(Out Now!) Hearthstone 29.2 Patch Notes – Battlegrounds Season 7 with Duos, Umpire’s Grasp Nerf, Twist & Arena Updates, Diamond Hero Skins and more!

Update: The patch is now live on PC! The mobile release should follow within the next couple of hours. Enjoy!

Update #2: A new rule change was added to the “Bug Fixes and Game Improvements” section.

Blizzard just posted 29.2 patch notes. It’s a massive update focused on Battlegrounds, there are some small things for other modes too. The patch drops next week, on April 16 and here’s a summary of what it’s going to contain:

• Battlegrounds Season 7 – A new season of Battlegrounds launches with a massive update. Even if we don’t count Duos mode (which I’ll talk about below), Battlegrounds is going through some MASSIVE changes. We have lots of Hero updates, new minions, minion pool changes (leaving/returning), minion updates (nerfs/buffs), and so on. The meta should feel fresh after the patch. A new season also means a refresh of the rewards track, so if you haven’t finished the old one yet, you still have a few days to clean it up.
• Battlegrounds Duos – The main feature of Season 7 is, of course, the new Battlegrounds Duos mode. You can now team up with a friend or queue to matchmake with a random person and play together against other three 2-player teams. While the basics are the same, there’s a lof of special interaction and considerations. Between combats, you can pass minions to the other player (for 1 gold) to help them find a key synergy piece or get a triple. The mode also has lots of special minions and Heroes that benefit from what your teammate is doing or help them in some way. When it comes to combat, it starts as a simple 1v1, but when one side loses, the other teammate takes their place and the fight continues. My only fear is that the mode won’t be as fun to play solo with a random person, because it sounds like communication is pretty key. There will be some simple in-game communication through emotes/pings, but it’s not the same thing. Anyway, we won’t have to wait long to find out!
• Demon Hunter Nerf – I know that many of you are waiting for this point, and yes, we did get a Demon Hunter nerf. However, that nerf might seem underwhelming for most of you. The only change the class got is increasing the mana cost of Umpire's Grasp from 3 to 4. I suggest that we wait and see how it works in practice, it’s a big nerf to the highest win rate card in the deck, and the goal isn’t to kill Demon Hunter completely and just to bring it in line with other classes. But I can already feel that many players will be upset.
• Arena Update – On April 16, all of the current runs will be retired and a new season will being. Just like last season, players will draft from a curated pool of cards across the entire game’s history, but the pool itself will be adjusted. Legendary draft rule will stay the same (1 Legendary card offered at the start of each run, nothing after that).
• Twist Update – I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that Twist will stay offline in May and only be live back in June (really?). The good news is, at least according to the blog post, they are working on something huge, with unique decks and Hero Powers. It sounds exciting and I hope that the season will finally be more accessible. More details will be shared in the coming weeks.
• Duels is Dead – Patch 29.2 also means the end of the Duels game mode. It officially launched in November 2020 with moderate success, and has seen lots of cool updates over the years. Then around 2023 the updates have slowed to a crawl, with maybe one or two small changes in big patches. Then at the start of 2024, Blizzard announced that they plan to close it down completely. It means that it’s literally your last chance to play the mode, because on April 16 it will be gone completely. If you have any Heroic Duels run active, it will be forcefully retired. You will get all the rewards you would for your wins and then a Tavern Ticket will get refunded. You can still use all the Tickets you might be hoarding in Arena.
• New In-Game Event – From April 23 to May 7, a new in-game event will launch. And it will be the first time when you can pick between Constructed and Battlegrounds-focused rewards tracks. One track offers Traditional Hearthstone quests and has Yrel the Knight Paladin skin as the final reward, while the other focuses on Battlegrounds with Golem Curator Skin as the final reward. Sadly I don’t know if there will be a way to earn both. For example, if you finish one will you be able to work on the second? I guess we’ll find out when the event launches.
• Heroic Tavern Brawl Returns – Heroic Tavern Brawl launches on May 1 and… yeah, I’ve already said anything there’s to say about it many, many times. Stay away from it if you value your gold (or real money). It launches surprisingly early though, even if we account for the fact that Whizbang’s Workshop expansion releases ~2 weeks earlier than usual. For example, last year it was released on May 24. But it doesn’t matter, no matter when it launches the value stays the same.
• New Cosmetic Type – Diamond Hero Skins – I’ll be honest, that’s a surprise, I didn’t expect them to launch another type of cosmetic skins. But it looks like they decided to slot something in between the regular skins and the Legendary ones. The new Diamond skins will feature 3D portraits and animations like Legendary skins, just with less fanfare. The Legendary Skins will be reserved for the most “epic” ones like Druid’s C’thun skin. I guess that makes some sense, because skins like Blingtron or Varian felt vastly inferior to C’thun or even Rafaam even though they all cost the same.
• Bug Fixes & Game Improvements – And finally, just like every big patch, 29.2 launches with a ton of smaller bug fixes and QoL changes.

