Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Hearthstone released its 17.2 update on Tuesday morning, debuting three new heroes for the game's Battlegrounds mode. Those who have played Hearthstone Battlegrounds know that it's not the usual Ranked game of Hearthstone, focusing more on auto-battling than card gaming. There are whole new strategies to consider and some of those revolve around the player's selected hero. So let's take a look at new hero Lady Vashj and how players should approach her.
Lady Vashj's Passive Hero Power is very different in that it has an effect on every minion in Bob's Tavern. As soon as Bob's Tavern gets upgraded, all minions are upgraded by one tier.
This is particularly handy in the early game. On Turn 3, you can turn all of those Tier 1 minions into Tier 2 minions in one flash. It won't be so easy to get the results you might want later in the game. So pay attention to the minions currently in Bob's Tavern and what tier they are. For example, if you have a Tier 4 minion and want to upgrade, that becomes a Tier 5 minion as soon as the trigger is pulled.
Sometimes, players will buy a minion first before leveling up Bob's Tavern, but you won't usually want to do that with Lady Vashj. When you have enough to upgrade and also buy a minion, make sure to upgrade first. The board will refresh immediately and you'll have higher-tier minions to choose from.
On a similar note, if you run into higher-tier minions and you have no Gold left, consider freezing them until the next turn. After the subsequent battle phase, you can upgrade Bob's Tavern and turn all of those minions into guaranteed high-tier drops. This is especially critical in the late game, because enough Battlegrounds players know that just because they upgrade to Tier 6 doesn't necessarily ensure that Tier 6 minions will appear in Bob's Tavern.
You won't be playing to a specific minion type with Lady Vashj, so your ultimate strategy will depend on your build. But just know that once you get to Tier 5 and are ready to make that jump to Tier 6, be ready to adjust your strategy on the fly. Pulling an Imp Mama or Ghastcoiler off of Lady Vashj's effect can prove enticing enough to change up late-game strategies on the fly, depending on the situation. If you insist on specific tribal strategies, then use Lady Vashj's Hero Power to try and pull Gentle Megasaur if you're running a Murloc build.
These strategies should help you get started with Lady Vashj. We'll have more Hearthstone Battlegrounds guides in the future, so keep it on Shacknews for the latest.