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Hearthstone’s new game mode, Battlegrounds, started open
beta this week. I’ve been playing since closed beta, a little over a week ago,
and I have some thoughts! So, this is my not-so-quick rundown of what Hearthstone
Battlegrounds is and my opinions on a few things. This is going to be a series
of posts, starting with the basics and then deeper dives into each of the things
I’m going to talk about here. I’ll add links to this one as new posts are
written.
So, what is Hearthstone Battlegrounds anyway?
Hearthstone, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a new
and improved version of the original World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, turned
digital, and you can play against other players in several ways, competing for
ranking in Standard (limited card selection) and Wild (mostly unlimited card
selection) formats, just for fun in Casual format, a weekly Tavern Brawl that
changes the rules of the game in interesting ways, a Magic the Gathering style
Arena mode where you draft your deck from a selection of cards, and now,
Battlegrounds mode.
Battlegrounds is an interesting twist on the game where you
have eight total players who select from 24 heroes and then battle it out
tournament style until someone emerges victorious. Instead of mana and decks,
you have coins you can use to recruit minions each turn, and then duke it out
until one side’s minions are all vanquished. If the other player has minions
remaining, they buff the hero’s attack power based on their Tavern Tier ranking
and the hero’s Tier Ranking. Then you go back to the tavern to recruit more
minions, your amount of gold increasing turn by turn, which you can use to
upgrade your tavern, fill the tavern with new minions, or freeze the existing
minions on the board to buy later. The Hearthstone blog has a good rundown of everything
you need to know about the gameplay itself. The best thing is it’s free! You
don’t need to spend a dime to play this mode.
As of writing this, I’ve played probably forty or so games
and have managed to get 1st place twice (including the tutorial,
where you are basically guaranteed to win) and I’ve been in the Top 4 a total
of 26 times. My total rating is 4334. I have frustratingly come in 5th
place several times. I’ll have more stats once beta ends and I can actually get
more info on my personal gameplay.
So, in my experience playing the game so far, I have some
thoughts about the best strategies, heroes and hero powers, and the strongest
mechanics I’ve seen in the game.
Basic Strategies:
The strongest minions are ones who have a type: Beasts,
Demons, Mechs, and Murlocs. You can build synergies with these that increase
their attack and health as the game progresses. Nightmare Amalgam is always a
good Tier 2 choice because it has all minion types and can receive all buffs
from other cards. Cards with Deathrattle: Summon a X minion are extremely
strong in this game because it gives you another minion to fight, especially in
early game, and if you can pair with Tier 3 Khadgar, you can be really
effective by summoning twice as many of the minions. Do keep in mind that the
lower tier Deathrattle minions become less effective in later rounds, so you
have to be careful not to hang on to cards like Mounted Raptor (Deathrattle:
Summon a random 1-Cost minion) and Mecharoo (Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Jo-E
Bot) too long, even if you manage to upgrade it, because there are better Deathrattle
minions later game.
Regardless of the synergies you are able to pull off, some
of the strongest mechanics in the game are Divine Shield, Poisonous, and
Deathrattle (summon a minion). Taunt is useful in that you can protect some of
your other minions who may not have as much health, or who get stronger as the
game progresses. Unfortunately, if your opponent has a poisonous minion, your
taunt minions aren’t going to be as strong, no matter how much health they
have. Battlecry minions vary in power depending on your synergies, but the ones
that summon other minions work really well early game and the extra minions can
be sold for gold in later rounds when you no longer need them.
Cards that buff themselves based on your other cards, like
Scavenging Hyena (Whenever a friendly Beast dies, gain +2/+1), Bolvar, Fireblood
(Divine Shield, After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain +2 attack), or
Junkbot (Whenever a friendly Mech dies, gain +2/+2) are extremely strong if you
can get the synergies going. And they are all upgradeable as well, doubling
those numbers once the minion is tripled.
