One of the best things about Hearthstone compared to other card games is all the different ways you can play.
Unlike the Standard and Wild game modes, the Arena requires a buy-in to play. Each time you join the Arena, it’ll cost you either 150 gold or $1.99. If you’re new to Hearthstone and can’t play Arena, it’s probably because you haven’t unlocked all of the classes yet. This is due to the randomness associated with classes when playing Arena.
If you consider yourself a decent deck builder but don’t have most of the meta cards in your collection, you can head over to the Arena and start forging your destiny. Each player who buys into the Arena mode gets to craft a deck of 30 cards. Though the cards you’re offered will be randomized, building a solid curve will always increase your odds of surviving in the game mode.
Players then have matches against other competitors who just crafted their deck in the same manner. You’ll play in the Arena until you’ve suffered three losses or claimed 12 victories. After hitting either of these thresholds, you’ll be granted various rewards based on the number of wins you receive. The more you win, the better your rewards. Ideally, you’ll be playing against opponents with the same number of wins and losses as you, but the algorithm can loosen up depending on the available player pool.
Though the Arena mode will feel significantly harder than ranked and casual queues at first, you’ll find out that getting better at it is one of the most valuable skills in Hearthstone. Getting more wins will give you the chance of going infinite, meaning you’ll be increasing your gold total as you also earn card packs. This is an excellent method for players who are looking to build a collection for constructed gameplay since you’ll also be getting gameplay practice. If you don’t enjoy diving into the unknown, you can spend a good chunk of a new expansion in the Arena mode to expand your collection and shift toward the ranked mode as the meta gets defined.
Here’s what you can expect from each Arena tier so you can do the math on whether you’re making or losing gold in Hearthstone.
The Arena rewards in Hearthstone
Every time you hit a particular milestone in the Arena mode, you’ll be granted a set of guaranteed rewards and get a chance to earn more from the random reward pools. What you’ll get from the random reward pools will be entirely up to luck. So while some of your runs can look like they ended on a loss, you may easily make up for them during your next try with some help from the RNG gods.
| Wins | Key Tier | Guaranteed rewards | Random reward pool no. 1 | Random reward pool No. 2 |
| 0 | Novice | -A card pack -A random reward | -25-30 golds -25-30 Arcane dust -A common card | |
| 1 | Apprentice | -A card pack -A random reward | -30-35 golds -30-35 Arcane dust -A common card | |
| 2 | Journeyman | -A card pack -A random reward | -40-50 golds -40-50 Arcane dust -A common card -A rare card | |
| 3 | Copper | -A card pack -25-35 golds -A random reward | -20-25 golds -10-25 Arcane dust -A rare card | |
| 4 | Silver | -A card pack -50-60 golds -A random reward | -20-25 golds -10-25 Arcane dust -A rare card | |
| 5 | Gold | -A card pac -k50-60 golds -A random reward | -45-60 golds -45-60 Arcane dust -A rare card | |
| 6 | Platinum | -A card pack -75-85 golds -A random reward | -45-60 golds -45-60 Arcane dust -A rare card | |
| 7 | Diamond | -A card pack -150-160 golds -A random reward | -20-25 golds -10-25 Arcane dust -A rare card | |
| 8 | Champion | -A card pack -150-160 golds -Two random rewards | -20-25 golds -10-25 Arcane dust -A rare card | -35-50 golds -An epic card -A legendary card -A golden common card -A golden rare card |
| 9 | Ruby | -A card pack -150-160 golds -Two random rewards | -20-25 golds -10-25 Arcane dust -A rare card | -85-125 golds -An epic card -A legendary card -A golden common card -A golden rare card |
| 10 | Frostborn | -A card pack -170-180 golds -Two random rewards | -65-95 golds -65-65 Arcane dust -A rare card | -85 125 gold -An epic card -A legendary card -A golden common card -A golden rare card |
| 11 | Molten | -A card pack -195-205 golds -Two random rewards | -65-95 golds -65-95 Arcane dust -A rare card | -140-180 golds -An epic card -A legendary card -A golden common card -A golden rare card |
| 12 | Lightforge | -A card pack -215-225 golds -25-35 golds -Two random rewards | -70-100 golds (33.12 percent) -A card pack (35.37 percent) -A golden rare card (31.19 percent) -A golden epic card (0.32 percent) -A golden legendary card (<0.32 percent) | -140-180 golds (47.27 percent) -An epic card (12.54 percent) -A legendary card (0.97 percent) -A golden common card (18.97 percent) -A golden rare card (20.25 percent) |
While Blizzard never disclosed the odds of the rewards for any Arena tier, there was a community-run experiment in 2018 that aimed to find the drop rates for getting 12 wins in the game mode. Out of 311 runs, the odds mentioned on our list were calculated and they’ve been used as a mere example of what you can expect by climbing to the top of the Arena.
Even if you had a bad experience in the Arena game mode before, you could quickly boost yourself up to speed with guides or by watching veteran Arena players on Twitch or YouTube. Take notes on moments that seem to impress you the most and have them by your side when you start your next Arena run.
The Arena mode rewards consistency. This means you should never let a bad run discourage you from playing. Let them fuel you to do better. Placing higher in the following run will still increase your average winnings in the long run. Consider keeping a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets so you can look back on your winnings and you might not be caught off guard if you eventually make it into Hearthstone’s monthly Arena Leaderboards.
