When you enter the new Mercenaries mode, you will be taken to the Village. The Village is the central hub to all things Mercenaries, the place where you can manage your Mercenaries, prepare for Bounties, check the Task Board, and so much more. Here you can learn more about the Village, how to upgrade your Mercenaries, and what Mercenaries will be available at launch!
First, let’s take a look at the sights in the Village.
...So, you’ve selected a Bounty and are preparing to head out, but you’re not quite sure how you plan to get your target? It starts with a good team and strong fundamentals, then the rest is up to you and your Mercenaries! If you’re not ready yet, you can check out our Overview blog first. Come back here when you’re ready to start your first Bounty.
Immediately after selecting a Bounty, you will be taken to a Party select screen similar to selecting a deck in Play Mode. From there, you can select a Party you’ve already created, or you can make a new one. Picking which 6 Mercenaries to put in your Party is one of the most important parts of taking on any Bounty.
The first t...
Read moreAre you ready for the biggest Battlegrounds update to date?! To start, we’re introducing an entirely new Battlegrounds specific keyword, Avenge, that does something after (x) friendly minions die. Then, we’re replacing 37 minions with new ones and adding two new Heroes! You can get an idea of how the Avenge keyword works by checking out those new minions below.
Before you do, we’ve made a few fundamental changes we want to make you aware of. We’ve added a damage cap of 15 damage until the first player dies, meaning that no player can take more than 15 damage from combat until the first player in a lobby dies or disconnects. We’ve also increased turn timers so that everyone has time to get familiar with the new content: the length of turns 3-9 have been increased by 5 seconds. Everyone will start fresh with this update as ratings will be reset with the 21.2 patch to make way for a new season.
Mark your calendars! On August 31, at 9 a.m. PT, on both Twitch and Youtube, join Hearthstone Game Director Ben Lee, Game Designer Joe Killion, and U.I. Designer Hasiba Arshad for a deep dive into the upcoming Mercenaries game mode. The showcase will feature gameplay, reveal tons of content, and formally announce the Mercenaries launch date—it...
Read moreThe fourth Masters Tour of 2021 is this weekend! Over 400 invited players from more than 40 countries will compete for a chance to take home a share of the $250,000 (USD) prize pool. Join us this weekend and earn Year of the Phoenix Drops as your favorite players face-off for their shot at claiming the title of Masters Tour Silvermoon champion, only on YouTube!
The 21.0.3 patch, releasing tomorrow, includes changes to eight cards in Standard, updates to five Battlegrounds heroes, and several bug fixes.
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Hearthstone Grandmasters returns for the second season of 2021! The top 48 players from around the world will compete to earn a spot at the 2021 World Championship. Here’s everything you need to know to keep up with this season’s Grandmaster action. We’ll see you in the Tavern!
Welcome to Stormwind, travelers. United in Stormwind is now live worldwide with 135 new collectible cards, the new Tradeable keyword, Questlines, profession tools, mounts, and so much more.
Cards with the new Tradeable keyword can be played like normal, or, for one mana, can be dragged back to your deck in exchange for another card.
All 10 classes have access to a Questline. Questlines start in your hand and have three phases. Earn rewards for completing each phase of the Questline, culminating in a powerful Legendary mercenary minion.
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The 21.0 patch prepares the Tavern for United in Stormwind, launching August 3. It also brings a new Hero and cosmetics for Battlegrounds, a major update for Duels, an Arena rotation, and more.
You can check out all 135 new cards included in United in Stormwind on the card library here.
NEW HERO
Galewing
Since launching Hearthstone Masters in 2019, we’ve continued to look at how we can keep improving the ecosystem. Masters Tours and their respective qualifiers are at the core of the competitive Hearthstone community, and going into the second half of the year, there are a few key areas that we want to adjust to further improve the competitive experience for players and fans.
For the final two Qualifiers seasons of the year, we are adjusting how players earn invites. Winning a Masters Tour Qualifier will still earn you an automatic invite, but to reward consistency players will now earn Masters Tour invites based on overall match win rates throughout a Qualifiers season instead of the current top 8 placements system. Beginning with the Qualifiers for Masters Tour Stormwind, the top 50 highest win percentage players that competed in at least 20 Qualifiers witho...
Read moreThe 20.8.2 patch, releasing on July 15, includes changes for three cards in Standard and three bug fixes for Battlegrounds.
