The arena in Hearthstone is the place where cards are not a hindrance for beginners, but few people know that the function of selecting players by their experience, or, as Blizzard themselves say, "corresponding to each other in skill level", does not work here. There is no mercy for beginners here, because apart from it, none of any methods of selecting players (at least until this moment) work.

Matchmaking in Heartstone Arena happens completely by accident. Therefore, both the Legend and a simple layman who decides to conduct his first battle in an as yet unknown game mode can fall into your rivals. That is why going there constantly makes sense only when you can make a series of 3 victories there, which will come with experience, or to complete a difficult daily task as I wrote it in .

This guide to the Heartstone Arena I created to share my experience, and thereby speed up your learning.

For the arena in Hearthstone, your knowledge of decks, which usually use huge bunches of cards, is not important to achieve overall effectiveness. Yes, we can still collect two or three cards from a bunch, at best, which may never fall out together as a result. However, this does not mean that they should not be taken, however, your primary goal should be completely different.

The only task that lies before you when compiling a deck for the arena in Heartstone - choosing the best card from the three offered. But before I tell you how to make this choice correctly, you must understand an important feature of the battles in this mode.

How to play in the Heathstone arena?

Since most of the arena decks in Heartstone are made up of creatures - mass spells have higher priority here than in normal game mode. Of course, you can argue, because when you start the battle you control the board, and prevent the enemy from summoning more creatures, sacrificing your own. But, at one point, closer to the 10th move, he will start throwing a lot of small creatures at once. This is where your spell comes in handy.

In addition, having such a spell, you can forget about killing the enemy's creatures (in some cases), and focusing on his face - let him summon even more of them.

For the same reason, you need to know cost of enemy mass spells, and damage from them. This will help you understand if he has them at a certain point in the game, and if you should play more creatures before then, and which ones.

How to choose cards for the Hearthstone arena?

Now that you understand how to play in the arena in Hearthstone, it remains to understand how to build a deck correctly and choose the right cards to play and win them.

So, the maximum characteristics of creatures on certain level. For example, for 4 mana, a good creature will have a maximum stat for that cost: 4/5 (health is more important than attack, and a 5/4 creature will be worse).

mana	Specifications
1	1/3 (2/1)
2	2/3 (3/2)
3	3/4 (4/2)
4	4/5
5
6	6/7 (good bonus)
7+	bonus parameters are more important than characteristics.

At the same time, this characteristic is total, and if after death a creature leaves behind another one, their characteristics are summed up. It follows from this that the best card in terms of characteristics for 2 mana will be , and for 3 - .

The only advice I can give to a beginner who has no idea about move cards on choosing bonuses, and in my opinion, at the same time, the best choice for an arena card in Hearthstone would be a creature that combines high stats and taunt. Your own intuition will help you understand how good the bonus of one creature is in comparison with the bonus of another.

Don't forget and about crooked mana, as well as do not try to build an agro deck from small cards (usually nothing good comes of this). Your deck should have creatures at every level, don't take a lot of very expensive creatures (7+ no more than 3). I recommend building midle-leta game decks that have the most creatures for 3-4 and 4-5, respectively.

Well, our guide to the Hearthstone arena has come to an end, and at the end of it, I recommend that you read, though not useful, but very curious information.

This guide is designed primarily for people who have never been to arenas and do not know what it is and where to start. For people who do not have access to high-end PvE content and things from there. Also, I will not describe here your actions in battle, tactics or other secrets of success. I will try to describe the process of preparing for the arenas and getting into the top as soon as possible. Naturally, just by reading it, you will not immediately become a gladiator. But everything, absolutely everything, depends only on you, on your desire, on your contribution to the process. Also, I will not describe 3 by 3 or 5 by 5 braces. there is a lot in common between them. I will write only about 2v2. So, let's begin…

Team.

The first thing you should do is find yourself a partner. In the arena, this is probably the most important and most difficult. More important than your skill and gear. So go to http://www.arenajunkies.com/rankings/ select 2vs2, and select your class on the right. You will see a list of the current 2v2 world ladder for your class. We open the first 10 teams and see who your class is successfully playing with.
This is the easiest and most effective way to select a partner. But it is by no means the only correct one. If you already have a partner, then you can see if there are such pairs in the top and how successful the bunch is and decide whether it is worth cooperating or better to save your nerves and find another. You can basically play with anyone. This is your right and success depends only on you. But, if you are aiming for the maximum quick receipt the title of Gladiator, it is better to make a known perfectly working pair.
So you've chosen your partner. We were convinced that such teams are capable of winning.
Now we need to decide on the build ...

Build.

Again, open http://www.arenajunkies.com/rankings/ and look at the most popular class builds. Of course, you can use any of your own, but remember that it is not always worth reinventing the wheel, and even more so at the initial level, when you are not yet able to soberly assess the problems of classes and their task in the arena. Although a little refinement and modification of the build exactly to your style of play is always welcome.

So, now you have a partner, you have the right build. And what's next? And then we need to get dressed ...

Equip.

First you need PvP equipment. This is the one that has stamina and resilience. On the battlefield you need to go with resistance 1000+. Where can a beginner get all this?

1. Craft. For each class there is a blue craft set (set) level 78-80. Gather (buy at auction) ingredients and ask the artisans in the guild to dress you up. Unfortunately, crafting good PvE gear is real, while PvP is only blue gear.
2. jewelry stones and enchantment. There are many recipes for sustainability.
3. [Emblems of Triumph] are obtained from ordinary Heroics. For these emblems in Dalaran and the Rally, you can buy a good epic PVP set. Same thing but higher level, can be purchased with [Ice Emblems].
4. Did you dress up and start going to BG? For the received honor points in Orgrimmar, you can buy rings, trinkets and everything else (already high enough level).
5. In order not to spend too many honor points in Orgrimmar, you can go to the arena. Even with a bad rating, once a week you will be awarded arena points. If you buy equipment in Dalaran with honor points and arena points, you can buy more equipment.
6. Most honor points can be earned at Icegrass Lake (OLO). Especially on quests. Some quests can be completed even in peacetime. In addition, good PvP equipment is also sold for OLO victory medals.
7. Crypt of Archavon. The only PvE raid where, among other things, you can get PvP items (and top ones).

