What is Enrage in Hearthstone?

Hearthstone has many card effects that are common enough that they get their own keyword - a word or two that immediately tells you how the card works. Let's take a look at the Enrage "keyword".

While damaged, this minion has a new power.

Enrage is a passive effect that applies while a minion is damaged. It was originally a keyworded mechanic, with the keyword removed in Patch 11.0.0.23966, where the Enrage keyword was replaced with "while damaged" and ironically started appearing more frequently. Despite the removal of the keyword, Enrage is still occasionally used by the community as a clarity term.

The Enrage ability is particularly rare (part of why the mechanic was removed), and with only a few exceptions, mostly do the same thing.

Keywords that Work Great with Enrage

Taunt works well with Enrage as it will force your opponent to attack the minion in order to get through.

With Rush or Charge, one can intentionally damage their own Enrage minion to get an attack boost, and then attack with the boosted Attack value.

Playing Against Enrage in Hearthstone

To play against an Enrage minion, you can use spells to be able to damage it without having your minions or hero take extra damage. Additionally, if an enemy minion with Enrage is at full Health and can be killed with a single attack, it can be easily dealt with.

Example Hearthstone Enrage Cards

Angry Chicken is one of the most quintessential joke cards of the game, intentionally made to be one. Angry Chicken is often easily dealt with and will require a fair amount of effort and luck to make use of its Enrage effect as it requires a Health buff, a way to damage it without killing it, and it will need to stay alive for a turn for it to be able to attack. If it does manage to attack however, it will be extremely powerful, and will force your opponent to kill this thing to avoid the sheer incredulity of losing to this card.

Bloodhoof Brave is a card that utilizes Enrage to give it additional attack, which is paired nicely with its Taunt and high Health.

Raging Worgen is, similar to Angry Chicken, able to dish out some serious damage if left uncontested. Achieving it with this card is also easier and more realistic than with the chicken (although it still won't happen as often as you'd want it to). If it's able to stay alive after its first attack though, it will be able to use its Windfury effect immediately.

Grommash Hellscream has been an old-school finisher for Warrior decks since the beginning of the game, and is to this day, the largest Enrage minion in the game and the one with the largest Attack bonus.