Who is Leeroy?

Leeroy Jenkins, sometimes misspelled Leroy Jenkins and often elongated with numerous additional letters, is an Internet phenomenon named for a character created by player Ben Schultz in Blizzard Entertainment's popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Leeroy Jenkins (aka Ben Schulz) is one of the most famous players/characters in World of Warcraft. The video has become a World of Warcraft phenomenon. After much debate and controversy, , Leeroy's guild, have admitted that this was a staged promotional video. They maintain, however, that it is essentially a faithful re-enactment of a true event.

Leeroy's actions have caused the larger World of Warcraft community to use his name to represent any action that could be seen as potentially dangerous and/or incredibly stupid. The Leeroy movie is generally suggested to be a must-see for any and all WoW players. It has become a popular term for a person who causes a bad pull that causes a group wipe. In 2005, Leeroy was also mentioned in a question about World of Warcraft on the TV game show Jeopardy!.

The Video



Actual Video of Leeroy Jenkins

The video depicts an Upper Blackrock Spire raid group carefully planning out a method for clearing out the Rookery. The scene is the epitome of highly structured raid play, where order of battle, combat tactics, and numbers crunching are par for the course. Among the group is Leeroy Jenkins, sitting AFK and saying nothing while the rest of his extremely cautious group discuss tactics on how to safely defeat a boss in Upper Blackrock Spire (to the point of calculating a 32.3333% (repeating, of course) chance of survival). After a full minute into planning, before his party is properly prepared, however, Leeroy suddenly returns to his computer saying, "All right chums, time's up, let's do this...", then screams his signature line, "LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!" and he charges blindly — solo, no less — into the battlezone.

The other party members stand still for a moment confused, perhaps in shock, and then run after Leeroy with haste, yelling, "STICK TO THE PLAN! STICK TO THE PLAN!!" to complete their original goal and to "rescue" the helpless crusader. Meanwhile, Leeroy has proceeded to aggro nearly every creature in the chamber, while the party is quickly overwhelmed and unable to coordinate. At this point, the party wipes (all members die) and discovers that their Soulstone buffs have been exhausted.

The movie concludes with the words "At least I have chicken", which has become a secondary catch-phrase. Schulz has said that KFC is the guild's favorite snack, and that while Leeroy was AFK, he had gone to reheat some leftover chicken in the microwave. Schulz states that he was kicked out of the guild for about five minutes until they let him back in after the incident. He also stated that they used a soulstone after the event to rez everyone.

Many people point to the video as THE premiere example of how the game can become far too serious, sapping the fun from the experience. Others would say that it shows how only teamwork and careful planning can lead to success when confronting high-end game content. Either way, the video is popular and fun. (And on a side note, Leeroy is still part of the same clan today — guess they didn't take it too hard...)

Leeroy Jenkins is also featured in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game as an epic ally card, number 198.

Metzen was asked at the San Diego Comicon if the character will ever appear in World of Warcraft: The Comic. He thought it was a good idea. Only time will tell if it ever happens.



Epileptic Gaming's djWHEAT sat down with the legendary Leeroy Jenkins to discuss what's going on in life, and what he's doing at BlizzCon 2007.



Leeroy Jenkins on Stage

The original player behind Leeroy Jenkins was invited for a guest appearance during BlizzCon 2007. On stage, he recited the war cry of "LEEEEEERRROYYYYY JENKKKIIINNNSS" to the delight of the audience. He was said to be available at the after-party to meet and greet fans.