Hearthstone Battlegrounds Strategy Guide [Season 9]

Anomalies are back in Hearthstone Battlegrounds! With the recent 31.6 “Anomaly patch”, we have seen a big mid-season shakeup! Just as a quick reminder, take a look at what previous seasons of Battlegrounds looked like in order to understand better what this season is about. In chronological order, the last few Hearthstone Battlegrounds seasons looked like this:

Season 5 (August 2023): Battlegrounds Anomalies were introduced as well as Tier 7 Minions.
Season 6 (December 2023): Anomalies got removed, Tavern Spells were added and Quests brought back in.
Season 7 (April 2024): Quests are removed, Tavern Spells 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 are back!

This guide is up-to-date with the latest 31.6 Anomaly Patch.
+Changed some builds according to the 31.6 meta
+Added Anomalies overview

For Duos, check out our full HS BG Advanced Duos Guide.

Patch 31.2 marked the beginning of Season 9 by removing Trinkets from the game, adding and removing minions. Also, as we mentioned before, we have published a different guide (link above) for Battleground duos as gameplay mechanics are much different than in the regular mod, including the build types.

In this guide, we will talk about 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.

Table of Contents

General Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 9 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 can 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.

Anomalies Overview

Anomalies are back! While in the general sense, you have to stick with the essentials of leveling up the tavern and maintaining your tempo, it’s very important to understand the dynamics with anomalies and how to leverage their strength in your favor. Anomalies are very tricky because they kind of offer the same benefits and it’s really up to each player as to how they will reap these benefits from the given anomaly. Not only that, a lot of builds and hero powers work well with some anomalies, so in this season, there is an infinite number of combinations, especially with hero powers and anomalies, which is kind of redundant to get into because there is, as we already said, infinite possibilities. But do understand that each game in this current season is really dynamic and you should play into the anomalies always.

To get a better understanding of what we mean, let’s look at a few examples of anomalies and how you should really go about playing into them rather than just glancing over them and just playing a specific tribe:

Cosmic Duality – Cosmic Duality is a pretty simple anomaly, but you should take one thing into consideration. Because you will have two hero powers, it’s optimal to pick a hero that has a lot of armor, but perhaps a less impactful hero power, because you can then, if the RNG is correct, pick a more powerful hero power, because the second one from the anomaly isn’t tied to the armor you get. So the optimal way to play this anomaly is, again, to pick the hero power and the hero that has a lot of armor, and then pick the most powerful hero power, because the second one isn’t contingent on the armor.
Bring in the Buddies – This anomaly is really a circus all throughout the game because you really can’t commit to a full tribe mostly because the bodies in the tavern will always hog up space and you will have to play with them. On the other hand if you rely too much on gimmicks from bodies you won’t have an actual build. So here it’s important to get bodies that will provide you resources and play a build that’s not tied to having a lot of specific minions on your board.
Eleventh Hour – While simple in its meaning, the gameplay shifts significantly for all the players in the lobby with this trinket. It essentially means you can commit to that greedy Tavern upgrade or that extra greedy turn to develop everything you want on your board for that endgame build. That means that some builds like a mid-range beetle build will probably fail against someone who is playing Quillboars because he will have that one extra turn with a lot and build. Certain tribes like Quillboars, Battlecry Dragons or Mechs gain a lot of benefits from this.
Tavern Special – This anomaly is a lot less fun than it sounds. It basically means that everybody will have a lot of trouble committing to a build, and counting on certain minions to show up in the tavern is a foolish idea. Rather, it’s beneficial to pick up minions that will gain you resources, and then minions that don’t really rely on a lot of other stuff. Also, Menagerie build is somewhat okay here, but to be honest, at the current state of Menagerie builds, it’s a coin toss even with this anomaly.

While this provides limited information, it demonstrates how you should think when it comes to anomalies and how leveraging each one will give you that edge when competing in a certain lobby.

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: 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.
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.

Early-game Tips

Turn 1 (3 gold): Most economy minions have been reworked and are now Tier 2. In season 9, 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): Based on your board, decide what you want to go for at this time. Do not overcommit and if you can play two strong minions this turn.
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.
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 such as new Dragons, or “Self-inflicting” Beasts. 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 like Mechs/Dragons/Beasts. 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.

Quillboar: Turbo Gem build

Key minions: Gem Rat, Turbo Hogrider, choose-one minions (late game)
Support minions: Thorned Trailblazer, Fearless Foodie, Drakkari Enchanter, Crystal Infuser

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 9 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, you will see that in this comp you do that kind of simultaneously with the new meta that revolves around Choose one game mechanic. However, in order for this to work, you will need a set of several specific minions and most importantly, you will need to get the new Tier 6 Turbo Hogrider. Previous Quilboar is still viable, it’s just much weaker with the changes on how buffing the gems work. The new one works pretty simple – you buff the Blood Gems through choose-one minions and later you do the same but Turbo Hogrider also casts Blood Gems everytime you use the choose-one card. Let’s see how these new Quills work in Season 9 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

Early game: When it comes to early game, Quillboar units should not be your top priority – besides Boar Gamer 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 ascent to Tier 3, you will need to start buffing your Blood Gems and your Blood Gem production – your top priority should be getting Gem Rat. This unit will be your core unit until the very end of the game and should always be bought if possible. Crystal Infuser, another new minion in Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 9, is also a good choice – just at this point, pick the Deathrattle effect as it’s much more valuable later on. Suffice to say, all your Blood Gems should be casted on Geomagus Roogug as you want him cast more Blood Gems on other minions. Alternatively, if you can get your hands on a Cleave minion you can cast Blood Gems on it as well as you need the tempo at this stage. Fearless Foodie is another important unit and you should take his buffs every time you can.

