Quests are the signature mechanic for Hearthstone Battlegrounds Season 2. They have changed the way Battlegrounds is played, as you can often win games based on your Quest Reward even more than based on your Hero Power. The plan is for Quests to stay in the game for the duration of the season and to be rotated out for something new for the next season in a few months.
At the start of turn four (six Gold), each player is offered three options for a Quest/Reward pair. The various Quests can be paired with different Rewards, and the difficulty of the Quests is adjusted based on multiple factors, including the power level of the Reward and the Armor tier of your Hero. Some of the Quests can be completed in just a couple of rounds and some of them take a long time, especially for the stronger Heroes for whom the Quest requirements are made more difficult. Likewise, the Rewards vary from minor tempo boosts to completely game-changing mechanics.
This makes Quests even more important for weaker Heroes (the ones with a lot of Armor), as they can complete them more easily. When playing a weaker Hero, you are more likely going to look for a powerful Reward, whereas a stronger Hero can also find success with a compromise between value and tempo or even with a pure tempo Reward.
Overall, there are 13 different Quests and 25 different Rewards in the game. At the moment, one of each is disabled and waiting for a rework or a fix: The Witness Protection Quest and Another Hidden Body Quest Reward will return later, and we do not know what they will be like when they do.
Quests
The Quests are fairly straightforward. For the most part, it is the Reward you are after, and the Quest only matters as far as how long you think it will take you to complete it. Most of the Quests only count your future actions, but for some of them, your existing board can play a major role in deciding whether to go for them.
Assemble a Lineup. Summon x minions. It is much easier to summon minions than it is to play them. To play a minion, you need to play it from your hand. However, you can summon minions also during combat, so any Deathrattle and Reborn effects can help you complete this Quest much faster.
Dust for Prints. Add x cards to your hand. Note that there are more ways to add cards to your hand than just buying minions. Coins, Spellcraft spells, and Blood Gems are all cards that are added to your hand.
Find the Murder Weapon. Increase a friendly minion’s stats x times. This Quest works especially well with effects that increase the stats of multiple minions. Yrel, Leapfrogger, and Nether Drake (even better with Whelp Smuggler) are early-game minions that can complete this Quest in no time.
Reenact the Murder. Have x friendly minions die. Deathrattle and Reborn effects can help more minions die in combat.
Unmask the Culprit. Lose or tie x combats. If things are going poorly or you are playing a slow Hero, sometimes this Quest can be exactly what you need to turn things around!
Rewards
The Rewards provide you with a mix of tempo and value. Some of the Rewards are static buffs that are typically strong if you can get them fast. Then, you will use them to survive the mid-game and build your late-game comp without much regard for the Reward you have. Some of the Rewards can scale, and they may be your main source of power throughout the game. Again, you need to evaluate how fast you can complete the Quest, and how long it takes to achieve a strong scaling effect.
It is not straightforward to rank the Rewards. Your board, the available minion types, and your Hero all affect your choice. Do you need to get something fast or can you go for a game-winning effect? There are many variables. That said, I have attempted to give some indicative rankings for the Rewards based on how strong their effects have appeared to me in my games and in the games of others that I have watched online.
Tier 1: The Best Rewards
Anima Bribe. After you sell a minion, give its stats to a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Anima Bribe turns you into a super-powered Dancin’ Deryl. However, in this dance, no stats are wasted, as you can just buy the whole Tavern while selling minions and all the buffs will eventually land on the last remaining minion. You can also sell your own big minions to keep their stats on better minions that you pick up later in the game.
Cooked Book. After you buy a minion, give it +1/+1 and upgrade this. Cooked Book is crazy with Heroes or comps that rely on buying and selling minions. Think Pirates or Elementals or a Hero like Dancin’ Deryl. It also works with Mechs that Magnetize to each other. The buffs stack up quickly and will provide you with some extra beefy boards.
Mirror Shield. After each Refresh, give a minion in Bob’s Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield. The stat bonus might not be the strongest, but the Divine Shield can be downright nuts. This one is surprisingly strong. Murlocs with Divine Shields, anyone?
Pilfered Lamps. You only need 2 copies of a minion to make it Golden. The sheer amount of Discovered minions you can get from this treasure can overwhelm many lobbies. If you manage to pick this up as Varden Dawngrasp, so that you always have a pair in your Tavern, the Golden minions will be all over the place.
Ritual Dagger. After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently. Ritual Dagger is one of the stronger scaling Rewards. You can easily get +4/+4 to multiple minions in each combat, and they can grow to highly respectable numbers, and they all have their own Deathrattle effects on top of those initial stats.
Secret Sinstone. After you Discover a card, get an extra copy of it. Heroes that Discover cards essentially double their Hero Powers with this. Elise Starseeker and Scabbs Cutterbutter can get lots of minions with Secret Sinstone. Tickatus Discovers double Darkmoon Prizes. It’s pretty crazy with the right setup. Naga are the tribe that can make the most of it if you do not have a Hero with a Discover ability. Even without Naga, you double your Discovers from Golden minions, so there is always some use for the Reward.
