The final Hearthstone Mercenaries Leveling Guide is just inside. Begin your journey to mastering Mercenaries PvP with the Casters!

This Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide hopes to serve you as a hub of information: something you can return to. A map for each Caster--including how to spend their earliest Coins and complete their most important tasks. Welcome to my Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide for Leveling Casters! We'll be focusing heavily on Mercenaries PvP as well as how best to navigate the early game.

If you like this we also have other guides:

Hearthstone Mercenaries: Leveling Guide for Fighters
Hearthstone Mercenaries Leveling Guide for Protectors

Expect these to be updated as new Mercenaries are released, like these!

The Casters: Everything You Need to Know (Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide)

Anduin Wrynn

Best Equipment: Ring of Purity (Task 2)

Coin Farms: Lord Banehollow (2.6)

Anduin has proven himself to be one of, if not the best, reasons to play Holy Comp. The bonus Health from his Equipment, Robes of Purity, grows him to Garrosh sizes-- easily pushing 100, even 150 Health! If left unchecked Anduin will grind you out and do decent damage to boot, especially when combined with Prophet Velen.

On top of the Holy and Healing synergies, Anduin suits up well with the Humans and, honestly, by himself. The fact that Anduin's "random Human" heal will always self-target if he's alone opens up some deep Bench Strats. Don't be surprised when Anduin is good enough outside of Holy and Humans as a flexible, high-value threat that don't need no man.

(Fun Anduin Fact: Salvation, his third ability, reduces damage before any multipliers. That means a 12 damage spell that would crit for 24 now gets reduced by 10 to 2 and crits for 4. It isn't the "bad way," critting for 24 and then reducing by 10 to 14. Thanks, Math!)

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Penance 2 (50 Coins)
  • Step 2: Holy Nova 2 (50 Coins)
  • Step 3: Hola Nova 3 (125 Coins)
  • Step 4: Penance 3 (125 Coins)

Task Priority: High-- Ring of Purity is Anduin's Task 2 Equipment and definitely his best one: every time you Heal any character, Anduin gains up to +5 bonus Health. It's what allows for him to be a "must-kill" priority. Without it he's Fine, but you really want to be able to represent getting out of hand for your opponent.

Antonidas

Best Equipment: Cindercore Staff (Level 30)

Coin Farms: Ursula Windfury (3.4)

The first Mercenaries tournament helped showcase just how-- okay there wasn't much Antonidas at the first tournament. Technically, hilariously, there were actually zero copies of him registered. Which is disrespectful, honestly, because Fire Comp is very strong. The wombo-combo with Baron Geddon and Ragnaros creates a brutal opener that can literally one-shot multiple Mercs on Turn 1!

Antonidas, however, is stuck in the magma. He needs Fire synergies to be playable, but he could be easily outclassed by a new Fire Merc. Flamestrike is good and Fireball does a lot, but unfortunately he has no real text on his kit. No slows, no speed-ups, no weird defensives-- just damage. A tool more than the engine, Antonidas is there for one thing and one thing only: when you require assistance.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Fireball 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Flamestrike 2 (50C)
  • Step 3: Fireball 3 (125C)
  • Step 4: Flamestrike 3 (125C)

Task Priority: Zero-- Tony's good Equipment is Cindercore Staff that you get for free at Level 30. Pumping up Fireball is one of his most important responsibilities-- it's the spell that enables your opener. You need Fire Combo to pop off with Rag and Geddon. Antonidas did his job if he crit for 36 and set up his boys-- and he can do it, no-Tasks-needed.

Baron Geddon

Best Equipment: Mark of Conflagration (Task 2)

Coin Farms: Yeti Hunter Ranel (3.2)

Baron Geddon is secretly the Best Part of Fire Comp: Inferno, his second ability, goes completely stupid with a fully-maxed Rag and Tony, dealing 81 damage on Turn 1-- not including crits.

Like Antonidas and Ragnaros, Geddon tragically, simply reads as "DO DAMAGE". Heating Up sits in the shadow his second ability, Inferno-- if you can ever trigger Fire Combo, you'll basically never click any other button.

The Fiery Three are a very focused laser-bunch, but they are the peak of what they do. If you want linear destruction, look no further!

