All of the heroes in Hearthstone Battlegrounds

Hearthstone Battlegrounds is a new mode in Hearthstone, where eight players choose from a wide selection of heroes, then buy up minions who then square off in automated battles against each other. Only one player can win the crown of being the last hero standing, but if you succeed in being one of the last four remaining players, it’ll count as a win. This is Blizzard’s take on the recent trend in the “autochess” or “autobattler” genre.

Every hero has the same general pool of minions to choose from, most of which are standard Hearthstone cards. All players are given gold at the beginning of each buy round that they can use to buy minions or upgrade their tavern, which in turn grants access to a wider pool of more powerful minions. But the biggest gameplay differentiator is probably the hero you choose: each has a unique hero power, which range from passive effects that alter certain types of minions to activate effects that can grant bonuses or special status on demand.

Blizzard has already made a habit of cycling heroes in and out of the available lineup — sometimes the heroes come back with changes to their hero powers to balance them out, and some haven’t come back at all. That can make it a bit hard to keep track of which heroes are available, so we’ve made a handy list for you. These are all the heroes in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, including what they can do, a bit of strategy on how to deploy them with their hero power, and where in the Warcraft franchise they first showed up.

List is current as of January 9, 2020, Hearthstone version 16.0.8

A.F. Kay

• Hero Power: Procrastinate (Passive) — Skip your first two turns. Start with two minions from Tavern Tier 3.
• Strategy: Very straightforward and VERY powerful. Focus on upgrading your tavern to keep up the power curve boost and don’t sweat the early damage.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne (Prologue Mission)

Arch-Villain Rafaam

• Hero Power: I’ll Take That! (1) — Next combat, add a plain copy of the first minion you kill to your hand.
• Strategy: Getting a bonus semi-random card for 1 gold every turn can help you triple faster.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: League of Explorers

Bartendotron

• Hero Power: Skilled Bartender (Passive) — Reduce the Cost of Tavern Tiers by (1)
• Strategy: Much like A. F. Kay, you want to focus on upgrading your Tavern and stay ahead of the power curve.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows (The Dalaran Heist)

Brann Bronzebeard Removed 12/19/19

• Hero Power: Battle Brand (Passive) — After you play a Battlecry minion, give a random friendly minion +1/+1.
• Strategy: Great for early token minions, less powerful in the late game. Passive means you don’t need to pick between this and minions or upgrades, so it’s free bonuses.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Dancin’ Deryl

• Hero Power: Hat Trick (Passive) — After you sell a minion, randomly give two minions in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1.
• Strategy: Synergizes well with early token minions, gets less reliable in higher tavern tiers as the selection widens and the bonuses land on minions you don’t want. The key is to sell first (as long as you’re not at max coins already) and then re-assess based on who gets the bonuses.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows (The Dalaran Heist)

Edwin VanCleef

• Hero Power: Sharpen Blades (1) — Give a minion +1/+1 for each minion you’ve bought this turn.
• Strategy: Works well in the early game to get an extra bonus on a minion. Works best in the late game when you can justify buying multiple minions from the same pull, so watch your gold carefully.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Elise Starseeker

• Hero Power: Lead Explorer (Passive) — When you upgrade Bob’s Tavern, get a Recruitment Map.
• Strategy: The map is a 3 gold cost, but lets you choose from three minions from the tier you just upgraded to. Helps if you really need a minion, but none of your existing options from Bob are great (like if they’re all from lower tiers).
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: League of Explorers

George the Fallen

• Hero Power: Boon of Light (4) — Give a friendly minion Divine Shield.
• Strategy: Expensive, but great for helping a minion stay alive longer. Pair with poison to delete enemy minions but cry if someone else pulled Nefarian.
• First Appearance: (with Karl) Hearthstone: Kobolds & Catacombs (Dungeon Run)

Infinite Toki

• Hero Power: Temporal Tavern (1) — Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a minion from a higher Tavern Tier.
• Strategy: Good in the early game if you’re between upgrades but want to gamble on getting a good higher-tier minion. Use with care and don’t be afraid to freeze.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: The Witchwood (Monster Hunt)

Lich Baz’hial

• Hero Power: Graveyard Shift (0) — Take 2 damage and add a Gold Coin to your hand.
• Strategy: Only use the Coin when you’re DEFINITELY going to get something like a valuable minion. Losing life is a big risk so always make sure you get something out of it.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum (Tombs of Terror)

Lord Jaraxxus

• Hero Power: Bloodfury (2) — Give your Demons +1/+1.
• Strategy: Resist the urge to lean too hard into Demons; use this when you have 2 gold to spare, but not INSTEAD of buying a useful non-Demon minion.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Millhouse Manastorm

• Hero Power: Manastorm (passive) — Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh costs 2 Gold. Start with 2 Gold.
• Strategy: Make use of that reduced mana cost for faster ramp. Pile on the minions, particularly triples.
• First Appearence: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Arcatraz dungeon)