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, Boar Gamer is a great unit to take in early mid-game but keep in mind that his effect doesn’t only give you Quilboars so you might end up with getting random choose one Pirates or Murlocs. Thorned Trailblazer is your main thing to look for at this point since you really want him on the board to take both choose one effects. There is a secret synergy here that you can use: playing Grace Faresail with Trailblazer on the field will grant you 6 gold as you will get both of his effects. Also, keep in mind that you might see the Blood Gem transfer spell in the tavern at this point and you should take it because you will need it for sure later.

Late game: If you are positive that you won’t keep losing health, it’s time to level up to tier 5 and rapidly to tier 6 – your key minion is there. Of course, we are taking about another new unit in Season 9 of Battlegrounds, Turbo Hogrider. If you have Blood Gem transfer spell, use it now and make sure that one spot always remains free on your board so that you can keep shuffling the choose one minions. It doesn’t matter that you might end up loosing some stats in playing and selling the minions on that spot, you will get a lot more value from this strategy then to keep your board full and skip choose one minions in the Tavern. If you have a golden Gem Rat (or two of them) you can also take Drakkari Enchanter as he can synergize with Chargla as well in order to boost your Blood Gem production to the max. You don’t need to generate any blood gems manually now, you want to exploit the Hogrider’s effect as much as you can. Pokey Thronmantle is fine to play if you find him early on but is not that important in this build – Hogrider is your key minion.

Strategies for countering Quillboar build

The first thing that comes to mind is going for Scam builds. Since they will probably have a few Divine Shields, going for Leeroy or anything will poison will wreck them. But 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.

Spells to use with Quillboar build

Getting Gem Confiscation is a good utility spell for changing up the board, especially if you want to put gems on a Cleave minion. Any spell that allows you to either fastly upgrade or discover a Tier 6 minion is also extremely good since getting one Hogrider or even Chargla (if you have Drakkari as well) with buffed-up Blood Gems can literally win you the game. Of course, if you see any choose one spells, you should take them as well because they will trigger Hogrider’s effect once casted.

Pirate: Space Race Build

Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard and Doubloon Grifter (Resources), Spacefarer, Salty Hog, and Dual-Wield Corsair (Scaling)
Supporting Minions: Peggy, Gunpowder Courier, Gritty Headhunter, Lovestick Balladist, Blade Collector

For more info on each Pirate minion check out our full Pirate tribe overview.

Concept: Pirates are pretty interesting in Season 9, and there are a lot of changes, especially for the stat-based build. The best build to go for is the stat-based one. You can also go for the Skypirate build, but generally you will have to hit a lot of important minions in the tavern while having a low amount of Gold. The stat-based build focuses on getting a Brann and utilizing new scailing Pirates, as well as gathering a lot of gold with new resource-centered pirates. This build requires a lot of finesse in the midgame because transitioning to a full pirate build without some extra gold can be very rough. This is why it is especially important to take into consideration your current tempo and the transition phase from mid to lategame.

Early game: In the early game, the strategy remains similar to the prior season. Get a Scallywag and a Ripsnail Captain to get some tempo, and Defiant Shipwright if you want to buff him for that extra value, especially if you there is an Anomaly that helps with that. In the early-mid game, you have to be careful a bit for going Peggy. Because of the two 1-stats, it’s not really a good tempo and it doesn’t really provide you with additional resources.

Mid game: In the mid game, the primary focus should be to acquire gold and some tempo. Of course, you don’t know if you’re going to play pirates and the tavern can give you anything, but there are some key minions to look for if you want to go for them. The most notable one is, by far, Brann Bronzebeard since there are two good pirates that rely on Battlecry and that is the new Gritty Headhunter and Lovestick Balladist.

The issue you will encounter here is that you can’t just buy scaling pirates that give you stats and have 10 gold each turn. You have to buy something to get gold and additional resources. Grace Farsail is a new unit for getting more gold and Doubloon Grifter will be even better later on once you get some momentum. The idea here is to, with the combination of these two units, acquire a few more gold and then actually transition to gaining stats with Dual-Wield Corsair, Gunpowder Courier, Salty Hog, and, most importantly, Spacefarer.

Late game: In the late game, you should already have acquired a lot of gold and have a Brann, because that’s really the only way you can make this build work. Once you have done that, the focus, again, is on the Spacefarer, the Dual-Wield Corsair, and Salty Hog. Peggy Sturdyboneand Gunpowder Courier is nice, as well as Blade Collector for the cleave, but it really all depends on what your Tauren gives you. You will have to jumpstart your gold a bit with Grace Farsail or Doubloon Grifter and acquire Brann Bronzebeard. With this setup, you can look for Gritty Headhunter for more pirates to trigger your Daubloon Grifter’s maximum gold effect. Once you are at this stage of the game, you can then start actually scaling with Salty Hog, Spacefarer, Dual Wield Corsair, Gunpowder Courier, and Peggy. Of course, in this transition, you will have to get a bit of stats, and having a Peggy or Gunpowder Courier is fine, but the important thing is to know where you’re going with this mid-to-late game transition. Spacefarer works especially well with Gunpowder Courier and is your best minion that will carry the game most of the time.

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: Darkcrest Groundbreakers Build

Key Minions: Groundbreaker + Darkcrest Strategist or Showy Cyclist + Titus Riverdale
Supporting Minions: Silivaz the Vindictive, Zesty Shaker, Slippery Slider, Thaumaturgist, Corrupted Murmidon

For more info on each Naga minion check out our full Naga tribe overview.

Concept: Nagas in this season 9 bg meta are a bit complicated to play because you kind of need to hit a lot of different minions in order to have a fully fledged build. Nevertheless, the main change is that the Deep Blue Crooner is gone and there is really no late game-build revolving around Zesty Shaker, but there is a build revolving around spells. Keep in mind that this includes all the spells in the game, so Tavern Spells, Spellcrafts, and Blood Gems are counted in this.

