A Hearthstone Battlegrounds update is arriving tomorrow, Thursday, November 5, and it brings loads of changes to Heroes and Minions.
Quote From Blizzard Battlegrounds Hero Updates
- Nefarian has been removed from the Battlegrounds Hero pool.
Queen Wagtoggle
- Wax Warband
- Old: Give a friendly minion of each type +2 Attack. → New: Give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
The Curator
- Menagerist
- Old: Start the game with a 1/1 Amalgam with all minion types. → New: Start the game with a 1/2 Amalgam with all minion types.
Hooktusk
- Trash for Treasure
- Old: [Cost 0] Remove a friendly minion. Get a random one from a Tavern Tier lower. → New: [Cost 1] Remove a friendly minion. Discover a random one from a Tavern Tier lower.
Rat King
- A Tale of Kings
- Old: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +1/+2. Swaps type each turn. → New: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +2/+2. Swaps type each turn.
Rakanishu
- Tavern Lighting
- Old: Give a random friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier. → New: Give a friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier (targeted).
George the Fallen
- Boon of Light
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 2]
Ysera
- Dream Portal
- Old: At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern. → New: Bob always offers an extra Dragon whenever the Tavern is refreshed.
The Great Akazamzarak
- Prestidigitation
- Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
- Effigy removed from Secret pool.
Galakrond
- Galakrond’s Greed
- Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 0]
- No longer Freezes.
Tess Greymane
- Bob’s Burgles
- Old: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with minions from your last opponent’s warband. → New: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with your last opponent’s warband.
Elise Starseeker
- Lead Explorer
- Recruitment Map now costs 2 (down from 3).
Lord Barov
- Friendly Wager
- Now gives your gold back on ties (1 gold refunded).
Battlegrounds Minion Updates
- Elementals will no longer be a minion type in every match.
Wrath Weaver
- Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health. → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health.
Yo-ho-Ogre
- Old: [Tier 3] 2 Attack, 8 Health. → New: [Tier 2] 2 Attack, 5 Health.
Iron Sensei
- Old: [Tier 4] → New: [Tier 3]
Southsea Strongarm
- Old: [Tier 4] 5 Attack, 4 Health. → New: [Tier 3] 4 Attack, 3 Health.
Ripsnarl Captain
- Old: 3 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 5 Health.
Lightfang Enforcer
- Old: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+1. → New: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+2.
Gentle Djinni
- Old: [Tier 5] → New: [Tier 6]
Lieutenant Garr
- Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health. → New: 5 Attack, 1 Health.
Lil’ Rag
- Old: 6 Attack, 6 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.
Dread Admiral Eliza
- Old: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +1/+1. → New: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +2/+1.
Amalgadon
- Old: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have, Adapt randomly. → New: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have among other minions, Adapt randomly.
Comments
Finally!
That's some very interesting balance changes! Iron Sensei moving from Tier 4 to Tier 3 is actually a big buff to Dancin' Deryl who can now remain on Tier 3 and also get a minion that constantly buffs their Mechs each turn.
I think this patch speaks volumes for how terrible elementals were balanced compared to other tribes; Rag nerfed twice, Djinni nerfed and Gorr nerfed. This means that Nomi is the only high roll Elementals have in tier 5.
It is cool to see a mass buff to a lot of the other heroes. Rat King and Queen Togwaggle got big buffs; health buffs are always significant as it introduces a different kind of scaling.
All in all I think this patch might give other tribes a fighing chance! Good job Blizzard
I'm definitely excited to try out all these changes, but I'm a bit confused by some of the elemental nerfs. Djinni to 6 is a great change, but couldn't they have changed his stats back as well to compensate? Garr really wasn't strong at all and I actually expected them to put him in tier 5 while tuning down his stats/effect a bit. I also feel like lil rag didn't need the stat nerf at all but whatever.
Edit with some additional thoughts:
- I always thought this is how amalgadon should have worked, but I honestly wish they would remove it entirely. Often in the endgame matches it comes down to who has the most divine shield/poisonous amalgadons, which is not fun imo.
- I love that they unnerfed lightfang. Menagerie has always been one of my favorite builds in battlegrounds.
- Iron sensei often felt a bit too weak on tier 4 but I think it will be veeery strong on tier 3.
- A lot of these hero changes are both exciting and scary at the same time. The ones that seem the scariest to me are wagtoggle, rakanishu, george, and ysera.
Wow. I've seen folks complaining about the power level of the new heroes. They really scrolled through and upped the power level of everything else to match, didn't they? I'm excited to try these changes out!
Soo anyone else confused by the Amalgadon change? As in what it means, as I am unsure if its just rewording the effect or something else
I managed to work this one out after a minute of thinking about it, this has to be the most poorly worded HS card? I think just adding "your" as in "among your other minions" would help a bit.
Now it won't count itself in the amount of times it will adapt, while it previously did.
Amalgadon before this patch could count itself as a wildcard as it has all minion types. Now it will only consider other minions, reducing the number of adaptations it gets by one.
Ahhh Okay that makes sense. That is rough but good to put it at a less OP power level
I think it means that it doesn't count itself as a minion type (all)
Wow. Who would guess Wagtoggle would become a good hero. Looks like all we’re doing is exchanging a Elemental meta for a Menagerie meta, but hey, at least the games will be different now. It also seemed fair to lower Amalgadon’s power while they were at it, so good on them. Eh, lets see how this shakes out, at least now they are looking at buffing old heroes (like a lot) to match up against the competition
Ysera will be nuts now, and I feel like players can probably get consistent top 4 at the very least with her.
Having an EXTRA minion in there tavern is great for options, and the fact it's a targeted tribe, and on EVERY refresh means frequent triples and faster Kalecgos/Razorgores.
I don't know if it will be enough to beat some of the other comps that form, but looks very strong to me.
So happy Lightfang Enforcer is back to its former glory!
Some buffs, some nerfs, some unnerfs.
Finally Rakanishu will be useful, maybe even OP a little.
I like these changes overall, but I don't understand [Hearthstone Card (Liutenant Garr) Not Found]'s nerf. Sure, Elementals were OP, but that guy specifically always felt subpar.
Wrath Weaver seems like a smart change since going with it will cost you health anyway, and currently you were also auto-losing the first rounds if you picked it.
All around some pretty good changes. I do still think Elementals are going to be everywhere wreaking havoc, but these are still good changes all the same. I think if they want to fix elementals they should do something about the windfury elemental, and also move Party Elemental up a tier
Wildfire Elemental is a pretty huge offender as well, in most cases acting as a semi-windfury; and golden version is basically Hydra.
At least now there's a good chance to not see it.