These are important
to remember, and can often be combined with each other to make some effective
and simple strategies that carry over to higher levels of play.
Taunt
A player facing a
creature with taunt cannot attack anything else until that minion has been
removed. This only applies to attacks, however, not spells.
A simple strategy to deal with taunted minions is to remove them with spells first, assuming
you want to attack something else this turn. Minions with taunt can attack just
like any other creature.
Battlecry
A minion with a
battlecry will resolve its card text as soon as it's played on the field.
This
keyword is specific to minions.
Brewmaster minions are
useful to have in almost any deck because of their battlecry, which returns an
allied minion to your hand. This can be used to return and summon damaged minions
for full health, or to get a double-shot of another minion's battlecry. Vanish,
a rogue-specific spell, has the same effect as a Brewmaster, but does so for every minion on the field.
Silence
Silence is a negative
keyword usually imparted as part of another creature's battlecry. A minion that
has been silenced loses all of its special abilities, including those imparted
by spells and not part of the minion's normal text.
One simple use of
silence is to use it on minions with taunt. This will remove the taunt ability,
and allow you to attack any target you want (assuming the opponent doesn't have
more than one taunt creature).
Divine Shield
When a minion has
divine shield, it will ignore the first instance of damage done to it. This
counts both against attacks from heroes and other minions, as well as spells
that do damage.
A couple of easy ways
to get around divine shield are to burn a weak spell that does little damage
(e.g. Moonfire), or to attack with minions that only do one damage (though the
former is preferable). A great combo to use with divine shield is giving it to
one minion with taunt. This will either force the opponent to attack the
shielded creature two or more times to kill it -- damaging or killing its own
units in the process -- or wasting powerful removal spells on relatively weak
creatures.
However, divine shield
does not protect from removal spells that don't deal damage directly, like
Execute and Assassinate.
Windfury
Windfury allows a
minion to attack twice in a single turn. Windfury can almost be used as a
substitute for taunt, as it makes a unit a prime target. Your opponent won't
want to let a minion with such a powerful attack survive for long.
If you want to make
sure your windfury unit survives long enough to attack, it's best to play them
when there is an actual minion with taunt on the field to curb enemy
aggression. If you have a choice, it's also best to play temporary attack buffs
on minions with windfury. This effectively doubles the temporary boost.
Combo
Combo works just like
a battlecry, except that you must play any other card first for the combo to
activate.
Unlike battlecry, this keyword is also specific to the Rogue class.
Just like battlecry
cards, combos work well with Brewmaster minions by allowing you to resolve the
effect multiple times -- sometimes even in a single turn.
Overload
The overload keyword
is always followed by a number. That number represents how many mana crystals
you will be unable to use next turn.
This keyword is specific to Shamans.
Usually this type of
cards are better in stats or abilities than the regular ones, because you'll
get the downside of getting overloaded.
Cards with this keyword usually have
very low initial mana costs for their power.
The one useful synergy for this
keyword is playing such cards on the same turn as an Unbound Elemental.
These minions actually
get stronger for every overload card you play, so it's best to use as many as
possible on the same turn.
Units that get stronger over time are juicy targets
for enemy players, so buffing it as much as possible before your next turn will
increase the resources the other player needs to remove it in a single turn (if they can at all).
Choose One
This keyword (or
phrase, in this case) is specific to Druids.
Cards with this ability can
resolve one of two abilities chosen by the player.
Unique Text
Some cards have unique
abilities not tied to a keyword. Usually, these are straightforward spells, but
some can be used at special times for maximum efficiency.
Much of Hearthstone is
math. It's about getting the maximum gain for the lowest cost in the shortest
time.
Stealth
The minions with this keyword will only lose stealth when they attack otherwise it will remain hidden.
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