Hearthstone Battlegrounds Duos is easily one of the most unique and interesting modes that we’ve ever seen. We were able to try out this new mode at BlizzCon 2023, and it’s definitely a breath of fresh air for the series, similarly how Battlegrounds was in 2019. Four years later, the development team has made something incredibly addicting.

Being that this is a cooperative mode, we looked for someone to partner with. Unfortunately no one was available at the time, so in the interest of being transparent, we played it ourselves with two PC’s next to each other. Despite this handicap, the Duos mode made us very excited for the series as a whole. We entered the lobby, finding a team of two to take on, albeit in a very friendly manner and only to check out the features.

Right away, we tried out the pinging method, which is a radial menu that pops up on the HUD, giving you the choice of four different options to send to your partner. The first is a portal, which allows us to view your partners board form their own view, giving you both strategy options. However, the really amazing part is being able to send cards between each other through thee portal for the low cost of 1 gold. That alone changes the entire flow of the game, depending on the cards sent.

The second is a question mark, which sends a message to your partner asking them if they want to rethink their move before going ahead. The third is a an X, which sends the message that you don’t approve of their move, or attempted move. The fourth and final one is a check mark, which sends the message that you approve of their move, or whatever move they’re going to do on the board. You can also request your partner to get something in their shop, like a tier up option, and get it for you.

Just as it was advertised, the health bars are indeed shared, so that’s something to keep in mind when wanting to go a bit off the wall on your moves. Your actions and reactions will affect your partner on all fronts. The ping system also work during the combat phase, although you’ll need to move a little faster due to the enemy possible making a move before you to. The combat is the exact same as the base Battlegrounds, with minons attacking during the combat phases, and the one that’s left standing at the end wins the game. This new mode only At the end of our session, we were very happy with how much this improves the gameplay, and promotes teamwork on an elevated level.

Hearthstone Battlegrounds Duos will launch sometime in early 2024.