Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds has begun on April 28th!!! We have seen many changes compared to the previous seasons. Just as a quick reminder, take a look at what previous seasons of Battlegrounds looked like in order to better understand what this season is about. Note: The newest 32.2.1 Hotfix has been released, featuring armor/trinket balances and stability/crash fixes.
In chronological order, the last few Hearthstone Battlegrounds seasons looked like this:
- Season 5 (August 2023): Infamous Battlegrounds Anomalies were introduced, as well as Tier 7 Minions.
- Season 6 (December 2023): Anomalies got removed, Tavern Spells were added, and Quests were brought back in.
- Season 7 (April 2024): Quests are removed, Tavern Spells are kept, and Battlegrounds Duos are introduced for the first time. A lot of minions are removed and introduced. In mid-season, Buddies have been added.
- Season 8 (August 2024): Buddies are removed, Tavern Spells are kept as a permanent mechanic, and a brand new mechanic is added: Trinkets (similar to Quests, just much more powerful and faster)
- Season 9 (December 2024): Trinkets are removed, and many tribes have been reworked. Mid-season update: Anomalies.
- Season 10 (28 April 2025): Trinkets are back! <- You are here.
We are playing and updating the guide for the newest 32.2.2 Patch, stay tuned!
This guide is up-to-date with the 32.2.1 Patch and Season 10 (May 2025)
+All new Season 10 trinket meta builds featuring every Tribe + Spell Builds
Patch 32.2 marked the beginning of Season 10 by removing Anomalies from the game, adding many new minions, bringing back old minions, and removing minions from the game. Furthermore, as stated in one of the previous patches, Tavern Spells and Duos mod will now be an integral part of the game! For Duos, check out our full HS BG Advanced Duos Guide. The biggest change in Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds is the addition of an old-new game mechanic – Hearthstone Trinkets. We will cover the most commonly used trinkets in this guide in the build sections. Also, as we mentioned before, we have published a different guide (link above) for Battleground duos as gameplay mechanics are much different than those in the regular mod, including the build types.
In this guide, we will talk about the overall gameplay flow and analyze the best meta builds for every minion type (tribe), but also what kind of builds can counter it and what Tavern Spells you should go for when playing a specific build. You can check out our full Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero guide, as they will not be included in this article since variations are too vast. Without further ado, let’s dive deep into the Hearthstone Battlegrounds Guide and explore meta builds for each tribe.
General Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 10 Tips and Strategies
Even though you will find a lot of specific builds in this guide, the essence of your gameplay needs to be your understanding of tempo and when to level up. Below we put some very loose and general guidelines on how to play early and midgame, but the issue still remains – Hearthstone Battlegrounds is extremely RNG-based and there are almost infinite scenarios that can happen with minions, your hero power, spells, combos, etc.
This is why you need to actually play the game a lot in order to develop an instinct/feel for the game. When to level up the Tavern? Do I go for a greedy play? Is my army strong enough to survive the next battle? Should I refresh and try to find this specific minion or just buy these 2 random strong ones right now? All these questions are answered by your feel and in-depth game knowledge. We mention this to say the next thing – going for a specific build isn’t really straightforward, since RNG is straightforward.
There are a few floating concepts on which the game revolves around:
- Current Army Strength aka. Tempo – Going for a high-stat early army can secure your leeway to level up the Tavern a few turns in a row.
- Generating Resources – You will need to find a way to generate something after each turn – minions, spells, gold coins, etc. This will be essential for actually developing a strong build.
- The Lobby aka. Other Players – You need to keep an eye on and play a guessing game on who will be strong, who is currently strong, what are they playing (in order to counter it), and the potential of other players.
- Countering and Tweaking Builds – Since the game is very situational, it’s important to know how to counter your opponent. For example, if you’re playing Murlocs and have no Divine Shields, your last opponent has Mechs. Grabbing a Tunnel Blaster, you win the game here.
- RNG Above All – Sometimes, even though you did the “good” play, RNG can still punish you. The key thing here is to go for the play that has the highest chance of succeeding.
This kind of stuff is really hard to teach, given its extremely volatile nature. The best thing you can do is play a lot and watch other high-level players and see how their brain works in certain scenarios.
Note: Keep in mind that the images of the builds that you will see are taken on a specific turn or at the end of the game. The builds look different in early-game, mid-game, and late phases so please refer to the description of a specific build to learn more.
Tavern Spells Overview
Tavern Spells are essentially one-time-use abilities that you can buy from Bob’s Tavern for various gold costs. With every refresh, a new Tavern Spell will appear. Only one spell will appear with each refresh unless there is a minion or hero that modifies the number of them. You can check out our full Tavern Spell guide for more details, but here, for the sake of this guide, we will just go through a rough breakdown of the types of Tavern Spells that you can get. In total, there are 4 groups of Tavern Spells:
- Stat-boosting Tavern Spells: These Spells give you various stats. Most of them are cheap and low-level, but there are some high ones as well. Usually, these Tavern Spells are used as gold dumps or in specific scenarios in which you need to buff up one of your minions. Examples of Stat-boosting spells are: Pointy Arrow, Them Apples, and Natural Blessing.
- Economy Tavern Spells: Spells that give you extra Gold or free Refreshes are economy ones. They are very useful and can turn the tides in your favor, especially if you acquire them early on. Examples of Economy Spells are: Careful Investment, Tavern Coin.
- Utility Tavern Spells: Spells that give or remove Taunt, provide Divine Shield, and increase the number of Deathrattles, Battlecries, or End of Turn effects that you get are what we call Utility Tavern Spells. They can come in handy for specific build types, which we will discuss later on in the article. Example of these spells is Scavenge for Parts.
- Discovery Tavern Spells: Several spells allow you to Discover or get a free minion. We will just call them Discovery Tavern Spells as most of them do allow you to Discover a minion of a specific type. Examples of these spells are: Contracted Corpse, Planar Telescope, Hired Headhunter.
Battlegrounds Trinkets
The newest addition to HS BG are Trinkets – which can be summarized as Quests, just stronger and faster. Basically, you will get one Lesser Trinket on Turn 6 (8 gold turn) and a Greater Trinket on Turn 9. If you want a more detailed Trinket explanation, we made a Lesser Trinket Tier List and a Greater Trinket Tier List in separate guides.
Each time, you will be offered 4 various Trinkets to choose from, and the choices are mostly influenced by your current board (and Hero). Keep this in mind if you want to go for a specific build (e.g. you want to have several Naga units before Turn 6 on board if you want to get Zesty Shaker trinket). Most Trinkets cost between 1-7 gold so keep that in mind as well. However, this price is small to pay for the power boost (or economy boost) that you will be getting.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Trinkets can roughly (very roughly) divided into four categories:
- Tribe Discovery Trinkets: These are the low-cost, low-reward trinkets that are the easiest to use. Basically, you will be getting 1 or 2 (Lesser or Greater Trinket) random minions from a specific tribe. (e.g. Azeroth Model Globe, Colorful Compass etc).
- Tribe Stat-boost Trinkets: These Trinkets are also usually low cost and they offer some kind of stat boost to the designated tribe. (e.g. Feral Talisman, Artisanal Urn, Great Boar Sticker etc.).
- Specific Unit Trinkets “Portraits“: These Trinkets work by utilizing one specific unit that usually becomes (or is) your core minion. (e.g. Belcher Portrait, Bronzebeard Portrait etc..)
- Economy Trinkets: As the name suggests, these Battlegrounds Trinkets are the ones that you want to use if you need an economy boost. ( Goblin Wallet, Bobs Tip Jar.)
There are some tips that we can provide in order to avoid some general mistakes that players make with Battlegrounds trinkets. Check out these tips:
- The most important tip would be NOT to overcommit with a trinket. This is the most common mistake that we have seen players making – sometimes players decide that they want, for example, to play Elementals and just pick Dalaran Cheese Wheel as their Lesser Trinket without having any kind of Elemental setup. This is extremely risky and will more often than not lead you to losing MMR. We have seen similar situations in which players overcommit to demons, and more specifically, to the Bat demon comp, just, without False Felbat… The reason why this is bad is the fact that you are putting all your eggs in one basket; it’s much more effective to pick an economy or spell trinket in order to boost your tempo while you get the key minions for a desired tribe and then select the Greater Trinket for the specific build that you have made setup for.
- Generally speaking, for the Lesser Trinket, you want to use something to boost your tempo, and for the Greater Trinket, you want something to boost your endgame. If you are in doubt with Lesser Trinket setup, don’t take something too pricy (like Wheel of Yogg-Saron trinket), pick a spell or economy one instead.
