Since we have spoken about the best Beast builds in Hearthstone Battlegrounds guide, here we will focus on each minion separately. The tricky part with beasts is that, unlike some other tribes like Demons, not all units have a clear synergy with one another. There are two ways to play Beasts but Season 9 has been all about Beetles so far. We will go over all the new minions and explain how they work in detail.
Tier 1 Beast Minions
Manasaber
Manasaber is a niche tier 1 Beast minion. Getting him on turn 1 is not really the best idea because, although he does have high attack, his Deathrattle won’t do anything on it’s own. It’s fine to get him later on, if you have Humming Bird or need summons for other reasons but on turn 1, you should skip him. Manasaber has it’s uses in early game but generally speaking, this minion is not to be used and sold after few turns since his potential is not high.
Buzzing Vermin
Buzzing Vermin is a new minion in Season 9 of HS BG. It summons a Beetle and it is good to use through the game, mostly because of it’s Taunt ability. The thing is, on it’s own, this minion won’t do much later on but if you commit yourself to a full beetle comp, it can become pretty strong.
Tier 2 Beast Minions
Humming Bird
Another niche Beast minion is the Humming Bird. Although its card text doesn’t seem so strong, early on he is really a force to be reckoned with. The trick is to have either Buzzing Vermin, Manasaber, and perhaps a cheap Taunt Tavern Spell on one of them. In this way, all your summons will have an additional 2 attack buff which is really powerful early on. Just be sure to organize your board in a way that all your summons happen first and Humming Bird dies last if possible.
Hungry Snapjaw
Hungry Snapjaw is a returning minion to Battlegrounds and not really a good one honestly. Sure, it can provide some tempo in the beginning but after a while, it falls off as it doesn’t really work with the rest of the beast tribe. Getting +1 Health is nice but usually, this minion ends up being 5/15 and sold off somewhere around turn 8.
Tier 3 Beast Minions
Monstrous Macaw
Monstrous Macaw, although a tier 3 minion, is actually a late-game unit. You don’t really need him early on except for some niche Deathrattle effects; however, later, combined with Titus, Rylak, and Rover (or just Skitterer and Titus), this minion is a true beast. Not only that, but it has been buffed in one of the previous patches and now his card text allows you to choose (most of the time) which Deathrattle you want to trigger.
Forest Rover
This is one of the key minions in Beast tribe. Forest Rover is one of the minions that you can buff with Rylak and Brann (or Titus) and further increase the power of your Beetles. Those Beetles will be your main power source so Forest Rover should be taken if you are ready to commit to beetlemania.
Sly Raptor
Sly Raptor is a very niche minion that has a strong RNG element to it. Sure, it can be useful if it summons Forest Rover or Skitterer but it can also be pretty useless if it summons something else. This minion should be taken only as a tempo minion when you are on Tier 3 and have no other options.
Tier 4 Beast Minions
Sprightly Scarab
Sprightly Scarab is the easiest minion to use – this Beast will give permanent Reborn to one of your other beast units and you will sell it afterwards. The Taunt option is also there, but there are spells that are far cheaper to use.
Turquoise Skitterier
By far, Turquiose Skitterer is the most useful minion in Beast tribe. The reason is that it has not only one, but two useful Deathrattle abilities: It summons and buffs your Beetles. What’s even better is the fact that it buffs their defense mostly (unlike Forest Rover). As you can imagine, this works great with Titus, Scarab and Macaw. Pretty easy to use but very effective, especially in lower ranks.
Rylak Metalhead
Rylak Metalhead is one of the best minions in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, period. There are so many usages of this unit that we could write an entire article on this topic. Basically, every Battlecry minion can be paired with Rylak, especially Demons, Quilboars, and Undeads. From season 9, Rylak is useful in Beast comps as well – it can trigger Forest Rover’s Battlecry ability and buff the Beetles (focusing on Attack).
Tier 5 Beast Minions
Nest Swarmer
Nest Swarmer is a very late unit which should be kept in hand until the final few fights. The summoning potential of this thing is just enormous and if you put Reborn on him, chance are that he won’t even get a chance to be reborned if you have Titus on the field. However, he gets pretty hand later on and you should definitely get it if you have your Beetles buffed up nicely.
Niuzao
Niuzao is another niche minion that can be buffed up really nicely, especially in HS Duos. However, in single player it is really hard to buff this minion up and that’s why we deem it as a “niche” usage. The thing is, the main effectiveness of Beast comps comes from strong Summons and Niuzao has none of those – so it doesn’t usually work well with the rest of the tribe minions.
Runed Progenitor
Runed Progenitor is a minion that Buffs and summons your Beetles – but the usage of it is limited. The reason is that it gets really clunky with all the beetle-buffing minions (Rylak, Brann, Titus, Skitterer, Forest Rover) on the board and usually you won’t have a place for all of these minions. In case that you can get it early on, you should go for it. Later, with Titus and Brann, Runed Progenitor kind of falls off because his ability doesn’t work with either of them.
Mechanized Gift Horse
Mechanized Gift Horse is a powerful unit that has equal usage in both Beast and Mech comps. In Beast comps, this minion is best paired with Goldrinn, the Great Wolf as his effect will stack with Mechanized Gift Horse Deathrattle.
Karmic Chameleon
Karmic Chameleon is a minion from Season 8 that has been reworked in Season 9. Basically, what this minion does is that it copies one of your minions – with all it’s stats. It can be good for tempo early on, but later, you really don’t want to rely on Avenge(5) as it can be very RNG susceptible.
Tier 6 Beast Minions
Indomitable Mount
Indomitable Mount is a minion that is a must to play with Goldrinn – and that’s where it’s usefulness ends up pretty much. He will summon random Beasts so the only usefulness that it has is if those summons are already prebuffed – and the only way to do this is by using Goldrinn.
Ghoul-acabra
Ghoul-acabra is another new unit in Beast tribe that was introduced few months ago. The unit is … okeish. The main issue that we have with this one is his high tier-slow buff Deathrattle effect meaning that, more often than not, by the time you get this minion, you will have completed your build and you won’t need it.
Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
A few seasons ago, this unit, paired with Frog and Bear (you still remember the frog sound, right?) were an absolute meta in the game. Now, he is back but in all honesty, the comeback came with a price; Goldrinn is now a niche unit that goes well with a niche beast build. Sure, if you can get your hands on him, Titus, Mech Horse, and a few other (high-tier) units, it can work.
Papa Bear
The only minion that tops Untamebull in its uselessness is Papa Bear. Just think about this – his Deathrattle summons 3 Mama Bears. Those Mama Bears are supposed to buff your further summons. If the board was twice larger than it is now, maybe this unit would be useful. Most of the time, you will just get one Mama Bear that will buff one or two of your minions that respawn and that’s it – for a Tier 7 unit that’s absolutely horrendous. Here is a nice rant post on reddit about how useful Papa Bear is.
Image Credits: Blizzard Activision, Hearthstone.
