Battlecry

Battlecry
Does something when you play it from your hand.

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.

Notes

• Battlecries do not activate if the card is brought into play by another card. For example, Alarm-o-Bot, Faceless Manipulator and Mirror Entity all place minions onto the board, but any Battlecries will not be activated.
• Battlecries generally occur once, when the card is brought into play. Unlike some other buffs, these effects do not therefore rely on the casting minion staying alive, and cannot be removed by destroying it. For example, destroying Stormwind Champion will remove its bonus effect from any affected minions, whereas Shattered Sun Cleric's Battlecry, once granted, will not be removed by killing the Cleric. This means Battlecry minions are generally some of the less valuable minions once they have been played, since much of their point value lies in their Battlecry.
• Order of play can be important. For example, if no other Murlocs are in play, playing Coldlight Seer, followed by Bluegill Warrior, will waste the Seer's Battlecry; while playing the Warrior first will allow it to benefit from the Seer's Battlecry.
• Battlecries take place each time the minion is played by the player. Cards such as Ancient Brewmaster, which return a minion to your hand, can be used to benefit from a minion's Battlecry effect more than once.
• Choose One and Combo effects on minions are not considered Battlecries. In particular, they have no interaction with Brann Bronzebeard, Shudderwock, or Corrupt the Waters.

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' triggered effects such as those of Illidan Stormrage and Hobgoblin. Battlecries occur before Secrets such as Mirror Entity, as well as Knife Juggler's '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

For Wild format listings, see Battlecry/Wild format

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

Collectible

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Mossy Horror	Epic	Minion	General	Any	6	2	7	Battlecry: Destroy all other minions with 2 or less Attack.
Showing the only card

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Carnassa's Brood		Minion	Beast	Hunter	1	3	2	Battlecry: Draw a card.
Draconic Lackey		Minion	General	Any	1	1	1	Battlecry: Discover a Dragon.
Titanic Lackey		Minion	General	Any	1	1	1	Battlecry: Give a friendly minion +2 Health and Taunt.
Blessed Maul	Rare	Weapon		PALADIN	3	2		Battlecry: Give your minions +1 Attack.
Champion's Maul	Rare	Weapon		PALADIN	3	2		Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits.
Purifier's Maul	Rare	Weapon		PALADIN	3	2		Battlecry: Give your minions Divine Shield.
Sacred Maul	Rare	Weapon		PALADIN	3	2		Battlecry: Give your minions Taunt.
Sulfuras		Weapon		Warrior	3	4	2	Battlecry: Your Hero Power becomes 'Deal 8 damage to a random enemy.'
Golden Monkey		Minion	General	Any	4	6	6	Taunt Battlecry: Replace your hand and deck with Legendary minions.
Amara, Warden of Hope		Minion	General	Priest	5	8	8	Taunt Battlecry: Set your hero's Health to 40.
Barnabus the Stomper		Minion	Beast	Druid	5	8	8	Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of your minions in your deck to (0).
Doppelgangster	Rare	Minion	General	Any	5	2	2	Battlecry: Summon 2 copies of this minion.
Doppelgangster	Rare	Minion	General	Any	5	2	2	Battlecry: Summon 2 copies of this minion.
Galvadon		Minion	General	Paladin	5	5	5	Battlecry: Adapt 5 times.
Megafin		Minion	Murloc	Shaman	5	8	8	Battlecry: Fill your hand with random Murlocs.
Queen Carnassa		Minion	Beast	Hunter	5	8	8	Battlecry: Shuffle 15 Raptors into your deck.
Galakrond, Azeroth's End	Legendary			Rogue	7			Battlecry: Draw 4 cards. They cost (0). Equip a 5/2 Claw.
Galakrond, Azeroth's End	Legendary			Priest	7			Battlecry: Destroy 4 random enemy minions. Equip a 5/2 Claw.
Galakrond, Azeroth's End	Legendary			Shaman	7			Battlecry: Summon two 8/8 Storms with Rush. Equip a 5/2 Claw.
Galakrond, Azeroth's End	Legendary			Warlock	7			Battlecry: Summon 4 random Demons. Equip a 5/2 Claw.
Galakrond, Azeroth's End	Legendary			Warrior	7			Battlecry: Draw 4 minions. Give them +4/+4. Equip a 5/2 Claw.
Galakrond, the Apocalypse	Legendary			Rogue	7			Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. They cost (0). (Invoke twice to upgrade.)
Galakrond, the Apocalypse	Legendary			Priest	7			Battlecry: Destroy 2 random enemy minions. (Invoke twice to upgrade.)
Galakrond, the Apocalypse	Legendary			Shaman	7			Battlecry: Summon two 4/4 Storms with Rush. (Invoke twice to upgrade.)
Galakrond, the Apocalypse	Legendary			Warlock	7			Battlecry: Summon 2 random Demons. (Invoke twice to upgrade.)
Galakrond, the Apocalypse	Legendary			Warrior	7			Battlecry: Draw 2 minions. Give them +4/+4. (Invoke twice to upgrade.)
Azari, the Devourer		Minion	DEMON	WARLOCK	10	10	10	Battlecry: Destroy your opponent's deck.
Showing all 27 cards

