a two-week long Diablo style Tavern Brawl will be available for play, called “The Dark Wanderer”. Progress will be saved after losses and each fight will bring a greater challenge. Upon defeating Diablo in this Tavern Brawl, the player will earn a Lilith card back. The victory also earns you a standard pack. It is worth noting that a standard pack can be earned once during each week of the Tavern Brawl. The second week begins on June 14th, when progress will also be reset inside the Tavern Brawl.
On June 21st, ”Dark Wanderer” will end and the “Battle of the Bands” Tavern Brawl begins, ending on July 5th. Progress and rewards will both be reset once the second week begins on June 28th. This is a special dungeon-style Tavern Brawl where the player will face off against 7 different randomized musical opponents. The first win earns a Standard pack and beating all 7 opponents earns a Festival of Legends pack.
Tavern Brawl art for The Dark Wanderer (left) and Battle of the Bands (right).
The Audiopocalypse also brings more Battlegrounds content, in the form of two new Heroes and the temporary addition of Diablo to the Hero pool!
The first Hero is Inge, the Iron Hymn, which will have 15 Armor. Inge’s Hero Power alternates between two effects each turn. The first effect, Major Hymn, gives a minion Attack equal to your Tavern Tier. The second effect, Minor Hymn, gives a minion Health equal to your Tavern Tier. This Hero Power costs 0 gold in both states and alternates between turns automatically.
The second Hero is Cap’n Hoggarr, with the Hero Power, “I’m the Cap’n Now,” which has the passive effect of gaining 1 gold after buying a Pirate. Inge, the Iron Hymn will be offered to a player in all Battlegrounds games until June 14th. Cap’n Hoggarr will be offered to a player in all Battlegrounds games with Pirates until June 14th.
The two new Battlegrounds Heroes, Inge, the Iron Hymn (left) and Cap’n Hoggarr (right).
From June 5th to June 7th, Diablo will be available to a player in every Battlegrounds game. After this, he will be removed again, presumably until the next Diablo-themed event. Diablo has 10 armor and a powerful passive effect. Every 4 turns, Diablo, Lord of Terror is summoned onto the player’s warband. If there is no room, he will be summoned once a friendly minion dies and a spot opens up. When the Lord of Terror dies, the player receives one of five possible rewards, which are powerful spell cards. Every 4 turns the reward received has an even stronger effect.
Hero art and Hero Power for Diablo, and his summoned form that appears every 4 turns.
Battlegrounds also now has Epic emotes, which are animated emotes. Lord Barov has been temporarily removed from the Hero pool due to a bug but will be added back soon in an upcoming patch.
Diablo will also be temporarily added to Duels, with all of his original Hero Powers and Treasures available for use, along with one new Active Treasure and one new Signature Treasure. Journey to the East is the new Signature Treasure, which is a Quest spell that will generate a Hero card when the objective is complete, and when the Hero card is played it then shuffles the new Uber Apocalypse card into your deck. The Stone of Jordan is the new Active Treasure available to Diablo, which has the very interesting effect of buffing the Spell Damage of spells drawn by the card.
New Signature Treasure (left) alongside the two cards it generates when used, and the new Active Treasure (right).
A new Arena season is also beginning with the release of the Audiopocalypse, ending all current Arena runs and rotating the pool of card sets. The Arena card pool will only contain cards from Core, Voyage to the Sunken City, Murder at Castle Nathria, March of the Lich King, Path of Arthas, and Festival of Legends.
