Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch: The Return of Grease Bot

The Latest Hearthstone patch was gigantic regarding constructed play, but it also included some juicy Battlegrounds updates. Hero reworks, minions, making a comeback and some balance adjustments that might bring balance back to the Tavern. Let’s go over what Hearthstone Patch 24.0.3 brings to Battlegrounds.

With over 80 Heroes available, in every patch, Battlegrounds face the challenge of fine-tuning their power level so there aren’t as many unplayable characters in the game. Sometimes it happens that spins off and creates toxic strategies or overpowered heroes. After all, there aren’t that many balancing variables in the game besides Hero Power gold cost/effect or armor.

This Battlegrounds patch brings updates in that sense to many Heroes, but this doesn’t mean they are improving. Let’s go over them.

Lich Baz’hial change is a tricky one to analyze. On one side, the Hero Power is getting worst because you can’t accumulate gold to make and power level while developing board. On the other side, now the early game is so much powerful that might have the same effect.

Guff is getting a slight nerf, but since before this Battlegrounds patch it was the second-best Hero in the game (especially in lower ranks), it’s understandable. More so with Ysera receiving a hit, but we will talk about that later.

Deathwing is gaining some extra tempo in this Battlegrounds update. However, its success will depend on how the metagame evolves. Having a strong early-game tempo that allows you to power level can be game-winning.

The change to Kael’thas, a mostly unplayable Hero, is a buff since it gives players flexibility. Now there is no need to buy bad minions just to trigger your Hero Power. However, it is unclear how impactful this will be.

The most radical change in this Battlegrounds Patch is Elises’ update. Having a Hero Power that increases with each use puts a soft cap on how much you can take advantage of it. While this opens room for different leveling strategies, seems like another highroller strat.

The most relevant piece of information for many is that Grease Bot is back! However, hold your horses, it has been nerfed significantly. Losing Divine Shield means that it won’t scale and that will be more exposed to a snipe. Furthermore, stat increase also received a reduction. Times were buying a Grease Bot was worth it not mattering your comp ar over.

Another impactful return to Battlegrounds in this patch is the one of Lieutenant Garr. The elemental was removed from the tavern due to its health scaling capacity. The potential is still there, but with Leeroy Jenkins, there is much more counterplay now. 

Following with Elementals buffs, Lil Rag is getting a huge buff! The only reliable scaling for Elementals was Nomi, but now with Rag on Tavern 5, you have double the chances of ensembling an Elemental comp. Moreover, starting with this Battlegrounds patch, Gentle Djini will give you the elementals regardless if you can summon them or not. 

The Hearthstone Battlegrounds team finally decided to address the elephant, I mean, the Dragon in the room in this patch. Blizzard leaked the update during the weekend, so BG players were relieved that this change was coming. 

Let’s put Evolving Chromawing into context. This Tier 1 minion on its own improved your average placement by one position. The extreme of this Chromawing strategy was Ysera, which was by far the best Hero in the game just because it was able to consistently get 4 or 5 Evolving on the first few turns.

With this Battlegrounds patch, the problematic dragon will only increase in attack, not in health. This will prevent it from value trading a whole warband. Having free 70-70 minions while power leveling seemed too good to be true, and now it is.

One final change is the Great Deal reduction seeing a tone down. This is a little change considering that only one-fourth of games see Darkmoon Prizes and you need to hit this. Still, bare in mind if you get it and are thinking about double leveling.

That is all for now in Battlegrounds but don’t forget to check the buffs and nerfs to constructed gameplay coming in this patch. As always, stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time in Bob’s Tavern.