Divine Shield



Divine Shield is an ability which causes a minion to ignore the next damage it receives. Upon receiving any damage the Divine Shield is removed, and that damage is reduced to 0. The amount of damage taken is not relevant, and may be from any source, including combat as either attacker or defender, spells, Hero Powers or other effects.

Divine Shield is available to all classes, but is most strongly associated with the paladin class.

Strategy
Since Divine Shield is removed by any source of damage, regardless of amount, when seeking to quickly destroy a shielded target, it is often wise to use a weak ability to remove the shield before targeting the minion with a more substantial attack (if required). Good sources for this include weak minions, low damage spells like Arcane Explosion, and the mage Hero Power Fireblast. Cards with low damage secondary effects like a druid's Swipe and warrior's Death's Bite are similarly useful, by primarily targeting another minion while allowing the secondary damage to remove the Divine Shield.

Minions that originally possessed Divine Shield but have already lost it are good targets for return effects or re-summoning using cards such as Redemption, allowing them to regain their shield.

Cards with Divine Shield
This section lists minions which have Divine Shield or the ability to gain Divine Shield when played.

Divine Shield-generating cards
This section lists cards which generate Divine Shield minions.

Divine Shield-granting cards
This section lists cards which grant the Divine Shield ability to other minions or to itself.

Lore
is a spell from World of Warcraft that protects the caster from all damage and spells for 8 seconds, in exchange for reducing their damage dealt by half. It is commonly used for surviving burst damage, especially in PvP when the paladin's attackers have just popped their damage-increasing s. In PvE using Divine Shield as a will cause the paladin to lose aggro, making this strictly a last resort, unless a tank swap is desired. In addition to its own 5 minute cooldown, Divine Shield shares a 1 minute cooldown with similar abilities, preventing paladins from chain-casting their many life-saving spells on any one target.

The immunity granted by Divine Shield is almost unique in World of Warcraft, comparable to Ice Block in Hearthstone. Indeed, is one of the only other spells in World of Warcraft to grant a similar effect. The immunity granted by Divine Shield is complete, including even falling and drowning damage. Casting it also removes any on the paladin, including silences. Divine Shield can be removed by the warrior's and the priest's Mass Dispel, but by nothing else, including standard dispels and cleansing effects.

In contrast to Ice Block, which in World of Warcraft prevents the mage from taking actions for the duration, Divine Shield does not limit the caster's abilities, and paladins are free to cast spells, use abilities or even continue to attack while shielded, although their damage dealt is still reduced by half. Divine Shield is therefore commonly used to allow self-healing, escape on foot, or most infamously the use of a.

Bubble hearthing

 * ''"Divine Shields and Hearthstones do not make a hero heroic." - Sayge

Known as , earlier versions of Divine Shield had a longer duration, allowing time for the paladin to pop the shield and hearth away, all the while immune to attacks or interruption. Especially frustrating in PvP, the technique could be used by paladins to escape combat any time the tides of battle turned against them, even when ed and on the brink of death. This could be reliably used to deny the opponent a well-deserved victory, or simply to hastily escape what appeared too challenging an encounter — often leaving their bewildered allies to suffer an unexpectedly quick and brutal defeat. Given the lore of the paladin as a brave and noble defender, some paladins' reported willingness to flee from battle the moment they were in danger was widely lampooned in the Warcraft community, inspiring the creation of numerous videos and even a song, and the duration was eventually reduced. However, the extended duration was later reintroduced through a special glyph, heralding the return of the bubble hearth.

Trivia

 * Removing a Divine Shield is often referred to as popping it, with the Divine Shield occasionally referred to as a bubble, as in Bubble Paladin. This has its roots in World of Warcraft, where paladins casting Divine Shield are said to bubble, as in bubble hearth. This is even referenced by the game; the Quest for playing Divine Shield minions is named Tiny Bubbles Make Me Happy.