Triggered effects are effects that activate in response to specific events. Triggered effects may belong to minions, weapons or spells (in the form of Secrets), as well as some boss Hero Powers.

Triggered effects include named abilities such as Battlecry and Deathrattle, as well as unnamed effects such as those of Cult Master, Sword of Justice and Ragnaros the Firelord. All Secrets are triggered effects. Many triggered effects must first be put into play in order to become active - such as by playing the minion, equipping the weapon, or casting the Secret - while others activate when the card itself is drawn, discarded or put into play. Different types of triggered effect often share common rules for their activation.

Since the most common types of triggers are represented by keywords such as Battlecry, the term triggered effect is sometimes used more specifically to refer to those not indicated by a keyword, but instead described explicitly in their card text. Such effects are usually - but not always - denoted when in play by a small lightning bolt icon, a flask with venom (Poisonous), or a broken heart (Lifesteal) at the bottom of the card's portrait or icon, and can usually be activated any number of times, but only while in play. Any ability that states "at the end of your turn" or "at the start of your turn" is a triggered effect, as are most that state "when" or "whenever".

Notes

Main article: Advanced rulebook

The interactions and timing of multiple triggered effects are some of the most complex rules in the game. This section is only a summary:

• When multiple triggered effects activate at once, such as at the end of a player's turn, the effects will activate in the order in which the minions were summoned, with the minions summoned first activating their triggered effects first. Any deaths resulting from the triggers then resolve at once, followed by consequences from those deaths. However, there are exceptions to this rule.

• Triggered effects which trigger from playing cards or casting spells may take place before or after the card takes effect, depending on the trigger. For example, activating Leader of the Pack with a Violet Teacher active will cause her to summon a fresh Violet Apprentice, who will then benefit from the Leader of the Pack buff,^[1] while playing Inner Rage on a 3/1 Wild Pyromancer will destroy the minion before it can activate its effect.

• For notes on individual types of triggered effects, see the appropriate sections.

Advanced

• Triggered effects require the card not to have been destroyed. However, the game only checks to destroy minions with 0 or negative Health when an event phase ends. This means that a minion can be triggered during the same phase in which it is destroyed, regardless of the order in which the events take place. For example, if three enemy Explosive Sheep are killed by your Flamestrike while you have an Acolyte of Pain on the board, the Acolyte will trigger three times (despite his Health reaching 0 after the first Exploding Sheep's Deathrattle) since he cannot completely die while the Sheep Deathrattles are still being handled. Once all simultaneous effects have resolved, the game will then check for any minions at 0 or lower Health, notice the Acolyte and destroy it. Conversely, Cult Master cannot trigger from the death of a friendly minion killed at the same time as the Cult Master itself, since by the time the game checks for triggers from the deaths, the Cult Master has also been destroyed.

Cards

For Wild format listings, see Triggered effect/Wild format

Below are listed all cards in Standard which possess or grant triggered effects, divided by the type of trigger. Some sections below will also list Wild cards due to no example minions existing in Standard currently.

Using Hero Powers

Most effects which are triggered by using Hero Powers are denoted by the Inspire keyword. For more details on that effect, see Inspire. Certain other triggered effects are not marked as Inspire effects, but are activated by the use of Hero Powers. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Card-playing

Card-playing triggered effects only activate when a card of the correct type is played directly from the hand. Cards brought into play through summon or put into battlefield effects will not activate these effects.

Card-playing triggered effects activate immediately after the card is played, before it takes effect.

Any card type

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Spell-casting

Whenever

'When' and 'Whenever' effects trigger from the attempt to cast the spell, before any of the spell's effects apply:

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After

'After' effects trigger from the spell fully resolving:

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Playing a minion from the hand

These effects trigger only when the minion is played directly from the hand. For effects which trigger from any form of minion summoning, see Minion summoning, below.

