Beasts are one of the more varied minion types in Hearthstone Battlegrounds when it comes to their win conditions. Most minion types have one specific thing that they are looking for to win, but Beasts have powerful options at every Tavern Tier, and multiple different minions can act as viable options for endgame builds.
Most of them revolve around powerful Deathrattle effects and buffing other Beasts during a fight. And since they’re so powerful, it can be hard to decide between them. This list will help you determine which Beasts you should be looking for, and which you should leave in the Tavern.
10 Sewer Rat
Sewer Rat provides a lot of stats for a Tavern Tier 2 minion. With the main body and the Deathrattle combined, it totals five attack and health, which far outpaces its counterparts. Of course, the way the stats are split means it’s not quite as good as a true 5/5 would be, but those are still great numbers.
The Sewer Rat also appears in late-game Leapfrogger builds, since the frogs will jump from the main body to the summoned one, and it provides Taunted bodies to protect your more important minions.
9 Ghastcoiler
Ghastcoiler is not the best option to run in a multi-type composition, but it ranks pretty high on the list. It’s also a decent choice if you know your opponent has you outscaled, and you’re just trying to scam them out of a win.
The biggest problem Ghastcoiler has is also its greatest strength: its Deathrattle. Many Beast compositions rely on using Monstrous Macaw to trigger specific Deathrattles, and Ghastcoiler can get in the way of those builds functioning properly. As a result, it often gets overlooked despite being more powerful in a vacuum than certain other options.
8 Agamaggan, The Great Boar
Agamaggan, the Great Boar is unique on this list in that it isn’t a part of the Beast minion pool. Instead, you’ll only see it if Quilboar are in your game. Agamaggan's ability to increase the effectiveness of your Blood Gems is useful in any Quilboar build, but the fact that he is a Beast creates some interesting synergies.
The most obvious is how he interacts with Aggem Thorncurse, who buffs a minion of each type whenever you play a Blood Gem on him. Agamaggan’s ability means he is the perfect minion to fill the Beast slot. And of course, if the Beast pool isn’t in your game, he is your only option. Aggem builds aren’t particularly strong at the moment, but Agamaggan can also work in other hybrid builds that run only a few Quilboar.
7 Mama Bear
Mama Bear often isn’t perceived as a powerhouse, because she doesn’t compare particularly favorably to other options available to Beast builds. It isn’t an in-fight stat engine like many powerful Beasts, and without the help of an outside source allowing you to bounce Beasts back into your hand, Mama Bear’s effect can only trigger on a minion once (technically it can hit three times if you land the effect on all parts of a Tripled minion).
That said, the stats Mama Bear provides shouldn’t be underestimated. Even though it will eventually be outscaled by other builds, those stats will give you a real boost in the midgame, and they will stick around even if you transition away from Mama Bear in the later turns.
6 Cave Hydra
Cave Hydra’s ability to damage minions next to the one it attacks effectively triples its attack total, making it one of the best targets for buffs in all of Battlegrounds. It’s also an ideal choice for Monstrous Macaw builds, since it doesn’t have a Deathrattle of its own to accidentally trigger.
Alternatively, if you need a Beast for your multi-type composition, or if you have some way to cheat attack onto a single minion, such as transferring Blood Gems using Necrolyte, the Cave Hydra is the way to go.
5 Alleycat
Alleycat is one of the best Tavern Tier 1 units. It generates a token, giving you two gold when you sell it back when most minions only give you one. Having an extra gold in the early game can make your early turns flow far more smoothly.
Alleycat can also be used to create multiple Triples with some luck and careful planning, since you can Triple both the token and the main body. It may not look like much, but it's always great to see an Alleycat in your first Tavern of the game.
4 Reanimating Rattler
Reanimating Rattler is not a minion that will appear in your final composition very often, but if you win a game with Beasts, you will almost certainly have played at least one during the game.
Looking over this list, you will see that most of the minions on it benefit greatly from being given Reborn, either because of a strong Deathrattle or an on-attack effect. The Rattler also helps protect your most important Beasts from getting sniped by enemy minions, which is one of the worst feelings in Battlegrounds.
3 Goldrinn, The Great Wolf
It’s relatively easy to see that Goldrinn, the Great Wolf is a strong minion, but a lot of its power comes from how easy it is to make builds revolving around him work. If you find Goldrinn, any random Beasts you have instantly become more powerful.
And the strength of Goldrinn builds only increases with each piece of the build you find, and you really only need three: Goldrinn himself, Titus Rivendare, and Monstrous Macaw. Its peak might not be the same as other builds in the game, but it is extremely strong relative to its simplicity.
2 Leapfrogger
Leapfrogger comps can be risky to go for, since staying on Tavern Tier 2 and rolling for Leapfroggers will put you in dire straits if you don’t find what you’re looking for. Additionally, Leaprogger builds require more pieces to fall into place for the composition to reach peak power.
However, if you find multiple Leapfroggers early, or are already playing a Deathrattle build and happen across a few of them in the Tavern, it’s worth trying to make the build work. When combined with Deathrattle minions like Sewer Rat and Rat Pack, Leapfrogger builds can create constantly refreshing boards of ever-growing minions. Plus, Leapfrogger has arguably the most satisfying animation in Battlegrounds; it’s worth playing just to see those frogs leap around the board.
1 Monstrous Macaw
Monstrous Macaw has been mentioned several times already on this list, and for good reason: many of the previously mentioned cards are only effective because of its existence. Doubling the effect of stat-givers like Goldrinn or Leapfrogger turns them from good to great, and that effect only increases once the Macaw is Tripled, or you give it Reborn. There are also several non-Beast Deathrattle minions that are worth activating multiple times.
And this effect acts multiplicatively with that of Titus Rivendare, creating stat totals that are difficult to match. In short, the Macaw is going to be a necessary component of your Beast build (and several others), no matter which scaling option you’re using.
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