Hearthstone Adding the Buddy System to Battlegrounds

Hearthstone is set to make some big changes to Battlegrounds. Developers will introduce the Buddy System, where each hero is having a special minion designed to synergize with that hero’s game plan. These buddies are like normal minions but they can't be purchased from the shop.

For those new to the game, Battlegrounds is a game mode that has eight players fight it out in 1v1 rounds to see who's the last one standing. Each round has two phases with most of the preparations done in the Recruit Phase. In the Combat Phase, minions attack opponents automatically until one player has no minions remaining. Compared to other modes in the game, Battlegrounds has exclusive cards to the mode, along with a pool of specialized heroes.

The Buddy System

Going back to the Buddy System, what happens is that each hero has a "Buddy Meter." This meter is filled up during the Combat Phase whenever the player does these actions:

• Enter combat
• Deal damage to enemies
• Pop Divine Shields
• Win or tie a combat phase

Players also receive a small bonus for the meter each turn depending on how many minions they have at the start of combat. Anyway, the Buddy Meter is divided into two sections. Once the first section is filled, players get one copy of their Hero's Buddy added to their hand. Filling up the second section gives them two more copies.

However, once both sections have been filled up, the Buddy Meter is going to break and won’t be available for the rest of the match.

Meet the Buddies

There’s a total of 75 buddies coming to the game, including:

• Deathwing
  • Battlegrounds Buddy: Lady Sinestra
    • Ability: You minions have +3 Attack.
• Kael'thas Sunstrider
  • Battlegrounds Buddy: Crimson Hand Centurion
    • Ability: After "Verdant Sphere" triggers, give your hand and board +1/+1.
• Millificent Manastorm
  • Battlegrounds Buddy: Elementium Squirrelp bomb.
    • Ability: Deathrattle. Deal 4 damage to an enemy minion. Repeat for each of your Mechs that died this combat.

You can view the complete list of Battlegrounds Buddies here.

Hearthstone is available on PC, Android, and iOS.