Saturday, 25 Mar 2023

Hearthstone: What Is Rush?

Quick Links

  • What is Rush?
  • The Best Way To Use Rush
  • Downsides Of Rush

Hearthstone has an ever-growing pool of mechanics, tricks, and cards that add new ways to play, and by extension, new decks to build. Ever since the game’s inception, powerful cards were defined more by their text, than the numbers at the bottom of their card, and this hasn’t changed much in the years that followed:

Rush is one such mechanic that is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, there were mechanics like Rush in Hearthstone long before Rush was conceptualised. Secondly, it’s really quite good – even if it does have some drawbacks. Let’s dive in and see what it’s all about.

What is Rush?

Typically in a game of Hearthstone, minions cannot attack after being summoned – this inherently makes standard minions fairly slow without some other mechanic to give them a form of 'presence' outside of their stats. Rush on the other hand allows minions to attack immediately after being summoned.

However, what makes Rush tick is the limitations on that attack. Rush minions can only attack enemy minions the turn they are summoned – they cannot attack the enemy Hero at all. Even if there are no minions on the enemy's side.

Rush Vs Charge

Rush is more or less an offshoot of the pre-established Charge mechanic. Where Rush is a minion-only attack ability, Charge allows minions to attack anything they want. This typically makes Charge a more powerful effect.

However, there are some tradeoffs that make Rush a more tempting ability to seek. Charge cards typically have very poor stats. They are expensive to summon, their stats are nearly always behind the curve, and they are likely to survive until your next turn.

Rush on the other hand, because the effect is weaker as a whole, allows results in minions with better stats. They often have more staying power on the board, and you are much more likely to have a Rush minion survive until your next turn. Not only that, but Rush minions often have more Attack, which lets them trade against more imposing enemy minions.

The Best Way To Use Rush

The best way to use Rush is fairly obvious since the effect is so limiting. You want to use Rush minions to take out troublesome enemies effectively. You summon them in, they slam into the nearest threat, and if they survive – great. If not, then you’ve still done a favourable trade.

Downsides Of Rush

Rush’s biggest downside is that it's not as flexible as Charge, and many of the minions you are going to slam your Rush minions into, will probably kill your Rush minion – even if they have better stats than their Charge counterparts. This makes Rush minions, more often than not, very disposable.

Finally, Rush minions simply can’t do anything if your opponent has no minions. This means you are paying a premium for a minion that isn’t gaining any value out of its price tag if you are already in a commanding position.

Source: Read Full Article