One of the most interesting tribes in Season 9 are Demons. Although not must have changed when it comes to their mechanics, it is still fun to see how they fit into the new meta.
In this article, we will describe all Demon tribe minions in Hearthstone Battlegrounds; for more info on tactics, check out our HS Battlegrounds builds guide. Without further ado, let’s see what Demons have to offer in HS BG.
Tier 1 Demon Minions
Picky Eater
Picky Eater is always a welcome sight in Demon armies in Battlegrounds. Overall, this minion is strong early on (if you are lucky enough and it eats something that has high stats) and in mid-game (if you manage to buff up the minions in Bob’s Tavern). It’s a pretty straightfoward minion that you will use until you find something better on higher tiers. It works wonderfully if you are playing with Shudderwock and get him on turn 1.
Ominous Seer
Omnious Seer is not that bad early on, because you can then get a free spell that costs 1 gold. Later on, he can be used with Brann and cycling a bit, but other than that, there is nothing really special about this minion.
Tier 2 Demon Minions
Impulsive Trickster
Although Impulsive Trickster has a great Deathrattle ability, relying on it might not be the best course of action. In our experience, unless it’s a very niche game, this minion is to be avoided. Sure, it can be useful if you pair it with Titus but there are far better options in all game phases to go for.
Mind Muck
A niche minion that is very useful later on, once the minions in Tavern are nicely buffed up. If you are constantly buying and selling minions in order to buff up your Demons, Mind Muck is a good card. Keep in mind that one of the biggest challenges in all Demon builds is the lack of space so that’s why we say that this minion is not a perfect choice. Nevertheless, it does have its usages, even with Impulsive Trickster.
Soul Rewinder
Soul Rewinder is one of the key minions in Hearthstone Battlegrounds if you are looking for a late-game Demon army. Simply put, there are many Demon minions that will damage your health – Soul Rewinder is there to stop this from happening. If you can, get it early on and see if you can find another key minion from the Demon tribe; more often than not, this risk will be justified.
Tier 3 Demon Minions
Felemental
Felemental is generally not that great because the stats aren’t really that good. Nevertheless, he can be a bit beneficial if you happen to discover him or get him for free. He also works well with Rylak, but the combo is pretty slow in the current meta.
Big Brother
Big Brother is also nice and is essentially used in the mid to late-game combo with Malchezaar Bazaar Dealer and Archimonde. The idea is to get the engine up and running by getting spells with Bazaar Dealer and Archimonde’s ability and then use it all to trigger Big Brother’s effect. With this combo, the Tavern stats can get very high each and every turn.
False Implicator
False Implicator is one of the newest minions in Demon tribe. Although he is strong, the thing is that he doesn’t have a very good late-game synergy with Felbat. Both of their abilities work in the same way meaning that there won’t be enough minions in Taverns for both of them to eat most of the time. This is why False Implicator has limited usage and should be replaced as soon as you get Felbat. The best thing to do is get Drakkari Enchanter if you really happen to have a lot of False Implicators.
Keyboard Igniter
If you have Soul Rewinder on the field, Keyboard Igniter is a good minion to play as a tempo boost and later on, if you have any mechanics that benefit from damaging your own hit points. Overall, this minion is a “use and sell” type of demon unit and it should be used like that.
Tier 4 Demon Minions
Malchezaar, Prince of Dance
Probably an all-time favorite Demon for most players is Malchezaar, Prince of Dance. The reason is simple – this minion is very versatile and can be used as an economy, discovery, or stat-boosting unit at the same time. Pairing him with Soul Rewinder/Archimonde means that there is no penalty for you when it comes to HP; on the other hand, pairing him with Tichondrious means that he will be providing buffs as well. Malchezaar is a must-have in all Demon Hearthstone Battlegrounds tribes.
Imposing Percussionist
Imposing Percussionist is a discovery-minion that basically grants you a free Planar Telescope. Sometimes this minion is the crucial one as he will allow you to discover what you need in order to complete your Demon comp. Other than that, Imposing Percussionist doesn’t have any uses so he is to be sold after his Battlecry is used.
Bazaar Dealer
Bazaar Dealer is one of the core minions in the Demon spell build because keep in mind that your big brother is the primary stat-gaining minion and you will need a lot of tavern spells each turn in order to keep the engine running. This is why Bazaar Dealer is one of the essential minions, especially combined with Archimonde.
Archimonde
Archimonde is one of the most essential demons in this meta and is basically a better version of Soul Rewinder because each time you deal damage to yourself, not only does Archimonde negate the damage but also lowers the tavern cost of spells. This enables you to have a lot of spells and to play with Big Brother’s stat-gaining ability.
Tier 5 Demon Minions
Tardy Traveler
There’s a lot to be said about Tardy Traveler, he works well with a spell build and you will probably get him a few times with Imposing Percussionist, which is a big value since those tavern spells are essential to your game. Try to find something like Eyes of the Earthmother to copy because if you for example find Eyes of the Earthmother you can sell this guy and get the spell for free and cast it on something like Big Brother or Bazaar Dealer in order to ramp up your game by a large margin.
Batty Terrorguard
Batty Terrorguard is the final piece of the puzzle in your Demon spell build because each time you cast a Tavern spell, your minion consumes something in the Tavern. This is a perfect synergy with the Big Brother which buffs the stats in the Tavern and with Batty Terrorguard, your Demons eat those buffed-up stats each turn.
Furious Driver
Furious Driver is a good one because it essentially mimics Felbet’s ability, but it’s only used with cycling. This is perfect for your Tavern spell build because you will have a lot of demons on your board and probably won’t have too much space for extra ones like Felbet or Ticondrius. This is why Furious Driver is good because at the end of the turn, the minions that your big brother buffs up in the Tavern, you can just consume it with Furious Driver and get all the juicy stats.
Tichondrious
Our personal favorite Demon is Tichondrious because he really lives up to his WC3 lore. His synergy with Malchezaar is simply amazing as this combo can give you at least +2/+2 on all your minions in every turn; furthermore, spells that cost health, Imposing Percussionist, and Archimonde.
Tier 6 Demon Minions
Nether Construct
Now Nether Construct is a pretty weird minion because his first ability, +4/+4, doesn’t really blend well with the whole cycling and infinite spell thing that Demons have going on. On the other hand, Consume Tavern isn’t that good because you don’t want to really keep the Nether Construct on the board. All in all, it’s a good minion if you happen to get it because the +4/+4 in the Tavern is nice, but it’s not really a core minion in the current demon meta.
Famished Felbet
Famished Felbat is an old Demon unit that has been around for years in this tribe. Just remember that you can leave the Felbat if you don’t have any space as the last minion and then sell it at the next turn. This is more often than not the case because when you’re playing the Tavern spell build you really don’t have any extra space to keep the Felbat for a few turns. Other than that, he doesn’t really blend that much in the current Demon build.
Mecha-Jaraxxus
Mecha-Jaraxxus is pretty good because you can get those extra juicy keywords on your demons that more often than not lack. Reborn is not bad, Taunt is pretty useless, Windfury is so-so, but the most important magnetization that you can get is the Divine Shield (Shield of the Legion) one which is new in Season 9. This essentially makes Mecha-Jaraxxus a very valuable demon because you can in theory get Divine Shields on all your demons.
Tier 7 Demon Minion
Champion of Sargeras
Champion of Sargeras is a great support minion. It works fine with Demon, Mech and Elemental comps as those are the ones that rely heavily on strength of minions in Bob’s Tavern. The real question is – how soon can you play him? The sooner the better but that’s most of the time easier said than done.
Image Credits: Blizzard Entertainment, Hearthstone.