Hearthstone developer Dean Ayala shares 10 fun stats about Battlegrounds

Mar 9, 2020

Hearthstone Battlegrounds' meta is vibrant and alive. Two weeks after seven new heroes joined Bartender Bob's tavern for some autobattler action the mode remains a popular alternative to the Standard and Wild Ladder, and the Arena. Though Blizzard is usually reserved when it comes to sharing data, Senior Game Designer Dean "Iksar" Ayala took to Twitter to share some fun statistics of Battlegrounds with the audience.

Of all the Tier 1 minions, Murloc Tidehunter is the most-picked one. He also shared the most-picked minions of the other tiers: Spawn of N'Zoth for tier 2; Cobalt Guardian for tier 3; Defender of Argus for Tier 4; Brann Bronzebeard for tier 5; Ghastcoiler for Tier 6.
While Dancin' Deryl is the #2 most-played hero in Europe, Asia, and North America, he only ranks 11th on the Chinese server.
People love picking Reno Jackson. He's the fourth most-picked hero. However, it seems like most of the players don't quite know how to win with him. He's ranked all the way down at rank #24 when it comes to placements, flanked by Ragnaros (#23) and Pyramad (#25).
Lord Jaraxxus proves to be a difficult one to play against for the lesser-skilled Battlegrounds players. He's the fifth-highest placing champion on average among players with less than 5000 MMR, and has the second-highest top four rate. However, for players with more than 5000 MMR, his performances grant him a depressing 28th placement among all other heroes.
The Great Akazamzarak does the opposite, and proves to be a strong ally in the hands of the better players. He's eighth of all heroes among people with more than 5000 MMR. Among players with less than 5000 MMR, Akamzarak ranks 20th.

Image Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Lich Baz'hial is a hit-or-miss hero. Of all heroes he ranks fourth-lowest on average placement. However, he's ninth on the list of first-place finishes.
Millhouse Manastorm has the lowest average placement and lowest top four and first-place finishes in every region. Iksar ends the Tweet with "He could use a buff :)." so perhaps the tiny mage will get an upgrade soon.
Nozdormu has the highest average placement in the absolute top of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, ranking #1 among players with 11000 MMR.
Deathwing may be a little too powerful at the moment. Although in the highest ranks his performance drops, he is the most powerful hero on all other levels. The balance team is likely to put his hero power down to giving a +2 attack buff, instead of +3, soon.
Before being rotated out, Tirion Fordring topped the ranks across all regions at all levels. The development team tested setting his hero power to two mana, but ultimately decided that it was best to give him a break while they're tweaking him.