Anyway, as you can see, it’s a HUGE patch. You can read more about it in the patch notes below:

Patch 29.2, launching on April 16, brings Battlegrounds Duos and Season 7, Once Upon a Tavern!

This story has lots of chapters, so you can use this Table of Contents to help you find what you need:

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New Mode—Battlegrounds Duos

Battlegrounds Duos is a new Mode within Battlegrounds! In Duos, you and a partner team up against three other teams of two. Each team has a shared Health and Armor pool, can see each other’s boards, can communicate with each other using pings, and can Pass each other cards through the Portal.

Generally, Battlegrounds changes (like minion and hero updates, seasonal mechanics, etc.) will apply to both regular Battlegrounds and Battlegrounds Duos. If you know Battlegrounds, you can jump into Duos right away! But there are also a few features that make Duos special:

• You can queue into Duos with a friend as a team or on your own to be paired with a random teammate of a similar rating. You and a group of friends can also create private Duos games, just like regular Battlegrounds.
• In Duos, the cost to upgrade into each of Tavern Tier 4, Tier 5, and Tier 6 costs 2 more Gold than in regular Battlegrounds.
• There are some special Duos-only minions and Heroes (see below).
• During the Recruit Phase, you can click on the Portal on the right side of the screen to swap between seeing your board and your teammate’s board.
• You can right-click (or two-finger tap on mobile) on any interactable card or button, including minions, spells, the Tavern upgrade button, your hero power, and more, on your side or on your teammate’s side when viewing through the Portal, to bring up a simple Ping menu–similar to Emotes on your Hero. Your teammate can see what you pinged and respond with their own ping, so you can implement your strategy together!
• Drag any card from your hand to the Portal for your teammate, for the price of 1 Gold. They’ll instantly get the card added to their hand (or, if their hand is full, it will appear in their hand once they have the space). But choose wisely: you can only Pass cards from your hand through the Portal. Once you play a minion, you can’t send it from play to your teammate’s hand.
• Battlegrounds Duos will have its own ratings and leaderboard, separate from regular Battlegrounds.

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Once Upon a Time… There was a New Battlegrounds Season!

Make your wish come true with Battlegrounds Season 7, Once Upon a Tavern. This is a new chapter in the story of Battlegrounds, bringing a massive minion shakeup for solo Battlegrounds and Battlegrounds Duos!

On April 16, Battlegrounds Season 6 will end, and Season 7 will begin. That means ratings will be reset, Battlegrounds Quests will be removed, and the Battlegrounds Track will switch over. All rewards that were earned from the Season 6 Track, but not yet claimed, will be automatically claimed. Tavern spells are not being removed and are now considered a regular part of Battlegrounds going forward. Turn timers have been temporarily extended for the start of the new season; turn timers will be reverted in a later update.

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New Heroes (Duos Only)

Cho (6 Armor)

• Passive. Whenever you play a Golden minion, both you and Gall get a Triple Reward.
• Can only be selected if your partner chooses Gall. 

Gall (6 Armor)

• Passive. Whenever you play a Golden minion, both you a Cho get a Triple Reward.
• Can only be selected if your partner chooses Cho. 

The Nameless One (12 Armor)

• Passive. Start of Game: Copy your teammate’s Hero Power.

Flobbidinous Floop (15 Armor)

• [0 Gold] Choose a friendly minion. Start of Combat: Transform it into your teammate’s highest-Tier minion.