So, in what slots what to wear?
Set items (head, shoulders, chest, gloves, pants) - collected together, give a set bonus. For the bonus, you need to collect at least 4 items out of 5. To get started, you can buy level 232 items for [Emblems of Triumph] in these slots, since these emblems drop from every boss in random heroic, and getting them is more than easy. Later, all level 232 Wrathful Items will need to be replaced with level 251 Relentless Items for either [Ice Emblems] or Arenapoints. Also, some of the PvP set items can be obtained in the Crypt of Archavon, so it is advisable to go there every week. Wrathful equipment in these level 270 slots is taken only at high arena ratings, it's too early for a beginner to think about them.
Separately, it is worth mentioning about the shoulders. Level 251 shoulders that are not included in the set can be bought at OLO for medals. To save emblems and arena points, it is worth buying shoulders for OLO Victory Medals, and in other set slots - half for arena points and half for [ice emblems].
The rest of the non-set slots are sold in Orgrimmar for honor points. You can buy equipment even level 264 without requirements, just for honor. True, you will have to give about 60k honor points. So you need to go to BG a lot (as mentioned above, you can earn the most on OLO).
Weapon. Alas, a beginner will have to get weapons in PvE. Level 232 is obtained in random heroics. This is the minimum to start with. Level 245 - Onyxia or Trial of the Crusader, raids for 25 people. Level 251 and above - CLC. Normal PvP weapons can only be taken for a sufficiently high arena rating.

How much stability (resilience) should I gain?
1000 is the minimum to survive in BG and arena. Without this minimum, a person turns into a whipping dummy. Strong PvP fighters sometimes have less than 1000 resilience, sacrificing res in favor of cool PvE items that significantly increase DPS. For beginners, the stability value of less than a thousand is equivalent to the title of "car".
1200 is the average value to aim for. Approximately so much will be for a fighter fully dressed in angry-relentless PvP equipment with PvE weapons, and without stones and enchantment for res.
1400 - maximum (aka cap). It makes no sense to recruit more, because the resistance typed above simply will not give any bonus.

As you know, at present, many top players and former gladiators are selling ratings in the arena. There are 2 main types of services here - upgrading the team to the rating agreed in the contract and maintaining the team's rating at a given level. Prices can vary greatly depending on the server and battle group. Find your dealer and find out more about their services.
So you are not tormented by conscience, you are rich and really want a gladiator. Then boldly and as soon as possible we buy the service of boosting the team to a rating of 2000-2100 and at the same time maintaining it. Why not buy a rating higher or lower than this number? And all because of the rating calculation formula. To raise the rating higher, you need to put in a lot more effort, which means the price will grow a lot, but due to the formula for calculating points, their increase will be insignificant. The best interval is 2000-2100. Rating below makes no sense to buy. the price will be slightly lower, and you will lose decent points.
Remember. Buying a rating at the initial stage is very important and will save you a lot of time. It is much more profitable to spend time and farm gold to buy a rating than to wait a month or two when you can get a reward from the arena.

Calculators:
http://www.2vs2.net/ - Here you can calculate the number of points you will receive at the end of the week.
http://www.wowarmory.com/arena-calculator.xml

Awards and their cost:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/pvprewards.xml - all PvP rewards. A1-A2 sets, honor rewards, Halaa, etc.

Armory (here you can find a lot of information about the ladder):
Europe - http://armory.wow-europe.com/
America - http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/

Arena F.A.Q.

Players: How much does it cost to register a team?
Blizzard:
5v5 - 200g
3v3 - 120g
2v2 - 80g

Players: Where can I buy a charter and register a team?
Blizzard: Outland, Nagrand. Ring of Trials. Coords: 67.57, as well as in Dalaran in Stokes.

Players: Where can I buy weapons and sets for arena points?
Blizzard: in Dalaran in the Stocks.

Players: We can't register a team. The vendor does not take the registration sheet, what should we do?
Blizzard: This is a known bug (just like with the guild charter) Just put the charter in the main bag (backpack).

Players: How to disband a team if I am its leader?
Blizzard:/teamdisband

Players: Is there a team owner (as a guild master) who can accept/kick players at will?
Blizzard: Yes. The player who registers the team will be its leader.

Players: Is it possible to add a player to the team after the start of the season and will he receive arena points according to the team rating?
Blizzard: Yes. The rating is tied to the team, not to the individual player. At the same time, if a player leaves the team, he loses the rating, but retains the number of arena points gained.

Players: What is the maximum number of players allowed on one team?
Blizzard: Because in each team you can have substitute players, then the total number is:
2v2 - 4 players
3v3 - 6 players
5v5 - 10 players

Players: What is the minimum number of games that a team and its members must play to earn points in a week?
Blizzard: A team must play at least 10 games. Players at least 30% of the sum of all the team's games for the week.

Players: I was invited to the top team. Will I receive rewards at the end of the season along with the old team members?
Blizzard: To receive rewards for a season, you must play at least 20% of the sum of all team games in this season.

Players: How are arena points awarded for different teams?
Blizzard: Arena points are awarded every week before or during those. server maintenance.

The number of points in disciplines is calculated as follows:

5v5 - full scoring.
3v3 - 80%
2v2 - 70%

Players: Do you have to participate in all 3 formats to get maximum points?
Blizzard: You only get points each week from the discipline that would give you the most points that week, so you don't have to compete in all 3 disciplines to get the maximum points.

Players: How many teams will get the Netherdrakes and titles?
Blizzard: Netherdrakes (flying epic mount) and the title of Gladiator will receive the first 0.5% of the amount of teams in each format of your battlegroup.

Titles:
0% - 0.5%: Gladiator (Armored Nether Drake sent by mail)
0.5% - 3%: Duelist
3% - 10%: Rival
10% - 35%: Challenger

Players: If you are within the top 0.5% of different disciplines (2v2, 3v3, 5v5), will you get 2 different ranks and 2 epic mounts?
Blizzard: Each discipline has the same ranks, so the player will receive only one rank, but 2 epic mounts per mail.