- Sometimes, you will be able to postpone the pick of a Lesser trinket and wait 2 turns to get a Greater one, or turn double the Greater one – if you see that, take it. It’s incredibly powerful, just keep in mind that you need a contingency plan while you wait for your greater trinkets – try not to upgrade and focus on building defenses.
- Generally speaking, stay away from “RNG” trinkets. Getting a random tribe minion, spinning the Wheel of Yogg-Saron, getting a random Battlecry minion, those trinkets are highly risky, and you don’t really get that much value from them most of the time.
Early-game Tips
- Turn 1 (3 gold): Most economy minions have been reworked and are now Tier 2. In season 10, it’s better if you can get something that gives you enough sustain for the next 3 turns (minions with Deathrattle, Reborn, or Divine Shield, since in the beginning most minions have low defense). If you are so unlucky that there are none of those as well, pick the one with the highest defense because probably your opponents will have a minion with one of the aforementioned effects.
- Turn 2(4 gold): Upgrade to Tavern Tier 2. The last thing you want to do is to waste 1 gold in this turn by buying 1 minion and then waste 2 more in the next one. Freeze if there are any Economy minions in Tavern. This is general advice, and there are exceptions to this rule if your hero power or a spell can provide higher value.
- Turn 3(5 gold): Whatever you do, do not refresh unless you upgrade. Three options are viable here: 1) Buy 2 minions if you managed to get an economy minion; 2) Go for a useful Battlecry minion, sell and buy one minion; 3) Upgrade to Tavern Tier 3 4) Buy a useful spell, preferably an Economy one. There is a 5th option here – use a hero power if it grants you stats or any kind of stat boost and then upgrade to Tavern Tier 3.
- Turn 4(6 gold): Buy two minions or get an Economy Tavern Spell. If there is an economy minion in the Tavern (Freedealing Gambler or Patient Scout would be perfect), get one of those as most builds don’t have Tier 2 key minions meaning that you will sell them anyway. If there are no economy minions, buy the ones that you suspect you might keep for a longer time or the strongest ones with Deathrattle.
- Turn 5 (7 gold): If you haven’t upgraded to Tier 3, buy one minion and upgrade. Again, do not refresh and, again, go for Economy spells if there are any.
- Turn 6(8 gold): First choose the Lesser Trinket you want to get. Based on your board, decide what you want to go for at this time. Do not overcommit (like pick a trinket that gives you one random Beast), if you don’t want to choose, it’s okey to go with an economy trinket instead.
- Turn 7 (9 Gold): If you haven’t upgraded to Tier 4, upgrade and buy a minion. However, if you took damage in the last turn and are facing an opponent that dealt that damage to someone else in the last turn (scout), fortify your defenses and buy at least 2 minions. You can refresh or use a Battlecry minion in this turn most of the time. It’s time to decide what build you are going for at this point.
Mid-game Tips
- First of all, during all turns from now on, use your time. Do not rush and do everything in 10 seconds, you have plenty of time to think about your strategy before the rope starts burning.
- You need to develop some spell/minion/gold generation at this point. The plan is to have enough resources to propel you into Tier 5/Tier 6 late-game phase. Look at the board and what you have in Tavern. Think about the plan here – how many more minions do you need to obtain the key ones? Do you have supporting minions for a specific desired build? If not, can you avoid taking damage next turn? Who is your next opponent? The reason why you need to devise a strategy is that players who end up in the lower section of the arena start to die here.
- Pay close attention to what kind of Tavern Spells are offered. It’s a good idea to boost your game tempo by using Tavern Spells instead of wasting gold on Refresh.
- Greater Trinket is your main power source, or most of the time it will be. Be sure to pick one that can work with your current comp.
- Upgrading: If key minions for the desired build are Tier 4 or lower, there is no need to upgrade yet. Many players make mistakes at this point and, for no reason, go for the Tavern Tier 5 instead of sticking to what they have. This is especially important if you have a low-tier build. Remember, you don’t even have to end up on Tavern Tier 6 in order to win the game.
- Fortune Favors The Bold – RNG does not. As we previously mentioned, it’s important to understand how to play around RNG. The point is to go for the highest success rate, and not rely on getting Brann Bronzebeard in the next two Refreshes for example. Moreover, if you see that you’re “screwed” and just know your gonna lose if you level up to Tier 5, settle for a low-tier Dragon/Beast/Scam build. Do not upgrade. Try to simply boost stats and try going for as many scam minions as you can get or a dedicated low-tier build. It’s all hands on board at this point – simply buy whatever is the strongest in the Tavern and what will allow you to survive the longest so that you don’t lose (too much) MMR. We know this isn’t ideal, but sometimes you won’t make ideal choices plus RNG will wreck you. This is where you just settle for a 3rd/4th/5th place and try not to be last.
End-game Tips
- Determine your main opponent – scout and see who is likely to be your final competitor for the first place. Start preparing to counter their build. Check out our counters for each build below in this article.
- Consider getting a backup minion such as Leeroy the Reckless. Sometimes, especially in lower MMR games, players focus on buffing one or two minions so you need a counter if that’s the case.
- If you have a full build at this point and are above 20hp, you can upgrade to Tier 6. It’s the logical thing to do because if your main opponent one-shots you in a duel and wins, well then you never stood a chance in the first place. It’s much more likely that you will need an additional boost from Tier 6 minions to overpower your main opponent.
- Once you are on Tavern Tier 6, you will be able to get some high-end spells such as Azerite Empowerment. Depending on whether your build is complete, consider spending Gold to boost your forces with these Tavern Spells. This is all very situation, of course.
- Pay close attention to the lineup on your board. As at this point you probably know your opponent’s build, try to predict which minion will attack where and align your own forces in accordance with that prediction. There are simply too many variations to consider at this stage of the game so we can’t give you straightforward advice. For example, if you are up against Mech Magnetization build, your weakest minion should go on the far left side as probably your opponent has Taunt and Divine Shield so you don’t want to waste any minions on hitting that. But on the other hand, if your opponent is going for any Demon build, probably he won’t have any Divine shields on his Taunt minion so you should put Venomous or highest attack minions on the left side. Check out the builds below for more info.
Mech: Dr. Boom’s Monster Mash
Key Minions: Rickety Repairbot, Marquee Ticker + Drakkari Enchanter, Holo Rover, Charging Czarina (less priority)
Supporting Minions: Dr. Boom’s Monster (main stats) + Other Magnetizations
For more info on each Mech minion, check out our full Mech tribe overview.
Concept: The general idea behind Mechs in Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 10 is that you have to rely on Magnetizations, Tavern Spells, and end-of-turn effects. The biggest change since Season 9 is that they removed Accord-o-tron, so you can’t really go infinite with your money. But they added some new ways of scaling and fresh minions. The main idea is to play around the end-of-turn effects and get to Tier 6. This is because once you start getting a lot of magnetizations with end-of-turn effects from Rickety Repairbot or Satellites from the new Electron, Powered Up, you’ll then have buffed up Dr. Boom’s Monster, which is the main minion to get you those extremely high late-game stats.
Early game: In the early game, there aren’t really any Mechs that are special, but the new Metallic Hunter is a pretty nice value, especially if you have a Deflect-o-bot or Cord Puller (which are equipped with Divine Shields). You can ramp up the attack pretty quickly and gain some momentum. But other than that, it’s mostly important to prioritize tempo and resources and steer clear of harping on one particular tribe.
Mid game: In the mid game, there are a few things that you have to look for in order to set mechs up correctly for the late game. The first and most important minion is Rickety Repairbot, which is a good value and will scale later on. The other one is the old Marquee Ticker, which now brings a whole other value to the table, since you will definitely need Tavern spells later on. The general idea here is to get the Drakkari Enchanter with Marquee Ticker, Rickety Repairbot, and get to the Tavern Tier 6 as fast as possible, with, of course, the help of Trinkets in regards to resources. Once you’re at Tavern Tier 6, you can look for the new powerful mech – Electron, Powered Up, because he works extremely well with tavern spells and magnetizes a Satellite on all your mechs for each two tavern spell casts. While these satellites may not be extremely powerful, it is all a grand setup for enhancing Dr. Boom’s Monster. We emphasize that you need to get to Tier 6 because if you have Holo Rover that is generating magnetizations and Rickety Repairbot, you can’t get the Dr. Booms Monster (because Dr. Booms Monster is tier 6). This is why you can’t really stay and hang around at Tavern Tier 5 with Mechs. Holo Rover is not to be overlooked, especially if you happen to have a chance to cast Divine Shield, Reborn, and Windfury on him, but usually, he will be a bit more useful later on, once you actually have the resources to attach magnetizations on him.
