Well, If that's not a late response to Game of Thrones... Hearthstone Battlegrounds' latest update made it the new "mother of dragons". It adds 18 new minions and 7 heroes to the game – and yes, there are a lot of dragons. But Blizzard also removed some content you might miss or not. Let's see what changed!
Draconic minions
On February 26, Hearthstone Battlegrounds presented an extensive patch (16.4) – full of scaly wings, fire, and smoke. A total of 18 new minions are joining the game. Twelve of them are dragon minions, the others are draconic support cards. From that, we can tell that the dragons made it to an independent tribe which will give some new deck possibilities. They do have a lot of tribal synergy and the dragons will beef up the play style by adding a third buff target on minions like Zoobot and Menagerie Magician.
After a few first tries, we can say that some things have changed but the original dragon playstyle feels nearly the same. It actually seems kind of close to the Murloc builds now. The dragons have a strong early game and a weaker mid game. Here is a list of the 18 newly-added minions for Heathstone Battlegrounds:
- Dragonspawn Lieutenant - Tier 1, 2/3 Dragon: Taunt
- Red Whelp - Tier 1, 1/2 Dragon: At the start of combat, deal one damage per friendly Dragon to one random enemy minion.
- Glyph Guardian - Tier 2, 2/4 Dragon: When this minion attacks, double its attack.
- Steward of Time - Tier 2, 2/4 Dragon: When you sell this minion, give all minions in Bob's Tavern +1/+1.
- Waxrider Togwaggle - Tier 2, 1/2: Whenever a friendly Dragon kills an enemy, gain +2/+2.
- Unstable Ghoul - Tier 2, 1/3: Taunt, Deathrattle: Deal one damage to all minions.
- Bronze Warden - Tier 3, 2/1 Dragon: Divine Shield, Reborn.
- Hangry Dragon - Tier 3, 4/4 Dragon: At the start of your turn, gain +2/+2 if you won the last combat.
- Drakonid Enforcer - Tier 4, 3/6 Dragon: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain +2/+2.
- Herald of Flame - Tier 4, 5/4 Dragon: Overkill: deal three damage to the leftmost enemy minion.
- Cobalt Scalebane - Tier 4, 5/5 Dragon: At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +3 attack.
- Murozond - Tier 5, 5/5 Dragon: Battlecry: Add a minion from your last opponent's board to your hand.
- Twilight Emissary - Tier 5, 6/8 Dragon: Taunt, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +3/+3.
- Razorgore, the Untamed - Tier 5, 2/4 Dragon: At the end of your turn, gain +1/+1 for each Dragon you have.
- Holy Mackerel - Tier 6, 8/4 Murloc: After another friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain Divine Shield.
- Imp Mama - Tier 6, 6/8 Demon: Whenever this minion takes damage, summon a random Demon and give it Taunt.
- Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect - Tier 6, 2/8 dragon: After you play a Battlecry minion, give your Dragons +1/+2.
- Nadina the Red - Tier 6, 7/4: Deathrattle: Give your Dragons Divine Shield
Dragon heroes
Who has spread his wings for the first time as the mighty Renegos in Galakrond's Awakening? Reno Jackson. And together with Galakrond, he will join the five original dragon aspects as new heroes. The new lineup is made out of these two major characters from the last expansion and a lot of Dragons Aspects. Let's take Deathwing, for example. He seems very strong if you keep his hero power in mind. Alexstrasza can sometimes high-roll and basically just auto-win, and Nozdormu has got so much value that it is fun to play. Here is the entire list of the seven new heroes:
- Reno Jackson – Gonna Be Rich (4 gold): make a friendly minion golden, but only once per game.
- Galakrond – Galakrond's Greed (1 gold): Replace a minion in the Tavern with a random one from a higher tier.
- Deathwing – All Will Burn (passive): All minions have +3 attack.
- Alexstrazsa – Queen of Dragons (Passive): When you hit tier five, discover two Dragons.
- Nozdormu – Clairvoyance (passive): Your first refresh each turn is free.
- Ysera – Dream Portal (1 gold): Refresh the Tavern and add a dragon to it.
- Malygos – Arcane Alteration (0 gold): Replace a minion with a random one from the same tier.
Removed and rebalanced
Yes, there are some losses hidden in this update. Blizzard removed ten Mechs from Hearthstone Battlegrounds to help make room for the new minions. The company also attempted to balance the minion pool by removing low-performing minions. Here is the list:
- Shielded Minibot
- Annoy-o-Tron
- Mounted Raptor
- Phalanx Commander
- Psych-o-Tron
- Tortollan Shellraiser
- Piloted Sky Golem
- Festeroot Hulk
- Boogeymonster
- Sated Threshadon
But that's not all. One hero was also removed – so bye-bye, Professor Putricide. Hemight be back with some changes in the future, as the blog post from Blizzard promises. In addition to that Mama Bear got slightly buffed: It is now a 5/5 that gives Beasts you summon +5/+5. Previously, it was 4/4 that gave +4/+4. Tavern Tier 6 got some changes, too: It moved from Tier 6 to Tier 5. Blizzard explains that with the following statement:
Tavern Tier 6 has a lot of exciting minions and we'd like players to have more of an opportunity to reach it than they have. We're also trying to make Tavern Tier 6 more interesting by adding some of these powerful new minions.
And last but not least: Blizzard did some overdue fixes – and a lot Hearthstone players out there will be thankful for especially this one: They fixed the recruit button glitch which spoiled the outcome of fights. Thank god!
If you want to know more about Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you can check the best decks of 2020 or look at our tips and tricks. And now it's time: Build your deck and slay some dragons!
