Weapon


 * For the equip ability, see Equip

Weapons are special cards which can be equipped by heroes. Each weapon has an Attack value and a Durability value. Each hero can only equip one weapon at a time, and equipping a new weapon will destroy the old one. Equipped weapons are displayed to the left of the hero's portrait.

While a weapon is equipped, the hero's Attack will be increased by an amount equal to the weapon's Attack during their turn, and attacking while a weapon is equipped will reduce its Durability by 1. When a weapon's Durability is reduced to zero, the weapon is destroyed. Weapons are the main way of allowing heroes to attack other characters.

Weapons can be equipped in several ways. The main source of weapons is from playing weapon cards. Some spells and minion Battlecries and Deathrattles grant players weapons through the 'equip' ability, as does the rogue Hero Power Dagger Mastery. As well as equipping weapons, some cards offer weapon synergy, improving or drawing strength from them, or even destroying the enemy's. Pirate cards have a strong weapon theme.

Strategically, weapons are useful for removing enemy minions, as well as dealing damage to the enemy hero. They can be used as tools for board control, or as additional burst damage for reaching lethal.

Classes
Rogues, paladins, demon hunters, and warriors have the largest range of weapons, with rogues and warriors also having the greatest weapon-synergy cards, while hunters and shamans have limited weapon choices. Druids, mages, priests and warlocks do not normally use weapons, although warlocks can obtain Blood Fury through Lord Jaraxxus.

All heroes can equip weapons, and even weaponless classes can obtain them through certain neutral cards or mechanics that allow them access to other classes' cards. Players can also use use copy or mind control effects to benefit from weapon-granting abilities on the opponent's cards, such as Malkorok's Battlecry, or Tirion Fordring's Deathrattle. Currently only three neutral cards directly provide weapons: Blingtron 3000, Medivh, the Guardian, and The Lich King.

Kobolds and Catacombs gave each class a legendary weapon, even for classes that normally do not have access to weapons. The legendary weapons for non-weapon classes like priest and mage do not have an attack value, but have a triggered effect attached to them. Since then, further Legendary weapons have occasionally been added, such as Ancharrr and The Fist of Ra-den. Scholomance Academy featured the first ever collectible neutral weapon, Sphere of Sapience.

Collectible
Collectible weapons can be collected by players and added to decks.

Uncollectible
Uncollectible weapons cannot be collected by players or directly placed into decks. However, they can be obtained during play through the effects of other cards.

Trivia

 * In March 2020, Chadd Nervig commented on Twitter that the Hearthstone team was considering making changes to weapon frames so that their classes would be more visually obvious. This was finalized in Patch 18.0 when all weapons received new borders.

Gallery

 * Card frames

Patch changes

 * All class weapon frames (excluding Death Knight) received new borders to better distinguish the class.