Over the last few years, Hearthstone has been steadily evolving. New modes like Battlegrounds and Duels have radically changed how players can interact with the game, essentially functioning as new standalone games within Hearthstone. The popular card-battler is more than just 30 card decks facing off against each other now, and is instead a platform.
This is a very deliberate approach by the development team, and the newest mode to reinvent what Hearthstone can be is Mercenaries. We got our first proper look at the mode today, and also found out that it’s not far off – Mercenaries will launch on October 12 in most of the world, and on October 13 everywhere else, such as ANZ.
So, what's the mode all about? Well, as the name suggests it's built around recruiting and building squads of mercenaries to do battle. The mode will have 50 unique mercenaries out of the gate, including iconic Blizzard characters like Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord and Diablo – yes, the Lord of Terror is coming to Hearthstone! – with more to come. Combat itself sees players choose mercenaries from their team to take part, then face off against a number of opponents on the other side of the board. Each turn they pick an action for each of their mercenaries; choosing an ability to use and an enemy to attack, while their opponent does the same. Once both sides have locked their actions in, combat for the turn plays out.
Anticipation is key, as mercenaries come in three different roles – designated by three different colours. They are: Fighter (green), Caster (blue) and Protector (red). Each role has different strengths and weaknesses, and at a basic level fit into a rock, paper, scissors system. While on offence, Fighters deal double damage to Casters; Casters deal double damage to Protectors; and Protectors deal double damage to Fighters.
As mentioned, each mercenary has upgradeable abilities to choose between for each turn. These can attack, cast spells, buff, heal and so on. Samuro, for instance, is all about attacking and doing damage, whereas Xyrella's abilities are more focused around healing and debuffs. (You can see all the abilities for both these Mercenaries in the slideshow below.) Mercenaries can even expand their abilities as a run progresses. After each battle, one of your mercenaries gets the chance to choose a treasure to further modify their capabilities.
Choosing which abilities to use each turn isn’t just about what those abilities do, it’s about how they fit into your team’s strategy and how they match up against the opponent’s. It’s also about how quickly they activate. Each ability has a speed rating and once all the abilities have been locked in, this is what dictates attack order. (If two mercenaries are using an ability with the same speed rating the one that goes first is randomised.)
Toss in tribal mechanics, spell school synergies, factoring in positional play, cooldowns on abilities, abilities that disrupt your opponent and a whole lot more, and it’s looking like Mercenaries’ gameplay will offer up a dense web of potential synergies and strategies for each squad you put together.
Mercenaries mode has both PVE and PVP gameplay. PVE is all about chasing bounties, with players fighting through a series of procedurally-generated encounters leading up to the bounty boss. This roguelike structure is then paired with the meta game of leveling up your mercenaries, who gain experience by defeating enemies, and grow in power up to level 30. PVP, meanwhile, has achievements and rewards to earn, and players can fight for a place on its leaderboard.
Players can collect mercenaries either by opening special Mercenaries packs, or by spending Mercenary Coins (which are earned through bounties and other tasks) to craft them. It’s worth underlining here that Mercenary Coins aren’t a general currency, they’re specific to a particular mercenary. So you can redeem Mercenary Coins to “craft” that mercenary if you don’t own it, but if you do, coins can then be used to upgrade their abilities or equipment. (Each mercenary can have one piece of equipment – which augments one or more abilities – equipped at a time.)
Much like traditional Hearthstone cards, mercenaries also come in different rarities – Rare, Epic and Legendary, which presumably factors into how likely you are to get them in packs. Speaking of packs, they can be earned or purchased, and each contains five mercenary items. This can include new Mercenary cards, Mercenary Coins or Mercenary portraits. (Each pack has a guaranteed Mercenary card or Mercenary portrait.) Portraits, incidentally, are cosmetic variants of mercenaries.
Everyone who completes the introductory missions after Mercenaries launches will be rewarded with eight "well-rounded" mercenaries – enough to put together a party. Completing the Prologue and starting on a bounty will also reward players with a new mount for World of Warcraft – Sarge, from Hearthstone's tavern.
Mercenaries isn't just a new button in Hearthstone's UI, either. It actually has its own central hub within the wider game – the Village. Here, you can manage your collection of mercenaries, collect rewards, head to the shop and take on bounties.
For those that are keen to hit the ground running, there will be three Mercenaries pre-purchase bundles available. The Diablo bundle includes a Diamond Legendary Diablo Mercenary Card and 50 Mercenaries packs. The Lich King bundle includes a Diamond Legendary Lich King Mercenary Card and 50 Mercenaries packs. The Sylvanas bundle includes a Golden Legendary Sylvanas Mercenary Card and 30 Mercenaries packs.
While we really need to go hands-on with this mode to get a proper feel for it, Mercenaries looks like a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to diving into it along with the rest of the Hearthstone player base on October 12.
Cam Shea has worked at IGN since the before times, and has played more Breath of the Wild than just about any other game. He's barely on Twitter.