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Inferno 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Inferno 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Mark of Conflagration 2 (100C)

Task Priority: Medium-High-- Mark of Conflagration is easily Baron's best Equipment, as his sole purpose in life is to commentate Counter-Strik-- err, cast Inferno. This Task has secondary priority to Ragnaros, who really wants to give everyone +3 Fire Damage. But Baron Geddon comes in high on the list! Since it's only a Task 2 and better Coin Value to upgrade than Inferno 4, you can safely scoop this early.

Blink Fox

Best Equipment: Tenth Tail (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Apothecary Helbrim (1.4), Xaravan (2.4)

Blink Fox is a really bizarre Mercenary, but surprisingly found itself uniquely viable in PvP. With their Task 7 Equipment, Tenth Tail, the Fox started seeing play as a counter to Diablo! Tenth Tail would let Mind Thief steal Fire Stomp, ripping it back at super-fast speeds! After that the Fox could do just about anything-- if the bugs would let them. With such a weird character it isn't surprising to catch weird problems, and took a hot second to get sorted out.

Despite the specific Diablo scenario, Blink Fox suffers from a classic but temporary Mercs dilemma-- there aren't enough supporting friends! Arcane as a school is run by Tyrande and Millhouse, who remain effectively unplayed, hurting Blink Fox by extension.

Keep your eyes peeled for a Fighter or Protector with a ~4 Speed Arcane ability to trigger Arcane Combo soon. But for now, just copy Fire Stomp and be happy about it! (Though rumors roll around Ladder in China of Mana Blink after Blink... there's always more to be discovered in Mercenaries PvP!)

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Arcane Fling 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Arcane Fling 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Mind Thief 2 (50C)-- Arcane Fling stops scaling well, so start leveling Mind Thief to go with Tenth Tail later

Task Priority: High-- Blink Fox remains mostly playable due to Tenth Tail, your Task 7 Equipment. Until then you'll settle for the mono Mana Blink strat or as a F2P Merc alongside Millhouse and Tyrande. I wouldn't blame you for leveling this blinky boy up quickly-- have you seen that Baby Fox portrait?!

Brightwing

Best Equipment: Pixie's Pouch (Task 2)

Coin Farms: Emperor Thaurissan (4.3)

Brightwing feels like they should be stronger but just fell short. On paper Faerie Breath looks to stack tons of Attack and Health onto your bench, building extra-huge Samuros and Thralls! However, what ends up happening is that the extra stats don't convert into enough of a payoff for the average game of Mercenaries PvP.

An extra hit from your bench, post-buff, ends up being the equivalent of "add 3-6 damage" to Faerie Breath. Going from 10 base damage to 15 is nice, but that's still on the low end of Caster DPS. Your bench "heals" from +10 bonus Health, but now Faerie Breath reads: "Deal 15, Heal 10". Things become comparable to other more-powerful or better-tribed Casters like Anduin, and Brightwing weeps.

Brightwing ends up forcing your opener to include a low-damage, low-Health Caster-- not exactly a power position. Most opening strategies tend to prefer extreme lethality or extreme Speed / Damage manipulation-- Aggro or Control. Brightwing falls into the Middle, unable to muster up a better argument to play them over the polarized extremes. For now!

As always with the semi-supported folk, Brightwing is just a dragon or five away from hitting the jackpot. Expect a future Mercenaries leveling guide that can't stop talking about how good Brightwing is once they've got a brood.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Faerie Breath 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Faerie Breath 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Pixie Dust 2 (50C)
  • Step 4: Pixie Dust 3 (125C)

Task Priority: Eh? Technically Pixie's Pouch, Brightwing's Task 2 Equipment, is your best bet, adding to your already-good healing spell. The thing is, Brightwing isn't made playable or unplayable by their Equipment. If you can find a good way to convert the bonus Attack on your bench, that's the best you can do.

In that vein, Brightwing's Task 7 Equipment, Brightwing's Necklace, can help you make the most of your sitting gang and add another +5 Health for every Faerie Breath, which might end up being the best option down the road.

Bru'kan

Best Equipment: Lightning Rod (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Apothecary Helbrim (1.4), Lord Banehollow (2.6)

Bru'kan is killer. The Nature Comp that features him, Malfurion and Guff can basically single-handedly clear the PvE and PvP. Muddy Footing is one of the best Slows in the game and gives you a really fun audible on Turn 1 in a lot of settings. Remember: don't autopilot and cast Lightning Bolt every time! (And hey, don't forget to check your Tasks before you click on a Mysterious Stranger-- this was your daily reminder.)

