For a Free To Play game, Hearthstone manages to not feel quite as nefarious as its competitors (and even Activision-based siblings). Free packs, Gold, Legendary cards, and more make starting in modern Hearthstone substantially easier than it was back in the early days of the game.

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But getting the cards you want still requires some RNG. This is because Hearthstone uses Card Packs in traditional CCG/TCG fashion. To get around this, players have the option to Craft just about any card they want - it just requires interacting with an intuitive system and understanding the nature of Dust.

What Is Crafting?

Crafting in Hearthstone lets players create almost any card in the game. Unlike Packs that require Gold, Crafting requires a mysterious substance called Dust. Cards in Hearthstone are ranked in order of Rarity, and harder-to-obtain cards cost more Dust.

If you have the Dust to craft a card, then you can bypass RNG entirely by Crafting it. Not only that, but if you want to show off, you can Craft Gold versions of most cards. These have no mechanical benefit, but they do look nice. The costs of these cards are much higher, although you can upgrade a non-Golden card into a Golden Card for a slight discount.

How To Get Dust

Now getting Dust is easier said than done. This is because Dust is mostly gained from Disenchanting cards you already own. Like with Crafting, Disenchanting will reward you with more Dust based on the rarity of the card you are breaking down into Dust.

As you can see the discrepancy between Dust gained from Disenchanting returns and card cost is quite stark.

Effective Ways Of Getting More Dust

Thankfully, there are other ways of obtaining Dust. Do be warned that not all methods are going to be as effective or quick as others.

Gold Cards

Gold Cards are hard to come by, but you will bump into them from time to time when opening packs. These cards look very snazzy, and more importantly, are far more valuable than their non-Golden counterparts. In fact, a Golden of any Legendary can be broken down into enough Dust to Craft any non-Golden card of the same Rarity.

Whilst Golden cards are very nice to look at, it is well worth considering Disenchanting Golden cards you aren’t actively using/have no plans on using as they provide enough Dust for a 1:1 trade.

Balance Updates

If you want even more Dust, then consider holding onto cards until a Balance Update. When a card is changed for balance reasons, the Disenchant cost skyrockets. In fact, it goes so high it becomes a full refund on said card. This is a huge gain since a standard Disenchant will typically only grant a tiny fraction of the card's actual value. This is a much slower way of gaining Dust since it is reliant on very specific cards getting tweaked, but the returns - especially on Golden cards - are well worth it.

Arena

Dust can also be gained through the Arena. Competing in the Arena will reward players based on performance, and one of the more common rewards is a bundle of Dust. These don’t tend to be too high unless you’ve done very well during your run, but if you are an avid Arena player, you will gain quite a stockpile over time.

Mass Disenchantment

Finally, you have Mass Disenchantment. This system is more of a ‘quality of life’ option than anything else. Basically, Mass Disenchant will automatically Disenchant any card you have more than two of (or one for Legendaries). This lets you very quickly get rid of unwanted duplicates after you’ve opened some packs. You can find this system in the Crafting Menu.

Next: Hearthstone: What Is Dredge?