Hearthstone received a brand new update today to go along with all the amazing news we've received, and in that update was a bunch of Battlegrounds changes. We've highlighted the most important points below, and added the full patch notes as well.
Highlights
- Ragnaros, Sylvanas and Patches have been removed from the Hero Pool
- Fungalmancer Flurgl has been added as a new hero
- Sir Finley Mrrglton and Professor Putricide have been added back to the pool, with updated Hero Powers
- The Lich King, Ysera, Pyramad, Millhouse Manastorm, The Rat King, Millificent Manastorm, Deathwing and Reno Jackson have all received balance changes
- Savannah Highmane and Twilight Emmissary have moved down to lower Tavern Tiers
- Herald of Flame; Steward of Time; Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect; Nathrezim Overseer and Twilight Emissary have all received balance changes
Quote From Blizzard Battlegrounds Hero Pool Updates
- Ragnaros, Sylvanas, and Patches have been removed from the pool.
- NEW HERO - Fungalmancer Flurgl added to the pool.
- Gone Fishing:
- [Passive] After you sell a Murloc, add a random Murloc to Bob's Tavern.
- Sir Finley Mrrglton added back to the pool.
- Adventure!:
- [Passive] At the start of the game, Discover a Hero Power.
- Professor Putricide added back to the pool.
- Rage Potion:
- [Passive] Give a friendly minion +10 Attack for the next combat only (targeted).
Battlegrounds Balance Updates
Heroes
- The Lich King
- Reborn Rites:
- [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only. → [Cost 1] Give a friendly minion Reborn for next combat only (targeted).
- Ysera
- Dream Portal:
- [Cost 1] Refresh and add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern. → [Passive] At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern.
- Pyramad
- Brick by Brick:
- [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +3 Health. → [Cost 1] Give a random friendly minion +4 Health.
- Millhouse Manastorm
- Manastorm:
- [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold. → [Passive] Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 3 Gold.
- The Rat King
- King of Beasts, Mechs, Murlocs, Demons and Dragons:
- [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+1. → [Passive] Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon/Dragon, give it +1/+2.
- Milificient Manastorm
- Tinker:
- [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +1 Attack. → [Passive] Mechs in Bob's Tavern have +2 Attack.
- Deathwing
- ALL Will Burn!:
- [Passive] ALL minions have +3 Attack. → [Passive] ALL minions have +2 Attack.
- Reno Jackson
- Gonna Be Rich!:
- [Cost 4] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.) → [Cost 3] Make a friendly minion Golden. (Once per game.)
Minions
- Savannah Highmane
- Old: Tavern Tier 5 → New: Tavern Tier 4.
- Herald of Flame
- Old: 4 Health → New: 6 Health.
- Golden Old: 8 Health → Golden New: 12 Health.
- Steward of Time
- Old: 2 Attack → New: 3 Attack.
- Golden Old: 4 Attack → Golden New: 6 Attack.
- Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect
- Old: 2 Attack / 8 Health → New: 4 Attack / 12 Health.
- Golden Old: 4 Attack / 16 Health → Golden New: 8 Attack / 24 Health.
- Nathrezim Overseer
- Old: 4 Health → New: 3 Health.
- Golden Old: 8 Health → New: 6 Health.
- Twilight Emissary
- Old: Tavern Tier 5, 6 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +3/+3 → New: Tavern Tier 3, 4 Attack / 4 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +2/+2.
- Golden Old: 12 Attack / 16 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +6/+6 → Golden New: 8 Attack / 8 Health, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +4/+4.
- Transformation animations when playing a minion from hand will be sped up during the Recruit Phase, cutting down on the amount of time players are left waiting for animations to resolve.
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Comments
One change I noticed that wasn't listed here is Unstable Ghoul. The golden version now reads 'Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to all minions twice' instead of 'Deal 2 damage to all minions'
Oh, nice. The targeting for Lich King will be interesting to test out. And Putricide will be another rat lover ;)
They.... buffed.... Kalecgos....
Surprised we didn't get a change to Cobalt to be honest.
I'm also curious as to why it dodged the nerf hammer, but excited to experience this new meta
Great changes all around. I like all of the changes they made to the minions, especially the dragon buff guy. At tier 5, it is a little bit too late to just get a nice battlecry. Being a smaller minion at Tier 3 makes a lot more sense.
I also like having a murloc themed hero, it kinda feels right now like there really isn't anything for murlocs right now. Not as many special battlegrounds exclusive minions, or heroes to synergize with them.
I also like the pyramid buff, buffs are always nice.
I like the new sir finley, you basically get to reroll your starting heroes. Plus, you could end up with the same hero power as someone else, which makes things a bit more interesting.
So is the Ysera change a nerf or a buff? You get an additional minion with guaranteed synergy at the start of every round. I thought she was already pretty good.
Also, omegalul Patches, just came back and now gets yeeted again for being trash.
Finley is basically "I didn't like my other two hero choices so I'll take three more wishes"
Millhouse is still garbage. It doesn't matter how much starting gold he has, 2 gold refresh is literally impossible to get into lategame with unless you get perfect RNG every round.
Lich King and Putricide might honestly be kind of OP now.
Deathwing should be removed altogether, such a fucking stupid concept "lol, I got Rat Pack on round 3, guess I win". -1 attack won't change much.
In my opinion Ysera is buff. She was not that good, at least that shows statistics.
Deathwing is much worse now. One you got less rats from Rat Pack, second 3 attack on tokens is much worse than 4 attack. There is quite a lot minions with 4 health (even at start) and that way token does not kill them with 3 attack. While before 4 attack killed almost everything.
Lich King and Putricide are at least doing something. Before their power was very rarely good.
^^This. Changing the starting gold was pointless. Yes your turn 2 you will be able to buy 2 minions, but this does nothing for Millhouse's late game, which is where he fails. The refresh at 2 is what ruins it. Like you said, unless you get perfect rolls and don't have to re-roll, Millhouse is garbage. I was really hoping they were going to change refresh to 1 with this update, and am really disappointed by the route they chose.
Maybe it will be better than I thought, but I'm predicting this does nothing to actually Buff Millhouse.
Yeah, the Finley one is weird to me. I do like that they made him much more on-theme, but in practice he's just a re-roll.
Wait... Does the Overseer nerf apply to the regular card as well?
Better question: why nerf it at all?
I hate to break it to you but Overseer isn't an actual card in the game
I could've sworn it was. For Warlock, too! I'm dumb.