Late game: In the late game, once you are Tier 6, have Rickety Repairbot + Drakkari, or Marquette Ticker/Drakkari + Electron, Powered Up, the most important minion to focus on here is Dr. Boom’s Monster. This is because Dr. Boom’s Monster scales with each magnetization you play this game, and that includes the satellites from Electron, Powered Up, and all the stuff that Rickety Repairbot cast on himself. This is why Marquette Ticker works well with Electron, Powered Up. Ticker gives you spells, you cast those spells, the Electron, Powered Up casts satellites on all your mechs, and then once you get Dr. Boom’s Monster, which you can get with Holo Rover or is self-casted with Rickety Repairbot, then he will be extremely powerful. Of course, you can use other means to get Tavern Spells like Trinkets or minions from other tribes like Ignition Specialist, but do remember that Electron, Powered Up only casts the Satellites on Mechs, so you should still have as many Mechs as possible on your board.
Once you gain momentum with magnetizations, you will see that your Dr. Boom’s monster has a lot of stats and that the Rickety Repairbot will eventually cast it onto himself (if you’re lucky). This will get you the “endgame stats”. That said, you can also stay Tier 4 and 5 and play with Tavern Spells and Charging Czarina. If you don’t have enough tempo and just want a second, third, or fourth place, this can also work, but this is not the primary goal of Mechs, and the lobby will outscale you at some point if you’re not playing a “Dr. Boom’s Monster focused” build. Also, remember that Dr. Boom’s Monster scales retroactively, so if you played it a bit early on something, it will gain stats throughout the whole game.
Trinkets to use for Mech builds
There are a lot of trinkets that can go well with this meta Mech build. Since you will need Tavern Spells and extra resources, Bob’s Tip Jar and Book of Medivh (for Scavenge for Parts) are good picks. Obviously, Boom’s Monster Portrait is extremely good, but do be aware of its cost. You will have to pick a lesser trinket that’s gaining you resources, or get resources some other way. It’s pretty costly, but super powerful. Moreover, if you don’t want to play around with magnetization, Czarina Portrait (extremely expensive now, 8 Gold) is also very powerful with Tavern Spells. Drakkari Portrait is very optimal since you get your Drakkari gains, the Mech Tribe trait, which synergizes extremely well with this build. Turbocharged Drill is also nice since it says of any (!) Tier, and that means that you can get Dr. Boom’s Monster. But this is, in our opinion, a pretty RNG-based trinket because you can just get some bad magnetizations and throw the game. It’s a coin toss. Moreover, Manipulator Portrait is also nice since you can double one of your key minions, and it’s not that costly. Finally, Fridge Magnet is also not to be overlooked, but you need to have some Summonings or Reborns in order to get the full value. It’s still a costly trinket that doesn’t give you any upfront value, so think carefully about this one not to get baited.
Strategies for Countering Mech Build
Mechs are pretty straightforward to counter, and the biggest counter for them is, for sure, Tunnel Blaster. It will blow up all the Divine Shields that are the backbone of Mechs. Furthermore, utilizing Leeroy The Reckless against Deflect-o-bot or a powerful Divine Shield mech is a pretty good counter.
Spells to use for Mech Build
There aren’t a lot of tavern spells with max that can provide you some extreme value, but one notable and most important one is Scavenge for Parts, which is a very good way of getting magentizations/resources, especially if you have Drakkari, the Enchanter.
Demon: Felspell Inquisition
Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard + Ashen Corruptor, Batty Terrorguard
Support minions: Mecha-Jaraxxus (Divine Shield), Bounding Felstalker, Malchezaar Prince of Dance, Dream Inquisitor, Felmish Felbat (priority on Felbat Portrait Trinket)
For more info on each Demon minion, check out our full Demon tribe overview.
Concept: The main idea around demons stays the same as the previous season. You rely on spells and damage to self mechanics in order to buff up demons in the tavern and on your board. That being said, a lot of key resource gathering minions are now removed, and you will see that the build fundamentally changes because you will have to somehow gather resources with trinkets or just by having Brann and a few extra Gold. Having Brann Bronzebeard now is pretty much mandatory, as well as a resource gathering trinket, because without that, you will just buy 3 or 4 demons and be done with your turn.
Early game: In the early game, the best thing you can do for tempo is play around Impulsive Trickster or get a False Implicator. Yes, Wrath Weaver can still be a viable option, but usually you don’t pick this up at turn 1, because you don’t know if you’re gonna get Soul Rewinder at some point. It’s just clunky. We do have to emphasize that because the current daemons rely on outside sources of getting resources, your lesser trinket optimally needs to be either for very good tempo or some resources to play a Demon build.
Mid-game: Now, in order to set this board up correctly, you will obviously need to have the new Ashen Corruptor, because with him and Batty Terrorguard, you can eat a lot of powerful minions without needing any tier 6s. Malchezaar, Prince of Dance, is, of course, also very good, especially because you do need those extra refreshes in this season more than ever. But, demons now rely a lot on Brann Bronzebeard and greater trinkets that give you resources. For example, in the build in the picture below, we had a Brann and The Eye of Sargeras greater trinket, which propelled the build and essentially made it near infinite, meaning you can do a lot and buy a lot in just one turn. This isn’t the case with a lot of other trinkets, because let’s say, for example, you don’t have Brann and you pick a Nether Pendant. Yes, you will get a good way to buff up your tavern, but if you don’t have enough resources, your build is just not gonna work. That is why resource-gathering or “the engine” is the priority, as opposed to getting a few cool high-tier Demons.
Late game: In the late game, there are a few options for getting a lot of stats. The “easiest” one is having a Batty Terrorguard in combination with Ashen Corruptor because they synergize well with each other. The “only thing” that you need is to get a lot of spells, and you can do so by having a Brann or a lesser or greater Trinket to help you. Moreover, Shadowdancer is a new demon that is kind of okay, especially if you happen to get Felfire Conjurer and buff of the stats on spells. But it is slower than a lot of other demons, and you do need a lot of extra minions (Demons/Extra Titus/Drakkari) with this route. Shadowdancer only gives you one spell each turn and is very weak in stats for a Tier 5 minion (only 5/2), so be aware of that. Moving on to Tier 6, we have the standard Famished Felbat, which is always welcome, and a new demon – Dream Inquisitor, which also works with spells. So you see, the common theme here is to get a lot of spells with your Demons. This is why a demon build without a Brann or that extra resource gathering stuff is just not viable at all.
Of course, since the focus is on Brann, it’s important not to overlook Mecha-Jaraxxus, because he now has Shield of the Legion magnetization, which can give you divine shields on your demons. This is pretty much game-changing, and you really should not overlook this aspect one bit. Having even 1 or 2 Divine Shields and Reborns on your demons can turn the tide of the game. So, in the picture above, essentially, we have The Eye of Sargeras, which lets us buy anything with health instead of money every three buys. We also have Brann, and with the combination of these two, we have a lot of ways of getting powerful spells, free minions, utilizing Imposing Percussionist/Bounding Felstalker, etc.
Trinkets to use for Demon builds
There are quite a few trinkets that work well with demon builds. Firstly, since you will need a lot of resources, Bob’s Tip Jar is pretty good for demons to get the ball rolling. Book of Medivh can be nice, but it’s a bit more RNG-based, and you already have to set up a bit of a board for demons. Of course, for demon-specific trinkets, Felbat Portrait is “its own build” because it works with multiple Felbats and, of course, with Drakkari Enchanter. You will have to find a way to buff up the tavern, though, because you won’t have resources, it’s a very expensive trinket, and generally, you will lose a lot of momentum regarding your resources. Nevertheless, you will gain tempo. Of course, if you get Champion of Sargeras from Peggle’s Fishing Rod, that is also a very good key minion, and a sign to shift to a demon build. As we already mentioned, Nether Pedant is good only if you have an engine in place that will generate gold, demons, or spells. And of course, The Eye of Sargeras is one of the best ones, because if you have damage mitigation, you can buy expensive spells, and it will just drive the momentum.
Strategies for countering Demon build
There is really no need for any super-specific counters, as Demons don’t have any specific units that become very strong – the whole build is stat-based with some Rebons/Divine Shields with Mecha-Jarraxus. Once it reaches endgame, Venom won’t be as effective (because of the extra Divine Shields/Reborns), but it is still viable as a general counter.
