When you’re in non-PvP combat, you have the option of hiring a henchman (or perhaps two or three) to help out. Henchmen are mercenaries: they work for Crowns and each fee is good only for a single combat.
Hiring for Short-Time Work
During combat, you can open the Crown Shop by moving your cursor to the top of the screen, then clicking on the Crown Shop icon in the upper left when it drops down. Once the Crown Shop opens up, click on the icon of the pirate with a green ‘+’ in the corner to bring up the Henchmen page.
You can find henchmen of various levels and classes, and they’ll have their own Powers and Talents. Henchmen are controllable, like a Companion, rather than under their own control like an Ally or Pet. Although you can examine the Henchmen at any time, you can only hire them during combat’s planning phase (the time when you can issue commands). But they can’t be hired at all during PvP combat.
The combat countdown timer continues running while you have the Crown Shop up, so you don’t to spend too much time browsing. However, once you hire a henchman, the timer resets so you have time to re-plan your attack.
You can also go directly to the Henchman page in the Crown Shop by clicking on any pirate silhouette (with a ‘+’ sign on it) that appears in the lower left, like so:
In the screenshot above, the black silhouette at the bottom indicates a single slot which can be filled by a henchman.
After purchasing a henchman, the silhouette is replaced with the henchman’s image and the henchman has been placed on the grid.
Henchman can be selected just like any other pirate under your command. The screen above shows the henchman selected, which displays their current Power choices.
Saying Goodbye
Your henchman has been paid to fight for one fight. So, when the fight ends, they will leave. That includes fleeing or logging off during combat. Like a Companion, if they are Knocked Out during combat, they are also gone – although you can then hire another henchman to re-fill that position if you want.