The card game term ‘keyword’ should be easy to understand even if you’ve never seen it before. It refers to a word that functions as shorthand for a core concept, so you don’t need to spell out exactly what it does every time.
InHearthstone Battlegrounds, most minions have at least one, as do many of the spells. And while each of the game’s keywords has times when it will be invaluable, it’s worth examining them to see which is truly the strongest.
The type-exclusive keywords (Blood Gems, Spellcraft, and Magnetic) have been excluded from this list, as their strength is so closely intertwined with the strength of the type itself.
10Windfury
Effect: Minions With This Keyword Can Attack Twice In A Row
Windfury can absolutely ruin your opponent’s day in the right circumstances. Many compositions rely on a certain minion surviving for a long time, and Windfury gives you more chances to hit that minion before it causes too much damage.
While it can be strong on any minion, the Keyword is at its best if you can get it on a minion like Foe Reaper 4000, which damages minions next to the one it attacks. That’s a powerful ability on its own, but when combined with Windfury, it can wipe almost all of your opponent’s minions off the board before they can do anything.
9Avenge
Effect: An Ability That Triggers After A Specified Number Of Other Minions Die In Combat
Many of the keywords on this list get more powerful if you put support cards around them, but Avenge is a special case, as it doesn’t do anything without other minions dying first. That said, if you do have the necessary conditions in place, with a bunch of Reborn or Deathrattle minions, the effects you get as a reward are exceptionally powerful.
Some are in-combat buffs, but a surprising number provide bonuses that last even beyond the current fight. Whether it’s getting permanent stats, spells in your hand, or extra gold, these boosts can be game-winning if you can get your hands on them.
8Discover
Effect: Choose Between One Of Three Different Cards
In practice, you seeDiscover effectsall the time in Battlegrounds, since you choose from three options every time you triple a minion. However, the keyword doesn’t actually appear on all that many minions in the game.
Many of them trigger as the result of a Battlecry, allowing you to choose what you get from the card, rather than receiving a random result. That’s substantially better, both because it increases the power level of your reward, and because it lets you fish for specific options far more efficiently.
7Reborn
Effect: Cards With This Keyword Are Resurrected With One Health The First Time They Are Destroyed
Reborn is at its best when usedwith Undead, the type it appears in most often. Undead have the ability increase the attack of every Undead you summon for the rest of the game, including any time one comes back to life thanks to Reborn.
However, the Keyword is also excellent when combined with the on-summon effects of Beasts, or with one of the other effects on this list. A minion that had a Deathrattle will trigger it an extra time, and minions with Divine Shield, Venomous, or Poisonous will get another chance to take advantage of them.
6Taunt
Effect: Enemy Minions Are Forced To Attack Minions With This Keyword
Taunt is a relatively simple keyword; unlike many of the others on this list, it doesn’t have a wide variety of potential effects. However, the one thing it can do will often be crucial to your gameplan.
Many builds have certain minions that want to be kept alive for as long as possible — Titus Rivendare being a prime example. And one of the best ways to do that is simply by putting another minion in the way, which is exactly what Taunt allows you to do.
5Battlecry
Effect: An Ability That Triggers When A Card Is Played From Your Hand
Battlecry is arguably the most versatile keyword in Battlegrounds, since it has such a wide variety of potential effects. After all, the concept of ‘when played, do X’ can be expanded to basically anything fairly easily.
In Battlegrounds, the most common effects are buffs and adding cards to your hand, but they can come with any number of other abilities as well. Better still, all of them can be duplicated with Brann or Moira Bronzebeard and triggered extra times with Young Murk-Eye or Rylak Metalhead, boosting their effectiveness exponentially.
4Venomous/Poisonous
Effect: The Card With This Ability Destroys Any Minion It Damages (Venomous Is A One-Time Effect)
These two keywords have basically the same effect, with Venomous being a newer, weaker version of Poisonous. Having the effect be permanent turned out to be too annoying, which is why only one minion (theTier 7Tide Oracle Morgl) currently has the stronger variant.
However, both effects serve essentially the same purpose: allowing a relatively weak minion that didn’t take much investment to take out an opponent far above it in size. Few things are more satisfying than watching a 2/2 with one of these keywords kill a minion with hundreds of total stats.
3Deathrattle
Effect: An Ability That Triggers When A Card Is Destroyed
The Deathrattle keyword has arguably the best support cards in the game, between Titus Rivendare doubling their effectiveness and Hawkstrider Herald activating them before combat even starts. Of course, neither of those minions would be any good without powerful Deathrattle effects for them to utilize.
Fortunately, the Battlegrounds are full of minions that have fight-warping effects when they die. They can range from buffing your board, adding value to your hand, or even dealing immense amounts of damage to your opponent’s minions; all abilities that have the potential to win games.
2Divine Shield
Effect: Blocks The Next Damage The Minion Would Receive
There’s a reason the Tavern spell that gives Divine Shield costs six gold, making it among the most expensive items Bob has for sale. The difference between having the keyword and not having it can easily be what determines whether you win or lose a combat or even the game.
If two minions of even strength are fighting, not only does Divine Shield break the tie, it keeps your minion at full strength to continue trading with your opponent’s board. It even protects you against other powerful keywords, like Poisonous or Venomous, which only trigger if they actually damage your minion.
1Start Of Combat
Effect: An Ability That Triggers At The Start Of Combat, Before Normal Attacks Are Made
The Start of Combat keyword is pretty self-explanatory; the minion in question does something before combat starts. And doing anything before your opponent’s minions get to move effectively allows you to break the rules of the game.
Some minions with this effect just gain stats, but others are even more impactful. For example, Audacious Anchor can snipe a key opposing minion by attacking it. Easily the best of these minions, though, is Hawkstrider Herald, which triggers friendly Deathrattles, allowing them to activate an extra time and without interference from your opponent.
