Ashes of Outland

Kael'thas: Outland... a wild and dangerous world.

Orc: Where you must scavenge what you need to survive!

Maiev: You will find no justice here.

Vashj: Only despair and darkness!

Illidan: But, if you dare enter my realm... YOU ARE NOT-

Murloc: Mgmrglrgr!

Illidan: No that's... not what I was going to say. ...I should've never taught you to demon hunt.

Ashes of Outland is Hearthstone's upcoming fourteenth expansion, featuring 135 new collectible cards and the introduction of Hearthstone's first-ever new class, the Demon Hunter. The expansion is scheduled for release on April 7, 2020.

Set in the alien realm of Outland—the magically shattered remnants of the planet Draenor—the expansion sees Illidan Stormrage and his Illidari disciples contend against the Rusted Legion, a mysterious new foe that has wreaked destruction across Outland and are threatening to conquer the last remnants of civilization on the broken world. Like previous expansions, Ashes of Outland will include an expansive single-player adventure. However, unlike the Year of the Dragon adventures, this will be completely free.

In addition to introducing the Demon Hunter and their class-specific keyword Outcast, Ashes of Outland also features imprisoned Demons—minions who enter the game in a Dormant state for 2 turns before awakening and unleashing devastating effects—as well as Primes—legendary minions who, upon death, shuffle a mechanically upgraded, extremely powerful version of themselves back into the player's deck.

As the first expansion of 2020, the release of this expansion will end the previous Standard year, the Year of the Dragon, and begin the Year of the Phoenix.

How to get

Ashes of Outland cards are available through the following options:

• Ashes of Outland card packs are purchasable through the Shop, with the usual prices and purchasing options.
• Ashes of Outland cards are craftable for the usual amounts of Arcane Dust.
• For as long as Ashes of Outland is the latest expansion, the guaranteed card pack from each Arena run is from the expansion. Once the next expansion comes out, second card packs will have a chance to be Ashes of Outland packs.
• The Highest Rank Bonus chest has a chance to award golden Ashes of Outland cards.

Pre-order

• Prior to the expansion's release, players are able to purchase one or both of the following bundles:
  • Ashes of Outland Bundle costs $49.99 USD; it comes with 55 Ashes of Outland card packs, a random Legendary card from the Ashes of Outland, and the unique Serpentine card back.
  • Rise of Shadows Mega Bundle costs $79.99 USD; it comes with 90 Ashes of Outland card packs, a random Golden Legendary card from the Ashes of Outland, the unique Serpentine card back, and the alternate shaman hero Lady Vashj.

Cards

This expansion features 135 collectible cards. To make up for their status as a new class, Demon Hunters will receive a larger number of Common and Rare cards than other classes. As compensation, there will be fewer Neutral cards than in previous sets. Ashes of Outland cards can be recognized with a special watermark (the Dark Portal) behind the card text, not found on other cards.

Neutral

Common

Rare

Epic

Legendary

Uncollectible

Class cards

Demon Hunter

Uncollectible

Druid

Uncollectible

Choice cards

Hunter

Uncollectible

Mage

Uncollectible

Paladin

Priest

Rogue

Uncollectible

Shaman

Uncollectible

Warlock

Warrior

Uncollectible

Themes

Demon Hunter

With rending claw, savage glaives, and scorching fel flame, turn the forces of chaos’s own terrible powers against them as the new permanent playable Hero class, the Demon Hunter.

• Shadowhoof Slayer
• Chaos Strike
• Twin Slice
• Skull of Gul'dan
• Wrathspike Brute
• Eye Beam
• Metamorphosis

Prime Legendaries

These powerful new class minions won’t go down without a fight... or two. Prime Legendaries shuffle an upgraded version of themselves back into your deck when they die.

• Archspore Msshi'fn (Msshi'fn Prime)
• Zixor, Apex Predator (Zixor Prime)
• Astromancer Solarian (Solarian Prime)
• Akama (Akama Prime)
• Lady Vashj (Vashj Prime)
• Kargath Bladefist (Kargath Prime)

Imprisoned Demons

Though unable to act for two turns, Dormant minions tout powerful stats and effects once they escape their ephemeral bonds.

