We've got some big updates coming to Hearthstone Battlegrounds next week in Patch 22.4 which also brings us Onyxia's Lair, the Alterac Valley mini-set. The game update releases on February 15.
Three New Heroes Coming to Battlegrounds
A couple of our Mercenary friends and Onyxia are coming to Battlegrounds. Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the three new Heroes before they are formally released on March 1.
Varden Dawngrasp
- Hero Power: Twice as Nice
- Passive. After Bob’s Tavern is Refreshed, copy and Freeze one of his minions.
- Buddy: Varden’s Aquarrior
- [Tier 2, Elemental] 3 Attack, 5 Health. “Twice as Nice” also gives the copy stats equal to your Tavern Tier.
Rokara
- Hero Power: Glory of Combat
- Passive. After a friendly minion kills an enemy, give it +1 Attack permanently.
- Buddy: Icesnarl the Mighty
- [Tier 4, Beast] 5 Attack, 2 Health. After a friendly minion kills an enemy, gain +1 Health permanently.
Onyxia
- Hero Power: Broodmother
- Passive. Avenge (4): Summon a 2/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.
- Buddy: Many Whelps
- [Tier 2, Dragon] 4 Attack, 2 Health. Whenever you summon a Whelp, gain +2/+2 permanently.
Returning Battlegrounds Heroes
A few heroes are making their return to the hero pool and will once again be playable.
- Kael'thas
- Silas Darkmoon
- Chenvaala
- Chenvaala's buddy has also received an update, moving it from Tavern Tier 2 to Tavern Tier 3.
New Cosmetic Type: Finishers
We had previously leaked this concept from a Blizzard survey and it looks like finisher animations are a now a thing!
The Astral Impact Finisher, seen below, will be available starting February 22.
Quote From Blizzard Bob is back with another way to add flair and personalization to the Tavern: Battlegrounds Finishers! Battlegrounds Finishers are animations that replace the default Attack animation whenever your Hero wins a round of combat.* Bob’s first Finisher, Astral Impact, is a two-stage Finisher. That means that it shows a special animation whenever your Hero wins a round and then an even bigger animation when you deal 15 or more damage to your enemy! Keep a look out for more cool Battlegrounds Finishers in the future.
*Battlegrounds Finishers are equipped globally, so any Hero you use will use your equipped Finisher whenever you win a round of combat. Both players will be able to see the winning player’s Finisher at the end of any round of combat.
New Battlegrounds Boards
We're getting two new Battlegrounds Boards.
Jade Gardens Battlegrounds Board
The Jade Gardens Battlegrounds Board will be available starting February 15.
Cosmic Study Battlegrounds Board
The Cosmic Study Battlegrounds Board will be available starting February 22.
Comments
Finishers do not interest me much.
I would consider the Jade board: it is pleasant to look at, although doing battle there seems off. Too serene for such bloodshed heh. Really need a Ragnaros board to go with my bartender.
"STAY AWHILE AND LISTEN, INSECT!!"
Dat Onyxia hero power! Whew! I don't think we've had a hero power this shit since Sylvanas quit in disgust.
Many whelps handle it!
Seems like they are going the TFT route with battlegrounds. Boards = Arenas. Portraits = Tacticians. Finishers = Booms.
I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right? I find TFT to have a more complex skill cap though to be honest. Don't really see myself getting super invested in cosmetics unless they start letting us "buff" minions from hand with special legendary items (aka spells).