Early game: In the early game, Nagas are pretty good since you still can utilize Lava Lurker in combination with the new Naga, Thaumaturgist and Zesty Shaker, in order to have a scaling unit for early and mid game. The Glad-iator, and Warden of Old are all also pretty good early pickups that can gain you tempo and resources.

Mid game: Going towards the mid game, picking up Slippery Slider is a good choice since it provides you decent value with the Refresh and Tavern spell cost decrease. Furthermore, Corrupted Myrmidon is decent for mid-game scailing if you already have a few Thaumaturgists or other spellcraft-generating Nagas. Zesty Shaker is fine, but it’s not really a key minion like it was with the Deep Blue Naga builds.

Late game: Now in the late game, there are a few Nagas that stand out and this is where the magic happens. The most notable ones are Darkcrest Strategist in combination with the Tier 6 Naga – Groundbreaker. Essentially, the main thing that you will scale here is the Groundbreaker, and Dark Crest Strategist is the perfect combo to utilize for that scaling. There are also other good Nagas to utilize,

The Showy Cyclist is also a new very interesting Naga and should taken into consideration, especially with Titus Rivendare. Sure, Groundbreaker is the first choice, but the Tavern will not always offer you ideal stuff, so going with Showy Cyclist plus a Titus is a good alternative for late game Nagas. Finally, we have the good old Silivaz the Vindictive, which is a very good card in itself and is a must-pick-up in any Naga build, especially if you can make it work with Slitherspear, Lord of Gains and Drakkari Enchanter. This is another option to go for in the late game build but it’s kind of clunky most of the time.

Strategies for Countering Naga Build

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 he is 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 Build

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.

Dragon: Ignited Poet build

Key minions: Persistent Poet, Nightbane the Ignited
Support minions: Nadina the Red, Hunter of Gatherers, Tarecgosa, Nether Drake, Titus or Drakkari Enchanter

For more info on each Dragon minion check out our full Dragon tribe overview.

Concept: Basically, when it comes to Dragons there are two main builds: The one focusing on high-attack-divine-shield minions and the old style Battlecry build with Brann and Kalecgos. We chose the first one as the meta build for Dragons in Battlegrounds season 9 for two reasons: it’s easier to make and the chances are that you will end up in first three spots with it. This is one of those comps that probably won’t give you the first place but you will get some MMR with it. The basic premise is as follows: Nightbane, the Ignited will die first and give attack to your minions. Poet will make sure that some of those buffs are kept for good. Furthermore, Hunter of Gatherers will provide some defense but your main defense will come from Divine Shields when Nadina the Red dies. The build can be buffed with either Titus (for more Divine Shields and attack from Nightbane) or with Drakkari Enchanter (if you have Nether Drake and other end-of-turn minions in the comp). Let’s see how this Dragon comp works in Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 9.

Early game: Early Dragons are pretty strong so there is no reason to skip them. Obtaining Misfit Dragonling might is 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. Once you advance to Tavern Tier 3, you can take Tarecgosa as you might need this minion later on. The new Dragon in Season 9 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds on Tier 3 is Reverber Drake with a unique capability – it’s a Battlecry one (which means that it works with the other build as well) but the effect is end-of-turn. In any case, getting the Echoing Roar early on for just 2 gold (when you sell the Drake) is pretty neat.

Mid game: In mid game, getting Persistent Poet should be the priority as well as upgrading to Tavern Tier 5. Most of the key Dragon minions in this build are on that Tier so try to ramp up the defensive capabilities (especially if you already have Poet on the field) and upgrade. Prized Promo Drake is a good way to do this because this unit is a very good tempo minion, especially if Poet is on the field. Keep in mind that Tarecgosa will keep the buffs from Prized Promo Drake in any case. However, this minion usually won’t be enough as you can’t buff his ability (it’s start of turn). Nether Drake is also a good minion to aim for at this tier mostly because of his offensive capabilities although he is useless if you can’t find him on time. You shouldn’t spend too much time on Tier 4 – you really need to get Nightbane, Ignited and Titus or Drakkari Enchanter. Once you have him, your Dragons will scale rapidly (well, you need a bit of luck as well). Titus and Macaw can improve Nightbanes ability as we said earlier but they are not key minions to look for – you still won’t have any Divine Shields except the one on Poet. Enter Nadina the Red.

Late game: Nadina the Red is your late game minion that is a must for most of the Dragon comps of this type – keeping her for just few turns will grant Divine Shield on pretty much all of your Dragons (if you have Poet). The other high dragon minion that you can look for is Warpwing as this unit has a lot of potential in terms of both, attack and defense. Putting Divine Shield and high attack buffs on him is a must since your opponent will need to snipe this unit in order to defeat it. Generally speaking, in end game phase, you want to do two things: buff the attack of your Dragons and put Divine Shield on them. If you can manage to do that, you will get into first three spots in most Battlegrounds matches.

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

As we mentioned earlier, the main issue with this meta Dragon build in Battlegrounds is the lack of its defensive capabilities. All the spells that boost your defenses or the ones that give you discovery potential should be your main priority.

Undead: Deathly Colossus Build

Key Minions: Anub’arak/Champion of the Primus/Nerubian Deathswarmer + Rylak (Attack generation), Colossus of the Sun/Deathly Striker/Handless Maiden (Power)
Supporting Minions: Prosthetic Hand, Mummifier, Corpse Recycler, Wandering Wight

For more info on each Undead minion check out our full Undead tribe overview.

Concept: Undeads are not that different from Season 8, because in Season 9, they only introduce and remove a few of Undeads, and they don’t really make the whole composition that much different. In this specific section, we will discuss the main Undead build, which has to do with gaining attack via various mechanics and then using the summons to outscale your opponent. In the alternative builds below, we also have a good alternative build for Undead.