Hero Options:
As of writing this, I’ve seen several lists going around on
Hearthstone Twitter discussing which heroes are at the top and which ones are
weak, and I’ve seen their top choices obliterated and their bottom choices
going on to win several Battleground tournaments, so honestly, I would pick the
ones that make the most sense to you. Depending on the player, you will be able
to choose from 2-3 heroes at the beginning of the game. Starting out, I
recommend going for heroes that allow you to buff minions passively or for low
cost, such as Dancin’ Deryl, King Mukla, Millificent Manastorm, The Rat King,
and Yogg-Saron. They are much easier to build synergies with, because of the
buffs.
The other type of heroes that I would recommend are the ones
who can manipulate their mana in some way: A .F. Kay, Bartendotron, Infinite
Toki, Lich Baz’hial, and Trade Prince Gallywix. A. F. Kay can be extremely strong. Even though
she skips her first two turns, she starts turn three with a Tier 3 and Tier 4
minion, which are much more powerful than anything anyone else will be able to
get that early in the game. Bartendotron reduces the cost of your tavern
upgrades by 1 gold, Infinite Toki allows you to refresh the tavern and include
a minion of one tier higher than your current tier, and both Lich Baz’hial and
Trade Prince Gallywix allow you to put gold into your hand to use later. Lich
Baz’hial can be dangerous because you have to give up 3 health for the gold,
but it can be powerful. The one time I got 1st place in
Battlegrounds outside the tutorial was with Lich Baz’hial. Gallywix allows you
to spend gold now and save it for later, a good way to save unspent gold at the
end of a turn.
I have seen the other heroes do well, but I think that comes
down to the build of their minion boards more than their hero powers.
Basic Synergies: (updated!)
Regardless of tier, there are four basic synergies in the
game: Beasts, Demons, Mechs, and Murlocs. The cards are drawn from several
sets, including those that would normally be Wild, with a number
Battlegrounds-only cards that take these synergies to a whole new level. There
are also some un-typed cards in the rotation that can be strong in certain
situations, but if you can get any synergies going early on, the game will go
better for you. Some heroes naturally push you toward certain synergies.
I’ll go into more detail on these in another post, with a
tier-by-tier breakdown, but for now, a brief look.
Right now, I would argue that the strongest synergy overall
is:
- Mechs
- Beasts
- Demons
- Murlocs
Mechs:
Mechs have some of the strongest Deathrattles in Battlegrounds; being able to summon more minions is always good, especially with cards like Piloted Shredder (Deathrattle: Summon a random 2-Cost minion), Replicating Menace (Magnetic, Deathrattle: Summon three 1/1 Microbots), Piloted Sky Golem (Deathrattle: Summon a random 4-cost minion), Mechano-Egg (Deathrattle: Summon an 8/8 Robosaur), Kangor’s Apprentice (Deathrattle: Summon the first 2 friendly Mechs that died this combat), and Sneed’s Old Shredder (Deathrattle: Summon a random Legendary minion). Also, with mechanics like Magnetic and several Divine Shield/Taunt minions, you can build a really strong board with them, if you get the right cards. Also, if you can combo Pogo-Hopper (Battlecry: Gain +2/+2 for each other Pogo-Hopper you played this game) throughout a run, you can end up with a massive mech that most players won’t be able to combat.
Beasts:
If I can't make a board of mechs, I try to go with beasts as much as possible. In
late game, there is a Tier 6 card specifically introduced for Battlegrounds,
Mama Bear, that buffs beasts +4/+4 as
you summon them. Also, there is a Tier 5 card, Goldrinn, the Great Wolf with Deathrattle:
Give your Beasts +4/+4, and a Tier 3 card, Pack Leader, that buffs your beasts
+3 attack as you summon them. Those are some of the strongest buffs in the
game, and pair really well with cards like Tier 2 Rat Pack, which has a
Deathrattle that summons a number of 1/1 rats equal to its attack power (2/2
rats once it’s upgraded). With a Mama Bear and Pack Leader out, those 1/1 rats
become 9/6 rats. It’s an amazing combo if you can pull it off.
