The More You Know, Episode 1 with ironFIRE

ironFire teaches you about some Hearthstone mechanics you may not be familiar with!

Welcome to “The More You Know,” a segment ironFIRE will be doing every other week to walk you through some obscure Hearthstone interactions that you may not be familiar with. Big thanks to Volkai this week for taking the time to play some challenge games.


Question #1

Let’s set the stage: I’m playing Mill Druid facing off against a Kingsbane Rogue. The rogue has a huge Kingsbane that she’s recently given lifesteal, but it may be too late. Last turn, I got my opponent to 1 hp, and this turn they’ve roped out trying to figure out if they would be dead attacking my minion.

What do you think? Is the rogue dead if she attacks in?

Answer #1

The rogue lives. Lifesteal heals at the same time as the attack happens, so even though the rogue appears at 0hp after the attack, she’ll heal back up to 14 and survive. It’s the same reason you’ve never seen anyone use Bloodreaver Gul’dan’s hero power to damage their own face and concede: the lifesteal makes honorable sudoku [sic] impossible.

Question #2

After surviving, the rogue plays Blade Flurry to clear up the board. Does the damage done by Blade Flurry heal the rogue back to full health, since the Kingsbane has lifesteal?

Answer #2

It’s certainly not clear from the card text, but Blade Flurry does not get the lifesteal of your weapon. The spell is what deals the damage, not the weapon. In contrast, Doomerang deals your weapon’s damage to a minion, so it does gain the lifesteal effect. For the same reason, spell damage increases the damage of Blade Flurry, but not of Doomerang.

Question #3

After clearing my board, the rogue played Cavern Shinyfinder to draw the destroyed Kingsbane and prevent any sort of Toggwaggle play. She held onto Kingsbane, which means she must be planning to play the shadow copy of it on the following turn, or maybe she needs a combo activator.


On my turn, do I have lethal with Azalina? The Kingsbane in my opponent’s hand is 14 attack.

Answer #3

Well, this answer depends on when you’re reading this. In update 12.0, the copy mechanic will change to be consistent across all cards. In particular, “If you copy a card from a hand to a hand, the copy retains enchantments.” This means that after update 12.0, the druid would have lethal. For now, however, copies only keep their enchantments when copied from the board to the board (e.g., Molten Reflection). You can’t steal 1 mana Shudderwocks and you can’t steal 14 attack Kingsbanes. This druid is forced to shame concede after his terrible misplay.