Hearthstone Battlegrounds: 10 Best Anomalies

Hearthstone's auto-battling game mode, Battlegrounds, can get pretty wild sometimes. The ups and downs you’ll experience throughout a game can feel like a roller coaster even if you end up on top when all is said and done. However, if you want even more chaos in your lobbies, the Anomalies are here to spice things up.

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Each has a unique effect that activates at the start of your game and adds something new and interesting. Some of these effects are relatively minor, while others warp the lobby completely. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most fun and game-changing Anomalies available.

This list is ranked based on fun factor; in fact, several of these Anomalies actually make it less likely that the better player will win by adding variance to the game.

10 Double Header

Double Header allows you to triple minions extremely easily, and if you find two copies of a minion in the Tavern, you’ll end up with four total. This makes it especially good for builds that want multiple copies in play, like Nagas with Deep Blue Crooner, or decks that get stronger the more minions of a certain type they play, like Dragons and Elementals.

You will need to plan your turns carefully if you’re going to take full advantage of the value Double Header can provide for you, though. It always feels bad when you accidentally buy minions in the wrong order and miss out on a crucial triple.

9 Eonar's Overgrown Arena

Eonar's Overgrown Arena asks and answers a simple question: why bother buffing your minions when you could let the game do it for you instead? While this Anomaly is active, minions in Bob's Tavern will steadily grow until they reach truly absurd sizes.

This will make all builds stronger, but Eonar's Overgrown Arena most obviously benefits Demons in particular, which can grow in size by consuming the minions in Bob's Tavern. However, a variety of other stat-focused builds, like Magnetic Mechs, can utilize it as well.

8 Summoning Of Champions

Summoning of Champions warps the game from before the first round even really starts, giving every player a Tier 6 minion dramatically increases the power level of your game. Everybody gets the same options, so it’s not completely random, but that doesn't mean everyone will make the same choice.

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While in some cases the best minion will be obvious, you often need to put some real thought into your decision, as you’ll want to take a high-synergy minion and aim for a specific strategy, but it might make more sense to take the strongest minion in a vacuum. This gives you an early spike in power, which you can use to put your opponents on the back foot.

7 Everything’s On Fire

This pick might be a bit controversial. Everything’s on Fire changes the game dramatically, and in a way, some likely are not so fond of. The Anomaly is extremely high variance; if you get unlucky in the early game, you’ll die immediately.

And if Everything’s on Fire became the permanent ruleset it would probably get old pretty quickly, but as an occasional presence, the frantic gameplay it creates can provide a nice change of pace. Besides, if you do hit a run of bad luck, at least you won't suffer for long.

6 Little League

The Little League Anomaly forces you to focus on the little guy. You’ll have to create unique builds, centered around minions you might normally ignore or use merely as stopgaps before moving on to stronger options.

There are a few build-defining minions at these lower tiers as well, so it's important to keep an eye out for the likes of Banana Slamma and Deep Blue Crooner. Those builds benefit from including some higher-tier minions, necessitating a bit of creativity if you want to maximize your power level.

Don't confuse this Anomaly with Big League, Little League's less-interesting mirror, which only allows you to play minions of Tier 3 and above.

5 Shackles Of The Primus

To get the immediate criticism out of the way, there are a lot of players who hate Shackles of the Primus. However, others love it, and you can't deny the impact it can have, because when you end up in the Shackles of the Primus lobby, you are playing a completely different game.

You can’t rely on any strategy that involves buffing a persistent board or needs to find key, irreplaceable units. Oftentimes, you will want to avoid playing minions entirely, and simply level up as quickly as you can to reach Tier 6, where you can consistently buy powerful minions each round.

4 The Golden Arena

The Golden Arena changes the way you think about the Battlegrounds. In a normal lobby, searching for triples is one of the most important aspects of your game plan, both to get powerful Golden minions and to access minions from higher Tavern Tiers.

In The Golden Arena, you no longer need to worry about that, as you can play souped-up minions right from the start. And if you manage to fight through the early game, you will ultimately create some of the strongest boards you’ll ever see in Battlegrounds.

3 Bring In The Buddies

As you probably guessed from the name, Bring in the Buddies adds Buddies back to the Battlegrounds. Buddies are special minions that are normally specific to each Hero, with abilities that fit the theme the Hero is going for.

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Usually, Heroes get their Buddies semi-automatically, but Bring in the Buddies puts them in Bob’s Tavern as though they were normal minions, which means you can find way more of them and combine them in interesting ways. And who doesn't want more Buddies?

2 The Yogg-iseum

Step on up and spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron! With effects like buffing your board, increasing the stats of minions in the Tavern going forward, making one of those minions Golden, and giving you Darkmoon Prizes, each turn is a wild experience in a Yogg-iseum lobby.

You might think that the randomness of Yogg’s Wheel would turn the lobby into a clown fiesta, and to some extent, it does. However, the Anomaly is largely able to mitigate this potential pitfall by making it so every player gets the same spin, which means the game comes down to who can use the random results to their advantage.

If you want more of Yogg's Wheel, play as E.T.C., Band Manager. You can use his Hero Power to get the Acolyte of Yogg-Saron, a Buddy that spins the Wheel when sold.

1 Secrets Of Norgannon

Secrets of Norgannon is one of the few ways you can get Tier 7 minions in your lobby, and since you see them so rarely, it's always a treat to encounter this Anomaly. Tier 7 is home to some exceptionally powerful minions that can dramatically change the course of your game once you access them.

Some synergize with specific minion types, giving them a massive power spike, while others are powerful in any build, but almost all of them can be game-defining in the right circumstances. And more importantly, they are a bunch of fun to play with.

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