We are all aware of how strong and meta Quilboar comps in Hearthstone Battlegrounds are at the moment. In this guide, we will analyze every Quilboar minion and give tips on what you can do to utilize this tribe most effectively. Keep in mind that in Season 8, Quilboars are one of those high-risk-high-reward tribes as their main weakness is the low mid-game survivability. If you can overcome this, and manage to buff your Quilboars properly, you will probably be in top three players in Battlegrounds. Without further ado, check out the entire Quilboar tribe in HS Battlegrounds.
Tier 1 Quilboar Minions
Razorfren Geomancer
Razorfen Geomancer is not a very versatile minion. His Battlecry ability is pretty weak through the game – early on, this basically means that he has 4/2 which is okeyish but just for the first few turns. Later on, there are plenty of minions that generate Blood Gems more efficiently. You should focus on other minions so the best idea is to skip this one. Another thing that doesn’t go in Geomancer’s best interest is the fact that generally speaking, it’s better to have higher defense on lower levels because of all Deathrattle,Reborn and Divine shield minions that your opponent probably has.
Sun-Bacon Relaxer
Sun-Bacon Relaxer is a Quilboar minion that has been in a strange place for a very long time. The problem with this one is that it’s pretty useless to buy just for stats and survivability. All kinds of Quilboar comps rely heavily on high-tier units and late-game builds thus making Sun-Bacon Relaxer obsolete. The only usability is to buy and sell him for +2/+2 Blood Gem buff early on. However, with the addition of Hot Air Surveyor in season 5, if you focus on out-of-hand Bloodgem cast tactics, he can be a bit useful later on.
Tier 2 Quilboar Minions
Moon Bacon Jazzer
As we said earlier in our main guide, this Quilboar minion buffs up Blood Gems – and does it with battlecry. Pairing him, with abilities or spells that trigger Blood Gems is a solid strategy. The only problem is that he takes up a lot of space on the board and the comp can get a bit clunky if you have both him and Prickly Piper on the board at the same time (or two of them). Obviously, Moon Bacon Jazzer has the best synergy with Battlecry abilities so having Shudderwock as a Hero or Brann Bronzbeard on the field will enhance his ability.
Tough Tusk
Tough Tusk is the only Hearthstone Quilboar that has Divine Shield. This is the reason why he is pretty useful throughout the game. That being said, focusing on generating blood gems early on is usually not the best idea. If you can have a few blood gems and cast them occasionally on Tough Tusk, that’s fine, but other than that, it’s simply not worth the investment. Later on, Tough Tusk scales really well, especially if you have Bristlebach on the board. Furthermore, there is whole build that focuses on Jar-o-Gems Greater Trinket which can work quite well.
Tier 3 Quilboar Minions
Bristling Buffoon
One of the blood-gem-generating minions, Bristiling Buffoon, is a very versatile minion that can be used in mid-game mostly for Blood Gem generation. That being said, there are plenty of other options for generating and casting Blood Gems and the one that Bristling Buffoon offers is probably the weakest one. Usually he is used in mid-game and sold and replaced later on with more effective higher-tier minions.
Mangled Bandit
Mangled Bandit is a tier 3 blood-gem generating minion and similarly to Bristling Buffon, not something that you should rely on, unless you are running a discard blood-gem-naga comp. Basically, this minion will give you 2 Blood Gems each turn and, although this can sometimes be useful, many higher-tier minions are much more effective at this (Bong Bopper, Bannerboar, Chargla).
Prickly Piper
One of the key minions for most Quilboar comps is Prickly Piper. I mean, the whole point of all kinds of Quilboar builds is to buff up Blood Gems and then cast them on your units. For the first, buffing-up part, Prickly Piper is one piece of the puzzle as he will raise the attack of Blood Gems. The second piece is Moon Bacon Jazzer. Later on, you can further enhance your Blood Gems by either using Trinkets, or higher tier minions such as Foodie or Thornmantle.