Players: Do you need to learn the Netherdrake riding skill (epic mount, arena rewards) or will you get it with the mount?
Blizzard: No. The mount requires 300 riding skill to use.

Players: Are there any differences in how blood control works in arenas?
Blizzard: No, blood control works exactly the same as in normal PvP situations. The work of QC in PVP is different from the work in PVE.

Players: Why are poisons allowed to be used, but sharpening stones are not?
Blizzard: Poisons are an integral part of the rogue class and some talents are tied to poisons, and enchants simply add damage to any melee class.

Players: The game gave an error while loading the arena and I got defeated, why?
Blizzard: We are aware of this issue and are working on it. 😉

Playing in the Arena is often frustrating unless you have some special knowledge and skills. This guide is the first in a series of our Arena articles and is intended to give you a better idea of ​​how how to succeed in arena.

Luck is an integral part of the Arena, but the purpose of our guide is to show you what you can take the most correct decisions, and these decisions will favorably influence your results.

1. About the Author

This article was created Sottle’om, a professional player in Hearthstone from the UK, participant h2k. Sottle regularly plays Arenas, streaming it on his Twich channel and explaining all his actions. He has a record win rate of 72%, which makes him one of the best players in the Arena.

2. Introduction

2.1.Start

Arena provides you the ability to build a deck of random cards. The arena is a place where you can test your luck and skills, knowledge of the game mechanics, against other players.

The first Arena is free, however subsequent Arenas will cost you 150 in-game gold or $1.99. In the Arena, any cards can be offered, regardless of whether you have them in your collection or not.

2.2.Choosing a hero

Once you enter the arena, you will choose 1st of 3 randomly presented heroes. It depends on your decision which class of cards you can use.

2.3.Composing a deck

After choosing a hero, you start build a deck. You will be offered 3 cards of the same rarity, this will continue until you select 30 cards.

1st;10th;20th;30th election will always consist of at least rare cards, while the rest can be rare, epic and legendary only with a certain chance.

2.4. Playing in the Arena

Once you have built your deck, you will be ready to fight against other players. By pressing the "Play" button, you will start the game against an equal opponent, which will be selected for you in accordance with your game rating and the number of wins in this Arena.

Arena ends immediately after 12 wins or 3 losses or after deciding to leave the arena ( by pressing the "Retreat" button).

2.5. Arena Rewards

Each victory improves your key, from which depends on the value of the reward. The number of packs (containing the reward) is veiled from 2 to 5. At least one of the packs will contain a card booster that almost covers the cost of entering the Arena.

The rest of the packs contain gold, dust, additional boosters, cards (sometimes gold). Now we will show you possible options awards(except for the guaranteed card booster). Please note that this information may vary slightly.

• Finishing the Arena you never win, you will receive between 20-25 gold or dust.
• Finishing the Arena with 1-3 wins, you will receive about 50 gold or dust, practically paying for the entrance to the arena (considering the card booster).
• Finishing the Arena with 4-6 wins, you will receive up to 100 gold or dust. You have already paid for the entrance to the arena.
• Finishing the Arena with 7-9 wins, you will receive enough gold to buy another entrance to the arena. In addition, quite often you can get an additional booster with cards, or a card (possibly gold).
• Finishing the Arena with 10-12 wins, you will receive a huge amount of gold (up to 500). And also quite often you will receive an additional booster with cards.

3. When should you start playing in the Arena?

Of course, luck is an important part of the Arena, but your ability to build a deck, knowledge of the mechanics of the game and experience plays a key role. Since the entrance to the arena costs in-game gold or real money, you must clearly understand all the mechanics of the game (described here) before entering the Arena.

4. Choose a Hero

Every hero class has a chance to win, if you only understand the basics of the game for this class and you have a good idea about all the cards in this class. You must always remember that no matter which class you choose, your goal stays the same: find the most advantage from the situation, build up an advantage, and control the table.

5. Card selection

Basically, you should always try to choose cards that will bring you maximum benefit for its cost. But don't forget about the mana curve. In short, you should try to create a deck with a balanced mana curve ( There should not be too many / few cards for 1,2,3,4…6,7+ mana crystals).

There should be an order of magnitude more creatures and spells for 2-4 mana than others, since during this period of the game it is very important for you to establish control over the field. And creatures and spells with a high mana cost (from 6 and above) may be less.

5.1. Choice of Creatures

When you choose a creature, you must consider what effect does it have on the table. If you want to be sure of a creature's value, add up its attack and health values ​​and divide by 2. The resulting number must be equal to or greater than its mana cost.

For example, it costs 4 mana, and the sum of attack and health is 9, which makes it pretty efficient. But in addition to this rule, you must consider other factors.

Some creatures have pretty bad stats for their mana cost, but often they offset by various card effects, such as Defender of Argus. An example of a card with bad stats for its mana cost is Ironforge Rifleman.

You need a lot of experience to learn to give an accurate assessment of each card in terms of stats and mana cost. Because, only by playing one or another card, you will be able to recognize its strengths and weaknesses. We'll show you some more examples below.

Arena a creature's health is valued more than its attack power, because high health makes it harder for the enemy to deal with your creature. Creatures with a high attack stat might seem attractive as they can deal a lot of damage, but without enough health, they just might not survive until the next turn to deal that much damage.

For example, he looks strong due to 5 attack for 3 mana, but he has too little health and he will die he any removal ( destruction spell), any minion for 1 mana, and most hero abilities.

An exception to this rule are creatures with less than 3 attack. It's very easy to explain: even if the creature has a high health, it will be easy for the enemy to deal with it with the help of several creatures, without losing them.

These higher health creatures will be able to survive the turn, but they won't be able to make good trades or put much pressure on the opponent.

That is why it is a great card. For 4 mana, this creature has 4/5 stats, which allows him not only to survive the move and make an effective exchange with a 3-mana minion, but it's also possible to survive the trade. This will mean that the opponent will have to spend 2 cards (or more) into your 1 creature.

