Blizzard has released details for next week's patch which brings the Deadmines mini-set to Hearthstone. We're getting 5 New Mercenaries, Diablo introduced as a Battleground Hero and Duels Hero, new Heroes in Battlegrounds, Duels Balance, and more!
- All the Deadmines common cards have been revealed! (See them here)
- We're getting new card reveals on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
- We'll put countdowns on the site for each card reveal, but they are all taking place at 10 AM Pacific on each of the above days.
Our Mercenaries database will have the updated heroes next week once the patch arrives.
Quote From Blizzard Mercenaries Updates
Mercenaries is getting its first content update! Five iconic swashbucklers are raiding the mode with unique new Abilities and Pirate Type synergies! On top of that, we’re introducing three new Bounties and Bounty Bosses for your new recruits to take on.
- Edwin, Defias Kingpin (Legendary Fighter)
- Pirate
- 13/80 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Assassin’s Blade 5: Speed 5. Attack an enemy. If it hasn’t acted yet this turn, gain +5 Health and Attack it again.
- Assisted Strike 5: Speed 5, Cooldown 1. Gain +5 Attack for each friendly Pirate and Attack a random enemy. Combo: Gain Immune while Attacking this turn.
- Kingpin’s Bounty 5: Speed 4, Cooldown 2. Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Repeat for each other Pirate you control. Deathblow: Restore 25 Health.
- Equipment:
- Black Flag 4: Passive: Adjacent Pirates’ Abilities are (4) Speed faster.
- Round of Drinks 4: Assisted Strike is (3) Speed faster and always has Immune while Attacking.
- Even Shares 4: Kingpin’s Bounty restores 10 more Health and affects all friendly characters.
- Sneed (Epic Protector)
- Pirate
- 7/77 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Bzzz!!! 5: Speed 6. Deal damage equal to your Attack. If Activate Saw is active, also damage target’s neighbor.
- Activate Saw 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1: Gain +6 Attack for 2 turns. Attack a random enemy.
- Disarm 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1: Attack an enemy. Give it –5 Attack permanently.
- Equipment:
- Skull Dust 4: Bzzz!!! Gains Bleed (5).
- Titanium Blades 4: Activate Saw gives +4 Attack and lasts 1 more turn.
- Extra Blades 4: Sneed starts with Activate Saw 5 active for 1 turn.
- Eudora (Epic Fighter)
- Pirate
- 10/78 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Coup d’Etat 5: Speed 4. Attack an enemy. If it’s the left or right-most enemy, fire Eudora’s Cannons at it.
- Prepare the Cannons 5: Speed 7, Cooldown 1. Summon a Cannon to the left or right of this Merc. (Starts off Cooldown.)
- Covering Fire 5: Speed 7, Cooldown 1. Restore 12 Health to a friendly Merc and return them to your bench. Fire all your Cannons.
- Equipment:
- Shrapnel Shot 4: Cannons deal 5 more damage.
- Primed Armaments 4: Battlecry: Summon a Cannon.
- Briny Bracers 4: Passive: +2/+10.
- Mr. Smite (Rare Protector)
- Pirate
- 7/75 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Smite Slam 5: Speed 8. Gain +5 Attack for each enemy with 40 or less Health. Attack an enemy.
- Avast ye Matey 5: Speed 2. Gain Taunt this turn. After an enemy Attacks this Merc gain +5 Attack.
- Overboard 5: Speed 3, Cooldown 1. After another friendly character is damaged this turn, gain +10 Health and Attack a random enemy.
- Equipment:
- Sailor’s Cap 4: Mr. Smite gains an additional +4 Attack from Smite Slam.
- Heavy Anchor 4: Overboard grants +6 Attack if the damaged friend is a Pirate.
- Sharpened Scabbard 4: Whenever another friendly Pirate Attacks, gain +4 Attack.
- Cookie, the Cook (Rare Caster)
- Murloc
- 6/70 maxed stats
- Abilities:
- Fish Feast 5 (Nature): Speed 2. Deal 10 damage to an enemy. Deathblow: Give +15 Health to all friendly characters.
