Hero skin
Hero skins are a type of cosmetic in Hearthstone. Each hero skin belongs to a specific class, and provides an alternative to the default hero for that class. Hero skins are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay in any way, making use of the same Hero Power and class cards as the default hero for that class.[1][2]
Hero skins are currently available for all 11 classes with more planned for the future.[3]
Hero skins can be obtained through various means, from purchasing them with Runestones or gold, to participating in Rewards Tracks or special promotions. Some hero skins (mostly alternate heroes) come with corresponding card backs.
Functionality[edit | edit source]
- Like the game's 11 original heroes, most alternate heroes are major characters from Warcraft lore (although some are original), and all come with their own portrait and emotes. For more information, see the Rarity section below.
- Hero skins are permanent additions to the game; once purchased or earned, a hero will not be removed at a later date.[4] Some skins are available for purchase or reward only through time-limited promotions, but once a hero is unlocked, it can be used at any time.
- Hero skins can be used in Constructed, Arena, and Tavern Brawls. Some Solo Adventures may also allow the players to use their hero skins.
- Once purchased, players can select hero skins through the collection manager.[5] Similar to card backs, players can choose a default "favorite hero", as well as assigning a specific class-appropriate hero to each custom deck, or multiple favorite heroes in which case they will be shifted through randomly each game. Favorite heroes for each class will be used whenever playing a deck of that class, including Arena, unless another hero has been specifically assigned for that deck.[6][7]
- Wins with hero skins counts toward the wins count for that class.[8]
- All hero skins are all animated, regardless of whether the golden hero for that class has been unlocked.[9] Alternate heroes' Hero Powers do not have a golden border unless the player has unlocked the golden hero for that class, although they are always animated.[10][11]
- There is no option for non-golden or non-animated versions of hero skins.[12]
- Most hero skins have their own unique emotes, using the standard types (e.g., "Greetings", "Wow", "Well Played"). They may also have special, unique emotes; for example,
Nemsy Necrofizzle has a special emote when playing 
Renounce Darkness. - Hero skins do not bring additional deck slots or battlefields.[13][14]
- While Hero Powers will produce special animations when used by alternate heroes, there are no visual changes to class cards.[15][16]
- Like all in-game purchases, purchasing a hero skin will only make it available for the region in which it was purchased.[17]
- There is no option for players to 'gift' hero skins to their friends.[18]
Rarities[edit | edit source]
Hero skins can be split into 6 "rarities": Basic, Lite, Full, Diamond, Legendary, and Mythic.
- Basic skins include the 11 heroes for each class that every player starts with. Basic skins aren't animated until the player reaches 500 wins with that class.
- Lite skins may be new characters or reused characters in alternate outfits/forms. Lite skins are animated and come with new base emotes for that character, reusing the character's other emotes (or an entirely new set of emotes if the character is also new). Lite skins may or may not have a full artwork in the collection manager.
- Full skins may be new characters or reused characters in alternate outfits/forms. Full skins are animated and come with a full set of new emotes. Full skins also include a custom hero tray and special entrance and hero power animations. Full skins have a full artwork in the collection manager along with unique music playing while examining the skin.
- Diamond skins have the same features as Full skins except a hero power animation, as well as a fully animated 3D model with a few animations that are shared between different actions (unlike Legendary skins which have a unique animation for every action).
- Legendary skins have the same features as Full skins, as well as a fully animated 3D model with special animations when the player performs the following actions (A total of 15 animations):
- Mythic skins have the same features as Legendary skins, as well as a custom attacking animation and additional customization of the player's side of the battlefield, such as the hero power button, the battlefield corners, and lighting.
| Rarity | Animated | New portrait | New base emotes | All new emotes | Full collection manager art |
Hero tray | Hero power animation |
Hero music | 3D model | Battlefield customization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Yes* | |||||||||
| Lite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sometimes | ||||||
| Full | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Diamond | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Legendary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Mythic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
* After 500 wins with that class.
How to get[edit | edit source]
Different hero skins can be unlocked through different means. Here are all the known possible ways of obtaining a hero skin, as of Patch 22.0.2.128654:
- Bundles with gold, Runestones, or real money for a limited time
- Claiming for free in the Shop for a limited time
- Buying with gold in the Collection manager at any time
- Buying the Tavern Pass and leveling up Rewards Track until a new expansion launches
- Special promotions for a limited time
- Completing achievements
- Participating in Event Tracks for a limited time
Hero skins[edit | edit source]
As of 30.4.0.206605, there are a total of 475 hero skins in Hearthstone.
- For a full art gallery of these cards, see Hero skin/Gallery.
Available[edit | edit source]
There are currently 92 hero skins available for obtaining.
1000-win portraits[edit | edit source]
These portraits can be obtained by winning 1000 games as a class in ranked or Arena.
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1200 gold skins[edit | edit source]
These skins can be purchased in the collection manager at any time for 1200 Gold.
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1800 gold skins[edit | edit source]
These skins can be purchased in the collection manager at any time for 1800 Gold. They also come with a card back.
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2500 Runestone skins[edit | edit source]
These skins can be purchased in the collection manager at any time for 2500 Runestones. They are composed exclusively of Legendary and Diamond skins.
