Gorehowl


 * ''For the boss card in Book of Heroes, see Gorehowl (boss).

Gorehowl is an epic warrior weapon card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic set.

Previous availability

 * Regular Gorehowl could also be obtained as a first-time reward for first time reaching Platinum 10 and Diamond 10 in Ranked mode from April 1, 2020 to March 25, 2021 (or as a reward of Climbing the Ranks (6/10) and (8/10) achievements).

Strategy
This card is best used to destroy minions. It is possible through the use of Upgrade! and similar effects to increase its Durability, thus making it a useful weapon against enemy heroes as well.

A common mistake is to overlook the text, which only works while "attacking a minion". Attacking a hero with this weapon will cost 1 Durability as normal.

Gorehowl's special ability presents various strategies for making the most of the weapon. The greatest total damage can be achieved through attacking only minions for at least the first 6 attacks, followed by a 7th attack to any target, resulting in 28 damage in total. This allows for superb board control, even removing large minions, but will likely incur a heavy cost in damage received in turn by the warrior. Decks focused on tanking such as C'Thun Warrior can help mitigate the damage incurred from attacking a powerful minion. Violet Illusionist also combos well with Gorehowl by allowing you to trade with a minion without suffering any damage. Alternatively, it can be used a few times on minions, before dealing an attack of 3-5 damage to the enemy hero, sacrificing board clearing utility for face damage. This can be useful when there are no low Health minions to remove, or simply in order to allow another weapon to be equipped without wasting the remaining stats entirely.

Gorehowl can be a valuable asset for decks that make use of Pirates. The very high Attack of this weapon gives Bloodsail Raider a huge Attack boost and allows for 0-Mana Dread Corsairs even after a few attacks. In particular, Bloodsail Cultist's Battlecry essentially gives Warriors up to 2 additional Upgrades. Combine this with Captain Greenskin and this can result in up to a 12/6 weapon, allowing the user to deal huge face damage each turn and capable of destroying even Deathwing in one blow.

Lore

 * '' is the legendary two-handed axe of the family of orcs. The weapon was famously wielded by Grommash Hellscream, chieftain of the, and was later also held by his son and heir, Garrosh, , until he discarded it in favor of.


 * ''Gorehowl was forged three generations before Grommash inherited it. Grommash's great-grandfather used Gorehowl to kill six legendary . Their hearts were sealed into the blade, granting it untold strength.


 * ''When, the father of Grom, was locked in the jaws of a giant gronn, he found the strength to stab Gorehowl into the gronn's eye and kill it alongside him. When they fell, it was the gronn who died first.


 * ''Grom Hellscream had been the first to partake of the, eventually coming to regret it. When Thrall met him, it was clear to him that Grom had the means by which to liberate his lethargic brothers and sisters. After Hellscream again drank the Blood of Mannoroth in , in his hands Gorehowl was the weapon which slew the demigod Cenarius.


 * ''During the of the, Hellscream took his axe to the pit lord  after Thrall was beaten into unconsciousness. With a single blow, Hellscream cleaved his adversary's weapon in two and slew Mannoroth. Hellscream perished shortly afterwards, but he had managed to break the curse over his people, freeing their souls and spirits from the demonic curse forever. It seems that afterward, Gorehowl was retrieved by Thrall or the orcs of the Horde in general and kept in.


 * ''Before the, Thrall himself gives Gorehowl to Garrosh, who wields it in the duel resulting in the death of Cairne Bloodhoof. Garrosh wielded the legendary weapon wherever he went.


 * ''Garrosh left Gorehowl behind in the . It was discovered by Jaina Proudmoore and, although it's unknown what happened to it later.


 * ''The warchief replaced the original Gorehowl with an Old God replica of the weapon named.


 * ''In the alternate timeline, Grom used Gorehowl to kill Mannoroth after rejecting the demon's blood. Some time later, he appears to have given his Gorehowl to Garrosh; Grom was not seen wielding the axe in any of his subsequent appearances in Draenor, while Garrosh used it at . Following Garrosh's death in his with Thrall at the, Gorehowl remained near his corpse where Thrall had deflected it.


 * ''Gul'dan retrieved Gorehowl and brought it to Grommash in another failed attempt to convince him to drink demon blood.


 * ''Gorehowl is a famous weapon. The sharply curved axe head, with an intricate series of grooves in it, is massive, well worn, and permanently stained with old blood. Its wickedly curved blade has two notches in it, and many small holes in the head near the handle. When swung, the notches causes the axe to "sing" its own battle cry, just as Grom once did, which gave the weapon its name. The skull on the blade is believed to be that of a slain . The leather wrap on the handle would have been made from hides. When it wasn't held in Garrosh's hands, he hooked it onto a brace on his back.

Trivia

 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Blood of Gladiators" series, for the card Gorehowl.
 * This card's flavor text references Gorehowl's appearance as an item in World of Warcraft, where it is obtainable as a drop from, a boss in the  instance . There is no known lore explanation for how Gorehowl came into his possession, although it has been theorized by some players that Malchezaar obtained it from an alternate universe, as his quotes boast that he has access to "all realities, all dimensions". Prince Malchezaar's flavor text references this: He was super excited to acquire Gorehowl at a garage sale! Then super disappointed to find out it was a foam reproduction.
 * Gorehowl's World of Warcraft counterpart features the flavor text "The axe of Grom Hellscream has sown terror across hundreds of battlefields."
 * Prior to Patch 1.0.0.4944, Gorehowl featured the triggered effect lightning bolt icon. It is not known why it was removed.
 * In 2015 Blizzard hired professional blacksmith Tony Swatton to forge a replica of Gorehowl.

Patch changes

 * Moved from Classic to Legacy set.
 * The weapon is now correctly displays the Immune visual effect when the "Bloodrage" enchantment activates.
 * The "Bloodrage" Enchantment now detaches also if the attack is canceled. Previously, it didn't; thus, if you proposed to attack a minion, but the attack was cancelled due to the defender dying (an easy way is to be Misdirection redirected onto a minion, then the minion is mortally wounded by Explosive Trap), Gorehowl would continue to have "Bloodrage" attached and continue to be Immune: thus, enemy Bloodsail Corsairs would not reduce the Durability of the Immune Gorehowl (however, it could still be destroyed by effects such as Acidic Swamp Ooze) and, if the equipping hero attacked the enemy hero, Gorehowl would not lose Durability (since it was Immune) nor Attack (since it was attacking a hero), although it would lose "Bloodrage" and thus its Immune state on the After Attack Event.
 * The triggered effect 'lightning bolt' icon has been removed from Gorehowl.
 * Flavor text updated to reference Grommash Hellscream instead of Grom Hellscream.
 * Unknown alpha patch (April or May 2013): New text: Attacking a minion costs 1 Attack instead of 1 Durability.
 * Previously: Attacking a Minion doesn't cost Durability. [7 Mana, 7 Attack, 1 Durability, epic]