In this article, we will go over all the Pirate minions in Hearthstone Battlegrounds and explain how they fit in making a good Pirate composition. For the full guide on the actual Battlegrounds gameplay, visit our Hearthstone Strategy Guide for in-depth information. We will be only focusing on each Pirate individually to create a different approach to explaining things.
Sure, the final composition is useful to know, but each minion has its strengths at different stages in the game, and that’s why it’s important to go over them individually also. That said, let’s start our analysis of the Pirate tribe.
Tavern Tier 1
Scallywag
Scallywag is a decent starting minion, but you always need to be aware of what kind of tribes there are. For example, no level 1 elemental can beat him (3/3 or 1/4), but a Skeleton undead can, so just be aware of the tribes in the game and pick him accordingly. Later on, Scallywag can be used when playing Sky Pirates if you don’t have anything else to put since he will have that extra Deathrattle that you just might need to win the game.
Southsea Busker
Southsea Busker is a new minion that is a very niche one. There is no rule on when you can use him – if you can re-trigger his battlecry that would be great, but other than that, try to do the math and see if you will need that extra 1 gold next turn. He is best used on turn 1 if you are playing Battlegrounds Hero that has (2) Power with summon or take abilities (so that you can get two minions on turn two and upgrade and get a minion on turn 3).
Thorncaptain
Apart from the fact that this minion is relatively strong in terms of stats, there aren’t many other uses of it. Usually, you would get it early on if you don’t have anything else with Reborn or Divine Shield in the Tavern. The good thing is that his Health goes up so he is usually 4/3 or 4/4 minion during the first couple of turns which is nice. Later on, Thorncaptain is to be skipped. Here is something that you didn’t know: Thorncaptain pierced his own boat with his thorn. You don’t trust me? Zoom the picture and see for yourself. Not much of a captain IMO.
Tavern Tier 2
Defiant Shipwright
Probably the best tier 2 minion in the current meta. This Pirate is amazing for early-game tempo. If you can get a few buffs on Attack, and there are a lot of ways to do that at the moment, he will scale really well. The most notable combo is with Peggy, with no other Pirate on the board. This can make Defiant Shipwright a mid-game carry and make your tempo really good.
Ripsnarl Captain
Ripsnarl Captian is a nice pickup if you have Scallywags, otherwise, you should be careful about going for a full Pirate tempo build early on. Scallywag is really the key here and you should probably skip Ripsnarl if you don’t have Scallywag. It’s not a bad Pirate, but there are a lot of alternatives for a tempo play. Better yet, the best alternative for tempo play is not to play pirates early on at all since you won’t be needing any of them later on.
Gift Pilferer
Gift Pilferer is more of an economy minion than a pirate one. As long as he is on the board, your Tavern upgrade costs one less. Providing that you can get him while you are on Tier 2 and upgrade to Tier 4, that means that he is pretty much free (since you saved 2 gold on upgrades and sold it for 1 later). It’s not a game changer but hey, free gold is free gold.
Tavern Tier 3
Gunpowder Courier
Gunpowder Courier is an interesting Pirate that can be played as a tempo unit as well as an endgame solution to getting your attack up. It’s generally very good if you reach that point in the game when you start to cycle minions and you also have a few cleaves on your board. However, at that point you will probably be running a more stronger stat boosting build so you don’t really need him later on.
Plunder Pal
This Pirate is exclusive to Battlegrounds Duos (it’s a Duos-only minion), and while we are generally talking about regular battlegrounds here, Plunder Pal is a mansion and it’s a part of the Pirate family. he is very good at generating resources and should be picked up in most games, especially if you happen to get him early on.
Crow’s Nest Sentry
Crow’s Nest Sentry is a very good mid-game pirate where you really don’t have enough gold to start fully cycling, but have committed to a Pirate board. This Health boost is really helpful, especially if you play around Brann. Once the late-stage cycling minion stuff starts, he will provide you with nice additional stats for your board. So overall, this Pirate fulfills roles in different stages of the game.
Tavern Tier 4
Ice Fisher
Started at Tier 6, after the latest patch ended up on Tier 4. Even folks on Reddit are joking that it will just take few more patches for Ice Fisher to become a Tier 1 minion. Jokes aside, he is strong now – and can serve as a late game stat minion if you are going for the Brann build.
