It's Leeroy Jenkins time, baby! If you thought you could escape this infamous former Hall of Fame resident for good, fate has decided otherwise once again. It's been a while since we've had to contend with his recklessly charging ways - although this newest iteration is only being reserved for dedicated Hearthstone Mercenaries hires.

We've actually known that another limited-time event is on the horizon ever since it was hinted at during the very first experience of this kind: the one we just recently got to witness with Chi-Ji's special (pretty fun and engaging, yet also fairly hardcore at that) chain of tasks. And the most recent Mercenaries section for Patch 22.6 gave us a proper tease with the launch date of March 22. Which means it's currently active across all regions! 

If you've previously participated and remember our first go at this - or otherwise wish to be able to compare between the two events - there is certainly a fair number of similarities to be found. We've had a great number of insightful comments from the community, with people sharing their progress, experiences, or various tips for the challenging tasks. Thanks for all that! 

But you might also be happy to learn that this time around it all should be at least slightly easier to complete on average, especially for non-veteran Mercs players. 

We've also been updating the text accordingly as new information comes to light. Using Ctrl+F function to scan for all recent "Updates" is one way to stay up to date. Not to mention all the useful comments below! 

Staggered Release Times, See You Later Toki

The special event is once again closely tied to 'server resets' for each of the respective timezones: meaning it first went live on Asia, then Europe, with Americas eventually joining in. It's also going to wrap up in the same manner. In the end, everyone will be given the exact same amount of time to complete these tasks, so that's about just as fair. 

Also once more Toki will be nowhere to be seen, enjoying time off (jeez, we could all use this much vacation in quick succession). Whether that means for the entire 2 weeks duration of the Leeroy event, like before, or just until all special tasks have been finished, we currently do not know. 


Once more, the notification you might end up seeing a whole lot.

There might be no real reason to hurry if nothing is being lost or gained by doing so. You can take your time and aim to finish the event at a more relaxed pace. Those extra days (and perhaps the added rating rewards from the coming new PvP season in April) could be just what your Mercenaries might need in order to catch up. 

And unlike with the first iteration, you won't even be able to rush through all possible tasks in one day - at least not until they all become available by March 26.

Some Patience Required

Yes, we've heard this one before and then it still turned out that all event tasks had been accidentally released on the very first day, but we already have actual confirmation from the live servers that it's not going to be the case anymore: 

Quote From Blizzard
Time’s up! Let’s do this! On March 22, Leeroy Jenkins is charging into Mercenaries with his own special event. The event consists of 10 special Tasks starring Leeroy and the Black Dragonflight! For the first five days of the event, you can get up to two event Tasks each day, but you have until April 5 to complete all 10 Tasks. Complete all 10 Tasks to get over 750 Mercenary Coins, the Leeroy Jenkins Legendary Mercenary Card, a Leeroy Jenkins Golden Portrait, and a Leeroy Jenkins Diamond Portrait. This event is not for the faint of heart! Orcs, Humans, Dragons, and Fighters will all be needed as you form your raiding parties for this event.
 

Up to 2 Tasks per day it is, they seemingly got it working as intended for this round. Fewer total coins than it was the case for Chi-Ji and the gang, but more cosmetics instead - including a Diamond Portrait, something that's a very rare find in Mercenaries Packs, and thus highly desirable by dedicated collectors. And unlike Epic Event Chi-ji, Leeroy Jenkins goes one step above with that Legendary quality. 

It's a good thing if you ended up developing your Dragons previously, or did so over the past couple of weeks. They are going to be seeing some action again. Our reliable Beasts get a chance to rest now as Orcs & Humans (the title of the very first Warcraft game, as it happens) have to step up.

Full Steam Charge at These Tasks

Now, if you are averse to any potential spoilers or wish to learn everything at your own pace, your best bet would be to skip this following section. Following along with Event Leeroy as in-game guide should eventually show you everything there is to this event.  

