With 17 years under its belt, World of Warcraft has become host to a lot of memories for fans of Blizzard's Warcraft franchise. Some fans joined WoW as early as the aftermath of Arthas Menethil's fall to darkness. Meanwhile, others joined to face new threats that have come to Azeroth, or even traveled back in time to forge a new timeline. Interestingly, outside WoW's main story, players also forged wonderful memories of their own.
For instance, groups of players partaking in Raids surely have compelling memories of their times in high-octane boss fights. However, in terms of legendary stories, perhaps none would fare more than Ben Schulz and his legendary character, Leeroy Jenkins. Who is Leeroy Jenkins and what happened before, during, and after this legendary video?
9 The Video In Question
Players new to World of Warcraft may or may not have heard about the infamous video. Essentially, this ancient relic of the internet depicts the raiding guild, "PALS FOR LIFE," meticulously planning their next course of action in Upper Blackrock Spire. Originally, they were meant to plan how to clear the Rookery, a dangerous room filled with dragon eggs waiting to hatch and wipe the raid. Meanwhile, the player known as Leeroy sits off to the side, flagged as AFK (away from keyboard).
However, in the middle of planning, Leeroy becomes active and says, "All right, chums, time's up, let's do this." His character then immediately rushes blindly into the Rookery while screaming, "Leeroy Jenkins!" Leeroy's guild mates pause for a second to digest what was happening before rushing to his aid. Unfortunately, Leeroy's drastic action did cause a party wipe. Before the video ends, Leeroy said, "At least I have chicken," a line that would go down in internet history.
8 A Lesson For All Players
At first, the video became so popular that a lot of players at the time pointed to it as "the go-to" video on what not to do during a raid. In the community, pulling a "Leeroy" means doing something that can be both extremely dangerous and stupid at the same time.
For raid groups, the video serves as a reminder that a bad move, usually a bad pull, can cause a party wipe and inadvertently waste the team's time and gold. Players in raid teams need to coordinate their strategies meticulously in order to clear the raid as swiftly and as efficiently as possible.
7 Staged Reenactment Of A Wipe
At some point, a reenactment of the famous wipe appeared online. To the surprise of some, Schulz (who plays Leeroy) and other PALS FOR LIFE members said that the video was a faithful reenactment. However, some players who watched the video closely also noticed some contradictory elements. For instance, the recording player has "Wipe time!" appear in their guild chat. Another individual asked if Leeroy needed "those Devout shoulders," referencing the Divine Mantle cloth. When analyzing preferred builds at the time, Divine Mantle wouldn't be helpful for Leeroy's Paladin character.
Moreover, some speculate that the "32.33" percentage that members repeated over voice served as a parody of exaggerated statistics. Likewise, others doubt the efficiency of the strategy discussed in the video. Additionally, some members stepped released more whelps by stepping on eggs in the actual raid. Players aren't supposed to step on the eggs as it releases more whelps - meaning Leeroy's crew may have stepped on purpose to make survival more difficult.
6 The Player Behind It All
The player of Leeroy Jenkins is a man named Ben Schulz. The Colorado-based player has been into World of Warcraft since open beta, and at the time was working as a repair technician for the industrial lighting industry. Apparently, Schulz came up with the "Leeroy Jenkins" name as he had a habit of saying his signature line even when he was playing StarCraft with his friends.
Interestingly, Electronic Arts actually offered Schulz a game testing position at the height of the video, but he declined. The character went mostly silent for several years after, reemerging as a level 70 in 2011. He also killed Deathwing, the primary antagonist of the Cataclysm expansion, in 2012.
5 The Leeroy Achievement
Thanks to the video's fame, even Blizzard recognized Leeroy Jenkins's actions. As of Patch 3.0.2., players can achieve the "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!" achievement by killing 50 whelps in the Rookery section of Upper Blackrock Spire, where the famous incident took place. However, players can only achieve this if they kill 50 whelps in under 15 seconds. Interestingly, this serves as a good way to train players how to eliminate mobs quickly in a raid.
Players who manage to do this can get the "- Jenkins" surname added to their name. Ironically, Leeroy's player, Schulz, has yet to obtain the achievement associated with his name. Another achievement called "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy...?" is obtained if players obtain Leeroy Jenkins (the NPC) as a garrison follower.
4 The Official Character
Blizzard carried on the fame of Leeroy Jenkins by actually creating an actual NPC based on the character. Leeroy Jenkins, the NPC, made his official debut as a garrison follower in Warlords of Draenor. He is a Human Paladin with the "Pals for Life" title, and is accompanied by Mr. Clucker the chicken.
To gain Leeroy as a follower, players should first resurrect his corpse in the Upper Blackrock Spire's rookery. Upon resurrection, Leeroy will make his way to the Son of the Beast, passing all the rooms with no regard for safety. The best strategy is to clear all the rooms and kill the Son of the Beast before resurrecting him. If Leeroy makes it to the Son of the Beast's corpse and gets his Devout Shoulders, he will become a garrison follower.
3 Defense Against The Horde
Interestingly, even Leeroy Jenkins becomes the objective of a quest. Alliance players can do a faction assault world quest called "Not Too Sober Citizens Brigade," courtesy of Genn Greymane. In this quest, players need to assemble the so-called Not Too Sober Citizens Brigade to help the Alliance fight the Horde.
As such, players need to slay Citybreaker Oka with the help of seven not-so-sober warriors. Leeroy Jenkins belongs to this group of seven Alliance warriors the players need to recruit. It's interesting to see how Leeroy Jenkins has developed a small storyline of his own separate from the video.
2 KFC And Mister Clucker
Fans might also notice that Leeroy Jenkins has another "signature" which can be heard at the end of the video. In it, he says, "At least I have chicken," which Schulz explained that the guild loved KFC as a snack. At the time of the video, Schulz had been reheating some leftover chicken that caused his AFK status. Interestingly, even the chicken makes its way to Leeroy's NPC appearance in the MMO.
Leeroy Jenkins, the NPC, has a chicken, called Mr. Clucker, who accompanies him in the Caverns of Time. Mr. Clucker has the designation, "Leeroy's Chicken," as its title. Funnily enough, the game describes it as a Chicken Battle Pet of Levels 60 to 120.
1 Appears Outside The MMO
Leeroy Jenkins has even made appearances outside the Warcraft MMO. For instance, Blizzard created a Leeroy Jenkins card for the Warcraft TCG. In his card, he's described as a Human Paladin that exhausts all other allies in the party when he enters the field. Moreover, Leeroy Jenkins receives the "Ferocity" buff if the player screams the famous "Leeroy Jenkins!" in the match.
Likewise, Leeroy Jenkins also appears as a card in the Hearthstone online card game. He has 2HP and 6 Attack Points. Interestingly, his other effects also include getting Battle and Charge when summoned. Moreover, he can summon two companion Whelps to the field, with 1HP and 1 Attack Point each, a callback to his origin.