Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes Tier List [Summer 2024]

hearthstone battlegrounds heroes tier list full

Welcome to the Ultimate Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes Tier list – ranked from S to D Tier. As of summer 2024, there are 104 heroes available in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. The Tier placements of Heroes are done with only one question in mind – how probable is it that you will win or end up in the top 3 with the hero that you choose? Based on thousands of games that we played, we analyzed each Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero and each hero power separately and placed it in a certain Tier.

Furthermore, in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, as of Season 7, there are 4 key game elements: Minion Types, Heroes, Spells and Buddies. This article should be combined with a Hearthstone Battlegrounds Strategy Guide in which all the builds and strategies are explained in detail. You might also want to check the list of all Hearthstone BG Spells that can be activated throughout the game. Now, let’s dive in and see how each of these heroes perform in the Battlegrounds.

Note that this list will not include Buddies as they are not an integral part of the game and will be removed as soon as Season 8 begins.

Table of Contents

S Tier – Battlegrounds Champions

Shudderwock

Hero Shudderwock in hearthstone battlegrounds
Snicker Snack (0): Trigger a friendly minion’s Battlecry

We started with a crazed Murloc called Shudderwock. He has been reworked in spring 2023 and its power changed drastically – but he has not been weakened by any means. Since there are so many minions with Battlecry that you can go for, his Snicker Snack power will provide you with the right tempo from turn the very beginning. You utilize economy minions, stat-boosting minions, and various Battlecry synergies – possibilities are endless. Shudderwock works best with minion types that have Battlecry units as their key ones – and those are Undead and Quilboar. With the removal of several Battlecry triggers in the mid-season patch of Season 7, Shudderwock has a unique ability that allows you to play some comps that you won’t be able to do othervise (such as Taunt comp). Good luck!
Preferable Minion type: Undead, Dragon, Quilboar
Minion type to avoid: Mech, Naga

Infinite Toki

Infinite Toki Hero HS
Temporal Tavern (1): Refresh the Tavern. Include two minions from a Tier higher than yours.

Infinite Toki has been strong for a while now – no matter the season, she has always been a very good pick when it comes to Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes. Use her power wisely – identify the build that you are aiming for and the key minions needed for it. Try to obtain them by using Temporal Tavern. However, the real party starts when there are Tier 7 units in the game – Toki is simply the best hero for this. All you need to do is to survive until you upgrade to Tier 6 – and then you will be able to take at least two Tier 7 units in every turn.

Preferable Minion type: Undead, Demon, Pirate
Minion type to avoid: None

George the Fallen

George the Fallen HS hero
Boon of Light (2): Give a minion Divine Shield

George the Fallen has a simple, yet very powerful ability – to give a minion permanent Divine Shield for the cost of 2 gold. This might seem like a high cost but that’s why you need to identify the key minions that you will be during the rest of the game – and cast Divine Shield on them. Obviously, minion types that are highly dependent on stats will benefit from this the most – try it out with Demons or Cleave Pirates.

Preferable Minion type: Demon, Pirate, Quilboar
Minion type to avoid: Mech, Beast

Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes hero HS BG
Lucky Roll (1):Roll a 6-sided die. Gain that much Gold. (Cannot be used again for that many turns!)

The reason why Snake Eyes is in our S-Tier is the fact that his power is a great economy boost through the game, especially early on. You will be able to power level without sacrificing any tempo and that’s in current meta just amazing. Give it a shot – and good luck rolling the dice!

Master Nguyen

Master Nguyen
Power of the Storm: At the start of every turn, choose between two new Hero Powers

Although Power of the Storm seems like a very RNG passive ability, in our experience, this is one of the most powerful things in battlegrounds. Not only you will be able to switch between different powers and use what you need at a specific time, but you will also be able to get one-time abilities (like Reno’s turn the minion golden ability). This will provide you with enough tempo to go through the mid-game easily and even in later stages, it can be insanely good (well this part is highly RNG). Be it as it may, Master Nguyen sits proudly on top of our Hearthstone Battlegrounds Tier List.
Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Tess Greymane

Tess Greymane
Bob’s Burgles (1): Refresh the Tavern with plain copies of your last opponent’s warband.

The main trick with this Hero Power is to try to play the same build as your opponents. The idea is to use the Power in order to buy all the opponent’s minions and thus make your build more powerful. You can always ignore this rule, and just go with the build that makes sense at the moment, but realize that the optimal way to use this is to have the same build as 2-3 opponents, so you can snatch their key cards and add them to your arsenal. Otherwise, you will just get some random cards that you don’t even want to buy. Keep in mind that you can also “steal” your opponents Tier 7 minion if they happen to have one.

Preferable Minion type: What your opponent is playing.
Minion type to avoid: What your opponent isn’t playing.

Reno Jackson

Reno Jackson portrayt
Gonna be rich: Make a friendly minion golden (once per game)

Reno Jackson is yet another one of the Hearthstone Battlegrounds heroes with a simple power that can easily turn the game in your favor. Since most of the builds are highly dependent on one or two key units, all you need to do is obtain one of those and turn it golden. In that way, you will get a massive tempo and sustain boost in mid-game as well as a great setup for the late-game phase. The trick is not to be too greedy and wait for the right unit to use Gonna be rich on – and once you do, the Battlegrounds will be yours. Just think about it – for all sorts of comps, there is at least 1 or 2 key minions. With Reno’s power, you instatly turn those minions into golden ones, propeling your composition and increasing your tempo.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Xyrella

Xyrella
Set the light (2): Choose a minion in the Tavern. Set its stats to 2 and add it to your hand.

Although Set the Light ability doesn’t seem too strong, it is really a great way to start the game and will provide you with enough sustain in early phases. It is a good economy boost and works great with certain buy-sell-buy builds such as Murloc or Elemental builds. The stat debuff that you get is not important since you won’t be getting your main stat minions in this way – just the support and economy ones. Xyrella works really well with Mechs as well, ever since season 4 and Magnetization changes that have been made.

Preferable Minion type: Murloc, Elemental, Demon, Mech
Minion type to avoid: Naga, Beast

Patches the Pirate

Patches the Pirate
Pirate Parrrrty: Get a Pirate. Your next Hero Power costs (1) less

Arguably, the best Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero for Pirates build is Patches the Pirate. Its innate ability works great from the early game until the very end – in the beginning, you will be saving tons of gold on surviving mid-game. Later on, you will be able to utilize and synchronize its power with other high-tier Pirate units. It can be so broken that we played games in which we simply didn’t have enough time to spend all the gold in the later stages of the game.

Preferable Minion type: Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Sir Finley Mrrgglton

Sir finley mrrgglton
Adventure!: At the start of the game, discover a new Hero Power

Think of it like this – you can choose between powers that other players thought to be good. That’s exactly what “Adventure!” means – usually, you will get 3 useful powers in the beginning and you can choose from one of those. This is why we put Sir Finley Mrrgglton in the S-tier of our list of Hearthstone Battlegrounds heroes – simply the amount of advantage that you will get from his power is priceless. There are no useful comments that we can share about this hero because the whole gameplay depends entirely on the Hero Power that you discover.

