A "sizable" balance patch for Duels and Battlegrounds is coming to Hearthstone tomorrow that will make a big change to Elementals: Instead of being present in every Battlegrounds game, where they've dominated since their arrival, they're being added to the minion rotation so that they won't appear in every match.
Blizzard has also buffed a bunch of underperforming heroes, removed Nefarian entirely, and tweaked the Tier level and/or stats of several millions. It's another major rebalance for a mode that Team 5 continues to give a lot of attention, I suspect because it's almost as popular as the main game.
There are also a bunch of changes to Duels coming, but first let's rattle through all the Battlegrounds ones.
Queen Wagtoggle
- Wax Warband - Old: Give a friendly minion of each type +2 Attack. → New: Give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
The Curator
- Menagerist - Old: Start the game with a 1/1 Amalgam with all minion types. → New: Start the game with a 1/2 Amalgam with all minion types.
Hooktusk
- Trash for Treasure - Old: [Cost 0] Remove a friendly minion. Get a random one from a Tavern Tier lower. → New: [Cost 1] Remove a friendly minion. Discover a random one from a Tavern Tier lower.
Rat King
- A Tale of Kings - Old: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +1/+2. Swaps type each turn. → New: Whenever you buy a minion of a specific type, give it +2/+2. Swaps type each turn.
Rakanishu
- Tavern Lighting - Old: Give a random friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier. → New: Give a friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier (targeted).
George the Fallen
- Boon of Light - Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 2]
Ysera
- Dream Portal - Old: At the start of your turn, add a Dragon to Bob's Tavern.
The Great Akazamzarak
- Prestidigitation - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
- Effigy removed from Secret pool.
Galakrond
- Galakrond’s Greed - Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 0]
- No longer Freezes.
Tess Greymane
- Bob’s Burgles - Old: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with minions from your last opponent’s warband. → New: Refresh Bob’s Tavern with your last opponent’s warband.
Elise Starseeker
- Lead Explorer - Recruitment Map now costs 2 (down from 3).
Lord Barov
- Friendly Wager - Now gives your gold back on ties (1 gold refunded).
Along with the change to elementals, a number of minions have also undergone changes:
Wrath Weaver
- Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health. → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health.
Yo-ho-Ogre
- Old: [Tier 3] 2 Attack, 8 Health. → New: [Tier 2] 2 Attack, 5 Health.
Iron Sensei
- Old: [Tier 4] → New: [Tier 3]
Southsea Strongarm
- Old: [Tier 4] 5 Attack, 4 Health. → New: [Tier 3] 4 Attack, 3 Health.
Ripsnarl Captain
- Old: 3 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 5 Health.
Lightfang Enforcer
- Old: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+1. → New: At the end of your turn, give a friendly minion of each minion type +2/+2.
Gentle Djinni
- Old: [Tier 5] → New: [Tier 6]
Lieutenant Garr
- Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health. → New: 5 Attack, 1 Health.
Lil’ Rag (Remember this guy?)
- Old: 6 Attack, 6 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.
Dread Admiral Eliza
- Old: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +1/+1. → New: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +2/+1.
Amalgadon
- Old: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have, Adapt randomly. → New: Battlecry: For each different minion type you have among other minions, Adapt randomly.
Onto the new Duels mode now, which Emma recently dove into and quite liked—it "feels like a fun vacation away from Standard"—is also seeing some balance updates. Treasures have been adjusted to appear either earlier or later in Duels runs, except for Mr. Bigglesworth, who was a very bad kitty and has thus been removed from the active Treasures pool entirely. Here's associate game designer Gallon to explain more:
Another minor note: Several treasures have been adjusted to appear either earlier or later in a Duels run. Party Portal, for example, should now be appearing earlier than it was prepatch.November 4, 2020
Wax Rager has been adjusted to appear later in Duel runs.November 4, 2020
The patch will also adjust the ratings change dialog at the end of Duels runs to "be more impressed" with your win total—there are no specifics here but I think a genuinely enthusiastic "Whoa, great job Big Hammer!" would be a nice touch.
Duels balance updates include:
Active Treasures
- Party Portal - Old: 6 Health → New: 4 Health
- Amalgamate - Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 0]
- Spyglass - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
- Canopic Jars - Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
- Wish - Old: [Costs 11] → New: [Costs 10]
- Pure Cold - Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 5]
Passive Treasures
- Crystal Gem - Old: On your first turn you have 2 Mana Crystals. → New: On your first two turns you have 1 extra Mana Crystal.
Demon Hunter
- Summoning Ritual - Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
Rogue
- Deadly Weapons 101 - Old: Give your weapon +2/+1. Combo: Also give it Poisonous. → New: Give your weapon +2/+2. Combo: Also give it Poisonous.
- Roguish Maneuvers - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
Shaman
- Totemic Power - Old: Summon a random Totem. If you’re Overloaded, summon a non-basic Totem as well. → New: Summon a random Totem. If you’re Overloaded, summon a non-basic Totem instead.
Warlock
- Dark Arts - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
Warrior
- No Guts, No Glory - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
The Hearthstone 18.6.1 patch is set to go live tomorrow, November 5. The full patch notes are up at playhearthstone.com.