• Imprisoned Antaen
• Imprisoned Satyr
• Imprisoned Felmaw
• Imprisoned Observer
• Imprisoned Scrap Imp
• Imprisoned Vilefiend

Solo Adventure

Ashes of Outland is only the beginning. A new, totally free, solo adventure will be coming later in the expansion cycle! Illidan and the Demon Hunters will take the offensive against the Rusted Legion with the fate of Outland hanging in the balance yet again . . . stay tuned!

Lore

In World of Warcraft

Map of Outland in World of Warcraft.

Concept art of Outland.

This section uses content from Wowpedia.

Draenor

Draenor, [ˈdɹænɔɹ] called Rakshar ("the Sunstone") by the arakkoa and Dawgar ("the Known Earth") by the ogres, was the homeworld of the orcish race and the last refuge of the draenei before their arrival on Azeroth. It was a large, fertile world dominated by vast plains, dense forests, and lush swamps. Besides the orcs and draenei it was originally home to many other intelligent humanoid races, including the ancient, bird-like arakkoa; the mighty ogres and their brutal gronn masters; and the aggressive tree-men known as botani.

Due to the corruption of fel, during the last days of its life, Draenor was referred to as the Red World. When the orc shaman Ner'zhul recklessly opened dimensional portals to find new worlds to conquer, Draenor was torn apart and believed completely lost. However, a large fragment of the world remained intact. That fragment is known today as Outland.

Outland

Outland (often mistakenly called "Outlands" or "The Outland") is the shattered floating remnants of the destroyed world of Draenor, the homeworld of the orcs and refuge of the draenei. After the sundering of Draenor, Outland was thrown partially towards the Twisting Nether, and is now in a constant state of degradation. It became the domain of the pit lord Magtheridon, who was eventually deposed and replaced by Illidan Stormrage until his death at the Black Temple.

It is the theater of the The Burning Crusade expansion. From a gameplay point of view, Outland used to be accessed from Azeroth through The Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands but is now accessible via mage portals in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City.

Outland was created when Draenor became the focus of an attack, via the Dark Portal, of an Alliance expedition aiming to end the orcish threat to Azeroth once and for all. In the midst of the ensuing battle, the elder shaman Ner'zhul attempted to allow the remaining orcs on Draenor to escape to other worlds by opening other dimensional portals; however the presence of so many portals tore the planet apart, launching torn fragments of the former world towards the Twisting Nether, and the barely-habitable remnants were renamed Outland. Most life on Draenor was wiped out in the explosion, and the surviving continent was drastically reshaped; most of the remaining wildlife became sickly or corrupt. Due to the planet's destruction, the barriers between Draenor and the Twisting Nether collapsed, and the shredded reality left open paths to all various corners of the cosmos. Outland had become one of the most important strategic places. Many of Ner'zhul's portals were permanently open and the world now acted as a crossroads for any force that wished to travel quickly from one end of the universe to the other. Despite this plenty of the species on the planet survived, with some even being transformed by the creation of Outland.

Some time after a pit lord named Magtheridon rallied the surviving orcs (with the exception of the Mag'har) and took control of Outland. Using the remaining dimensional gates, he drew demons from the rest of the Twisting Nether to aid him.

The night elf demon Illidan Stormrage and many of the naga and blood elves fled to Outland and succeeded in defeating Magtheridon and conquering the wasteland. After their defeat in Northrend at the hands of Prince Arthas, they returned and established permanent settlements there.

Most draenei that remained in Outland have become horribly mutated, and bear only a passing resemblance to their former selves.

Since then, both the forces of the Light and the Shadow have realized Outland's usefulness. It can serve as a launching pad for the invasions of the Burning Legion, or as the staging ground to the forces who fight against the Legion. In response, both the naaru and the Legion have sent their agents to secure the world for their own purposes.

Now, the Alliance and the Horde must battle the forces of the maddened Illidan and the murderous followers of the Legion to safeguard Azeroth from Kil'jaeden's Burning Crusade.

