During their fall reveal stream, Blizzard announced that there is a brand-new game mode coming to Hearthstone called Duels. If anyone has played a Dungeon Run solo experience before, then you pretty much know what to expect from this new game mode… somewhat. There are some big differences that make this mode stand apart from the typical 8 random boss Dungeon Run that you are used to.
The first big change is that you start off by building your own deck. You are given a choice from four unique heroes. There are more than four but the game randomly picks four for you to choose from. After you pick a hero, you pick a hero power from three choices. At first, you only gain access to one hero power but the higher you climb, the more you will unlock over time.
Once you pick a hero power, you also pick a treasure. Some of the treasures are the exact same ones from Dungeon Run but there are some new ones as well. As with Hero Powers, you can only pick 1 treasure at first with more unlocking the more you play.
Once you get all of those formalities out of the way, you can pick 16 cards from your collection to build a starter deck. Unlike constructed mode, you are only allowed 1 copy of a card in this deck. You also only get to choose 15 cards as opposed to the normal 30. You can pick cards from the class you chose as well as neutral cards. Once you have your starter deck assembled, it’s off to play the mode.
From here, it works just like Dungeon Run. When you win… you get to choose cards from a set to continue building your decks before you move onto the next round. What is pretty different is that you’re not facing bosses this time. Instead, you’re facing other players. That’s right… this is a PvP Dungeon Run! Also, it follows Arena rules where if you lose three times, you’re out. The goal is to get to 12 wins and you will gain a rating for winning for future matchmaking purposes. The rating system is the same as it is in Battlegrounds.
There are two modes for Duels. The first is Casual which is completely free to play.
Then there is Heroic Mode. All rewards for playing Duels is locked behind Heroic Mode which is the same cost as Arena… aka… 150 gold or $1.99 of real-life money.
Another aspect of this mode that is similar to Arena is that you cannot build a deck with any card you want. There are sets that will rotate each season (at the beginning of each month) to keep things fresh. For the initial season, these are the sets you can pick cards from:
- Scholomance Academy
- One Night in Karazhan
- Curse of Naxxramas
- Basic
- Classic
Early Access for Duels is live TODAY… as long as you pre-purchased the upcoming Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion. Also, Early Access is only the Casual version of the new mode. The Heroic Mode version will unlock on November 17.
Duels does come with its own cinematic trailer that you can check out below:
