Charge

Charge
Can attack immediately.

For the card of the same name, see Charge (card).

Charge is an ability allowing a minion to attack the same turn it is summoned or brought under a new player's control.

Charge is available to all classes, but is most strongly associated with the warrior and hunter classes. Warrior cards involving Charge include Charge, Kor'Kron Elite and Grommash Hellscream. Hunters have access to powerful Charge cards such as Huffer, Unleash the Hounds, Tundra Rhino and King Krush.

Notes

• Minions with Charge will not suffer the exhausted effect when first put into play. This also applies if the minion is brought into play through means such as a Summon effect or Faceless Manipulator's Transform effect.
  • The Charge ability effectively suppresses a newly-summoned minion's exhaustion, but does not remove it. If Charge is removed from a newly-summoned minion, such as through a Silence, the minion will become exhausted.

• If a friendly minion can only attack because it has temporary Charge from Tundra Rhino, the Tundra Rhino does not have to survive until the actual combat happens (for example, if it dies to Explosive Trap, the combat will not be cancelled).

• Charge functionally overrides Rush effects. If a Charge minion is given Rush, it will still be able to attack the enemy hero. This is because Rush doesn't actually prevent a minion from attacking the opponent's hero, it only allows the minion to attack enemy minions while it would normally have summoning sickness.

Strategy

• Charge is a very useful ability for dealing instant damage, and often features as part of a deck's burst damage potential. Cards like Doomguard can be held until the opportunity arise to quickly defeat the opponent using the cards left in the hand.

• Charge minions are often used to finish the opponent, sometimes as part of one turn kill (OTK) combos. Leeroy Jenkins is a good example, often combined with cards such as Shadowstep, Faceless Manipulator, Reincarnate and Power Overwhelming to deal huge damage in a single turn. Unleash the Hounds and Grommash Hellscream are also commonly used as finishers.

• Charge can be granted through cards like Tundra Rhino, allowing beasts which do not usually possess the ability to make use of it. This can be key in making powerful plays with strong beasts such as Savannah Highmane. Unleash the Hounds is a strong example of the power of a sudden group of minions, heavily dependent on Charge.

• Charge minions frequently feature decent Attack but relatively low Health. This ensures that they will be defeated upon attacking most targets, and otherwise can be easily dispatched by the opponent, serving to balance their ability to immediately attack with a low likelihood of surviving into the next round.

Cards with Charge

This section lists all cards which possess or provide a source of Charge.

Collectible

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Kor'vas Bloodthorn	Legendary	Minion	General	Demon Hunter	2	2	2	Charge, Lifesteal After you play a card with Outcast, return this to your hand.
Kayn Sunfury	Legendary	Minion	General	Demon Hunter	4	3	4	Charge All friendly attacks ignore Taunt.
Al'Akir the Windlord	Legendary	Minion	Elemental	Shaman	8	3	6	Charge, Divine Shield, Taunt, Windfury
Grommash Hellscream	Legendary	Minion	General	Warrior	8	4	9	Charge Has +6 Attack while damaged.
King Krush	Legendary	Minion	Beast	Hunter	9	8	8	Charge
Showing all 5 cards

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Stonetusk Boar	Free	Minion	Beast	Any	1	1	1	Charge
Bluegill Warrior	Free	Minion	Murloc	Any	2	2	1	Charge
Arcane Golem	Rare	Minion	General	Any	3	4	2	Charge. Battlecry: Give your opponent a Mana Crystal.
Argent Horserider	Common	Minion	General	Any	3	2	1	Charge Divine Shield
Gnomeregan Infantry	Common	Minion	General	Any	3	1	4	Charge Taunt
Wolfrider	Free	Minion	General	Any	3	3	1	Charge
Chillblade Champion	Common	Minion	General	Paladin	4	3	2	Charge Lifesteal
Kor'kron Elite	Free	Minion	General	Warrior	4	4	3	Charge
Old Murk-Eye	Legendary	Minion	Murloc	Any	4	2	4	Charge. Has +1 Attack for each other Murloc on the battlefield.
Stormwind Knight	Free	Minion	General	Any	4	2	5	Charge
Doomguard	Rare	Minion	Demon	Warlock	5	5	7	Charge. Battlecry: Discard two random cards.
Leeroy Jenkins	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	5	6	2	Charge. Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Whelps for your opponent.
Argent Commander	Rare	Minion	General	Any	6	4	2	Charge Divine Shield
Reckless Rocketeer	Free	Minion	General	Any	6	5	2	Charge
Skycap'n Kragg	Legendary	Minion	Pirate	Any	7	4	6	Charrrrrge Costs (1) less for each friendly Pirate.
Al'Akir the Windlord	Legendary	Minion	Elemental	Shaman	8	3	6	Charge, Divine Shield, Taunt, Windfury
Charged Devilsaur	Epic	Minion	Beast	Any	8	7	7	Charge Battlecry: Can't attack heroes this turn.
Grommash Hellscream	Legendary	Minion	General	Warrior	8	4	9	Charge Has +6 Attack while damaged.
Icehowl	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	9	10	10	Charge Can't attack heroes.
King Krush	Legendary	Minion	Beast	Hunter	9	8	8	Charge
Showing all 20 cards

Uncollectible

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Reffuh	None	Minion	Demon		1	2	1	Charge
Huffer	Common	Minion	Beast	Hunter	3	4	2	Charge
Showing all 2 cards

