Book of Mercenaries: Cariel Guide And Boss Strategy

The sixth edition of Book of Mercenaries tells the origin story of the human paladin Cariel Roame. As the second favorite of famous city guard Cornelius Roame, Cariel always had to prove her worth. Over time, she became a well-respected guard of Northwatch – until the Horde and a particular Demon Hunter arrived in the Barrens …

In this extensive gameplay guide, we will navigate you through the eight different encounters of “Book of Mercenaries: Cariel”!

Tamsin Roame

Our adventure starts with a classical story-telling trope: The fight between siblings. 

In a Rogue versus Mage matchup, we will have to defeat our sister Tamsin, who clearly is father’s favorite. As per usual, the introductory fight doesn’t include a whole lot of complexity. Tamsin’s hero power is weak but can still create pesky secrets. The campaign-exclusive card A Father’s Lesson alone brings enough value to end the fight quickly. As long as we play around them and watch out for that one Ooze in her deck, we should bring her down without breaking a sweat.

Kurtrus Ashfallen

We learn that the flashback to Cariel’s youth was just a dream, and we wake up in a fight against Kurtrus.

I can’t say for sure if Brazen Zealot is a given in every starter hand. If it isn’t, make sure to mulligan for it – because it will single-handedly win you the game. Our hero power protects Zealot long enough to snowball into the mid-game. If you’re losing Zealot or if you can’t get it in your mulligan, just play out the game and apply Divine Shields to your bigger minions. Kurtrus won’t be able to deal with big, protected threats – so go for the throat and advance to the next challenge.

Cornelius Roame

We’re fighting our very own father with an aspiring Libram Paladin deck. Cornelius’ hero power provides him with tons of armor after getting rid of our minions. That is why we should aim for a more defensive approach because we won’t be able to snowball early anyway.

Libram Paladin in PvE situations such as Book of Mercenaries is an insanely strong archetype. Libram of Hope in particular does everything you want against an AI that doesn’t know what’s coming. Keep trading for the board, keep playing your libram synergies, and you’ll eventually be able to outbuff and outrun Cornelius.

Xur’gon

In the fourth encounter of the campaign, we finally get some change of pace: In the fight against Xur’gon, we have to defend our dear friend Tavish so that he can take care of Anetheron’s sergeant.

The game turns into some sort of tower defense – we won’t be able to hit the enemy hero, so all we have to do is to keep the board clear. Libram Paladin is great at doing exactly that, and you shouldn’t have any problems keeping up with Xur’gon – except for one situation. On turn 5, the demonic watcher will play a card called Endless Legion that draws three cards and plays any drawn minions instantly. To tackle this potential threat, you need to get as much meat on the board as possible before that!

Other than that, the weird demon archetype played by Xur’gon shouldn’t cause any problems whatsoever.

Anetheron

After the fight against his sergeant, it is now time to fight Anetheron himself.

The fight consists of two stages. Stage 1 needs us to free Kurtrus from Anetheron’s right hand. To do that, all we have to do is deal 11 damage which isn’t too much to ask for. Try to let Anetheron hit your Divine Shield or high-health minions with his hero power, and you should be able to advance to the next stage with ease.

As soon as Kurtrus is freed, we’ll get a new hero power that lets us generate Demon Hunter spells for free – and we need those additional resources badly. Anetheron’s upgraded hero power will now damage our left- and right-most minions, a fact that hinders us at creating a solid board.

That is why you should fish for decent Demon Hunter spells every single turn. More board clear to buy time is never bad – and a well-timed Skull of Gul’dan will also provide enough tempo to overcome Anetheron’s hero power. Together with the incredible power level of libram synergy, you should be able to establish a lethal board eventually.

Anetheron (Again)

The second fight against Anetheron turns out to be much harder. His hero power equals unlimited generation of very powerful cards such as Summon Towering Infernal or Carrion Swarm.

However, we also have a noticeable advantage on our side: Kurtrus! Thanks to our hero power, we can either heal or revive him, turning him into a powerful value machine. Cards like Chaos Nova or Skull of Gul’dan should give you enough value to maintain.

Our deck also features Lady Liadrin, which is a big plus in longer games because it can turn the tide against Anetheron’s Infernal army together with Libram of Hope.

Twisted Monstrosity

Hearthstone’s most unsettling character arc continues. After Tamsin’s disturbing encounter where she drove her very own father into insanity, Cariel now has to deal with what is left of Cornelius Roame.

For a seventh Book of Mercenaries encounter, this fight is incredibly easy – but that is no disappointment in my opinion. The missing difficulty is more than understandable from a story standpoint after Looking at the fact that Cariel has to lay her own dear father to rest. 

As far as tactics go, just stay ahead of the curve, don’t let your father’s arms grow too big, and you are good to go.

Tamsin

In the final fight of the campaign, we face Tamsin yet again – this time in full Forsaken Warlock form. The fight turns out to become an epic battle of siblings. You should prepare to go all the way into fatigue because Tamsin’s deck quality is quite high. 

By the looks of it, she tries to give us the same mind-rending treatment her father got in the last chapter. Getting rid of the Mind Demons is of utmost importance while dealing with the pressure caused by Tamsin’s 1-mana hero power can become a problem.

The two copies of Altar of Fire can also ruin your whole day. Our deck is unmatched In terms of high-quality legendaries, and Tamsin wants to mill every single one of them. That is why you should play High Exarch Yrel as well as the campaign-exclusive Captain Fairmount as soon as you have enough mana for them.

Another key to success is Cariel’s hero power. Yes, Tamsin has a ton of board-clearing tools, but paying one mana for three dudes is just invaluable of the course of 20 or more turns. Last but not least, yet another campaign exclusive can shake up the game in a heartbeat: A Father’s Memory will fill both board sides with minions from both decks, while your minions gain Rush. Depending on your board state, this can turn into a life-saver or a lethal-threatening weapon.

The most important card of the matchup is, once again, Lady Liadrin. It’s the only card you should keep until both players are in fatigue. If you’ve used your librams and other spells correctly, you should be able to gain an enormous amount of value in the super-late-game.

With all these tools, you will eventually manage to overcome your dark sister and thus put an end to the family drama!