That minion

Effects which activate when the minion itself is played from the hand are denoted by specific keywords. All of these abilities cause a special effect to activate when the minion is played from the hand, although some require certain conditions to be met.

The list of such minions is too extensive to list here - see individual pages for complete lists:

• Battlecry
• Choose One
• Combo
• Finale
• Manathirst
• Outcast

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Spending Mana

These effects are activated when a certain amount of mana is spent. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Minion summoning

Minion summoning triggered effects may activate at various points during the summoning sequence of events. They may occur before auras are applied to the minion; after auras are applied to the minion, but before any Battlecries are activated; after Battlecries have taken place, but before the minion summoning has resolved; or once the minion summoning has resolved. In some cases they may sometimes activate later in the summoning process, if they did not activate at the proper point.

Note that these effects are triggered by any eligible minion being summoned, even if they are not played from the hand, such as through Summon or put into battlefield effects. Hero powers, Deathrattles, Battlecries and Secrets can all trigger these effects. If the summoned minion has a Battlecry, this will take place prior to the activation of any triggered effects or Secrets.^[2]

Whenever you summon

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After you summon

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Attacking

Attacking triggered effects activate before the intended combat actually takes place, although those based on surviving an attack do not trigger until afterwards. For triggers which activate when attacking and killing a minion, see Attacking and killing.

Hero attacks

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Minion attacks

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Any attack

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Character damage

Damage-triggered effects activate immediately after damage is received, but before any deaths are resolved. On-damage triggers that cause healing can prevent a fatally damaged character from dying, as the game will not check for deaths until the end of the current phase is reached, and all simultaneous effects have been resolved.

Taking minion damage

This minion

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Friendly minions

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Another minion

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Any minion

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Losing Divine Shield

Although these are not strictly damage-triggered effects, they activate whenever a Divine Shield is removed, which is often done by damage. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Taking hero damage

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Dealing damage

Various effects activate in response to dealing damage, either by the minion or by the player. Poisonous and Lifesteal are types of damage-related triggered effects that use an unique icon in place of the usual lightning bolt icon.

Dealing damage - triggered effect

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Changing Health

These effects activate whenever a character's health changes, whether that be by incrementing health, taking damage, or being healed. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Minion death

Death-triggered effects activate only after the death has fully resolved, and the minion or weapon removed from play. All types of death-triggered effects, including Deathrattles, triggered effects and Secrets are queued together from oldest to newest played, with no special priority.

That minion

Effects which trigger from the death of the minion itself are Deathrattles - see that page for details.

Another minion

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Attacking and killing

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End of turn

Most end of turn effects activate at the end of the controlling player's turn, but some activate at the end of the current turn, or at the end of each turn.

The game only queues end of turn triggers once, at the start of the end of turn phase. For example, if during the end of turn phase Kel'Thuzad resurrects a minion which has an end of turn triggered effect, that effect will not be activated that turn, since the minion was not in play when the end of turn phase started.

End of your turn

These effects activate at the end of the turns belonging to the controlling player. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

End of your opponent's turn

These effects activate at the end of the turns belonging to the opposing player. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

End of each turn

These effects activate at the end of each turn, whether belonging to the controlling player or their opponent. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

End of the turn

These effects activate at the end of the turn after they are put into play. This is largely the same as effects that activate at the end of each turn, but only happens once. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Start of turn

Start of turn effects take effect at the very start of the turn, before any cards have been drawn. Almost all take place only on the controlling player's turn, but some happen at the start of each turn, or the start of the opponent's turn.

Start of your turn

These effects activate at the start of the turns belonging to the controlling player. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Start of your opponent's turn

These effects activate at the start of the opponent's turn. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Start of each turn

These effects activate at the start of each turn, whether belonging to the controlling player or their opponent. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Drawing a card

Effects that activate when the card itself is drawn are known as on-draw effects. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Drawing another card

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Adding a card to your hand

These effects activate when a card is added to your hand through any means. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Discarding a card

Effects that activate when the card itself is discarded are known as on-discard effects. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Awakening

These effects activate when the minion is no longer Dormant. Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.