Early game: Playing Undead in this season is pretty similar in the early game. You mostly focus on Nerubian Deathswarmer to give you a little bit of attack and gain tempo with minions like Handless Forsaken and Harmless Bonehead. One more thing that you should realize is that having a Corpse Recycler in combination with your other Undeads is very powerful for gold generation. This should be your main focus in the early game.
Mid game: In the mid-game, your primary focus should be to acquire Anub’Arak, Nerubian King with Prostethic Hand or Champion of the Primus because those are the main ways you will get attack on your minions. Moreover, the new Undead – Wandering Wight is a very interesting one since if you have a lot of attack, you will summon minions that have an equal amount of health, and that will help you a lot. Setting up the board for gaining attack is crucial for this Undead build. You can even get it with Nerubian Deathswarmer + Rylak Metalhead. This is basically what your mid-game should look like. You should have some summons, and you should have some attack-generating undeads in order to propel you into the late game.

Late game: When you reach a certain amount of tempo, it’s important to acquire the higher tier scaling undeads like Deathy Striker, because they give a lot of value when you have a lot of attack built up. Furthermore, you also have Nightbane, Ignited, and he can be good if you’re playing against beefy minions by giving you that extra punching power with the attack.

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.

Mech: Dr. Boom’s Moonsteel Build

Key Minions: Deflect-o-bot (scailing), Holy Rover and Moonsteel Juggernaut (magnetization gathering)
Supporting Minions: Magnetizations

For more info on each Mech minion check out our full Mech tribe overview.

Concept: In this season of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, mech comps are pretty similar as far as relying on magnetizations, but there are key new minions and important removed minions. We have to separate three things here, mechs that are used for gathering more magnetizations and resources, magnetizations themselves, and mechs that are used for scaling late-game.

Early game: Let’s start from the early game. Generally, early-game mechs are not something you should be focusing on, and the general consensus here is to still pick what’s best for tempo and not focus on any specific tribe. Ancestral Automaton is nice if you can get two of them, but there is still no clear way of playing in the early game. Lullabot is okay-ish, and Annoy-o-Tron is the only minion that has Divine Shield from tier 2 and below, so keep that in mind.

Mid game: In the mid game, you have to be careful with mechs, because they really don’t have a lot of stats and their tier 3 and 4 minions are generally just late game utilities more than tempo. The notable minion that can give you some tempo is Arcanotron, Activated, if you happen to have some tavern spells. He doesn’t really have a lot of health, but he is decent for scaling in the mid game if you have a way to generate spells. Of course, the minions that stand out the most are Deflect-o-bot and Accord-o-tron. Deflect-o-bot is a late game minion that is also pretty decent for tempo, and Accord-o-tron is very good if you can get away with it meaning that if you don’t have a lot of health or tempo, you really should skip Accord-o-tron.

If you see that you will have enough tempo in the next few turns, Accord-o-tron is a good pick, since he will give you one extra gold for the rest of the game. Greasebot still remains mediocre, but it’s decent for tempo. Prosthetic Hand is, of course, a good synergy with Deflect-o-bot (put it on Taunt mech in order to refresh Divine Shield on Deflect-o-bot), but again we have to note that buying a lot of these low stat mechs in the mid game can destroy your tempo and get you knocked out early, so choose carefully here. It all depends on your current tempo, health, and resources. The new tier 4 mech, Marquee Ticker, is not really that good for a fully fledged mech build, because a random tavern spell won’t get you that far so for this specific mech-focused build, there is no particular reason to go for it, especially since it also has low stats.

In the transition from mid to late game, the first thing you should be focusing on is getting a Holo Rover or Moonsteel Juggernaut + Drakkari Enchanter. You can also go with the route of having a Charging Czarina and Marquet Ticker and go full on the tavern spells, but usually, this build is more of a contingency build for 2nd or 3rd place and not a build that scales well. So, Holo Rover and Moonsteel Juggernaut are new mechs that are the most impactful key minions when you’re playing mechs. They should be the main sign that you can pivot and commit mechs. Getting Fantic-Alarm-o-Bot on Holo Rover and giving him Windfury will further provide you with more magnetics. Moonsteel Juggernaut is excellent for scailing that works with the end-of-turn mechanic because the magnetizations scale with each end-of-turn effect triggered!

It’s important to expand a bit on this particular spell build in the picture above, because that build can be a build on its own, particularly really because it’s a very good mid-game build that can save you from 6th and 7th place and place you even on the 2nd and 3rd place. We had times where we even won the game if this build was strong enough. Of course, it has a lot of downsides, especially because your minions don’t basically have the ability to get a lot of health, but 7 minions with a lot of attack and all divine shields is not to be underestimated.

Late game: Now, the late game will consist of Deflect-o-bots and other Divine Sheild mechs. On the other hand, Holo Rover and Moonsteel Juggernaut will provide you with the magnetizations that you can scale with. So, as we mentioned at first, you have the carry scaling mech, Deflect-o-bot, you have the resource gathering mechs, Moonsteel Juggernaut and Holo Rover, and you have all the magnetizations. The tier 6s are interesting in this season since the biggest scaling unit is Dr. Boom’s Monster, which can get really high if you are playing a lot of magnetizations, and is the primary source for stats in the late game, besides the Moonsteel Juggernaut. There is two things to note here. The first thing is that Dr. Boom’s Monster is a tier 6, so when you get random magnetic mechs from the Holo Rover, you can get also Dr. Boom’s monster if you are tier 6, and that means that you should really aim to be at tier 6 if you are going to play mechs. You can’t really afford to be at tier 5 in the late-game. Also, do keep in mind that Dr. Boom’s special, +2/2, also scales after you magnetize a minion, so it works retroactively.

