The patch 23.4.3 will shake Hearthstone Battlegrounds meta hard. The update is reverting some nerfs to Nagas, Murlocs and Dragons. On top of that, some Heroes will get a boost, with improved Hero Powers. Last but not least, there is news for Hearthstone Mercenaries fans in this 23.4.3 patch. Stay with us while we go over the Patch Notes with the latest changes in Hearthstone.
Battlegrounds Hero Updates
After community complaints about a large number of unplayable or underperforming Heroes in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, devs decided to start patching them. In the latest update, we see that three low-tier Heroes are getting some love to see if that pushes them up a bit.
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Onyxia Broodmother
Onyxia Broodmother – Broodmother
Old: Avenge (4): Summon a 2/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately. → New: Avenge (4): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.
While this change doesn’t seem much, however during the early game, the health breakpoints are a determinant factor for who wins and who loses a fight. Onyxias’ Whelps having an extra attack point will probably mean that with a correct setup, the Hero will be able to be efficient in the early game.
It is still under discussion if this advantage will be significant enough to make Onyxia a decent Hero since it doesn’t add any late-game power to it. Despite that, it is good to see that in this Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch, devs are addressing the “too many unplayable heroes” problem.
Tamsin Roame
Tamsin Roame — Fragrant Phylactery
Old: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to four friendly minions. → New: Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to five friendly minions.
On a similar note, Tamsin has not seen any competitive play. Despite much experimenting, the disadvantage of having one less minion on board is hard to compensate for. Will the changes of this last Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch push Tamsins into the playable Hero list?
Pyramad
Pyramad — Brick by Brick
Old: [Costs 1] Give a random friendly minion +4 Health. → New: [Costs 0] Give a minion +2 Health. (Gains +1 Health each turn you don’t use this!)
This seems to be the most impactful of the list of Hero changes. Pyramad’s Hero Power got partially redesigned in this Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch, and it has already excited many players. In my opinion, it is a powerful option that raises one of Battlegrounds’ most important questions, should I go for tempo or for a greedier line?
For those interested in crunching the numbers, of Pyramad’s Hero Power, Chad Celestalon Nervig has you covered. On Twitter, answering some questions about how the Hero functioned, he posted this chart that gives a perspective on how Pyramad’s Hero Power math goes.
Ozumat
Ozumat – Tentacular
Old: Passive. Start of Combat: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle with Taunt. (Upgrades after you sell a minion!) → New: Passive. Start of Combat: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle with Taunt. (Gains +1/+1 after you sell a minion!)
A final note on Hero changes happening with the last patch, Ozumat’s Hero Power wording has been updated. This does not bring any functional change and it’s just meant for clarity purposes.
Many Hearthstone players have asked for better communication of Battlegrounds patches for a while now. Upon release, Devs quickly jumped on Twitter to explain what “Upgrade” meant and that the tentacle was also a Beast, something hard to know without playing it first.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Minions updates with Patch 23.4.3
On top of the Hero changes, this latest Battlegrounds patch aims to shake up Hearthstone autobattler’s metagame with minion balance changes. Most of them are buffs or nerfs reversion from the previous balance patch that sunk Nagas to the bottom of the sea.
Nagas rebalanced with Patch 23.4.3
The most significant buffs are Tidemistress Athissa and Critter Wrangler. The increased stats in Athissa and the health buff to Wrangler’s effect will help players catch up in tempo during the mid-game.
Tidemistress Athissa
Old: 7 Attack, 3 Health → New: 7 Attack, 8 Health
Critter Wrangler
Old: 5 Attack, 6 Health. After you cast a Spellcraft spell on a minion, give it +2/+1. → New: 5 Attack, 7 Health. After you cast a Spellcraft spell on a minion, give it +2/+2.
Following Naga minion changes on this Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch, we have Shoal Commander, Corrupted Myrmidon and Waverider. While these seem to be minor changes, with enough redundancy, Nagas might become a playable composition once again. Not at the power level it was on release, but able to stand alone by themselves and not be just a support minion type.
Shoal Commander
Old: 1 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health
Corrupted Myrmidon
Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health
Waverider
Old: Spellcraft: Give a minion +1/+1 and Windfury until next turn. → New: Spellcraft: Give a minion +2/+2 and Windfury until next turn.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch: other minion changes
The last three minion changes revealed in the latest Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch notes are Bubblette, Tarecgosa and Coldlight Seer. Devs seem to keep on experimenting to find the sweet sport with Bubblette, which was underperforming at first. Now it will be able to face most Tier 3 minions, while still having its “Pop” weakness.
Bubblette
Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 4 Health
Tarecgosa
Old: Tavern Tier 4 → New: Tavern Tier 3
Coldlight Seer
Old: Tavern Tier 4 → New: Tavern Tier 3
Tarecgosa and Coldlight Seer have seen their nerfs reverted in this last Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch to help bring back variety to the game. Right now, the metagame seems not to favor Dragons or Murlocs, they happen to be too slow. Perhaps this will help balance things out and see a different end-game comp than Queens and Leeroys.
Final comment on Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch Notes
Battlegrounds metagame was stale and many players were complaining about its state. While we welcome regular updates and balance changes, a new problem arises with them, communication.
As we mentioned before, there is no in-game notification process for Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patches. Casual players that are out of social media or that don’t look for patches are not only at a competitive disadvantage but their game experiences might be worse due to the lack of information.
Hearthstone Patch 23.4.3 hitting hard with 13 nerfs. Nellie’s Ship sinks with Garrosh on board
Patch 23.4.3 brings several nerfs with the main focus on the two Hearthstone meta tyrants, Warrior and Demon Hunter. What did the Devs say?
Mercenaries have their own “Mail Box” with news and updates. Maybe it’s time for Battlegrounds to copy that to provide a better casual player experience.
Finally, talking about Mercenaries, we have some updates coming with Hearthstone Patch 23.4.3 for the game mode too. Cooldowns and speed for several characters have been updated. Here are the changes:
Alexstrasza:
Dragonqueen’s GambitOld: Cooldown 2 → New: Cooldown 1
The Lich King
Death CoilOld: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown 0
Yu’Lon:
Jadeflame BuffetOld: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown 0
Tidemistress Athissa:
Wave CrushOld: Speed 7 → New: Speed 6Riptide:Old: Cooldown 1 → New: Cooldown: 0
Rexxar:
Old: 11/72 Maxed Stats → New: 11/82 Maxed Stats
Xuen, the White Tiger
Equalizing StrikeOld: Speed 7 → New: Speed 5
Captain Hooktusk
Cutthroat NegotiationOld: Speed 7 → New: Speed 2
Uther
Blessing of Protection
Old: Speed 3 → New: Speed 1
The latest Hearthstone patch notes also brought several nerfs to Constructed play, if you’d like to know all the details, feel free to check out our dedicated article on the topic. This is all for now but stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone Battlegrounds news and updates. See you next time in Bob’s Tavern
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