StarCraft II introduces a new feature never seen before in the previous StarCraft games, and somewhat more akin to WarCraft III. That’s the Mercenary system available in the single player campaign.

The Mercenaries are special elite units that will help you in tough missions. Very handy for the Challenge Mode and other Difficulty Modes. These units will help you for a price. Each mission you sign up for will reward you with credits, the equivalent to money. Some of these Mercenaries cost around 40,000 credits or more. The player must be careful on how to manage finances and to choose wisely the type of mercenary needed in a given situation.

Last year, during the StarCraft II Single Player-Hands On Press Invite, held at Blizzard Entertainment’s Irvine headquarter, I asked Chris Metzen (VP of Creative Development) if we would see the War Pigs as mercenaries. These War Pigs are the main characters of the Wildstorm / DC Comics StarCraft comics.

Blizzard Quote:
Metzen: Interesting, will we meet the War Pigs in StarCraft 2? I think, as it stands, they don’t make an appearance in Wings of Liberty specifically. But we’ll keep it in mind, because we’ve been enjoying where the comic series has been going and there’s potentially a lot of rich characterization there so we’ll see down the road.

Rejoice! The War Pigs can be hired in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for the right price. In order to hire a Mercenary, you must go to the Hyperion’s Cantina Room. The dark eye-glass guy sitting to the left, Mr. Hill, is your black market contact to hire top gun Mercenaries. Click on Mr. Hill’s laptop to browse through the available Mercenaries, see their specialization and stats, and the cost.

Warlock (ScrollsofLore.com Admin) went to the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Single Player Press Invite representing Blizzplanet this past April 19th; and wrote down a few details about these mercenaries available at the three new mission maps. One of the missions is set in planet Bel’shir.

War Pigs
4 elite Marines
+65% HP, +35% damage
3 squads available per mission		 These are the guys from the comic series. The description basically said they like to get drunk and start fights, and they have advanced armor (almost every merc description said something about “advanced equipment”).
Devil Dogs
2 elite Firebats
+60% HP, +25% damage
2 squads per mission		 Ex-Confederate Firebats, they only care about who is signing their next paycheck.
Hammer Securities
2 elite Marauders
+25% HP, +20% damage
2 squads per mission		 A security firm in the Kel-Morian Combine, H-Sec provides corporate security and constantly finds themselves at odds with the Terran Dominion.
Spartan Company
2 elite Goliaths

+33% HP, +40% damage
2 squads per mission

 Remnants of the UED forces who were abandoned during the Brood War. They are now mercenaries for hire.
Siege Breakers
2 Elite Siege Tanks
+33% HP, +66% damage
2 squads per mission		 Ex-Confederate Siege Tank pilots who are now mercenaries. They have specialized canons for extra firepower.