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Divine Shield is an ability in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hearthstone that allows a minion to block a single instance of damage. It has a variety of uses, from 😼letting you take free trades with enemy minions to protectin🍌g your own minions from damage-based removal while you hit your opponent in the face.
This ability is by far the mo💃st common in Paladin, which also has cards that create and interact with Divine Shields, although it still appears in other classes and on neutral cards. Let’s look through all of them to see which current Standard cards make the best use of this mechanic.
10 🅰 𒁃 Highlord Fordragon
For Highl🎀ord Fordragon to be effective, a lot of things need to go right. You have to set up a board with Divine Shields before playing him, because it’s important to trigger Fordragon’s effect at least once on the turn you put him into play in case your opponent has the tools to remove him instantly.
And even then, how strong Fordragon will be relies partly on luck, since some minions are much better to buff than otherﷺs. All of that said, Fordragon’s effect can easily win you games if everything goes right. Even a single 5/5 boost on the right card can shift the flow of a game entirely, and if Fordragon gives multiple buffs, it’s game over for your oppone🐠nt.
9 🉐 Annoy-O-Tron
Everything you need to know about Annoy-o-Tron is in the name. It’s not exactly going to win games by itself, but it’s certainly a pain for your opponents to deal with. It allows you to stall your opponent's aggression and protect your other minions by forcing them to waste removal that could be better spent on your more valuable minions.
As an added bonus, Annoy-o-Tron has the Mech꧂ tag, giving it synergy with a wide variety of other H𝔉earthstone cards and causing it to see a significant amount of play in Mech decks.
8 𓆏 Azsharan Mooncatcher
A 4/2 with Divine Shield is not a bad deal for three mana in its own right, but the Azsharan Mooncatcher comes with an effect that makes it even better. The Sunken Mooncatcher it puts on the bottom of your deck has the same base stats as the original, and will summon a copy of itself. Notably, this isn’t a copy of the original 4/2 bo♈dy; the copy keeps𓄧 any buffs the original gained while in your hand or deck. It can easily gain enough stats to be a game-winning play against decks lacking hard removal.
However, you 🍸do need to build your deck in a specific way for Azsharan Mooncatcher to reach its maximum potential. Hand and deck buffs will increase its impact significantly, but more importantly you’ll need a card with Dred🍸ge to pull the Sunken Mooncatcher from the bottom of your deck.
7 Mi’d📖a, Puꦿre Light
If Mi’da, Pure Light, didn’t 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:have its Deathrattle, it would be a fairly uninspiring card. By the time it’s played on turn si꧅x, regaining four lif🃏e isn’t going to make much of a difference. If your opponent is on the verge of winning the game, they can simply ignore Mi’da.
However, Mi’da’s ability to re-summoned over and over again can be highly effe💃ctive in longer games, especially when Priest has ways to duplicate its Deathrattle minions. A whole board of Mi’das is significantly more threatening than just one.
6 🍷 Click-Clocker
Click-Clocker is a perfect one drop for Mech-based decks. It’s basic statline, combined with Divine Shield, makes it functionally identical to Argent Squire, which used to be a high-tier one drop a🉐nd even now isn’t a bad option.
However, unlike Argent Squire, Click-Clocker also makes your later plays stronger. 1/1 in stats doesn’t sound like much, but an increase from ꧒2/3 to 3/4, for example, is a massive deal on two mana. And dominating the board during the first few turns of the game is particularly useful in Mech decks, which generally look to win through early aggression.
5 Taelan Fordring 💫
Taelan Fordring has Divine Shield, but the real reason to play him 🥂is his Deathrattle, which allows you to draw the highest-cost card in your deck. If your most expeꦺnsive card also happens to be your most powerful one (as it often is) Taelan basically guarantees that you will draw a critical card.
However, while it isn’t the main feature, Fordring having Divine Shield isn’t just a minor bonus; when combined with Taunt, it helps you stall until you actually have enough mana to play the card Ta♎elan draws.
4 🐟 Righteous Protector
Righteous Protector falls into the same c♒ategory of card as Annoy-o-Tron, in that it doesn’t look like much at first glance, but in reality is a particularly annoying minion for your opponents to deal with. It is a cheap way to protect yourself from significant amounts of damage if yoꦍur opponent doesn’t have an easy way to deal with it.
It does have one less health th🉐an Annoy-o-Tron, which can make a big difference, especially against classes that have a Hero Power that deals one damage. However, you get a significant bonus in return. Righteous Protector costs half as much as Annoy-o-Tron, and the difference between one and two mana is arguably worthꦓ more than the extra point of health. Even if Classes with one-damage Hero Powers have an easier time dealing with Righteous Protector, committing to using their Hero Power in the early game means they need to spend basically their entire turn killing half of your minion.
3 🔥 Sanguine Soldier
Sanguine Soldier will kill almost any minion your opponent ca♛n play on turn one. And the card will often survive the exchange thanks to having Divine Shield. That makes it an exceptionally powerful play in the early game, with tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhe minor drawback of dealing a small amount of damage to your hero.
In most cases, though, that downside doesn🍨’t matter 🌳at all. There are some exceptions; two extra damage might lower your life just enough for a combo deck to kill you early, or allow an opposing aggro deck to win the health race. However, far more often Sanguine Soldier will help you dominate the board, especially with all the buffs Paladin has at its disposal.
2 ♍ The Leviathan 𝓰
The L𓄧eviathan is a colossal minion, which in this case means you get two Divine Shield minions with Rush for the price of one. The main body has Dredge, while the summoned body, The Leviathan’s Claw, draws you a card. Combined, this effect allows you to take a card from the bottom of your deck and put it into your hand, assuming you remember to attack in the right order. There are a number of cards that synergize with this effect, such💞 as the Azsharan Mooncatcher from earlier on this list.
And at the same time, The Leviathan causes a massive board sܫwing, dealing eight damage to minions while leaving a combined 8/7 in stats for your opponent to deal with. And if they survive, they will trigger their effects again.
1 🌌 💦 Cariel Roame
Assuming your opponent has a minion in play, Cariel Roame will give you an immediate reduction to the Holy spells in your hand. She allows you to cheat a great deal of mana, and she can cheat even more mana if she survives to attack again. This ability is usually 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:restricted to Druids in Hearthstone, which is part of why that class has been so dominant throughout Hearthst🔜one’s history.
And of course, dealing four damage to a minion is still valuable on turn four, making Cariel Roame a mana engine and removal all i💦n one.