Hearthstone Battlegrounds' big update 16.4 has just gone live, and with it, the game now boasts seven brand new dragon heroesand a host of new minions to accompany them–most of them exclusive toBattlegrounds. The dragon heroes include Deathwing,Galakrond, Malygos, and Reno Jackson, who was recently revealed to be Renegos, the human aspect of dragons, in a surprise move that few saw coming.
Due to the integration of 18 new minion types, 10 existing minions are also being removed from rotation so as not to overcrowd it. This is also the first time dragons have been added as a minion type, and 12 out of the 18 newcomers will be dragon-type; in recognition of the release, Blizzard has been preparing Twitch Drops and other celebratory events forHearthstoneplayers.
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As far as thenew dragon heroesgo, each of them has a unique power to be used in play; Galakrond can replace one minion from Bob’s Tavern with another from a higher tier using “Galakrond’s Greed,” while Deathwing has an appropriately bloodthirsty passive power called “ALL Will Burn!” that grants minions +3 to attack. Ysera can refresh and add a dragon to Bob’s Tavern with “Dream Portal,” and Nozdormu’s passive “Clairvoyance” power makes all first refreshes each turn free. Malygos can replace a minion with another random one of the same tier, Alexstrasza can discover two dragons using an upgraded Bob’s Tavern, and finally, Reno Jackson can make a friendly minion golden once per game.
A complete list of the new minion types can be found inHearthstone Battlegrounds'16.4 patch notes, but a few highlights include the Herald of Flame, the Bronze Warden, and the cheekily-named Hangry Dragon, all of which fall under the dragon-type category. Further improvements in 16.4 involve the integration of several balance adjustments and bug fixes along with several removals:one ofHearthstone’s heroes, Professor Putricide, has been disabled so theBattlegroundsteam can do some more work on him, and the 10 removed minions include Annoy-o-Tron, Tortollan Shellraiser, and Boogeymonster.
Blizzardis celebrating the launch of 16.4 with Twitch Drops, which will be granted for watching anyHearthstonestream on Twitch between February 26 through February 29 at 5 pm EST. Fans may also be excited to know that the sixth anniversary ofHearthstoneis rapidly approaching on March 4, with Tavern Brawls, a new legendary questline, and login rewards to mark the occasion.
The 16.4 update is fairly massive, which is exciting when considering thattheBattlegroundsmodeis still technically in beta. Hopefully, players will find the new heroes and minions to be as much fun as they look.
Hearthstone Battlegroundsis available now on PC and mobile devices.
