In the series of recent publications [14,15,17,20] we have proposed a novel approach to the classification of integrable differential/difference equations in 3D based on the requirement that hydrodynamic reductions of the corresponding dispersionless limits are 'inherited' by the dispersive equations. In this paper we extend this to the fully discrete case. Based on the method of deformations of hydrodynamic reductions, we classify discrete 3D integrable Hirota-type equations within various particularly interesting subclasses. Our method can be viewed as an alternative to the conventional multi-dimensional consistency approach.MSC: 35Q51, 37K10.