Related cards

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Blazing Invocation	Rare	Spell	Fire	Shaman	1			Discover a Battlecry minion.
Corrupt the Waters	Legendary	Spell	General	Shaman	1			Quest: Play 6 Battlecry cards. Reward: Heart of Vir'naal.
Heart of Vir'naal		Hero Power		Shaman	2			Hero Power Your Battlecries trigger twice this turn.
Murmuring Elemental	Rare	Minion	ELEMENTAL	SHAMAN	2	1	1	Battlecry: Your next Battlecry this turn triggers twice.
Nerub'ar Weblord	Common	Minion	General	Any	2	1	4	Minions with Battlecry cost (2) more.
Waxmancy	Common	Spell	General	Rogue	2			Discover a Battlecry minion. Reduce its Cost by (2).
Blubber Baron	Epic	Minion	General	Any	3	1	1	Whenever you summon a Battlecry minion while this is in your hand, gain +1/+1.
Brann Bronzebeard	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	3	2	4	Your Battlecries trigger twice.
Crowd Favorite	Epic	Minion	General	Any	4	4	4	Whenever you play a card with Battlecry, gain +1/+1.
Rumbling Elemental	Common	Minion	Elemental	Shaman	4	2	6	After you play a Battlecry minion, deal 2 damage to a random enemy.
Spirit of the Shark	Rare	Minion	General	Rogue	4	0	3	Stealth for 1 turn. Your minions' Battlecries and Combos trigger twice.
Boompistol Bully	Epic	Minion	General	Any	5	5	5	Battlecry: Enemy Battlecry cards cost (5) more next turn.
Gurubashi Hypemon	Epic	Minion	General	Rogue	7	5	7	Battlecry: Discover a 1/1 copy of a Battlecry minion. It costs (1).
Shudderwock	Legendary	Minion	General	Shaman	9	6	6	Battlecry: Repeat all other Battlecries from cards you played this game (targets chosen randomly).
Showing all 14 cards

Achievements

Name	Requirements	Rewards
FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! (1/5)	Play 150 cards with Battlecry.	10
FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! (2/5)	Play 500 cards with Battlecry.	10
FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! (3/5)	Play 1500 cards with Battlecry.	10
FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! (4/5)	Play 5000 cards with Battlecry.	10
FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! (5/5)	Play 15000 cards with Battlecry.	20

	Cards
By type	Hero card Minion (Permanent) Spell Weapon
By class	Demon Hunter Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior Death Knight Neutral Multi-class
By minion type	All Beast Demon Dragon Elemental Mech Murloc Pirate Quilboar Totem General
By spell school	Arcane Fel Fire Frost Holy Nature Shadow General
By ability	Evergreen keywords	Battlecry Choose One Combo Deathrattle Discover Divine Shield Freeze Lifesteal Outcast Overload Poisonous Rush Secret Silence Spell Damage Stealth Taunt Windfury
	Other keywords	Adapt Casts When Drawn Charge Choose Twice Corrupt Dormant Echo Frenzy Honorable Kill Immune Inspire Invoke Jade Golem Lackey Magnetic Mega-Windfury Overkill Passive Quest (Questline • Sidequest) Reborn Recruit Spare Part Spellburst Start of Game Tradeable Twinspell
	Other abilities	Can't attack Cast spell Copy Deal damage Destroy Discard Draw cards Elusive Enrage Equip Force attack Forgetful Gain Armor Generate Highlander Joust Modify cost Put into battlefield Put into hand Recurring Refresh Mana Remove from deck Replace Restore Health Return to hand Shuffle into deck Spend mana Steal Summon Take control Transform Unlimited attacks Upgradable
	Non-Constructed	Auto-Attack Auto-cast Shrine Start of Combat
By effect type	Area of effect In-deck effect In-hand effect On-discard effect On-draw effect Ongoing effect Positional effect Random effect Resurrection effect Triggered effect
By card set	Standard	Core Ashes of Outland Scholomance Academy Madness at the Darkmoon Faire Forged in the Barrens United in Stormwind Fractured in Alterac Valley
	Wild	Legacy Curse of Naxxramas Goblins vs Gnomes Blackrock Mountain Grand Tournament The League of Explorers Whispers of the Old Gods One Night in Karazhan Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Journey to Un'Goro Knights of the Frozen Throne Kobolds & Catacombs The Witchwood The Boomsday Project Rastakhan's Rumble Rise of Shadows Saviors of Uldum Descent of Dragons Galakrond's Awakening Demon Hunter Initiate
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary