Locations are a relatively new card type in Hearthstone, introduced during the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion. Upon their release, they immediately became some of the most powerful cards in the game. They aren’t minions or spells, but instead are (mostly) un-interactable objects that stay on the board until you use all of their charges.
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With Death Knights getting one of their own, now is as good a time as any to examine which of these locations are Hearthstone’s must-see spots, and which you should probably steer clear of.
11 Hedge Maze
The biggest problem with Deathrattle Druid is that it just isn’t good. The tools simply aren’t there to support the archetype, and Hedge Maze is not a strong enough card to force it into relevance.
If the archetype does get additional support down the line, then you might see Great Hedge more frequently, as it gives you a way to trigger your Deathrattles exactly when you need to. But until that happens, the card will continue to live as a footnote at the bottom of lists like this one.
10 Great Hall
The Great Hall is strong in theory. It's a versatile tool with several powerful applications. It allows you to effectively eliminate your opponent’s largest minions while also giving you the ability to buff your small minions in a pinch.
Unfortunately, Paladins have more effective ways to do both of those things. They can kill entire enemy boards with removal combos involving Equality, and they have a plethora of exceptional buffs that don’t require your minions to have lower stats than a 3/3.
9 Castle Kennels
Getting two attack and Rush isn’t bad, especially in a low-cost, Beast-focused deck. That sort of deck doesn’t really exist at the moment, though. And it doesn’t help that many of the most powerful Beasts in Hearthstone already have Rush, making Castle Kennels' ability far less useful.
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Still, the card does occasionally find its way into Prince Renathal decks. Maybe if Hearthstone releases some strong, cheap Beasts that can use the attack buff early in the game, or some Deathrattle Beasts that would benefit from getting Rush, the card will see more consistent play.
8 Sanguine Depths
Sanguine Depths is a rather unique card, designed specifically for Enrage Warrior. The deck archetype is named after a keyword that no longer exists, but it revolves around damaging your own minions to gain some sort of beneficial effect.
Sanguine Depths fits the archetype perfectly, allowing you to damage your minions far more consistently, something that is often tricky to do. However, the card doesn’t have much utility outside of that sort of deck, and the archetype has never been particularly dominant. Sanguine Depths is definitely strong within its niche, though, and if that niche becomes relevant, the location will rise along with it.
7 Relic Library
Relics are a special group of Demon Hunter cards. They start quite weak, but the more of them you play, the stronger your future Relics will be. Their effects include summoning massive minions, drawing cards and reducing their cost, and clearing the enemy board.
Since Relic Library causes your Relics to casts multiple times, not only does it double the effect immediately, which can be quite powerful, it also doubly improves your future Relics. It is arguably the most important card in Relic decks, aside from the Relics themselves.
6 Nightcloak Sanctum
Nightcloak Sanctum is a defensive card, slowing your opponent down by freezing their attackers. Additionally, the Skeletons it creates have a Deathrattle that deals two damage to a random enemy, helping you control the board and potentially dealing damage to your opponent's face.
While the effect is most useful for control decks, it also sees play in more aggressive strategies. If you have a bunch of Skeletons on board, your opponent puts their life at risk by using a board clear.
5 Cathedral Of Atonement
The Cathedral of Atonement isn’t as game-breaking as the locations higher on this list, but it is the sort of card you will see in a wide variety of Priest decks. While it doesn’t create its own archetype, its effect is strong in a wide variety of scenarios.
Drawing three cards over several turns, along with a total of 6/3 in buffs, is rarely bad; gaining card advantage and stats is basically all you want from a Hearthstone Card. The only issue with Cathedral of Atonement is that you need a minion to target for it to work, so especially slow Priest decks might cut it.
4 Vile Library
Warlock has many cheap cards that summon multiple Imps at once, such as Fiendish Circle and Wicked Shipment. As a result, Vile Library’s effect is far stronger than you might expect, and it triggers more often.
This can create a massive power spike early in the game, one that can quickly snowball out of control. It allows you to go wide on the board with many minions, while also creating a large threat, hitting your opponent from multiple different angles. That can be extremely difficult to deal with at the same time, especially in the early turns when they only have a limited amount of mana.
3 Sinstone Graveyard
Sinstone Graveyard has been nerfed several times since release, increasing its cost from two to three mana, and removing Stealth from the Ghost it summons. But that hasn't been enough to keep the card down.
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It turns out that summoning multiple massive minions is a good way to win Hearthstone games, and Miracle Rogue has more than enough fuel to make Sinstone Graveyard extremely dangerous. Miracle Rogue is a highly skill-intensive deck, something that has become even more true with the nerfs. However, if you’re up to the challenge, it can be extremely rewarding.
2 Construct Quarter
Construct Quarter made an immediate impact on the meta when it dropped. This is in part because doesn’t have any Rune requirements, so it can be played in any Death Knight deck. It's also incredibly strong.
Summoning a 4/5 Undead with Rush is obviously powerful, but the utility of the card makes it even better. The fact that its effect kills your minions rather than transforms them opens up a number of interesting possibilities. It creates Corpses to fuel your other Death Knight cards, and you can use it to trigger Deathrattle effects.