His Treasures are also very good, especially the "Cast Two Lightning Bolts"-- Tempest's Fury. Once you start leveling him up you can use him and Nature House to level up everyone else you want! He's very thirsty for Coins, really preferring to have every ability maxed out, but thankfully Lord Banehollow gives Bru'kan Bucks!

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Muddy Footing 2 (50C)-- this is the best way to give Nature Combo to Guff, so if you run him, focus Footing
  • Step 2: Lightning Bolt 2 (50C)
  • Step 3: Muddy Footing 3 (125C)
  • Step 4: Lightning Bolt 3 (125C)-- honestly you want to get every ability up to Rank 3, but +3 Nature Damage is important!

Task Priority: Medium-- Lightning Rod, Bru'kan's Task 7 Equipment, is becoming quickly accepted as the best option. Chain Lightning taking longer but becoming twice as strong doubles down on Bru'kan being a mandatory focus target.

(At first it looked like there might be some contention between that and the flat damage to Lightning Bolt from his Task 2 Equipment, Crackling Band, but you simply cast Muddy Footing too often. Every time you Muddy Footing it's in the place of a Lightning Bolt, so you can completely whiff on getting value out of your Equipment if you go that route.)

Cookie, the Cook

Best Equipment: Appetizers (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Rend Blackhand (4.9)

Cookie is hot off the press and straight into Nature, baby! Cookie plays the role of Vol'jin as that super fast, off-the-bench revenge killer that has a ton of sweet synergies, especially with Malf and the rest of Nature House.

The best part about the Cook is his equipment, Appetizers. Adding +9 Health to everyone on your comp is a pretty sweet upside-- one that might even threaten the format. If this effect is too much (it's weird to say it, but for "simply" playing a 6th man, this "free" upside could be enormous)-- you might start seeing him in Diablo-Cairne levels of inclusion.

The (Bleed) on Cookie's Cooking is another cool new mechanic that we've seen in PvE but not yet in Mercenaries PvP. Though it doesn't stack with Bru'kan in the ideal way (if you cast Cookie's Cooking, then Lightning Bolt, the Bleed will check bonus Nature Damage based on when Cookie cast, not at the time of damage)-- this can still do a ton of damage if left un-healed and ticking away every turn.

Unfortunately the Deathrattle Fish from Go Fish! are mostly medium, but they do represent a silly way to add stacks to your own Fire Stomps-- or farm infinite Tasks! At the moment the Fish don't end combat in PvE, so you can sit there and farm-- the secret sauce.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Unfortunately, max Appetizers, your Equipment (100C+)-- this is the best reason to Cook!
  • Step 2: Fish Feast 2, 3, & 4 (50C+)
  • Step 3: Cookie's Cooking 2, 3, & 4 (50C+)

Task Priority: High-- Appetizers gives your entire team, bench and opener, a bonus 9 Health when maxed. This might be the difference between winning and losing a fight on Turn 1, which ultimately represents upheaving entire matchups. If you Samuro did exact lethal, not anymore! If that Tavish just barely killed Bru'kan, guess again.

The fact that this synergizes perfectly with Malfurion's healing, and Bru'kan's desperate will to live to turn 3 for a Super Chain Lightning-- the list goes on-- makes Cookie a perfect consideration.

Guff Runetotem

Best Equipment: Bramblethorn Totem (Level 30)

Coin Farms: Serena Bloodfeather (1.3), Barak Kodobane (1.6), Garr (4.4)

Guff is a key part of the F2P Nature experience and honestly a cannon in PvP. Once you start getting any bonus Nature Damage rolling from Bru'kan, Mr. Runetotem starts to crank out some pretty nasty DPS-- up to 56 on a crit before any bonuses.

Nearly impossible to focus because his partners tend to be even spookier, Guff tends to be the last to die. Because of this, plan to have more Nature abilities on your bench to continue to guarantee Guff's Nature Combo.

A nice play pattern with Guff and Malf with Liferoot Staff is to Taunt at 0 Speed thanks to Cenarion Surge. When someone is about to die, this can insta-healing your team. This can swing fights on the tiniest of margins that your opponent might not play around. The A.I. won't even have a choice to! (Again, I'd like to reiterate how good Nature is at clearing the PvE content-- a critical part of any Mercenaries leveling guide.)

