Character

Characters are representations of people, creatures and mechanical creations within Hearthstone. A character may be a minion or a hero. Each character has an Attack and a Health value, and can attack other characters. If its Health reaches zero, the character is destroyed.

Heroes

Main article: Hero

Heroes represent the players in each battle. If a player's hero is destroyed, that player has lost the game. Each hero belongs to a different class, each with its own cards and hero power.

Minions

Main article: Minion

Minions are characters that are summoned onto the battlefield to fight for their hero. Minions are controlled by the player who summoned them, and can be commanded to attack their opponent's minions, or even the opposing hero. Minions with Taunt can act as tanks, preventing the opponent's forces from attacking the hero directly with melee attacks until that minion is destroyed. Minions are a major element in battles between heroes, and are usually responsible for the majority of all damage dealt in a game.

Combat

Each turn, any character with at least 1 Attack can choose to attack an enemy target of their choice. Characters with 0 Attack cannot be used to attack. While most minions have an Attack value of at least 1, heroes by default have no Attack value. However, effects such as Shapeshift can directly grant the hero Attack; alternatively, heroes can equip weapons, granting them the Attack value and abilities of the weapon. Each time a hero deals damage with a weapon equipped, that weapon will have its Durability value reduced by 1, and when its Durability reaches zero the weapon will be discarded.

Attacking exhausts a character, preventing it from attacking again until next turn. Minions enter the battlefield in a state of exhaustion, unless they have the Charge ability. Windfury allows a character to attack twice before becoming exhausted. Freeze effects can freeze a character in place, preventing them from attacking next turn.

When attacking, the controlling player selects a character and directs it to attack an enemy target of their choice. However, minions with Taunt must be attacked before other targets. If there is more than one enemy Taunt on the battlefield, the player may choose which to attack.

Combat causes each character to immediately deal damage to the other, simultaneously. If either character's Health reaches zero, they will be destroyed, and both participating characters can be destroyed in this way.

Types of combat

Combat may be between two minions; between a minion and a hero; or between two heroes. Each variation has slightly different rules: minions deal damage regardless of whether they are being attacked or doing the attacking; while heroes only deal damage when they are doing the attacking. The possible combinations are broken-down below.

• In combat between minions, each minion suffers damage equal to the Attack of the other. The order of attack is not important.

• If a hero attacks a minion, each character suffers damage equal to the Attack of the other.

• If a minion attacks a hero, only the hero will take damage, equal to its Attack. The hero will not deal damage to the minion, even if they have an Attack value, and if they have a weapon equipped it will not lose Durability.

• If a hero attacks a hero, only the attacking hero will deal damage, equal to its Attack. The defending hero will not deal damage, even if they have an Attack value, and if they have a weapon equipped it will not lose Durability.