Each game of Hearthstone Legends is a 1 vs 1 turn-based game. Normally, a player draws a card on his turn and decides whether to summon a follower, equip a weapon, or cast a spell based on the cards in his hand. There may be two players in a game, one player and one computer, or two players and one computer.

Event in the streets of Taipei in 2016

Each player will choose a hero to represent them in a game, and these heroes are all important characters in World of Warcraft. Different heroes will represent different professions, while these professions will have special sets of cards dedicated to that profession as well as their own distinctive hero abilities. Each hero has thirty life points; if a player's hero life goes to zero or becomes negative, or if the player chooses to surrender, that player loses the game. Currently, Hearthstone Legends has a total of ten professions.

At the beginning of each turn, players will draw a card from their decks, which must be built before the game begins and contain exactly thirty cards. Players can choose to play with either the default deck or a custom deck. When a player has a large number of cards specific to that profession, he or she will be able to appreciate the unique appeal and possibilities of each profession in the game.

On the player's turn, the player will have the option to play cards, use hero skills, order followers to attack, or have the hero attack when his hero has the power to do so; or, of course, to end the turn without doing anything. However, to play a card or use a hero ability, you must spend a certain amount of mana crystals equal to the number in the upper left corner of the card. Both players start the game with one mana crystal, and add one more each turn until they have ten. Usually the card that costs more mana crystals also has more power, such as a stronger follower or a higher damage spell card.

When one of the players loses (and sometimes the game is tied), it means that the game is over. The end of a game will give both players experience (the winning player will get more) and will be rewarded with some basic cards (basic gold cards after leveling up to 10) as they advance to certain levels.

Ties can occur in one of three ways: a group damage that kills both players, a 60-round loss, or a bug in the system.

Each battle will take place on a randomized table setting based on famous scenes from the World of Warcraft, such as the Valley of Thorns, Pandaria, Stormwind, Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain, and the Trials of Champions. Players can also interact with the scenery around the table by clicking on specific scenes in the game.