Master these Hearthstone Battleground builds to destroy the competition

To win the Hearthstone Battlegrounds mode you’ll need a combination of strategy and skill, with a dash of luck for good measure.

As players have learned more about Battlegrounds, several distinct strategies for building your warband emerged. These builds continue to change over time as minions are added, removed, buffed, or nerfed. Changes have been happening pretty frequently, which can make it hard to keep up with the latest strategies. But at the moment there are five different tribes — types of minions — in Battlegrounds, and each has a particular build to help them win. On top of those five builds, the Hero Deathwing has his own build, and there are builds based around Battlecry and Deathrattle minions.

If you’re trying to sort out how to win in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, here are basic strategies for building up your Battleground army depending on the types of minions you collect.

Beast build strategy

Beasts can be powerful, but unlike some of the other builds, they require good rolls throughout the game.

You start off with a Pack Leader, Scavenging Hyena, and Rat Pack in the early to mid game. Don’t spend too much time on buffs because you’ll want to move on to more powerful minions like Cave Hydra, Virmen Sensei, Ironhide Direhorn, and Savannah Highmane a bit later. Wait to sell your early minions until you have a good replacement, so you always have a solid board presence.

Be flexible through the midgame and try to not lose too much health. As you move into the Tier 5 and 6 minions, you’ll want to add Goldrinn the Great Wolf, Baron Rivendare, Maexxna, Ghastcoiler, and Mama Bear. Goldrinn is a good target for Defender of Argus or a Houndmaster to give him Taunt.

Mech build strategy

Buff Cobalt Guardians with Screwjank Clanker and Iron Sensei while minions like Harvest Golem, Mechano-Egg, and Security Rover summon Mechs to reactivate the Guardian’s Divine Shield. Use Magnetic minions like Annoy-o-Module and Replicating Menace to further buff your Mechs.

This build also uses Holy Mackerel, Drakonid Enforcer, and Bolvar Fireblood to get buffs from the Divine Shields. Sometimes, you’ll see a Junkbot which can get buffs from all of your Mechs dying, but it’s a riskier strategy.

Murloc build strategy

Build giant Murlocs and use Gentle Megasaur to give them Poisonous and Divine Shield. This used to be the best counter to Big Demons (we’ll talk about that in a minute), but it’s not as prevalent as it once was.

Your main minions are Rockpool Hunter, Murloc Warleader, and Old Murk-Eye. Coldlight Seer is a key buff, but Menagerie Magician and Zoobot help. With all the Battlecries, Crowd Favorite can grow large — just keep in mind he won’t get buffed from Gentle Megasaur. King Bagurgle gives buffs both when you play him and when he dies. Try to position him to where he will die early in the match. Holy Mackerel is a great addition if you get Divine Shields from your Gentle Megasaur.

Big Demon build strategy

Play Demon minions with Wrath Weaver and Floating Watcher on the board to make giant minions. You lose health doing it, which this a risky strategy, but it can result is a huge Annihilan Battlemaster to hold your opponent at bay.

You’ll want a Mal’Ganis at some point to stop taking damage. With Mal’Ganis, your Floating Watcher will stop growing, but your Wrath Weaver will continue to get buffed. This was a popular strategy prior to the Floating Watcher nerf. With Floating Watcher now a Tier 4 unit, it’s more difficult to grow the Demons to where they overpower your opponent — but it’s still possible if you pull the right cards.

However, the introduction of Glyph Guardians and Razorgore, which can both grow to huge attack numbers, hurt this strategy. Deathwing also has a strong matchup against it.

Soul Juggler Demons build strategy

With this build, you want to summon Demons and have them die to activate Soul Juggler’s 3 damage. This is a strong mid-game strategy, but can lose steam in the late game, because even a Golden 6-point ping isn’t going to phase a 30 HP dragon. But depending on how the RNG goes, it can be a winner.

Imprisoner, Voidlord, and Imp Mama are your main Demon generators. Siegebreaker and Vulgar Homunculus work well to protect your precious Soul Juggler. Nathrezim Overseer, Strongshell Scavenger, and Crystalweaver provide buffs. Mal’Ganis is another buff making your summoned Demons stronger. This strategy can be countered by a Zapp Slywick, but if you use a Maexxna it will kill Zapp before he can take out your Juggler.

Dragon build strategy

Dragons start out strong with Dragonspawn Lieutenant. This is a good Tier 1 choice regardless of your ultimate build. Red Whelp can pop early Divine Shields and perhaps take out a key minion like a Soul Juggler.

The early game is about finding a Waxrider Toggwaggle, and having him snowball to win you rounds. As you move into the midgame, Cobalt Scalebane improves your board and Hangry Dragon can give you a little Cleave if his Overkill goes off. Late game is where Dragons take over. Razorgore the Untamed can grow out of control, and Nadina the Red is a game winner. Since her Divine Shields go up after combat starts, they’re harder to counter.

Deathwing build strategy

Deathwing’s Hero Power gives extra punch to anything that puts another minion in play like token generators, Deathrattle, and Reborn. With his buff, even a lowly 1/1 can kill anything in the early game.

It’s about who can put the most minions into play. Deathwing’s key minion is Rat Pack — getting one early puts you way ahead. As you move into the mid to late game, use minions like Mechano-Egg and Bronze Warden. Herald of Flame is another great choice since Deathwing’s buff makes it likely he’ll get his Overkill. Cleave is outstanding since many players try to counter Deathwing with tokens. Cave Hydra and Foe Reaper make them pay.

Deathwing is scheduled for a nerf soon, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to derail his strategy.

Menagerie/Brann build strategy

This is also known as the Brann build, and you want a variety of Tribes represented in your warband for this to work. You need some good minions to buff like Cobalt Guardian, Cave Hydra, Cobalt Scalebane, and Holy Mackerel. You’ll use Brann and Lightfang Enforcer combined with cards like Menagerie Magician, Defender of Argus, and Strongshell Scavenger. Zoobot is okay too.

Triples of your key minions are important since you don’t want to sell a minion with all those buffs. Keep one slot on your board open for your buff minion. Curator’s Amalgam plays well with this build as do Edwin Van Cleef and Dancin’ Daryl.

Deathrattle build strategy

This is also known as the Baron Rivendare build, because the card is a key part to making this strategy work. You want to aggressively level your Tavern to 5 to get Baron so you can get double Deathrattles on all of your minions.

Beyond Rivendare, there are two flavors of this build: a Beast-centric build and a Mech-centric build. Both use Spawn of N’Zoths, and Selfless Heroes. But don’t worry too much about getting a Selfless Hero in the early game, because this is a late game focused build. You need to survive against builds that are faster than you if you want to win.

The Beast build uses Goldrinn the Great Wolf and Ghastcoiler, while the Mech build uses Kaboom Bots, Mechano-Eggs, and resurrects them with Kangor’s Apprentice. Magnetize Annoy-0-Module to Mechano-Eggs, but don’t use Replicating Menace. You want Kangor to have good targets, and not a bunch of 1/1s.

Build your warband and the victories will come!

You won’t always be able to build the perfect warband, but these strategies can give you goals to work toward. Any build is viable, and which one you choose depends on how the cards fall.

Right now, Deathwing’s build feels the strongest to me with Mechs and Beasts close second. Menagerie is awesome if you get Brann. The developers have done a good job of continuing to tweak the balance of Battlegrounds, but even with Deathwing’s upcoming nerf, I think he’ll still be one of the best.

Best of luck to you in raising your MMR with these builds.