The Jailer joins Hearthstone Battlegrounds along with nine new minions

Hearthstone Battlegrounds patch 24.6, which is already live, has added The Jailer as a new hero and shifted the minion roster significantly as well. Nine new minions, including lore-heavy figures such as Vanessa VanCleef and Inquisitor Whitemane, have joined the game mode — but six have been removed as well, in addition to one returning minion.

Let’s see how those additions can shape up the coming days and weeks of this game mode!

The Jailer joins the Battlegrounds as a new playable hero

The Jailer craves domination, and he’s armed with this hero power:

• Runic Empowerment (1 mana)
  • Give a minion +1/+1. Upgrades after nine friendly minions die.

This hero power seems like it starts out slow, but should get going eventually. It’s hard to tell at a glance how powerful it will end up being; it doesn’t seem very impressive at first, but could potentially snowball a lot. Whenever new heroes are released, the developers usually err on the side of making them strong, and then nerfing them if necessary, but you never know.

Besides the new hero, we’re also getting a big shake-up to the minion roster. A few minions are being removed:

• Spawn of N’Zoth (Tier 2)
• Yrel (Tier 2)
• Gemsplitter (Tier 3, Quilboar)
• Nightmare Amalgam (Tier 3, All)
• Reef Explorer (Tier 4)
• Nosy Looter (Tier 6, Pirate)

And one minion is returning, Menagerie Mug (Tier 2). But we need to talk about the brand-new minions next!

Nine new minions join the fray

Some of these minions are replacements for the ones that are being removed, while others bring very interesting new effects to the game mode.

• Dozy Whelp (Tavern Tier 1, Dragon)
  • 0 Attack, 3 Health.
  • Taunt. Whenever this minion is attacked, gain +1 Attack permanently.

Seems like another early option for Dragons with scaling potential. It’s hard to tell how powerful those end up being; they’ve been know to break the game a couple of times!

• Patient Scout (Tier 2)
  • 1 Attack, 1 Health.
  • When you sell this, Discover a Tavern Tier 1 minion. (Upgrades each turn!)

This is a very interesting minion. Stats-wise, it’s very weak, so it’ll be taking up room on your board without really helping you win battles. But the payoff comes later, when you sell it, and the more you wait, the better it is. Possibly skill-testing!

• Bristlemane Scrapsmith (Tier 3, Quilboar)
  • 4 Attack, 4 Health.
  • After a friendly Taunt minion dies, get a Blood Gem.

A replacement of sorts for Gemsplitter. Seems like Quilboar will be a bit less about Divine Shields, and worry more about Taunts instead.

• Faceless Disciple (Tier 3)
  • 6 Attack, 4 Health.
  • Battlecry: Transform a minion into one of a Tier higher.

An interesting option to let you roll the dice instead of outright selling a weaker minion. Should be especially valuable if you can get one early in the game, after a triple.

• Vigilant Stoneborn (Tier 4)
  • 2 Attack, 6 Health.
  • Battlecry: Give a minion +6 Health and Taunt.

Another option to give a minion Taunt, which can be very good in order to counter specific strategies from your opponents.

• Ball of Minions (Tier 4, All)
  • 5 Attack, 5 Health
  • When you sell this, give its stats to a random friendly minion.

The replacement for Nightmare Amalgam, coming one tier later, which should make it less of an ever-present minion (probably a good way to add some variety to games).

• Interrogator Whitemane (Tier 5)
  • 8 Attack, 5 Health.
  • Start of Combat: Give the enemies opposite this Taunt. They take double damage.

Whitemane has the ability to disrupt your opponent’s board, letting you try to guess where they’ll position their key minions, and snipe them! Definitely one of the most exciting minions added this patch.

• Vanessa VanCleef (Tier 5, Pirate)
  • 3 Attack, 7 Health.
  • Whenever this attacks, give your Pirates +2/+1 permanently.

Replacing Nosy Looter is VanVan Vanessa VanCleef, with an effect that is more in line with how Pirates usually operate. This minion type could definitely use the help, so here’s hoping Vanessa has what it takes to make it stronger.

• The Walking Fort (Tier 6)
  • 4 Attack, 6 Health.
  • At the end of your turn, give 4 friendly Taunt minions +4/+4.

Will we be seeing Taunt-based compositions? Four Taunts seems like a lot, outside of very specific scenarios. It’s hard to determine how good this card will be, since it seems to be setting up some new strategies.

A lot more has happened this patch, with changes to Quests and Rewards, and a few minion adjustments. You can read all about all of that, as well as changes affecting Constructed and Mercenaries mode, at the official blog.