Hearthstone Battlegrounds update brings Sindragosa, more heroes to the fray
Hearthstone rolled out a new patch for their new Battlegrounds mode that adds four new heroes and gets rid of four current heroes along with a number of other updates.
Battlegrounds was announced at BlizzCon 2019 and the Hearthstone team promised regular updates to the auto battler in the future.
The November 19 patch is the first time new heroes have been added to the mode since early access the week following BlizzCon.
But along with the new heroes being added four are also getting removed which keeps the number of available heroes at 24.
What new heroes are being added?
The Lich King’s frost wyrm herself Sindragosa is first on the list with an ability granting frozen minions +1/+1 at the end of a turn.
Elise Starseeker unlocks a ‘Recruitment Map’ that recruits a minion from player’s current tavern tier after upgrading Bob’s Tavern.
Brann Bronzebeard and the honorable Sir Finley Mrrgglton are also joining the roster but in exchange for these new heroes players will have to bid farewell to four others.
King Mukla, Giantfin, Millificent Manastorm, and Lich Baz’hial are all being removed from the game for the time being.
That’s not to say they’ll be gone for good though, if the Hearthstone team keeps to regular updates for the mode with a rotating cast of heroes.
Changes to the Battlegrounds ranking system
There’s also been a decrease in the number of points given to players for coming in first in a match.
Before the update players received 240 points for first-place on their first game and 24 pts for a first-place on your 150th game or later.
Now, players will get 190 pts for first-place on their first game and 95 pts for a first-place on your 150th (or later) game.
The full November 19 Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch notes are listed below:
Please note that these updates do not require an additional download.
Heroes Entering the Battlegrounds
The following Heroes have been added:
- New Hero: Sindragosa
- New Hero: Elise Starseeker
- New Hero: Brann Bronzebeard
- New Hero: Sir Finley Mrrgglton
Heroes Leaving the Battlegrounds
To make way for new challengers, the Heroes below have left Hearthstone Battlegrounds for the time being. We may see them return in a future update.
- King Mukla
- Giantfin
- Millificent Manastorm
- Lich Baz’hial
Balance Updates
Minions:
- Primalfin Lookout
- Moved from Tavern Tier 5 to Tavern Tier 4
- Voidlord
- Moved from Tavern Tier 6 to Tavern Tier 5
- Junkbot
- Moved from Tavern Tier 4 to Tavern Tier 5
- Coldlight Seer
- Moved from Tavern Tier 3 to Tavern Tier 2
Developer comments: We wanted to buff both Demons and Murlocs, so we moved those minions down a Tavern Tier. Junkbot was a bit too strong for Tavern Tier 4 and often made it so mech players never had a good reason to upgrade to Tavern Tier 5. With these changes, we think the minion types are closer together in power level.
Ranking System
We’ve made adjustments to the number of points given for first place. In the original system, you got 240 points for a first-place on your first game, and 24 pts for a first-place on your 150 (or later) game. Now, you will get 190 pts for a first-place on your first game and 95 pts for a first-place on your 150 (or later) game.
Bug Fixes
- Infested Wolf
- The Triple version of Infested Wolf has been moved from Tavern Tier 2 to Tavern Tier 3, consistent with its base form.
- Rat Pack
- The Triple version of Rat Pack has been moved from Tavern Tier 3 to Tavern Tier 2, consistent with its base form.
- Plant tokens spawned from Adapt effects are now Tavern Tier 1.
- Snake tokens spawned from Snake Trap are now Tavern Tier 1.
Future Updates
As of today, we are planning our next Battlegrounds update for early December. Below is a brief preview of some of the things we’re working on.
- We’d like to continue balancing minions and Heroes based on how they’re performing. We don’t have the changes solidified yet, but we’ll be watching things closely and will have more to say soon.
- We’d like to continue rotating new Heroes into the game while rotating some existing Heroes out. We have some recognizable faces we’re working to include in December.
- We have two new minions in the works that we’re currently planning to include in the December update: King Bagurgle, a brand-new card, and Floating Watcher, which you may recognize from the Goblins vs. Gnomes set.
- We have been working on the first iteration of the Stats feature, to give you more insight into your performance. We’d like to surface some fun stats, like how many Triples you’ve created, your top five Heroes by wins, and more. An updated version of Stats will be available next year.