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Hound	None	Minion	Beast	Hunter	1	1	1	Charge
Sabertooth Lion	Common	Minion	Beast	Druid	2	2	1	Charge
Tiger Form	Common	Minion	Beast	Druid	2	3	2	Charge, Stealth
Boar	None	Minion	Beast	Mage	3	4	2	Charge
V-07-TR-0N	None	Minion	Mech	Any	8	4	8	Charge Mega-Windfury
King Krush	Legendary	Minion	Beast	Hunter	9	8	8	Charge
Showing all 6 cards

Sources of Charge

Charge-generating cards

This section lists cards which generate Charge minions.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Demon Companion	Rare	Spell	General		1			Summon a random Demon Companion.
Open the Cages	Common	Spell	General	Hunter	2			Secret: When your turn starts, if you control two minions, summon an Animal Companion.
Showing all 2 cards

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Druid of the Saber	Common	Minion	General	Druid	2	2	1	Choose One - Transform into a 2/1 with Charge; or a 3/2 with Stealth.
Animal Companion	Free	Spell	General	Hunter	3			Summon a random Beast Companion.
Polymorph: Boar	Rare	Spell	Arcane	Mage	3			Transform a minion into a 4/2 Boar with Charge.
Unleash the Hounds	Common	Spell	General	Hunter	3			For each enemy minion, summon a 1/1 Hound with Charge.
Mimiron's Head	Legendary	Minion	Mech	Any	5	4	5	At the start of your turn, if you have at least 3 Mechs, destroy them all and form V-07-TR-0N.
To My Side!	Epic	Spell	General	Hunter	6			Summon an Animal Companion, or 2 if your deck has no minions.
Dinotamer Brann	Legendary	Minion	General	Hunter	7	2	4	Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, summon King Krush.
Call of the Wild	Epic	Spell	General	Hunter	8			Summon all 3 Animal Companions.
Showing all 8 cards

Charge-granting cards

This section lists cards which grant the Charge ability to other minions or to itself.

Wild format

This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Potion of Madness	Common	Spell	Shadow	Priest	1			Gain control of an enemy minion with 2 or less Attack until the end of the turn.
Southsea Deckhand	Common	Minion	Pirate	Any	1	2	1	Has Charge while you have a weapon equipped.
Alexstrasza's Champion	Rare	Minion	General	Warrior	2	2	3	Battlecry: If you're holding a Dragon, gain +1 Attack and Charge.
Charge	Free	Spell	General	Warrior	3			Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge.
Shadow Madness	Rare	Spell	Shadow	Priest	3			Gain control of an enemy minion with 3 or less Attack until end of turn.
Armored Warhorse	Rare	Minion	Beast	Any	4	5	3	Battlecry: Reveal a minion in each deck. If yours costs more, gain Charge.
Tanaris Hogchopper	Common	Minion	Quilboar	Any	4	4	4	Battlecry: If your opponent's hand is empty, gain Charge.
Spiked Hogrider	Rare	Minion	Quilboar	Any	5	5	5	Battlecry: If an enemy minion has Taunt, gain Charge.
Tundra Rhino	Free	Minion	Beast	Hunter	5	2	5	Your Beasts have Charge.
Leatherclad Hogleader	Epic	Minion	Quilboar	Any	6	6	6	Battlecry: If your opponent has 6 or more cards in hand, gain Charge.
Showing all 10 cards

Achievements

Name	Requirements	Rewards
I Wanna Play NOW! (1/5)	Play 50 minions with Rush or Charge.	10
I Wanna Play NOW! (2/5)	Play 150 minions with Rush or Charge.	10
I Wanna Play NOW! (3/5)	Play 500 minions with Rush or Charge.	10
I Wanna Play NOW! (4/5)	Play 1500 minions with Rush or Charge.	10
I Wanna Play NOW! (5/5)	Play 5000 minions with Rush or Charge.	20

Design

Charge is historically one of the most problematic abilities in Hearthstone. This is due to the potential for Charge minions to be combined with Attack-increasing buffs and copy effects, producing excessively powerful burst combos, in the worst cases resulting in one turn kills. This lack of interactivity makes Charge a concern for the developers, who have consequently become increasingly reluctant to print new minions with unqualified Charge, as well as nerfing numerous cards critical to Charge-based combos.

Designer Max McCall clarifies that the ability itself can be positive, such as for allowing players to catch up when behind on the board, helping to counter the strength of consistently developing the board. However, when a Charge card is cheap enough to combo with other effects, or it is otherwise viable to achieve a one turn kill using it, the ability "becomes a problem". One solution to this could be to restrict the availability of buffs and other key combo pieces, but these types of effect offer a larger design space, with the result that restricting them would detract from the game far more significantly than simply restricting the availability of Charge.

More recently the designers have experimented with conditional Charge effects, and are considering adding more expensive Charge minions in the future, as they "figure out what's safe".

With The Witchwood, Hearthstone introduced the related Rush effect, which is similar to Charge except that the minion cannot attack heroes on the turn it is summoned. It is possible for a minion to have both Rush and Charge (for example, if you play a Rush Beast while Tundra Rhino is on the board); in that case the minion can attack the enemy hero on its first turn.

References

	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 Immune Inspire Invoke Jade Golem Lackey Magnetic Mega-Windfury Overkill Passive Quest Reborn Recruit Sidequest Spare Part Spellburst Start of Game 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	Basic Classic Rise of Shadows Saviors of Uldum Descent of Dragons Galakrond's Awakening Demon Hunter Initiate Ashes of Outland Scholomance Academy Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
	Wild	Hall of Fame 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
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary