If you're a fan of Hearthstone's Battlegrounds game mode that released in December of last year, you definitely have your own favourite picks in the hero pool. Could your favourite hero be setting you back from victory?
Unfortunately, sometimes we end up with hero choices that are less than ideal, so going into battle with the power of statistics can help make a poor choice better. The data below comes to us from our friends at HSReplay.net and is based on the top 20% of players (6400+ MMR) from January 29 - February 4.
The Best of the Worst Battlegrounds Heroes - Sylvanas Windrunner
With her Banshee's Blessing hero power that can pad the early game by adding consistent stats to your units, you don't get anything back for deleting the played minion which makes her trail off hard in the mid to late game. With an average placement of 4.96, the best on the list, her pick rate of 6.2% almost makes the most sense on this entire list.
You Face Jaraxxus, Eredar Lord of the Get Ready to Lose Your Whole Base
Jaraxxus has been with us since the start of Hearthstone's Battlegrounds and was initially a popular pick thanks to the wonderful demon synergy. Unfortunately for the meme god, people have realized he isn't worth the pick with the lowest pick rate on the list at 4.9% and an average placement just slightly below Sylvanas at 5.06. The very few that pick Jaraxxus are making a smarter choice than the remaining heroes on the list.
Good News Everyone! Don't Pick Professor Putricide
Well, don't pick our professor friend if you want to actually succeed to plaguing Azeroth and your Battlegrounds buddies. Although he may have once been a successful member of the Plagueworks, we gave Putricide a swift end within the Lich King's Icecrown Citadel - a favor he will return to you in Battlegrounds. He is on-par with Jaraxxus at an average placement of 5.07 but has an insane pick rate of 7.1%.
George Really Needs Karl's Support
George the Fallen is the most picked hero on this list at a whopping 9.6%! That is almost twice that of Jaraxxus with much less to show for it coming in at an average placement of 5.22. Being able to protect a minion with Divine Shield is without a doubt plenty of fun to play around with though so we can't hate on our Paladin brethren too much.
The True Impudent Imbecile - The "Mighty" Millhouse Manastorm
Millhouse Manastorm is one of the newest heroes to be added to Battlegrounds, could it be that people just don't understand how to make use of him? With a high pickrate of 9%, people are definitely willing to play around with the trouble-seeking Gnome though aspiring magisters should expect lower placements with an average end of 5.51.
At the end of the day though, statistics don't always matter and as long as you're having fun in Battlegrounds, that's all you need to worry about! Have you had any incredible plays with these heroes? Tell us your Battlegrounds stories in the comments below.
Comments
I'd say George is a bit of an outlier on the list. He fails really hard in the early game or in the hands of an inexperienced player, which I think tanks his winrate a lot, but he's one of the strongest heroes out there if you make sure you're as strong in the early game as you can possibly be to preserve your health. The one thing holding him back from being outright broken past the midgame is the fact Nefarian exists (though in most cases Nefarian takes almost as much of a beating in the early game as George does, cause his hero power is only good mid-late) and the fact that juggler builds have become so strong. If not for jugglers, a single tiny poisonous murloc with George's hero power can take out massive demons other players have paid dozens of HP to build up.
Millhouse is definitely a highroll hero, but a strong candidate to top 4. Like any heroes, starting with a token makes huge difference.
If I start with a token minion, I sell the token next turn to tier up so that I can buy 2 next turn. You lose that 2nd round almost every time, but you don't float any gold and it justifies itself later.
Well, if I don't start with token, I end up buying minions for 2-3 turns before tier up. Your tier 1 minions barely compete with Tier 2-3 minions unless you go demon. These games are usually tough, but you can catch up if you get to Tier 3 right after Tier 2.
He gets played differently that any other heroes, that makes you think out of the box. It is a refreshing experience for sure.
I'm not a BG player, but i've played 12 times with jaraxxus and won all of them.
Idk why have a place on the ranking heof worst heroes.
Also battlegrounds is evolving meta. Back in the day jaraxxus was better. But now that everyone competes for demons it is harder to make him work consistently
It is at high ranks only... At low ranks just buying random demons is usually a winning strategy
I think a big reason why Jarraxus is so low is because demons have become so popular plus Nightmare Amalgams were removed, and you are only getting value from his hero power if your lineup has multiple demons. Compare against Tirion, who on paper has much weaker tribals but in practice is much more successful as no one else in the lobby wants to take his tribals.
Professor Putricide gives +20 attack now.
and it's deadly with cave hydra^^
I have been picking Millhouse Manastorm storm a lot, and end up in the top 4 every time. I'm still trying to figure out how to play his turn optimally. Unfortunately he gets punished A LOT harder than other heroes with bad rolls due to the 2 gold cost to refresh the tavern.
I don't think he's a top tier hero, but I think in the right hands, he is a good one to pick to get you in the top 4.
I like Milhouse, for sure think something is missing, I think they should keep the cheap upgrade and minion cost but maybe set the reset cost back to 1 and instead, he either earns less or nothing at all for selling minions.
What are your thoughts?
I have won twice with George, both times while playing demons which I think is the only optimal strat for George. And it's just so hard. If you dont win early with demons you lose, doubly so with george. Since you dont want to be shielding early minions that you'll probably sell later. And even if you do all that and you get to the end with big demons with divine shields, you get matched up against a nefarion who spends one gold to counter the investment of 28 gold. And you lose anyway. I only play him when I have the choice of nef george and another terrible hero like patchwork or milhouse. And you shouldnt even consider playing him unless you have no other choice if you dont have nef in the pool.
I was curious as to how good Sylvanas was, I thought she was okay but I've only had one decent game with her.
Got 3rd place (almost 2nd but RNG) Early game I took Murloc Tidehunter to summon and sacrifice Murloc Scout for double buff to a super lucky early golden Murloc Tidecaller
Ended up with a 74 dmg Tidecaller!
I'd also be curious on the placements what the overall stats are given how misleading averages can sometimes be.
To whit: every time I've seen someone pick George, they've either placed in the top 3 (usually winning/2nd place unless going against a Nefarian) or been one of the first out. So it seems SUPER high-rolly: you either praise RNGesus for letting last until you can get good minions to hit with the HP and then steamroll, or die immediately. No in-between. Ditto with Jaraxxus: if you get good Demons and the synergistic cards then you're golden - get a tavern full of murlocs and you're gone.
Is there any way to see where the other heroes placed? I'm curious to see where the best bunch of blocks, Pyramad, places when compared to everything else.