Madam Goya (8 Armor)

• [2 Gold] Pass a non-Golden minion.
• Dev Comment: This hero power can target minions in your Warband or in the Tavern. 

These new heroes will be offered in every Battlegrounds Duos game for the first two weeks after Patch launch. 

Hero Pool Updates

• Murloc Holmes is not part of the Hero Pool for Battlegrounds Duos.
  • Dev Comment: His hero power leads to frustrating gameplay with the team system. 
• Illidan Stormrage is banned from Dragons games across all Battlegrounds.
• Sire Denathrius and E.T.C., Band Manager have been temporarily removed from the Hero Pool for all Battlegrounds games.
• Professor Putricide has been temporarily removed from the Hero Pool for Battlegrounds Duos.

Hero Effect Updates

Thorim, Stormlord

• Passive. At the start of the game, Discover a Tier 7 minion to get after you spend 65 Gold.
• Argent Braggart has been removed from the Discoverable options. Additionally, Papa Bear now summons three 4/4 Mama Bears that give +4/+4 (Mama Bear herself is not in the minion pool). 

Malygos

• [0 Gold] Replace a card with a random one of the same Tier. (Twice per turn.)
• Dev Comment: This used to only target minions, now it can target Tavern spells, too. 

Captain Hooktusk

• [0 Gold] Remove a minion. Discover one from a Tier lower to get.

Patchwerk

• Passive: Start with 30 extra Health.
• Dev Comment: This is a text-only change to make Patchwerk werk properly in Duos. 

The Great Akazamzarak

• [0 Gold] Choose a Secret. Put it into the Battlefield.
• Dev Comment: Instead of a Discover from a pool, it will now always be a choice from the same 4 Secrets: Venomstrike Trap, Pack Tactics, Autodefense Matrix, and Redemption. Street Magician (Akazamzarak’s Buddy) will use the same pool for its random Secret. Ice Block has been removed from Battlegrounds entirely. 

Dinotamer Brann

• Passive. After you buy 4 Battlecry minions, get Brann Bronzebeard. (Once per game.)

New Minions

Fire Dancer (Tier 2)

• 4/2. Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to all minions.

Assistant Guard (Tier 4)

• 2/3. Battlecry: Give a minion Taunt. Then give your Taunt minions +2/+3.

Winged Chimera (Tier 4, All)

• 3/6. Whenever this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.

Mooneater’s Champion (Tier 5)

• 7/8. After you play an odd-Tier card, give your other odd-Tier minions +1/+1.

Unforgiving Treant (Tier 5)

• 1/12. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give your minions +1 Attack permanently.

Greymane’s Champion (Tier 6)

• 6/5. After you play an even-Tier card, give your other even-Tier minions +2/+2.

Murgl Mk II (Tier 3, Mech/Murloc)

• 2/4. Avenge (3): Give minions in your hand and board +1/+1 permanently.

Timecap’n Hooktail (Tier 3, Dragon/Pirate)

• 1/5. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your other minions +1 Attack.

Slimy Felblood (Tier 3, Elemental/Demon)

• 3/4. Battlecry: Minions in the Tavern have +2 Health this game.

Fiery Felblood (Tier 3, Elemental/Demon)

• 4/3. Deathrattle: Minions in the Tavern have +3 Attack this game.

Shellemental (Tier 5, Elemental/Naga)

• 5/4. Spellcraft: Choose a minion in the Tavern. Give its stats to a random friendly minion.

Draconic Deathscale (Tier 4, Naga/Dragon)

• 6/3. Spellcraft: Trigger a friendly minion’s Battlecry.

Nightbane, Ignited (Tier 4, Dragon/Undead)

• 6/3. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give 2 random friendly minions this minion’s Attack.

Untameabull (Tier 6, Mech/Beast)

• 10/16. Whenever this takes damage, gain Divine Shield.

Trusty Pup (Tier 1, Beast)

• 1/3. Whenever this takes damage, gain +1 Attack permanently.

Irate Rooster (Tier 2, Beast)

• 3/4. Start of Combat: Deal 1 damage to adjacent minions and give them +4 Attack.

Silver Goose (Tier 2, Beast)

• 2/3. Whenever this takes damage, summon a 2/2 Fledgling with Taunt.

