Hearthstone Terms and Mechanics List

Hearthstone Terms and Mechanics List by BrknSoul

Following is a list of Terms and Mechanics in Hearthstone. If you have any questions about a Term or a Mechanic that isn’t listed below, I’ll add it.

Attack
The act of a minion or a Hero with a weapon or attack value striking another minion or Hero.

Battlecry
A minion ability that is activated only when a card is played from your hand. A minion can’t benefit from its own Battlecry.

Character
A term specifying both minion or Hero.

Charge
An effect that allows a minion to attack in the same turn it was played. A minion that does not have Charge must wait one turn before it can be used to attack.

Combo
An additional effect that happens only if you’ve played another card this turn.

Death
The state a minion or a Hero is in once their health is at 0 or below. A minion is removed from play. A Hero’s death causes that player to lose the game.

Deathrattle
A minion ability that is activated upon the death or destruction of a minion.

Destroy
An effect that removes a minion from play. The Destroy effect bypasses most protective abilities, such as Divine Shield.

Divine Shield
An effect that prevents the first amount of damage a minion receives. Once the Shield is removed, the minion receives damage normally.

Enrage
An additional effect or ability a minion gains when its health is below its maximum, ie: damaged. If a minion’s health is returned to its maximum, the Enrage effect is lost. Enrage effects do not stack, they use “on or off” logic. Either the minion is damaged and is Enraged, or it isn’t.

Freeze
Prevents a minion or Hero from attacking until the end of their turn.

Minion
A minion is any creature than is on the board, for example; Totems that are on the board are considered minions.

Owner
In Hearthstone, the owner of a card is the player who currently controls the card.

Play
The act of manually drawing a card from your hand and placing it on the board.

Silence
An effect that removes all card text and enchantments from a minion.

Summon
A mechanic where a minion is placed on the board via a third party effect. Eg: Animal Companion is a spell that summons 1 of 3 possible Beasts.

Stealth
An effect that prevents the enemy from targeting a minion. Stealth does not prevent non-targeted spells from effecting that minion.

Taunt
An effect that forces characters to attack a certain minion.

Taunt + Stealth Special Circumstance
When a minion has both Stealth and Taunt, Stealth takes precedence. While a minion has Stealth, Taunt doesn’t force characters to attack that minion.