Strategies for Countering Mech Build

Mechs are pretty straightforward to counter, and the biggest counter for them is for sure the 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 spell is of course Scavenge for Parts, which is a good utility, especially if you have Drakkari, the Enchanter.

Beast: Zoo Build

Key minions: Monstrous Macaw, Titus Rivendare, Goldrinn the Great Wolf, Hawkstrider Herald
Supporting minions: Mechanized Gift Horse, Indomitable Mount, Manasaber

Although the build which you see above requires several very high-level minions, it is viable and one of the current meta builds. The key issue here is that pretty much all low and mid-game tier minions are useless near the end (except for Macaw) and will have to be sold. That raises the question of mid-game survivability of this build and that’s why it’s a bit tricky to win with it. It’s a better strategy to just get some random tempo up and resources from Hero Power/minions/Anomaly/etc, and then pivot only when you see a Goldrinn or Hawkstrider Herald. Other than that, having a beast comp like you see in the image above, will pretty much handle whatever your opponent has.

Early Game: Don’t take the bait and go all in on these beast summons in the early game with Sly Raptor and Manasaber and stuff like that. Although they can be a good tempo, it’s important to not play this tribe from the beginning and hope that you will hit the jackpot later on. What you need to do is to just get any tempo you need and once you have some tempo in any form and some resources, then you can pivot once you see perhaps a Goldrinn or a Titus or a Hawkstrider Herald. But don’t jump the gun on this build and just look for those key minions first before any commitment.

Mid Game: The lowest minion that you need is Monstrous Macaw. Again, in mid-game, focus more on economy and survivability, rather than collecting beasts (especially if you are playing Duos) and try to upgrade to Tavern Tier 5 so that you can start looking for Titus and other triple rewards.

This Battlegrounds Beast meta build works as follows: Your Macaw will trigger a Deathrattle, preferably a golden one from Goldrinn, the Great Wolf. Titus will repeat that same Deathrattle and hopefully, Macaw will die as it attacks and get reborned (it’s quiet easy to give him Reborn as you will surely get at least few Sprightly Scarabs). Your opponent will hit Goldrinn who will also be reborned and Macaw will attack again, triggering more Deathrattles to occur. The trick is to put Reborn and Macaw and both, Reborn and Taunt on your Goldrinns. You want all of them to die before the enemy starts attacking your “Deathrattle: Summon” minions. If everything goes according to plan, once all Macaw and Goldrinns are gone, it’s time for the party to start.

Late game: In this phase, there is an RNG moment as you can’t put Taunt on your summoning minions as that will nullify the Taunt on Goldrinn, which is far more important. You just have to hope that the opponent doesn’t hit your Titus at this point (odds should be in your favor as you will probably have at least 2 or 3 summoning minions left besides Titus). This is where Hawkstrider Herald comes into play. He will give that additional triggers even before the battle begins! Anyway, whatever you have there, will summon huge stat monsters as everything is super buffed by those Deathrattles that were activated when Goldrinn died. You will need to go with Mechanized Gift Horse because he will reap the most benefits from the buffs, and also look for Indomitable Mount. You can even use Manasaber if you don’t have anything else – the buffs will come from the Deathrattles that were activated so it’s not important how strong the initial summon is, just how many of summons the unit can do.

Strategies for countering Beast build

Well, there is one actual counter to Beast build, and that is Cleave, because if you taunt Goldrinn and you put Macaw in the first place, if your opponent has Cleave, there’s no actual way to really counter that Cleave, because if he hits first, he will kill your Macaw and probably some other Beast to the right side of Goldrinn and inflict some chaos on your board. Nevertheless, you can still beat this, and Cleave is just an issue, but not an extremely hard counter. Now, the cleave is combined that cleave with Interrogator Whitemane, than that can be a gigantic issue. Whitemane is really difficult to deal with because you already have a taunted Goldrinn and if you don’t have another taunted Goldrinn then that means that the only Tier 5 and above minions left on your board are Titus or Indomitable Mount or Mechanized Gift Horse and every one of them is extremely bad if they get taunted by Whitemane

Spells to use for beast build

When it comes to spells, there isn’t really a lot to talk about except that you can get Eyes of the Earthmother on Macaw, which is pretty important.

Murlocs: Brann’s Keywordmania Build

Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard with Neon Agent/Primalfin Lookout + Young Murk-Eye
Supporting Minions: Battlecry and Venomous Murlocs

For more info on each Murloc minion check out our full Murloc tribe overview.

Note: Choral Mrrrglr is back, and so are “Hand Murlocs”, so we have the alternative Murloc build later on)

Concept: In Season 9 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, Murlocs have been shaken up pretty hard. The main thing that has changed is that there are no more “Hand Murlocs”, and that means that everything revolving around buffing up cards in your hand has been removed. Now, the only thing that remains is the Battlecry-centered build. Murlocs also has another interesting mechanic revolving around keywords. Keywords are basically a way of saying attribute, so Taunt, Divine Shield, Stealth, Reborn, etc. are all keywords, and that is where some of the Murloc stuff revolves around this season. But nevertheless, the primary focus is the Battlecries and playing around Brann Bronzebeard.

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: In the mid game, the best murlocs for Tempo are for sure ‘Loc Prince and Reckless Cliffdiver. In order to successfully play murlocs, or to pivot to murlocs, we highly advise that you get a Brann first. Everything revolves around Battlecries now, there is no way around it and you shouldn’t really be diving deep into playing a lot of murlocs and committing to a murloc build without first securing a Brann. Sure, it can work if the Tavern gives you a lot of good options, but generally the key minion you’re looking for first is Brann. Also, one important new Murloc is the Implant Subject, which has been removed from the game, probably because there’s a bug. But still, he will probably be back and he is the one that will have a lot of stats after your scam takes care of your opponent’s board. It’s a nice pick-up that scales through the entire 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. Season 9 brings us a new very powerful tier 6 murloc – Neon Agent. It is a minion that gets you a random Battlecry minion every time he attacks, which he will do at least twice each turn because he has a Divine Shield and a Windfury. This Murloc in combination with Brann is excellent for resources. That is as far as “gathering murlocs” goes, but how do you get that firepower with murlocs? Well, there is a combination of two things.

