With the new Hearthstone Patch 22.4.3 comes a few changes to some of the Battlegrounds Buddies. Let's talk about them!

The introduction of Buddies added much personal enjoyment to Battlegrounds and much has been played these past few weeks. I don't currently have BG perks, but that bothers me a lot less because even the arguably low tier Heroes are fun to play thanks to their Buddies. I could share some of my stories if you want, but maybe we'll save that for next time. For now, let's focus on the changes.

General Update

  • There is now a Buddy Meter bonus granted when you defeat Kel'Thuzad (a dead hero).

This is a positive change, because it sucked when you inevitably got matched vs a player that disconnected early, halting your progression significantly due to gaining very little Buddy progression.

Tamsin Roame's Hero Power Change

  • Fragrant Phylactery
    • Old: [Costs 1] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to all your others.
    • New: [Costs 0] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to four friendly minions.

I'm not a fan of the "four friendly minions" part, because it is random, but 0-cost will allow you to get solid tempo out of this Hero Power now. I suppose it only makes sense that they nerfed her Buddy alongside it, more on that later.

Elder Taggawag (Queen Wagtoggle’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Whenever you play a minion of a type you don’t control, trigger your Hero Power.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 3] 5 Attack, 4 Health. Whenever you play a minion of a type you don’t control, trigger your Hero Power. (2 left this turn.)

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It will be interesting to see how much impact this change will have. Getting your Buddy faster is definitely a plus and this can save you two turns on average, meaning roughly +4/+4 more on your board by the time you would get the Buddy previously; But the scaling will be much slower. The earlier tempo gain though, by getting a 5/4 and earlier buffs might allow you to upgrade  your Tavern more aggressively ending up with more advantage. Ultimately, I believe we will have to wait and see to see if this change is a positive.

Unearthed Underling (Lich Baz’hial’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health. Whenever your hero takes damage, this minion gains +2/+2 instead.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 3] 3 Attack, 3 Health. Whenever your hero takes damage, this minion gains +3/+3 instead. (2 left this turn.)

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From all the changes in this patch, I think this one is the most severe. Not undeserved, because the scaling of Underling was extremely fast in combination with Wrath Weaver(s), but this nerf changes the Demon comp quite significantly.

Now, you will be able to get, at best, +6/+6 per turn (or +12/+12 when golden, but that won't save it either); at the least +3/+3 (+6/+6) guaranteed from your Hero Power. This is very slow scaling. It is still good enough for first few turns when you get it, but drops off significantly later on. The main problem is it will make your Hero negate only taking damage twice per turn which is a BIG deal to your survivability. You will now have to decide: Do you want to scale Wrath Weavers to the late-game? This means you will have to look for Kathra'natir to not kill yourself, which in turn will stop any scaling to Underling because your Hero will be Immune, negating the buddy effect.

And with Demons, you naturally want to cycle multiple per turn to not only to grow Wrath Weaver(s), but also Insatiable Ur'zul(s) and/or Bigfernal, or to simply get some battlecries in. You will not be able to do that effectively anymore without Kathra'natir, or at all depending on how your early game went and how much Health are you left with.

You can still keep the Underling around for some time and it will help you power through the mid-game, but I cannot see any Demon late-game composition where you would now want to keep it around. Pre-nerf it was able to easily shoot up above 100/100 stats in few turns, making it a worthwhile addition, but now? Your Battlegrounds run will end before you can even get close to those numbers.

The question is: Will this nerf achieve what is set out to do? Probably. It will definitely tone down the power level of Underling, but it will make it too awkward to keep around, which is sad fate shared by Buddies from many other Heroes.

Master Gadrin (Vol’jin’s Buddy)

  • Old: 8 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, adjacent minions copy this minion’s Attack.
  • New: 6 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, the minion to the left of this copies this minion’s Attack.

I haven't had a chance to play with this one yet, but from what I've seen played against me, the combination of the Buddy and Vol'jin's Hero Power makes for a pretty good synergy. The fact that the buff is permanent is most likely the reason behind the nerf, so you cannot just pump the attack of your entire board in 2-3 turns, but it will be a more dedicated strategy and you cannot change minions on the fly as much. It will still be a decent power-up, since you can gradually work towards your first big attack minion and on the turn you get Gadrin, instantly swap the stats and either buff the original minion back, or something else and keep going. This is extremely good to buff up new Divine Shield minions or Cleave/Windfury ones. The fact that it buffs the minion on its left is important, as it allows you to still go first with the Cleave/Windfury minion right away.

Spirit Raptor (Bru’kan’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 2].
  • New: [Tavern Tier 3].

Spirit Raptor being Tier 2 allowed for a super fast accumulation of Invocations from the Hero Power via its Deathrattle resulting in maybe a little too much early tempo. We don't even need to mention how it works when combined with Monstrous Macaw - not at all frustrating. Moving it to Tier 3 seems fair.

Barov’s Apprentice (Lord Barov’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 2] 4 Attack, 3 Health.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 3] 5 Attack, 4 Health.

This was probably aimed more towards the higher ranks and more skilled gameplay where players were able to correctly predict if any given opponent is to win or not. Lord Barov is definitely one of those Heroes where it can go extremely well for you, or you end up last. Not at all speaking from experience, of course. With that said, it still feels like way too harsh of a nerf bringing it to Tier 3, but I guess we shall see.

Monstrosity (Tamsin Roame’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 0 Attack, 12 Health.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 4] 0 Attack, 14 Health.

With the change to Tamsin's Hero Power (see further above), I suppose it makes sense to nerf Monstrosity because not being able to lose tempo by spending gold on the Hero Power would make it simply too strong. Now you will have to wait longer to get it and to have it carry you through power-leveling of your Tavern Tier. The Hero Power change is definitely more impactful than the Buddy change and it will be interesting to see how the overall power for Tamsin shifts.

Jr. Navigator (Elise Starseeker’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 2] At the start of your turn, get a ‘Recruitment Map’ and reduce the cost of your Maps by (1).
  • New: [Tavern Tier 3] At the start of your turn, get a ‘Recruitment Map.’ Your Maps cost (1).

This is probably the most fair change of them all. Is it a nerf? Is it a buff? You can no longer play Recruitment Maps for free, but you also don't have to keep them in your hand and wait until they get discounted enough. 1 gold seems like a reasonable change, though honestly, it might end up being too good even with it arriving a turn late with the Tavern Tier change. We shall see.

Hunter of Old (Tess Greymane’s Buddy)

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 6 Attack, 4 Health.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 2] 5 Attack, 3 Health.

I'm quite surprised by this change given how some of the previous in here went. Lowering the Tier to 2 means you can get it super fast. It is my opinion that Tess was already strong enough with being able to effectively switch to any Buddy she came across and this way she'll be able to triple them even faster. Not only are you getting minions for free with potentially added benefits, but a possibility to get even more triples, or completely switch your strategy if you get to triple a powerful Buddy from your enemy. I mean, that is kinda her thing, but it feels like she was already doing that pretty well, so I don't really see why she needed a buff, but hey, I'm not complaining, she is my favorite Hero :)

What do you think about the upcoming changes? Do you agree or were you expecting different Buddies to be hit? Tell us in the comments below!