Zarhold card MMORPG: Free Blades — hire out your hero for other parties’ Mythic runs or leave a shadow that fights without you

In Zarhold, a card MMORPG in your browser, the Mercenary Camp has a second tab: Free Blades. Until now a Mythic dungeon or Mythic raid could only take on a camp resident. Now a party can get help from a live player — or from that player’s shadow, a copy of the hero that fights even when its owner is away. And whoever helps earns Blade Seals, titles, a place on the board of honor and purchases in the Blade Shop: from a badge next to your name to the Camp Horse and a living Camp Hound. Here is how to become a Blade, how to hire one and what it gives you.

What the Free Blades are

A Free Blade is a player who has signed the camp Charter and agreed to go for hire to other parties. There are two ways, and you can choose both:

• “I go myself” — you are called in person: you join someone else’s party and play the run with them;
• “I leave a shadow” — a party hires your shadow: a copy of your hero with your gear, deck and talents, led by the same AI as a camp resident. The shadow works even when you are not in the game.

The party rules are the same as for camp residents: mercenaries only go to Mythic raids and world bosses (not to Mythic+ keystones: only three live players go there); a party takes up to 2 mercenaries of any kind — residents, shadows, live Blades — and only one of them may be a tank or a healer; the party itself needs at least 3 players (a live Blade counts as a mercenary). A run with a mercenary does not go into records. How the camp and its residents work is in the Knowledge Base: Mercenary Camp.

Blades’ Party: two of your own and three mercenaries

If exactly two of your own players are the tank and the healer, the party may take up to 3 mercenaries. All of them are damage dealers, and the third can only be a live Free Blade: residents and shadows — no more than two, as before. For example: tank and healer + 3 Blades; or + 2 Blades and a shadow; or + a Blade, a resident and a shadow. All other parties keep the usual rule. The server checks the party both when hiring and when entering.

How to become a Blade: the camp Charter

To sign the Charter you need:

1. level 60;
2. at least 5 completed Mythic runs;
3. gear item level 240 or higher.

The Mercenary Camp opens from the capital — the Mercenary Camp medallion on the square next to the Gate of Expeditions, or the Mercenaries button at the top of the screen — and from the Mythic window. In the Free Blades tab open My Charter and sign it: “I go myself”, “I leave a shadow”, or both. Signing is free: no gold is taken for it, the price is paid by whoever calls you. If you do not meet the requirements yet, the window shows exactly what is missing.

The Charter has three points: “I go where I am called, or I refuse in time”, “I do not abandon the party in the middle of a run”, “A no-show costs me a mark and a day without hire”. You can leave the Charter at any time, except while you are hired. To accept an invitation you must not be in another party: the Blade joins the party of whoever called him.

How to hire a Blade or a shadow, step by step

1. Gather a party of at least 3 players. Only the leader hires.
2. Open the Mercenary Camp → Free Blades → Blades and shadows. A card shows the role, gear item level, the price, how many runs the Blade has completed, the Newcomer tag (fewer than 10 runs), bosses killed while hired, average damage or healing per boss fight, reliability — runs finished out of runs agreed to — “thanks”, any no-show marks and whether he is online. The Inspect button shows the whole hero.
3. Choose how to call (three ways — below). The leader pays — or the party chips in, just like for camp residents: everyone adds a share.
4. Mercenaries are hired before entering the Mythic. Then everything works as usual: the Ready window and entering as a party.

Three ways to call:

• Call now — for players who are online. The Blade gets an invitation; once he accepts, the gold is frozen and he joins your party.
• By appointment — an invitation with a place and a time. The Blade gets a reminder 15 minutes before the start. If he is not in the party 15 minutes after the start, it counts as a no-show.
• Hire shadow — the shadow joins the party right away and fights until the end of the run.

