Patch 21.8 Battlegrounds Changes Introduce a New Armor System and Hero Tiers, Tamsin Added, Diablo Buffs, Balance

Today's patch had a lot of new stuff in it, including some changes to Hearthstone's Battlegrounds. Here's a quick recap of them:

• A brand new Armor system!
  • The current hero pool is divided to seven tiers based on their power level.
  • The heroes will gain a variable amount of armor at the start of the game based on their power level.
    • Strongest heroes (Tier 1) will always get 0 Armor.
    • Weakest heroes (Tier 7) will get 7-10 Armor.
• Tamsin joins the Battlegrounds (she starts at power level Tier 4).
  • 0-cost Hero Power: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its Health to all your others.
• Buffs to certain Diablo treasures.
• Balance changes to certain Mechs, Pirates, and Quilboars.
• Three minion pool updates: Bristleback Knight removed, Mythrax and Thorncaller return.

You can find full details on the upcoming changes in the quote below.

Quote From Blizzard

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW ARMOR SYSTEM

Introducing the Battlegrounds Armor System! Starting in patch 21.8, Battlegrounds heroes will be awarded Armor at the start of each game to help balance and spice up the Tavern. All heroes will get a random amount of Armor from within a range, based on their power levels, with the strongest heroes getting 0 Armor and the weakest heroes being eligible for up to 10 Armor. At launch, these will be the Armor ranges and placements:

Our plan is to review these ranges and placements as part of our Battlegrounds balancing going forward, but we also want to hear your feedback on this new system after you play with it. The system may come in and out of the mode from patch to patch as we refine the system and introduce other new features or major changes.

NEW HERO

Tamsin Roame

• Fragrant Phylactery [Costs 0]
  • Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its Health to all your others.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Tamsin Roame before the Hero is formally released on November 30.

UPDATED HERO

Diablo will be sticking around a little bit longer, so that he can have another chance to make his mark before he goes. To help with that, three of the Diablo Treasures have been changed:

• Sigil of Hell’s damage has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: 1 damage → New: 2 damage
  • Tier 2: Old: 3 damage → New: 4 damage
  • Tier 3: Old: 6 damage → New: 8 damage
  • Tier 4: Old: 12 damage → New: 16 damage
• Claws of Terror’s stat buff has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: +2/+2 → New: +4/+4
  • Tier 2: Old: +6/+6 → New: +8/+8
  • Tier 3: Old: +12/+12 → New: +16/+16
• Hellfire Hooves’s Attack buff has been increased:
  • Tier 1: Old: +1 Attack → New: +2 Attack
  • Tier 2: Old: +2 Attack → New: +4 Attack
  • Tier 3: Old: +3 Attack → New: +8 Attack
  • Tier 4: Old: +6 Attack → New: +16 Attack

MINION POOL UPDATES

• Bristleback Knight has been removed from the minion pool.
• Mythrax has returned to the minion pool.
• Thorncaller has returned to the minion pool.

UPDATED MINIONS

Mechano-Tank

• Old: 6 Attack, 3 Health. Avenge (2): Deal 6 damage to the highest Health enemy minion. → New: 5 Attack, 3 Health. Avenge (2): Deal 5 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.

Grease Bot

• Old: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+1 permanently. → New: After a friendly minions loses Divine Shield, give it +1/+1 permanently.

Scallywag

• Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health → New: 3 Attack, 1 Health

Yo-Ho-Ogre

• Old: 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: 3 Attack, 5 Health

Southsea Strongarm

• Old: Battlecry: Give a friendly Pirate +1/+1 for each Pirate you bought this turn. → New: Battlecry: Give a friendly Pirate +1/+1. Repeat for each Pirate you bought this turn.

Ripsnarl Captain

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 4 Attack, 6 Health

Tony Two-Tusk

• Old: Avenge (5): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently. → New: Avenge (4): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently.

Tough Tusk

• Old: 4 Attack, 3 Health → New: 5 Attack, 3 Health

Bristleback Brute

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health. The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +2/+2. → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health. The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +3/+3.

Dynamic Duo

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 6 Health

Necrolyte

• Old: Tier 3 → New: Tier 4
• Old: Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. It steals all Blood Gems from its neighbors. → New: Battlecry: Play 2 Blood Gems on a friendly minion. It steals all Blood Gems from its neighbors.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed an extremely rare occurrence where a minion’s health could get so large in Battlegrounds it could be deleted from the warband entirely.
• Fixed a bug where minions that had their Blood Gems stolen by Necrolyte no longer have a +0/+0 enchantment banner.
• Updated Edwin’s Sharpen Blades Battlegrounds Hero Power text to reflect that it’s restricted to friendly minions.
• Fixed a bug where Battlegrounds party invites would not send if the receiving player was editing a deck.
• Fixed a bug where the loading screen wheel would appear zoomed in if a player joined a Battlegrounds party while spectating a game.