Hearthstone Mercenaries is an upcoming game mode that focuses on elements from Roguelike and Tactical RPGs. Here is everything we know about the mode so far.

  • Hearthstone Mercenaries releases on October 12, 2021.
  • You will not use your collection for this mode, just like Hearthstone Battlegrounds.
  • There is no deckbuilding in Hearthstone Mercenaries. Instead, you form a Party of 6 characters.
  • Progression is permanent.

Table of Contents

    Quick Access

    What Are Mercenaries?

    Mercenaries are the lifeblood of the mode. You will assemble your chosen characters into a three-person squad to progress through levels.

    • Each mercenary has access to different abilities, giving you a wide range of strategies to try.
    • Mercenaries have levels.
      • When you level a mercenary they get stronger and will obtain new abilities.
      • Your abilities can also earn experience to level up.
      • The maximum level of each mercenary is at least 30.
    • Your mercenaries can equip gear that they find in runs. This gear makes them stronger and you may want to find certain pieces of each merc.
    • You find more mercenaries by playing the game.

    Your Mercenaries Village

    The Mercenaries Village is the central hub where the mode takes place. Here you can manage your characters, find quests (tasks) to complete, equip your mercenaries, and much more! There are several points of interest within the village.

    What is the Mercenaries Workshop?

    Your Workshop is the only part of the Mercenaries mode unlocked at the start.

    • You can build new village locations here.
    • Locations can be upgraded which unlock new features and increased efficiency.
    • Your upgrades are persistent so they will never go away.

    What is the Mercenaries Tavern?

    Your Tavern in Hearthstone Mercenaries is where your mercenaries themselves live. If you play the constructed side of Hearthstone, we would call this our Collection Manager.

    • You can craft new mercenary characters in the Tavern.
    • Skins can be changed inside of the Tavern for each of your mercenaries.
    • Equipment and Abilities can be upgraded and equipped within the interface.
    • Parties can be formed here with up to 6 different characters.

    The interface for the Tavern is broken down into one that looks much like the regular Collection Manager:

    • The left side contains your Mercenary characters, organized by their role type.
    • The right side showcases your list of Parties.
    • You can create new Parties much like you could a regular Hearthstone deck.


    Putting together a Mercenary Party


    Inspecting a Mercenary to see their Level, Abilities, and Equipment.

    What is the Mercenaries Travel Point? The PVE Mode of Mercenaries

    The very top of your village is the Travel Point. It is here where we can access our Bounties and choose which zone we are going to hunt.

    • The Bounties unlock sequentially within a Zone and each has a suggested level and predetermined Bounty Boss.
    • Upgrading the Travel Point will unlock Heroic-level Bounties which provide more challenging content.
    • A future update to Mercenaries will allow an additional upgrade level on the Travel Point to unlock Legendary-level Bounties.

    This is our main PVE mode to play in with our Mercenaries.

    Within the Travel Point is the Bounty Board where you will pick which Bounty you want to participate in.

    • Each Bounty has procedurally generated content, to keep things fresh.
    • Your goal is to complete encounters leading up to a final boss battle.
    • The Bosses of each Bounty won't change, but Bounties will get harder as you get better.
    • Once you select your Bounty, you will get to choose which Party you take on the adventure.

    What is the Mercenaries Fighting Pit? The PVP Mode of Mercenaries

    The Mercenaries Fighting Pit is where PVP Combat takes place.

    • Matchmaking aims to pair players that have near-equivalent levels of power - no pay to win here.
    • You can't see which moves your player opponent is locking in, unlike while hunting Bounties, so strategy is supreme!
    • You can earn achievements in this mode, rewards, and with enough practice can top the leaderboards.

    What is the Mercenaries Merchant Cart?

    The Merchant Cart provides us with a Mercenaries-specific shop where we can purchase Mercenary Packs, Mercenary Coins, and other offers.

    • Mercenary Packs offer 5 items which can include new Mercenary Cards, Coins, or Portraits.

    What is the Mercenaries Mailbox?

    The Mercenaries Mailbox is direct access to the latest in-game announcements for Mercenaries.

