Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch – 21.2 Patch Notes

The all-new Hearthstone 21.2 patch is not only bringing pre-purchase for Mercenaries, a new mode but also a huge revamp for Battlegrounds, and a new book of Mercenaries too! This patch is Hearthstone Battlegrounds’ biggest update to date, bringing a new Keyword, heroes, minions, and a damage cap.

Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch – What’s coming?

Let’s take a quick look at what’s coming in the latest update before going through the patch notes.

• Mercenaries For Hire – A new game mode where you collect iconic Mercenaries, assembling Parties to take down procedurally generated Bounties. It is an entirely new way to play Hearthstone, combining RPG and roguelike elements with some of your favorite Hearthstone characters.
• Standard Balance Updates –  Stealer of Souls and Flesh Giant
• Battlegrounds Revamp – Bringing a new Keyword, Avenge, replacing 37 minions, and two new heroes.

They have also added a damage cap of 15 damage until the first player dies, meaning that players can take no more than 15 damage when in combat unless a player dies or disconnects. They have increased turn times, with the length of turns 3-9 being increased by five seconds.

General Updates

• Battlegrounds Specific Keyword added – Avenge
• The length of turns 3-9 has been increased by 5 seconds. We may further adjust the length of turns sometime in the future.
• Darkmoon Prizes have been disabled.
• All players’ Battlegrounds ratings have been reset for a new season.
• Damage cap of 15 damage has been added until the first player dies. Please note that the damage cap does not check for player deaths until the start of each Recruit Phase, meaning if someone concedes, disconnects, or dies during the Recruit Phase (Is Wrath Weaver ever really on your team?), the damage cap will still be present for that combat.
• Players with Battlegrounds Perks are now more likely to be offered new Heroes during the two-week early access period that follows their initial announcement. In every lobby during the two-week early access period, the option to play with new Heroes will be distributed at random between players with Battlegrounds Perks. No player will be offered more than one new Hero.

New Heroes

Master Nguyen

• Power of the Storm [Passive]
  • At the start of every turn, choose from 2 new Hero Powers.

Cariel Roame

• Conviction (Rank 1)
  • Give a random friendly minion +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 3.)
• Conviction (Rank 2)
  • Give three random friendly minions +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 5.)
• Conviction (Rank 3)
  • Give five random friendly minions +1/+1.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• The main menu has been updated. A Mercenaries button has been added (locked until mode is live), Battlegrounds can now be accessed from the main menu, and Solo Adventures have been moved under Modes—where Arena and Duels can still be found.
• The first-time user experience has been updated and streamlined. New Players can now play Battlegrounds right away or the original Hearthstone tutorial.
• Fixed a bug where players were able to delete their first deck immediately after the tutorial and were unable to build a new deck because they had not yet unlocked any playable classes.
• Fixed a bug that caused the friends list to load slowly for players who had many friends online and made it difficult to challenge a friend from that list.
• Fixed a bug that caused Deathrattles to be tracked as triggered (by cards such as Counterfeit Blade) in situations where the Deathrattle condition was not met.
• Fixed a bug that allowed Wild Growth and Overgrowth to award Excess Mana if the mana cap was reached through temporary mana (such as Innervate or Lightning Bloom).
• Fixed a bug where the Fireballs cast by Grand Magus Antonidas were not affected by Spell Damage.
• Fixed a bug where if multiple versions of a card name exist in a player’s deck (such as one with a buff and one without) Southsea Scoundrel would count them as distinct for the first half of its battlecry, but not the second half. Now they will count as distinct for the entire Battlecry.
• Fixed a bug where Reckless Apprentice used up the mana cost reduction from Tour Guide.
• Fixed a bug where Transfer Student was not receiving the correct effect on the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire game board.
• Fixed a bug where Purified Shard (the Priest Questline final reward) was revealed to the opponent when drawn.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to play a deck that included Stealer of Souls in Wild if the deck was a Standard-legal deck.
• Fixed a bug where Wild was not properly unlocking for some players who had met the unlock criteria.
• Fixed a bug that allowed a Battlegrounds player to face Kel’Thuzad if an even number of players remained in the lobby.
• Fixed various display errors in the Achievement Journal.
• Fixed a bug causing opponents’ names to appear smaller than intended on phones.
• Fixed a visual bug with Pandaren Importer’s Golden animation.
• Fixed a bug where the wrong art was displayed for Sphere of Sapience’s “A New Fate” option, Learn the Truth (the second phase of the Rogue Questline), and Repair Bot (summoned by Gelbin Mekkatorque).

Visit the official Hearthstone patch notes to see the new 37 minions and which minions they have removed entirely.