Prices and where the gold goes

• A live Blade sets his own price within his rank’s range: Newcomer 200–500, Free Blade 300–800, Sword for Hire 400–1,200, Mercenary Captain 500–1,800, Legend of the Camp 600–2,500 gold. After a completed run the Blade gets 50% of the price, the rest leaves the world.
• A shadow uses the same table, within its owner’s rank range. After a completed run the owner gets 20% of the price, the rest leaves the world. One shadow per hero, up to 5 hires a day.
• Camp residents: 1,000 / 1,500 / 2,000 gold by rank, and all of it leaves the world.

The list fee

Signing the Charter is free; to keep your card in the list you pay a weekly fee: 4 × your share of one run at your current price. A live Newcomer at 500 gets 250 per run, so the fee is 1,000 gold a week. A shadow’s fee is 4 × 10% of its price: a shadow at 500 costs 200 gold a week, even though its owner gets 20% per run. The first week is free. No fee — your card is hidden and nobody can hire you until you renew; your Charter stays signed. Changed your price — the new fee applies from the next week. The fee leaves the world.

The payment for a Blade is frozen until the end of the run: a completed run pays it out, a no-show returns it to the party. The numbers in effect right now are always in the All the rules tab.

The shadow: your hero fights while you are away

A shadow is a snapshot of your hero: gear, deck, talents and class power as they were at your last login. It is led by the AI, just like camp residents.

What a shadow’s owner should know:

• on the battle board it is labeled “Hero Name's Shadow”, so everyone sees it is not you in person;
• every completed run with it pays you 10% of its price: at a price of 2,500 and five hires that is up to 1,250 gold a day;
• if the shadow is dismissed before the end or the run is abandoned, there is no payment;
• a shadow brings no Blade Seals and no chest, and takes no loot;
• everything that happened to your shadow is in the Shadow log: who hired it, how the run ended, how much you were paid.

Rewards of a live Blade

Rewards are for a completed run only.

• Half of the price from the party’s payment.
• Blade Seals, a new personal currency: 5 for a Mythic dungeon, 10 for a Mythic raid, up to 60 a week.
• Helper’s Chest — once a day for the first completed run: 50 gold, a consumable and a chance at a Mythic Spark (3%) and a Blueprint Scrap (15%).
• Titles forever, by completed runs: Free Blade — 10, Sword for Hire — 50, Mercenary Captain — 150, Legend of the Camp — 400.
• “Thanks”: after a run everyone in the party can thank the Blade; the count is visible on his card.
• 8 achievements: First Hire, Free Blade, Sword for Hire, Mercenary Captain and Legend of the Camp for 1, 10, 50, 150 and 400 runs; Thanks, Blade for 100 “thanks”; Never Missed for 50 runs in a row; Helped a Newcomer for 25 runs with players clearing this Mythic for the first time.
• Board of honor — the best Blades of the week and of all time, in the camp and on the site, on the Rankings page. Rating: 10 for a dungeon, 20 for a raid, 2 for “thanks”, minus 30 for a no-show.

Why there may be no Seals for a run

Seals are a reward for helping, not for strolling through content everyone has already cleared. So:

• Seals, the chest and rating require someone in the party who has not cleared this Mythic this week;
• one “leader and Blade” pair earns Seals once a day and up to 3 times a week;
• the weekly limit is 60 Seals;
• you cannot hire a hero of your own account or of an account on the same device in person (a shadow of your other hero is allowed; it brings no Seals).

The Blade gets his share of the price in every case. If no Seals came, the game tells you exactly why.

A Blade’s loot: his and the party’s

The party’s loot goes to the party; a Blade has only personal loot, and only if he has not cleared this Mythic this week. Examples:

• a personal item that drops for the Blade from a boss is his, and it takes nothing from the party;
• the Blade has cleared this Mythic this week — no more loot from it, like for everyone;
• the Blade does not take part in the party’s item roll: the roll window shows “You are in this party for hire”, and “Roll off item” and “/roll” are not available to him; the rolls of mercenary seats and the boss’s legendary item go to the party’s own players;
• Seals and the chest come only if someone in the party has not cleared this Mythic yet.

