How to play as Heistbaron Togwaggle in Hearthstone Battlegrounds

The newest hero introduced to Hearthstone Battlegrounds, Heistbaron Togwaggle, is a very unique one — his power level is high, but he’s not trivial to play. It’s the type of hero where you need to know how to best use his Hero Power in order to maximize his effectiveness.

Togwaggle’s Hero Power costs nine gold at first, but that cost is reduced by one at the end of each turn. At the initial stages of the game, those numbers are very important — so much that a strategy was quickly developed to get the best possible bang for your buck, and establish a very strong board early on. Let’s find out how to do that.

Initial steps to prepare to use your Hero Power for the first time

It’s very important to follow these steps, since they’re going to increase your chances of finding strong minions the first time you use your Hero Power, on turn 4.

Buy a minion on Turn 1, and make sure to upgrade to Tavern Tier 2 on Turn 2.

This is something that many players already do anyway — it’s the “standard” leveling curve for heroes that don’t have a 1-cost Hero Power, which is the case for Togwaggle.

Don’t worry too much about which minion to get on Turn 1: you’re not gonna keep it for long anyway (more on that later). But if you’re offered Alleycat or Sellemental, make sure to grab them, since those minions will leave you with tokens — not necessary, but it might help you a little bit.

No mysteries on Turn 2: just push that Tavern Up button.

Go “3 on 3,” which means leveling up to Tavern Tier 3 on Turn 3

Now this is a very aggressive leveling style that may seem scary if you’re not used to it: Once you get to Turn 3, you’re going to sell the minion you bought on Turn 1, which will leave you with 6 gold. Use those 6 gold to immediately level to Tavern Tier 3.

You’re likely going to be left with an empty board, which means that yes, you’re probably going to lose your next game.  Think of it as a small investment you’re making now, to reap the rewards later.

In case you were able to find that Alleycat or Sellemental on Turn 1, your board will still have a token minion left. Granted, that token probably won’t let you win this next match, but there’s a small chance it might at least net you a tie.

Turns 4 and 6 are crucial to Togwaggle’s success

Honestly, your success on each game as Togwaggle probably hinges on which minions are offered to you when you use your Hero Power for the first two times, on turns 4 and 6.

Use your Hero Power on Turn 4

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. You now have 6 gold, and your Hero Power costs 6 gold, so it’s time to use it for the first time. And since you leveled aggressively to Tavern Tier 3… hopefully you got at least a couple of Tier 3 minions offered to you this turn, because that’s what we were planning for!

There’s not a lot of decision-making on this turn: you’ll get whatever Bob (or your favorite Bartender) offers you, and you’re going to like it. But chances are that whatever it is, your board is now stronger than that of most (if not all) other players in the game.

Level to Tavern Tier 4 on Turn 5

On Turn 5, press that Tavern Up button. Consider using any leftover gold to reroll and see if you can find a good selection of minions — hopefully including Tier 4 ones. If you do, make sure to freeze the tavern. If not, hope you get something better next turn.

Use your Hero Power on Turn 6

It’s time to use your Hero Power and buy the whole tavern again, and since you’re doing it for the second time — hopefully scoring a few Tier 3 and Tier 4 minions this early in the game — this is the moment where you’ll probably be able to build a very strong board that can realistically defeat all your opponents for the next few turns, at least.

There’s a caveat here, of course: you should only stick to this plan if you do, indeed, get offered worthwhile minions this turn. Tier 4 is a little more critical than Tier 3, because on that tier you start to find game-defining minions, the ones that you build your whole board around.

If you don’t see any good minions that you can realistically plan your game around, you might be better off waiting to use your Hero Power next turn, perhaps re-rolling a few times (as much as your gold allows it).

Navigating the later stages of the game

There aren’t any hard rules anymore, since each game tells a different story — but there are still a few things you’ll probably want to do in most of them.

Use your new, hopefully strong board to level aggressively, and reach Tier 6 as soon as possible

Again, this will depend on how the game is actually going. Maybe you weren’t offered a lot of strong minions on the turns where you used your Hero Power — in that case, you might not be able to afford leveling as aggressively, since you need to strengthen your board in order to not lose the game.

Still, ideally you want to get to Tier 6 by turn 9 at the latest. You’ll need to consider if it’s worth it or not to take chances (and maybe have a few close games) now in order to get a bigger payoff later.

Once you’re on Tier 6, use your hero power more liberally

When you reach that point, your Hero Power will very often be worth using — as long as you see at least one minion worth buying. You’ll be getting a lot of extra minions that you don’t really need, but you can sell them to recover your gold, and you’ll probably be getting more value out of doing that than buying minions individually.

Consider playing Pirates if possible, but don’t force it

This is definitely not a hard rule, and more of a tip than anything else, but Pirates work very well with Togwaggle — in truth, they work well with any hero that benefits from buying and selling a lot of minions every turn.

You might already know this, but many Pirates such as Salty Looter, Southsea Strongarm, Peggy Brittlebone, and especially Cap’n Hoggarr have effects that trigger whenever you buy or play Pirates. As Togwaggle, you’re planning on buying and selling lots of minions anyway, especially in the later stages of the game, so the synergy is definitely there.

However, don’t stress too much about it — the way games go is completely unpredictable. If you’re offered a strong minion of a different type early on that you can build around, don’t ignore it! It’s much better to go with what’s already in your hand than to risk too much by trying to force another composition that you don’t already have (and might end up not being able to get).

That’s pretty much it. As long as you properly follow the strategy for those early game turns, and the RNG deities bless you by offering you good minions on turns 4 and 6, you’re likely in a very comfortable position to get to Tier 6 quickly, and start finding those stronger, end game minions earlier than everyone else — maybe even snatching multiple of them at once for a lower cost than normal. Happy heisting!