Category: IGN

The Year of the Phoenix is about to begin on April 7 in NA (April 8 in ANZ) in Hearthstone, ushering in a new expansion – Ashes of Outland, and a whole new class – Demon Hunter. The Hearthstone team is giving everyone 30 Demon Hunter cards to get them started, while new and returning players also get to choose a free deck in the class of their choice. Not only that, but card packs will no longer contain duplicates at any rarity – until you have a complete collection for that expansion at that rarity, of course.

It will be a great time to play Hearthstone, in other words, and to help you get up to speed, we asked Senior Game Designer on the Hearthstone team, Chadd Nervig, to give us a handful of decks for people to try on day one. These aren’t meant to be tier 1 decks, but reasonably competitive options to get you started. Let’s run through them.

Demon Hunter – Glaives of Fury

Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer: “It focuses on attacking synergies… such as early game plays like Battlefiend and Furious Felfin. Umberwing is also a really strong card, letting you get an attack in on two turns.

“Since this is a pretty aggressive deck, it uses Kayn Sunfury as a finisher a lot of the time, and/or Maiev to get around a big taunt. Glaivebound Adept is just really strong for all-round stats and damage, for both going over taunts and just being a big body. You’d probably think of Imprisoned Antaen as a ‘Big Demon’ card, but it has a pretty significant ability to close out a game with its damage… Metamorphosis is also an ‘over two turns Pyroblast’ so you can close out games.

“Skull of Gul’dan is one of our few sources of card draw in this deck. It’s a pretty strong card draw tool, and the Outcast effect of it is pretty reliably castable in this deck… everything is pretty cheap. And because we’re attacking a bunch, [we include] Warglaives of Azzinoth.”

Deck code:

AAECAea5AwTMugPDvAPtvgPaxgMN+a4Di7oDyboDo7sD17sDxLwD4LwDjb0DusYD2cYD98gD/sgD/8gDAA==

(Copy this code to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone.)

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Demon Hunter – Illidari Souls

Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer: “We’ve called this Illidari Souls because the primary token it’s using is Illidari Initiates that are summoned by Coordinated Strike or Command the Illidari. The main theme here is using tokens to generate power when they die, through things like Feast of Souls or Wrathscale Naga. Because we’re going to be summoning a bunch of tokens, we’ve also got Knife Jugglers in there.

“There’s a bunch of recurring themes here like Warglaives of Azzinoth, [which] is just a pretty good board clear, Metamorphosis can help close out games and Glaivebound Adept is pretty strong. But then Nethrandamus comes in to help be a big elbow drop sort of card…

“Illidari Souls is more of a combo deck – these big swing turns where you play a Coordinated Strike or even a Command the Illidari and use those to kill something off while you’ve got a Knife Juggler out and then Feast of Souls afterwards.”

Deck code:

AAECAea5AwbMugPDvAPEvAPtvgO8xgPaxgMMsQjKqwOLugOjuwPYuwOJvAOpvAPgvAO6xgP5yAP+yAO+0gMA

(Copy this code to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone.)

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Demon Hunter – Demon Crushers

Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer: “This is the deck if you like big demons. The early game mostly revolves around stuff like AOE, discover, the lifesteal weapon, Eye Beam – ways to hold on, play defensively until we can start cranking out our big bombs. [The mid-range minions also help] get through to that period – defensively statted, with lifesteal and taunt, and explicitly not demons, because we want our demon synergies to be saved up for the stuff at the bottom [of the deck list]. Not all of our big things are demons – Coilfang Warlord’s not. You’ll just play him on curve. Take something big out with it and end up with a threatening taunt on the board.

