Update 23.6 arrived in Hearthstone on June 27, but players would be forgiven if they didn’t notice it right away, as it literally only changes things in Hearthstone Battlegrounds and Mercenaries. While all Blizzard’s card game gets this time around is the announcement of an upcoming expansion DLC, the auto-battler gets a meaty content drop. Here is everything new for Hearthstone Battlegrounds in update 23.6, including new Hero Lady Vashj, new cards Yrel and Uther, and the complete update patch notes.
New Hearthstone Battlegrounds Hero Lady Vashj
The highlight of this update is the new Hero, a shaman that will be familiar to long-time players. Originally introduced to Hearthstone in the Ashes of Outland set, Lady Vashj makes her jump into Battlegrounds in update 23.6. Her ability to pull cheap Spellcrafts that mostly scale with her level make Lady Vashj an unpredictable Hero to play with, or against. This is on par with almost all current Hearthstone Battlegrounds Heroes, and only time will tell if Lady Vashj will be a competitive choice.
Uther and Yrel arrive in Hearthstone Battlegrounds
Two iconic Warcraft paladins also make their jump into Hearthstone Battlegrounds with update 23.6: Uther and Yrel. Those two are basically Blizzard mascots at this point, having each also made appearances in Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft before landing in Battlegrounds. Uther’s ability in the auto-battler is particularly disruptive, as it has the potential to boost even the weakest minion to a game-winning powerhouse.
Related: How to play Mechs in Hearthstone Battlegrounds
Hearthstone Battlegrounds update 23.6 full patch notes
Below are all the changes and new additions listed in the Hearthstone Battlegrounds 23.6 update patch notes. For updates pertaining to Hearthstone Mercenaries, you can head over to the official Mercenaries announcement. The same goes for the bug fixes and QoL features of this patch.
General Updates
Darkmoon Prizes are back! From now until the next Battlegrounds Season, Darkmoon Prizes will appear in 25% of games. Several of the Darkmoon Prizes have been adjusted since their last appearance.
The number of copies of each Tier 1 minion was reduced from 16 to 15.
The following Battlegrounds Perks are being extended until the next Battlegrounds Season (instead of the next Standard expansion): Discover from 4 Heroes; Hero Early Access (if any Early Access eligible heroes are released in that time); and Advanced Stats. Visual Emotes will remain until the next Standard expansion, at which point all Battlegrounds Players will receive the base visual emotes. Stay tuned for more details on changes to Battlegrounds Perks and rewards before the next Battlegrounds season!
New Hero: Lady Vashj (Armor Tier 1)
- Relics of the Deep. [1 Gold] Discover a Spellcraft spell of your Tier or lower.
- Passive: Your first one each turn is permanent.
- Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Lady Vashj ahead of her formal release on July 11.
Hero Updates
- Bigglesworth’s Hero Power will now give a Consolation Coin whenever a player dies with no minions.
- Cariel Roame’s Conviction now targets more minions at each rank: two random friendly at Rank 1; four random friendly minions at Rank 2; and all friendly minions at Rank 3.
- Drek’Thar – Old: Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Attack of your highest Attack minion until next turn. → New: Choose a minion. It copies the Attack of the highest Attack minion until next turn. Dev Comment: Drek’Thar and Vanndar now can target and can copy from any minion, including minions in Bob’s Tavern.
- Guff Runetotem – Old: Armor Tier 7 → New: Armor Tier 4. Old: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +1/+1. → New: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +3/+2.
- Overlord Saurfang – Old: Give +2 Attack to the next minion you buy this turn. (Upgrades each turn!) → New: Give +2 Attack to the next minion you buy. (Upgrades each turn!) Dev Comment: The effect now carries over between turns.
- Sindragosa – Old: Freeze a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Frozen minions get +2/+1 each turn. → New: Freeze a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Passive: At the end of your turn, Frozen minions get +2/+1. Dev Comment: This is not a functional change. This is just to more clearly distinguish the active from the passive parts of the Hero Power.
