Hearthstone Mercenaries guide: How to play, Combat Roles, Minions & more

Hearthstone’s new game mode, Mercenaries, adds an entirely new gameplay mechanic and some exciting new minions to the card game.

Hearthstone has been introducing lots of new content to the game over the past couple of years, and Mercenaries is the next step in that progression.

Before this, Battlegrounds was introduced. This immediately became a hit among the community, offering an entirely new way to play the game, while still keeping the same, classic, Hearthstone charm.

Mercenaries looks to go even further than Battlegrounds, especially in its push to have truly engaging PvE content for players to enjoy.

Hearthstone Mercenaries release date

Hearthstone Mercenaries will officially be playable on October 12.

The game mode’s spot on the main launcher can already be seen, and it will become clickable, and playable, on Oct 12. This, of course, is pending any last-minute delays from Hearthstone.

How to play Mercenaries: Gameplay & guide

On October 4, the Hearthstone YouTube account released a new video that breaks down the gameplay element of Mercenaries. This comes after a somewhat confusing launch in late August that had much of the community lost on what exactly the mode would entail.

This video walks through the game’s core gameplay, which revolves around the new Mercenary cards that are core elements of the new mode.

In Mercenaries, players are continuously in the process of upgrading their current lineup of Mercenary cards and unlocking new ones to battle with.

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You will be able to upgrade these cards with upgrade accessories and level them up in order to unlock new abilities and take down more and more challenging PvE bosses, or bounties.

Mercenaries, once played on the battlefield, will square off against the enemy cards and exchange attacks. Each card has three different attacks to choose from, each with its own priority, effect, and damage in battle. The image below shows an example of that sequence about to take place.

Activision Blizzard

After a player has selected their attacks, their order will be determined, and the minions will square off in that order.

Combat Roles in Hearthstone Mercenaries

There are three combat roles in Hearthstone Mercenaries: Protectors, Casters, and Fighters.

Each of these is doubly strong against one, forming a triangle of bonus damage.

Activision Blizzard

Combat Roles in Mercenaries will play a big part in the strategy of building a solid squad

Each of the roles has a baseline set of expectations that are expanded upon in the initial announcement blog post.

• Protectors (red frames): Tend to be slower and bulkier than their counterparts, but can still deal large amounts of damage.
• Fighters (green frames): Fast units that deal heavy damage centered around attacks or spells.
• Casters (blue frames): Spellcasters that seek to control the board, seemingly most like a supporting character.

Minions will also have separate abilities, like Deathrattles, that can trigger throughout each round. Altogether, players will have to be on their toes in each round to be as strategic as possible.

The Village

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The Village has several buildings, all of which can be upgraded to unlock more content.

The Village will act as the core hub for Mercenaries players. It’s where they will accept bounties, upgrade and manage their minions, and so on.

Below are the different buildings in The Village, as highlighted in the video.

• Tavern: Where players upgrade and make adjustments to their minions.
• Bounty Board: Where players accept and begin the process of taking a bounty. These provide coins that players spend to upgrade their units.
• Fighting Pit: The PvP element of Mercenaries where players can challenge one another.

There are other areas that appear to be in the village, like a campfire your mercenaries will gather around, for example. However, the tavern, battle board, and fighting pit will likely make up the core gameplay options within the mode.

New Minions in Hearthstone Mercenaries

Hearthstone has officially announced eleven of the mercenaries that will be featured. Some will look familiar, while others are brand new.

Players will be able to earn eight of these simply by completing the prologue and intro missions. The other three are Diablo-specific minions that can be pre-purchased with a bundle or earned by completing bounties in-game.

• Read More: Exclusive ⁠— How Blizzard is building for “next seven years” of Hearthstone

Below is a gallery of all of the minions that will be featured at launch in Hearthstone Mercenaries, including their abilities and equipment that players will be able to upgrade throughout their journey.

Activision Blizzard

Cornelius Roame

Activision Blizzard

Millhouse Manastorm

Activision Blizzard

Xyrella

Activision Blizzard

Blademaster Samuro

Activision Blizzard

Tyrande Whisperwind

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Rokara

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Grommash Hellscream

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Cariel Roame

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Diablo (part of the Diablo expansion)

Activision Blizzard

The Lich King (part of the Diablo expansion)

Activision Blizzard

Sylvanas (part of the Diablo expansion)

We will continue to provide updates on any new minions released or updates to Hearthstone Mercenaries. In the meantime, be sure to check out our other Hearthstone content!