Silithid Burrower (Tier 3, Beast)

• 3/1. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give your Beasts +1/+1 permanently.

Rampager (Tier 3, Beast)

• 8/8. Whenever this attacks, deal 1 damage to your other minions.

Goldshell Warden (Tier 4, Beast)

• 3/4. Battlecry: Give your other Beasts +1/+4.

Iridescent Skyblazer (Tier 4, Beast)

• 2/5. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+1 permanently.

Trigore the Lasher (Tier 5, Beast)

• 6/2. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +2 Health permanently.

Spiked Savior (Tier 5, Beast)

• 12/4. Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to your minions and give them +1 Health.

False Implicator (Tier 3, Demon)

• 1/2. At the end of your turn, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.

Crafty Aranasi (Tier 4, Demon)

• 1/8. Whenever this takes damage, deal 5 damage to a random enemy minion.

Misfit Dragonling (Tier 1, Dragon)

• 1/2. Start of Combat: Gain stats equal to your Tier.

Glim Guardian (Tier 1, Dragon)

• 1/3. Whenever this attacks, gain +2/+1.
• Dev Comment: This is a redesign and updated art piece for Glyph Guardian, which had Undead/Dragon art, but which we wanted to keep just a Dragon. 

Thousandth Paper Drake (Tier 2, Dragon)

• 2/3. Start of Combat: Give your left-most Dragon +1/+2 and Windfury.

Roaring Rallier (Tier 3, Dragon)

• 3/4. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+2.

Persistent Poet (Tier 4, Dragon)

• 2/3. Divine Shield. Adjacent Dragons permanently keep your enchantments from combat.

Yu’lon, Fortune Granter (Tier 5, Dragon)

• 8/8. Start of Combat: Make your lowest-Tier minion Golden (except Yu’lon, Fortune Granter.)

Hoarding Hatespawn (Tier 6, Dragon)

• 10/10. Start of Combat: Steal 10/10 from the highest Health enemy minion.

Marine Matriarch (Tier 5, Elemental)

• 3/9. Whenever this takes damage, get a random Tavern spell. (3 times per combat.)

Cord Puller (Tier 1, Mech)

• 1/1. Divine Shield. Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Microbot.

Zilliax: Claw Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Taunt. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.
• Dev Comment: Each different Zilliax Module has an appearance rate 1/3 that of a regular Tier 2 minion’s. Any combination of 3 Modules will combine into a Golden Zilliax: Assembled, which has all the keywords of the Modules used as the components. 

Zilliax: Crystal Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Reborn. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.

Zilliax: Defense Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Divine Shield. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.

Zilliax: Smoke Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Stealth. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.

Zilliax: Whirring Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Windfury. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.

Zilliax: Bonding Module (Tier 2, Mech)

• 4/3. Magnetic. This minion can triple with any Zilliax Modules.

Charging Czarina (Tier 5, Mech)

• 4/2. Divine Shield. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions with Divine Shield +3 Attack.

Very Hungry Winterfinner (Tier 2, Murloc)

• 2/5. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give a minion in your hand +1/+1.

Shell Whistler (Tier 3, Naga)

• 3/2. Battlecry: Get a random Tavern spell from Tier 2.

Soft-hearted Siren (Tier 4, Naga)

• 3/6. Whenever this takes damage, get a random Spellcraft spell. (3 times per combat.)

Long John Copper (Tier 4, Pirate)

• 4/6. Whenever this takes damage, get a Gold Coin. (3 times per combat.)

Bristling Buffoon (Tier 3, Quilboar)

• 3/4. Whenever this takes damage, get a Blood Gem. (3 times per combat.)

Pokey Thornmantle (Tier 6, Quilboar)

• 4/5. At the end of your turn, your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1 this game.

Hateful Hag (Tier 3, Undead)

• 4/2. Whenever this attacks, give the minion to the right of this Reborn.

The Uninvited Guest (Tier 6, Undead)

• 3/2. Start of Combat: Give your other minions “Deathrattle: Summon a 3/2 Shadow.”

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New Minions (Duos Only)

Passenger (Tier 1)

• 2/3. The first time your team Passes each turn, gain +2/+2.

Wanderer Cho (Tier 2)

• 4/3. 1 Pass each turn is free.

Friendly Saloonkeeper (Tier 2)

• 3/4. Battlecry: Your teammate gets a Gold Coin.

Generous Geomancer (Tier 2, Quilboar)

• 2/1. Deathrattle: You and your teammate each get a Blood Gem.

Puddle Prancer (Tier 3, Murloc)

• 3/3. After this is Passed, gain +3/+3.

Orc-estra Conductor (Tier 3)

• 2/2. Give a minion +2/+2. Improve your team’s future Orc-estra Conductors.

Plunder Pal (Tier 3, Pirate)

• 2/2. At the start of your turn, you and your teammate each gain 1 Gold.

Doting Dracthyr (Tier 3, Dragon)

• 4/3. At the end of your turn, give your teammate’s minions +1 Attack.

Mirror Monster (Tier 4, All)

• 4/4. When you buy or Discover this, get an extra copy and Pass it.

Grave Narrator (Tier 4, Undead)

• 2/7. Avenge (3): Your teammate gets a random minion of their most common type.

Storm Splitter (Tier 4, Naga)

• 5/5. Once per turn, after you Pass a Tavern spell, get a new copy of it.

Man’ari Messenger (Tier 4, Demon)

• 7/4. Battlecry: Minions in your team’s Taverns have +2/+1 this game.

Feisty Freshwater (Tier 4, Elemental)

• 6/4. Deathrattle: You and your teammate each gain 2 Refreshes that cost (0).

Magnanimoose (Tier 4, Beast)

• 5/2.  Deathrattle: Summon a copy of a minion from your teammate’s warband. Set its Health to 1 (except Magnanimoose).

Well Wisher (Tier 5)

• 6/6. Spellcraft: Pass a different non-Golden minion.

Support System (Tier 5, Mech)

• 4/5. At the end of your turn, give a minion in your teammate’s warband Divine Shield.

Sandy (Tier 7)

• 1/1. Start of Combat: Transform into a copy of your teammate’s highest Health minion.

Minion Pool Updates

63 minions have been removed from the Minion Pool:

• Beleaguered Battler
• Yrel
• Strongshell Scavenger
• Rendle the Mistermind
• Menagerie Jug
• Saloon Dancer
• Living Constellation
• The Walking Fort
• Motley Phalanx
• Mad Matador
• Mantid Queen
• Cogwork Copter
• Hunter of Gatherers
• Legion Overseer
• Felemental
• Emergent Flame
• Silent Swimmer
• Sore Loser
• Hawkstrider Herald
• Dancing Barnstormer
• Manasaber
• Hungry Snapjaw
• Sewer Rat
• Humming Bird
• Free-Flying Feathermane
• Eagill
• Mystic Sporebat
• Mama Bear
• Banana Slamma
• Dreadbeard
• Imprisoner
• Upbeat Frontdrake
• Twilight Emissary
• Emerald Proto-Whelp
• Bronze Sandspewer
• Outback Smolderer
• Sandstone Drake
• Peckish Feldrake
• Razorgore the Untamed
• Nether Drake
• Warpwing
• Ignition Specialist
• Master of Realities
• Micro Mummy
• Lighter Fighter
• Kangor’s Apprentice
• Omega Buster
• Murcules
• Wayward Grimscale
• Felfin Navigator
• Pashmar the Vengeful
• Critter Wrangler
• Surf n’ Surf
• Southsea Busker
• Greta Gold-Gun
• Bloodsail Cannoneer
• Audacious Anchor
• Briarback Bookie
• Bristleback Knight
• Paint Smudger
• Corpse Refiner
• Steadfast Spirit
• Grave Gobbler

15 minions have been returned to the Minion Pool:

• Reef Explorer
• Leeroy The Reckless
• Magmaloc
• Octosari, Wrap God
• Kindly Grandmother
• Backstage Security
• Tarecgosa
• Prized Promo-Drake
• Molten Rock
• Scourfin
• Heedless Hoarder
• Mini-Myrmidon
• Deck Swabbie
• Defiant Shipwright
• Gem Smuggler

Minion Updates

Kindly Grandmother (Tier 1, Beast)

• 1/1. Deathrattle: Summon a 3/2 Big Bad Wolf.