For anyone else willing to see the entire list ahead of time, it's worth noting that all challenges along with their associated rewards have already been uncovered by Use25, the admin of Hearthstone Wiki, who has also done this for the preceding event. The presented information turned out to be 100% correct before, so we have no reason to assume anything would be wrong about it now - but we're not going to be able to confirm everything until all tasks have been released in-game.

Update: All 10 Tasks are available for completion now, just as listed below. 

The order of tasks, names, requirements, and rewards as follows: 


(Source)

Perhaps still not for the faint of heart, but we can already spot some notable differences compared to the highly demanding Chi-Ji Tasks. Back then we had 7 out of 10 challenges requiring Heroic Bounties, now it looks like it's only going to be 4 of them. The rest should be doable on Normal - unless you enjoy making life harder for yourself or have a very good reason to attempt a higher difficulty at the same time: be it equipment unlocks, other daily tasks with such requirements, or just that thirst for a greater challenge. 

At a glance, there should be nothing nearly as painful as Heroic Lokholar the Ice Lord with only Beasts and Dragons (i.e. Task 8 of the previous event). And even the final task doesn't ask for "only" Humans, leaving us at least that bit of wiggle room for including any other Mercenary. The reward is also only a cosmetic upgrade (as opposed to over 200 coins), so if you definitely don't care about those... easy enough to skip. 

Update: Tasks 6 and 7 have certainly stood out in terms of creativity. It's not often people have a reason to use smaller parties, unless it's to try to hunt Mysterious Strangers in order to line up more tasks for a specific Mercenary character.

Definitely one of the best opportunities to try out this new "upgradeable Treasures" feature: 

Quote From Blizzard

  • When you get offered a Bounty Treasure for a Merc that already has a Treasure, you will be now offered the option to upgrade your current Treasure, instead of just keeping or replacing it.

All in all, it looks like the Mercenaries team might've already managed to include some small adjustments on short notice, based on the feedback received during the Chi-Ji event. If you recall: 

Quote From DeckTech
That said, we've heard the feedback on some rough edges with this event and the team is specifically looking to incorporate feedback to improve future events (maybe not a ton of changes for the next one, since it is very far along at this point, but going forward).
 

The future special events (sounds like this is going to become more or less a regular aspect of the Hearthstone Mercenaries experience) could end up being even more inclusive.

Let Leeroy Guide Your Ways

We also happen to have more dedicated in-house guides this time around, with Avalon hard at work exploring various possible paths through text and video alike - while also referencing some recommendations from other established content creators within the community. Give them a look if you haven't had an opportunity to do so yet; there is also useful information to be found regarding particular Bounties, as it's not solely all about one boastful Event Leeroy:

No Bugs This Time, or Yet To Be Found?

Let's hope for that first alternative! Although we won't know outright, or at least not entirely until the weekend; as we don't get to properly test all Tasks at once this time. And if you'd initially attempted them during the previous event, you might very well recall some of the frustrations: certain requirements not counting if you'd picked any Boons along the way, summons interfering with the completion, all Mercs having to remain alive during the climb, and so on. It was very obscure trying to figure out what worked and why, and what did not. 

Fingers crossed for a cleaner experience across the board as we move forward, it would certainly make for more favorable player impressions. The first event was quite fun and challenging in its own right (once most everything has been fixed, that is), but also very messy. We need Hearthstone Mercenaries to do better. So in Leeroy Jenkins we trust!

Update: So far so good, we still haven't heard about anything game breaking, requiring workarounds, or preventing smooth task completion. 

Leeeeeroooy Jenkiiins!

If you've been playing Hearthstone for more than a couple of years, you might be very well acquainted with the character and all the infamous "OTK" Charge tendencies of old. Leeroy Jenkins was either universally loved or hated, or maybe it was a peculiar mix of the two? The original Classic card has even spawned a semi-immortal meme that used to be a Twitch chat spam favorite during any relevant HSEsports events: 

Quote From Odemian
Leeroy Jenkins created a strategy that revolved around trying to defeat your opponent in one turn without requiring any cards on the board. Fighting for board control makes a game of Hearthstone more fun and compelling, but taking 20+ damage in one turn is not fun or interactive.