Spells to use for Demon builds
The whole build is highly dependent on Spells and Malchezaar (momentum/resources), so that is your main goal – to find Eyes of the Earthmother and golden as many Malchezaar’s as you possibly can. Moreover, Corrupted Cupcakes are always nice, and ideally, you will get it from a Discover or for free, because otherwise, it is a costly spell by itself. Also, spells that buff the tavern are neat, but pretty much all cheap spells are advised if you have enough money. Gold will be the problem with this build, so if you can, get some spells that increase your economy as well.
Beast: Beetlemania build
Key minions: Monstrous Macaw, Turquoise Skitterer (or Rylak Metalhead + Forest Rover), Titus, Silky Shimmermoth
Support minions: Sprightly Scarab, Runed Progenitor
For more info on each Beast minion check out our full Beast tribe overview.
Concept: As the new season of Hearthstone Battlegrounds started, it became quite obvious that Beasts are getting a new meta build focusing on Beetles. New meta build for the Beast tribe in HS BG features Beetles…again. The concept of the build is quite simple – you are too buff up your Beetle army by using either Deathrattle mechanics or a mix of Deathrattle and Battlecry ones and then summon them on board in early and mid game. You will need Titus and Macaw as well as several other key minions in order to do this. However, your all-star Beetle-buffer minion is a actually a new minion in Season 10 – enter Silky Shimmermoth. Although the name doesn’t suggest it, this thing is really strong as it buffs Beetles when it gets Attack increased. However, there are a few other things that you need to focus on when making this comp – let’s start.
Early game: The good thing with this Beast build is the fact that even your lower-tier minions are pretty strong so you don’t need to avoid them like in some other builds. You can play Buzzing Vermin on your first turn if you can get him and proceed with Hungry Snapjaw on Tier 2. There is an obvious synergy between Snapjaw, Manasaber and Humming Bird but generally speaking, it’s not worth investing a lot of money in so go with that only if you get all those cards before you upgrade to Tier 3. Once you upgrade to Tier 3, you need to start looking for ways to buff up your Beetles, but your top priority should still be survivability, as it will take time for your Beetles to become strong.
Mid game: As we mentioned, survivability is the key in mid game. As far as your key minions are concerned for this beast build, look for Monstrous Macaw and preferably a Sprightly Scarab as well. However, when it comes to tempo, your most important minion to find at this point is Forest Rover and/or Turquoise Skitterer (tier 4 minion). Now, there are two options for buffing up those Beetles in mid-game. The first option is to go with Macaw and Skitterer and trigger Scitter’s Deathrattle with it, focusing on defensive buffs on Beetles. For this one, you will need to find Titus later on and further increase the number of Deathrattles that Skitterer casts. Keep in mind that Skitterer has two Deathrattles, the one is buff and it occurs first, the other one is to summon Beetle. This means that if your Beetles are stronger than minions in Tavern, you should save your gold and look for other key minions instead of cramming up your board. Also, DO NOT buff Macaw – you want him to die on the first hit so that he can be Reborned and so that he can attack again, triggering another Deathrattle.
The second option to buff the Beetles in Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 10 is to go with combo of Macaw (with Reborn) – Forest Rover and Rylak Metalhead. In this scenario, you will also need Titus, but you can also go with Brann. Keep in mind that Brann will do the same when it comes to buffs, but not when it comes to summons – the only way to increase the summoning capacity is through Titus (ok, and Moira if you can get her). Anyway, keep in mind that you want to put Rylak to be the first minion with Deathrattle so that Macaw can trigger his Deathrattle, not the one that Forest Rover has (summon). In the picture above, I changed the order in the end of the game to buff up the defense of my Beetles, but Rylak was in second place throughout the game (and Forest Rover on third). Keep in mind that in this beast comp, you are focusing on attack, as Forest Rover’s Battlecry gives +2/+1.
In both of these strategies for Beast builds, the one thing is certain: If you can get your hands on Runed Progenitor and if you have space on board to put him, you should do it. Usually, this minion will give a nice boost, but it is a key one as his ability is Avenge, which doesn’t synergize with either Titus or Rylak.
Late Game: When it comes to the late game tips and strategy advice for this Beast meta build in HS, the order of your board is what you should be paying close attention to. However, unlike in previous seasons goldening Titus, Macaw, and your Skitterer shouldn’t be your priority – obtaining the almighty Silky Shimmermoth should be. We think that this minion will get nerfed soon, but for now, this is just insane – just by simply buying spells or even by playing Spellcrafts, Silky Shimmermoth will rapidly increase the stats on all the Beetles that you summon. Furthermore, it will summon a Bettle as well once it dies, so it works with Titus as well.
Trinkets to use for Beast builds
None of the Beast minions generate any resources or minions, so obtaining some resource Trinkets is advisable: Bartend-o-Trons or Goblin Wallet are good choices. For the Greater Trinket, Brann or Rivendare portraits are fine choices as well as Beetle Band. Generally speaking, this Battlegrounds build is likely one of the least dependent on which Trinkets you choose.
Strategies for countering Beast builds
These Beasts are pretty versatile. Scam builds are not a good option because all they will do is kill the initial Taunted minion and perhaps one or two summon minions, you will still have to deal with Summoned Beetles that are the main power source in this beast build in Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds. There is no true counter for the Beast build of this type as it’s impossible to scam it – the only way to beat it is to have some luck when attacking (sniping Titus is the best outcome you can hope for) and having more stats. If you want to increase your chances of sniping Titus, you should go for Interrogator Whitemane. Of course, if you can put a strong Cleave minion first, that would be great, but usually you won’t have those unless you are playing with Pirates.
Spells to use for Beast builds
When it comes to spells, your top priority should be getting as many Boons of Beetles as you possibly can. You don’t need to play them right away – keep them in your hand if you are positive that you don’t need more Beetles. This thing is very strong as it’s not Deathrattle so it means that it won’t ruin your board – Beetles will summon “when there is space” which means after all your Deathrattle and Reborn effects occur. Another spell that you might want is of course, Eyes of the Earthmother as pretty much all of your key minions can be goldened by it. Besides those two, other spells are just situational so you don’t need to spend gold on them. Once you get the Moth, all spells that increase stats are welcome as you will be increase the Beetle stats as well.
Quillboar: Corrupted Crone
Key minions: Three Lil’ Quilboars, Corrupted Bristler, Titus Rivendare, Needling Crone, gem-boosting minions
Support minions: Bristlebach
For more info on each Quillboar minion, check out our full Quillboar tribe overview.
Concept: Things have changed a lot when it comes to Quillboar meta builds in Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds. The basic premise remains the same – you are too buff up your Blood Gems so that you can buff your board with them. However, unlike in the previous season where Choose One mechanic was used, now, Deathrattle and combat-cast blood gems are the meta. Basically, your blood-gems will be a lot weaker than in previous seasons and harder to buff up, but much easier to cast in combat and with much stronger effect due to all summon minions that you have. Let’s see how these new Quills work in Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds.
Early game: When it comes to the early game, Quillboar units should not be your top priority – besides Glowgullet Warlord , there are no Tier 1 or Tier 2 units that you need. Early on, try to boost economy and survivability as much as you can since you don’t need to focus on Quillboars. However, once you upgrade to Tier 3, you will need to start buffing your Blood Gems, and getting Prickly Piper is a must-have. In this season of HS BG, there aren’t many ways to buff up the gems – pretty much only four: Prickly Piper, Dreaming Thornweaver, Fearless Foodie and Pokey Thornmantle. Since Piper is the only low tier minion, early on, focus on getting him but also don’t rush it as you really want to have some defenses up in order to get the right tempo. Keep in mind that Quilboars do need time to show their strength – it is one of those tribes, similar to Elementals, that need to take a beating for a few rounds before becoming strong enough to tackle down opponents.
Mid game: When you level up to tier 4, you can start combining your minions to synergize them in the most efficient way. As we said, Dreaming Thornweaver is a great unit to take in early mid-game, especially paired with Glowgullet Warlord and other summon minions. Corrupted Bristler will probably be your strongest minion (Golems that he summons) in late phases of the game and is a another must have – Gollems that are summoned are just too strong to miss on, especially because you want to have Titus later on as well. Fearless Foodie is another way to buff up the blood gems and should always be used for that purpose (not to get 3 Blood Gems instead). However, the best way to buff the gems up is to simply put Pokey Thornmantle on the board and focus on getting minions that can cast Blood Gems in combat.
Late game: On Tier 5, there are 3 very important units to get: The most important one is Three Lil’ Quilboar. The other two are Titus and as we said earlier, Pokey Thornmantle. Now, as you can see, this is a lot of units that you need to find – but the build will work just fine if you can at least get Titus and Three Lil’ Quilboars. Bristlebach on Tier 6 is a neat minion to have but since you are focusing on Deathrattle effects, Three Lil’ Quilboar is much more important. The good thing with Bristlebach is that, this comp is an essentially a Deathrattle build as you will be summoning a lot of minions (mostly Blood Golems) and you want him to cast as many combat blood gems as he can in order for Needling Crone to buff their effect twice. Keep in mind that Needling Crone effects don’t stack so you only need one of them on the field (works the same like Titus).
