Prepare for Mercenaries—Coming October 12!
Welcome, recruits!
Hearthstone Mercenaries is the new game mode where you collect iconic Mercenaries, assembling Parties to take down procedurally-generated Bounties. It is an entirely new way to play Hearthstone, combining RPG and roguelike elements with some of your favorite Hearthstone characters. There’s a lot to take in, so we created a series of blog posts to help you jump right into Mercenaries when it launches on October 12!
This post will give you an Overview of the new Mercenaries game mode, then you can check out the Gameplay blog for more specifics on how to fight, and the Collection/Village blog for details on the mode’s progression and collection systems.*
* Mercenaries is still in development and all stats and effects are subject to change. The Card Library will be updated when Mercenaries launches on October 12 to represent any updated versions.
The Mercenaries Village
The Village is your central hub for all things Mercenaries! In the Village, you can manage your collection, collect task rewards, head directly to the Mercenaries shop, set off on Bounties, and so much more! The Village is also itself a gameplay and progression system because you can build and upgrade buildings in your Village to unlock more content and make them more effective. You can learn more about the Village in our Village and Collection blog post, here.
Picking Fights
What is being a Mercenary if not collecting Bounties? From the Village, you can use the Travel Point to go to the Bounty Board. The Bounty Board is where you can choose which Bounty you want to go after—which can be thought of as choosing what “mission” or “level” to tackle. Seeking Bounties is a major part of the Mercenaries experience, and is critical for leveling up your Mercenaries, even if you plan to focus on PVP play.
Each Bounty has a suggested level, and a designated Bounty Boss at the end, so you have an idea of what you’re getting into. There are several Bounties to go after, and each one includes procedurally-generated encounters leading up to the Bounty Boss, to keep play interesting. As you play longer, additional difficulty levels can be unlocked, too, for even greater challenges!
Selecting a Bounty will bring up the Party selection menu. In Mercenaries, you control a Party of up to 6 Mercenaries, instead of a deck of cards. In combat, you will pick 3 of your 6 Mercenaries to fight at a time, with reinforcements coming off your Bench if one of your Mercenaries falls or uses a special Ability to swap out.
All experience you earn during your run sticks with you—even if that Mercenary rides the Bench or if they don’t make it out of the Bounty alive. After you claim a Bounty, you can move on to the next one, or keep coming back to ones you’ve already beaten to collect more loot and level up your team. Each Bounty has a different type of loot it can drop, so keep coming back to the same Bounty if you’re looking to focus on a specific reward!
After you’ve claimed a few Bounties, your Party might be ready to head to the Fighting Pit! In the Fighting Pit, you'll always be paired against a similarly-powerful opponent, even when trying out a new Mercenary. Compete in the Fighting Pit to complete achievements, earn rewards, and even push for a spot on the leaderboard!
Get This Party Started!
Try out Mercenaries when it launches on October 12 and get eight Mercenaries (pictured below) just for completing the prologue and introductory missions! That’s enough to put together a Party and immediately start chasing Bounties. Keep playing to continue growing your collection!
The More the Merrier
Start up a new Bounty after the introductory missions and you will also receive the adorable new Sarge mount for World of Warcraft! Learn more.
WoW and Hearthstone fans have even more to celebrate! Purchase a 6-month WoW Subscription between now and October 19, or have a current subscription set to renew at a later date, and you will receive the Tavern Pass and Battlegrounds Perks for this and the next expansion, 15 packs from United in Stormwind, 15 packs from Hearthstone’s next expansion, and 30 total Mercenaries Packs across your subscription period! Additional details and restrictions apply.
Diablo Comes to Mercenaries!
Last, but certainly not least, the Lord of Terror is coming to help celebrate the launch of Mercenaries! Diablo is available as part of one of three pre-purchase bundles, each including an iconic Blizzard character!
The Diablo Mercenaries Pre-Purchase Bundle includes a Diamond Legendary Diablo Mercenary Card and 50 Mercenaries Packs; the Lich King Mercenaries Pre-Purchase Bundle includes a Diamond Legendary Lich King Mercenary Card and 50 Mercenaries Packs; and the Sylvanas Mercenaries Bundle includes a Golden Legendary Sylvanas Mercenary Card and 30 Mercenaries Packs.
The Diablo, Lich King, and Sylvanas Mercenaries are all also obtainable in-game, without purchasing these bundles, from Mercenaries Packs or the crafting system. To learn more details about Mercenaries, make sure to check out our Gameplay and Collection blogs. We’ll see you in the Village!
