The new Buddy system features a unique minion for each hero to play with.

A new update is coming to Hearthstone this January 25, with patch 22.2, and the update will be introducing a new system to the game called Battleground Buddies. This, along with several updates to the game, is set to enhance gameplay and increase the enjoyment players gain while playing the popular deck-building game from Blizzard.

Battleground Buddies

With the upcoming update, players will be experiencing a new system called Battleground Buddies. Each hero will have a unique hero tailored to them, called Battleground Buddy, designed to synergize with that Hero’s game plan. Each Buddy copy earned acts like a minion while in-hand and on the board.

An addon to the combat system is the Buddy Meter, which will fill up whenever the player enters combat, deal damage to enemies, pop Divine Shields or win or tie a combat phase. With each turn, players will get a small bonus based on how many minions they hold in their hand at the start of the combat.

There will be 75 Battleground Buddies, one for each hero in the game. You can check out each hero’s buddy HERE.

Players can earn the buddies at three different rates, with the buddies at lower Tavern Tiers more easily obtainable than higher tiers.

Mercenaries Village Update

Blizzard also has opened up the Training Grounds at the Mercenaries Village. The new space allows players’ Mercenaries to passively gain experience by doing Bounties with other Mercenaries, playing other game Modes or even while players are sleeping.

Several new mercenaries are also now available - Balinda Stonehearth, Captain Galvangar, Lokholar, Wrathion, Sinestra. This, along with new Bounties and Features updates, which includes Oval-Art of Portraits & Mercenaries Card Back will be available once the updates are rolled out to the players.

Book of Mercenaries: Tavish Stormpike

A new side quest will be available to players on February 1st with the release of Book of Mercenaries: Tavish Stormpike. The hunter Tavish Stormpike must overcome the Frostwolves, Horde mercenaries, angry Troggs, his own family, and food poisoning! Can he stomach it?

The new linear adventure will involve defeating 8 bosses, where players will be rewarded with 1 Hunter pack which contains only Hunter cards from Standard once the bosses are defeated.

There will also be a special Tavern Brawl, where players can choose to play either as Tavish or Rokara and experience unique dialogue interactions for each available character combination. The first-time reward will be 1 Standard pack, containing cards from all of Standard.

Lunar New Year promotion

For the upcoming Lunar New Year, Blizzard will be giving out FREE Dancing Lion Card Back to all players from January 25 to February 8, 2021. Along with the free item, the Lunar Blessing Tavern Brawl event will be returning February 2-9, while new Quests will be revealed to players from the 2nd to 16th of February.

Hearthstone next major update introduces Battleground Buddies