While Duos plays similarly to regular Battlegrounds, instead of it being an 8-player free-for-all, players are grouped into 4 teams of 2 players. These teams share a life total, pass each other cards, and play together to win against other teams.
You can queue into Duos with a friend as a team or on your own to be paired with a random teammate of a similar rating. You and a group of friends can also create private Duos games, just like regular Battlegrounds.
If a player abandons their partner in Duos before Top 2, they will get an MMR penalty. If you get abandoned, you will get a notification letting you know you can leave and you will not lose MMR.[2]
This MMR protection does not apply if you are queueing up with a friend.
In Duos, the cost to upgrade into each of Tavern Tier 4, Tier 5, and Tier 6 costs 2 more Gold than in regular Battlegrounds.
In Duos, you and your partner work as a team. There are four teams of two players in each game, and each team shares their life total. Combat is sequential, so one teammate’s warband goes out first and fights until it takes out both opponents or goes down swinging. If the first teammate is defeated, the second teammate’s warband takes over from there to finish the combat. If the first player manages to take out both opponents, then the second player’s warband just comes in to dogpile the damage on the opposing team! Cheering for your partner isn’t required, but it can’t hurt.[1]
The differences to regular combat in Battlegrounds are as follows:
One player's warband is summoned first
The player who goes first is determined by who is placed on top on the "history bar" on the left.
Once the first player's warband is completely destroyed (including all tokens), the teammate's warband is summoned to replace it.
After both warbands are destroyed, the team who still has remaining minions gets to deal damage to the opponent, like in regular Battlegrounds.
If the first player manages to defeat both of the enemy team's players alone, their teammate's warband is summoned in to deal extra damage.
A strong partnership is about good communication and consideration of each other's needs. In Duos, there’s a portal that connects you and your partner. You can click on the portal to swap between viewing their board and your own. For the low cost of 1 Gold, you can even send cards in your hand through the portal, to your teammate!
Duos also has a pinging system that lets you flag stuff for your partner. You can use these emote-like pings to mark something in your shop that you think your partner might want—or something you see in their shop that you want them to get for you.
These pings are a great way to quickly get a teammate’s attention or to communicate with someone you couldn’t before, like someone not on your friends list or who speaks a different language! We’re excited to see how Duos will open up the Tavern to new friendships and play experiences.[1]
Sharing functions as follows:
There is a portal on the right that players can use to send minions to their teammates.
Passing a minion like this costs 1 gold each time.
The portal may also be clicked. By doing so, the player can spectate on whatever their teammate is currently doing.
Some minions may have a green arrow glowing on top of them. This means that if passed, their teammate would be able to get a triple of that minion.
Pinging functions as follows:
Various elements during the Recruit phase can be selected by right-clicking (or two-finger tapping on mobile), and an emote can be placed upon them.