- Sneed – Old: Armor Tier 7 → New: Armor Tier 1. Old: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion: “Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of the same Tavern Tier.” → New: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion: “Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of a lower Tavern Tier.”
- Vanndar – Old: Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Health of your highest Health minion until next turn. → New: Choose a minion. It copies the Health of the highest Health minion until next turn.
- Y’Shaarj – Old: Start of Combat: Summon a minion from your Tavern Tier. Add a copy of it to your hand. → New: Start of Combat: Add a minion from your Tavern Tier to your hand. Summon a copy of it. Dev Comment: This means that the minion will be added to your hand even if there is no board space to summon it.
New Minions
- Tavern Tipper [Tavern Tier 1] 2 Attack, 2 Health. If you have any unspent Gold at the end of your turn, gain +1/+2.
- Silverback Patriarch [Tavern Tier 1, Beast] 1 Attack, 4 Health. Taunt.
- Sparring Partner [Tavern Tier 2] 3 Attack, 2 Taunt. Battlecry: Give a minion Taunt.
- Kooky Chemist [Tavern Tier 2] 4 Attack, 4 Health. Battlecry: Swap the Attack and Health of a minion.
- Yrel [Tavern Tier 2] 1 Attack, 5 Health. After this attacks, give a friendly minion of each minion type +1/+2.
- Atramedes [Tavern Tier 4, Dragon] 3 Attack, 6 Health. Whenever this attacks, deal 3 damage to the target and its neighbors.
- Wargear [Tavern Tier 4, Mech] 5 Attack, 5 Health. Magnetic.
- Tunnel Blaster [Tavern Tier 4] 3 Attack, 7 Health. Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 3 damage to all minions.
- Uther, the Lightbringer [Tavern Tier 6] 5 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Set a minion’s Attack and Health to 15.
Minion Updates
- Shifter Zerus and Iron Sensei have been returned to the minion pool.
- Acolyte of C’Thun, Menagerie Mug, Unstable Ghoul, Budding Greenthumb, Screwjank Clunker, Prestor’s Pyrospawn, Defender of Argus, and Mechano-Egg have all been removed from the minion pool.
- Bannerboar – Old: 1 Attack, 4 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on adjacent Quilboar. → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on adjacent minions.
- Annihilan Battlemaster – Old: 3 Attack → New: 5 Attack
- Soul Devourer – Old: Battlecry: Choose a friendly Demon. Remove it to gain its stats and 3 Gold. → New: Battlecry: Consume a friendly Demon to gain its stats and 3 Gold. Developer Comment: This is not a functional change. This change is only to make the text better match existing effects.
- Grease Bot – Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 3 Attack, 6 Health. After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +1/+1 permanently. → New: [Tavern Tier 6] 4 Attack, 7 Health. Divine Shield. After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +3/+2 permanently.
New and Updated Darkmoon Prizes
Several Darkmoon Prizes have been updated since they last appeared in Battlegrounds:
- The Good Stuff – Old: Give minions in Bob’s Tavern +2 Health for the rest of the game. → New: Give minions in Bob’s Tavern +1 Attack for the rest of the game.
- I’m Still Just a Rat in a Cage – Old: Double a minion’s Attack. → New: Give a minion +2 Attack, then double its Attack.
- Great Deal – Old: For the rest of the game, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (3) at the end of your turn. → New: Reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (6).
- The Bouncer – Old: Give a friendly minion +5/+5 and Taunt. → New: Give a friendly minion +6/+6 and Taunt.
- B.A.N.A.N.A.S. – Bananas now have a 50% chance to be a Big Banana (no change to card textbox). Additionally, Big Banana has been removed from the Darkmoon Faire Prize pool, and two new prizes have been added:
- Banana Bunch (Prize turn 1): Add 2 Bananas to your hand. Dev Comment: These Bananas have a 50% chance to be Big Bananas as well.
- Mindflayer Goggles (Prize turn 3): Steal all minions in Bob’s Tavern. Then Refresh it.
Finally, players who are in the bottom half of the scoreboard are no longer more likely to get better Prizes.
