Photos: Blizzard Entertainment

▲ A trio of baddies are entering Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

As the final Hearthstone expansion of the year is set to be released next Tuesday, the development team surprised players one more time on Thursday afternoon with a special announcement via a company blog post.

For all announced information relating to the card game, which includes a new hero portrait, a re-work to the Echo mechanic, a log-in promotional bonus and more, check out our story here.

Not to be out-done, the Battlegrounds development team has been hard at work behind the scenes and they decided to reveal what's coming to the popular auto-chess game mode.

A trio of new heroes

A little more than two weeks after the Hearthstone Battlegrounds team implemented four new heroes into the game mode, they're back at it again with three more. Joining the pool of selectable characters are Sylvanas Windrunner, Edwin Vancleef and Arch-Villain Rafaam. Additionally, Millificent Manastorm and Lich Baz'hial are returning after a brief absence. To keep the number of heroes at 24, Patches the Pirate, Bartendotron, Pyramad, Professor Putricide, and Trade Prince Gallywix are rotating out for the time being.

The recently developed heroes and their unique hero powers can be found below:

Alongside the above characters are two cards being added to the pool, King Bagurgle and Floating Watcher. A pair of underperforming tribes, Murlocs and Demons, are both receiving support with two cards that aim to balance out the metagame.

As if that's not enough, "Advanced Stats" are now live for players who own 10 or more Descent of Dragons Card Packs, which will retroactively include data from matches played since November 5. From the Battlegrounds lobby screen, advanced stats can be accessed by clicking “More”.

Hero and card balance changes

Alongside the three heroes being added to the pool, a handful of existing ones are being reworked to even out the playing field and make the selection process require a bit more thinking.

Patchwerk - Will start at 50 health, as opposed to 60.

A. F. Kay - After skipping her first two turns, she will start with two minions from Tavern Tier 3 opposed to one from Tier 3 and one from Tier 4.

Millificent Manastorm - All Mechs in Bob's Tavern will get +1 Attack from her trait as opposed to +1 Attack and Health.

The Rat King - His trait will give minions +1 Attack and +1 Health, down from +1 Attack and +2 Health.

Lich Baz'hial - To improve her viability, the development team has reduced the amount of damage she deals to herself upon activating her trait, from three to two.

The Great Akazamzarak - His trait has been reworked to reduce the likelihood of players getting Ice Block in consecutive turns. Hand of Salvation has been removed as an option as well.

▲ The Great Akazamzarak's bag of tricks has been tamed a bit.

In this round of balance changes, only one card is being tweaked. Lightfang Enforcer, a powerhouse unit at any point in the game to quickly boost the size of units on your board is being nerfed. Instead of giving a friendly Mech, Beast, Murloc and Demon +2 Attack and Health at the end of your turn, he will give two Attack and one Health.

The patch is currently live for all users so get ready to arm yourself with a baddie...or two...or three