As for drops for 1 mana - most of the time we don't need them., for example - Murloc Raider, a practically useless creature. But there are exceptions - cards that have a strong effect. These include the Cursing Sergeant, who, with the help of his Battle Cry will help to make a profitable exchange.

Another example of a good 1-mana card is Worgen Scout. This creature has the effect “ Disguise", what allows him to wait for the moment convenient for you and not die from the ability of the enemy hero.

So you can wait until the enemy puts a creature for 2-3 mana with 2 health units and then it is profitable to exchange with this creature. The elven archer is also not the worst option: early in the game, her warcry will allow you to finish off enemy creatures.

5.2. Choosing Class Cards

Every deck in the arena should have a good spell pool, which will help you keep or gain control of the field. In cases where you do not have the opportunity to choose a strong creature ( we talked about this earlier), you can take a spell that guarantees you an advantage and can significantly delay the enemy.

It doesn't matter what class you play, you don't care must take a few spells to control the board on the early stages games. They can keep up the pressure A situation is assumed when you have several creatures, but you do not want to exchange them and then use a spell for this).

Very strong class cards include some Paladin weapons and War, various spells with AoE (A property of a card or its ability to deal damage to a specific area rather than a single target) effect: Wave of fire , Swipe .

They will give you the opportunity to destroy 1-2 (or more) enemy cards for 1 of yours. You need such class cards to save / intercept control over the table in the middle or late stages of the game.

5.3. Card combinations

Build decks based on different combinations of cards − good idea, but only if the cards in your deck will not lose their value in situations where you could not make a combination. This means that in the Arena you should always try to avoid cards that are only good in combination with others, because you have no guarantee that you will be able to find the missing part of the combination.

Some cards like: Dark Iron Dwarf and Sin'dorei Priest, combinable with many cards and therefore they will always be good choice for your deck.

There are a large number of cards that you need to try not to take into the deck. For example, Murlocs. All Murlocs of Common rarity are characterized by bad stats and effects for their mana cost, and then you will have to rely on Rare Murlocs. When choosing between three Rare cards, one of which is Murloc, in our opinion, the best decision is to choose another Rare card, with more value ( the usefulness of the card in a particular situation).

Ever since in Hearthstone several additions came out, combinations and interactions of cards with each other began to play important role in the arena. With every addition that brings us new special types of creatures (Gears, Dragons, Creatures with Deathrattles), there were also many different combinations. So, for example, creatures from the Naxxramas expansion with death rattles still remain strong and relevant.

The same can be said about Mechanisms from the expansion Goblins and Gnomes. Mechs usually have great stats and abilities that justify their mana cost. For example: or Spider Tank. This means that you can safely take several Gears, and then collect any combination with them, as a nice bonus.

The Blackrock Mountain update brought us cards that are based on combinations with dragons. For example, Blackwing Technician or Blackwing Destroyer. Unlike the previously mentioned creatures, Mechanisms, in order for these cards to pay off their mana, you you need to have enough dragons in your deck. Therefore, we do not recommend drawing such cards into your deck if you have not been able to get required amount dragons.

6. Conclusion

The arena can serve as a great place for a beginner to gaining gaming experience while he collects for playing Constructed. Once you decide to delve deeper into the Arena and learn even more about it, we advise you to check out our more detailed Arena guides.

To succeed in the Arena, you, as always, need gaming experience, knowledge of the mechanics of the game, so don't be upset if your first Arena wasn't the best.

If you like playing in the Arena and you strive for self-improvement - spending gold on the Arena is always more profitable than just buying card boosters.

translated SlyCrab, edited Oleg Aleksashin, designed mus1q.

hearthstonetopdecks have created an amazingly detailed Arena guide for beginners. I just couldn't translate it. Caution, 14 pages A4 🙂

This guide is designed to help beginners understand how the Arena works in Hearthstone. The main goal of the guide is to teach how to play endless arenas. So you can get a source of infinite gold in Hearthstone and combine it with a very interesting gameplay. The guide is divided into several parts and will take you from a basic understanding of the arena to various game intricacies that only professional players understand. After studying the information in this article, you can become an Arena legend.

Introduction
When playing in the arena, I see that a lot of beginners simply enter this mode without any idea what to actually do here, they are smashed without a chance by experienced players, as a result of which beginners feel frustrated and have a very unpleasant experience playing the mode, they don't have any motivation to come here anymore.
Hearthstone is only considered to be beginner friendly. Of course, there were some changes in order to improve the situation, but with each new addition, the game becomes more complex and incomprehensible for those who start playing it.
Hearthstone has a reputation for being a "pay-to-win" game, and to some extent, that's true. This seems to be true if you want to collect a large collection of cards for competitive play. To do this, as a beginner, is extremely difficult. I myself have been in the shoes of a “free” player and I am familiar with this problem firsthand. Everything changed when I discovered the magic of the Arena.

The importance of the arena for beginners
With the release of each new addition, the importance of the arena is growing more and more, as at the moment it is the main way to earn a lot of gold in the shortest possible time. Instead of spending gold on boosters (you should almost never do this, the only exception is if you only need cards from a particular expansion and you don't have much experience in arena), you need to invest your gold in Arena and profit from it. Even if you play horribly and only achieve 3 wins on average, 150 gold is still worth it. You get a set of cards (100 gold), 20-25 gold, and either an additional card or an additional 20-25 gold or dust. By the way, as a rule, the value of dust exceeds the value of gold. Well, of course, our goal is to make sure that we do not stop at 3 wins. We need profit, lots of profit!

The amount of gold received depending on the number of victories

Source: Arena Mastery

How to do so in order to start extracting a stable profit from the arena? You need to reach the average mark of 7. It is from this moment that the net gold received for the Arena will allow you to start the next one. If you play better than 7 wins, it will be your net, very high profit.

The average amount of gold depending on the number of wins.

Source: Arena Mastery

I'll be honest with you, reaching a consistent seven wins in every arena trip is not that easy. According to a reddit post, only 9% of players can reach this mark. I think this may demotivate you a little. The average player in the arena achieves 3 wins. However, there is no need to despair. When you don't get what you want, you just need to focus on improving your own skills as a player. It will be useful. If you are able to identify your own mistakes, you will improve from trip to trip.
Also, everything you learn in the arena will definitely help you in the ranked game. Your skill of correct exchanges especially grows.