Does it seem somehow even more relevant in the wake of certain Stormwind and Alterac Valley decks we have just about lived through? You might even be forgiven for missing the good ol' Leeroy. Or not, if you consider that since his eventual rotation we've seen 'worthy' successors (Mr. Smite or Captain Galvangar) arrive to take that 'honorable' charging spot. But he would always remain the best and most known in this distinguished category, there is not a shred of doubt about that. 

Leeroy Jenkins Card Image

But, if you've been playing World of Warcraft at any point during the early golden days, or heard the past glorious echoes of one of its undisputable legends, you might know where it all really began for one Leeeeeroooy Jenkiiins. A familiar sounding region of Blackrock Mountain (or more specifically, a smaller raid instance called Upper Blackrock Spire), and a guild with clever people who thought to stage a commentary on how MMO players tend to plan their excursions akin to detailed military operations... until somebody has had enough of that and dives into battle headfirst, battle cry and all that. The original upload might've been lost, but the video has been preserved for posterity elsewhere. Bad audio and all that: 

If you recall some of the lines from the video and compare them to the Task names for this event (or Leeroy's voice over in-game), you should certainly be able to spot more than a few familiarities. 
 
And now it turns out that Hearthstone isn't yet done with its Leeroy renditions. Becoming a Mercenary seems to be a very fitting destiny for the guy (if he wasn't one already, who knows), even though in this particular scenario we find him entering the game as part of the Onyxia's Lair Bounties, rather than have it be the historical Blackrock Mountain ties. Event Leeroy does like to wander around, so perhaps that's par for the course...
 
 
Best ability ever?
Leeroy Jenkins Card Image Leeroy Jenkins Card Image Leeroy Jenkins Card Image
 
Update: If you remembered to check your Mercenaries mailbox recently (and don't tend to ignore those exclamation marks by default), you might've also noticed that enticing Diamond Portrait showcase: 
 

Hmm, welp? 

As previously with Chi-Ji, players who miss out on or skip the event altogether will still have their chance to acquire this Mercenary, just at a later date: 

Quote From Blizzard
Leeroy will be earned exclusively through the Leeroy event until it is made available through the normal means of acquiring Mercenaries in the next major patch after the event is over.
 

It is a Legendary quality Merc, so well worth it to grab for free if you are able. It's just the two simple initial tasks. You know how Mercenaries packs can be like, after all. Going through dozens of them without finding a single Legendary (alas, not even a poor man's pity timer seems to exist) does happen to the unlucky souls among us. And the community is still rightfully up in arms about it. 

That one last bounty for the Onyxia's Lair zone is also set to open only once the event concludes. We've also seen this implementation before: 

Quote From Blizzard

  • Mi’da Pure Void (unlocked after the Leeroy Jenkins event)

All new Bounties, except for the Mi’da Pure Void Bounty, will be unlocked with the patch. The Mi’da Pure Void Bounty will be unlocked after the conclusion of the Leeroy Jenkins event.

By now there is no shortage of more detailed walkthroughs for the event, should you find yourself lost along the way. As always, there are a lot of Mercenaries and potential strategies available to explore! Aside from the most dedicated players with very advanced (if not already maxed) Mercenaries collections, the rest of us will have to make do with whatever we got up until this point. Everyone's mileage may vary ever so slightly as a result. 

Meanwhile, feel free to discuss any and all tips & tricks with fellow members here in the comments section as well as under dedicated Task Guides, on our forums, or the Out of Cards #Mercenaries Discord channel. All of your insights have been incredibly valuable the last time around! There is also a reliable subreddit for the game mode with its associated active Discord, if you are looking for a particularly focused crowd of players. And of course, we'll keep updating this article periodically if and as new information comes to light.