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Living Brambles 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Living Brambles 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Bramblethorn Totem 2 (100C)

Task Priority: Zero! And by Zero I mean you need to get it, but it's easy to get. Guff cops Bramblethorn Totem as soon as he dings 30, modifying your Guff-Laser: Living Brambles. This Equipment also brings the most efficient way to increase your damage after Rank 3 of Living Brambles! It saves you the 75 Coins for a hot second and pulls as much weight as it can while leveling.

Gul'dan

Best Equipment: Amulet of Souls (Level 30)

Coin Farms: Corrupted Ancient (2.5)

Gul'dan suffers from some of the weirder combinations of issues-- an unusual and under-supported spell school, Fel; Orc synergies that don't vibe with any of the Attack-centric themes of his buddies; and incredible, truly incredibly ponderously slow Speeds.

Gul'dan is the obvious choice for the "Good Blue Guy for Orcs" to fill out the gaps in their color-comp. The problem is: he just kinda isn't worth it. Siphon Life can crit and heal for that amount, which is sweet and Very Powerful, but Casters are extremely strong. Vol'jin, Blink Fox, now even Cookie all represent strong individual Casters that don't care about being an Orc while being more effective.

For now Gul'dan doesn't really make the cut in an already-dying Orc archetype. Instead he's content to sit at Level 1 in your collection, chanting until Fel support rains from the sky.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Fel Bolt 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Fel Bolt 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Siphon Life 2 (50C)-- prioritize this the more Orcs you have and the more AoE you need for PvE

Task Priority: Low-- I'm not sure there's even a consensus on what Equipment is best on Gul'dan because he is that unexplored. My instinct is Amulet of Souls, thankfully just his Level 30 Equipment, that bumps up your highest-ceiling ability, Siphon Life. If Gul'dan is ever good it's probably because he can crit for 24 and heal your team for the same-- why not make it a crit for 32 instead? (Compare Gul'dan to Anduin and you start to see the Holy Diff.)

Jaina Proudmoore

Best Equipment: Ice Block Talisman (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Garr (4.4)

Jaina is very strong and honestly only has up to go. A key part of one of the more dominant openers in the game, Varden-Tavish-Jaina, Ms. Proudmoore just sits there and does her best Bru'kan Lightning Bolt impression-- with a twist. Stacking Frost Damage and pumping up Varden's AoE every turn, Jaina stays threatening thanks to her Ice Block Talisman. This Task 7 Equipment lets Jaina pop Ice Block in the classic Hearthstone way: becoming Immune and guaranteeing another turn after taking lethal damage.

It turns out that Not Dying is really good! In a turn-based game like Mercenaries PvP this translates into an entire extra action for you, The Jaina Gamer, and demands another whole action from your opponent. This sneaky 2-for-1 singlehandedly makes Jaina a consideration for some of the more controlling archetypes in the game.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Ice Floes 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Ice Floes 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Ice Floes 4 (150C) or Water Elemental 2 (50C)

Task Priority: Very High-- Ice Block Talisman is another one of those mandatory Task 7s. Her other Equipment are actually laughably bad in comparison, but the great thing is: Jaina is a cheap date! As Mercenaries go she's one of the lowest Coin Investments to make competitive! A mere 175 Coins (and Task 7) make her dangerously close to full power. All you need is Most of your Ice Floes damage and the +3 Frost Damage to go with Varden! (also Task 7)

Millhouse Manastorm

Best Equipment: Ley Line Wand (Task 2)

Coin Farms: Ferocious Quilboar (1.1), Sunwalker Proudhoof (1.5), Avalanchan (3.3)

Mister Manastorm is so close to being good enough. Just like Blink Fox, Millhouse needs more Arcane Power to be floating around in the meta. Once he gets more (hopefully funky) support in the form of some Arcane Protector, his true power will be unleashed.

Until then his Greater Arcane Missiles remain a relatively slept-on ability, especially from off the bench as a closer. This does 45 damage, straight up, especially once combined with Ley Line Wand to build-an-execute-laser. At 9 Speed you worry about getting one-shot before acting, but this is one of the biggest lasers in Mercenaries.

Millhouse is a F2P king, though! He synergizes really well with Tyrande while you read these Mercenaries leveling guides and figure out how you want to play.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Arcane Bolt 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Arcane Bolt 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Greater Arcane Missiles 2 (50C)-- if you need Arcane Combo or earlier AoE, Arcane Explosion 2 and 3 (175C)
  • Step 4: Greater Arcane Missiles 3 (125C)

Task Priority: Low-- Leyline Wand is neat and all, and as a Task 2 Equipment it's not too much to ask, but it isn't very necessary for PvE or PvP. This Equipment does turn a Bad AoE spell into a really fun ability that catches your opponents by surprise. However, PvE fights tend to end before Missiles can fire, and in PvP he has yet to find solid footing. Blink Fox stole his spot!

At the end of the day you'll probably get two random Millhouse Tasks done as you finish up The Barrens with your Baby's First Comp anyway.

Morgl the Oracle

Best Equipment: Morgl's Mitt (Task 7)-- or Spikey Pufferfish (Task 2) if spamming Murlocs

Coin Farms: Serena Bloodfeather (1.3), Ursula Windfury (3.4)

Morgl is great because he's the Murloc (well, until Cookie came along) that's the most playable outside of his tribe. Morgl has one of the nuttiest single-target heals in the game, a Nature spell that point-and-click heals 30! Combine this with Malfurion's speed-boost and there are some neat combos that involve a certain snake lady and her dreams.

Morgl's best-ish Equipment, Morgl's Mitt, allows for this clean transition. By enabling Murloc Missile to pump everyone, not just Murlocs, he starts to offer even more! As a mini-Malf that passively vibes and adds stats, Morgl can tread out of water. There was a flash-in-the-pan Nature variant with Morgl opening alongside Malfurion and Anacondra, but now Cookie might yoink that place. Unless... por que no los dos?

Of course Morgl is a mandatory piece of the Murloc Comp that, again, is honestly not even that bad! Fishy Barrage does a great Rokara impersonation, and if left unchecked Morgl dons a little pair of druid antlers too. Spikey Pufferfish represents a ton of extra damage via the alternate Equipment when looking to Summon, Survive, and Shoot on Turn 2.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Murloc Missile 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Murloc Missile 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Fishy Barrage 2+ (50C)-- the more Murlocs you have, the better pumping up Fishy Barrage gets! Rank 3 is big.

Task Priority: Medium-- Morgl's Mitt really isn't a game-breaking development in Morgl's playability, and at the end of the day Spikey Pufferfish might just be the best DPS option. Since the latter is Task 2 versus a Task 7, I'd definitely suggest just getting the quick Fish to make use of your early Mutanus and Murk-Eye.

Natalie Seline

Best Equipment: Splinter of Nordrassil (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Avalanchan (3.3)

Natalie Seline is finally getting the respect she deserves. This Shadow-dominant Caster does a silly amount of damage, with one of the strongest single-target lasers in her Shadow Beam-- critting for up to 40!

But she doesn't stop there. Once she's done killing bad guys she swaps over to being Holy, casting Anathema to blast down whole boards and unlocking Benediction. These two abilities, Anathema and Benediction, are packed into one-- and with Splinter of Nordrassil, her Task 7 Equipment, she can even bounce back and forth between them every turn! This rotation of Huge Damage into Huge Heal into Huge Damage can put a lot of opponents into a sticky spot.

Her best current place is alongside more Shadow effects and Samuro to begin threatening Protectors and Casters as early as Speed 1, Turn 1. But funkier comps have embraced her duality, including some of the wild Mono-Blue, All Caster comps featuring Holy and Shadow.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Shadow Beam 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Shadow Beam 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Anathema 2 (50C)
  • Step 4: Anathema 3 (125C)-- if you expect to keep her at Task 2, start leveling Eye of Shadow next (100C+)

Task Priority: Medium-- Splinter of Nordrassil is really good, especially in the face of Tavish in PvP-- it lets you cut the Aimed Shot damage on Turn 1 without dedicating too much to him. But it isn't truly necessary, and if anything there are a lot of really good times for Eye of Shadow. The Eye is a Task 2 instead of Splinter's Task 7, so it actually feels pretty good to just do two quick Tasks. This will give you a nice DPS increase for the mid-game and is a really efficient use of Coins to upgrade instead of her actual abilities. However, be wary of doing this and then wishing you had those Coins for after you eventually swap to Splinter!

Prophet Velen

Best Equipment: Potion of Light (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Garr (4.4)

Prophet Velen is never far from Anduin's side-- this duo makes up the Power Couple of Holy Comp. Velen prepares Anduin's Holy Nova to go supernova, adding Holy Damage and doubling the next spell. This triggers Anduin's Equipment a billion times and puts you in a winning position almost without fail.

Some other good combos for the Prophet's Holy-copying Velen's Blessing ability: Uther's Avenging Wrath, Xyrella's Atonement, and Natalie's Benediction!

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Holy Blast 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Splitting Light 2 (50C)
  • Step 3: Splitting Light 3 (125C)
  • Step 4: If you really want Velen to combo with Anduin, you need to get to Velen's Blessing 4 (350C)(ouch)

Task Priority: Very Low-- Potion of Light is Velen's preferred Equipment of choice, but yowza is it not worth it to grind all seven of those Tasks. He's good, healing your buddies for 40 on a Deathrattle is good, but his power comes from Velen's Blessing, not an Equipment.

Potion of Light technically even spooks your opponents away from killing Velen-- but then he becomes useless if they do that effectively. Baiting your opponent into taking away all of your synergies doesn't really feel like a bait after all!

Tamsin Roame

Best Equipment: Last Rites (Level 30)

Coin Farms: Plaguemaw the Rotting (1.8), Fallen Guardians (3.3)

Tamsin also shined in the first Mercenaries Tournament before anyone really knew what was going on. The 25/25 Deathrattle she can come with, alongside more already-proven Shadow synergies, ended up creating a really funky Merc.

More of a Control Card than anything else, Tamsin does a great job at opening and being annoying-- killing her feels so bad, but how long can you leave her alive? With Summons that have Taunt and an anti-heal on her third ability, Tamsin definitely deserves a place as a grindy competitive option.

Unfortunately she tends to be the first Shadow Merc to be cut if you trim down the "Control-F: Shadow" package (after The Lich King, Natalie, and Vol'jin).

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Shadow Bolt 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Shadow Bolt 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Last Rites 3 (150C)
  • Step 4: Last Rites 4 (175C)

Task Priority: Zero! Tamsin fills up with evil at Level 30 and acquires Last Rites, the best part about her. When she dies she now drops a 25/25 Demon with Taunt! This ends up trading really hard with any Fighters and Protectors that need to Attack to deal damage, and even tanks multiple spells from Casters.

Uther

Best Equipment: Libram of Sacrifice (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Coren Direbrew (4.1)

Uther is hiding in the thickets of the Humans woods, but his kit is sneakily insane. He has a high-damage Slow, a crazy mindgame mixup Taunt option, and a gigantic Hammerdin-esque storm of Holy damage.

One of my favorite parts about him is that 0 Speed Taunt, Blessing of Protection-- it let's you open with Uther on Ladder knowing that you can safely Taunt against Samuro if you need to, Hammer of Justice if you don't. Better than Cariel, more flexible than Mukla and Mutanus-- this "in the dark" coverage is one of his strongest assets.

In a highly competitive Caster economy Uther might simply be overshadowed by his own complexity. You really want him with Velen, but then you start needing Anduin, and now we're Mono Blue. That's fine, but Uther often traps himself into a deck-building constraint... until people realize the Truth! There's gotta be some spicy opener that can include Uther and bench into Velen...

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Hammer of Justice 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Hammer of Justice 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: If heavy with Holy, go Avenging Wrath 2 & 3 (175C)-- otherwise keep stacking Hammer or save Coins!

Task Priority: Medium-- Uther is like Velen in the sense that his Task 7 Equipment, Libram of Sacrifice, gives him a Deathrattle that says "Hey, don't shoot!" But in perfect Velenese, Uther groans-- he too wants to have his Holy Homies alive and well, and isn't really very effective when left alone and alive. The good thing is, however, Uther can force his opponent's hand and give himself Taunt, at least now opening up some cool plays. Or, hey-- we can Taunt Velen! It's all coming together.

Varden Dawngrasp

Best Equipment: Chilling Amulet (Level 30)

Coin Farms: High Justice Grimstone (4.2)

Varden was the final piece of the tournament-winning lineup that went on to shape Ladder for who knows how long. Especially when suited up with Chilling Amulet (the good version of the Uther or Velen Deathrattles, where it and Varden are actually threatening), Varden is the premiere Control Merc.