Part 1: Classes in the arena

As you know, there are 9 different classes in Hearthstone, each of them has unique abilities and features, it is very important to understand all the strengths and weaknesses of your class. This will help you choose the right cards in the arena to maximize potential and minimize weaknesses. To help you understand which class is better to choose, just below you can find a tirlist for all classes.
To maximize the chance of winning, we need to try to pick a class from Tier 1 every time we can. The fact is that these classes have the strongest toolkits for the arena. I'm not saying it's completely impossible to get 12 victories with a Warrior, however, it will be much more difficult, since the nature of this class is, at the moment, almost not designed for this mode.

• Tier 1: Mage, Rogue, Paladin
• Tier 2: Hunter, Warlock, Priest
• Tier 3: Shaman, Druid, Warrior

To help you get to know these classes better, I'll go over the strengths and weaknesses of each below. This will help you understand what to expect when picking or playing against all Tier 1 and Tier 2 classes.

Mage

Strengths

• Universal Hero Power
• Can adapt to any situation
• Great class cards
• Mass removals can win the match on their own

Weaknesses

• Small number of class creatures
• May be in a situation where the hand consists of defensive and situational cards

Key Cards
[Fire Wave], [Volcanic Potion], [Portal: Firelands], [Petroglyph], [Meteorite], [Protected], [Arcanologist], [Water Elemental]
Mage has always been a strong choice for the arena and continues to be the most picked class. According to Arena mastery, 23% of players try to choose it. main reason is that the power of the hero of this class is amazingly strong, and also the class cards of the Mage are very unbalanced in places. A recent addition brought cards like [Meteorite] and [Petroglyph] to the class, taking their already powerful arsenal to a whole new level. The mage has a huge amount of mass and point removal, which makes it easy to return to a seemingly completely failed match.

Rogue

Strengths

• Great for Arena Hero Power
• Strong point removals
• Can use own health as a resource in order to get predominantly on the early board
• Generates a lot of tempo thanks to the “streak” mechanic

Weaknesses

• Very demanding on low mana cost cards to activate combos.
• Almost no chance of winning if there are a lot of expensive creatures in the hand
• Virtually no healing
• Easily destroyed by aggressive decks

Key Cards
[Backstab], [Poisoned Weapon], [SI:7 Agent], [Sap], [Eviscerate], [Assassination], [Bloodthirsty Spite].
With the release of Journey to Un'Goro, the Rogue has proved to be one of the best classes in the arena, as he has received powerful cards such as [Poisoned Weapon] and [Bloodthirsty Malevolence] that allow you to make incredible moves at the highest pace. When playing this class, be sure to be prepared for the fact that your opponent can destroy you in a few moves. This is especially true in matches against Mages and Hunters, sometimes they can completely ignore table control.

Paladin

Strengths

• Powerful empowering spells
• Great arsenal of weapons
• High-quality class creatures allow you to reliably control the table
• Has a lot of healing

Weaknesses

• There are no powerful point removals
• Limited mass removals
• Extremely hard to win back

Key Cards
[Silver Blade], [Seal of Kings], [Sanctify], [Rocked Steed], [Aldor Peacekeeper], [Vine Cleaver], [Hydrologist], [Hills Protector], [Dinosaur].
Paladins were once the absolute best class for the arena, but it's been quite a while since then. After the card rotation at the beginning of the year, [Murloc Knight], [Keeper of Uldaman], [Seal of Champions] lost the class. Playing a Paladin is a constant concern for board control, as well as a constant regret that the removals of this class are limited, and those that are available are absolutely straightforward and obvious. As soon as the Paladin loses control over the table, it becomes almost impossible to restore it, since the set of any removals is extremely limited. However, the class still has a large number of special cards that keep the Paladin from falling into Tier 2.

Hunter

Strengths

• Aggressive play style
• Can create a lot of tempo with [Death Shot] and [Frost Trap]
• Can easily take control of the table in the early game

Weaknesses

• Small number of mass removals
• The deck is quite weak to taunts and healing.
• It's very hard to get back into the game.

Key Cards
[Gem Macaw], [Sparkly Sharptooth], [Painful Bite], [Pet], [Houndmaster], [Unleash the Dogs], [Eagle Horn Bow], and [Savannah Tallmane].
The hunter is in the middle of the list of best classes. His Hero Power supports aggressive or pace-oriented playstyles, so slow archetypes should not be chosen for this class. The current meta of the arena can hardly be called well suited for a hunter. Yes, there are many Rogues here, however, at the same time, there is also a large number of heals and taunts.

Warlock

Strengths

• Uses own health as a resource to gain card advantage
• Good mass and point removals
• Decent class creatures

Weaknesses

• Can be easily destroyed by aggressive decks
• Almost all mass removals deal damage to the Warlock himself

Key Cards
[Mighty Abyssal], [Dread Infernal], [Crystal Blast Potion], [Darkwood Councilman], [Corruption Face], [Dreadguard], [Soul Siphon].
The Warlock was once the best Arena class. He uses his Hero Power to put himself in a better situation due to his card advantage. However, the recent card rotation has reduced the strength of this class, depriving it of such powerful cards as [Black Archaeologist] and [Imp Gang Leader]. In return, Warlock didn't get any particularly useful class cards. And also, in latest update The developers have reduced the chance of [Mighty Abyssal], which dramatically increases the class win rate. Since the power of the Warlock hero does not directly affect the table, it is extremely easy for other classes to capture it at the very beginning of the game and calmly bring the match to Victory

Priest

Strengths

• Can use his hero power to trade creatures more effectively
• Powerful point removals
• Can gain card advantage

Weaknesses

• Very vulnerable to creatures with 4 attack points
• A huge number of useless and situational spells that are very weak in the Arena

Key Cards
[Cabal Talon Priest], [Power Word: Shield], [Shadow Word: Death], [Shadow Word: Pain] [Northshire Cleric], [Potion of Madness], [Potion of Dragonfire].
Priest is one of the few classes that didn't lose a lot of key cards in the past annual rotation. Moreover, he also got a lot of good quality cards like [The Thing of Amber], [Shining Elemental] or [Crystal Oracle]. However, this class is very sensitive to how you draw cards for the arena, which will determine how effective your hero power is. Especially your success will depend on whether you can find enough cards that will increase the health of your creatures. These include [Cabal Talon Priest] and [Power Word: Shield]. Priest's power lies in the fact that he can use his hero power for one of the most important elements Arenas - for exchanges. At the same time, unlike, for example, a Paladin who creates tokens with his Hero Power, he must have creatures on the board at all times in order to cast his spells. Otherwise, the Priest will simply skip moves and do nothing.

