How to win at Hearthstone Battlegrounds

Today we are going to cover a very large topic: How to win at Hearthstone battlegrounds! I’m Tenacity191, and four months ago, I was at 8k rating in Battlegrounds. At that point, I decided that my goal is to get into the top 200, and for that, I really need to understand the game and beat the best of the best. It took me three months to get into the leaderboard, and currently, I’m in the top hundred players in Europe, after peaking at rank forty on the leaderboards.

Why am I telling you that? I want you to believe that I was at your place and that you are not wasting your time reading this guide and following it.

We will cover a few topics that you need to learn. Since this is a general guide, we will create a specific guide for every one of those topics, so make sure you are going over them as well after reading this one!

We are going to cover:

• Picking the right hero
• Early game and Leveling – how it actually works
• Adjusting to the current meta in Hearthstone Battlegrounds
• How to estimate your opponent’s power and how to adjust to it.
• When and how to commit to a specific build.

That a lot of topics to cover, so let’s get started.

Picking the right hero

Your hero has a lot to do with your chances of success in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. Every major patch, we see new heroes and hero changes. And in every patch, there are the better heroes and heroes that are much below average. The strength of your hero impacts your chances in a match drastically. 

With the number of heroes available at any given time in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, the difference between the worst and best heroes becomes quite significant. Some of the worst heroes available in Battlegrounds have an average placement of 5.5, according to Hsreplay’s data. The “best” heroes, like Elise Starseeker, find themselves with an average placement in the top four positions. Simply said: Picking stronger heroes provides a significant advantage before the game even starts. 

Unique Hero strategies – how it affects which hero you should select

But what can I do If I don’t know how to play the hero? Here at AceGameGuides, we try to identify the very strong heroes but are hard to play, and we created a guide for them so you can learn more about them! It’s often not worth avoiding the best heroes if you haven’t played them before. 

Taking the time to learn the strategies leads to better results in the long-term, making you a better player in every aspect. We are here for you, so if you have any questions about a specific hero, make sure to write them in the comment section, and we will get back to you!

Early game and leveling:

We recently covered the early game in an in-depth guide by our battlegrounds writer Mewwy, which covers all aspects of the early game, including the heroes with unique early-game strategies. Here are some tips to help you get started right away.

• Stats are key. If you don’t know what minion you want to buy, simply buy the one with the most stats! The one exception is that a 2/3 minion is often better than Vulgar Homunculus, as the two health is quite significant in the early stages. 
• Unless you absolutely have to, avoid rolling until you reach the eight gold turn. Wasting gold in the early game is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.
• If you are just getting started, simply follow the standard leveling curve. It’ll give you a good place to start

1 – buy token minion if offered, and if not, buy the biggest Minion. 

2 – Level up your Tavern.

3 – Sell and buy the strongest units.

4 – Double buy the strongest minions, try and keep in mind any synergies that may exist with your hero or your current board. 

5 – Buy a minion, and level up your tavern.

6 – Double buy, double roll, or buy three minions (only if your options are strong enough)

7 – Level your tavern once more, roll, and buy a minion. 

Adjusting to the patch 19.6 meta in Hearthstone Battlegrounds

Understanding the meta at your ranking is one of the most important aspects of Battlegrounds right now. If there is one “trick” to success, it is understanding the meta at your rank. Knowing what your opponents are likely to do in the following turns allows you to adjust and try to take advantage of that.

The meta section of this guide is something we plan on updating each patch, so be sure to check back shortly after a new patch arrives.
The 19.6 meta slowed down a lot compared to the previous updates with the nerf to Elise Starseeker. Because of that, old strategies like Elementals, Dragons, and now the new Taunt Compositions are taking hold of the game. To learn more about the 19.6 meta, and how to play the new compositions, read Tenacity’s latest guide!

Estimating the strength of your opponents & how to adjust to it.

Since this meta is all about power leveling, leveling at the right turns makes a huge difference.
If you face millhouse on his eight gold turn and he is on tavern level four, there is a 90% chance that he is weak, as he seemingly leveled two turns in a row and plays a board full of two-star minions at best. If you can, level up alongside him. At worst, you take a small amount of damage, and at best, you put yourself in an advantageous situation with stronger units in the shop.

The extreme situation here is Millhouse reaching tavern five on his nine-gold turn. When that happens, no matter what, raise your tavern. You are almost guaranteed to win the round, and you need to take advantage of the situation. 

There are many more examples here, but since we don’t want to waste your time with boring examples, make sure you take a look at your opponent before the fight. Check if they won or lost their previous fights, check if they just leveled up, which helps you decide if you should level up or get stronger.

Many heroes are super strong / super weak at some point, and you want to learn those spots. I’m working on that very hard in our community and if you need some help with that, make sure you join us. There is a lot to learn about that.

Committing to a build – When to do it, what minions to look for.

To win, you have to have a scaling minion or a comp dictator minion.

A scaling minion is a unit you build around, and it makes your board significantly stronger. It makes you stronger every single turn, for example, Lightfang Enforcer.

Every meta has its scaling minions, but you are looking for the unit that you can say, “Ok, now I have a direction for my end game.”

It can be any of the following:

• Lightfang Enforcer
• Mama bear
• Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect 
• Cap’n Hoggarr
• Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare
• Lil’rag
• Brann Bronzebeard
• 2 x Deflect-o-bot
• Or a tripled Wrath Weaver

All of those are comp dictators, and when you have them, you know what your end comp you are trying to build.

Every meta, we have better comps than others; this is why it is so important to keep up with this guide and make sure you are learning the strongest tactics that exist.
For instance, Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare was an extremely powerful last meta and we created a guide to cover it up. Still, right now, Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare, and Elementals are not as good as Lightfang Enforcer, which is one of the strongest comp dictators out there in patch 19.2.

One thing that never changes, most of the comp dictators are on tavern five. The comp dictators are why it is so important you get to the higher taverns as soon as possible. Whether that is by tripling on Tavern level four or simply by leveling to tavern level five, for you to win at Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you need to find a comp dictator unit as fast as possible and build towards the best end comp you can have.

What is next?

We are working on a full guide covering all the different end-game builds available in Battlegrounds, which we hope to publish soon.

I hope this guide will help you have a better understanding of the game. 

I also want to take this opportunity to invite you to our Educational BG Community discord, with guides, tons of people to spectate and tutor you – all for free!
For more of Tenacity191, check educational streams on twitch and his youtube channel, where you can find more content about how to get better at hearthstone battlegrounds.