Announcing Battlegrounds Season 9

2024-11-14 Hearthstone, Battlegrounds Season 9, Patch 31.2, Hero Rerolls, Battlegrounds Tokens, Season Pass

Battlegrounds Season 9: Enter the Technotavern arrives on December 3 with Patch 31.2. The season resets Battlegrounds Ratings, rotates Trinkets out, refreshes the minion and Tavern spell pools, and introduces Hero Rerolls using Battlegrounds Tokens.

Gameplay Changes at Launch

New Heroes and Pool Refresh

Three new Heroes join the Hero Pool, including Farseer Nobundo, whose preview focuses on Galaxy’s Lens and Tavern Spells.
Over 90 minions and Tavern spells leave their respective pools.
Nearly 90 new and returning minions, alongside 11 new Tavern spells, arrive across Battlegrounds and Duos.
Minion types become available in stages after launch rather than all at once.

The pool previews include the following card images. Further removals, additions, and card updates will be revealed through the official Card Library.

NEUTRAL_BG31_892_enUS_FandralsFortune-116221_NORMAL.png

Solo Battlegrounds Damage Cap

The new damage-cap progression applies only to solo Battlegrounds. Duos keeps its existing rules.

Start of the game: 5 damage cap.
Turn 4: increases to 10 damage.
Turn 8: increases to 15 damage.
Top 4: the damage cap is removed.

The change is intended to reduce large early damage spikes. Blizzard says testing the same system in Duos encouraged too much greedy scaling, where a partner can already help support that approach.

Hero Rerolls: Rules and Duos Restrictions

During Hero selection, players can spend 1 Battlegrounds Token to replace a Hero option. Each slot has its own Reroll button and can be rerolled only once per game.

HS_31p2_BGSeason9_Announce_InBlog_RerollToken_GIF_760x495_SW01.gif — Hero Rerolls demonstrated with Season Pass+.

Without the Season Pass Hero-options perk, players can use 0–2 Rerolls per game. With its +2 Hero Options, that becomes 0–4.
A Reroll cannot offer a Hero already shown to you or one that is not allowed in that game.
Other players’ Rerolls do not affect your results, so there is no need to time yours around theirs.
Your available Battlegrounds Token total appears on the selection screen.
Rerolls replace individual options, not the entire selection. Players can stop rerolling and choose a Hero whenever they wish.

Duos Rules

The same basic Reroll system applies in Duos.
Rerolling a paired Hero such as Cho or Gall does not change your partner’s Hero options or require them to spend a Token.
Rerolls cannot produce a paired Hero, since the partner would not receive its counterpart.
Rerolls cannot produce a banned Hero pairing.

Blizzard’s stated goal is to offer more selection flexibility rather than sell direct in-game advantages such as starting Armor, Gold, or Tavern Refreshes. The one-Reroll-per-slot limit is intended to limit repeated searches for the most popular Heroes.

Battlegrounds Tokens and Season Pass Options

Token Sources and Launch Gifts

Rewards Track: Tokens appear on both the free track and the paid Season Pass. The Season Pass adds 25 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Automatic launch gift: all player accounts receive 2 Battlegrounds Tokens when the season goes live.
Free shop claim: another 4 Battlegrounds Tokens can be claimed from the shop at launch.
Preview Event Drops: earn 4 Battlegrounds Tokens by watching for 2 hours.
Events and future Drops: Tokens are also planned as in-game Event rewards and viewership rewards.
Shop purchases: the base offer is 4 Battlegrounds Tokens for $0.99 or 100 Runestones, with bundles also available.

Source clarification: Blizzard’s FAQ states that the free Rewards Track includes 8 Battlegrounds Tokens, while its level-by-level list shows five rewards of 2 Tokens each. The listed level rewards are preserved below.

Season Pass Pricing and Benefits

The Rewards Track is being extended, with Tokens added to both free and paid rewards. Free-to-play remains available, although the free track has slightly fewer cosmetics.

HS_31p2_BGSeason9_Announce_InBlog_PremiumPass_LO_760x428_SW01.jpg

Season Pass — $14.99 USD or 1500 Runestones: retains +2 Hero Options and paid cosmetics, with 25 additional Battlegrounds Tokens on the track. Its price is unchanged.
Season Pass+ — $19.99 USD or 2000 Runestones: includes all Season Pass benefits and makes the first Reroll each game cost no Battlegrounds Token.
Season Pass to Season Pass+ upgrade — $4.99 USD or 500 Runestones.
The Season Pass+ Reroll cannot be saved for later games and follows the same slot restrictions as other Rerolls.

Blizzard will monitor progression, Token distribution, play patterns, and player feedback as the new system rolls out.

Season 9 Rewards Track: All Levels

Each entry lists the XP required for that level, cumulative XP, and its reward. Season Pass+ includes the regular Season Pass rewards as well as its level 1 Reroll perk.