Dev Comment: We’re doing two Priest changes, targeting the burst healing available in the class and their generation capabilities. Let's start with Apotheosis—we are moving the buff down to +1/+2 to hit the card's general power and combo capabilities. Wh...
Read moreBelow are the Arena leaderboards for May 1, 2021 - July 1, 2021. Arena rankings reflect players’ best 30 consecutive runs throughout a season. The players featured below have exhibited top-notch deckbuilding skills, in-the-moment decision making, and unyielding dedication to achieve a most noteworthy feat!
For an Arena run to be included in this season, its end time must have been between May 1, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. and July 1, 2021 at 9:59:59 a.m.
Dynamic ladder rankings are now also available for the Standard and Wild ladders.
Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021 started with a blast, providing some of the most intense matches we have seen in years! New stars emerged in every region, and the advent of weekly seasonal tournaments set new heights for players to aspire to in their quest to join the Hall of Champions. As we go into the second half of the year, we look toward Season 2 of Grandmasters, and cannot wait to get the next phase of competition started.
With the ...
Read moreThe Fire Festival is back! This year, Ragnaros is throwing a house party in the Firelands. Everybody’s invited! The Fire Festival will last for three weeks, from July 6 at 10:00 AM PT to July 27 at 10:00 AM PT. Here are some of the activities you’ll be able to enjoy during that time, and some other fun stuff that’s on the horizon:
There will be 7 Legendary Fire Festival quests in addition to your normal daily quests. Complete one Legendary quest to unlock the next one! The first six quests will each reward you with a Year of the Phoenix pack, and the last quest will grant you a Druid of the Flame Malfurion Hero skin! These quests will only be granted until 10:00 AM PT on July 27, so don’t show up too late!
The 20.8 patch, releasing on July 1, brings pre-purchase for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, United in Stormwind! It also features major updates for Battlegrounds and Duels, and future fun in the form of the Fire Festival, Book of Mercenaries Kurtrus, and Book of Heroes Gul'dan!
United in Stormwind will launch worldwide on August 3 with 135 new collectible cards! You can find the full schedule for card reveals, and see which cards were announced today, by visiting the card library, here. Check back frequently—the list will be updated with new cards as they’re revealed!
The United in Stormwind Mega Bundle includes 80 United in Storm...
Read moreWith all that experience fighting Quilboar in the Barrens, heroes like you have leveled up! It’s time to replenish your bags, repair your armor, and prepare for a new quest. . .
Join us on July 1 at 9:30 a.m. PT, on either Twitch or YouTube, for the reveal of the next Hearthstone expansion! Lead Designer Alec Dawson will kick things off with an overview on what you ca...
Read moreMasters Tour Dalaran proved to be the Chinese Masters Tour as Wang “ShuiMoo” Qihao defeated Lin “OmegaZero” Zheng, both from China, in a clean 3-0 sweep! With the fourth clean sweep of Day 3, ShuiMoo made short work of the final match to claim $25,000 in prizing as the Masters Tour Dalaran champion.
Chinese players dominated the third Masters Tour of the year, overall, with three out of four Top4 positions earned by players from China. ShuiMoo ultimately pulled ahead, and in the words of Alex “Raven” Baguley, won “in such a quick fashion, and such a convincing fashion” with his Rush Warrior, OTK Demon Hunter, and Miracle Rogue,...
Read moreThe 20.4.2 patch, which will release on June 16, includes one update for Wild and two balance changes for Battlegrounds.
Dev Comment: We've decided to ban Stealer of Souls in Wild, where it caused many games to stray too far away from the type of gameplay we’re aiming for. After deliberating on the appropriate action, we’ve decided to ban the card in order to maintain its current, and healthier, function in standard—as well as eliminate the problems caused in Wild. We do not have plans to ban many cards in the future. Bans will be reserved for cards creating extreme gameplay issues where there is no great solution for all formats. Since this is the first decision of its kind in Hearthstone, we'd love to hear your feedback. We’ll continue to monitor the card in all Modes and formats to determine if further action is needed elsewhere. When Stealer of Souls rotates i...
Read moreDominique “Itachi” Roberts is a community advocate for inclusivity with a history in competitive gaming. Here, he talks about his time in the tavern, gives tips on coaching Hearthstone, and discusses elevating inclusive community development. So, pull up a chair, it’s time for Tavern Talks!
The following interview has been edited for readability.
Q: Tell us about yourself! How did you get into Hearthstone?
A: I’m from Birmingham Alabam...
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