Millificent Manastorm

• Hero Power: Tinker (Passive) — Mechs in Bob’s Tavern have +1 Attack.
• Strategy: Lean more into upgrades to the Tavern; the slight buff in Attack is nice, but you need stickier minions more than you need extra damage early on.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Legion

Nefarian

• Hero Power: Nefarious Fire (1) — At the start of next combat, deal 1 damage to all enemy minions.
• Strategy: Really strong against Divine Shield builds, and a great help in withering down enemies in general. Always a good idea if you can afford it.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Patchwerk

• Hero Power: All Patched Up (Passive) — Start with 50 Health instead of 40.
• Strategy: This gives you greater freedom to lean into self-damaging minions, but don’t overdo it.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Patches the Pirate

• Hero Power: Fire the Cannons! (1) — At the start of next combat, deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions.
• Strategy: Line ’em up and knock ’em down. Use your Hero Power as much as you can to destroy (or at least soften up) the opposing board.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Queen Wagtoggle

• Hero Power: Wax Warband (1) — Give a random friendly Mech, Demon, Murloc, and Beast +2 Attack.
• Strategy: Lean into tribal minions so you have enough variety for multiple minions to get buffs when you use your power.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows (The Dalaran Heist)

Pyramad

• Hero Power: Brick by Brick (1) — Give a random friendly minion +3 Health.
• Strategy: Like the Hero Power says, you’re building an unkillable army brick by brick. Use it every turn (if you can) to keep building.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum (Tombs of Terror)

Ragnaros the Firelord

• Hero Power: DIE, INSECTS! (2) — At the start of next combat, deal 8 damage to two random enemy minions.
• Strategy: Great for hurting high-health minions early, but stymied by heavy Divine Shield builds.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Shudderwock

• Hero Power: Burbling (1) — Your next Battlecry this turn triggers twice.
• Strategy: Great for early token minions for extra gold or triples, but stay on curve to stay alive.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: The Witchwood

Sindragosa

• Hero Power: Stay Frosty (Passive) — At the end of your turn, Frozen minions get +1/+1.
• Strategy: Great for getting an advantage on Turn 2, but never do it if you’ve just upgraded your Tavern; you want that free pull from the new tier more than a stronger low-tier minion.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Sir Finley Mrrgglton Removed 1/21/20

• Hero Power: Power Up! (1) — Give a random friendly minion +1/+1. After you sell a minion, refresh this.
• Strategy: More useful with lots of token minions, but bad RNG could trip you up. Remember that having minions on the board is better than not having minions, so sell carefully.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: League of Explorers

Sylvanas Windrunner

• Hero Power: Banshee’s Blessing (0) — Remove a friendly minion. Give adjacent minions +1/+1.
• Strategy: Great when you need tougher board presence more than you need a gold from selling a minion you want to trade out. Again, a full line-up is likely going to last longer, but tougher minions can also take more hits, especially early- to mid-game.
• First Appearance: Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos

The Curator

• Hero Power: Menagerist (Passive) — Start the gamer with a 1/1 Amalgam that has all minion types.
• Strategy: BUFF THAT AMALGAM LIKE WHOA. Cry if you go up against Rafaam early, but that Amalgam when buffed well can make a big difference in the early game.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

The Great Akazamzarak

• Hero Power: Prestidigitation (2) — Discover a Secret. Put it into the battlefield.
• Strategy: Depending on what Secrets you pull, this could be very advantageous or not that advantageous, but it’s never going to hurt you except for curve impact. The good news is Ice Block is a perfect 1-turn death cheat, so if you get that, you’ve basically got an extra turn to try and pull off a win.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Legion

The Lich King

• Hero Power: Reborn Rites (1) — At the start of next combat, give your right-most minion Reborn.
• Strategy: Angling to get a good Deathrattle minion on the right will help if you want to double-dip on the Deathrattle, but unless it’s a Taunt, don’t expect it to die early. Depending on which Deathrattle it is, having it trigger twice might not be beneficial if it’s the last minion to die.
• First Appearance: Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos

The Rat King

• Hero Power: King of Beasts/Mechs/Murlocs/Demons (Passive) — Whenever you buy a Beast/Mech/Murloc/Demon, give it +1/+1. Swaps type each turn.
• Strategy: RNG can mess you up if the passive and your Tavern pull don’t align well. You can try freezing if you want a second chance at lining them up, but that can hold you back if you’re not careful.
• First Appearance: Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows (The Dalaran Heist)

Tirion Fordring

• Hero Power: Honorable Warband (1) — Give minions with no minion type +1/+1
• Strategy: Even though Tirion’s hero power doesn’t favor any particular type of minion, it’s still best to stick to a single minion tribe that has synergy between minions — but because of the hero power, you can pick which tribe works best and fill with non-tribal minions without sacrificing anything.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End

• Hero Power: Puzzle Box (2) — Hire a random minion in Bob’s Tavern and give it +1/+1.
• Strategy: Good to use when none of the options are good, you can’t upgrade, and you need a body on the board. Gets less good when you’re invested in a build and some minions are just not going to help that.
• First Appearance: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King