Stolen Gold. Start of Combat: Make your left and right-most minions Golden. While this does not give you any Discovers, the change to Golden is a big deal with the right minions. Tarecgosa becoming permanently Golden just like that is huge, and Golden Avenge minions and Baron Rivendare can be major assets as well.
Wondrous Wisdomball. Occasionally gives helpful Refreshes. While the description of the Wisdomball may not sound like much, this Reward is actually strong. For example, you can get a full Tavern of the same minion, and it can even be of a higher tier than your Tavern. You can often expect to be able to buy strong minions thanks to Wisdomball.
Tier 2: Fine Rewards
Devils in the Details. At the end of your turn, your left and right-most minions consume a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Without any support, this is a minor scalable buff, but with effects that buff your Tavern, this can be really strong. Elementals and Legion Overseer are some of the main potential synergies with this Reward. It can also help you protect a high-value minion like Baron Rivendare, but that will only be a minor part of the victory.
Evil Twin. Start of Combat: Summon a copy of your highest-Health minion. If you already have a big minion, this can make you stronger, and even win games, but it does not help you build your board unless you already have some power there.
Ghastly Mask. Add ‘another card’ to your hand. Your end-of-turn effects trigger twice. Ghastly Mask also gives you a random minion with an end-of-turn effect when completed. Lightfang Enforcer (Menagerie), Famished Felbat (Demons), and Young Murk-Eye (Murlocs) are the main synergy cards to go with this.
Partner in Crime. Get your Golden Buddy. Partner in Crime is the rarest Reward in the game. I have not had a chance to play with it myself, but Blizzard clarified that it does exist for all of us who have never seen it ourselves. If you ever encounter it, you have a chance to get your Hero’s Golden Buddy as a hail back to the era of Buddies in the game.
Red Hand. At the start of your turn, give a minion in your hand +12/+12. This can often be completed quite fast, and then it is simply a matter of holding something back for a while to give it a substantial buff. Timing is crucial with Red Hand: send the minion out too soon and it might not have sufficient impact, but wait too long and you may end up dead before the stats help you. You still need to find something more for the late game, but Red Hand can be an important part of your mid-game.
Snicker Snacks. At the end of your turn, 2 friendly minions trigger their Battlecries. This effect works with Brann Bronzebeard, so you can get quite a few Battlecry effects out of this one. Dinotamer Brann Hero can get a guaranteed Brann Bronzebeard early in the game, so the Reward has some major synergy with the Hero. Murlocs have many useful Battlecry effects, but they are not the only ones. Elementals with Smogger or Demons may also be worth a try with Snicker Snacks. Snicker Snacks does require the right tribes to work properly.
Staff of Origination. Start of Combat: Give your minions +12/+12. With almost no way to scale the Quest Reward apart from Tarecgosa, this should be a tempo Reward, but it often takes too long to complete to really serve its purpose.
The Smoking Gun. Your minions have +5 Attack. A tempo Reward that is generally easy to complete and gives you additional power for a while in the mid-game.
Theotar’s Parasol. At the end of your turn, give your right-most minion Stealth until next turn and +8 Health. While the Stealth is temporary, the Health buff is permanent. Parasol can be used to hide high-value minions like Baron Rivendare while buffing their Health. You can also rotate the right-most minion if you want to give Health buffs to multiple minions over time.
Tiny Henchmen. At the end of your turn, give +3/+3 to 3 friendly minions of tier 3 or lower. This is a tempo Quest Reward that aims at making your board a little better while you seek an end-game composition.
Victim’s Specter. After each combat, get a plain copy of the last friendly minion that died. It is difficult to control which minion will be the last one to die, but in general, you can expect to hit some triples with this.
Yogg-tastic Tasties. At the start of your turn, spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron. In Battlegrounds, the Wheel of Yogg-Saron can buff your minions, steal Bob’s Tavern, shuffle the stats of your minions, or consume Bob’s Tavern for buffs. This can be useful and also harmful as you may lose stats from a big minion you are building around or lose a minion you have frozen in the Tavern. On the other hand, your board can also grow steadily with the right rolls.
Tier 3: Generally Weak Rewards
Alter Ego. Even Tier minions in Bob’s Tavern have +7/+7. (Swaps to Odd next turn!) While the buff provided by Alter Ego is fairly straightforward, it does not scale, so you will need another plan to actually win the game. Alter Ego is a tempo reward that can help you transition to a powerful late-game comp, but its value goes down as the game goes on. The exception to that is if you are playing with Demons who can eat minions directly from the Tavern, in which case Alter Ego can help you scale your board also later in the game.
Menagerie Mayhem. At the end of your turn, give your minions +1 Attack for each friendly minion type. Menagerie Mayhem can give your minions a lot of Attack, but it is Health that wins championships. A good mix of Divine Shield minions can become a dangerous force with this treasure, but the requirement to keep multiple minion types makes it almost impossible to use in practice.
Teal Tiger Sapphire. Minions in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1 for each time it was Refreshed this turn. Pretty much the only comp that is good with this is Demons that can eat minions from the Tavern. Other than that, it is not good, as you do not want to Refresh your Tavern a lot.
The Friends Along the Way. At the start of your turn, get 2 random minions of a specific tribe. If the tribe offered by the Reward goes well with what you are doing, this can be OK. Other than that, it is quite bad.
