Silence

Silence
Removes all card text and enchantments.

For the card of the same name, see Silence.

Silence is an ability which removes all current card text, enchantments, and abilities from the targeted minion. It does not remove damage or minion type. Silences are mostly associated with Priests, and to a lesser extent Demon Hunters.

Notes

The Silence visual effect, indicating that the minion has been silenced

• Removes all enchantments

• Removes all card text from affected minions, including:
  • Taunt
  • Freeze
  • Enrage
  • Charge
  • Rush
  • Inspire
  • Reborn
  • Windfury and Mega-Windfury
  • Divine Shield
  • Stealth (Only possible if it is an area of effect Silence or you are targeting your own stealthed minion)
  • Spell Damage
  • Deathrattle
  • Ongoing effects
  • Triggered effects, including Poisonous and Overkill
  • Mech upgrades given by a magnetic card

• Does not remove:
  • Minion type (e.g., "Beast", "Murloc")
  • Transform effects (e.g., Hex, Polymorph)
  • Damage
  • Permanent mind control effects (e.g., Mind Control, Sylvanas Windrunner's Deathrattle). Note that temporary mind control effects granted by enchantments (e.g. Shadow Madness) will be removed.
  • Minions already generated by one-time or triggered abilities, such as Defias Ringleader's Defias Bandit or Hogger's Gnolls. However, no more minions will be generated once silenced.
  • Enchantments already created on other targets by one-time or triggered abilities, such as Young Priestess's health buffs or Millhouse Manastorm's mana cost effect. However, no more enchantments will be created once silenced.

• Also does not remove ongoing effects continuously provided by another minion (e.g., Raid Leader, Stormwind Champion). However, ongoing effects can be removed by silencing the minion generating the effect.

• Silencing a target will only remove currently active effects. New enchantments can still be applied to a silenced minion to full effect. Targets may be silenced repeatedly.

• Note that Silence itself is not an enchantment; rather it is an effect which is applied once to the target minion. Silences cannot therefore be dispelled (e.g., by using another silence) or otherwise removed while the minion is on the battlefield. However, returning a silenced minion to its owner's hand will restore the minion to its original stats and card text, removing the silence.

• When removing enchantments that affect Health, silencing may act to increase or reduce Health (since Health is automatically increased by the same amount as any gain in maximum Health), and may therefore restore wounded minions to full Health. See Health, buffs and taking damage for details.

Strategy

It is possible to silence your own minions, which can be useful for removing Freeze effects and negative enchantments, such as Corruption, or Power Overwhelming after having used the minion to attack. However, silencing will still remove any other magic effects, taunts, or buffs, so this may be undesirable for use with many minions. Silencing your own minion will also get rid of possible negative effects for you, like the increased minion cost on Venture Co. Mercenary, or the attack prevention on Ancient Watcher.

Trivia

• In April 2016, the game's developers considered that Silence effects "may be undercosted right now", due to their ability to neutralize powerful cards. This is why only a few cards with Silence effects had been added since the game's initial release, often with very limited applications: For example, Wailing Soul and Purify can only Silence the player's own minions, generally useful only for specific combo play; while Light's Champion, Defias Cleaner, and Shieldbreaker can only Silence specific types of cards.

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 Naga Pirate Quilboar Totem General
By spell school	Arcane Fel Fire Frost Holy Nature Shadow General
By ability	Evergreen keywords	Battlecry Casts When Drawn Charge Choose One Choose Twice Combo Deathrattle Discover Divine Shield Dormant Freeze Immune Lifesteal Mega-Windfury Outcast Overload Passive Poisonous Rush Secret Silence Spell Damage Start of Game Stealth Taunt Windfury
	Expansion keywords	Adapt Colossal Corrupt Dredge Echo Frenzy Honorable Kill Inspire Invoke Jade Golem Lackey Magnetic Overkill Quest (Questline • Sidequest) Reborn Recruit Spare Part Spellburst 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 Forged in the Barrens United in Stormwind Fractured in Alterac Valley Voyage to the Sunken City
	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 Ashes of Outland Scholomance Academy Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary