In this guide, we will explain each individual Murloc from the Murloc comp, and go into a bit of detail on how they interact with the rest of the tribe, whether are they good enough, and how exactly should you play them. Note that this is not an overall build guide since we have that in our main Battlegrounds strategy guide Murloc comp. Here, we will go into a bit more detail about Murloc comp and dissect (no pun intended) them for what they have to offer.
Tier 1 Murlocs
Rockpool Hunter
The stats and the effect on this guy aren’t really something to talk about. The +1/+1 is bad, and he should be avoided in the early stages. Avoid trying to make “tempo” Murlocs in the first 2 Tavern Tiers.
Swampstriker
The 1/5 stats are nice at the beginning of the game for Tempo, especially if you give him a bit of attack somehow. His ability is okay, but again, don’t try to force play early Murlocs just to get a few attack stats in, it never ends well.
Tier 2 Murlocs
Blazing Skyfin
This minion is because you will probably find useful battlecry minions in the next few turns, plus it is a nice minion to have in the later stages of the game. If you transition to full battlecry Murlocs, this minion will gain a lot of stats from it.
Coldlight Seer
It’s an okay Murloc, and it’s nice if you have x2 Blazing Skyfins and one Rockpool Hunter on the field in the early stages, but just try not to force it too much by sacrificing leveling up and buying more resourceful minions for a few stats.
Tad
Very good in the late stages when you need to just play Murlocs for Bream Counter, and it’s good for the classic scenario of turn 3, where you have 5 Gold, and you buy Tad, sell him, and buy one more minion. You essentially get a random Murloc for 2 Gold, which is fine.
Very Hungry Winterfinner
This minion is strong, but it’s somewhat awkward for the stage of the game and the Tavern tier on which you buy it. If you are Tavern tier 2, you probably need all your minions on the board to not take a lot of damage, so you really need Diremuck Forager. Combined with him, it’s a good tempo combo that can win you battles in the early-mid stages of the game.
Tier 3 Murlocs
Diremuck Forager
This is the first Murloc (first as in the game phase) that enables you to actually hold a minion in your hand and play him at the same time. As we mentioned, he works very well with Very Hungry Winterfinner, as well as other “hand stat giving Murlocs”.
Heedless Hoarder
This minion is kinda bad in this stage of the game, it may be good if you have him and then sell him later on and it is good on paper – you buy Diremuck, buff him in your hand, and later sell him off to buff some other Murloc. On the other hand, it’s not very good for tempo, and usually, Tier 3/4 are chokepoints of tempo/momentum/resource accumulation, and this ability does none of those things.
Murgl Mk II
When this Murloc came out, his ability was triggered by Avenge (3), and they nerfed him to Avenge (4), which is a big difference. It’s not that powerful, but one key detail is very good – it buffs itself, not just “other” minions, which is actually the most important part here.
Puddle Prancer
We go over this minion in our Battlegrounds Duos guide, but we did want to mention him here too. Basically, he is very good for tempo and for just a few Gold, you can have a strong 20/20+ minion if you are lacking firepower in the mid-game. Do also note that Duos mechanics like Portal in a Bottle also count as a Pass and trigger his stat-gaining ability, which is very cool.
Scourfin
Scoufin is extremely powerful if you get a Diremuck Forager or Bassgill early on. Just make sure you put him in the left-most frontlines and perhaps Taunts on him, because the +5/+5 ability can grant you a ton of stats and momentum early on. In the late stages, he is still fine, but the mid-game and tempo building is where he shines the most.
Tier 4 Murlocs
Bassgill
Bassgill is essential to all Murloc builds and he is a better more “late-game friendly” version of Diremuck Forager. Once you have Bream Counter, you will want to summon him from your hand, and Diremuck Forager isn’t the best since you need one free space at the beginning of the battle, this is where Bassgill comes in and does that job perfectly.
Bream Counter
The bread and butter of your army. This Murloc is the key minion that everything else revolves around. Basically, if you have two of these in your hand, Brann Bronzebeard, Primalfin Lookout, and Young Murk-Eye, you can start printing Murlocs and just playing them and gaining massive stats on your Bream Counters in your hand. Finally, finding Choral Mrrrgl is the key as he copies all the stats in your hand (your two buffed Bream Counters) and Bassgills to summon the buffed Bream Counters.
Magmaloc
Magmaloc is a weird one. He can work fine with Murlocs, but usually, it’s bad for tempo to pick him up early, and awkward to pick up later on, since you essentially need Young Murk-Eye, Primalfin Lookout, Bran, multiple Chorals, and Bassgills. Magmaloc is a nice minion, but he is in the low priority of buy order. With the Elemental tribe, he is kinda better because you will generally have more space with the Magmaloc + Rock Rock + Recycle Wraith combo.
Tier 5 Murlocs
King Bagurgle
King Bagurgle works very well with Brann and Young Murk-Eye, there is no doubt about that. The problem is that you can easily get “stuck” in this Battlecry stat gain route, which somehow always ends up being inferior to the “hand build”. Since you only have so much space, getting Primalfin Lookouts besides Young Murk-Eyes is more than likely a better route to go. You will have more gold, and the late-game potential is huge with Choral Mrrgls. Nevertheless, this is a good minion and you should pick it up, especially if you have Brann.
Operatic Belcher
Murlocs seem to lack the scam potential they once had, and Operatic Belcher is the only Murloc with this power, with the additional Deathrattle effect to grant someone else Venomous also. It is bad against stuff like Divine Shields, Undeads, and Summoning Beasts. On the other hand, it is pretty good if you have empty space on the board, and if the enemy is playing something like Demons (pure stats, no summons, Divine Shields, etc.).
Primalfin Lookout
This is the key minion to get a lot of Murlocs. He alone isn’t anything special, especially at Tier 5 with those stats, but combining him with Young Murk-Eye and Brann is where the real fun begins. You will be able to have 15+ Gold each turn and buff up your Bream Counters in your hand a lot.
Tier 6 Murlocs
Choral Mrrrgl
This card is just straight-up very good. Having two Bream Counters in your hand isn’t anything too difficult to get, and just by getting Choral Mrrrgl, you will get all those juicy stats from your hand. He is the top priority in the “hand Murloc” build.
Murky
Murky specializes in the Murloc “battlecry build”. The ability is pretty straightforward and the main problem with Murky is that he is Tier 6, meaning that you will need to find a few of these and perhaps a Golden Young Murk-Eye + Brann, in order to be actually competitive in the late-game. The problem is that if you’re using both spaces of Young Murk-Eye for this, you won’t have resources as you would with Primalfin Lookout to find more key minions and more Gold, which is a big minus.
Young Murk-Eye
We mentioned this Murloc a lot in this guide, and rightfully so. He is the core of late-game Murlocs because the “trigger adjected battlecry” ability is essential and just too good to pass on, even if you are not playing a Murloc comp. He can be utilized with something like Gem Smuggler if you can’t find an alternative way to get Blood Gems on your Quills. Overall, a very powerful Murloc.
Tier 7 Murlocs
Tide Oracle Morgl
At the risk of stating the obvious, this Murloc is rarely seen in the game, because the only way to get him is with Thorim, Stormlord. He is the only minion that has Posionus, which means he will kill anything that he hits (unlimited charges), unlike Venomous, which triggers only the first hit (has only one charge). The special ability is very interesting because it can boost the Murlocs in your hand (eg. Bream Counter) by a ridiculous amount. If he happens to attack a 200/200, suddenly, your Bream Counter in your hand will gain +200/+200 permanently, which just feels very powerful. All that said, he is Tier 7 so you won’t see him in most of the games.
Image Credits: Blizzard Entertainment