Preferable Minion type: Depends on the chosen power
Minion type to avoid: Depends on the chosen power

The Lich King

The Lich King
Reborn Rites: Give a minion Reborn until next turn

The Lich King really lives up to its WC3 Lore – it is insanely good in almost any build. It’s Reborn Rites, the power that gives a reborn to a chosen minion, is strong throughout the whole game – from early on until the final stage. In the early phases of the game, it will keep you from losing armor in low-tier fights – simply cast it on a Deathrattle minion and you will probably win the clash. In mid-game, depending on the build, it can be used for either boosting forces through Deathrattle effects (Quilboar, Undead) or providing tempo and sustain (Beast). If all else fails, in the end phase of the game you can simply use it on Leeroy – and kill two enemy minions without breaking a sweat. Simply amazing!

Preferable Minion type: Undead, Beast, Quilboar
Minion type to avoid: Pirate, Dragon, Elemental

Chenvaala

Chenvaala
Avalanche: After you play 3 Elementals, reduce the Cost of upgrading the Tavern by (3).

Cheenvala is all about the mid-game tempo – this hero scales really quickly with just a bit of luck. His Avalanche power will allow you to save gold and it’s advisable that you don’t spend more than a few coins on Tier upgrades after Tier 3. This should be a problem, especially if you manage to obtain Refreshing Anomaly early on. Actually, it’s safe to say that utilizing Nomi, the Kitchen Nightmare is only possible with this Hearthstone Battlegrounds hero. Needless to say, because of all the saved gold on Tier upgrades, Cheenvala is also perfect for Tier 7 games as you will be able to reach it before anyone else can. You don’t even need to play Elementals for her power to be good – just switch to whatever comp you want after you power-leveled to tier 5.

Preferable Minion type: Elemental, Tier 7
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Galakrond

Galakrond HS BG hero
Galakrond’s Greed: Choose a minion in the Tavern. Discover a higher Tier minion to replace it.

The trick with Galakrond’s Greed is exactly what the name of this power implies – not to get too greedy. With that in mind, it’s totally fine if you do the “greed” move in the beginning. Here is how it works: Buy a spell, use the power and freeze. On turn 2 use the power again and buy a minion other than the tier 3 one (unless it’s a key minion that you want to go for, like Living Azerite). On turn 3 upgrade, use the power and freeze again. Do that for two more times and soon you will have a tier 6 minion available without sacrificing too much tempo. The rest of the game depends on what you got – just keep in mind that you need minions to survive and you can’t just always look for high tier ones.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Thorim, Stormlord

Thorim Stormlord hero card
Choose Your Champion: At the start of the game, Discover a Tier 7 minion to get after you spend 65 Gold.

The newly added hero in Season 5 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds Thorim, Stormlord is a good choice for picking. The reason – well after 10 turns or 65 gold spent, you can discover a Tier 7 minion. This can actually be done much sooner if you utilize economy minions or are running a Pirate squad. The problem that was seen at the beginning of Season 5 was the fact that players simply got too confident and ended up getting the Tier 7 minion without any support units. Tier 7 units are powerful – but you still need to build and synchronize your army. To sum it up – play strong mid-game, get enough tempo, wait for your Tier 7 minion boost, and then make your build around it.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Queen Aszhara

Queen Aszhara card hearthstone battlegrounds hero
Azhara’s Ambition: When your warband reaches 25 total Attack, begin your Naga Conquest (discover a Naga minion each turn for 1 gold)

Queen Aszhara is arguably the best Hero choice for any Naga build. Its power Aszhara’s Ambition will allow you to discover key minions on Tier 3 and Tier 4 if you can build up your army before that. A common mistake is to refresh and gather Naga minions before you reach 25 Total Attack – don’t do that! You will easily collect the most important cards for the Naga Blue Shellemental build once Azhara’s power has been activated. Simply buy the strongest minions that you can and wait for the army to be buffed enough so that the power activates.

Preferable Minion type: Naga
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Sire Denathrius

Sire Denathrius
Whodunit?: At the start of the game, choose one of two Quests.

To put it in simple words – most quests are better than most hero powers. That’s why Sir Denathrius is in our S-tier of Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes. One might argue that you can also get a useless quest – while this might be the case, most of them are still good. Choosing the right quest is of the utmost importance – check the minion types in play. See which quest aligns with which build. Take the quest that aligns with at least one (preferably more) build and is not too hard to obtain. Keep in mind the anomaly in play and how it will synchronize with the quest.

Preferable Minion type: Depends on the Quest
Minion type to avoid: Depends on the Quest

Teron Gorefiend

Teron Gorefiend
Rapid Reanimation: Choose a friendly minion. Start of Combat: Destroy it. Once you have space, resummon an exact copy.

Teron is a perfect hero choice for any kind of Deathrattle build. As you can see, its Rapid Reanimation basically allows you to get one free Deathrattle effect at the beginning of the turn. The possibilities are endless – boosting Undead forces, making meme builds with Recurring Nightmare, triggering Deathrattle: Summon on Beast builds – it all works perfectly with Teron.

Preferable Minion type: Undead, Quilboar, Beast
Minion type to avoid: Naga, Dragon, Elemental

A Tier – Very Efficient in Most Situations

Al’Akir the Windlord

Alakir hero
Swatting Insects: Give your left-most minion Windfury, Divine Shield, and Taunt

Generally speaking, Al’Akir is good all around. His Swatting Insects do offer a lot of survivability early on and a good tempo boost through mid-game. Be sure to use a proper minion on your far left side as his power will also affect that minion. A good option for a late mid-game push is Mannoroth if you can get your hands on it – he will probably instantly one-shot one of the minions, take its stats, and hit again but this time buffed up.

Preferable Minion type: Demon, Pirate, Dragon
Minion type to avoid: Beast, Murloc, Mech

Kurtrus Ashfallen

Kurtus AShenfall
Glaive Richochet: Once per turn, after you buy 3 minions, get a plain copy of one of them

Ashenfalen’s innate ability Glaive Richochet has been buffed up in season 5 – and it was strong even before that. Three times in a game, after you buy 3 minions, you will get a plain copy of one of them. This doesn’t sound like much but if you are playing any kind of economy build (like Pirate or Mech), the ability is really useful. Glaive Richochet should provide enough sustain and tempo in mid-game so this is why we put Ashenfalen in the upper bracket of our Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes tier list.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Enhance-o-Mechano

Enhance-o Mechano
Enchancification (Passive): After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern Taunt, Windfury, Reborn, or Divine Shield.

We love Enhance-o Mechano. His Hero Power works fine with every build, but you will have to play Mechs to get the most out of it. The main idea is for Magnetize minions in Tavern to get the Hero Power buff, and then attach it to your Mechs. This can give your most powerful Mechs Reborn, Divine Shield, and Windfury. Something that would otherwise be impossible. This can enhance your Mech army to astronomical levels.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, fine with everything else
Minion type to avoid: None

Silas Darkmoon

Silas Darkmoon
Come on, come all: Get 3 minions with Darkmoon token to Discover a minion of your Tier

Silas Darkmoon offers an ability that does seem pretty random – discovering a minion of your Tavern Tier doesn’t necessarily provide any kind of boost to your armies. However, since you can do it so often (basically every two or three turns) things change in Silase’s favor – the early mid-game advantage that Come on, Come All ability provides is really impactful.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Ini Stormcoil

Ini Stormcoil
Tinker (Passive): After 10 friendly minions die, get a random Mech.

Ini is a Mech specialist. You will have to play Mechs, but you will also need to optimize your build in the early-mid game for the Hero Power to work. This means you can also utilize some Beasts in order to trigger the Hero Power much earlier. Think of them as temporary generators of Mechs. Once you reach later stages, you can slowly transition more and more into full Mech build and this Hero Power will aid you in that path. Getting free Magnetize minions almost every turn is very powerful when playing Mechs.

Preferable Minion type: Mech
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

E.T.C., Band Manager

E.T.C., Band Manager
Sign a New Artist (3): Discover a Buddy. (Unlocks at Tier 2.)

Perhaps one of the most interesting Hero Powers in the game. This special ability effectively brings back the beloved Buddies into your arsenal. When playing with E.T.C., you will find yourself having a unique board each time, because there are a ton of interactions between all the possible Buddies and minions you can get. Moreover, you will more than likely get an advantage early on, since Buddies tend to be more powerful than regular cards in this stage of the game. Overall, we find E.T.C. a must-pick, just for the sheer fun of playing and experimenting with Buddies.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Cookie the Cook

Cookie the Cook
Stir the Pot: Throw a minion in your pot. When you’ve gathered 3, Discover from their types

Cookie’s “Stir the Pot” power is really cute – and extremely useful with certain builds that have difficulties getting the right cards (such as Naga). Be advised, you don’t need any minions from Tier 1 or Tier 2 so don’t wait for your preferred minion type to appear – throw whatever resides in the Tavern into the pot in order to get a boost early on. Later you can choose the minions as you will have more chances to refresh the Tavern.

Preferable Minion type: Murloc, Naga, Beast
Minion type to avoid: Undead, Elemental

Zephrys, the Great

zephrys the great
Three Wishes (3): If you have two copies of a minion, find the third. (3 left!)

If you find yourself in frustrating situations where you can’t get the third copy of a card in order to make it golden, this is where Zephrys shines. It is a Hero Power that is useful in every game and can seriously win the match for you. We all know how important is to get that 3rd copy and make a key minion golden. In some games you can just lose because you can’t find the third card, this Hero Power mitigates that risk and gives you the ability to instantly get the third card. Overall, a very useful Hero Power that is good for all types of builds.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Tickatus

Tickatus
Prize Wall: Every 4 turns, Discover a Darkmoon Prize.

Everything about Darkmoon prizes is considered to be a heavy RNG element of the game. However, considering other Battlegrounds Hero’s powers, this one (usually) works really well. The trick is to survive long enough so that the Darkmoon prizes that you get become really strong and game-changing. With that in mind, choose carefully what kind of strategy you are going for since early Darkmnoon prizes won’t provide much tempo in the game.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End

Yogg Saron Hope's End Hero card
Puzzle Box: Steal a random minion from the Tavern. Give it +1/+1

Well, if this was a tier list of the coolest Hero’s names, Yogg-Saron, Hopes End would surely be in the S tier. However, his power does have its limits so that’s why we decided to put him in the A Tier. In short terms it is extremely good – but only early on. If you are going with a strategy that relies on heavy mid-game defense, this Hero is the way to go.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Vol’jin

vol'jin
Spirit Swap (0): Choose two minions. Swap their stats.

This Hero Power is always useful and in our opinion, very powerful. Swapping stats with Nagas means that your minions get to keep the stats from Spellcraft when swapped. Also, there are many powerful minions like Niuzao, and Obsidian Ravager that can almost solo win you the game once you swap stats with them. Builds that have a lot of stats work well with this Hero Power, since you can just swap it on a more scalable minion later on.

Preferable Minion type: Elementals, Nagas, Demons, Scaling Minions
Minion type to avoid: Beasts, Quilboars, Murlocs

Overlord Saurfang

Overlord Saurfang
For The Horde: Give a minion in the Tavern + /+ (upgrades each turn)

If you are looking for an angry Orc to boost your forces in terms of stats (mostly attack), Overlord Saurfang is a good choice for that. As you can guess, this kind of advantage doesn’t sit well with all sorts of strategies – Undead and Beast for example. However, if you are going with anything with Divine Shield, For the Horde works like a charm – providing mid and late-game tempo and is overall a very decent power.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Dragon, Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Beast, Undead

King Mukla

King-mukla
Bananarama: At the start of your turn, get 2 Bananas and give everyone else one.

King Mukla has a very similar usability to Overlord Saurfang – his Bannanarama ability is great at boosting stats early on. This comes especially handy with builds that have difficulties with stats – such as Dragon or Mech builds. Feel free to use Bananrama whenever you can because your opponents are getting stat boosts but not as nearly as you are. Overall, King Muckla is a very decent hero which should at least keep you from finishing in the lower bracket of the Battlegrounds.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Dragon, Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Beast

Ysera

Ysera
Dream Portal: The Tavern offers an extra Dragon whenever it is Refreshed

There aren’t many Battlegrounds Heroes that offer good support for Dragons but Ysera is the one if you choose to go for Dragon Battlecry build. Her Dream Portal ability will at least give you an advantage when it comes to amassing Dragons – and this will be particularly useful later on. A word of advice here – many players get complacent by going for Triples early on in the game, during the Tier 2 and Tier 3 phases. Do not do this – your key units are on a higher Tier, push on during the mid-game and amass higher-tier dragons later.

Preferable Minion type: Dragon
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Illidan Stormrage

Ilidan Stormrage
Wingman: Your left and right-most minions gain +2/+1 and attack immediately

Illidan Stormrage might not be a perfect real-life wingman (although that would be fun to see, am I right?), but his Wingman ability in Battlegrounds is good all around. Why you might ask – well, first of all, you will win the first 4 turns for sure, providing that you don’t mess up with refreshing early on. Secondly, for certain builds such as Pirate Cleave build, dealing massive damage early on is of the utmost importance – and Ilidan’s Wingman ability will provide that. Just stay out of Mechs as his power doesn’t really sit well with the Deflect-o-Bot strategy.

Preferable Minion type: Dragon, Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Mech

A. F. Kay

Afkay
Procrastinate: Skip your first two turns. Start with two minions from Tier 3.

Afking in a multi-player game is always annoying – but with A.F.Key Hero, it actually works to your benefit. Although you skip the first two turns and basically start with around 13 armor instead of 18, the Procrastinate ability is worth it since you get two Tier 3 minions on turn 3. You can upgrade and perhaps get another minion (if there’s an economy one in the Tavern) or use a Battlecry minion after that. With this, your early game tempo will be high as you will get an advantage over other players.

Preferable Minion type: All
Minion type to avoid: None

Aranna Starseeker

Arana Starseeker
Demon Hunter Training: After 14 friendly minions attack, the first minion you buy each turn is free

Aranna Starseeker’s ability has been changed in season 4 of Battlegrounds and it is rather useful now. Demon Hunter Training power will be triggered usually around turn 7 although you can activate it earlier by playing Mech or Beast Deathrattle: Summon minions. If you manage to get it early on, this will be a great way to save up on gold and upgrade faster as well as provide additional tempo in mid-game.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Beast
Minion type to avoid: None

Lich Baz’hial

Lich Bazhial
Graveyard Shift: Steal a minion from the Tavern. Take damage equal to its Tier.

It might not be as good as the Lich King but Lich Bazh’hial is still a pretty decent choice for a Battlegrounds Hero. Its unique Graveyard Shift ability allows you to get a free minion – for a cost of a few hitpoints. The preferred way to play it is by going for a Demon Hearthstone Battlegrounds build – nothing else can really compare to it. The ability to protect yourself from the damage that you take is what will allow you to get a free minion in almost every turn thus making your tempo insanely quick early on.

Preferable Minion type: Demon
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Heistbaron Togwagle

Heistbarron - togglewagle
The perfect crime (10): Steal all minions from the Tavern. Each turn, your next Hero Power costs (1) less

It’s not a perfect crime. Not by a long shot: Haistbaron Togwagle is not a good hero. Think of it like this: once or twice a game you will get few extra coins. That’s what it does essentially as you won’t be able to use it anyway until turn 5. That’s the only usability of this power and perhaps it will be good once more when you are on a higher Tier. And you know, the other players have various stat boosts, tempo boosts, card drawing effects and you get this.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Doctor Holli’dae

Doctor Holl'dae HS BG

Blessing of the Nine Frogs (1): Get a random Tavern Spell

Doctor Holl’dae has been reworked several times now – he even broke the game in the begining of season 6! Now, his power is just fun – I mean you get a random spell so there is no good advice on how to use his power since it’s completely random. If you are lucky, you might get good value; if not, well then you will be casting random arrows throught the game. Good luck!

Preferable Minion type: Dragon, Elemental
Minion type to avoid: none

Trade Prince Gallywix

Trade Princ Gallyvix card hearthstone
Smart Savings: After you sell a minion, get 1 extra Gold next turn

Trade Princ Gallywix is all about the economy – buy and sell until you win the game, that’s how you need to play it. Naturally, the builds that rely on this type of mechanics are perfect for Gallywix, especially Murloc and Pirate units. It is also very easy to play as you simply need to buy and sell economy minions in order to grow – just watch out not to get too much into trade and forget about your tempo, you still need to fight the opponents in every round.

Preferable Minion type: Elemental, Pirate, Murloc
Minion type to avoid: Naga, Mech

Captain Eudora

Captain Eudora
Buried Treasure: Dig for a Golden minion!

In our personal opinion, this is the worst Hero in the Hearthstone Battlegrounds. Buried Treasure is buried but it’s probably not treasure – because you will get a random golden minion. It will cost you 5 gold and not only that, you will have to spend one in every turn, completely disrupting your opening tempo. And you know, there are many minions in Hearthstone – probably the one which gets won’t be the one which you need unless you are insanely lucky. Avoid at all costs!

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

B Tier – Battlegrounds Average Joes

Millificent Manastorm

Millificent Manastorm
Tinker: Whenever you summon a Mech, give it +2 Attack.

There isn’t too much to be said about this Hero Power. It basically means that you have to play Mechs all the way. The basic idea of this Hero Power is that your Magnetize Mechs will also be stronger. The Attack Power can stack up pretty quickly and you will gain momentum because of this, something Mechs usually lack. Buying a Divine Shield mech and casting a Magnetize minion on it can provide you with enough firepower to save yourself from the vulnerable midgame Mech builds tend to have.

Preferable Minion type: Mech
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Galewing

galewing
Dungar’s Gryphon (0): Choose a new Flightpath. Complete it to get a bonus!

We are not a fan of this Hero Power. It really doesn’t affect any stage of the game that much, sure Tavern cost discount is always welcome, but the fact that you need to wait so long for thr “flight” to be complete is not ideal, especially because the rewards from it aren’t really worth it. Overall, this Hero works fine with every build and will probably give you a bit of a boost, but it not anything game-changing.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Death Speaker Blackthorn

Death Speaker Blackthorn
Bloodbound (1): Get 2 Blood Gems. (Twice Per Turn)

This is one of the Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heros that takes care of one big problem that Quilboars face in the current meta, and that is generating Blood Gems. Having 4 Blood Gems for 2 Gold at every turn allows you to ditch some of your weak Quillboars later on, and replace them with something like Niuzao. You don’t have to rely on your Quillboars generating Blood Gems, instead, you can buy and scale very powerful minions, while buffing the Blood Gems with your Quillboars.

Preferable Minion type: Quilboar + Scaling Minions with Cleave and similar effects.
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Murloc Holmes

Murloc holmes
Detective for hire: Look at 2 minions. Guess which one your next opponent had last combat for a Coin.

So you get one gold if you guess right, once per turn. That’s it, that’s what this Murloc detective does – gives you a small economic boost. This is why he is at the bottom of our Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes tier list. The economy boost is simply not high enough and it’s not even reliable – sure, it will be easy to guess which minion a player has early on because you can scout the player – but later, it won’t be so easy because several minions of the same type might appear. Long story short – it’s a cheap murloc, don’t take it.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Mutanus the Devourer

Mutanus the Devourer
Devour: Remove a friendly minion. Spit its stats onto another. Get 1 Gold.

Devouring Murloc sounds really like something that you would like to stay out of. However, in certain scenarios and with the right anomaly, there are ways to utilize his Devour ability. In all other scenarios, his ability is good only when in transition between the early minions and the desired build – it’s a good way to save stats on previously used minions.

Preferable Minion type: Demon
Minion type to avoid: Beast, Undead

Scabbs Cutterbutter

scabbs-cutterbutter
I Spy (2): Discover a plain copy of a minion from your next opponent’s warband.

This is the type of Hero Power that you will need to adapt to the situation in the game if you want to maximize its potential. It goes with the following logic: If the enemy is playing the same type of Minion as you, you can then Discover their minion and further your build. Also, you can later snatch opponents Tier 7 minions which can really change up your build and playstyle.

Preferable Minion type: What your opponent is playing
Minion type to avoid: What your opponent isn’t playing

Forest Warden Omu

forest warden hs
Everbloom (Passive): After you upgrade the Tavern, gain 2 Gold.

The Everblood Hero Power is all about one thing, momentum. Upgrading Taverns now rewards you with 2 Gold, so you will have to calculate and decide on what the optimal path is. While it’s not very powerful, it provides you with a safety net of getting a few extra Gold throughout the game, which can be really helpful when you’re trying to gain an edge over your opponent.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Greybough

greybough
Sprout It Out! (Passive): Give +1/+2 and Taunt to minions you summon during combat.

Greybough is a Hero that is a synonym for Beasts. The stats it gives to summoned minions are a great way to gain momentum over your opponents by buying minions that summon other minions. Later on, your Taunt will help you ensure your key minions are kept alive by forcing your enemies to only attack the summoned ones. This is essential for this type of playstyle.

Preferable Minion type: Beasts, Mechs
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Ozumat

ozumat
Tentacular (Passive): Start of Combat: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle with Taunt. (Gains +1/+1 after you sell a minion!)

We honestly don’t know how to feel about Tentacular Hero Power. It no doubt provides you with an early-game edge, but later on, you will really need to sell a lot of minions in order for the Tentacle to have decent stats. This can be done with Pirates and Elementals, but even then, you will probably have a 20/20 Taunt minion that takes up space and isn’t something that can win you the game.

Preferable Minion type: Elementals, Pirates (Works fine with everything else)
Minion type to avoid: None

Professor Putricide

Professor Putricide
Build-an-Undead (4): Craft a custom Undead. (3 Creations left!)

This Hero Power is one of the more interesting ones since it uses minions from the Standard Hearthstone rotation, this means you will see minions that don’t exist in regular Hearthstone Battlegrounds. You basically craft an Undead with the combination of those three minions and their effects and keywords like Reborn, Taunt,…In theory, this can be powerful, in reality, you will probably get a decent Undead with some stats and won’t be able to scale well into the later stages of the game.

Preferable Minion type: Undead
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

The Great Akazamzarak

The Great Akazamzarak
Prestidigitation (1): Discover a Secret. Put it into the battlefield.

Secrets are fun and annoying at the same time, and this special Hero has the ability to cast one each turn. There are many interesting Secrets that can help you in the Battlefield, like summoning a 2/3 Venomous Snake or reviving your Minion. The most notable Secret is, of course, Ice Block, which prevents lethal damage. Overall, we find this Hero Power pretty situational and not that impactful on the larger scale of the game. It may prevent you from losing some battles, but it can’t do anything for your build.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Arch-Villain Rafaam

Arch-Villain Rafaam
I’ll Take That! (1): Next combat, get a plain copy of the first minion you kill.

It’s the same as every variation of the ability, it would be optimal if your opponent has the same type of minions as you, so that the free minion you get will actually be useful and a part of your build. Nevertheless, it is still pretty good given the fact that you get a random minion for 1 Gold after every battle. This will help you in all phases of the game, and you might get lucky and snatch a valuable minion that goes well with your current build.

Preferable Minion type: What your opponent is playing
Minion type to avoid: What your opponent isn’t playing

Millhouse Manastorm

Millhouse Manastorm
Manastorm (Passive): Minions and Refreshes cost 2 Gold. Upgrading the Tavern costs (1) more.

Millhouse’s Hero Power is an all-time classic. It basically forces you to just buy a lot of minions and the type of build you will have heavily depends on the initial Tavern minions you get each turn, since Refresh costs 2 Gold and is very inefficient to use, especially in the early stages of the game. This Hero Power can “take you” to very powerful builds, and horrible ones too. Nevertheless, we find Milhouse’s gameplay unique compared to others since it changes how you play the game at the core level.

Preferable Minion type: Buy minions that give you Gold and Discover.
Minion type to avoid: None

Queen Wagtoggle

Queen Wagtoggle
Wax Warband (Passive): Start of Combat: Give a friendly minion of each type stats equal to its Tier.

Before the Season 5 Battlegrounds Update, we would tell you that this worst in the game Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes, but now, it’s maybe not so bad. With the introduction of new mixed minions, as well as overall buffing of the mixed-type builds, the Hero Power starts to make much more sense. Do know that you will have to improvise a lot and depending on the Anomaly, and the Types of minions in the game, you will have some different choices. Aim to take one of the most powerful minions of each class that have abilities like cleave, Divine Shield, etc.

Preferable Minion type: Mixed Types
Minion type to avoid: One Type build

Alexstrasza

Alexstrasza
Queen of Dragons (Passive): After you upgrade the Tavern to Tier 5, Discover two Dragons of any Tier.

Dragons in Season 7 are in an…interesting place, to put it lightly. There are no clearcut builds and the key minions seem to be lackluster. This Hero, obviously, depends on how Dragons are doing in the current meta. Right now, they are not in a good place, but you can make them work. Our favorite part of the Dragon build (and maybe the only reliable one) so far has to be Poet, which can provide great tempo in mid game. Getting there would be hard and would also require the Tier 7 Anomaly to be in the game.

Preferable Minion type: Dragons
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Fungalmancer Flurgl

Fungalmancer Flurgl
Gone Fishing! (Passive): After you sell 5 minions, get a random Murloc. (5 left.)

Mrgrlgrlgrlg! Buy murlocs, sell murlocs, play murlocs, get murlocs. This fat, slimy Murloc has a very useful Hero Power that synergizes with the type of playstyle Murlocs have. You will naturally get a lot of “waste” of Murlocs later on, and having this ability can give you more momentum into optimizing your build. It’s a classic and straightforward Hero that gives you a further arsenal to play the Murlocs the right way. And given that Murlocs have always been in a great place in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, this Hero can’t be looked over.

Preferable Minion type: Murlocs
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Lady Vashj

Lady Vashj
Relics of the deep (1): Discover a Spellcraft spell of your Tier or lower. Its effect is permanent.

Let’s get one thing out of this way, even though this “feels” like a Naga Hero, it actually works well with all other minion types. For example, you can cast Stealth Mama Bear, Divine Shield on any minion, Taunt on certain minions to make your build work, etc. While we know that Deep Blue is essential to Nagas and you would preferably want to play Naga build (stacking up Deep Blue) with this Hero, it can really work with anything else since the Spellcraft is permanent.

Preferable Minion type: Preferably Naga, Can work with everything else
Minion type to avoid: None

Dinotamer Brann

Dinotamer Brann
Battle Brand (Passive): After you buy 5 Battlecry minions, get ‘Brann Bronzebeard’. (Once per game.)

Brann Bronzebeard, as we all know, is the king of Battlecry minions. So the best thing to do here is to get Brann and get Battlecry minions that do anything you would see useful in the given situation. This can be anything from Discovering minions, gaining Gold, or gaining Stats. Depends on what types are in play and how lucky are you to get a good combo. You really have to think here, since there are a lot of paths to go with the Battlecry builds.

Preferable Minion type: Battlecry Minions
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

N’Zoth

N'Zoth
Avatar of N’Zoth (Passive): Start the game with a 2/2 Fish that gains all your Deathrattles in combat.

This smelly Deathrattle fish is very powerful when combined with other Deathrattle minions. While it’s a good minion for a typical Beast, build, there are a lot of other types of builds where Avatar of N’Zoth is useful. Keep in mind that Elementals, Quillboars, and Undeads have very good Deathrattle minions that can give you permanent stats. Utilizing this Hero Power to further collect the benefits of stat-gaining Deathrattles is where this ability shines the most.

Preferable Minion type: Beasts, Elementals, Undead, Quillboar
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

The Curator

The curator
Managerist: Start the game with a 2/2 Amalgam with Venomous and all minion types.

You get one minion that has Venom. That’s it, that’s what this power does. All the other Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes will be boosting their forces in various ways and if you choose the Curator you will get one Amalgam with Venom. I mean there’s not much to explain here, it’s simply not strong enough.

Preferable Minion type: Mech
Minion type to avoid: None

Lord Jaraxxus

lord jaraxxus
Bloodfury (1): Choose a friendly Demon. It consumes a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.

The one and only, Lord Jaraxxus specializes in, you guessed it, Demon builds. The main idea is to stack up stats for minions in the Tavern, in any way possible. You will then have the ability to Consume those minions (a Demon mechanic) and gain their stats. While this Hero Power isn’t that good, it will provide you with some stats that can make or break the midgame. Nevertheless, we find that in most situations, this ability is just average at best and won’t provide you with an actual winning condition.

Preferable Minion type: Demons
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Edwin VanCleef

Edwin VanCleef
Sharpen Blades: Give a minion +1/+1. Upgrades after you buy 4 minions. (4 left!)

Sharpen Blades ability only actually works when you play something like Pirates or Elementals. The basic idea is when you buy a ton of minions, this Hero Power can stack up to be +15/+15 or more. The best way to achieve this is by playing Pirates. Once you get the stats up, you can then get a powerful scaling minion and spam this Hero Power on it. The key thing to have is a lot of gold and momentum with the Pirate build, otherwise, you will just fall behind and the stats you get from the Hero Power will be lackluster.

Preferable Minion type: Pirates, works fine with Elementals and Demons
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Cap’n Hoggarr

Cap’n Hoggarr
I’m the Cap’n Now (Passive): After you buy a Pirate, gain 1 Gold.

Yarrr! The Pirates are back in town, this time with Hoggarr, The Cap’n of Pirates apparently. His Hero Power is one of the best for Pirates, and given the fact that later on you can stack up a ton of gold with the Pirate build, this Hero Power gains a lot of value. You will see that in some scenarios, you can get up to 10+ gold in one turn by shuffling, buying, and selling Pirates, which is their usual playstyle. If you are keen on playing a Pirate build, Hoggarr is the perfect Hero for that task.

Preferable Minion type: Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Drek’Thar

drek'thar
Lead the Frostwolves (Passive): Avenge (2): Give your minions +1 Attack permanently.

This Hero Power works perfectly with summoning builds like Mechs and Beasts, but, do realize that the summoned units don’t keep their Attack the next time they are summoned. Nevertheless, the sheer Attack Power you get from your minions dying can ramp up really quickly. For example, in 2-3 turns with your little 1/1 bots dying, your minions can get 10-15 Attack permanently, which is very useful in any stage of the game.

Preferable Minion type: Mechs and Beasts
Minion type to avoid: None

C Tier – Playable Underdogs

Rokara

Rokara
Glory of Combat (Passive): After a friendly minion kills an enemy, give it +1 Attack permanently.

There isn’t really too much to be said for this Hero Power. It will provide you with a decent boost in attack regardless of what you play. The best thing to get is something that works well with a lot of attacks. That means minions with cleave, Divine Shield, etc. The main point is that you have to have those buffed minions throughout the whole game in order to reap the benefits of this ability, and that usually means some early Mechs, or minions you know you won’t sell later on.

Preferable Minion type: Scaling minions, Everything except Beasts
Minion type to avoid: Beasts

Mr. Bigglesworth

Mr. Bigglesworth
Kel’Thuzad’s Kitty (Passive): After another hero dies, Discover a minion from their Warband. It keeps enchantments.

Don’t be fooled by this little kitty, it is a very powerful Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero that can get a significant late-game advantage. This Hero Power is absolutely useless in the early-mid game, because nobody dies in that period. But once you get into the layer stages, you can pick up some extremely buffed and built-up minions later on. Remember, it keeps the enchantments from the stolen minion, so it’s not that rare to get a 100/100 Divine Shield just by “outsurviving” throughout the game.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

C’Thun

c'thun
Saturday C’Thuns! (2): At the end of the turn, give a friendly minion +1/+1. Repeat (time, times). (Upgrades each turn!)

While this Hero Power can be very good with certain Minions, especially with things that boost your “End of Turn” effects, otherwise, it really doesn’t have that much of an impact, especially because it spreads randomly and costs 2 Gold to cast. But, once you get the said minion, you can scale with your Power really well. On top of that, if you have any scaling minions that lack stats, this is the perfect scenario to take advantage of this Hero Power.

Preferable Minion type: Mechs, Pirates
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Rock Master Voone

Rock Master Voone
Upbeat Harmony (Passive): At the end of every 3 turns, get a plain copy of the leftmost card in your hand.

We are not big fans of this Hero Power. In our opinion, it’s just too slow. You will have to have a minion in your hand early on, which is not something that is preferable. On top of that, this effect is triggered every 3 turns, so you will have to wait for it too. On the other hand, if you happen to need a 3rd minion or just want to copy a powerful one, this ability can come in handy. Although, this makes it really situational and unreliable.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Maiev Shadowsong

Maiev Shadowsong
Imprison: Make a minion in the Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +2/+2.

To be honest, we think that Warcraft 3 fans will be disappointed with how weak one of their favorite characters is in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. Maiev’s Imprison ability allows you to save a bit of gold and get a small stat boost – but that’s about it. There’s no real synergy with anything else in the game and you can use it situationally but overall, this is a weak Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Onyxia

Onyxia
Broodmother: Avenge (3) Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.

One of the most powerful dragons in Warcraft doesn’t live up to his name in battlegrounds. It’s as simple as that – summoning a Whelp after three of your minions died is not something that will help you win in the Battlegrounds. Sure, it is useful in mid-game if you are running an Undead army but other than that, it simply scales miserably compared to some other Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes.

Preferable Minion type: Beast, Mech, Undead
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Nozdormu

Nozdormu
Clairvoyance (0): Your first Refresh each turn costs (0).

There isn’t really too much to be said for this Hero Power. You basically get 2 Refreshes each turn. This will help you throughout the whole game and save you a lot of money. We all know a few extra Refreshes can get you the key minion you are looking for, and with this Hero Power, you will have more chances of finding the perfect minion you need.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Captain Hooktusk

Captain Hooktusk
Trash for Treasure (0): Remove a friendly minion. Choose one of two from a Tier lower to keep.

This Hero Power is all about efficiency. It won’t do anything game-breaking, but you can get some value out of it. It essentially destroys a minion and replaces it with one of two lower-tier minions of your choice. This means that some minions that you might find lackluster can be used to find a more optimal one that goes well with your current build, even though he is a Tier one. Nevertheless, there are for sure much more powerful Hero Powers.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Y’Shaarj

y'shaarj
Embrace Your Rage (2): Start of Combat: Summon and get a minion of your Tier.

We really don’t see too much value in this Hero Power. It requires you to space for an extra minion before the battle starts. Moreover, you will more often than not just get a minion that doesn’t work well with your current build. It is perhaps solid in theory, but in practice, you just get a random minion for 2 Gold and that is not really reliable. Maybe it can be useful if you’re lucky and get a good key minion for your build, but otherwise, we don’t really see that much value in this Hero Power.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Deathwing

Deathwing
ALL Will Burn! (Passive): Start of Combat: Give ALL minions +2 Attack permanently.

Deathwing has had some changes throughout his lifetime, it was strictly for Beasts, and now Hero Power is useful for any type of build, even for Dragons (they keep the Start of Combat buff if you have the Poet). The only thing you should be looking for is to commit to having a few same minions on the board throughout the whole game because if you keep buying and selling everything, the Hero Power won’t have the chance to rack up the Attack power. Other than that, it’s a pretty straightforward ability that always comes in handy.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Malygos

Malygos
Arcane Alteration (0): Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tier. (Twice per turn.)

You can just look at this Hero Power as a helping hand for any type of build and any type of play style. The trick is to replace the higher Tier minions in the Tavern and by doing so, get the right high Tier minion for your current build. On the other hand, if you have for example two same Tier 2 minions and are looking for the third to make it golden, you can just spam the Hero Power on random Tier 2 minions in the Tavern in order to get the one you’re looking for. Overall, a relatively useful ability in all situations.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

The Rat King

The Rat King
A Tale of Kings (2): Discover a minion of a specific minion type. Swaps type each turn.

With The Rat King, you will be forced to mix and match if you want to get the full potential of his Hero Power. With this playstyle, things can take a really good turn or can be a huge disaster of a board with minions that don’t don’t work well with each other. In reality, you will probably have a hard time optimally combining everything you get from this Hero Power with your current build. Also, it’s important to note that even if you don’t want to go for a mixed build, this Hero Power can still be somewhat useful because you will get your minion type every 5 turns, which is not great, but not absolutely useless.

Preferable Minion type: Mixed Type Build
Minion type to avoid: One Type Build

Ambassador Faeilin

Ambassador Faeilin
Expedition Plan (Passive): Skip your first turn. Discover Tier 2, 4, and 6 minions to get at those Tiers.

Expedition Plan Hero Power will preset the build you’re going to play at the start of the game. This is because when you choose the Tier 2, 4, and 6 minions, you will probably pick some key minions for a certain build. It gives you a sort of a “safety net” because you have those key minions once you reach a certain Tier. The only thing to do is to just try to focus your build around those Tier 4 and Tier 6 minions that you picked and optimize for that.

Preferable Minion type: Depends on what you get from the Hero Power
Minion type to avoid: None

Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher

Taethelan Bloodwatcher
Reliquary Research: Every fourth Tavern spell you buy costs (0).

Similarly to Doctor Holl’dae, Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher was simply OP when Tavern Spell were introduced into the game. Now, with the rework of his power, his is mediocre – if you are going for some spell build, sure, he can save you some gold and you can cast more spells. Other than that, his power is really pasive and doesn’t offer much.

Preferable Minion type: Anything that uses spells
Minion type to avoid: None

Ragnaros the Firelord

Ragnaros the Firelord
Bloodbound (Passive): After you kill 25 enemy minions, get Sulfuras. (Give your most-right and most-left minions +3/+3.)

We are not fans of this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero. While it may be useful to have some extra stats, it really isn’t that good at any stage of the game. In the early game, you have nothing, since it is required of you to kill 25 enemy minions. Later, when you finally get Sulfurss, getting +3/+3 is not that great because the numbers are simply too low in order to make an impact on the later stages of the game. Plus, if you want your key minions to gain the stats, they have to be placed most left and most-right, which is not always something you would want to do.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Inge, the Iron Hymn

Inge, the Iron Hymn
Major Hymn (0): Give a minion Attack equal to your Tier. (Swaps to Health next turn!)

This Hero Power is the definition of “low risk, low reward”. What do we mean by this? Well, this ability costs 0 gold and gives you little stats, which means that the cost won’t interfere with your economy or build at all, but it will provide you with little benefits. Nevertheless, it can be good for gaining momentum in the early stages of the game and perhaps saving you from some losing battles by having those extra few stats.

Preferable Minion type: Everything, Scaling minions work well.
Minion type to avoid: None

Vanndar Stormpike

Vanndar Stormpike
Lead the Stormpikes: Avenge (2) Give your minions +1 Health permanently.

Vanndar Stormpike looks like a really cool dwarf – and its power can be useful. The main issue is that the builds that would normally cause a lot of Avange to trigger don’t really benefit much from having Health buffs (like Undead or Beast). This is the reason why Vanndar it’s in our B-tier of Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes Tier list. His power is strong but in the current meta, it simply doesn’t synchronize well.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: Naga, Dragon

D Tier – Into the Trenches We Go

Kael’thas Sunstrider

Kaelthas Sunstrider
Verdant Spheres: Every third minion you play gains +2/+2.

Verdant Spheres is the ability that provides a small buff to every third minion you buy. As you can see, this is really not something that you want to have as your Hero power – it doesn’t scale, it doesn’t offer any kind of sustain and it is simply not applicable in the Battlegrounds. With this hero, you are more prone to finish the Battlegrounds run sooner than anyone else.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Rakanishu

Rakanishu
Tavern Lighting: Give a minion stats equal to your Tier

This little Elemental is really way above his head in the Battlegrounds. His Tavern Lighting power is weak in the beginning and as it scales so does your army, ending weak in the end-phase of the game as well. There is really not much usage to it unless it triggers an effect on certain Dragon builds or to spam it on Deflect-o-bot if you are playing a Low-mech build. Avoid if you can.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Dragon
Minion type to avoid: None

Sneed

Sneed
Sneed’s Replicator: Give a minion “Deathrattle: Summon a random minion from a Tier lower.”

This techy goblin is not a good choice if you wish to win in the Battlegrounds. The reason is that its power, Sneed’s Replicator, doesn’t scale well enough and it doesn’t really sit well with any Deathrattle: Summon units. You will end up having too many Deathrattles to trigger and not enough room – and the ones that do activate will simply get obliterated by the opponent’s forces.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Tavish Stormpike

Tavish
Take Aim: Take aim! Start of Combat: Deal damage to your target.

The good news is that you don’t need to choose the right build early on. The bad news is that the reason for this is the fact that Tavish Stormpike’s power is equally bad with all sorts of strategies. It simply doesn’t deal enough damage – yes, it will provide some sustain in the beginning and you might be able to take down an opponent’s divine shield in late phases, but that’s about it.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Bru’kan

Brukan hero
Invocation: Choose an Element. Start of Combat: Call upon that Element.

Similarly to Tavish Stormpike, Bru’Kan’s Invocations are simply not powerful enough. The ones that deal damage are useful early on, as well as the ones that summon additional 1/1 Elementals. However, this falls off really quickly as the tempo of the game increases. The only usage for later phases is in taking down enemy Divine shields.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Varden Dawngrasp

Varden Dawngrasp
Twice as nice: After the Tavern is Refreshed, copy its highest-Tier minion and Freeze them both

It-is-too-expensive. Twice as Nice looks great on paper but in reality, you simply don’t have enough coins to buy all those minions. The worst thing is that with those freezes you might even get something good but you keep losing a lot of coins if you are simply trying to assemble Golden minions. Sure, sometimes you might get lucky and get your key minion doubled but other than that, Varden Dawngrasp is not worth taking.

Preferable Minion type: Pirate
Minion type to avoid: None

Tamsin Roame

Tasmin Roame
Fragrant Phylacterly: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to your other minions.

Tasmin Roame’s power Fragrant Phylacterly sounds really good but that’s about it – it has a cool name. In reality, it is not very useful unless a very specific anomaly Might of Khaz is in the game. It is simply very difficult to scale this power and buff attack but not the health of your lowest health minion, hoping that this will give a stat boost to your other minions. It has certain advantages with Beast and Undead minions but other than that, you should avoid this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero.