In Hearthstone

Beyond the Dark Portal, the shattered world of Outland awaits. Ashes of Outland brings Hearthstone players to the memorable setting of World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, only to find it has been razed by an unstoppable force for destruction known as the Rusted Legion. These malicious, mechanically enhanced monstrosities have waged a campaign of conquest that has left only a desolate, post-apocalyptic wasteland in their wake. Now, the denizens scavenge to survive in the ashes of their broken world.

All hope is not lost, however. The Black Temple stands as the last bastion of civilization in the war-torn realm, where the self-proclaimed lord of Outland, Illidan Stormrage, and his army of Demon Hunters fight to take back their world. Journey through the Dark Portal and lead the charge to save the world in Hearthstone's newest expansion, Ashes of Outland!

Primes

The battlefields of Outland are littered with the remains of would-be heroes and the unrelenting Rusted Legion is raising these fallen warriors for their own twisted purposes. These are Primes—a new kind of Legendary minion Ashes of Outland is introducing to Hearthstone. Primes start off as strong early- or mid-game Legendary minions that hit the board and do their duty, bravely falling in battle to fight for control of the board. When their Deathrattle is triggered, a vastly-upgraded (some may even say completely overpowered) version of themselves is shuffled into your deck. All nine original classes have a unique Prime, like the Legendary Warrior minion Kargath Bladefist. An aggressive 4 mana 4/4 with Rush in his starting form, Kargath upgrades into Kargath Prime, an 8 mana 10/10 with Rush, who grants you 10 Armor whenever he kills an enemy minion.

History

Teasers and leaks

In February of 2020, several prominent members of the Hearthstone community were invited to a Community Summit where they received a preview of Team 5's plans for upcoming content throughout the year. Although they did not reveal any details, several of the invited members subsequently shared positive reactions to the event on social media.

On March 1, 2020, reddit user "use25" discovered the icon for the then-upcoming Year of the Phoenix on the official Hearthstone website's Ways to Play page. The icon was quickly removed from the site, but the discovery led to widespread fan speculation about the upcoming Standard year.

On March 11th, 2020, the official Hearthstone Twitter account posted a teaser image of Lunara, Morgl the Oracle, and Medivh turned to stone in front of a garden along with the text "A Storm is Coming" and the date March 17. Several notable Hearthstone streamers also posted the image and date with their own variations on the phrase. On March 12, fans discovered that there were several official Hearthstone pre-release events scheduled for April 5th at various Microsoft stores throughout the United States. As previous expansions' pre-release events have typically taken place on the weekend before a Tuesday release, this led to speculation that the next expansion would see a release date of Tuesday, April 7th. On March 13, Blizzard posted a follow-up blog confirming that they would be hosting a reveal live stream with Game Director Ben Lee, Game Designers Chadd Nervig and Dean Ayala, and streamer Brian Kibler in which they would showcase their plans for Hearthstone in 2020 and beyond. The blog further stated that the developers would be showcasing more than ever before.

On March 16th—the day before the expansion's official announcement—Ashes of Outland was accidentally leaked by Polygon, who prematurely released an article containing detailed information about the new expansion, the demon hunter class, and sweeping changes to Basic and Classic priest cards. The article was quickly deleted, but the leak was subsequently widely reported on by fansites and various forums.

The Year of the Phoenix was officially announced in a livestream on March 17th. After Ben Lee discussed the new content planned for the Year of the Phoenix, Chadd Nervig and Dean Ayala revealed the new demon hunter class and shared details on the planned changes to the priest class, before finally revealing Ashes of Outland and its trailer. The expansion was showcased in the promotional "Collection Managers" video, a parody of the American reality show Storage Wars in which Dave Kosak and other members of the Hearthstone team discover various artifacts from Outland in a mysterious storage locker.

Trivia

• Ashes of Outland is the second Hearthstone expansion to be set in Outland, after The Boomsday Project. Unlike Boomsday, Ashes showcases many different regions and aspects of Outland and can be seen as the Hearthstone equivalent to The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft's first expansion.

External links

• Official site - Ashes of Outland

Blogs

• Announcing Ashes of Outland – Hearthstone's Newest Expansion! (2020-03-17)