Vanndar Stormpike Battlegrounds Guide

Vanndar Stormpike marches into Hearthstone Battlegrounds with one of two unique Avenge Hero Powers: Lead the Stormpikes. With every two minions that die in combat, each minion gains +1 Health permanently. Use this Hero Power early with Beast, Mech, Demon and Undead tribe synergies that summon other minions during combat to buff permanent units placed to the right-side of your board.

Vanndar can make a mix of tribes work early and excel, including Undead, Mechs, Demons and Beasts due to incorporating the Avenge Hero Power. Similarly, menagerie builds that incorporate Ghoul of the Feast and minions that summon other minions can propel you through the mid-game, easily picking up victories and saving your Health pool. Later in the game, search for your 6-drop options in Tea Master Theotar and Mantid Queen to round out your composition and scale your minions.

Undead work great with Vanndar due to the natural occurence of Reborn in the tribe. By the nature of Lead the Stormpikes, each time an undead minion dies twice, they will effectively trigger the Hero Power effect in just 1 minion worth of board space. Early in the game, look for minions like Risen Rider and Scarlet Skull to start, and move your way towards Soulsplitter at Tavern Tier 5 and Eternal Summoner at 6.

Mech minions are also incredibly viable with Vanndar. Micro Mummy, Harvest Golem, and Deflect-o-Bot are great minions to pick up early and synergize around recovering Divine Shield. Later in the game, a Holy Mecherel with taunt can be a game winner if the rest of the board is built correctly with other Divine Shield minions.

Demons are also fantastic paired with a mid-game powerhouse like Soul Juggler due to the synergy with minions dying. Once you have the chance, adding a Felstomper can also supply your board with tons of firepower after minions are resummoned.

Lastly, Beast compositions are slightly less viable than the other tribes mentioned before but are fun and synergize well with Vanndar. The two cards that can really be the backbone of a Vanndar game are Sewer Rat and Rat Pack, as their deathrattle effects can easily buff your board. If you stick with Beasts through the late-game, fill out your composition with Mama Bear and Titus Rivendare to get the most of the minons summoned in combat.

Early-game you are looking to play minions that have summoning effects listed, either as deathrattle or reborn effects. Some really great Tier 1 minions to help build with Lead the Stormpikes include Risen Rider, Icky Imp, and Scallywag, and each of which will contribue to triggering your avenge Hero Power once each for permanent units.

Your composition with Vanndar should change over the course of the game so that in the mid to late game you are using the Avenge to buff important build-around cards mentioned in the Tribes section. This means selling an early minion that has multiple Health buffs from Lead the Stormpikes in order to grab a much higher-value unit will inevitably happen over the course of the game and will often be the correct play.

Take a look at some videos produced by popular Battlegrounds streamers to get a good idea of what playing Vanndar Stormpike at a high level may look like!

• Kripparian
• Nicholena