- Cookie’s Cooking 5 (Nature): Speed 5, Cooldown 1. Bleed (5) to all enemies. Restore 5 Health to friendly Murlocs and Pirates.
- Go Fish! 5 (Nature): Speed 4, Cooldown 1. Summon a random fish for your opponent, with a Deathrattle that benefits you.
- Equipment:
- Seasoned Pan 4: Fish Feast gives +5 Attack as well.
- Iron Ladel 4: Cookie’s Cooking restores an additional 5 Health.
- Appetizers 4: Start of Game: Give friendly characters +9 Health.
NEW BOUNTIES
- Highlord Omokk
- General Drakkisath
- Rend Blackhand
The new Bounties will be added to the Blackrock Zone. The new Mercenary Cards, Portraits, and Coins can be obtained through Mercenary Packs, similar to how Mini-Set cards are added to their expansion’s existing packs. They will also be added to all other places where these items can normally drop (such as from Bounties or the Fighting Pit), and any other future ways that these items will be able to be obtained. All future Mercenaries will continue to be added to that same general pool. Each new Mercenary will come with its own Task Chain, similar to those of the existing Mercenaries.
Battlegrounds Updates
NEW HEROES
Diablo
- Realm of Terror [Passive]
- Passive. Every 4 turns, ALL enemies fight the Lord of Terror and your warband for loot.
Diablo is a special event character that will only be in Battlegrounds for a limited time. In that time, he will be equally available to all players, not just those who have Battlegrounds perks.
Sneed
- Sneed’s Replicator [Cost 1]
- Give a friendly minion: Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of the same Tavern Tier.
Cookie the Cook
- Stir the Pot [Cost 0]
- Throw a minion in your pot. When you've gathered 3, Discover from their minion types.
Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Sneed and Cookie the Cook before they’re formally released on November 16.
Duels Updates
When the 21.6 patch goes live on November 2, all players’ Duels ratings will be reset and the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card start deck will be updated to include cards from the new Deadmines Mini-Set. Please note that 21.6 will be the first time that players with active runs are cashed out for rewards based on their run progress when the patch goes live, and those players will be compensated with a Tavern Ticket (much like how active Arena runs are cashed out when sets rotate). Additionally, card buckets will be adjusted to account for the new Mini-Set cards.
LIMITED-TIME NEW HERO
Diablo will be Duels’s first dual-class character, combining powerful Warlock and Warrior card pools and effects!
Diablo has 3 new hero powers that you can unlock as you play:
- Primal Power [Cost 3]
- Deal 3 damage to yourself, then gain 3 Attack and 3 Armor.
- Demonic Transformation [Cost 1]
- Discard a random card. Add a random Demon to your hand with the same cost. It costs (2) less.
- Unlocked by summoning 25 minions with 8 or more Attack as Diablo.
- Doom Charge [Cost 6]
- Discover a minion from your deck. Summon a copy that attacks a random enemy. Then, it dies.
- Unlocked by gaining 66 Armor as Diablo.
Diablo also has 5 new signature treasures, 3 of which can be unlocked as you play (there is a 6th treasure coming in the future, but it will be unusable at patch launch):
- Claws of Terror
- 6 mana weapon. 6 Attack, 3 Durability. Start of Game: Draw this. Also damages adjacent minions.
- Fire Stomp
- 3 mana spell. Deal 3 damage to ALL enemy characters. Restore 1 Health for each enemy hit and 1 additional Health if it dies.
- Apocalypse
- 8 mana spell. Destroy all minions. Your opponent takes double damage for the rest of the game.
- Unlocked by destroying 150 characters as Diablo.
- Soulstone Trap
- 3 mana spell. Destroy a minion. Gain Attack and Armor equal to its Attack and Health.
- Unlocked by playing 30 weapons as Diablo.
- Horns of Flame
- 3 mana weapon. 0 Attack, 3 Durability. At the start of your turn, add a random Shadow or Fire spell to your hand.
- Unlocked by playing 100 Shadow or Fire spells as Diablo.
ACTIVE TREASURE UPDATE
Black Soulstone
- Add a Diablo Signature Treasure card to your hand. Shuffle this into your deck.
- Pool 2
- Available to all heroes except for Diablo.
HERO UPDATES
- Starting in Patch 21.6, all original Scholomance Heroes will have all their unlock requirements removed.
Dev Comment: School's out for Summer!
PASSIVE TREASURE UPDATES
Ever-Changing Elixir
- Old: At the end of your turn, transform a friendly minion into one that costs (1) more. → New: At the end of your turn, transform a friendly minion into one that costs (2) more.
Pillage the Fallen
- Old: Whenever your weapon is destroyed, equip a random weapon of the same cost. → New: Whenever your weapon is destroyed, equip a random weapon of the same cost. Give it +1 Attack.
All Shall Serve
- Old: Whenever a Demon dies, draw a card and deal 1 damage to your hero. → New: Whenever a Demon dies, draw a card.
Dragonblood
- Old: After a friendly Dragon dies, give your minions +1/+2. → New: After a friendly Dragon dies, give two minions in your hand +1/+1.
The Floor is Lava
- Old: After you play a minion, deal 1 damage to it and give it +1 Attack. → New: After you play a minion, deal 1 damage to it and give it +2 Attack.
Grommash’s Armguards
- Old: Your Weapons cost (1) less. → New: Your Weapons cost (1) less. At the start of the match, draw a weapon.
Mending Pools
- Old: Whenever you play a Nature spell, restore 2 Health to your hero. → New: Whenever you play a Nature spell, restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.
Freeze Solid
- Old: Whenever damage is dealt to a Frozen enemy minion, destroy it. → New: Whenever you deal damage to a Frozen character, double it.
Firekeeper’s Idol
- Old: After you cast a Fire spell, summon a 1/2 Flame Elemental. → New: After you cast a Fire spell, summon a 1/2 Flame Elemental and add one to your hand.
Invigorating Light
- Old: Whenever you play a Holy spell, give all friendly minions +1 Health. → New: Whenever you play a Holy spell, give all friendly characters +1 Health.
Inspiring Presence
- Old: After you play a Legendary minion, reduce the cost of a random minion in your hand by (1). → New: After you play a Legendary minion, reduce the cost of a random card in your hand by (2).
Hagatha’s Embrace
- Old: At the start of your turn, give a random minion in your hand +1/+1. → New: At the start of your turn, give two random minions in your hand +1/+1.
Endurance Training
- Old: Your Taunt minions cost (3) less, but not less than (1). → New: Your Taunt minions cost (3) less, but not less than (2).
Orb of Revelation
- Old: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (1), but not less than (1). → New: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (1), but not less than (2).
Corrupted Felstone
- Old: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give a minion in your hand +3/+2. → New: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +2/+2.
Eerie Stone
- Old: After you destroy a minion with a Shadow spell, add a copy of that minion to your hand. → New: After you destroy a minion with a Shadow spell, add a copy of that minion to your hand. Reduce its costs by (2).
From the Swamp
- Old: After the first enemy dies each turn, raise a 1/3 Bloated Zombie. → New: After the first enemy dies each turn, raise a 1/1 Bloated Zombie.
Legendary Loot
- Old: At the start of the game, equip a random Legendary weapon. → New: On your first turn, Discover a Legendary weapon.
Deathly Death!
- Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, destroy the minion with the lowest Health. → New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, trigger the Deathrattle of a friendly minion.
All Together Now
- Old: Your Battlecry cards cost (1) less, but not less than (1). → New: Your Battlecry cards cost (1) less, but not less than (2).
Elixir of Vigor
- Old: After you play a minion, shuffle two copies of it into your deck. They cost (1). → New: After you play a minion, shuffle two copies of it into your deck. They cost (3).
Ooops, All Spells!
- Old: At the start of the game, destroy all minions in your deck. Your spells cost (1) less and gain +2 Spell Damage. → New: At the start of the game, destroy all minions in your deck. Your spells cost (1) less.
