Hearthstone Battlegrounds: What the new patch changes

The First Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season has been live since 10 May and brings huge changes with it! With Patch 23.2 a new class has been introduced in Battlefield mode: the Wizardly Naga, led by Queen Azshara. Another feature had to leave the battlefield for this: As of now, there are no more partners for the heroes. Find out how the Naga play and what other changes the first Battlegrounds Season will bring!

New class & heroine on the battlefield

About a year after the release of the spiked liver, the second new class is introduced in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. The Naga are now playable in the mode. They are led by the new heroine Queen Azshara. The Naga bring a completely new style of play with them, which relies primarily on turn-based spells. This is the first time that spells have come into focus on the battlefield.

The Naga Deck is based on the keyword Spell Lore. Minions with this new ability generate one spell per turn that can be used on any of your other minions in the inn. This way you can strengthen your minions before each new turn. However, the effects only last for the next battle. Unused spells expire, which means you cannot save them for the next round. Spell lore spells are not destroyed when your hand is full.

The Naga can be played with any hero, but of course they develop particularly good synergy with Queen Azshara. As soon as the total strength of your Minions on the battlefield is at least 30, Azshara's Hero ability becomes active. This allows you to discover an additional, random Naga in the inn for 1 gold every round. With this ability, you can be sure of at least one Naga Servant per round and you can also get golden Triple Minions faster!

No more partners for Battlegrounds heroes

Besides the new Naga class, the most important change is probably the elimination of the partners for the heroes. They were patched out with the new update so that the focus can lie undisturbed on the brand new class. The introduction of the partners about four months ago had caused a lot of discussion in the Battlegrounds community and some adjustments to the META. Due to the special abilities of the partners, formerly unpopular heroes suddenly became fan favourites. However, the lack of balance when comparing the individual partners was also criticised again and again.

Patch 23.2 will therefore in all likelihood lead to major changes in the current META. Incidentally, the fact that the partners are now disappearing from the battlefield probably does not mean that they are leaving for good. Since the Battlegrounds mode now also runs through different seasons like the traditional Hearthstone, the partners could also return to the battlefield in the same or a different form.

Updates for the Minion Pool

In addition to the new minions from the Naga Deck, there are also other class-specific servants that have been added to the Battleground Pool again or for the first time. In return, other minions have been removed from the mode. Since the total number of minions in the pool does not change, four classes instead of three will be randomly sent to the bench in the future.

New Minions:

1. Reef Discoverer (Inn Level 4, General): 3 Attack/3 Life. Battle Cry: "Discover a Servant of a type you do not control."

2. Leeroy the Foolhardy (Inn Level 5, General): 6 attack/2 lives. Death Rattle: "Destroy the servant who destroyed this servant."

3. Mantis Queen (Inn Level 6, General): 5 attack/5 life. Poisonous. Combat Start: "Gain +5/+5, Wind Wrath, God's Shield or Taunt for each type of Servant you control."

4. Sinister Eldest (Inn Level 6, Spiked Liver): 6 Attack/7 Life. "Cast a blood gem on 4 friendly Stacheleber after spending 4 gold."

5. Blear the Boy (Inn Level 6,Murloc ): 8 attack/5 life. "At the end of your turn, the battle cries of adjacent murlocs are triggered."



Returned Minions:

The cards " Nightmarish Mutation" as a level 3 Servant as well as the level 5 card "Bristle Neck Knight" are now back in the Servant selection.

Removed Minions:

In return, "Champion of Y'Shaarj", " Deadly Spore", " Amalgadon", "Fish Thrower " and "Captain Stumpfhauer" were removed from the Minion Pool.

Further adjustments in the battlefield mode

• The battlefield scores have been reset.

• Armour points have been redistributed for most heroes.

• The cost of upgrading to inn level 5 now starts at 9 gold again.

TL;DR: Nagas, Partners & More: The First Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season

1. The first Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season brings the new class Naga.

2. The new heroine Queen Azshara leads the Naga.

3. Minions with the new Spell Lore keyword generate turn-based spells.

4. The partners of the Battlegrounds heroes are dropped by the new update.

5. In the Minion Pool, some new servants have been added, while other cards have been removed from the selection.

What is your opinion on the changes of the first Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season? Let us know in the comments!

Sources
Patchnotes for 23.2
Buddies are leaving Hearthstone Battlegrounds, at least temporarily