Blade Collector
Blade Collector is pretty self-explanatory, but you should really know when to go for this minion. There are a lot of cases where just buying it straight up is not ideal because you don’t have enough resources or build-up to make him. he requires a good stat boost because his natural stats are awful, and he goes very well with the endgame Pirate build.
Lovesick Balladist
This is one of the core Pirates that you will be cycling while you play around your endgame build. The point is to spend as much goal as possible and at the end of your turn buff up a Pirate. Brann obviously works with him very very well, and Pirates really lack health without this minion that’s why he’s considered a court part of the Pirate composition. Furthermore, if you can get Baladist Portrait Greater Trinket, he will become your core minion and you will probably use him to cast stat boosts on Blade Collector.
Peggy Sturdybone
Peggy is also one of the core Pirates, as she works very well when you are cycling minions with a lot of gold. One other thing to note is that she works extremely well if she and Defiant Shipwright are on the board (the Shipwright needs to be the only other Pirate), because each time you trigger Peggy, she will give stats to Shipwright, and his affect will also trigger. This can make Shipwright very big and carry you through the mid-game.
Skypirate Flagbarrer
This is the key minion for Sky Pirate build. You have the link there so I suggest you check it out if you don’t know how it works because there is a lot of math involved. Here, I will just say that you should never triple Sky Pirate Flagbearer unless you are in duos and have a good economy because (so that you can find 2 more). This is the most common mistake for beginners as you basically ruin your board if you triple him since the main benefit that you get from him is his Start of Combat Deathrattle ability.
Tavern Tier 5
Prime Mate
This new Pirate is pretty good and should be picked up if you can get some Deathrattle minions going. Scallywags are good, and Rapscallion Recruiter is an ideal combo for Prime Mate. The Deathrattles from the summoned Scallywags will get you a ton of Gold in the next turn. Overall, a really good pick-up if you have Deathrattles.
Rapscallion Recruiter
While this Pirate isn’t particularly good at the endgame composition or does really provide you with any resources, managing to pick him up relatively early will make your tempo very strong, because he is hard to deal with and encounters a lot of shenanigans that players have. Of course, he works extremely well with Admiral Eliza and Titus Riverdale, but that build is kind of old and played out.
Record Smuggler
Record Smuggler had some interesting changes and he still remains the core part of Pirates and probably the most valuable Pirate in the game, well at least if you’re trying to make a Pirate composition. He is pretty self-explanatory and getting him in the early-mid stages is a good “sign” that you can try to commit to a Pirate build.
Spellbound Seafarer
Spellbound Seafarer was pretty useless for a while, but it got a buff, and a pretty strong one – needs only 3 buys instead of 4 to get a spell. She is also considered a quarter Pirate and works especially well when you start cycling your minions.
Tavern Tier 6
Admiral Eliza Goreblade
As we mentioned above, Eliza works very well with Rapscallion Recruiter and Titus. He can be an extremely good tempo minion, as well as the ability to play him in the endgame with the mentioned build. But with all the shenanigans nowadays, this build isn’t that strong and doesn’t scale very well. That said, he is a pretty good pick-up if you need a bit of tempo.
Fleet Admiral Tethys
Fleet Admiral Tethys is one of the most important Pirates, and once you get him and Record Smuggler, your cycling can start. He also works well with other cycling builds like Elementals/Greyman’s Champion, but you need a way to get a lot of money because the more money you have the more effective this minion gets. Having only 10 gold and Tethys isn’t really a great idea and you shouldn’t be really picking up him without something like Record Smuggler or other “gold-gaining” minions.
Tavern Tier 7
Captain Sanders
Captain Sanders is pretty self-explanatory and as it’s tier 7, you won’t be seeing much of him in the game, but still we should mention. His Battlecry is extremely powerful and you obviously need to use it on a core minion. One thing to mention is the abuse potential of this Battlecry since Draconic Deathscale or Brann’s Blessing can also be used to trigger this effect and make more of your minions golden. Overall, it’s a pretty powerful minion that is always useful.
Photo Credits: Blizzard Entertainment
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