Octosari, Wrap God (Tier 5, Beast)

• 5/6. Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle. (It gains +2/+2 permanently after you summon a minion in combat!)

(Golden) Wrath Weaver (Tier 1)

• 2/8. After you play a Demon, deal 1 damage to your hero and gain +2/+1, twice.
• Dev Comment: Only the Golden version has changed. 

Malchezaar, Prince of Dance (Tier 3, Demon)

• 4/3. 2 Refreshes each turn cost Health instead of Gold.

(Golden) Backstage Security (Tier 1, Demon)

• 8/8. At the start of your turn, deal 1 damage to your hero, twice.
• Dev Comment: Only the Golden version has changed. 

Electric Synthesizer (Tier 4, Dragon)

• 4/3. Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+1.

Prized Promo-Drake (Tier 4, Dragon)

• 5/4. Start of Combat: Give your other Dragons +3/+3.

Molten Rock (Tier 1, Elemental)

• 3/1. After you play an Elemental, gain +1 Health.

Sellemental (Tier 2, Elemental)

• 3/3. When you sell this, get a 3/3 Elemental.

Party Elemental (Tier 2, Elemental)

• 3/2. After you play an Elemental, give a friendly Elemental other than it +1/+1.

Deep-Sea Angler (Tier 1, Naga)

• 2/2. Spellcraft: Give a minion +2 Health and Taunt until next turn.

Shell Collector (Tier 2, Naga)

• 4/3. Battlecry: Get a Gold Coin.

Daggerspine Thrasher (Tier 5, Naga)

• 4/8. Whenever you cast a spell, gain Divine Shield, Windfury, or Venomous until next turn.

Defiant Shipwright (Tier 2, Pirate)

• 2/4. Whenever this gains Attack, gain +1 Health.

Gem Smuggler (Tier 5, Quilboar)

• 4/3. Battlecry: Play 2 Blood Gems on all your other minions.

Disguised Graverobber (Tier 3, Undead)

• 4/4. Battlecry: Destroy a friendly Undead to get a plain copy of it.

Mummifier (Tier 4, Undead)

• 5/2. Deathrattle: Give a different friendly Undead Reborn.

New Tavern Spells

Top of the Beanstalk

• [Tier 5, 5 Gold] Discover a minion from Tavern Tier 6.

Eyes of the Earth Mother

• [Tier 5, 6 Gold] Choose a friendly minion from Tier 4 or below. Make it Golden.

Recruitment Program (Duos Only)

• [Tier 2, 2 Gold] Get a random minion of your teammate’s most common minion type, then Pass it.

Catch! (Duos Only)

• [Tier 3, 2 Gold] Give your minions +3 Attack. (Upgrades by +3 Attack after this is Passed!)

Portal in a Bottle (Duos Only)

• [Tier 3, 2 Gold] Pass a non-Golden minion.

The three Duos-only Tavern Spells have a 1.5x appearance rate compared to other Tavern Spells. 

Tavern Spell Pool Updates

Brann’s Blessing and Primal Staff have been removed from the Tavern Spell Pool for traditional Battlegrounds and Duos.

Tavern Spell Updates

Boon of Beetles

• [Tier 3, 2 Gold] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle. (3 left!)

Fleeting Vigor

• [Tier 3, 1 Gold] Start of Combat: Give your minions +2/+1.

New Battlegrounds Track and Season Pass

The Season 7 Battlegrounds Track, with the Season Pass, features 40 levels of storybook rewards, including the Endless Fables Legendary Strike, 18 additional Hero Skins, a new Bartender, and more!

For more details about the Season 7 Battlegrounds Track, and the new Battlegrounds Season Pass, see the Season 7 Announcement Blog.

Hearthstone Updates

Umpire’s Grasp

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana] 
• Dev Comment: Since our last balance patch, Demon Hunter has been a clear power and playrate outlier, warping the meta across all ranks. Pushing back its ability to cheat out powerful demons should bring it more in line with the rest of the meta. We’re accelerating our normal balance patch window to address this one outlier with Patch 29.2, but are keeping our normal post-patch hotfix balance window to give us a chance to make wider changes in the coming weeks, once the meta is less warped around one dominant interaction. 