Part 2. Choosing cards

Now that you've learned about choosing the right class, it's time to learn how to build your own deck. It is the process of collecting a deck that is perhaps the most important thing that will happen to you in the near future, since it determines your style of play, your conditions for victory. It's important to balance your choice with the class you choose to get the most out of the synergy of the two.
Your deck will consist of class and neutral creatures, as well as a number of spells. I will explain how to choose the proportion between these components of the cloud. This will help you understand the various aspects and characteristics of Hearthstone creatures.
In general, I classify beings into three groups:

• Value
• the effect
• situationality

The value reflects the number of characteristics a creature possesses. The more stats compared to other creatures for the same mana cost, the more valuable that creature is. There is such a thing as Vanilla Test, Vanilla cards may not have any additional special attributes or effects, however, due to their excellent characteristics, they are superior to many other creatures.
The simplest examples are, for example, [Pitch Guardian], which is always better than [Am'gam Fury], and [Ice Fury] is always better than [Magma Fury]. Below is an example of one such Vanilla test.

You can see that all of these creatures pass the Vanilla Test, as even the first creature has 5 stats per 2 mana, and each subsequent creature has +1\+1 per 1 mana. mana.
However, this is a very straightforward example. Let's think about what to choose if you have [Savvy Gangster] and [Priestess of Elune] in front of you. Both cards cost 6 mana, however, their effects are completely different. [Strong Gangster] has 14 stat points, which is superior to [Bulgefist Ogre] of 6/7, which has 13 stat points. [Priestess of Elune] has 9 stat points, which is far from the standard 13 stat points, so you are essentially paying 4 stat points for an effect that restores 4 health to your hero. Who to choose?
Of these two options, you need to choose [Strong Gangster], since he has significantly best performance, and most importantly, the amount of health, because [Priestess of Elune] can be killed by [Illusionist], which costs only 3 mana. So if this happens, then you will quickly find yourself in a position lagging behind and these 4 units. health to your hero will not help you in any way.
What are “effect cards”? The name says it all, these are cards that have a special attribute that does something important. You will rarely come across a choice of several cards with a good effect, because as a rule, questions “which card with an effect to choose?” will not occur. By good effect, I mean that this card will be useful in almost any situation. For example, [Treasure Collector], [Slum Trader], [Prehistoric Dragon].
But situational cards belong to the third type. To activate them, some important conditions must be met. Without them, the card will not bring maximum benefit. Such cards include, for example, elementals and cards that require an elemental to be played during the previous turn. Situational cards also include technical cards. One of the most notable examples is [Hungry Crab], which requires a Murloc to be on the table in order to get the most out of it. You will lose tempo if you play this card without an activator and gain tempo if you play it with an additional condition. Also popular options for situational cards in the arena are [Voracious Slime] and [Mental Technician]. Remember that you don't always have to try to play these cards with maximum benefit, sometimes it's better to cast [Voracious Slime] on Turn 3 without her Warcry instead of skipping that turn.

Every time you pick a card while drafting, your goal is to get a combination of these three types of creatures, but in a certain proportion. There should be no more situational cards than valuable or effect cards. When you choose a situation or effect card, you should be asking yourself how well that card fits your class, as well as paying attention to the stats. If you are playing control with a class like Mage or Priest, health is more important than attack. So you should choose a 4/5 creature instead of a 5/4. Similarly, when playing an aggressive class like Hunter, you should choose a creature with a high attack stat.
Another very important aspect when drafting is the mana curve, which depends on which class you choose. You should not bother with this from the first moves, but by the 20-25th map, pay attention to this if you already have a lot of heavy creatures for 6 or 7 units. mana, it is necessary to dilute them with small creatures for 2 units. mana, because if you skip your turns and do not summon small creatures, you simply will not have time to play later creatures, the opponent will kill you faster.
At the end of your draft, your mana curve should look something like the one below. They roughly show mana curves for different playstyles. Keep in mind that these are just 3 of the many ways to play this mode. You could very well build a Hunter deck with a lot of heavy creatures and use a more controlling playstyle. However, it is these three options that are the most common archetypes in the arena.

Control. This is an example of a deck with a strong late game. You may be surprised by the number of cards for two mana, however, you will need them in order to take the game to a later stage, where you will open your deck to the maximum. The goal is to take control of the early table and keep it until the late game, where your cards will prove to be more valuable than your opponent's cards. As a rule, Priests, Warlocks, Mages use just such a mana curve.

Aggressive. The absolute opposite of the previous style. Builds on a huge number of creatures for a low amount of Mana. You won't have any tools to win in the late game, but you don't really need that. Your task is to destroy the opponent as soon as possible, until he can stabilize the situation. Great for classes like Hunter, Rogue, and even Mage if you can build the right deck for him.

Midrange. This archetype fills the zone between the aggressive and control archetypes. He usually bets on 4 mana minions and this option often proves to be very versatile. He has quite a few creatures to take control from the first moves, but the deck also has every chance of winning in a long match. This tactic is best suited to Paladin, since this class has a very large number of powerful cards for 4 mana, but, however, any class can build a similar deck.
For beginners, the drafting process can be very difficult because they are simply unfamiliar with most of these cards. So it often makes sense to use external services to evaluate maps. For example, Heartharena. This is a great additional feature that will tell you the rating of every card that you are offered during the draft. In addition, this app also keeps track of your mana curve and increases or decreases card ratings based on that so you don't get bad decks. This is an excellent starting point. Keep in mind that these estimates are not the ultimate truth, sometimes you should trust your own feelings. The application is available only to PC users, while the site is accessible from any platform.