Tier 4 Quilboar Minions
Bannerboar
Bannerboar is a great, high-end Quilboar minion that is essential in end-of-turn type of comp. His ability can and should be buffed up by Drakkari Enchanter and possibly with Eyes of the Earthmother as well. If you go for Quilboars try to get Bannerboar as soon as you can.
Gem Smuggler
Another type of Quilboar build is the one that focuses on Gem Smuggler, Brann, and Young Murk-Eye. The main issue with this comp is the fact that it simply gets too clunky sometimes but it is still very viable and powerful. Gem Smuggler is good even if you simply cast and sell it because that means that you get 6 Blood Gems for 2 gold which is very effective.
Snarling Conductor
Snarling Conductor is a economy-boosting minion that can and should be used early on to power level to Tavern Tier 6. Even if you don’t play Quilboars, Snarling Conductor can still be pretty useful if you get some low-cost spells for him to discard and provide additional gold. It is a bit sluggish but hey, having +4 gold every turn has to have a price, right?
Fearless Foddie
The newest addition in Season 8 of HS BG is Fearless Foddie – and this guy is great both for tempo boosting or late-game phases. If you have a good economy, sometimes you can just buff blood gems by using Foodie(s) which is just awesome for Quilboars. In case you rely on out-of-hand Blood Gems, Foodie is your guy as he will give you 4 Blood Gems once you play him.
Tier 5 Quilboar Minions
Hot Air Surveyor
The second new minion that was introduced in Season 8 is Hot Air Surveyor. This minion has some very niche usages – sometimes, you can make the whole comp based on him but you need to have at least 6-9 Blood Gems per turn in your hand for this to work. Other times, if you have space, you can just buy-use-sell it which is pretty neat considering that it will cost you just 2 gold.
Bongo Bopper
Simply put, Bongo Bopper is awesome. Having at least 4 Blood Gems every turn and being able to get buffed up by Drakkari Enchanter is what makes this Quilboar minion so powerful. Later on, if you scale your Blood Gems properly, Bongo Bopper will probably be your strongest unit in terms of stats on board.
Transmuted Bramblewitch
As far as the Quilboar comps are concerned, Transmuted Bramblewitch is not a key minion. However, he is pretty useful in all sorts of scam builds, especially if you are playing Hearthstone Battlegrounds Duos and supporting your partner. The most effective use of this minion is when you go against Demons as he can wreck the whole meta-demon comp by killing and reducing stats on the key minion (Insatible Urzul) as he probably has taunt on himself.
Three Lil Quilboar
Three Lil’ Quilboar is a nice tempo boosting minion that has it’s uses in later game phases as well. You can pair him with Titus Rivendare but usually this will take up too much space and is not that effective. The best use of this guy is to renew the Divine Shield on Tough Tusk and provide additional support in that way.
Tier 6 Quilboar Minions
Charlga
Charlga is your main Blood Gem generating minion. I mean, there are other options, but nothing is better than pairing Charlga with Drakkari Enchanter (12 Blood Gems every turn at least). Just be sure to put Moon Bacon Jazzer left of Charlga so that his ability activates first and then Charlga casts Blood Gems on everyone else (if you are using a Murkeye strategy).
Pokey Thornmantle
Pokey Thronmantle has been nerfed several times before Season 8 but still has his place in the game meta. If you see him, especially early on in the game, you should definitely get him as this will probably win you the game or at least put you in the first 3 spots. Later on, his ability because a bit slow but if can buff him up and keep him on the field, he just might survive long enough to buff those gems up.
Bristlebach
Bristlebach is an okeyish minion as he has been heavily nerfed at the end of 2023. Now his ability activates on Avenge(2) which is still fine but only if you already have a buffed-up board and several Tough Tusks lined up.
Tier 7 Quilboar
Sanguine Champion
Sanguine Champion, as far as Tier 7 minions are concerned is a fine Quilboar Hearthstone minion. However, the fact that his ability scales as turns pass and the fact that he is Tier 7, makes this unit pretty obsolete.
Image Credits: Blizzard Entertainment, Hearthstone