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Rewards Track portraits[edit | edit source]
These portraits can be obtained on the current Rewards Track either during the course of it, or as a reward for completing it. They do not feature unique animations or come with an unique hero tray.
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Tavern Regular portraits[edit | edit source]
These portraits can be obtained as an achievement for every 200 levels gained on the Rewards Track. They do not feature unique animations or come with an unique hero tray.
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Other skins[edit | edit source]
These skins are currently available from other means, such as expansion pre-orders, shop bundles, or other promotions and special events, or they may be premium skins in the Rewards Track. See the cards' individual pages for details.
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[edit | edit source]
There are currently 369 hero skins unavailable for obtaining. However, they may be re-sold again or be available in other ways in the future.
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Unknown[edit | edit source]
These skins are detected from Hearthstone database, but haven't been manually categorized yet.
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History[edit | edit source]
In January 2014 it was stated that future developments might see alternate heroes, the first type of hero skin to be released, for a given class.[19] It was suggested that alternate heroes may be available for real money, gold, or a mixture of both.[20] In November 2014 it was stated that the developers were "excited" about the feature, but were not yet ready to make any announcements.[21]
In June 2015 an Innkeeper's Journal blog was released apparently hinting at the introduction of a new warrior hero. An image in the blog depicted the silhouette of a figure, with the warrior class icon at the bottom, while the blog itself discussed the arrival of an "imposing, broad-shouldered figure", causing quite a stir in the tavern. A tweet from the official Hearthstone account stated "What this character lacks in height, he makes up for in ferocity! Can you guess his identity?"
Alternate heroes were officially revealed June 4, 2015, along with Magni Bronzebeard, the first alternate hero to be revealed. Alleria Windrunner and Medivh were next, teased on June 10, and revealed June 11 and 12. The feature went live with Patch 2.7.0.9166 on June 15, 2015, with Magni, Alleria and Medivh available for purchase.
Starting with The Boomsday Project, each expansion pre-order Mega bundle always contains an alternate hero. The first alternate hero to be released was Mecha-Jaraxxus.
On September 26, 2019, it was announced that new 9 alternate portraits would be released, which could be obtained by winning 1000 games as respective classes.[22] This announcement marked the introduction of alternate portraits. At first, these portraits would use the same emotes from their default heroes.
On September 15, 2020, new alternate portraits continued to be released alongside Book of Heroes content. However, these alternate portraits were available in bundles instead of claiming through other ways. By the time Scholar Jaina and Horseman Uther were just released, they were heavily criticized for having no special emotes nor animations at all and were claimed for not being worth of money. After receiving feedbacks, the next alternate portrait, Warsong Rexxar, was released with unique 6 standard emotes. But even then, the next portraits were intially having no unique emotes either. After Patch 20.0.0.77662 was deployed, all of alternate portraits, except Felheart Gul'dan which was fixed later, now have unique emotes.
Starting from March 2021, Blizzard starts to re-sell older hero skins with both real money or gold for a limited time. The first skin to receive this treatment was The Thunder King.
Ever since Year of the Gryphon, Blizzard pushes to release new hero skins much more regularly, making the total number of hero skins drastically increased comparing to older years. Moreover, some hero skins are starting to be available again with gold forever, which can be claimed by going to Collection manager with the button to purchase directly.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Alternate heroes use the same Hero Powers and Hero Power art as the standard heroes for that class. Ben Brode states that this is in order to "keep some measure of instant recognition", with alternate heroes already making it harder for players to tell what class they are playing against.[23]
- Prior to Patch 24.2.0.148211 and the introduction of Runestones, hero skin bundles were purchasable with real money. Now, Runestones are the only option for initial surfaces of hero skin bundles. However, gold can still be used to buy resurfaces of hero skins.
Patch changes[edit | edit source]
Patch 24.2.0.148211 (2022-08-30): Initial surfaces of hero skin bundles can now only be purchased with Runestones. They can no longer be purchased directly with real money.- Patch 24.0.0.145077 (2022-07-26): Multiple hero skins can now be favorited, causing a random one to be picked each game. An option to cycle randomly between all owned hero portraits for a class was also added.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19508175/heroes-emerge-new-hearthstone-heroes-are-coming-6-4-2015
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2016-08-03).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-08).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-15).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Whirthun on Twitter (X). (2015-06-11).
- ↑ Zeriyah on Twitter (X). (2015-06-04).
- ↑ Dev Interview: New Heroes, Gameboards, Adventure Mode; Legends of Hearthstone BS2W2
- ↑ Buffed.de: Hearthstone: Alternative Helden-Figuren, Legendaries und Abenteuer - Entwickler im Gespräch (Google Translate)
- ↑ Hearthstone Developer Interview with Mike Donais and Jayson Chayes. (2014-11-10).
- ↑ Hearthstone Development Team (2019-09-26). Behind the Tavern Doors: See What’s Coming to Hearthstone. PlayHearthstone. Retrieved on 2022-01-16.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2015-01-01).
External links[edit | edit source]
- New Hearthstone Hero: Alleria Windrunner (2015-06-11)
- Heroes Emerge: New Hearthstone Heroes Are Coming! - feature and Magni Bronzebeard announcement (2015-06-04)
- The Innkeeper's Tale: A Mysterious Patron (2015-06-03)