Part 3. How to play in the Arena?

Now that you've completely built your own deck, it's time to start the match. However, before hitting the "Search for an opponent" button, take a look at your deck and ask yourself questions.

• “What is my deck?
• “Is it aimed at extracting the maximum value from the cards, or is it a tempo deck?”
• “How can I win?”

This will mentally prepare you to create a game plan against your future opponents.

Mulligan
The first action you take during a Hearthstone match is to look at your hand and discard the cards you don't need. You only want cards that you can use in the early game to compete for board control, so you should generally discard all cards with a mana cost of 3 or more. However, there are times when you should leave something heavy if you already have a few early game cards. For example, you have [Firefire], [Amanian Berserker], [Voracious Slime], and [Frost Yeti]. In this case, it's a good idea to leave your entire hand in order to effectively cast the creatures on the curve.

exchanges
In the arena, it is almost never possible to simply attack the opponent's face, even the most aggressive decks try to make trades that are profitable for themselves. If you keep your opponent's table empty, you reduce the risk that he can buff his own creature and make a profitable trade for him. Your task is to try with all your might to prevent him from establishing control over the table.
At the same time, if all the possible exchanges on the table are not beneficial for you, you can try to become an aggressor and try to destroy the opponent's hero. If you're unsure whether to trade, ask yourself these questions:

• “How important is possible damage to the face?”
• “What can my opponent do to punish me if I don’t trade?”
• “How will this punishment affect my situation?”

If, after these questions, you feel that the damage to the face is more valuable, or the punishment of the opponent will not have much effect on your situation, go for broke and attack the opponent's hero.
For example, in the late game you have [Bittertide Hydra] on the board while your opponent has [Young Brewmaster] on the board. In such a situation, of course, you need to attack the opponent's face in order to deal 8 damage. Why? First of all, because the opponent will not put up with your creature with eight attack points on the board anyway, and if he has some kind of removal, he will definitely apply it. If you attack with [Bittertide Hydra] on an enemy's [Young Brewmaster], you will of course kill this 3/2 creature, however, the opponent can simply use [Portal: Firelands] or [Fireball] to finish your [ Bitter Wave Hydra] and then the opponent will not take 8 damage. If you attack an opponent's hero, he will also kill your [Bittertide Hydra] with a spell + his own creature, but at the same time, he will have 8 health points less.
But there is also a situation where the opponent can severely punish you for refusing to exchange. For example, you have [Cabal Talon Priest] on your board, while your Paladin has [Master of Darkwood]. You choose to attack the face instead of trading with that creature. What can happen in this case:

1. The paladin will cast a minion for 4. mana, so you'll get it right by hitting three to the face.
2. The paladin will equip [Silver Blade] and kill your 3/4 creature, leaving his 3/3 on the table.
3. The paladin uses [Seal of Kings] on his 3/3 minion, turning it into a 7/7, then trades with your minion and has a 7/4 minion on the board.
4. The paladin uses [Portal: Silvermoon City] on a 3/3 minion, buffs it to 5/5, then trades with yours, leaving him with two minions on the board: 5/2 and a random one for 2. mana.

As I said earlier, Paladin's strength lies in strong boost cards, which often cost 4. mana. So almost always the best solution is to trade with creatures to prevent the full potential of the opponent's class from being realized.

Game Around Secrets
Paladins, Mages, Hunters are the classes that have access to secrets. This type of card is very strong, so you have to predict which of the secrets your opponent might have. If you are careful, you can minimize the negative effects.

Against Mage:

• [Reflected Essence] and [Potion of Polymorph] activate when you play a creature. First, for testing, it is worth summoning some of your weak creatures.
• [Anti-Magic] and [Mana Bond] activate when you cast a spell. Try to act out something less important first. For example, [Coin].
• [Steam] or [Ice Barrier] is activated when a creature attacks an opponent's face. Always attack with the weaker creature first.
• [Spellcaster] is activated when your spell targets a creature. Cast less valuable spells first.
• [Ice Block] is activated when lethal damage is dealt to an opponent. Try to make sure that before activating the ice block, the opponent has 1 unit. health. This will help you finish him off the next turn.

Against Hunter:

• [Frost Trap] is activated when you attack with a creature. Attack with either a creature with a low cost or a creature with a useful warcry.
• [Focus Cat] activates when you cast a spell. Try to cast cheap spells first and then kill the kitty with your mass removal.
• [Explosive Trap] or [Redirect] is activated when your creature attacks an opponent's face. Try to trade your creatures with 2 units first. health and then attack the face. [Redirection] is better to bait with a creature with a small amount of attack.
• [Snake Trap] is activated when you attack an enemy creature. Try not to attack his creatures until you can answer the snakes.

Against Paladin:

• [Eye for an Eye] is activated when your opponent takes damage from any source. Try to use your hero power or minion with the lowest attack first.
• [Self Sacrifice] is activated when you attack with a creature or weapon. Choose the right tactics. Attack first with the creature you don't want to trade, or vice versa, first activate the secret with something less valuable, and then attack the creature with more attack.
• [Repentance] is activated when you play a creature. Play a minion with less health first, ideally one.
• [Retribution] or [Escape to Kodo] is activated when you kill an opponent's creature. Kill some weak opponent minion first with a harmless warcry, ideally a minion that the paladin creates with his hero power.

