Silence

Silence
Removes all card text and enchantments.

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

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.

Cards with Silence

For Wild format listings, see Silence/Wild format

Sources of Silence

For Wild format listings, see Silence/Wild format

Silence-generating cards

This section lists cards which generate Silencing cards.

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.