Revealing a Secret

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Equipping a weapon

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Destroying a weapon

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Gaining Armor

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Overloading Mana Crystals

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Transforming a minion

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Patch changes

• Patch 18.0.0.54613 (2020-07-30): One-time triggered effect icon added.
• Patch 1.0.0.4944 (Open beta, 2014-03-11): Minions that have been blessed by Blessing of Wisdom now show the trigger “lightning bolt”. Talk about a bright idea!

References

Cards By type Hero card Location Minion (Permanent) Spell Weapon By class Death Knight Demon Hunter Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior Neutral Multi-class By minion type All Beast Demon Dragon Elemental Mech Murloc Naga Pirate Quilboar Totem Undead General By spell school Arcane Fel Fire Frost Holy Nature Shadow General By rune Blood Frost Unholy By rarity Free Common Rare Epic Legendary Mechanics Evergreen keywords Battlecry Casts When Drawn Charge Choose One Combo Deathrattle Discover Divine Shield Dormant Freeze Immune Lifesteal Mega-Windfury Outcast Overheal Overload Passive Poisonous Reborn Rush Secret Silence Spell Damage Start of Game Stealth Summoned When Drawn Taunt Tradeable Windfury Card set keywords Adapt Colossal Corrupt (Corrupted) Dredge Echo Finale Forge Frenzy Honorable Kill Infuse (Infused) Inspire Invoke Jade Golem Lackey Magnetic Manathirst Overkill Quest Questline Recruit Sidequest Spare Part Spellburst Titan Twinspell Non-constructed Allied Auto-Attack Auto-cast Avenge Once per Turn Revive Shrine Spellcraft Start of Combat Venomous Classification Adventurer Basic Hero Power Basic Totem Cat Classic Basic Totem Concoction Galakrond Imp Libram Poison Relic SI:7 Spy Gizmo Treant Upgraded Hero Power Watch Post Whelp Other mechanics Can't attack Cast spell Change Cost to Health Copy Corpse (Spend/Gain) Deal damage Destroy Discard Draw cards Elusive Enrage Equip Force attack Forgetful Gain Armor Gain Mana Generate Increment attribute Joust Modify cost Multiply attribute Permanent Playerbound Put into battlefield Put into hand Put on deck Recurring Refresh Mana Remove from game Replace Restore Health Return to hand Set attribute Shuffle into deck Spend mana Steal Summon Take control Transform (Transform in hand, Transform when drawn) Unlimited attacks Upgradable Effect types By range Area of effect Hero zone Positional Random Resurrection By condition Deckbuilding Highlander In-deck In-hand One-time On-discard On-draw Ongoing Triggered Card sets (Expansions / Adventures / Mini-sets) Standard Path of Arthas Core TITANS Festival of Legends (Audiopocalypse) March of the Lich King (Return to Naxxramas) Murder at Castle Nathria (Maw and Disorder) Voyage to the Sunken City (Throne of the Tides) Wild Caverns of Time Fractured in Alterac Valley (Onyxia's Lair) United in Stormwind (Deadmines) Forged in the Barrens (Wailing Caverns) Madness at the Darkmoon Faire (Darkmoon Races) Scholomance Academy Demon Hunter Initiate Ashes of Outland Galakrond's Awakening Descent of Dragons Saviors of Uldum Rise of Shadows Rastakhan's Rumble The Boomsday Project The Witchwood Kobolds & Catacombs Knights of the Frozen Throne Journey to Un'Goro Mean Streets of Gadgetzan One Night in Karazhan Whispers of the Old Gods The League of Explorers The Grand Tournament Blackrock Mountain Goblins vs Gnomes Curse of Naxxramas Legacy Classic Classic Removed Promotion Reward Basic Classic Hall of Fame Wild Event