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A target is a specific character Characters are representations of people, creatures, and certain objects and mechanical creations within Hearthstone. A character may be a minion or a hero. Each character has an Attack and a Health attribute, and can attack that a player action is "aimed at". Targeted effects are those that require a target to play, while others are untargeted. A spell, Hero Power Anduin Wrynn with the basic priest Hero Power Lesser Heal A Hero Power is a special ability displayed to the right of each hero s portrait. Usually Hero Powers can be used once per turn and 
, or Battlecry Battlecry is an ability where a particular effect activates when the card with the Battlecry is played directly from the hand. Although mostly limited to minions, some weapons also have Battlecries. Activation of Battlecries are may be targeted, while one character`s attack on another is always targeted. Choose One The Choose One interface from Power of the Wild Choose One is an ability which allows a player to choose one of multiple possible effects when the card is played from the hand. Cards with 
and Combo Combo is an ability where the stated effect occurs if the card is not the first one played during the turn. Cards with this ability are limited to the rogue class. The term "combo" is 
effects work exactly like Battlecries for targeting purposes.
Targets are often selected by players as part of taking actions. Other times, cards choose targets randomly, or always affect a predetermined target. Players can only choose one target per action, although that may cause additional effects which apply to characters beyond the target. Those that choose randomly may also affect multiple targets. Some Triggered effects may switch an effect`s target to a different character than originally chosen.
Generally, both friendly and enemy characters may be targets. Some abilities place restrictions on which targets are valid. Players cannot choose "no target" if a valid one exists, even if that means targeting a friendly minion Bloodfen Raptor, a simple minion card. A Beast-type minion, it has 3 Attack, 2 Health and a mana cost of 2. Minions are persistent creatures on the battlefield that will fight for their hero. Minion 
with a harmful effect or vice versa. Sometimes this can be surprisingly beneficial, if a normally harmful effect would actually be helpful due to the specific situation or card.
One of the priorities of the Hearthstone The Hearthstone icon Hearthstone (formerly known as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft 1] 2]) is a free-to-play digital collectible card game from Blizzard Entertainment. It was first announced in a presentation by Rob Pardo at the 
game designers was to make the game quick and easy to interact with. For this reason, the only time targets need to be selected by players is when they initiate actions on their turn. Additionally, character-to-character targeting always indicates an attack action, although triggered effects may cause subsequent side effects from the attack.
See Random effect Yogg-Saron, arguably the most random card ever released Random effects are effects which include some degree of randomness or RNG (random number generation). Random effects introduce an element of chance into Hearthstone. They can be 
for more details on random target selection.
Targeting restrictions
Many player-selected and most randomly selected targets have restrictions beyond "a character", while abilities that always hit the same target of course must specify what that target is. The most common distinctions are between enemy or friendly characters, and between heroes and minions. Most hero-specific effects also specify whether it is the player`s hero or the opponent`s, although Alexstrasza Alexstrasza Set: Classic Type: Minion Subtype: Dragon Rarity: Legendary Cost: 9 Attack: 8 Health: 8 Abilities: Battlecry Battlecry: Set a hero s remaining Health to 15.Alexstrasza the Life-Binder brings life and hope to everyone. Except Deathwing. 
may target either one. If a card only specifies "enemies", it refers to the enemy hero as well. Many other restrictions are also possible, based on minion type, statistics, and text/abilities. As of Whispers of the Old Gods "Now I ve got a tale to tell you... of the ones from long ago. There s an evil that s been dreaming, but now it s softly screaming! From the darkness their power will grow. Their voices are 
, Steamwheedle Sniper Steamwheedle Sniper Set: Goblins vs Gnomes Type: Minion Class: Hunter Rarity: Epic Cost: 2 Attack: 2 Health: 3 Abilities: Modify Hero Power Tags: Hero Power-related, Ongoing effect Your Hero Power can target minions.Goblins seldom have 
is the only card that changes the targeting of another effect, specifically turning an auto-targeted ability into a player-directed one.
These targeting restrictions can sometimes make random effects not at all random due to the existence of only one valid target (or set of targets).
Elusive An Elusive minion "Elusive" is an unofficial term used to refer to minions that cannot be targeted by spells or Hero Powers. While no official keyword is used to denote the ability, precisely the same 
minions cannot being targeted by either player`s spells and Hero Powers. Be that as it may, they can still be hit with randomly targeted or untargeted effects, and can be selected by players making attacks or playing Battlecries. Stealth A minion in Stealth Stealth is a minion ability which prevents that minion from being the target of enemy attacks, spells and effects until they attack or deal damage. They can, be that as it may, be the target 
and Immune The immune effect from Bestial Wrath Immune is an ability that prevents a character from receiving damage from any source, and prevents the opponent from targeting it. Be that as it may, Immune does not prevent destroy, healing or 
prevent all player targeting from the opponent only, although they too can be hit by random or untargeted effects. Immune, of course, has the additional benefit of preventing damage even if it is hit. This makes it especially inconvenient to employ random targeting against an opponent using an Immune character, which may absorb hits that could otherwise have damaged more vulnerable targets.
" Permanent Permanent 1] cards are minion cards that lack Attack and Health, are untargetable, are immune to all effects except their own, and take up more or less a permanent residence on the battlefield. Permanent cards 
" minions cannot be targeted, including by random target or AoE Area of effect (AoE) is the term for an effect which affects all characters of the specified type. Common targets for AoEs include all enemy minions, all minions, and all characters. AoE is defined in 
effects. Despite this, they still take up places on the battlefield, and will effectively `soak` positional effects Positional effects are effects which are partly determined by the position of minions on the battlefield. Notes edit | edit source] The vast majority of effects are not affected by minion position. They may affect 
such as Flametongue Totem Flametongue Totem Set: Basic Type: Minion Subtype: Totem Class: Shaman Cost: 2 Attack: 0 Health: 3 Tags: Ongoing effect, Positional effect Adjacent minions have +2 Attack.Totemsmiths like to use the rarest woods for their totems. 
or Cone of Cold Cone of Cold Set: Classic Type: Spell Class: Mage Rarity: Common Cost: 4 Abilities: Deal damage, Freeze Tags: Positional effect Freeze a minion and the minions next to it, and deal 1 damage to them.Magi 
without effect.
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Spells, Hero Powers, and weapon Battlecries
- See also: Spell Fireball, a simple mage spell. It costs 4 mana, dealing 6 damage to a chosen target. Spell cards are cards that can be played to trigger a one time effect or ability, described in the
, Hero Power Anduin Wrynn with the basic priest Hero Power Lesser Heal A Hero Power is a special ability displayed to the right of each hero s portrait. Usually Hero Powers can be used once per turn and , Weapon Garrosh Hellscream ready to attack using an equipped Fiery War Axe For the equip ability, see Equip Weapons are special cards which can be equipped by heroes. Each weapon has an Attack value and a
Targets are selected for spells, Hero Powers, and weapon Battlecries in the same way. The text below uses the collective term "action" to refer to all of those plays, and "card" to specify a spell or weapon played from the hand.
Targeting of player-chosen actions is done by selecting a playable card or Power and then selecting the target character. Actions for which there is insufficient mana are unplayable and cannot initiate this process; the same is true for Hero Powers that are exhausted for that turn. A bold red arrow leads from the action source to the intended target, moving as different selections are made. The opponent can see the targeting arrow as well during this process. The opponent`s view includes the hand position of the card being played (or shows that it is the Hero Power), but the identity of the card is not revealed until the play is actually "locked in". If the target is valid, the action will complete. If the target is invalid, an error message will be presented, and if the player targets an empty area, the action is cancelled - in either of these cases no card is revealed. Players cannot take an action and choose "no target" if it normally requires one, which in some cases forces players to select non-ideal targets to gain from side effects of the play.
For automatically selected targets, whether random or predetermined, the player simply drags the card onto the board or clicks the Hero Power, and target selection is handled by the game.
When there are no valid targets at all, different consequences occur depending on the card and type of targeting. Specific notes can be found on card pages.
- A spell or Power requiring a player-chosen target, for instance Fireblast Fireblast Type: Hero Power Class: Mage Cost: 2 Abilities: Deal damage Hero Power Deal 1 damage.See this card on Hearthpwn data page] Fireblast is the mage s basic Hero Power. Contents 1 Notes 2 Strategy 3 or Swipe Swipe Set: Basic Type: Spell Class: Druid Cost: 4 Abilities: Deal damage Tags: Area of effect Deal 4 damage to an enemy and 1 damage to all other enemies.When a bear rears back and extends , can never be used without one.
- When the target(s) are random characters, a spell or Hero Power can generally not be played without at least the stated number of valid random targets, for instance 1 enemy minion for Deadly Shot Deadly Shot Set: Classic Type: Spell Class: Hunter Rarity: Common Cost: 3 Abilities: Destroy Tags: Random Destroy a random enemy minion.Accuracy is not a highly valued trait among the mok nathal. Deadliness is near the top, or 2 for Cleave Cleave Set: Basic Type: Spell Class: Warrior Cost: 2 Abilities: Deal damage Tags: Random Deal 2 damage to two random enemy minions.Hey you two…could you stand next to each other for a second…See this card . Be that as it may, if a spell has a mix of random and untargeted effects, it may be castable even without targets - for instance Sabotage Sabotage Set: Goblins vs Gnomes Type: Spell Class: Rogue Rarity: Epic Cost: 4 Abilities: Combo, Destroy Tags: Random, Weapon-related Destroy a random enemy minion. Combo: And your opponent s weapon.Rogues can t stand it. They know you works to destroy a weapon even with no enemy minions in play.
- Weapons with random Battlecries can be played regardless of available targets, even if that means their Battlecries have no effect.
Minion Battlecries
- See also: Summon For information on summoning minions, see Minion#Summoning. Summon is an ability which summons one or more minions. Distinct from regular summoning, a minion generated by the summon ability does not consume or come from an , Battlecry Battlecry is an ability where a particular effect activates when the card with the Battlecry is played directly from the hand. Although mostly limited to minions, some weapons also have Battlecries. Activation of Battlecries are , Choose One The Choose One interface from Power of the Wild Choose One is an ability which allows a player to choose one of multiple possible effects when the card is played from the hand. Cards with , or Combo Combo is an ability where the stated effect occurs if the card is not the first one played during the turn. Cards with this ability are limited to the rogue class. The term "combo" is
Most minions are played from the hand to an empty slot on the player`s board The battlefield (or game board) is where the action takes place, representing the board on which each game is played out. Around the battlefield are various important UI elements, such as each player s hand, deck 
with no targeting. Be that as it may, those with Battlecries or related abilities may cause targeted effects. Players can never select the Battlecry card as its own target, and there are no Battlecry cards that include themselves in randomly targeted effects.
All minion plays begin the same way: first selecting a playable minion (the player must have enough mana) from the hand A typical hand. The green highlighted cards can be played, while the yellow highlighted card has a special effect enabled by the current state of the game. The hand is where each player keeps the 
and then selecting the desired board position. Most minions would be put into play at this point, but an additional targeting step takes place for a minion with a player-targeted Battlecry. Similarly to spells, a bold red arrow leads from the minion being played to the intended target, moving as different selections are made. The opponent can see the targeting arrow as well during this process, except from their perspective the card will still be in the hand, since it has not actually been played at this point, making it indistinguishable from a spell. The arrow reveals the hand position of the minion being played, but its identity is not shown until a target has been finalized. If the target is valid, the minion summoning will be completed. If the target is invalid, an error message will be presented. If the player targets an empty area, the minion play is cancelled or "undone": the minion is not revealed, its selected board position is "forgotten", and it is visually returned to the hand, which it never truly left.
For automatically targeted Battlecries, whether random or predetermined, the player simply drags the minion into the desired board position as with any other, and target selection is handled by the game. If a minion has a player-targeted Battlecry but there are no valid targets, it is played as if it had no Battlecry at all - once the board position is selected, the minion is summoned and the Battlecry has no effect.
Note that if any valid target is available for a Battlecry, the minion cannot be played without selecting one. As with spells, players wishing to play minions with situationally inconvenient Battlecries may be forced to select friendly targets for detrimental effects, or enemy minions for beneficial ones, in order to get the minions onto the board. Unlike spells be that as it may, minions are never prevented from being played due to a lack of Battlecry targets.
Attacks
When attacking, the target is often called the "defender". All attacks are ordered by selecting an attack-capable character and using the targeting arrow that appears to select the desired defender. As with the other targeting actions, the arrow is visible to both players even before the attack order is completed. A player may commence the attack by selecting a valid target, will get an error message if selecting an invalid target, and can cancel the attack by selecting empty space or by right-clicking. Only enemy characters may be targeted in an attack, but certain triggered effects The lightning bolt icon, explicitly indicating a triggered effect Triggered effects are effects that activate in response to specific events. Triggered effects may belong to minions, weapons or spells (in the form of Secrets), as 
may change the defender to a new character, including a friendly one, before combat begins. Some effects may even cancel the attack entirely, in which case the player may initiate a new attack without being bound by previous targeting choices.
Attacking characters can generally target any enemy that is not Immune The immune effect from Bestial Wrath Immune is an ability that prevents a character from receiving damage from any source, and prevents the opponent from targeting it. Be that as it may, Immune does not prevent destroy, healing or or in Stealth A minion in Stealth Stealth is a minion ability which prevents that minion from being the target of enemy attacks, spells and effects until they attack or deal damage. They can, be that as it may, be the target . Be that as it may, enemy Taunt The shield-like Taunt visual effect Taunt is a minion ability which forces the opposing player to direct any melee attacks toward enemy targets with this ability. Minions with Taunt (commonly referred to as Taunts) serve 
minions restrict the valid targets for an attack to only those with Taunt.
It is extremely rare for there to be no targets to attack, since either the opposing hero or a Taunt minion should be attackable nearly all the time. Thus, only an Immune opponent with no attackable minions, such as a warlock with a Stealthed Mal`Ganis Mal Ganis Set: Goblins vs Gnomes Type: Minion Subtype: Demon Class: Warlock Rarity: Legendary Cost: 9 Attack: 9 Health: 7 Abilities: Immune Tags: Demon-related, Ongoing effect Your other Demons have +2/+2. Your hero is Immune.Mal Ganis doesn t 
, could result in such a situation. In this case, no attacks can be targeted, so no attacks can be ordered at all.
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| General | ||
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| Common deck types | Dragon Priest | |