Meek Mastery
- Old: Your Neutral minions cost (1) less and have +1/+1. → New: Your Neutral minions have +1/+1 and cost (1) less, but not less that (2).
Rally the Troops
- Old: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (2) less. → New: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (2) less, but not less than (2).
PASSIVE TREASURE POOL UPDATES
- Small Pouches, Rhonin’s Scrying Orb, Caltrops and Scattered Caltrops have been removed.
- Small Backpacks has returned to Duels in Pool 1.
- Book of Wonders, Cannibalism, Starving, From the Swamp, and All Together Now have been moved from Pool 2 to Pool 1.
- Elixir of Vigor, Ooops, All Spells!, Meek Mastery, and Rally the Troops have been moved from Pool 2 Ultra Rare to Pool 2.
Arena Rotation
When the Deadmines Mini-Set unlocks on November 2, the Arena will include cards from the following sets:
- Deadmines Mini-Set
- United in Stormwind
- Ashes of Outland
- Rise of Shadows
- Knights of the Frozen Throne
- Journey to Un’Goro
- Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
- Core
November 2 also marks the start of the Hallow’s End Dual-Class Arena event. Pick a class’s costumed portrait, then pick another class’s hero power, and build a deck from a combination of the two!
Battle-Ready Decks Return November 2!
Battle-Ready Decks will return to the shop for a limited time with four decks (Rogue, Druid, Hunter, or Paladin) designed to be immediately competitive in the latest meta—some of these are so fresh that they include Mini-Set cards! 21.6 Battle-Ready Deck recipes will be added to the patch notes here when they become available for purchase on November 2 for $14.99 and will be limited to one per account.
Book of Mercenaries Cariel – Coming November 9!
The paladin Cariel Roame has returned home to find Stormwind in flames. Her sister Tamsin has summoned the dreadlord Anetheron and assaulted the city with an army of demons. Cariel and her companions are the city's last line of defense. At least one mercenary won't make it out alive. Find out who when Book of Mercenaries Cariel launches November 9. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Paladin pack, containing only Paladin cards from Standard!
Bug Fixes & Game Improvements
- The following cards have been added to the Shadow Spell School: Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, Mask of C’Thun, Idol of Y’Shaarj. Trifle with the Old Gods at your own risk!
- A Bleed that is Cast When Drawn will now consume the temporary Talented Arcanist Spell Damage increase.
- Temporary Spell Damage will no longer apply to delayed effects like sigils or secrets. (For example, playing Prestor’s Pyromancer and then Flame Ward will consume the temporary Spell Damage effect, but will not apply the additional Spell Damage when the Flame Ward is eventually triggered).
- Fixed a bug where playing an additional copy of Razormane Battleguard would cause an additional Taunt minion to be discounted that turn.
- Fixed a bug where Prismatic Jewel Kit would trigger from transform effects.
- Fixed a bug where Blightborn Tamsin did not redirect damage that was redirected back at the player through Eye for an Eye.
- Fixed a bug that caused Rat King to duplicate itself when paired with cards that trigger extra Deathrattle effects.
- Fixed a bug that caused Alexstrasza the Life-Binder to be unable to deal damage to a player when the player activated an Ice Block and then changed heroes.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Supercollider animation to play twice.
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause a card to show the wrong Cardback and be unable to be flipped over during pack openings.
- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Battlegrounds matchmaking in friend lobbies.
- Fixed a bug that caused Early Access heroes to be unevenly distributed when guaranteed in every game. We are re-enabling the system that guarantees that Early Access heroes are offered in every game where players have Battlegrounds Perks.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Tarecgosa from keeping all buffs gained in combat.
- Fixed a bug where Dynamic Duo’s effect would not trigger from Charlga playing a Blood Gem on itself.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Mercenaries Welcome Bundle shop image to sometimes display a random Epic as part of the bundle, instead of the random Legendary that is actually part of the product.
- Updated some Mercenaries tasks that could not be completed as written.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Bear Trap ranks 2-5 from working properly with Rigged Wiring ranks 1-3.
- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Blink Fox’s Mind Thief Ability from copying Abilities that summon minions.
- Updated the art on some Mercenaries Abilities that were incorrectly still displaying temp art.
- Updated miscellaneous descriptions on some Mercenaries Abilities and Equipment to fix typographical errors, better match style guides, and/or clarify their text.
- Updated some Mercenaries Treasure names that incorrectly used Roman numerals.
- Fixed a bug that required you to restart your client after unlocking Wild for you to be able to access Wild.
- Fixed a bug that caused some in-game purchases to not immediately appear as “owned” after purchasing.
- Fixed a bug that rarely caused achievement progress and points to show as empty upon login.
- Fixed a bug that prevented some achievements from being able to be completed or claimed.
- Fixed a bug with the seamless re-connect feature.
- Updated Unity version.
- Fixed bugs causing crashes and miscellaneous other general performance issues.
Comments
Those Duels treasures and hero powers look so cool and ripe for abuse. If Duels had a single-player gauntlet mode à la Runeterra's Lab of Legends I would be playing that instead of Mercenaries PvE.
a murloc is a murloc but a human is a pirate... I find that discrimating towards humans
Yeah, I don't like the inconsistency - I thought the tribe attribute in Mercenaries was meant for race, but now they throw in a pirate 'race' that supplants a character's humanity, goblinity, taurenity, whatever-the-hell-Eudora-isity. But not murlocity (or do cooks not count as pirates?!). Ugh. It feels like the Hearthstone game client is severely limiting the game's potential that they could not even implement characters with multiple tribes.
"I reject my humanity, Jojo... I return to be a pirate... yaharrrrr"
Did you notice this change for Duels:
"Starting in Patch 21.6, all original Scholomance Heroes will have all their unlock requirements removed."
pirate seems like a hand which needs taunt and ranged attack
i think we goona see some nerf's to pirate groups soon
They want us to buy more mercenaries packs in the hopes of getting these new mercs (but actually we'll only get shitty coins we don't need), then continue to play this mode in which the only endgame grind is for more shitty coins? Madness! You're absolutely getting full on abused like a cellar gimp if you spend any more money on this farce.
People were wondering how long before Mercs would get stale if Blizzard didn't regularly add new content.
So of course when Blizzard does add new content well before the mode even starts to get stale, someone has to find a stupid ass-backward reason why it's a bad thing.
As always, if you don't enjoy it, don't play. If you don't think something is worth the price, don't buy it. There's no need to insult the people who do enjoy it or those who can afford to buy things you find too expensive.
I never saw packs as the primary way of unlocking new mercs. Just grinding them is far more efficient as you pointed out already.
I am a little dismayed that they are introducing new characters and diluting the RNG pool so soon after launch when I am nowhere close to getting/upgrading all the mercenaries that I want to play.
good thing i didn't open the 5 packs for beating executus and ragnaros, i just hope to get at least the 2 rares instead of alternative portraits
Please review the flowchart that explains how Mercs packs work.
You'll find that it's impossible to get a portrait in the "guaranteed" slot if there are Mercs you don't own in every rarity.
i got blinkfox and carriel's skins before i even had guff and brukan, so unless there is a bug and blizzard fixed it, yes, is totally possible
Not in the "guaranteed" slot, it isn't. It is possible you got those skins in addition to the merc in the guaranteed slot, but not instead of it.
Did you read the flowchart, or are you just certain you know how it works without doing any research?
i know how i experienced it, and no, i got the 2 golden skins like 3 or 4 days before i opened the missing mercenaries, i can tell me as much as you want how it is suposed to be, but what it happened to me doesnt match with what now i can read and says in the paper.
huh, thought that would never happen
wonder if this will fix the s-pen bug that has been around for like 2 years
Diablo is pretty much a BG accelerator
Tamsin won't make it out alive... Because she is already dead
I haven't been keeping up with Book of Mercenaries... is Tamsin already undead in that storyline? I find it hard to believe they'd kill any other mercenary when we still have one more expansion to go in the mercenary arc.
yes, she first died and became undead during her time in Scholomance which happened before the book of Mercenaries.