    Blizzard hasn't provided full details on what we can expect here, but there will be special offers and events that we can use and take part in. We don't know if these offers and events will be exclusive to individual players or if everything will be global. Time will tell!

    What is the Mercenaries Campfire?

    Mercenaries gets its very own Questlog and Achivements through the Campfire.

    • Once a day, Mercenaries will sit by the fire and offer a new Task for you to complete.
    • After completing your task, you can return to the Campfire to collect your reward.
    • Rewards for completing Tasks include Coins, Packs, or Equipment.
    • After completing your dailies, there are additional ways to obtain more Tasks for your village. Check back often!

    How Do I Obtain New Mercenaries?

    There are over 50 Mercenary characters that are launching with the mode. Here are the different ways you can obtain them:

    1) Complete the Prologue

    A prologue will reward you with 8 Mercenary characters upon completion. Here are the characters you will unlock after completion:

    • Cariel Roame
    • Cornelius Roame
    • Grommash Hellscream
    • Millhouse Manastorm
    • Rokara
    • Blademaster Samuro
    • Tyrande Whisperwind
    • Xyrella

    2) Open Mercenary Packs

    Each Mercenary Pack you open contains 5 different items. One of these items will always be a Mercenary. There are pity timers in place to help you acquire Mercenary characters.

    • Rare Mercenary Cards: Each Mercenaries Pack contains at least one Rare or better Mercenary Card.
    • Epic Mercenary Cards: On average, one Epic Mercenary Card can be obtained every five Mercenaries Packs.
    • Legendary Mercenary Cards: One Legendary Mercenary Card is guaranteed within the first 10 packs.
      • Subsequent Legendary Mercenary Cards can be obtained in 20 Mercenaries Packs on average.

    3) Use Mercenary Coins

    New mercenary characters can be unlocked by using Mercenary Coins, which are available as Task rewards and Mercenary Packs.

    Exactly numbers are not currently available.

    4) Pre-Order Bundles

    As a special deal, Blizzard has opened up pre-orders in the in-game shop for three different bundles of Mercenaries content. Each bundle contains one Mercenary and several Mercenary Packs.

    • The Lich King
    • Sylvanas Windrunner
    • Diablo

    These Mercenary characters will be unlockable through regular gameplay, so don't feel the pressure to pre-order. Unconfirmed if the Diamond version of portraits for Diablo and Lich King are exclusive to bundles or also obtainable in-game.

    The Game Field in Hearthstone Mercenaries

    The Role Types of Mercenary Cards

    Each Mercenary card has one of three defined roles and is a part of an Attack triangle where each type has a strength. Being strong against another type means you deal double damage. Each type has a different colored frame which has a different icon on its Attack value.

    Building parties of synergistic roles is important to your success in Mercenaries.

    Protector Mercenaries (Red)

    Protectors are the primary line of defense for your Party. They deal double damage to Fighters.

    • Protectors typically have the highest Health values out of all the roles.
    • You will find Protectors with effects such as Taunt and buffs to help control the game.
    • They are not good at ranged combat and are also slower than other roles.

    Fighter Mercenaries (Green)

    Fighters are the primary sources of Attack for your Party. They deal double damage to Casters.

    • The abilities used by Fighters are usually Aggressive and aim to deal major damage.

    Caster Mercenaries (Blue)

    Casters are the ability-heavy units of your Party that aim to support and knock down enemies. They deal double damage to Protectors.

    • The abilities Casters use may be beneficial for your Party (healing, buffs) or they can deal major damage to opponents.
    • Casters typically have the lowest Attack values out of all the roles.

    The Mercenaries Attack Triangle

    The Mercenaries Bounty Map

    • Each run gives you a randomly generated map.
    • You will find different types of events and branching paths as you go through the map.
    • Fights, Elite Encounters, and Non-Combat Events are all possible.
    • If you fail to complete a level, you can try again.
    • At the end of the map, you'll fight a boss.

    Here is an example map in Mercenaries as seen from BlizzConline.

    Hearthstone Mercenaries Key Art

    Hearthstone Mercenaries Cinematic Trailer

    Hearthstone Mercenaries Gameplay Showcase

    Here is the first look at the overall Mercenaries experience as shared in a livestream on August 31.