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 indicated by a flash of light from beneath the minion or weapon.

Battlecries are and long have been the most common type of ability in Hearthstone, representing the simplest way for a minion to bring an additional effect into play, and featuring a large variety of different effects.

Targeting

 * If a Battlecry requires a specific target, that target must be selected immediately after playing the minion. Many Battlecries require a specific type of target, such as a friendly minion or Beast, and cannot be targeted at other targets.
 * If a suitable target exists, the player must manually select it, even if there is no alternative target.
 * If no suitable target is available, the Battlecry simply will not occur.
 * While many Battlecries affect the Battlecry minion itself, targeted Battlecries cannot choose to target the possessing minion.
 * An appropriate target must be selected, if possible. In some cases, this means granting an advantageous buff to an enemy minion, or inconveniencing a friendly minion. This can be circumvented by careful assessment and control of the minions on the board, but is otherwise unavoidable. If no valid target exists, the Battlecry will not take effect, although any visual-audio effects will still be triggered.
 * While choosing a target, the player can choose to cancel the Battlecry. Doing so will actually reverse the summoning of the minion (which process has not actually occurred at that point, despite the display), something which is not normally possible. Note that if the Battlecry is unable to find a suitable target it will not activate, meaning the player will not get the chance to reverse the summoning.

Order of play

 * Battlecries occur after the minion enters play, and after 'whenever you play&#39; triggered effects such as those of Illidan Stormrage and Hobgoblin. Battlecries occur before Secrets such as Mirror Entity, as well as Knife Juggler's &#39;after you summon' effect. In the past, Battlecries took place before certain 'whenever you summon' effects, such as Ship's Cannon and Sword of Justice, however these cards have since been changed to say 'after you summon' to keep the wording consistent with the order.
 * For references and a comprehensive description of the summoning process, see that section of the Advanced rulebook.

Strategy

 * It is a common strategy for players to use return effects (effects that return a minion to its owner's hand) on their own Battlecry minions in order to benefit from the effect again. Minions such as Ancient Brewmaster, Youthful Brewmaster and Kidnapper, as well as spells such as Shadowstep and Dream, and hostile actions such as Sap, can all be used for this purpose. This type of play is most effective when combined with minions with powerful Battlecries.
 * Brann Bronzebeard is the strongest Battlecry-specific synergy in the game, with the ability to activate any Battlecry twice. Note that in some cases this produces no significant extra effect, while in others the result can be quite undesirable.
 * Battlecry minions are often good targets for cost-related transform effects like Evolve and Recombobulator. This is because a positive Battlecry accounts for some of the minion's value, meaning that once the Battlecry has been activated, the remaining minion is often below par for its cost (although this is often untrue for minions with self-buffing Battlecries). Because of this transforming a Battlecry minion has a good chance of producing a stronger or more valuable minion.

Cards with Battlecry
The list of cards with Battlecry is quite extensive, and so is not listed visually, but can be explored through the table below.