Arena Updates

On April 16, all ongoing Arena runs will end, and a new Arena season will begin. Like the current season, this next season will include cards across all Hearthstone expansions and each class will get their own curated list of cards in their card pool. Those curated card pools will be adjusted with the seasonal update. The first pick of each Arena draft will still be a Legendary card and the only Legendary card you will be offered during your draft.

Twist Update

Twist will return in June. We’re working on a huge new Twist season with several unique decks and new hero powers—all of which needs just a little more time to cook. We look forward to sharing more with you about the upcoming Twist seasons in the coming weeks, before the next season begins.

In-Game Event: Double Trouble

Celebrate the launch of Battlegrounds Duos with a special split-track in-game event! From April 23 to May 7, you can choose one of two rewards tracks to earn Event XP towards. One track focuses on Traditional Hearthstone, granting 4 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs, 2 Standard Packs, and the Yrel the Knight Paladin Hero Skin for completion. The other track focuses on Battlegrounds Duos, granting a Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Pack, a Standard Pack, and a Golem Curator Battlegrounds Hero Skin for completion.

Heroic Tavern Brawl Returns

It’s back! Heroic Tavern Brawl returns for the week of May 1-May 8. Compete in fierce, high-stakes Standard games for your shot at glory and amazing prizes! Pay the entry free and then play against other players until you get either 12 wins or 3 losses.

New Cosmetic Type: Diamond Hero Skins

Introducing new Diamond Hero Skins! Diamond Hero Skins include a 3D portrait and animations, new voice lines, and unique visual effects. Ner’zhul, our first ever Diamond Hero Skin, is for the Shaman class and will be available starting April 16.

Just like on the ladder, we see these Diamond Hero Skins as just below Legendary. Additionally, going forward, our plan is for Legendary Hero Skins to feel truly legendary, like C’Thun does.

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Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [General] Duels Mode has been removed from the game. Players who had ongoing Heroic Duels runs have had their runs prized out in the same way as is done during a seasonal reset. Tavern Tickets can continue to be used in Arena.
• [General] We’ve updated the minimum specifications to run Hearthstone on iOS and Android, requiring 3GB of RAM and no longer supporting iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, or iPhone 8 base models.
• [NEW] Rules update: cards that force spells to be cast (like duplication or recasting) now check for target legality. (Meaning, for example, you can no longer use cards like Conductivity to Altered Chord an Elusive minion or Promotion a minion that isn’t a Silver Hand Recruit). If the would-be target is not a legal target, that portion of the spell won’t have any effect.
• [Hearthstone] Actually removed the tip that read, in part, “This tip was removed. Translators: please leave this blank.”
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Splendiferous Whizbang only used the basic hero skins.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Queen Azshara’s Ring of Tides counted as a 1-mana card for purposes of cards like Pip the Potent and Skulking Geist, even before transforming.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Astral Automaton would appear as a 0/1 when transformed into.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where several totem-summoning cards still generated Strength Totem instead of Wrath of Air Totem.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Khadgar’s Wisdomball could target friendly targets if all enemy targets were untargetable.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a High Priestess Jeklik discarded with Soularium would keep the Soularium discard enchantment, leading it to be discarded and multiply every turn.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed various wording, text, and tooltip errors on several cards.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Harth Stonebrew didn’t have his Golden animation or his Battlecry animation.
• [Hearthstone] Whizbang the Wonderful has been reverted to its normal effect (it was temporarily changed due to March’s Twist season).
• [Battlegrounds] General performance improvements and fixes for bugs causing crashes.
• [Battlegrounds] Dinotamer Brann’s Hero Power will now wait until you have handspace.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Plunder Seeker couldn’t be played if there were only Tavern Spells in the Tavern.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where there was only one non-golden Vampiric Blood granted in Core.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where players got an error message when attempting to craft certain Golden versions of Wild Demon Hunter cards.
• [Solo Content] Fixed a bug where the Mechwarper change made an adventure encounter unable to be solved.
• [Progression] Some Daily and Weekly Quests have been adjusted to be harder to complete but will grant more XP.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where Mini cards granted by Botface didn’t give progression for the “Play Miniaturize or Mini cards” weekly quest.

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