Blade Shop: what to buy with Seals

Prices are in Blade Seals, and there are no purchase limits. All purchases are personal: they cannot be traded or sold.

• Looks. The Free Blade badge next to your name in chat — 25. The Camp Blade portrait frame — 75. The Free Blades Tabard — 150: looks only, it arrives by mail to your hero, one per account. The Camp Horse with flights ×3 — 300. The Camp Hound, a living companion for your hero, — 300. The badge, frame, horse and hound are for the whole account.
• For the run. Campaign food — 3, campaign flask — 5.
• Honing. Tempering Essence — 5; weapon honing and armor reinforcement scrolls for +1…+9 — 8; threshold scrolls for +10 — 30; greater honing and greater reinforcement scrolls for +11…+14 — 45.
• Gems. Rare — 15, epic — 60, legendary — 200.

Flaming and star scrolls, Ascension, the Seal of Steadfastness and meta gems are not sold in the shop. At the limit of 60 Seals a week, the horse or the hound takes five weeks.

No-shows and leaving: fair play rules

• Did not come when invited — a mark at once and 24 hours without hire. The mark disappears after 14 days and is visible on your card.
• Left in the middle of a run — the payment returns to the party, you get a mark and the usual Mythic desertion penalty.
• The leader abandoned the run or removed the Blade mid-run — the Blade still gets his share, the payment does not return to the party, no mark and no Seals.
• Removed before the run started — the payment returns to the party, no mark.
• You can always decline an invitation: there is no penalty for that.

Why it matters to players

If your party is short of people. A live Blade is an experienced player: at least five Mythic runs and gear of 240 or higher, and his card shows completed runs, “thanks” and marks. A strong hero’s shadow can be hired at any hour, even at night.

If you are strong yourself. Helping pays off: Seals go to looks, honing and gems, titles stay forever, and the best Blades are on the board of honor. And your shadow brings gold while you are offline.

If you are going into a Mythic for the first time. Blades gain the most by helping players who have not cleared that Mythic this week: otherwise there are no Seals and no chest. And 25 runs with newcomers earn a dedicated achievement.

If you are short of players in regular dungeons, world residents fill the seats — see Dungeons with NPC companions. What Mythic and keys are — in Mythic+ in an MMORPG.

Free Blades FAQ

How much does it cost to hire a live player?

As much as the Blade set himself, within his rank’s range: from 200–500 gold for a Newcomer to 600–2,500 for a Legend of the Camp. The party can chip in. After a completed run the Blade gets half, the rest leaves the world. A shadow uses the same table; its owner sets the price.

Can a party take three mercenaries?

Yes, in a Blades’ Party: exactly two of your own players — the tank and the healer — the mercenaries are damage dealers, and the third can only be a live Free Blade.

Does a Blade pay for a place in the list?

Signing the Charter is free. The first week in the list is free too, then a weekly fee: 4 × the Blade’s share of one run at his price. Without the fee the card is hidden.

Can I earn while I am not in the game?

Yes, with a shadow: sign the Charter with “I leave a shadow”. Every completed run with it pays you 20% of its price, up to 5 hires a day.

What happens if a Blade does not show up?

The payment returns to the party, and the Blade gets a mark for 14 days and 24 hours without hire.

Does a Blade get loot?

Only personal loot, by the usual rules — and only if he has not cleared this Mythic this week. A Blade does not take part in the party’s item roll: the party’s loot goes to the party. A shadow takes no loot.

Why did I get no Blade Seals?

Everyone in the party had already cleared this Mythic this week, or this leader has already brought you Seals today or 3 times this week, or you have reached the limit of 60 Seals. The game shows the reason itself.

Can I hire my own second hero or its shadow?

In person — no: a hero of your own account or of an account on the same device cannot be hired in person. A shadow of your other hero is allowed, but one hero joins a party either in person or as a shadow.

Does a run with a Blade go into records?

No, just like a run with camp residents.