Preferable Minion type: Beast, Undead
Minion type to avoid: None

The Jailer

The Jailer
Runic Empowerment: Give a minion +1/+1. Upgrades after 9 friendly minions die.

The Jailer has been added just before season 4 and ever since it has been in the game, players have avoided him. The reason is simple – unless you are playing a heavy Deathrattle: Summon minions, his before does not scale fast or strong enough. You will end up giving +6/+6 in the final stages of the game, providing that you survive until then. You should avoid this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Beast
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Skycap’n Kragg

Skycapn Kragg
Piggy Bank: Gain Gold. Increases each turn.

Kraggs Piggy Bank really stands up to its name – it’s like saving for a new car by putting change in a piggy bank. Sure, it might help, but overall, the change that you put in it is not going to get you a new car – same as Piggy Bank power, it’s not going to give you enough in order to win in the Battlegrounds. Think of it like this – you get a free Tier upgrade on level 4. That’s what this power does basically. It is very situational and thus it’s advisable to avoid it if you can.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Sylvanas Windrunner

Sylvanas Windrunner
Reclaimed Souls: Give +2/+1 to your minions that died last combat.

Similarly to Cariel Roame, Sylvanas is all about stat-boosting. It works a bit differently as you need your minion to die in order to give it the buff in the next turn, but it really does provide a nice push in mid-game. This works particularly well with builds that have minions that you know will die during combat such as Mech or Undead builds. Stay our of Elementals as they don’t need this kind of a buff since their stats scale much faster and Reclaimed Souls become obsolete very early in the game.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Dragon, Pirate, Undead
Minion type to avoid: Beast, Elemental

Patchwerk

Patchwerk
All patched up: Start with 60 Health instead of 30.

Ok, we might be a bit biased here because I am still tilted from the last game which I lost with Patchwork. And I might have decided to write this list after I lost that game just so that I could put Patchwork in D Tier. Now let’s be serious – he might not deserve the place in D Tier but he is not much higher anyway – you simply don’t get any power. You are just fatter and you know, same as in Warcraft 3, those Abominations get eaten eventually by stronger units. The same usually happens with Pudge, I mean Patchwerk – you just have more health so you know, it’s going to take longer for the opponent to take you down.

Preferable Minion type:
Minion type to avoid:

Dancin’ Deryl

Dancing Derryl
Hat-trick: When you buy a minion, give it a +1/+1 hat that passes to a friendly minion when sold.

A Hat-trick in a Murloc clown world! That’s what Dancin’ Deryl power is – but hey, what more can you expect from a dancing Murloc with a wizard hat and a stick? His power is a joke unless you are on Tier 6 and have all your Pirates upgraded and now you are just buying and selling, trying to burn down through the insane amount of gold that you have. But then again, if that’s the case, his power won’t win you the game won’t it – you probably did it all by yourself before his power kicked in.

Preferable Minion type: Pirate, Murloc
Minion type to avoid: Everything else

Jandice Barov

Jandice Barov
Swap, Lock and Shop it: Swap a friendly non-Golden minion with a random one in the Tavern.

Ocasinally Jandice Barov can be a good hero. However, since this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Tier list is based on the overall probability of emerging victorious, we can say that in most cases its power Swap Lock and Shop is not very useful. There are two ways in which you can use this power – you can utilize certain economy minions to yield more coins in a turn or you can utilize Battlecries. Keep in mind that its power doesn’t trigger a Battlecry – but you can always swap the Battlecry minion at the beginning of the turn, buy it again, and keep it just so that you can repeat the same thing next time.

Preferable Minion type: Dragon, Quilboar
Minion type to avoid:

Elise Starseeker

Elise Starseeker
Lead Explorer: Discover a minion from your Tier. Costs (1) more after each use

The main issue with Lead Explorer Hearthstone Hero Power is that it just means that you get two or possibly three extra minions during the game. It is a good gold burn strategy if you don’t have any economy minions on turn 3 and it is useful in some situations during mid-game, but overall it doesn’t really provide much. As the power is totally random (you get a random minion from your current Tier) you can’t really rely on it and thus is kind of worthless.

Preferable Minion type: Tier 7 game
Minion type to avoid: None

Lord Barov

Lord Barov
Friendly Wager (1): Guess which player will win their next combat. If you’re correct, get 3 Gold Coins.

This Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero is one of those in which you need to pray to RNG gods in order for his power to work. Sure, sometimes you can guess which player will win – but when you don’t, you lose 1 gold. This is just horrendous for mid-game tempo and that’s why we are putting Mr. Barov in this Tier.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Pyramad

Pyramad
Brick by Brick: Give a minion + Health. (Gains +1 Health each turn you don’t use this!)

If you choose Pyramid as your Battlegrounds Hero, you will get the chance to use its unique ability Brick By Brick. Furthermore, you will be able to experience how brick by brick your whole build falls apart as this power has no momentum whatsoever! You can’t use it early on as you need to save it in order to upgrade it. You can use it later and it won’t do anything as just one of your minions will receive a small buff in terms of its defensive capabilities. It’s just horrendous, avoid it.

Preferable Minion type: None
Minion type to avoid: None

Sindragosa

Sindragosa
Stay Frosty: Freeze a minion in the Tavern. Passive: At the end of your turn, Frozen minions get +2/+1.

Sindragosa’s ability is pretty underwhelming. The main issue is that the +2/+1 stat gain isn’t really something that can have much impact on the game. Sure, early on you can pull off some plays that get you higher stat minions compared to your opponents, but later on, this ability just scales horribly. One thing that is useful is when you have a minion you want to buy at the end of the turn, you can just freeze it, instead of freezing the whole Tavern, this will essentially get you a free Refresh since the rest of the Tavern won’t be frozen. While this is a benefit, it won’t have much impact on the game and we find Sindragosa a bit underpowered.

Preferable Minion type: Everything
Minion type to avoid: None

Cariel Roame

Cariel Roame
Conviction: Give friendly minions + /+ (upgrades on each Tier)

Having a nice stat boost is always a safe choice when it comes to Battlegrounds powers. Conviction will provide just that – you will be able to upgrade it as you upgrade your Tavern Tier. As you might assume, going for a build that is stat-deprived is a good choice as you will be able to boost your minions by using Cariel’s innate ability Conviction.

Preferable Minion type: Mech, Dragon, Pirate
Minion type to avoid: Beast, Murloc

Guff Runetotem

Guff Runetotem
Natural Balance(2): Give a friendly minion of each Tier +2/+2.

This is a Tauran that sells plants and likes fat frogs. No, we are not joking, really, take a look at Guff Runetotem lore – just based on that you get the feel of how strong his abilities are. Natural Balance can be useful only in certain situations in which you have your Dragon Build nicely lined up since most of the key minions are on different Tier levels. You will be able to give a decent stat boost for your minions but at the cost of two gold. In most of the other situations, spending 2 coins for this is just a waste of money.

Preferable Minion type: Dragon
Minion type to avoid: None

Photo credits: Blizzard Entertainment


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