Animated Armor

Animated Armor is a rare mage minion card, from the League of Explorers set.

Strategy
This card almost completely shuts down damage to your hero, forcing your opponent to kill it if they want to win the game. Very strong against burst and aggro strategies.

This card is less effective against opponents capable of delivering several instances of damage, such as through several minions, or spells like Arcane Missiles or Avenging Wrath.

Animated Armor is one of the strongest examples of a soft Taunt in the game, as it is almost impossible to effectively harm its controller as long as it is alive (and not silenced). It is particularly effective against OTK combos which rely on dealing single large bursts of damage to the face to win (such as Oil Rogue), forcing the opponent to disrupt or delay their combo to remove the Armor first.

Lore
Like the Fossilized Devilsaur, this suit of armor was an exhibit in the Hall of Explorers, having been collected by the League of Explorers. It was later brought to life by Arch-Thief Rafaam using the Staff of Origination to serve as a distraction while he attempted to ransack the Hall, featuring as The Steel Sentinel. The Sentinel's Hero Power grants the same power as this minion, with the Heroic version also granting it to the Sentinel's minions.

Following its defeat, the armor's left greave remained intact, and was given by Brann Bronzebeard to the explorer during their battle with Arch-Thief Rafaam.

The armor itself once belonged to, after whom Anduin Wrynn was named by his father Varian. The armor's shield bears the emblem of, a fallen human kingdom in the north of the currently contested between the , the , the , the , and the remnants of the.

Trivia

 * An earlier version of this minion was a 4/1/1 with the card text "Taunt Battlecry: Copy a friendly minion's Attack and Health." That effect seems to have been remade into Faceless Shambler.
 * Animated Armor was originally a neutral card, but according to Ben Brode, "it is NO FUN with Master of Disguise."

Patch changes

 * Added.