Hearthstone designers explain what to expect from next week's Monster Hunt

For Hearthstone fans who have grown frustrated by facing endless board-spamming Paladins, next week may offer some relief. That's when The Witchwood's single-player Monster Hunt mode is set to go live, and to help get everyone ready lead mission designer Dave Kosak sat down at the fireside with mission designers Paul Nguyen and Giovanni Scarpati to talk about what players have to look forward to in the spooky showdown. 

"If you played the Dungeon Run in Kobolds & Catacombs, the Monster Hunt will feel familiar," Kosak says. "You'll take on the role of a hero, and you'll venture deep into the Witchwood, defeating a random series of monstrous bosses. With each victory you can gear up, building a stronger and stronger deck with the treasures you find." 

But of course it's not quite that simple. Monster Hunter classes have new unique powers that change how cards are played: Darius Crowley, for instance, has an indestructible cannon that fires on enemy minions when his hero power is used. He can also find treasures in the Witchwood that will make his cannon more powerful.

There are more than 45 bosses in the Witchwood, all of them unique to the expansion. Some are "beefed up versions of the collectible card," as Kosak puts it, but most of them are unique to Monster Hunt, and the majority of treasures they drop will be new as well. And then there's Hagatha, the Big Bad of the Witchwood, who's a whole story unto herself. Hey, I don't want to spoil all of Kosak's surprises.

The single-player Monster Hunt mode is set to go live on April 26.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.