Don't be afraid of secrets. Keeping them in mind, you can choose when to activate them. For example, let's say you're playing a Mage against another Mage, and your opponent has played a secret. You attacked the opponent's hero, so you know that this secret does not interact with your creatures in any way, and also when you cast the spell, you realize that it does not react to the spell in any way. Your hands are tied. However, if you're unsure if the opponent doesn't have [Anti-Magic], it's best to stock up on your [Portal: Firelands] for example, even if some of the opponent's creatures have that attractive 5 health. If you spend mana on a spell and it doesn't work, chances are high that you will lose. So, better wait for some cheaper and useless spell to check what secret your opponent has.
The game is around the opponent's removals.
You always need to keep in mind that the opponent can play a massive removal at any time and clear your board. So, do not oversaturate the battlefield, this is one of the main conditions in the right game. It means that it is better to have some cards in hand so as not to give them to the opponent just like that. For example, you are playing against a Mage, your opponent's next turn is 7, and you have [Old Brewmaster], [Dark Iron Dwarf] and [Frost Yeti] on the board. And the opponent has no creatures. In this case, you have two choices - you can play a creature from your hand and it will also have a chance to be destroyed by the wave of fire, or you can choose not to play it. If your opponent decides to use [Wave of Fire] in this situation, you will still end up with a 4/1 minion on the board, and your opponent will end up with an empty board. So, in this particular situation, it's much better not to play anything. However, if your opponent's [Fire Wave] was destroying all of your minions, it would make sense to cast some minion with 5+ damage. health. Although it would be badly injured, you would still retain control of the table.
You must always remember all the mass removals of the opponent. You can even write them down for yourself and hang them in front of your eyes.

• Mage: [Arcane Explosion], [Cone of Cold], [Blizzard], [Fire Wave], [Volcanic Potion]
• Rogue: [Betrayal], [Fan of Blades], [Vanish]
• Paladin: [Equality], [Consecrate], [Avenging Wrath]
• Priest: [Ring of Light], [Potion of Dragonfire]
• Druid: [Swipe], [Starfall]
• Shaman: [Forked Lightning], [Portal: Maelstrom], [Thunderstorm], [Volcano]
• Hunter: [Explosive Trap], [Painful Bite], [Multi-Shot], [Explosive Shot]
• Warlock: [Hellfire], [Twisting Nether], [Doom!]
• Warrior: [Whirlwind], [Cleave], [Brawl]

Remember that correct positioning of minions on the board is very important against certain types of mass removals. And how you place your creatures will determine the effectiveness of [Meteorite], [Painful Bite] and [Explosive Shot]. Place the most valuable creatures on the far left and on the far right.
If you have two removals in your head at once, play against the one that will hurt your board situation the most. I remember the situation when I played against the Warlock, on my table there was [Cunning Chick] and a pack of other minions for 1-2 mana. When I attacked the opponent's hero with a chick, I decided to choose me with +3 health or disguise. I decided that the opponent could easily deal with [Cunning Chick] with my point spells, and chose a disguise. However, I was wrong, my opponent had [Hellfire] and cleared my entire board. If my [Cunning Chick] was killed with a targeted removal like [Crystal Explosion Potion], there would still be enough creatures on the board to win this match. So, of course, I would have to choose +3 health, then my [Cunning Chick] would survive [Hellfire].

Adapting to the situation
Games do not always go according to your plan, the main goal of the match is victory, not survival. So sometimes you have to make risky decisions to win, especially if the game is not going in your favor. Ask yourself more often:

• “What can my opponent do in the worst case for me to get back in the game?”.

Even if you think such situations are unlikely, it is important to prepare for them. For example, you are playing a mirror match with another Paladin, you have [Tirion Fordring] and two other medium creatures on the board. You are in the lead position in this match and ignore the possibility that your opponent has [Mental Tech]. You summon a fourth creature, and your opponent casts [Mental Tech] and takes your [Tirion Fordring]. This is just one example.
However, if you see that your opponent's creatures are generally more valuable than yours and you're losing from turn to turn, it probably makes sense to change your game plans and head for an aggressive matchmaking. You can start attacking the opponent's face much more often and try to play only those cards that have the highest tempo. In this case, ask yourself another question. For instance:

• “What risks can I take to get back into the game?”
  Sometimes you need to stop playing around your opponent's removals and play all the cards you have. Of course, if the opponent has a suitable removal, you will lose, however, this is an arena mode, not a ranked mode. So, the opponent may not have any removals at all. In some situations, you will lose absolutely nothing. You would still lose even if you didn't go for aggression.

Part 4. Lessons from defeat

Everything comes to an end sooner or later, including the trip to the Arena. Few of us have ever had 12 victories. If you have ever done this, I congratulate you. If you have never been able to do this, then nothing terrible has happened. The most important part is the experience you get. First of all, you should evaluate your choice during the draft. Were there cards in your deck that seemed useful to you, but never came in handy? Maybe you have drawn too many early creatures into the deck and completely forgot about the late game? What would happen if you chose other cards? What would it change in your situation?
Then you need to evaluate your game. There are two types of errors:

• Technical
• Errors in decision making.

Technical errors in Hearthstone have almost no impact on the game, this is more true for games of a different genre, like Dota or League of Legends, where the right clicks, APM and other such things are important. However, they also exist in Hearthstone. For example, if you did not correctly compose the sequence of actions. Let's say you have 2 paladin recruits with [Dire Wolf Leader] in between, and your opponent has a minion with 6 HP. health. You can make a mistake and start attacking from left to right, dealing 2 damage with the first Recruit Paladin. damage, then 2 pts. damage with [Leader Dire Wolves] and when he dies, the buff on the right Paladin Recruit will disappear and he will deal only 1 damage. damage. Or, for example, you are playing against a Shaman and you have two creatures, one of them is wounded. You choose to attack with a wounded creature, it survives, your healing totem heals it for 1. health. However, if you attacked an opponent's minion with your minion at full health, the totem would heal by 1. health to both creatures.
Mistakes in decision making are things that are very hard to notice while playing, but very often understanding them helps you improve your level of play very nicely. If you analyze past matches, you should ask questions:

• Did I play my best?
• Did I have a chance to win?
• Were there any risks I took that I shouldn't have taken?
• Have I made any mistakes?
• Should I be more patient with mass removals?
• Should I have played more aggressively?

Also, when you watch other players' streams in the arena, read guides, or study card ratings, keep in mind that among them there may be conflicts of opinion on any issue. The only opinion you should take into account is your own opinion, which is based on your personal experience.