Hearthstone Battlegrounds Leveling Guide. Become the king of the Tavern

Ever wonder if you should level your tavern tier? Master every Battlegrounds Leveling Curve with this Guide and become king of the Tavern.

Today we are heading to Bob’s Tavern with a guide that will cover everything you need to know about leveling curves in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. One of Battlegrounds' most important concepts is being efficient with your gold, which is the only resource you have in the game. In this guide, we will explain the different curves you could use to level up your tavern in the most efficient ways.

To begin with, in this Battlegrounds leveling guide, we must state the importance of upgrading your tavern. The higher your tavern level is, the more and more powerful minions you will have access to.  Most Battlegrounds strategies revolve around key units only available in tavern level 5 or 6. But what is the best way to get there?

As with most questions, the answer starts with it depends. This Battlegrounds Leveling Guide will try to cover and explain most of those cases.

Battlegrounds Leveling Guide: Curves

The concept of “Curves” in Battlegrounds refers to the path you take while leveling and what you do each turn. Depending on your hero or the minions you are offered, you might choose a different game plan. 

Battlegrounds Basic Leveling Curve

This is the most intuitive curve, and it’s what is played by default by most Battleground players. The curve goes as follows:

  • 3 Gold (Turn 1): Buy a Minion
  • 4 Gold (Turn 2): Level to Tavern 2
  • 5 Gold (Turn 3): Sell one minion/token, and Buy 2 Minions
  • 6 Gold (Turn 4): Buy 2 Minions
  • 7 Gold (Turn 5): Buy one Minion and Level to Tavern 3
  • 8 Gold (Turn 6): Buy 2 Minions or Level to Tavern 4 (with a possible Roll)

As you see, this Basic Battlegrounds curve meets the objectives we previously stated in this leveling guide. Since you only spend one coin in 8 turns to Roll, it maximizes the Gold spending towards developing Minions or upgrading your Tavern.

An important thing to highlight at this stage of this Battlegrounds Guide is that tokens play an important role in Leveling. If you manage to buy a Sellemental, an Alliecat, or a Shell Collector in turn 1, then you will have an economic advantage in Turn 3. You will be able to place 3 Minions on board, giving you better chances to win the next fights.

Sellemental - Hearthstone Battlegrounds Token
Sellemental - Hearthstone Battlegrounds Token
Shell Collector - Hearthstone Battlegrounds Token
Shell Collector - Hearthstone Battlegrounds Token

If you don’t see a token on turn 1, there is no need to roll. As we previously stated in this Battelgrounds leveling guide, you should avoid rolling during the first 5 turns.

With the basic Battlegrounds leveling concepts covered, we can now take a look into more advanced curves.

Battlegrounds Advanced Leveling Curves

There are two main reasons for diverting from the Basic Battlegrounds Curve. The first one is what Hero you are playing. The second one, what strategy you want to approach, is mostly affected by how much Bartender Bob loves you.

For example, Rafaam has a Hero Power that you want to use as early as possible. Despite being natural to level in Turn 2 when it costs 4 Gold and you can afford it, the better line of play is to buy a Minion and spend the remaining gold in your Hero Power.

On the other hand, if we talk about strategic curve decisions, it could be possible that you decide to go for an aggressive line and prioritize buying minions instead of leveling. Another option is that your shop could be trash on turn 3, so you could choose to level instead of buying minions at that point.

MinderRoots, Jkirek_, and Sleepy, from the Competitive Battlegrounds Discord server, made an excellent chart that can guide you while leveling. The following chart is a simplified version. If you wish to study even more alternatives, feel free to check the complete spreadsheet and give them a follow in the meantime.

Battelgrounds Leveling Curve Table
Battelgrounds Leveling Curve Table

Heroes and Leveling

We have already mentioned that some Heroes go better with some specific curves because of their Hero Powers. Rafaam is the clearest example, as we stated before, since you want to use your Hero Power from the start of the game to get an edge over your opponents, and that means you need 1 gold per turn just for that.

This is not the only Battlegrounds Hero that thrives with a specific Leveling curve. Many Heroes share this trait, some are easy to spot, like Mukla who plays kind of the same as Rafaam. Others aren't as evident.

My recommendation is that you use some kind of support, at least until you are experienced enough with the Hero you are picking. One resource that can help you with this is the same Battlegrounds Leveling Curve spreadsheet shared above. In it, you will find a tab with Curve recommendations for every Hero. While you can be flexible if you find an opportunity, it's great general advice.

Moreover, if you have HSReplay Tier 7, you can check stats for every Hero when picking them that will guide you on when to level and also how to use their Hero Power.

Leveling Considerations

While leveling in Battlegrounds will help you get to the best units in the game, as we mentioned in this guide, you need to balance your “greed” with your “tempo”. Being greedy means that you play for the long run, most likely taking risks in the short run. On the contrary, playing for Tempo is developing the max amount of stats for the next fight or fights.

How greedy you can be is, in many cases, determined by the two factors we mentioned earlier in this Battlegrounds Leveling Guide. If your Hero has a strong early game, then you can take one or two losses and level up to look for the premium minions that will give you directions.

Similarly, if your early shops were good enough to dominate the first battles, then you can power level and transition from an early tempo board into an end-game composition. Furthermore, if you nail to get some triples, that might affect your leveling process. Depending on the Minion Types available, you can plan ahead on when to take that triple and how much to level.

Conclusions

Take this Battlegrounds Leveling Guide as that, just a guide. Use it to have a general idea of what your options are, and be wise to adapt and choose the best path for your current state in the game.

Having adaptability is paramount to convert bad runs into Top 4s, or to get those clutch finishes and get more wins. Moreover, not every curve works the same in every meta. When Battlegrounds Buddies were around, having an early tempo advantage to get your Buddy on line faster was the best you could do. Now, with the power level in the early game a bit lower, powerleveling is something possible.

Last but not least, make sure you follow Battlegrounds content creators to see how the concepts in this guide apply. Any of the players that qualified for Lobby Legends are excellent examples. Additionally, you can check ItsBen321 or Ninaisnoob for amazing video guides.

This is all for now, but stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and guides. See you next time in Bob’s Tavern.