The Voyage to The Sunken City Arena experience in Hearthstone saw the rise of new classes with the introduction of many powerful cards from the new set. Standard nerfs and a set of micro-adjustments slightly tipped the scales since then, giving us a good idea of the balance of power in the new environment.
Druid reigns supreme
Even after the nerfs and the micro-adjustments, Druid remains the top dog of the metagame with a winrate of almost 53 percent, according to HSReplay. Though Miracle Growth is no longer as insane as it used to be (the difference between seven and eight mana is big enough that you should consider drafting just a single copy or risk falling behind on tempo), the rest of the class cards on offer remain excellent.
Flipper Friends, Boomkin and Raid Negotiator all pack way too much value for a single card, like Scale of Onyxia, one of the powerhouse cards from the previous mini-set.
Paladin, Demon Hunter and Shaman are all great
All three of these classes are capable of constructing consistent aggressive decks with reliable curves, which makes them strong in the metagame. Paladins have good Mechs, Demon Hunters have general good stuff, Shamans still rely on the old Freeze package.
They are all strong contenders (51.7 percent to 52.3 percent winrates per HSReplay) but none of them can quite catch up to the consistency and power level of Druids.
Rogue is fine, Mage and Warlock are meh
Rogues barely miss the cut with a 51.2 percent winrate – the last class with a positive percentage. Blood in the Water is their best card from the new set, it’s mostly the old stuff that carries them: Reconnaissance is the big one, and the many Discover tools offer great flexibility that benefits experienced Rogue players.
Mage and Warlock slip into the red zone with 48.2 percent and 45.9 percent respectively: playing these classes in the Arena right now is a net loss of gold. Both still rely on strong cards from the previous sets, with little support gained from Voyage to the Sunken City. Unfortunately, this is rarely enough for strong performances.
Priest, Hunter and Warrior are yucky
These classes all boast a sub-42 percent winrate on HSReplay, with Hunter and Warrior dipping into the thirties at the time of writing. There’s little to argue about here: the card quality on offer is simply too low to make these classes competitive. Avoid them whenever possible if you’d like to get the most gold out of your runs!
