An "Enraged" minion
Enrage is the informal name for a minion ability where the stated effect becomes active only when the minion is damaged. If the minion regains undamaged status, either through healing or a forced resetting of its maximum Health, the Enrage effect will be cancelled.
Enrage was once an official keyword ability in Hearthstone, but it was removed due to its infrequent use in cards and its narrow design space. Enrage no longer exists as a keyword, but it is the unofficial term for the card text, "while Damaged."
Contents
Notes[]
Enrage effects become active whenever the minion's current Health is below their current maximum Health. Restoring a minion to full Health will cancel the Enrage effect. Resetting an Enraged minion's maximum Health so that they are no longer considered 'damaged' will also cancel the effect.
- Example: A damaged
Amani Berserker has its Enrage effect active, increasing its attack by 3. Later, its attack and health is set to 3/3 by 
Keeper of Uldaman. The Enrage effect of Amani Berserker is now no longer active. - Example: A damaged Spiteful Smith has its weapon-buffing effect active. Later, its attack and health is set to 10/10 by Dinosize. The weapon-buffing effect of Spiteful Smith is no longer active.
Enrage effects are either active or inactive. While active, these effects are constant, and will not be re-applied by further damaging the minion.
Enrage effects are sometimes confused with triggered effects which activate on damage, such as that of Gurubashi Berserker or Frothing Berserker. Unlike Enrage effects, these effects can be triggered repeatedly, and will not be removed by healing the minion.
Tips[]
There are many ways of triggering Enrage effects:
- Making a minion with Enrage attack an opponent minion with low Attack is a good way to activate their Enrage effect while taking minimal damage.
- Many damaging spells and effects can be cast on your own minions, such as Shiv or Cruel Taskmaster's battlecry.
- Minions and heroes cannot attack their own allies so you can't force an Enrage on a friendly minion through combat with your own forces.
Healing effects can sometimes be useful for canceling enemy Enrage effects. For example, Priests can use Lesser Heal to reduce the threat from enemy minions who have powerful effects when damaged.
Cards with Enrage[]
- For Wild format listings, see Enrage/Wild format
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Achievements[]
| Category | Name | Description | Rewards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
  | Gameplay - Classic - Neutral | Anger Management | Play 10 Enrage minions. | 10  |
| Gameplay - Classic - Neutral | Anger Management | Play 25 Enrage minions. | 20 |
| Gameplay - Classic - Neutral | Anger Management | Play 60 Enrage minions. | 20 |
| Gameplay - Classic - Neutral | The Irate Poultry | Destroy your opponent with an Enraged Angry Chicken. | 10 |
History[]
Prior to Patch 11.0.0.23966, "Enrage" appeared as a keyword, written as Enrage: Has X. However, it was decided to be removed due to its narrow design space, lack of synergy, and overall unpopularity.[1] At the time of its removal, Enrage was only featured on a total of nine minions: six from the Classic set, one from Goblins vs. Gnomes, and two from Whispers of the Old Gods.
Peter Whalen gave the following explanation for its removal:
How well, then, is Enrage serving us as a keyword? First, it’s not clear that Enrage is actually any easier to understand than “while damaged”. It is certainly flavorful though, and does shrink the card text a little. On the other hand, we haven’t made any cards that key off of Enrage minions and aren’t likely to in the future. Overall, Enrage isn’t doing very much work for us, we haven’t used it in a while, and it isn’t on very many cards, so we’re cleaning up the game a little bit and removing it.
Trivia[]
- Enrage is the first keyword to be removed from the final version of the game.
Patch notes[]
- Patch 11.0.0.23966 (2018-04-10): Removed and replaced with "while damaged".
- Unknown: Added.