“You’ve got Chaos Nova and Immolation Aura in here to act as AOE, Warglaives [of Azzinoth] is kind of a pseudo AOE. The big demons start coming in with the Raging Felscreamer – you can play that on four and then a Priestess of Fury on five, that’s a great combo. Then Fel Summoner on six. It’s only got three health so you can probably find some way to make it die the next turn. And then having that pull out hopefully a Pit Commander or a Hulking Overfiend or a Priestess of Fury – get some big bombs going. You effectively have eight biggish demons in the deck – the Priestesses of Fury, the Hulking Overfiends, the Pit Commanders and whatever you discover off of Netherwalker.”

Deck code:

AAECAea5AwTDvAPEvAPtvgPUyAMNh7oDvbsDnLwDmb0D5r4D98MDx8YDg8cDhMcD18gD2NMD3dMD+NYDAA==

(Copy this code to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone.)

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Mage – Spells are SO Fun!

Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer: “This is a deck that uses all spells. There are a couple of power cards in here that are specifically tied to that archetype – Font of Power to get you some minions: one mana to get three random Mage minions is pretty good. Apexis Blast is also quite good for this. It’s kind of like an old Firelands Portal, but for two less mana… and because our deck is all spells, Incanter’s Flow is of great value to us.

“We’ve got a couple of secrets in here, just Flame Ward and Netherwind Portal, so we’re running Ancient Mysteries as a way to draw those and make them free. We’ve got mostly mid-range-y cost spells here other than a couple of our freeze tools to hold onto the board.

“We’ve got the sidequest to get some big minions off all our spells, and whenever we don’t have a good play, or whenever we run out of steam, Evocation will fill us back up. Evocation’s pretty interesting in that – assuming you have a reasonable amount of space in your hand –  you can kind of use it as a ‘I want to go off and do a ton of things all at once’ or you can use it as ‘I don’t have a good play, it’s turn seven, he’s got a board and I don’t have any good play, I’ll just Evocation, get six cards to look at and one or two of them will probably be a pretty reasonable use of my mana,’ so it can sort of fill in any hole.”

Deck code:

AAECAf0EAr+kA8W4Aw67AskDqwTLBJYFn5sD/50D9KsD8a8DwbgDwrgDjLkDgb8D3sQDAA==

(Copy this code to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone.)

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Priest – Buff ‘em Up!

Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer: “This is a Priest deck using some of the new cards in Ashes of Outland, and also some of the new Basic and Classic Priest cards… we’ve got Kul Tiran Chaplain, just reasonable stats [with a bonus]. We want Priest to be able to hold the board with high health minions and then heal them back up. We’ve also got some improved removal tools for control for Priest, such as Holy Smite and Shadow Word: Ruin – that’s the new AOE to destroy all the big things on the board – we like Priest being good at conditional removal.

“In terms of Ashes of Outland-specific cards, there’s a theme going on for Priest in Ashes for buffs, so we’ve got some cards like Sethekk Veilweaver – this is just a good tool in a buff deck. After you cast a spell on a minion – probably a buff, but it also works on removal cards like Holy Smite, we get to refill with more spells… this can chain quite a bit. Apotheosis is just a great buff – makes something bigger, gives it lifesteal. And Psyche Split is a really big buff, or rather, a small buff and then a copy. If you can have something stick… and then Apotheosis it and Psyche Split it on turn eight… that’s pretty reasonable. Dragonmaw Overseer is another good example of them fighting for board – good stats on the board… and then there’s a little resurrect in here – a lot of these cards work well with Psychopomp.”

Deck code:

AAECAa0GBKmlA5mpA86+A6bVAw2XAvYH1QivpQPSpQOEqAOTugOWugObugOvugOwugPpugOk1QMA

(Copy this code to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone.)

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Want to see the full Ashes of Outland set?

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How about going behind behind the scenes on Demon Hunter?

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Cam Shea is Editor in Chief for IGN’s Australian content team and is getting Japan withdrawals. He’s on Twitter.

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[Editor’s Note: FYI, this review specifically covers the multiplayer side of Doom Eternal. For my thoughts on the campaign, check out the single-player review.]

Doom Eternal’s campaign is so delicious and meaty that it might give you your fill of the demon-slaying first-person shooter before you can even think about multiplayer. And should you look at the dessert menu, you won’t find the typical apple pie or chocolate cake. Instead, it’s something new and exotic. I highly encourage you to give Doom Eternal’s last course a taste, because this outside-the-box, asymmetrical 2v1 Demons-vs.-Slayer Battlemode turns out to be the cherry on top.

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Making multiplayer work well in a game designed to make you feel like the godlike combination of an unstoppable force and an immovable object can’t be easy, but Battlemode, like the single-player campaign, is very good at empowering players as well as requiring time to master. A maxed-out, fully armed Slayer takes on a pair of player-controlled Demons in a best-of-five match – any combination of the Mancubus, Revenant, Pain Elemental, Marauder, and Archvile – and both Demons must be taken out before the other can respawn in order for the Slayer to win a round.

Also in the field are the AI-powered lower-level monsters the two Demon players can summon in various ways, which can really help you slow down the Slayer so you can go in for the kill. However, it’s a risk too because they also provide him with health, ammo, and armor when he mows them down.

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The fight rages across a handful of maps that’re repurposed from the campaign. None particularly stand out, though they all work pretty well for Battlemode in terms of their size and flow. For me, I quickly learned that I’m best as a Demon, and it’s also where I have the most fun. The monsters, by and large, feel cool to play as – particularly the Archvile, who is both tall and has giant claws for hands, and the Marauder, who is a menace in the campaign and packs a double-fisted axe/Super Shotgun weapon combo here. Which combination of Demons you and your teammate use seems as important as the skills of the humans themselves.

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I’ve played as every Demon, and while the Mancubus was my initial favorite, I’m now a Marauder man. His throwable axe can annoy the Slayer at long range, while the double-barreled shotgun in his other hand can deliver a lot more pain up close. In concert with a good partner – say, an Archvile who can throw down an area-of-effect lake of fire – victory was well within reach. But I also had good rounds with the Revenant and its rockets and the Pain Elemental who spits Lost Souls.

Time-to-kill is extremely high for all three human players – particularly the Slayer – while it’s at its much lower campaign level for the AI minions. While some Slayers thrive on the challenge of being outnumbered (though certainly not outgunned), I enjoyed coordinating with a teammate in making the Slayer’s life a living Hell despite encountering almost no one with a microphone – mostly in unspoken contextual ways like avoiding the Slayer when my partner died in order to give him time to resurrect.

Tactics Meet Twitch Skills

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Knowing when to stick together, when to split up, when to hang back and summon as many minions as possible is key to defeating the Doomguy. So is the ability to block him from picking up items; knowing exactly when to use it can turn the tide of the battle.

Mid-round buffs, meanwhile, allow all three contestants to make changes like more health, greater minion damage, etc. Strategies evolve quickly on both sides. I once had a Slayer run straight for me and take me out within seven seconds of the start of the round, so I knew I had to stick close to my Demon partner and be more defensive out of the gate.

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And in what is probably the best indicator that Battlemode’s 2v1 balancing act works, I’ve seen the victories split about 50-50 between the Demons and the Slayer.

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During today’s big Xbox Series X spec reveal, Microsoft confirmed that the mystery slot in the back of the upcoming console will be used to house a proprietary NVMe SSD card designed to increase the internal storage, which is currently 1TB by default. However, you’ll still be able to use USB 3.1 and external HDD for last-gen games.

As detailed in a Digital Foundry report on the Xbox Series X, the next-gen console utilizes “Velocity Architecture” that turns games storage into additional memory. While internal storage for the Xbox Series X will be set at 1TB, Microsoft is offering a custom solution.

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Owners will be able to use proprietary NVMe SSD cartridges to increase the storage capacity. However, the SSD will only be necessary for Xbox Series X games specifically because of the need to optimize next-gen titles for Velocity Architecture.

Microsoft’s Larry Hryb revealed in a Tweet that owners can continue to use USB3.1 and external HDD to run Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games directly from the external device. This should mean that players who already use external storage devices to house Xbox One or older generation games can easily migrate them to the Xbox Series X.

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A potential downside of the proprietary NVMe SSD, however, is that buyers will likely only be able to purchase the SSD cartridges directly from Microsoft or official partners. Meaning you likely can’t just purchase third-party alternatives that could potentially be cheaper or more readily available.

With new games easily clearing 100GB of storage, space will become more valuable as game generations progress. But without an official price for the NVMe SSD, it remains to be seen what financial impact this will have on Series X owners.

Check out IGN’s Next-Gen Console Watch series for the latest in next-gen console news.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter or email at mkim@ign.com

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Hype for Microsoft’s latest console has been building for months, but the company has finally dropped the full Xbox Series X specs, giving us something to drool over during our COVID quarantine. This machine is surprisingly powerful, which points to a rather expensive console, as we originally predicted earlier this year. Let’s build an imaginary gaming PC with the components Microsoft has announced and break down what the Xbox Series X price might be.

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Processor and Graphics

The Xbox Series X, like other consoles, is using a CPU with an onboard graphics chip. But as of right now, there is no processor in the desktop market that even comes close to what Microsoft is promising for the Series X — AMD’s most powerful APU is the Ryzen 5 3400G, which is only four cores with 1400 MHz of graphics horsepower. So we need to split this up.

The Series X will use an 8-core, 3.8 GHz CPU based on AMD’s latest Zen 2 architecture. Technically, it runs at 3.6 GHz when simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) is turned on for a total of 16 threads, and 3.8 GHz when limited to eight threads. The $289 Ryzen 7 3700X is the closest equivalent to this, though it’s likely a bit more powerful than what the Series X will have, thanks to its boost clock of 4.4 GHz. But it’s not too far off in terms of core count, clock speed, and architecture.

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The GPU is slightly tougher to nail down — we don’t have an equivalent yet, since currently-available cards are still using AMD’s RDNA architecture as opposed to the upcoming RDNA 2. The closest thing AMD currently sells is the Radeon RX 5700 XT for around $400, and that doesn’t support hardware-accelerated ray tracing like the Series X will do. Nvidia’s comparable ray tracing-capable cards, like the RTX 2080 Super, cost $700 and up. That makes for a pretty pricey PC right out of the gate.

Memory, Storage, and Optical Drive

Here’s where things get a little cheaper. While Microsoft is definitely using custom components that you can’t just buy off-the-shelf, it’s still easier to make direct comparisons with existing PCs when it comes to storage. Looking at memory, the Series X is using 16GB of DDR6 RAM, some of which is allocated to the GPU and some of which is allocated to the operating system and other components. Since the graphics cards we discussed above contain 8GB of DDR6 RAM, let’s split the difference and put an 8GB stick in our imaginary machine for just over $35. Plop in a 1TB NVMe SSD for $165 and a UHD-friendly Blu-ray drive for $100, and you’ve got a decent approximation of the parts you’d put in a comparable off-the-shelf PC — albeit without a lot of the fascinating custom work Microsoft has done.

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Putting a Bow On It

None of this includes the cost of the motherboard, power supply, and chassis designed to hold everything together, but our fantasy PC is already over $1000. Microsoft is obviously getting bulk pricing on these parts, not to mention custom components that can cut the cruft they don’t need. Plus, prices on these parts could all drop by the holidays (though Coronavirus supply chain issues could throw a wrench into the mix). That makes it hard to put an estimated price on the Series X — kind of like throwing darts at the wall with your eyes closed — but I wouldn’t be surprised to see something more expensive than what we’re used to for a console at launch. A $600+ price tag is definitely not out of the question with these specs (though I’d be very pleasantly surprised to see it in a more traditional price bracket). Hopefully, the rumored lower-tier variant provides a more affordable option for those that don’t want to drop a full month’s rent on their next Halo machine.

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