Trinkets to use for Quilboar builds
When it comes to lesser trinkets, economy ones are advisable due to the fact that Quilboars don’t have any economy or discover minions in their Tribe. If you somehow ramped up your economy then you can take something like Great Boar Sticker but you really don’t need any boost to your Blood Gems at this moment, you need to quickly get the key minions. For Greater Gem, there are a few options. If you are playing the Bonker having Jar o’Gems can double his effect. However, Herald Sticker or Rivendare Portrait are much more helpful if you have Three Lil’ Quilboar on the board. In case you just have some random Quilboars on the board and want to push this comp, Hogwash Basin is a good trinket to get.
Strategies for countering Quillboar build
Honestly, the best “counter” to Quillboars is wiping them out in the midgame. They have these 1-2 turns where they are very weak until they get their buffs and board in order, this is where they lose if they happen to encounter someone with an already “established” build. This is kinda true for every build, but Quillboars especially need this leeway. The thing is, you can’t counter the combat cast minions as Poison or Leeroy won’t work (most of the time) against those and you can’t snipe Titus because there are other Tier 5 and Tier 6 minions (usually) on the board.
Spells to use with Quillboar build
Quilboar comps in Season 10 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds don’t rely much on Spells. Getting Gem Confiscation is a good utility spell for changing up the board, especially if you want to put gems on a Cleave minion. Other than that, Planar Telescope and spells that boost your economy are advisable.
Dragon: Fire-forged Spell Ignition
Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard, Firescale Hoarder/Ignition Specialist/Felfire Conjurer + Drakkari Enchanter
Support minions: Fire-forged Evoker, Spirited Whimsydrake + Greenskeeper/Brann (engine), Nadia the Red + Persistent Poet (perma Divine Shield)
For more info on each Dragon minion, check out our full Dragon tribe overview.
Concept: Dragons are now in a bit of a weird place because there is a new way of playing them regarding tavern spells, but there are also things like Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect, and Persistent Poet, which are essentially three completely different mechanics. Right now, in our opinion, it’s best to focus on getting resources with Greenskeeper and Spirited Whimsydrake, but to focus on the spell build that involves Firescale Hoarder, Fire-forged Evoker, Ignition Specialist with Drakkari Enchanter. You will have a lot of tavern spells, the Firescale Hoarder will work very well by itself, and the Felfire Conjurer is the key minion in order to scale up those Shiny Rings. You have a few combinations here, and it all depends on which dragons you get, but in this season, the priority is to cast a lot of spells one way or the other.
Early game: Early Dragons are pretty strong, so there is no reason to skip them. Obtaining Misfit Dragonling might be decent early on, as this unit is 4/3 after turn 2 if you upgrade. Dozy Whelp is another good minion early on to have; you don’t need to focus on this, just be sure to put him on the far right side of your board. Low-Flier is pretty easy to buff, and he will probably be one of your strongest minions early on as he will buff your other minions as well. Nothing really notable to do in the early game, pretty much everything for this build is in Tier 5/6.
Mid game: In the mid game, there are a few things that can be key components in shifting to a dragon build. The easiest signs to shift to a dragon build is if you happen to get a fire scale hoarder with a Brann or a Felfire Conjurer with Drakkari Enchanter (also Greenskeeper just for extra resources). This is, of course considering you don’t have access to tier 6 minions yet and if you have for example dracari enchanter and felfire conjurer in your arsenal if you get Ignition Specialist then that will just shift the whole game up because now you will have four spells each turn and you will grant extra stats on the spells with felfire conjurer twice because of dracari. The fire scale hoarder is just another way of getting spells. So each of these pieces are key components to a late-game dragon build.
There are some dragons like Persistent Poet and Prized Promo-Drake, but while this is a decent combination, you can’t really take it as a sign to go for dragons because it doesn’t really scale that well. Only if you have certain trinkets and get super lucky to find them just by chance.
Late game: In a bit later stages, once you get a few minutes setup, like Drakkari/Felfire Conjurer/Brann/Firescale Hoarder/Ignition Specialist, there is a new Dragon, Fire-forged Evoker, which essentially works with Tavern spells. So, the logic goes like this: if you have Drakkari and Felfire Conjurer/Ignition Specialist, you will get a large amount of spells at the end of the turn and buff them. You then cast those spells (get massive resources), and meanwhile, Fire-forged Evoker will give additional stats to your dragons at the start of the turn. This is where Firescale Hoarder also comes into play, because the Shiny Ring is a stat-giving spell and works extremely well with Felfire Conjurer. So, everything just adds up at this point. Finally, we also have Nadina the Red, who can give you those extra Divine Shields you desperately need, and you can utilize Persistent Poet to make them permanent. Usually, you will have to sacrifice a bit of tempo in order to do this, but the Divine Shields are well worth it.
Whether you get, for example, Drakkari with Ignition Specialist or you get Felfire Conjurer with Firescale Hoarder and Bran, is really up to chance, but you generally need to have a sense of what you’re doing and what the key telltale signs are that you can shift to this build permanently.
Trinkets to use for Dragon builds
There are quite a few trinkets that work well with this spell dragon build. The first obvious one is Bronzebeard Portrait, since you just get Brann, and he gets the Dragon tribe trait. It’s just good value, and it costs 0 gold. The other one is Ghastly Sticker because if you get Ignition Specialist, it’s pretty good, but only if you already have some sort of “end-of-turn setup”. Of course, there is still a build with Poet Portrait, with Prized Promo-Drake/Persistent Poet, and it can work, but it’s a mid-range build that is not really synergistic with the spell build. We do think that Redeemer Portrait is a bit bait because it costs a lot, Nala isn’t a minion type, and it’s just a bit of a setback (costs 3 Gold, +2/+1 from Nala is not a lot). Of course, the safe choices here are Bob’s Tip Jar for that extra money and Book of Medvih. Finally, Manipulator Portrait can be nice if you can copy an Ignition Specialist or one of the key minions.
Strategies for countering Dragon build
Generally, late-game stat builds are hard counters. Dragons in Battlegrounds can’t really scale like some other tribes, like Quillboars. Beasts and Undeads give them trouble because of Reborn capabilities that destroy Dragon shields. If you somehow can’t outgun this meta-dragon build, just get a Tunnel Blaster and he will blast the Dragons into oblivion. Remember, the best “attribute” of dragons is their easy-to-get Divine Shields and high attack.
Spell synergies with Dragon build
With this build specifically, especially if you have a Felfire Conjurer, you will have to look for the spells that give everyone stats, because those are the ones that will give you the most value from the buffed stats. Shiny Ring, Forest’s Bounty, and Azerite Empowerment are priorities.
Spell Builds: Sorcery Engine
Key minions: Spell-stat Boosting Minions – Felfire Conjurer, Tranquil Meditative, Shoalfin Mystic, etc.
Support minions: Spell-generating Minions – Ignition Specialist, Marquee Ticker, Silivaz the Vindictive, Firescale Hoarder, etc.
We put this build as one of the primary ones because a lot of the time you will be given a pathway into this build and it’s meta, especially for beginner to intermediate players. This is why we put this build almost at the beginning of our Battlegrounds Season 10 guide.
Concept: Okay, so the spell build is probably one of the most complex builds in the current HS Season 10 meta, because there are a bunch of tribes that have potential for this build. The main thing you have to look for is things that buff up the stat-gaining of spells. So, for example, your shiny ring is +1/+1, you can enhance it to be +10/+10. And if you get 10 shiny rings, that means you can get +100/+100 on your whole board. To get to this point, we’ll have to utilize a lot of different minions, and while we do have specific tribe builds, like, for example, the spell build on dragons, there is a distinct difference between going full spells and focusing on one tribe. Since you can’t really predict what you’re gonna get, sometimes pivoting into a spell build is a very good choice. So, for example, if you have an Ignition Specialist, and a Marquette Tinker, and a bunch of spells, and you just can’t get that fire forged dragon, and instead get Humon’gozz, then you’re not gonna play dragons. You will have to pivot into playing a spell build.
