The highly condensed reveal schedule for Hearthstone Mercenaries began with two characters shown via the dedicated Discord server, and that's where it ended (they also staggered a couple of their releases to fit in between the reveals from Grumpi and The Fighting Pit Podcast).
In simpler terms - here are the final four Mercenaries set to join the game mode on September 27, along with the entire Maw and Disorder Mini-Set. Some famous individuals in this batch as well, if you enjoy keeping up with your Warcraft and Hearthstone lore. As we briefly mentioned when discussing the recent development update, this indeed now brings us to 14 new characters total. Thanks for following along!
With everything now revealed, 24.4 patch notes will be next on the line! Undoubtedly still with a few surprises in store.
Final Four Mercenaries
Just like Nemsy and Neeru, it's all Rares in this final round. So at least something guaranteed to appear in your collection with only a few packs necessary to be opened. We have another Caster, one Fighter, and two Protectors. With varied races: ranging from a Human and Night Elf, to a Half-Orc and Demon.
All relevant notes on their abilities, equipment, and stats attached below.
Garona Halforcen (Rare Fighter)
- Half-Orc
- 10/84 Maxed Stats
- Abilities:
- Smoke and Knives 5 (Shadow): (Speed 8) Attack an enemy and deal 20 damage to an adjacent one. If this isn’t a Fighter, become one and deal 26 instead.
- Shimmering Toxin 5 (Nature): (Speed 1) Gain +10 Attack. Take 12 less damage this turn. Become a Protector. (Starts off Cooldown)
- One And The Same 5: (Speed 1, Cooldown 1) Discover a Lineage ability. Combo: Become a Caster first.
- Equipment:
- Shadowstep 4: End Of Turn: If you control another Merc, gain +4/+5 and return to the bench.
- Halforcen Legacy 4: Battlecry: If you control another Orc, gain +3/+10 . Repeat for Draenei and Human.
- Knife of Indecision 4: Battlecry: Gain +15 Health and become Neutral.
Aranna Starseeker (Rare Caster)
- Night Elf
- 9/81 Maxed Stats
- Abilities:
- Edge Cancel 5: (Speed 6) Gain +7 Attack this turn and Attack an enemy. If it has less Attack, return this to the bench.
- Felodic Intonement 5 (Fel): (Speed 9) Deal 22 damage to an enemy. Set its Attack to 0 until the end of next turn.
- Aggrobatics 5 (Fel): (Speed 2, Cooldown 1) Deal 10 damage to an enemy and swap with an ally across from it. Enemy abilities targeting the Mercs swap targets (if possible).
- Equipment:
- 1. Unbreakable Backpack 4: Battlecry: Gain +2 Fel, Arcane, and Nature Damage. Gain +1 more for each of your other Night Elves and Demons.
- 2. Lambic Pentameter 4: Passive: Enemies across from this have -8 Attack.
- 3. Glaive Land 4: Battlecry: Gain +5 Health and Role advantage against this Merc’s current role.
Tess Greymane (Rare Protector)
- Human
- 16/92 Maxed Stats
- Abilities:
- 1. Yoink! 5 (Shadow): (Speed 4) Deal 15 damage. Transform into a one time copy of the ability the target cast this turn. (if possible)
- 2. Moonlight Resolve! 5 (Arcane): (Speed 3) Restore 25 Health. Transform into a one time copy of the last enemy ability cast this turn (if possible).
- 3. Princess Power! 5: (Cooldown 1) Discover an enemy ability. Cast 12 unique abilities this game to transform into What I’m Capable Of! (12 left) 3.5 What I’m Capable Of!: Cast 5 random abilities you’ve cast this game at an enemy (if possible).
- Equipment:
- 1. Cloak of Shadows 4: Yoink! and Moonlight Resolve! transform permanently. Their initial effects are improved by 6.
- 2. Steadfast Convictions 4: Passive: +4/+8. After this deals damage to a Merc, gain Role advantage.
- 3. Tools of the Trade 4: Start of Game: Transform Yoink! and Moonlight Resolve! into random single use enemy abilities. Gain +15 Health.
Prince Malchezaar (Rare Protector)
- Demon
- 12/79 Maxed Stats
- Abilities:
- 1. Party Crasher 5: (Speed 3) Attack an enemy. If it is a Protector, it takes 10 more damage this turn.
- 2. Check Your Weapons 5 (Fel): (Speed 5) Deal 18 damage to the highest Attack enemy. If it is a Fighter, its Attack is permanently halved, rounded up
- 3. All Realities 5 (Shadow): (Speed 3, Cooldown 2) Deal 25 to the next enemy who acts this turn. If it is a Caster, set it’s remaining Health to 5 instead.
- Equipment:
- 1. Flying Axes 4: Passive: +15 Health. Battlecry: Change a random enemy Merc’s Role to Protector.
- 2. Parrying Blade 4: Battlecry: Permanently reduce enemy Protectors’ and Casters’ Attack by 10.
- 3. Three Moves Ahead 4: Passive: Enemy Casters’ abilities are (2) Speed slower.
Now we know everything there is about the new upcoming Mercenaries. It should also bring us to 114 total playable characters once the patch goes live on Tuesday, September 27. And you can only fit in 6 of them into a single party! Tough choice.
Comments
Love that they added a Charge keyword.
Lore question: Why is Genn a werewolf and Tess isn't?
The Gilneans only got the worgen curse quite recently (so Tess didn't inherit it), and she was never bitten like her dad was. So she's just a normal human. There was a quest where she wanted to become a worgen to better understand her people when she becomes queen, but didn't go through with it in the end (see https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Tess_Greymane#Battle_for_Azeroth).
Thanks! Makes a lot of sense. Now that you say it, the only wow I played was the worgen start and new some of that, but forgot.
Aww, Tess is playing with everyone's favourite Witchwood good boy, Blink Fox. That's adorable, and I'm taking it as confirmation that Blink Fox is basically her pet.
I really like that the designers have increased the complexity of the mercenaries, with creative interactions with the bench that work in PvE and in PvP.
I do wish the game mode was solely focused on PvE -- we already have five other modes based on PvP; we didn't need a sixth one.
PvE is tremendously kinder to having a limited roster and/or underdeveloped mercs. There is no way that a PvE mode would get the revenue they're looking for. :-/
Looks like Rexxar will no longer be the lone Half-Orc in the entire mode.
But it makes me curious if there really are enough Half-Orc characters they could implement into the mode to justify the tribe.
For lore purposes they are Half-Orcs, but for game play purposes at least Rexxar counts as a full Orc.
Maybe one day they'll implement true multi-tribe, so we can have the Lich King as an Undead Human and Hooktusk as a Troll Pirate.
There's still only one poor Gronn (Grull) and Pandaren (Cho), so they are apparently more generous at assigning races than the other Hearthstone teams for their tribes.
Does Gruul have a tribe now? He was tribeless for as long as I can remember.
Yes, you can see as much in-game. I don't remember when exactly it happened, but must've been a while.