Companions are targeted by balance in Battlegrounds

Update 29.6 saw Companions return to the forefront of Battlegrounds in
Hearthstone. However, the latter are already the target of numerous balances for Battlegrounds. And for good reason, with all the developments that the game mode has undergone since their last appearance, they are no longer always suitable. Patch 29.6.2 therefore corrects this by providing a good layer of balancing for the heroes and their followers.

Adaptive armor

We start with the heroes, mainly affected on their starting armor. However, we note a small change on the side of Alexstrasza and Onyxia for their heroic powers.

• Alexstrasza
  • Queen of Dragons – Cost: 1 gold (Previously passive)
    • Discover a Dragon (Previously at the start of each round)
• Onyxia
  • Broodmother – Cost: Passive
    • Revenge (4) – Summons a 3/1 dragonet that attacks immediately. (Previously Vengeance 3)

The armor changes only affect Duos mode, however. The list of heroes who have their armor amounts reduced includes: Windbeak, Buttercutter Chak, Murloc Holmes, Xyrella, Rokara, Varden Dawngrip, Ace Heist Pillager Wax, Thorim, Storm Lord, and Rock Master Voone. For the others, either the amount is the same or it is increased.

More docile companions

Obviously, what is most impactful in this update is the modification of companions. In the majority of cases, their cost is higher. However, not all are housed in the same place and some take advantage of it to see their effect improved. You can find the complete list of changes on the official patch note. However, we can note some rather interesting modifications.

• Vaelstrasz – Alexstrasza
  • [Niveau 5] (Previously 3)
  • 6/6 (Previously 4/4)
  • War cry And Start of the fight – Give your other minions +3/+3
    (Previously +2/+2)
• Golden Captain – Cap’taine Larrrdeur
  • 4/7 (Previously 3/6)
  • After buying 2 Pirates, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the tavern (Previously 1 pirate purchased)
• Master of Flying Mounts – Windbeak
  • [Niveau 1] (Previously 2)
  • 2/2 (Previously 2/3)
• Mishmash – The Conservative
  • [Niveau 4] (Previously 3)
  • 4/4 (Previously 2/2)

What impact on the Battlegrounds meta?

It is clear with update 29.6.2 that the balancing on Battlegrounds is focused above all on Duos. This patch clearly comes to calm down certain heroes made too powerful by their companions by slowing down their game or making it less impactful. This should thus make the games less predictable, but above all more playable. It remains to be seen what the impact will be for the solo mode, which should see some disparities appear.