Hogger

Hogger is a legendary neutral minion card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic set.

Previous availability

 * Regular Hogger could also be obtained as a first-time reward for first time reaching Legend in Ranked mode from April 1, 2020 to March 25, 2021 (or as a reward of Climbing the Ranks (10/10) achievement).

Strategy
If not dealt with, Hogger can become a supreme annoyance for the opponent when played. Summoning the 2/2 Taunt means that you block at least one attack each turn, giving you immense board control. Hogger's dominating board presence makes it a soft taunt for your opponent.

Despite his comparatively poor raw stat for cost economy, Hogger is always good value, since even if the opponent removes or Silences him immediately, you will still get at least 1 Gnoll from him, justifying his cost. The only exception is if he dies before the end of the turn you play him (for example if you play him into a Snipe).

Hogger is very effective in the later stages of the game to block the attacks of your opponent's last minions, when they have few to none spells left to deal with Hogger. This is what makes Hogger most powerful against Deathwing, as your opponent will discard all their current cards after they play Deathwing from their hand, and will likely have no other ways to remove the Gnolls than by simply attacking them with this massive minion.

Lore
is without doubt the most infamous gnoll on Azeroth.


 * '' is a level 11 elite named Riverpaw chieftain in Southern . His defeat is the objective of a quest for low-level  players.


 * While Hogger's significance in-game was originally minimal, his relative difficulty at such a low level has caused him to become one of the most well-known and popular minor characters in the game. His role in-game was subsequently expanded with  and , and a gnoll named  is planned as reward for the game's 10th anniversary.

The Hogger card back has the following flavor text: "The Terror of Elwynn, the King of Gnolls. They say he bathes in the tears of young heroes, hence the wet dog smell."

This is the original, uncorrupted version of Hogger, Doom of Elwynn.

The Battlegrounds-exclusive minion Cap'n Hoggarr is a pirate variant of Hogger.

Trivia

 * This card's flavor text is a variant on a well-known Chuck Norris 'fact', referring to Hogger's 'legendary' status among World of Warcraft players.
 * As of the time of its release, Hogger is one of the few characters to have a specific card back named after him, and is by far the least significant of those . This may be due to the Hogger card back being timed to foreshadow the release of the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion a month or two after the card back is awarded, thus teasing at the arrival of Hogger, Doom of Elwynn.
 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Champion Deck: Hogger" series, for the card Hogger.
 * Hogger's name appears as one of the gag names on the Finding Opponent screen.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Classic to Legacy set.