Levels 1–16

Level 1: 0 XP; 0 total XP. Season Pass: +2 Hero Slots. Season Pass+: Reroll Perk (1 per game).
Level 2: 20 XP; 20 total XP. No listed reward.
Level 3: 20 XP; 40 total XP. Free: 2 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 4: 20 XP; 60 total XP. Season Pass: 5 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 5: 30 XP; 90 total XP. Season Pass: Droid Toki (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 6: 30 XP; 120 total XP. Season Pass: Droid Toki (Rare Emote).
Level 7: 30 XP; 150 total XP. Free: Hacker Tamsin (Rare Emote).
Level 8: 30 XP; 180 total XP. Season Pass: Cybernetic Slam (Rare Strike).
Level 9: 40 XP; 220 total XP. Season Pass: Boss Denathrius (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 10: 40 XP; 260 total XP. Season Pass: 5 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 11: 40 XP; 300 total XP. Free: Mr. Bigglesbot (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 12: 50 XP; 350 total XP. Season Pass: Hacker Tamsin (Epic Hero Skin).
Level 13: 50 XP; 400 total XP. Season Pass: Boomfist Mukla (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 14: 50 XP; 450 total XP. Season Pass: Punk Faelin (Rare Emote).
Level 15: 50 XP; 500 total XP. Free: 2 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 16: 60 XP; 560 total XP. Season Pass: 5 Battlegrounds Tokens.

Levels 17–32

Every level from 17 onward requires 60 XP.

Level 17 — 620 total XP: Season Pass: Specialist Finley (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 18 — 680 total XP: Season Pass: Denathrius Shrug (Rare Emote).
Level 19 — 740 total XP: Free: Eudora (Rare Emote).
Level 20 — 800 total XP: Season Pass: Smuggler Eudora (Legendary Hero Skin).
Level 21 — 860 total XP: Season Pass: Scrapper Reno (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 22 — 920 total XP: Season Pass: 5 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 23 — 980 total XP: Free: The Future King (Rare Hero Skin).
Level 24 — 1040 total XP: Season Pass: Rebel Varden (Epic Hero Skin).
Level 25 — 1100 total XP: Season Pass: Visor Aranna (Epic Emote).
Level 26 — 1160 total XP: Season Pass: Pumped Garona (Rare Emote).
Level 27 — 1220 total XP: Free: 2 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 28 — 1280 total XP: Season Pass: Punk Faelin (Legendary Hero Skin).
Level 29 — 1340 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Jaraxxus (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 30 — 1400 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft A.F. Kay (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 31 — 1460 total XP: Free: StarCraft Probe (Rare Emote)*.
Level 32 — 1520 total XP: Season Pass: Cybernetic Slam (Epic Strike).

Levels 33–48

Level 33 — 1580 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Ini Stormcoil (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 34 — 1640 total XP: Season Pass: 5 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 35 — 1700 total XP: Free: King Krush Chomp (Epic Emote).
Level 36 — 1760 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Zeratul (Epic Bartender)*.
Level 37 — 1820 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Cho (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 38 — 1880 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Gall (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 39 — 1940 total XP: Free: StarCraft N'Zoth (Epic Hero Skin)*.
Level 40 — 2000 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Queen Azshara (Epic Hero Skin)*.
Level 41 — 2060 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Curator (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 42 — 2120 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft GG E.T.C. (Epic Emote)*.
Level 43 — 2180 total XP: Free: 2 Battlegrounds Tokens.
Level 44 — 2240 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft E.T.C. (Legendary Hero Skin)*.
Level 45 — 2300 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Teron (Rare Hero Skin)*.
Level 46 — 2360 total XP: Season Pass: StarCraft Zergl Rush (Epic Emote)*.
Level 47 — 2420 total XP: Free: StarCraft Flurgl (Legendary Hero Skin)*.
Level 48 — 2480 total XP: Season Pass: Cybernetic Slam (Legendary Strike)*.

StarCraft availability: these cosmetics are earned through normal track progression but cannot be claimed until a later patch, planned for February 2025. Reaching their levels early does not unlock them immediately. Asterisks above reproduce the marked rewards in the announcement.

December 2 Preview Event and Drops

Participating creators will preview Season 9 on their own channels on December 2, ahead of Patch 31.2.

APAC: 2:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. PST.
Americas and EMEA: 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. PST.
Category-wide Drops: watch for 2 hours total to earn 4 Battlegrounds Tokens, split across 2 drops requiring 1 hour each.
Earned Tokens will appear in accounts once Patch 31.2 launches and Tokens are added to the game.

Reveal Schedule and Staggered Minion-Type Launch

November 19: Season 9 announcement; Neutrals, Spells, and Mech reveals.
November 20: Naga and Dragon reveals.
November 21: Quilboar and Beast reveals.
November 22: Pirate and Duos-only reveals.
November 25: Murloc and Demon reveals.
November 26: Elemental and Undead reveals.
December 2, 2:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. PST: Preview Event streams.
December 2, 3:00 p.m. PST: 31.2 Patch Notes.
December 3: Patch launches with Beasts, Dragons, Quilboar, Pirates, Naga, and Mechs.
December 5: Murlocs and Demons enter the minion pool.
December 9: Undead and Elementals enter the minion pool.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment