Hearthstone Is Getting a Monk Class in March 2027, Its First New Class in More Than Four Years, and Reign of the Black Empire Launches October 20

We gave Hearthstone a single paragraph in our BlizzCon 2026 recap, and that was unfair to the card game, because its own panel had the most concrete calendar of the whole show. Blizzard has now published the full breakdown. The headline is a new class: Monk arrives in March 2027 with Chen Stormstout as its hero, the first new class since Death Knight landed at the end of 2022.

Before that, the next five weeks are busy. Patch 36.6 goes live on September 15 at 10:00 a.m. PDT with a free Legendary and a month long event, Battlegrounds gets a new minion type on September 22, and the Reign of the Black Empire expansion launches on October 20 at 10:00 a.m. PT.

Video: Hearthstone on YouTube

Monk in March 2027, and what Blizzard has not said yet

Blizzard's description of the class is short. Monk is "agile and adaptable" and "brings a whole new way to play", and the teaser leans on Chen Stormstout. That is the full extent of the official detail. There is no card list, no hero power, and no word on how the class is unlocked. Both Demon Hunter and Death Knight were free to unlock when they arrived, but nothing has been confirmed for Monk.

The March window puts Monk on next year's first expansion rather than this one, which makes sense given how much Reign of the Black Empire already changes. The roadmap image Blizzard published lists a 2v2 mode too, with no date attached, so treat that as a 2027 item until we hear otherwise.

Reign of the Black Empire, the free Legendary and the Black Market

The expansion goes back to ancient Azeroth, when the Old Gods ruled and the Titan-forged rose against them. The Old Gods are the centerpiece mechanic: each one has four potent once per game abilities and, instead of attacking, can invoke two of those powers every turn. The other new keyword is Assemble, which adds a minion to your hand and then swaps part of its card text for the text of another minion from a curated pool, so the same card can come out different every game.

Pre-purchase bundles are on the Battle.net Shop now and arrive in the in-game shop with Patch 36.6. The standard bundle comes with 60 packs, 2 random Legendary cards and the Eonar card back. The Mega Bundle steps up to 80 packs plus 10 golden packs, a Signature Drest'agath, a golden C'Thun, 4 Tavern Tickets and an Eonar hero skin. Blizzard has not published prices in its announcement posts, so we are not going to guess. What is free is clearer: log in once Patch 36.6 is live and you can claim the M.O.T.H.E.R. Legendary card, with three more cards earned through in-game events. A Pre-Release Tavern Brawl runs from October 13 to 20, where pre-purchased packs can be opened early.

Patch 36.6 also opens the Black Market, running from September 15 to October 13. You play Ranked to earn a limited time currency, spend it on packs, cards and cosmetics, and the prices shift over time. Blizzard even says you can try haggling. It is the first of a series of limited time experiences surfaced through a redesigned Journal that evolves week by week with quests, boss battles and story vignettes. Battlegrounds gets its own addition a week later: Aberrations debut in Patch 36.6.1 on September 22 as a minion type built around discard synergies, and each one that dies brings an Old God Deity closer to waking up.

The Monk reveal is what people will talk about, but it is six months away and Blizzard has told us almost nothing about how it plays or what it costs. The useful part is the next five weeks: a free Legendary on Tuesday, a Battlegrounds shake up the week after, and an expansion whose Old Gods actually change how a game unfolds. If you have lapsed, September 15 is a cheap day to log back in. We covered the weekend's other big Warcraft news in our World of Warcraft: Forever story.