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 on all of the murlocs. Also, there is still King Bagurgle, but Murky has been removed in the recent 31.6 patch, he wasn’t really crucial since now how you Hackerfin as the primary source for stats (everything revolves around Keywords). A lot of 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. So your build essentially becomes, on one hand, stat-heavy but on the other hand, you will also have scams and unpredictability with those different attributes that Murlocs have.

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

With Murlocs, one spell stands out the most, and that is the Cloning Conch, which is a very good pickup. Moreover, 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.

Demon: Big Archimonde build

Key minions: Malchezaar Prince of Dance, Archimonde, Batty Terrorguard, Big Brother
Support minions: Mecha-Jaraxxus, Neather Construct

For more info on each Demon minion check out our full Demon tribe overview.

Concept: When it comes to Demons in Hearthstone Battlegrounds season 9, things are not looking good. We will describe the build that has the most chances of working but in reality, until the next patch arrives and Demons hopefully get buffs, they are to be skipped. The thing is, although the build is theoretically possible, you need to be extremely lucky to get the right set of cards and especially to get as many Malchezaar, Prince of Dance as you possibly can. The basic premise is as follows: Prince of Dance will give you both, the economy boost and the ability to self-inflict damage in order to trigger Archimonde’s effect to buy cheap spells. Once you cast the spell, new unit in Season 9 of Battlegrounds, Big Brother will buff the Tavern minions (but only for that turn!). Furthermore, Batty Terrorguard effect will also be triggered by casting spells allowing you some stat boosts. This all sounds nice and good but in reality it’s really difficult to buff up the Tavern minions enough. Even getting the Famished Felbat won’t do much as you need to buff up the Tavern stats first. Theoretically, you can also go with Rylak (with Reborn) and Felemental but that’s really slow and you will be taking a lot of damage. Whatever the case is, let’s see what you can make with Demons in Season 9 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

Early game: Don’t play demons early on. They are weak and you don’t need any of them except for Soul Rewinder (until you get Archimonde). Focus on economy and defensive capabilities of your board – you will be taking damage as you buff your demons so you need to save your health as much as you can before that. Play whatever is the strongest in the Tavern until you hit Tier 3.

Mid-game: Ok, so here is where the problems for Demons begin. If you want to play demons, you just have to get Malchezaar, Prince of Dance. This is why you should upgrade to Tier 4 and start looking for him. He is the key minion and there is no replacement for him. His ability will allow you to refresh and look for other minions but without him you will simply lose because you won’t have enough gold or health to keep up with other players. Another problem is that Big Brother is extremely useless on it’s own so once you play him, he will occupy a slot and not do anything until you get Archimonde. That’s why after finding Prince of Dance (or preferably a golden one), upgrading to Tier 5 is advisable. This is the place where the Demons are the weakest – you upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 5 and your units are still pretty weak. That’s why this build is not a meta one and that’s why most players lose the match at this point. If you somehow survive and get Archimonde (two would be preferable), you can actually start playing the Demon build. Oh yeah, and you also need Batty Terrorguard (probably also a golden one) for your spellcasting abilities to synergize with the minions that you have on board. Basically, this is how it works: you refresh – take a cheap spell – cast the spell – get the buff from Terrorguard on board and from Big Brother in the tavern – refresh again. In this way, the minions on the field will be getting buffs from eating minions in the Tavern while those same minions in the Tavern are also getting stat buffs from Big Brother (again, just for this turn!). Good luck.

Late game: When it comes to late game tips for Demons in Season 9 of Battlegrounds, you kind of want to have one space free so that you can shuffle several demons per turn (while casting spells). The new unit in Season 9 of Battlegrounds is Nether Construct which does give a neat buff. That being said, this unit is to be used and sold same as Mecha-Jaraxxasus (which now get get you a Divine Shield demonization as well). Another new unit is Two Faced Doomguard and is pretty useless so avoid it. Getting Bat and playing it in the end of turn is a good way to buff your minons but things can get really clunky at this point (remember, you still need several Archimonds, Malchezaars, Big Brothers and Batty Terrorguards. Oh yeah, and you need to have one space free in the beging of the turn so that you can shuffle the demons. We really believe that Demons will get buffs in the next patch, but for now, this is how it works.

Strategies for countering Demon build

There is really no need for any specific counters as Demons don’t have any specific units that become very strong – the whole build is stat based and most of the units won’t have any Divine Shield or Reborn capabilities. In case someone gets really strong with Demons, usual anti-stat build is advised – poison and Leeroy.

Spells to use for Demon builds

The whole build is highly depended on spells and Malchezaar so that is your main goal – to find Eyes of the Earthmother and golden as many Malchezaar’s as you possibly can. Also, spells that buff the tavern are neat but pretty much all cheap spells are advised. Gold will be the problem with this build so if you can, get some spells that increase your economy as well.

Elemental: Ultraviolet Twilight Ascendency Build

Key Minions: Brann Bronzebeard/Gentle Djinni (Resources), Ultraviolet Ascendent/Twilight Primordium (Scailing)

Support Minions: Ichoron the Protector, Dancing Barnstormer, Fire/Snow Baller, Elemental of Suprise

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 like before, and that is to cycle a lot of minions and get more elementals via various effects. The new mechanics that elementals have this season is with “when you sell this elemental X thing happens”. So this effect sets up the whole premise around cycling minions and then at the end having a lot of stats and Divine Shields.

Early game: In the early game, you really shouldn’t be focusing too much on minions like Dune Dweller, Snow Baller, and Fire Baller, because those are minions that are used later on when you start to cycle everything and when you have much more resources. The primary minion that you can buy here is the Bountiful Bedrock, which is a very decent minion that will give you a random elemental every 3 turns, and it’s generally a good value, especially if you’re trying to play elementals in the current lobby.

Mid game: Elementals in the mid-game don’t really have a lot of tempo because most of them are still reliant on cycling. Sure if your Tavern is “forcing” Elementals it is fine, but they should generally be avoided because there are a lot of other different ways of getting tempo and resources at this stage of the game. The star of the show here is the Gentle Djinni, which gets you a random elemental on the Battlecry and Deathrattle, so it works with a lot of stuff like Brann Bronzebeard, Titus Riverdale, Monstrous Macaw, and the Young Murk-Eye. Do keep in mind that in the recent 31.6 Patch, Gentle Djinni is not Tier 5, but Tier 6, which nerfs the late-game elementals a lot, since you can’t get him that early. Still, he is essential and an excellent Tier 6 Elemental. Playing around this card and if you manage to golden a Bountiful Bedrock, it should be a good baseline to generate more Elementals and start cycling.

Late game: In the late game, the primary focus, as we already said, is on cycling mechanics. This is very good with Twilight Primordium and Ultraviolet Ascendant. The main idea is to gain a lot of Tavern, as well as board, and then top that all off with Ultraviolet Ascendant’s Start of Combat ability. Everything scales with how many Elementals you played and how much you sold certain Elementals. That’s why this build only works if you’re actually cycling a lot of stuff. The other key minions are Brann Bronzebeard because it works really well with Dancing Barnstormer, Gentle Djinni, as well as Twilight Primordium, and Young Murk-eye, which triggers these Battlecries additionally. The main focus here is on Gentle Djinni for elemental generation and Twilight Primordium and Ultraviolet Ascendant for the stat gain. You will also gain a lot of stats from Fire Baller and Snow Baller. Of course, there’s still Elemental of Surprise to gain you a permanent Divine Shield by tripling something. The other new way to get more Divine Shields is Ichoron the Protector, but remember that he also works only if you cycle minions because the elementals don’t get to keep the Divine Shields once played.

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 one spell that you can really use is the Temperature Shift, which is precisely for this build, as it gives you a Fire Baller and a Snow Baller. Other than that, Channel the Devourer can be pretty helpful in a lot of situations involving cycling.

Alternative Builds and Compositions for Season 9

In this section, you will see some alternatives to meta builds in Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 9. The reason why they are not considered meta-builds is not their strength; all of them are strong enough to carry you to the first place. The problem is either in their low-tempo or high requirements, meaning that you can’t really go for these builds unless you get very specific minions in on a specific turn (usually early on). Nonetheless, it’s important to keep these kinds of builds in mind in order to utilize them when you have the chance.

Undead Alternative: Catacomb Caretaker

Key minions: Cadaver Caretaker, Catacomb Crasher, Thundering Abomination

Support minions: Monstrous Macaw, Titus Rivendare

In Season 9 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you might have seen that some Undead units have a text saying “when you would summon a minion that doesn’t fit … get +x/+x“. This build focuses on that strategy – so, instead of buffing up all your minions, you will simply try to buff the ones that are in your warband. Obviously, this strategy doesn’t have the same synergy with Reborn mechanics as the meta one that we described above does; but hey, you can try this and you might end up in the first three spots in Battlegrounds. Here is how this Undead alternative comp for HS BG works.

First you need to gain some tempo. Get as many Eternal Knights as you can and build your comp until you hit Tavern Tier 5. There, try to find your key minions: Catacomb Crasher, Cadaver Caretaker, Thundering Abomination, and Titus Rivendare. Furthermore, the new Captain Bonerender is useful to have as he works similarly like Titus (and with Titus). Surely, by now you will have some “Deathrattle:Summon” minions, preferably the Caretaker as he will provide the most stat boosts if he dies early on. Do also keep in mind that the Caretaker has had a change in Season 9 and that now he will summon 6 minions instead of 3 if he is goldened, so now it is very preferable to golden him and combine it with Monstrous Macaw. The better option is to go with the new/old beast Hawkstrider Herald as it will trigger your Cadever Caretaker Deathrattles as soon as the battle begins.

As with any build of this type, the more complete combo you have, the more exponential the stat growth, meaning that if you only have Caretaker + Catacomb Crasher, you will get +3/3, but if you also have a golden Monstrous Macaw and Titus, well now you will get +12/+12 or more when your Macaw attacks. This scales much more if you have a Titus or a golden Caretaker/Crasher, so the build has a lot of potential if you have a bit of luck/resources to follow it up. In short, this build starts off slow but really pops off once you get a few more key minions to complete the combo. Your board through the middle of this build should look like this: Macaw-Caretaker-Caretaker-Crasher-Crasher-Abomination-Titus.

Now, this is just a random variation, but you see where it needs to go. Just keep getting as many spillover summons to happen in order for those ghouls to do their thing. All in all, it’s a very viable build that doest really require too much to get it going.

Dragon Alternative: Old-School Battlecry Build

Key minions: Brann Bronzebeard
Support minions: Hunter of Gatherer, Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect

While this build isn’t really viable in the current meta, it can be good if you happen to find Brann early on. Moreover, in the 4.3 Patch, Hunter Gatherer got a pretty decent buff from +1 Health to +2. This is a nice little bump that can make a difference. Still, the main thing you should be looking for is Brann Bronzebeard, then Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect, and Hunter Gatherer.

