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Quilboar strategy guide - Hearthstone Battlegrounds

It's a pig invasion! Shacknews offers some pointers on how to play Quilboars in Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

Ozzie Mejia

May 13, 2021 7:00 AM

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Last week, Hearthstone added some new meat to its Battlegrounds mode. The new Quilboars tribe has invaded the minion-battling mode and they've opened up some new strategies. While Blizzard has released a balance patch bringing some of the Quilboars at a more even level with other Battlegrounds tribes, some of the main strategies with them will still apply. Let's go over how to play with Quilboars.

Quilboar Strategy Guide - Hearthstone Battlegrounds

The main thing to know about Quilboars is that they're the lone tribe in Battlegrounds that can issue Blood Gems. Blood Gems are basically the equivalent of King Mukla's Bananas, in that they give a minion +1/+1. The main difference is that the Blood Gems will offer specific interactions with certain minions.

In the early part of the game, the main minion you'll want to focus on is the Tier 2 Tough Tusk. This is the minion that gets Divine Shield whenever its fed a Blood Gem. Hold onto any Blood Gems you get from Razorfen Geomancer or Sun-Bacon Relaxer early, just in case you need to feed them to your Tough Tusk.

You have a few different directions you can go from here. You can try and go for a triple Tough Tusk as soon as possible, because giving the Golden Tough Tusk a Blood Gem will give it Divine Shield permanently. If you can't get the triple, you'll need to keep generating Blood Gems. Your Blood Gem supply will mainly need to come from Tier 3 minions. Thorncaller can generate a Blood Gem whenever it dies, but you'll need to position it in a place where it gets killed. If it survives, you'll get nothing. Bannerboar is the more reliable play, if you can get it. Use Bannerboar to power up one or two Tough Tusks. At that point, focus on leveling up.

Bonker can help you generate Blood Gems while you get to Tier 6, but if your opponents get their stats up quickly, it could be a dead play, so be careful. Once you get to Tier 6, prioritize Charlga. Don't let its stat reduction discourage you. Charlga will provide your Blood Gems from that point forward and will helpfully stack with whatever you get from Bannerboar. Once you have your Blood Gem supply chain, that's when you can pick up minions like the Tier 5 Bristleback Knight.

Your other strategy once you grab Tough Tusk, assuming you can keep the Blood Gems coming, is to go the menagerie route. Target durable minions from other tribes like Bronze Warden, while also picking up high value minions like Goldgrubber. If Beasts are available, be sure to take a Cave Hydra for an effective cleave. If Beasts aren't in your game, Agamaggan, the Great Boar will be the lone Beast in your game, since it has Quilboar synergy. You can't go wrong with either pick, especially if you get Charlga in the late game.

Your menagerie builds should be constructed around three minions: Charlga, Aggem Thorncurse, and Lightfang Enforcer. Charlga will give Blood Gems to all your minions, including Aggem Thorncurse, which will buff up your menagerie further. Lightfang can not only buff up the menagerie, but Charlga will give it Blood Gems, too, meaning it won't stay a weak 2/2 for very long.

Whether you go full Quilboar or menagerie, you'll want to stick with those minions. There are a few Quilboars you'll want to stay away from. Unless you have a steady Blood Gem supply, Dynamic Duo is a trap. Not only will its stats not buff up quickly enough, but your opponents will likely rock Divine Shield minions or poison Amalgadons. Dynamic Duo is a paper tiger in many cases and you should not build around it. If you can, use Defender of Argus on your Divine Shield-boosted Tough Tusk, instead.

Bristleback Brute is another one you'll want to stay away from, just because the 20.2.2 patch nerf wrecked its progression. A +3/+3 buff turning into a +2/+2 buff makes a huge difference in the long run and won't be able to keep up with the rapidly-growing minions on the board, especially if your opponent goes full Quilboars or Elementals.

Those are our strategies for playing with Quilboars. If you have any suggestions, leave some comments. And be sure to follow our continuing Hearthstone Battlegrounds coverage here at Shacknews.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?