Like a pillar of pulsing ice, Dawngrasp secures a position on your chessboard and pumps out a super tilting Slow over and over. They almost never use another ability-- until they do, and you get blown out by Cold Snap because you weren't paying attention.

Ubiquitous for their ability to be played simply and alone as a "Tower Defense" style strategy, Varden will surely remain a staple of competitive Mercenaries PvP.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Flurry 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Flurry 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Flurry 4 (150C)
  • Step 4: Chilling Amulet 2+ (100C+) for consistency or Cold Snap 2 & 3 (175C) for the "Gotcha!"

Task Priority: Zero! You gotta love it when your S-Tier PvP Merc doesn't need any Tasks to become playable. This is why you pay the big bucks to access these Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide for Leveling. For a measly Level 30 Varden acquires Chilling Amulet, a Deathrattle that does the Good Freeze: until the end of the next turn, like The Lich King. Not only that, but it does a small AoE-- yet big enough to almost be strictly better than the other Equipment alternatives.

Vol'jin

Best Equipment: Ring of Haste (Task 7)

Coin Farms: Snowclaw (3.1)

I've probably referenced Vol'jin more than any other Caster-- because he's one of the fastest and nastiest of the bunch. His Ring of Haste Equipment speeds up the cast-time of every allied Shadow spell by 3, including his own! This means not only he can get under your opponent's actions, but so can the rest of your comp-- if you build around it.

Whether as an opener alongside Samuro and Natalie or lurking by his lonesome, Vol'jin almost can't go wrong. He fulfills a Pokemon-style "revenge killer/revenge sweeper" role, suddenly coming off of the bench and sniping multiple Mercs. Stealing turns out from under your enemies is one of the most powerful effects in the game, and Vol'jin might just be the king of it.

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Shadow Shock 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Shadow Shock 3(125C)
  • Step 3: Curse of Weakness 2 & 3 (175C)
  • Step 4: Max literally everything-- Vol'jin actually needs maxed Shadow Shock, Shadow Surge, Curse, and Ring of Haste

Task Priority: Mandatory-- Ring of Haste, one of the Top 3 Most Famous Task 7s, turns Vol'jin from completely unplayable into S-Tier overnight. So long as the buff affects him he gets to bring multiple abilities below 3 Speed-- the critical range to beat things like Endurance Aura. Once you start multiplying the effect for every extra Shadow Folk you play things go from bad to worse-- depending on which side of the shadow you're standing. One of my favorites for Mercenaries PvP.

Xyrella

Best Equipment: Radiant Wand (Task 2)

Coin Farms: Tutorial, Ferocious Quilboar (1.1), Serena Bloodfeather (1.3), Barak Kodobane (1.6), Baron Geddon (4.5)

To round it all off we have one of the trustiest Mercenaries in the game-- "ol' One Button Relly" they call her. The Free-to-Play Queen and her King, Blademaster Samuro, slices and dices PvE and PvP alike, all the way up to high elo.

Xyrella famously counters Thrall and opposing Samuros, completely invalidating some of the best Mercenaries in the game. When Samuro is everywhere, look to be your own Samuro-- with Xyrella to beat the mirror.

[Bonus! Would a Mercenaries Leveling Guide be complete without a F2P Character Tier List? I don't think so.]

S-Tier: Samuro, Xyrella

A-Tier: Cariel, Rokara

B-Tier: Millhouse, Tyrande (though better together)

C-Tier: Grommash, Cornelius

Coins Spend-Path:

  • Step 1: Blinding Luminance 2 (50C)
  • Step 2: Blinding Luminance 3 (125C)
  • Step 3: Radiant Wand 2 (100C)

Task Priority: High-- Xyrella has a cheap and easy Task 2 Equipment, Radiant Wand, that makes her one good button into a Great Button. Being able to actually bring someone's attack to 0 and not just 4 makes a world of a difference. Especially when Xyrella only needs around ~900 Coins to be "mini-maxed" and at full power, you can farm the early zones and not worry about Tasks-- scoop two and scoot.

Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide Conclusion

If you like this we also have other guides:

Hearthstone Mercenaries: Leveling Guide for Fighters
Hearthstone Mercenaries Leveling Guide for Protectors

That's all there is for now-- I hope you found this Hearthstone Mercenaries Guide for Leveling Casters useful! If you have any questions you can find me on Twitch, where we'll continue to answer all of your questions. Otherwise, stay tuned here at Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news, Mercenaries guides, and so much more.