Patch 18.4 for Hearthstone adds some new exciting mechanics to Battlegrounds, mostly focused around Elemental minions and heroes. Here’s our rundown of what’s coming in the next Battlegrounds update.
First up, there are four new heroes being added. Ragnaros the Firelord, Chenvaala, Rakanishu, and Al’Akir the Windlord. Each has their own unique abilities and strengths – are any of them going to be OP?
Tomorrow's 18.4 patch includes a Battlegrounds rating reset and Elementals update, Dual-Class Arena, and more!
📜 Patch Notes: https://t.co/b3HmBSOnGz pic.twitter.com/hfkkLtYHmD
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) September 28, 2020
First up, Ragnaros the Firelord. A familiar face to Hearthstone fans, this firey god has a pretty interesting passive skillset. The DIE, INSECTS passive stacks up to 20 minion kills, where it then transforms to Sulfuras, which gives you right and left minions +4/+4.
Is Ragnaros strong? Battlegrounds is currently in an early-game meta and without any early-game abilities, Ragnaros might feel difficult to play. You might not unlock Sulfuras until turn 8 or 9.
Next up, Chenvaala. This elemental-based hero allows you to tavern tier quickly, as long as you find elementals to play. There are quite a few great low-tier elementals so this could be viable! Play three and you cut two off the cost of your tier up.
Rakanishu is the next hero, and this little elemental doesn’t look too strong. For 2 gold you can give a random minion stats equal to your tavern tier…for one gold or 0 gold this would be strong, but not at two gold.
Lastly, Al’Akir. At the start of combat, you can give your left-most minion Windfury, Diving Shield, and Taunt. It’s passive. Yep. Say hello to another hero that can challenge Lich King in early-game strength. Will see some interesting builds with this guy!
These heroes are formally released on October 13th, but you can get your hands on them early if you own the Tavern Pass.
On to the minions. There is a lot to cover so I won’t go over them all here, but it’s a pretty interesting and huge addition to Battlegrounds. There’s a lot of synergy between the different elemental cards. Here’s a quick look at some of the best cards.
Take a look at Lil’ Rag.
This card looks pretty strong. With the cycling elemental cards adding new elementals to your hand you could build some impressive stats if you push hard for Tavern Tier 5.
After pushing for Tier 5, there are two strong Tier 6 cards (Lieutenant Garr and Gentle Djinni) which add a bit of spice to your end game.