Brann works well with General Drakkisath and even Young Murk-Eye if you can get one. Generally, the biggest power spike in this build is, of course, getting a Triple Brann, which is much easier said than done. One Bran is okay but it’s not enough if you don’t have at least Kalecgos for commitment to this build.

After that, focus on finding a few Warpwing because you don’t want to be stuck with low-level useless Dragons when you start popping off and scaling. Finally, getting a few Taunts that keep the “attention” away from your Warpwings is also a good idea. All in all, it’s a nice “old school” Dragon build, but it is still only somewhat viable and you need to get Brann and a few other Dragons in order to actually commit.

Taunt: Assistant Guard build

Key Minions: Assistant Guard, Brann Bronzebeard

Support Minions: Young-Murk Eye

The build is still somewhat viable but you need a lot of luck and Murlocs in the game. Still, take a look at how it can work.

Once you get your Assistant you need to look for Brann and Young Murk Eye. From there, you should be able to sustain yourself. Once you get him, try to obtain Oozeling Gladiator as well but don’t use Taunt just yet. Furthermore, getting anything any minion with Divine Shield or Cleave at this point would be advisable, not just for mid-game survivability but because of late-game comp as well. As you can see in the images above, it’s not important what other units are – disregard the Passenger that we used since he is not available in regular Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you can use literally any other minion. If we used something with Divine Shield, this build would be even better.

The key minion for this build is Assistant Guard. This Blood Elf is the main thing you are looking for. He will grant Taunt and buff at the same turn and, since you have Young Murk Eye as well, you will be able to do this in every turn. Use Taunt spells that you got from Oozeling and Assistant will do the rest. Once you get him, you need to get Brann Bronzebeard as soon as possible. If you can, you don’t need to go for the Tier 6. This battlegrounds tactic is pretty straightforward – Assistant Guard will buff your minions in every turn and all you need to do is watch and cast spells to improve stats even more.

Beast Alternative: Swarmer Beetles build

Key minions: Monstrous Macaw, Turquoise Skitterer (or Rylak Metalhead + Forest Rover), Titus, Nest Swarmer
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 quiet obvious that Beasts are getting a new meta build. The old build, focusing on Goldrinn, the Great Wolf is still viable and you can find it on the bottom of this article, but the self-inflicting one is gone as almost all minions for that comp have been removed. However, this is the replacement – new meta build for Beast tribe in HS BG features Beetles and pretty much all minions revolve over those. The concept of the build is quiet 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. You will need Titus and Macaw as well as several other key minions in order to do this. 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 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 cramping 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 9 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 on the second place thought 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 neither Titus or Rylak.

Late Game: When it comes to the late game tips and strategy advices for this Beast meta build in HS, the order of your board is what you should be paying close attention to. Obviously, when it comes to minions, goldening Titus, Macaw and your Skitterer should be your priority. You don’t need any Tier 6 minions so you shouldn’t spend money on upgrading the Tavern to Tier 6. At this stage, you might consider getting the Nest Swarmer – this is your very late game minion and you need to be careful on how you play him. Since this thing summons three Beetles withouth any buffs, it stands to reason that it doesn’t need Reborn at all since it will fill your board when it dies (especially if Titus is on the field) anyway. Sure, if you wanna flex, go for Reborn on it but the trick here is too figure out when to sell your Rylak or even Skitterer in order to play the Swarmer. There are no tips here that we can provide as you need to judge if your Beetles are strong enough to stup buffing them and focus on summoning based on your opponents board. Good luck!

Strategies for countering Beast build: 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 9 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 build: 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.

Murloc Alternative: Hand Mrrrgl Build

Key minions: Bream Counter, Choral Mrrrglr, Bassgill

Supporting minions: Primalfin Lookout, Young Murk-eye, Brann Bronzebeard, Neon Agent

Just by reading the Anomaly patch notes, we can already see that hand Murlocs are back and are pretty much viable in Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 9. The core build remains the same: It is two-folded in a way that you get some stats through several minions to survive the mid-game and use high-stat Murlocs as well as some “scam” Venomous ones later on. For the first, part of your build, you need to get a Bream Counter as soon as you can and keep it in your hand. Moreover, getting Bassgill will make this a good combo that can be a basic “mini-tempo” combo.

But the real party begins only once you start sperging out Murlocs from your Murloc factory. How do you get a Murloc factory? Well through Primalfin Lookout + Rylak Metalhead as well as Young Murk-Eye + Brann Bronzebeard, and, of course, Neon Agent. This will ensure you get enough Murlocs for your Beam Counter, and get you enough resources to find all the Murlocs you are looking for. The main one is of course Choral Mrrrglr since he will inherit all the stats from your boosted-up Bream Counters in your hand. Don’t forget, if you have Young Murk-Eye with Primalfin Lookout providing you several Murlocs at the end of your turn, Choral will inherit all those stats also. The new Mrglin’ Burglar is a great addition in Season 8 of Hearthstone Battlegrounds to the hand-scam that you might want to get if you have a chance.

Getting a few of these will be your bread and butter in the late-game. Moreover, having golden Bassgill’s is also one of the goals, since you can stack up Operatic Belchers in your hand for more scam potential you can. In the end, your board should consist of as many Choral Mrrrglrs as possible, and Bassgills for that scam potential from your hand using Operatic Belcher, as well as summoning the buffed-up Bream Counters. More info on Murloc minion is available in our Murloc Tribe Guide.

Final Thoughts on the Hearthstone Battlegrounds Strategy for Season 9

Hopefully, this article helped you or at least gave you some new ideas when it comes to Hearthstone Battlegrounds strategy for Season 9. Before we finish we want to give you a final piece of advice – these strategies are not bulletproof and there are ways to counter each of them. Don’t forget that Tavern Spells are also in the Battlegrounds and will remain an integral part of it for the time being. 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 9. Good Luck!