One thing you do have to be aware of is that not every tribe has the ability to buff spells, and that is extremely important because if you’re thinking of shifting to a spell build, you will have to look at which tribes are currently in your lobby. Because, for example, if you have Pirates, Beasts (Hawkstrider Herald/Rylak Metalhead can help though), Quillboars, Undead, Elementals. None of these tribes will help you to get the spell build correctly, except for maybe Beasts. A good telltale sign to go for this build is if you have Dragons, Murlocs, Nagas, Demons, and/or Elementals.
So basically, half the tribes have this ability to buff stats, and the other half don’t. Some of these examples are Felfire Conjurer, Tranquil Meditative, Shoalfin Mystic, and also spell-generating minions like Ignition Specialist, Marquee Ticker, Silivaz the Vindictive, Firescale Hoarder, etc.
Also, there are some neutral no-type minions that are made for this build – Intrepid Botanist, which is excellent since it is tribeless and low tier, and Humon’gozz, a extremely powerful minion because it instantly buffs all your spells just by his presence on the board, and on top of that he is a tier 4 4-5 Divine Shield minion. Finally, Tauren Spiritwalker is worth a mention because he is good at getting those additional resources or casting a spell twice (more on this in the mid-game section).
Early Game: The early game, we already said that the Intrepid Botanist is not to be overlooked. Combining it with a Shiny Ring, for example, can give you a lot of stats. Essentially, to play this build, you need a lesser trinket that’s not super focused on one specific tribe that is not related to spell build. And also, you have to see what tribes are in your current lobby, as we already mentioned. But, other than that, nothing special is happening in the early game.
Mid Game: So, for example, if you have Interpid Botanist, and you found a first one and picked +1 Attack, you found a second one, picked +1 Attack, and you found a third one, goldened it, and picked +2 Health. Now you have plus 2, plus 2 on all of your spells. And now, if you find, let’s say Tauren Spiritwalker and Time Management, then you will cast Time Management twice, so it’s +4/+4, twice, cast twice. Meaning, you will get +16/+16 on all your minions. This is just a crude example of what this build is all about, and what can it do if you happen to get the right minions. Moreover, this is only the early game tempo, and in the later stages, you will have to set up some stats on the spells and then go for spell gathering minions we mentioned earlier.
Late Game: Once you have your board set up and stat-gaining minions you will have to actually scale in an exponential way. One way to do this is by having Felfire Conjurer because it’s with Drakkari, that is probably the best way to get the stats up on your spells. We already mentioned a lot of spell-generating minions in the beginning, but in the later stages, the ones that you have to look out for are Ignition Specialist, Silivaz the Vindictive, and Firescale Hoarder, but there are a lot of other ones that will fill in that void. Also, you can utilize Brann, Titus, or Drakkari with this build, depending on what type of minion you get.
So it’s a really flexible build, it really is dependent on what stuff you get, and that’s not even counting the lesser and greater trinkets. You’ll have a lot of instances where you have a certain board set up with this build, and you want to exchange your minion for another one in the tavern because you think that that may be better. That will happen almost every turn because there are so many things that can go well with this build.
Trinkets to use for Spell Builds
There are quite a few trinkets to use with this build, but usually you will want to pick something that gives you a bit of resources when picking lesser trinkets and when it comes to greater trinkets, Bob’s Tip Jar, Peacebloom Candle, Empowerment Portrait, Ghastly Sticker, and Manipulator Portrait are all pretty nice for the spell build setup.
Elemental: Amplifying Frostforger build
Key Minions: Amplifying Lightpawn, Unleashed Mana Surge, Lokholar Frostforger, Drakkari Enchanter
Support Minions: Glowing Cinder, Sand Swirler, Brann Bronzebeard
For more info on each Elemental minion, check out our full Elemental tribe overview.
Concept: Elementals have had a fundamental change this season, and a lot of new minions have come into the rotation. Their main strategy is still kind of similar to before, and that is to cycle a lot of minions and get more elementals via various effects. There are two ways in which you can buff your minions: you can either buff those on the board or the ones in the Tavern. However, things get tricky now as you first need to buff the effects of minions that increase buffs, and then play the minions that you wish. Things get even more tricky when you look at the card texts: some are Deathrattle, some Battlecry, and some End-of-turn effects. That means that you can use Titus, Brann, or Drakkari for your Battlegrounds comp. However, when testing, Drakkari Enchanter has shown that his comp is in the current game meta. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use Brann or Titus (for some part of the game), just keep in mind that end-of-turn high-tier Elemental minions with Drakkari on the board. Here are the full tips for Elemental builds in Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 10.
Early game: Low-tier Elementals in Season 10 are pretty weak. Besides Party Elemental, there are no options for scaling, so you should avoid taking random Elementals. Another thing is that it will take some time for your buffs to take place, so you need to set up a strong foundation, and you should be ready to lose a few rounds. Bountiful Bedrock is a great minion to take early on as he allows you to get more Elementals. Sand Swirler(s) can be paired with Party Elemental(s) but the whole thing can cost you quiet a few HP because this way of buffing the army is really slow and you need to upgrade fast.
Mid game: You probably noticed that Sand Swirler improves the defensive buffs with Battlecry effect, and on Tier 4, Glowing Cinder improves attacking buffs with its Deathrattle effect. It would be great if you could have Glowing Cinder on the field for some time in for his buffs to take place. However, the real deal comes when you improve to Tavern Tier 5 (which again, you need to do pretty fast). This is the part in which you need to decide if you want to buff the Elementals on the board or the ones in the Tavern. You can pair Brann with Dancing Barnstormer and Dune Dweller (which now has improved buffs from Glowing Cinder and/or Sand Swirler). Keep in mind that when you play Battlecry option, Sand Swirlers effect is doubled which means that your Elementals will be defensively stronger and when you play Deathrattle option is the opposite (because Titus improves offensive improvements given by Glowing Cinder). However, your main goal at this stage of the game is to get Drakkari Enchanter and pair it with Lokholar, Frostforger and Amplifying Lightspawn. This is by far the most effective way of increasing stats in Elemental tribe for the time being.
Late game: Once you assemble your board, the Elementals will start getting insane buffs in every turn. You can choose to take Unleashed Mana Surge as well and shuffle a few Elementals in every turn in order to improve this. Furthermore, be on the lookout for Elemental of Surprise as this is your only Divine Shield option for Elemental Battlegrounds season 10 Tribe.
Trinkets to use for Elemental builds
Elementals are very weak early on, and your Lesser Trinket should provide enough tempo for your to survive until you get the higher Tier ones. Getting economy Trinkets is a good option although something like Rocking Music Box can also be quite useful (especially if you turn to Brann build later on). By far, the best one for Greater Trinket is the Surprise Portrait because it will allow you to golden your minions, discover Tier 6 ones and provide Divine Shield. Also, if you go for the end-of-turn build, Ghastly Sticker is a perfect combo with it.
Strategies for Countering Elemental Build
Currently, there aren’t really straightforward ways to counter elementals because if your opponent has elemental minions, they will probably have a lot of divine shields and a lot of stats, so you can’t rely on scams like Venomous minions. You will just need to knock him out earlier or outscale him with your own board. One thing you can do is if your board doesn’t have Divine Shields, you can blow up theirs with Tunnel Blaster and then equalize the playing field a little bit.
Spells to use with Elemental Build
The only spells that you should use for Elementals are the ones that give you discovery and/or Economy boosts. Elementals in Season 10 are already quiet strong later on and don’t need a push in later phases of the game; however, in mid-game, you really want to discover those Tier 5 and Tier 6 ones ASAP for the effect to start taking place. Planar Telescope and similar spells are advisable.
Murlocs: Brann’s Keywordmania Build
Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard with Primalfin Lookout + Young Murk-Eye
Supporting Minions: Battlecry and Venomous Murlocs or Hand Murlocs
For more info on each Murloc minion, check out our full Murloc tribe overview.
Important note: Apprentice of Sefin was removed on day 1, so now we are waiting for the next patch to fill in this gap. They will probably add something that gets you more Keywords, that is why the current build feels “flat” and generally not that strong. He was one of the key minions in getting the extra Keywords, and a lot of mechanics revolve around Keywords for Murlocs right now.
Concept: The primary focus is the Battlecries and playing around Brann Bronzebeard. It is similar to earlier seasons, but there are some nuances in season 10 with keywords, especially with a rather controversial introduction of Apprentice of Sefin miniom, which is now temporarily removed from the game. This complicates this build a bit because it obviously has to rely on getting the keywords on your murlocs, because, for example, Gormling Gourmet is good for keywords, as well as Hackerfin. The complication goes further because on the one hand, you have Operatic Belchers that are a scam unit, and on the other hand, you have a Brann with Battlecries…but you also have Bassgill and Breamcounter for the hand murlocs. Ideally, with the combination of all of these mechanics ideally you can have a half-scam/half-high-stat board with a few chunky murlocs and Venomous traits.
Early Game: In the early game, the one new minion that stands out is the Bubble Gunner and he is an interesting one. Since he can gain a random bonus keyword, you essentially have a chance to get anything on him. To break it down, it’s a 50-50. If you get Taunt, Stealth, or Windfury, it’s pretty useless, and if you get Venomous, Divine Shield, or Reborn, then this is good value. Whether or not you should take it early on is really up to you and if you’re willing to flip a coin or you have nothing better to pick. The other early game murlocs are pretty standard, Blazing Skyfin with Parched Wanderer are a good choice for tempo.
Mid game: Once you acquire Brann, everything is easier with Murlocs. Primalfin Lookout still remains a good pickup for discovering additional Murlocs, and in combination with Young Murk-Eye, it can print you a lot of Murlocs. Generally speaking, everything revolves around Brann Bronzebeard because even if you have a few Operatic Belchers, you’re still gonna need that extra firepower and stats. A few trinkets can help here, especially the Belcher Portrait, which is generally a scam trinket. Of course, Bream Counter + Bassgill are still an option as well as the new Flighty Scout for hand plays, especially now because of Murkbine Expeditioner has been introduced. But as far as the mid game goes, the primary concern is getting a lot of murlocs. Once you get a lot of murlocs, then you can transition into the late game and actually start to have a decent build. And again, the only way you’re going to have a lot of murlocs is with Brann Bronzebeard/Young Murk-eye + Drakkari Enchanter.
Late game: The first thing is that you have a lot of Battlecry murlocs that just give you a lot of stats. Hackerfin is a new one that gets you +2/+2 for every bonus keyword, which you will have a lot of on all of the murlocs. Also, there is still King Bagurgle and Murky, but you will probably have to rely on discovering them instead of spending money. Some Murlocs have Divine Shields and, most importantly, the Venomous trait. This can be turned into a combination of some murlocs having a lot of stats and almost all murlocs having Venomous (especially when utilizing Operatic Belcher) with some Divine Shields/Reborn/Stealth sprinkled in. Going for Choral Mrrrgl and Murkbine Expeditioner is still a good choice if you have Bream Counters in your hand. And do also note that there are some trinkets that work extremely well with this build, which we will explain a bit more below.
Trinkets to use for Murloc builds
There are quite a few trinkets that work with murlocs, and the first two obvious ones are Belcher Portrait and Bronzebeard Portrait, which are pretty self-explanatory. Another interesting one is Hackerfin Portrait, which is good if you happen to have a lot of keywords on your murlocs. Moreover, for hand murlocs, there are two specific trinkets that stand out, and the first ones are Morgl Portrait and Bassgill Portrait, which is a straight-up power spike and works extremely well with Bassgill and hand murlocs, and another one is Nerglish Phrasebook, which is like a Bream Counter on steroids. Finally, we have Primalfin Portrait, but do note that this is an extremely expensive trinket. One prerequisite is to have a Brann, because without it, you’re just gonna lose a lot of tempo, since it costs 8 gold.
Strategies for Countering Murloc Build
Countering murlocs is extremely difficult because there is a lot of stuff going on on the murloc board. The one thing that you really need is a lot of Divine Shields because you’re going to be playing against venomous murlocs that can also be pretty big stat-wise. So stack up Divine Shields as much as you can and hope for the best.
Spells to use with Murloc Build
Note that in Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 10, the Cloning Conch has been removed. This was an important spell for Murlocs, and it’s important to keep in mind when, for example, going for spell-generating trinkets. Getting Lost Staff of Hamuul is also an excellent choice since, just like with Pirates, when you are playing Murlocs, there are a lot of Murlocs that you can find that are useful.
Undead: The Butchering Grounds
Key Minions: Drustfallen Butcher, Archlich Kel’thuzad, Titus Rivendare, Deathly Striker
Supporting Minions: Mummifier, Eternal Summoner, Deathly Striker, Maw Caster, Anub’arak, Nerubian King
For more info on each Undead minion, check out our full Undead tribe overview.
Concept: In the new Season 10, there are two ways to go about playing undeads. The first way is to buff up the attack (with some permanent stats), and the second way is to go for the “spillover build”. Here we will focus on the first strategy (Attack gain) because we feel like it’s a bit more accessible and straight to the point, and it doesn’t really rely on a lot of other factors. We will have the “spillover build” in detail in the alternative build section.
Early game: In the early game, undeads are still pretty nice, and with the combination of Risen Rider, Scarlet Skull, Nerubian Deathswarmer, and perhaps Cadaver Caretaker, you can gain some pretty good tempo and be annoying for your opponent. Do keep in mind that none of these undead will get you extra resources; they are just purely for tempo.
Mid game: As we already mentioned, we’ll be focusing on the attack build, which relies on getting Anub’arak, Nerubian King, and the new, very important undead, Drustfallen Butcher. The new Drustfallen Butcher is the main way of getting permanent Attack on undead, and he does so by giving you a precious tavern spell – Butchering. Butchering is a very good scaling spell, but you will have to take into consideration the problem of resources regarding undead. You really don’t have any resource-generating minions except for Deathly Striker and Kel’thuzad on Tier 6, and even that minion is not completely reliable if you don’t have the correct setup. That means that you will have to rely on resource-based trinkets and other means of getting extra resources, especially if you want to play with Drustfallen Butcher. Risen Riders are actually pretty nice to have at this stage of the game because the Taunt + Reborn is very good for obtaining the Avenge “points” for the Butchering spell. Keep in mind that you will have to cast Butchering on a high-tier undead like Moroes, Steward of Death, or Eternal Summoner in order to get the full value. Also, they brought back Archlich Kel’thuzad, which is a very nice addition to the undead comp because he can just summon the extra undead for the butchering. Drustfallen Butcher with Archlich Kel’thuzad and Eternal Summoner/Moroes, Steward of Death will get you Butchering Generation + extra high-tier undead each turn.
Late game: In the late game, once you gain a lot of attack, you will have to focus on optimizing your board in order to get the full value of it and that means that anything without reborns or summons is a nuisance. Utilizing Mummifier with Archlich Kel’thuzad is good because you can get reborns on all your undeads. Also, placing Cadaver Caretaker to the rightmost and Deathly Striker or Eternal Summoner will spawn those additional undeads that you need. You can utilize Noisul of the Many Faces because even though you don’t have a super-summoning board, a +1/+1 permanent stats is always very helpful for undeads, since you will summon undeads naturally throughout the game, either way. Of course, Titus Rivendare, it is always extremely useful here, since it will make all the Deathrattles much more effective.
This is exactly the scenario you want to AVOID, a lot of Butchering spells (greed for power), no way of getting those precious high-tier undeads, gg.
Keep in mind that you can also combine Sinrunner Blanchy and Archlich Kel’Thuzad and retain full stats of Sinrunner Blanchy. You can get Sinrunner Blanchy’s attack up with the Butchering, and you can get its defense up with Wisp in the Shell. But this is pretty circumstantial, and not the core idea behind the attack build.
Trinkets to use for Undead builds
As we already mentioned, the undead are in desperate need of resources, and that’s why stuff like Bob’s Tip Jar or similar (resources) are decent picks. There come two very new interesting new trinkets, and that is Kel’Thuzad Portrait and Maw Caster Portrait. Both of these portraits rely on the “mechanic of destroy a minion outside combat”. The Kel’thuzad Portrait is good with Sinrunner Blanchy because it can make the stats worth it. Also, do keep in mind that you instantly get the Archlich Kel’Thuzad, which is also very nice with almost every undead build. With the Maw Caster Portrait, this is exactly what you need with the attack undead build. Extra gold given to you with a core mechanic that you will be using either way.
Strategies for Countering Undead Build
Countering Undead is usually done by pure stats because you can’t really rely on divine shields or some shenanigans with sniping their minions. Because they have a lot of Reborn and a lot of different verticals of attack. The one thing that is still prominent is that you can buy a Sin’dorei Straight Shot and counter their Reborns and Taunts. This will weaken them and additionally create a lot of disruption.
Spells to use with Undead Build
Probably the one spell that is worth mentioning is Butchering. If you have a minion that is “annoying”, this is a perfect spell to get rid of it. Moreover, remember that casting this on your Deathrattle minions will trigger the Deathrattle permanently (reborn, stats, etc) and cast it on higher-tier minions, since tier level = permanent attack.
Pirate: Golden Grifter build
Key minions: Doubloon Grifter, Thieving Rascal (Resources), Spacefarer.
