Hearthstone 18.4 Patch Notes Feature New Battlegrounds Heroes and Minions

Blizzard has released the patch notes for Hearthstone‘s upcoming 18.4 update, and they once again feature major changes for the CCG’s Constructed and Battlegrounds modes.

Let’s start with Battlegrounds. As we mentioned elsewhere, Battlegrounds ranking system will soon receive a massive overhaul that will essentially bring the auto-battler’s ranked system mechanically closer to the one featured in the game’s Constructed mode. However, Battlegrounds will also receive a wave of new heroes and minions as part of a special event that begins with the release of the 18.4 patch.

Here’s a breakdown of the new heroes and minions coming to Battlegrounds:

New Battlegrounds Heroes

Ragnaros the Firelord

Hero Power: DIE, INSECTS! [Passive] – After you kill 20 enemy minions, get Sulfuras with the effect: “At the end of your turn, give your left and right-most minions +4/+4.”

Chenvaala

Hero Power: Avalanche [Passive] – After you play 3 Elementals, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (2).

Rakanishu

Hero Power: Tavern Lighting [Cost 2] – Give a random friendly minion stats equal to your Tavern Tier.

Al’Akir the Windlord

Hero Power: Swatting Insects [Passive] – Start of Combat: Give your left-most minion Windfury, Divine Shield, and Taunt.

New Battlegrounds Minions

Sellemental

[Tier 1, Elemental] 2 Attack, 2 Health – When you sell this, add a 2/2 Elemental to your hand.

Refreshing Anomaly

[Tier 1, Elemental] 1 Attack, 3 Health – Battlecry: Your next refresh costs (0).

Party Elemental

[Tier 2, Elemental] 2 Attack, 2 Health – After you play an Elemental, give another friendly Elemental +1/+1.

Molten Rock 

[Tier 2, Elemental] 2 Attack, 3 Health – Taunt. After you play an Elemental, gain +1 Health.

Stasis Elemental 

[Tier 3, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health – Battlecry: Add another random elemental to Bob’s Tavern and freeze it.

Arcane Assistant

[Tier 3, Elemental] 3 Attack, 2 Health – Battlecry: Give your other Elementals +1/+1.

Crackling Cyclone

[Tier 3, Elemental] 4 Attack, 1 Health – Divine Shield. Windfury.

Whirlwind Tempest

[Tier 4, Elemental] 6 Attack, 6 Health – Your Windfury minions have Mega-Windfury.

Wildfire Elemental

[Tier 4, Elemental] 7 Attack, 3 Health – After this attacks and kills a minion, deal excess damage to a random adjacent minion.

Deadly Spore

[Tier 4] 1 Attack, 1 Health – Poisonous.

Majordomo Executus

[Tier 4] 6 Attack, 3 Health – At the end of your turn, give your left-most minion +1 / +1 for each Elemental you played this turn.

Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare

[Tier 5] 4 Attack, 4 Health – After you play an Elemental, Elementals in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the
game.

Lil’ Rag

[Tier 5, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health – After you play an Elemental, give a random friendly minion stats equal to the Elementals’ tavern tier.

Tavern Tempest

[Tier 5, Elemental] 4 Attack, 4 Health – Battlecry: Add another random Elemental to your hand.

Lieutenant Garr

[Tier 6, Elemental] 8 Attack, 1 Health – Taunt. After you play an Elemental, gain +1 Health for each Elemental you have.

Gentle Djinni

[Tier 6, Elemental] 6 Attack, 8 Health – Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon another random Elemental and add a copy of it to your hand.

Hearthstone‘s Constructed mode isn’t receiving quite as many updates with this patch, but two of the game’s more problematic cards are being nerfed. Tortollan Pilgrim will now play a spell from your deck rather than a copy of that spell, while Guardian Animals will soon cost 8 mana (up from 7 mana).

Finally, there are various Hearthstone events set to run throughout October, including the return of the Masquerade Ball Tavern Brawl, the Boss Battle Royale Tavern Brawl, and a new single-player adventure starring Rexxar. You’ll also soon have the chance to earn some extra card packs via some special quests that will be added to the game throughout October.

This is an extensive patch that furthers the Hearthstone team’s attempts to keep the game balanced following the Scholomance Academy expansion while advancing the game’s incredibly popular Battlegrounds mode.