Demons:
Demons can also be very strong, if you can get the right
card combos in place. One of the best starting cards is Vulgar Homunculus (2/4
with Taunt and Battlecry: Deal 2 damage to your hero). Early damage doesn’t
mean very much when you can keep from getting hit by your opponents, and as the
highest health Tier 1 card, it’s the most likely to win early rounds. Tier 1
also has Wrath Weaver, a 1/1 that gains +2/+2 with every Demon you play, though
it deals 1 damage to your hero in exchange. I’ve seen some massive versions of
this card late game, with 30+ attack and health, that are really hard to kill
if you don’t have equally large minions or poisonous. The strongest card in
Demons though is Soul Juggler (Whenever a friendly Demon dies, deal 3 damage to
a random enemy minion). If you can triple him, he deals 6 damage every time a
friendly demon dies. Combo that with cards like Imp Gang Boss (Whenever this
minion takes damage, summon a 1/1 Imp) and Void Lord (Taunt, Deathrattle:
Summon three 1/3 Demons with Taunt), you can really deal some damage to your
enemy minions.
Murlocs:
Murlocs are extremely strong early game, but taper off about
midway through because most of the Murloc cards are very low tier and don’t
deal as much damage, both as minions and as hero attack buffs when you win
matches. There is potential for really strong Murloc boards using Nightmare
Amalgams to accrue buffs from the various Battlecry cards, especially from
Toxfin (Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc Poisonous) and the cards that buff
multiple types at once. As such, I’ve seen Murlocs more successful when
combining Nightmare Amalgams with other synergies. Though if you can manage to
get Tier 6 Gentle Megasaur (Battlecry: Adapt your Murlocs), you’ll do really
well.
Complaints:
As much as I love the new mode, it isn’t perfect. One of the
frustrating pitfalls of the game so far is the heavy dependence on RNG.
Sometimes, you can get a good synergy going with your cards,
have your tavern upgraded to Tier 5 or 6, and somehow, you get a selection of
Tier 1 and Tier 2 minions that don’t synergize with your existing minions at
all, and no matter how many times you refresh the tavern, you can’t seem to get
a minion that will strengthen your existing board. The most frustration part of
this is when you are trying to get a triple of a minion. When you get a triple
of a minion, that minion upgrades, doubling the stats and mechanics of that
specific card, and you get to discover a minion of a tier higher than your
current tavern. It’s a super powerful mechanic! But when you’re in the final
rounds of the Battlegrounds and have two copies of a minion out and could
really use that triple, so you refresh the tavern with every last bit of your
mana, and yet nothing good pops up… that’s really really annoying. One the one
hand, it makes sense because your minion pool in the tavern is reduced whenever
you purchase a minion (it seems that there are only three copies of a minion in
the pool until you sell or upgrade one), but on the other hand, it sucks to
have to rely so much on RNG to amp up your existing board, especially in later
rounds.
I’m not sure there is a good fix for this, except to maybe
adjust the algorithms based on your current Tavern Tier to show less Tier 1 and
Tier 2 minions the higher your current Tier, but I digress.
Another thing that feels like a missed opportunity is not
having Dragons in the mix. Several of the buffing cards already in the mix
target Murlocs, Beasts, and Dragons, and it feels like such a waste not having
a Dragon on your board! Especially with Descent of Dragons being the next
expansion.
Adding another type into the mix would reduce the likelihood
of seeing any one specific card, but again, I think if they made adjustments to
the algorithms so that the RNG was a little more favorable toward players based
on their existing boards, it could happen.
Lastly, the hero selection feels very unbalanced. Some
heroes are clearly stronger than others, and when the RNG gods decide to favor
you with three meh heroes at the beginning of the game, it can feel really
disheartening. I think balancing the heroes would help a lot with that and make
the game more fun for everyone. Instead of needing to pick a certain hero
because it’s the obviously stronger pick, you can pick heroes based on how you
want to play. I’ll go more into balancing suggestions when I write up my Hero
Ranking post, so you’ll have that to look forward to.
Summary:
I love this new mode! It is such a different way to play the
game while still feeling essentially Hearthstone. Getting into the Top 4 feels
like an accomplishment, and the style of play makes me want to have another go
and try to get a higher rank. It’s addictive, and I like how different it is
from regular Standard play. And the best thing about it is that it’s free!
Next, I’ll be diving into ranking Heroes and their Hero Powers, with balance
suggestions.
Until then, maybe I’ll see you at the tavern.
All images (c) Blizzard Entertainment
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