Supporting Minions: Gunpowder Courier, Blade Collector, Elite Navigator, Goldgrubber, Dual-Wield Corsair
For more info on each Pirate minion, check out our full Pirate tribe overview.
Concept: Pirates are pretty interesting in Season 10, and there are a lot of changes, especially for the stat-based build. The best build to go for is the stat-based one, powered by resource minions. You can also go for the end-of-turn build, but generally, shuffling minions while having tons of gold is the better option (well, unless you have a slow processor on your phone, then it’s a nightmare). Anyway, the concept of this Pirate build is to go for Doubloon Grifter as soon as possible in order to start buffing your total gold cap. You can easily golden him by using the new Elite Navigator unit, and after that, it’s just a matter of how strong your army is and how many turns you can survive before you outscale your opponents. Getting Spacefarer, especially against Undead minions is a must.
Early game: Early on, the best thing to do is not to collect random pirate minions as most of your minions that are key are high tier. Getting a Goldgrubber is a good move if you have some golden minions on the board, such as Aurete Laurete as he can provide some tempo. Besides that, you don’t need any minions from Pirate tribe in the early game.
Mid game: When it comes to mid game, as we said, Goldgrubber can help with tempo quite a lot. However, in this stage of the game, the most important thing for this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Pirate build is to get Doubloon Grifter as soon as possible. Keep in mind that your mid-game will probably be the weakest part of your game, so you need to try to obtain some defenses and tempo. Having a trinket that gives tempo is important, as you won’t need any special Lesser Trinket for this build later on.
Furthermore, Thieving Rascal can also be quite useful, but only if you have several golden minions on the board. What you don’t want to do at this point is to try buffing your low-tier minions, as you really need the gold push in order to scale rapidly later on. General advice is not to try to push the Pirate build (or any build for that matter) unless you can get one of those two key minions.
Late game: Later on, once you have enough gold, you should be able to comfortably tackle down your opponents. Brann is not a must in this battlegrounds build, although he can be helpful. The thing is, if you already have a couple of golden minions and a few of your resource minions, your board can become quite clunky with Brann there as well (you also need one spot for the Battlecry minions to play on). Instead of getting Brann, try to rush to Tier 6 and obtain Spacefarer with at least golden Gunpowder Courier or Duel-Wield Corsair on the board. Of course, new Dastardly Drust is a must if you are playing this build, but you can use alternatives for stat-boost until you get him. Once you assemble your board, Dastardly Drust and Gunpowder Courier (or Dual-Wield Corsair) will buff your board up and you can just lean back and buy-sell random Pirates in order to both, boost your gold more and your stats.
Trinkets to use for Pirate builds
When it comes to Lesser Trinkets, if you already have a wish to go for a pirate build, generally speaking, it is advisable to take a versatile trinket that can be useful even if you don’t get the key minions for this battlegrounds comp. Examples of those trinkets can be Gritty Portrait, Replica Cathedral or Rocking Music Box. When it comes to Greater Trinkets, Booty Bay Brew (greater), Designer Eyepatch and Grifter Portrait work nicely although Eyepatch can be a bit of an overkill. If you are not sure what to take, you can always take something that will boost your economy (well, if you get it) such as Bob’s Tip Jar.
Strategies for Countering Pirate Build
There are a few things to keep in mind with countering pirates. The first one is that they usually don’t have any shenanigans like Divine Shields, so they are susceptible to Venomous traits. Moreover, be very wary of Blade Collector and anticipate that they will have a cleave if they are playing pirates, and act accordingly. And the final thing is that the Spacefarer is probably pirates’ strongest unit, and it is usually placed in the back, so you can try to utilize Leeroy The Reckless or Venomous on the right side of your board in order to snipe him.
Spells to use with Pirate Build
Pirates have a lot of spells that you can utilize, but the key spell in this season is for sure Marauder’s Contract, which you can get from Gritty Headhunter. Other than that, Lost Staff of Hamuul provides decent value since there are a lot of pirates that you can find that will provide you with value.
Naga: Weary Cyclist Build
Key Minions: Showy Cyclist, Titus Riverdale, Weary Mage + spell-generating Nagas
Supporting Minions: Corrupted Murmidon, Groundbreaker
For more info on each Naga minion, check out our full Naga tribe overview.
Concept: In Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 10, Naga minions are fun to play with. The old comp focusing on Groundbreaker is still viable, but now is heavily nerfed. The main reason is the fact that the new minion, Weary Mage, can cast Reborn on this Deathrattle Naga, thus multiplying its effect, all while the stat boost is powered by Deathrattle spells generated from Coilskar Saper (and multiplied by Titus effect). Without further ado, let’s see Season 10 Naga comp strategies and tips.
Early game: In the early game, Nagas old comp is still viable: Lava Lurker in combination with the Thaumaturgist and Zesty Shaker still works, but there are better options to go for. The Glad-iator, and Warden of Old are all also pretty good early pickups that can gain you tempo and resources. However, the best thing to get once you move to Tier 3 is Weary Mage and Coilskar Sapper combo. The reason is simple – you will be getting at least 4 Spellcrafts every turn (if Coilskar dies twice), and that is pretty neat especially if you consider that some lower tier Nagas have been removed (meaning that you have a better chance of getting stronger Spellcrafts). This will provide both, the necessary tempo for early and mid-game and the boost for later Cyclist and/or Groundbreaker effects.
Mid game: Besides Slipery Slider, which is now just an okeish minion due to the removal of Gym build, and Corrupted Myrmidon, there aren’t any useful minions on Tier 4. This is the reason why you need to transition fast to Tavern Tier 5 and start looking for your key minions – Showy Cyclist and Titus Rivendare. By this stage of the game, the Spellcrafts generated by lower-tier Nagas should be substantial enough for Cyclist effect to start making an effect on your battle outcomes.
Late game: As we said, Snowy Cyclist is your star minion in this Battlegrounds season 10 Naga comp. All other minions (except for Titus) should be generating spells that will buff your tempo up and provide additional resources (don’t forget that there are Spellcrafts that provide Gold or discover Spells). It is advisable to transition to Tavern Tier 6 once you are comfortable with this, as you might want to get Groundbreaker as well. Now, unlike in previous Season, Groundbreaker will not be your main minion. However, Silivaz the Vindicative is an okay minion to have as he generates both resources and stats (with Spells that you discover). Fauna Whisperer is a niche minion that can be used in menagerie spell builds and is okey to have but only if you can’t get anything else. The late game phase highly depends on your Greater Trinket – so let’s see what the deal is with those in terms of Nagas in Season 10 of Battlegrounds.
Trinkets to use for Naga builds
When it comes to Lesser Trinkets for Naga comps in Season 10 of HS BG, Azsharan Statuette, or Rusty Trident are pure naga trinkets that you can use. Both of those will buff up your Spellcraft generation that you probably won’t have enough space in your hand to hold all of them soon. However, sometimes Bartend-o-Trons or Goblin Wallet are good choices as well if you don’t want to commit too much. For greater Trinkets, choices are vast: probably the best ones are Weary Portrait or Thaumaturgist Portrait, especially the latter as it will allow you to buff your Corrupted Myrmidon easily.
Strategies for Countering Naga builds
Countering Nagas is kind of difficult because they have a bit of everything. There is one notable thing that you can do is to get Interrogator Whitemane to snipe his Titus if you know they are playing Deathrattle Nagas. Usually, you can outscale them with Quillboars/Mechs/Murlocs. Other than that, you can try to snipe his Groundbreaker since that is probably his biggest unit, but that is not really a straightforward counter.
Spells to use for Naga builds
Since Nagas require you to cast a lot of spells because they scale with them, anything that you see of value for 1 gold can be taken, but the most important one is Spitescale Special and Channel the Devourer. With Channel the Devourer, you can essentially keep your stats if you don’t have a Lava Lurker, so it’s a pretty good utility to have. Other than that, all of the other spells provide good utility, but nothing notable for Nagas.
Final Thoughts on the Hearthstone Battlegrounds Strategy for Season 10
Hopefully, this article helped you or at least gave you some new ideas when it comes to Hearthstone Battlegrounds strategy for Season 10. With the introduction of trinkets in Season 10, the Hearthstone Battlegrounds meta has shifted significantly. The game feels faster, everything feels a bit more clunky, unbalanced, but overall it is fun to play, despite the rough release regarding crashes. All in all, it is a fresh and very welcome update, so be sure to stay tuned for future updates, because we will for sure update this guide as the meta progresses and new patches come out. Check out our friend’s ElectroHSBG Channel for Duos shenanigans. Also, stay tuned for future updates as we test out new strategies in HS Battlegrounds Season 10. Good Luck!
