How Locations Work in Hearthstone
Locations are a unique type of card that you play onto the battlefield, much like minions. However, instead of attacking, they provide special abilities that you can activate during your turn.
Every Location card consists of four parts:
| Feature | Description |
| Ability | The special effect you can activate during your turn |
| Durability | Number of times the ability can be used before the Location is destroyed |
| Cooldown | After activation, the Location is inactive for one turn |
| Cost | Mana required to play the Location from your hand |
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Hearthstone Location Explained
Playing a Location is similar to playing a minion — you pay its Mana cost, and it takes up one of your seven slots on the battlefield. But here’s where things get interesting:
- You can activate a Location’s ability the same turn you play it.
- Activating the ability costs no Mana, only one durability.
- Locations cannot be attacked or destroyed by normal means. Only specific cards that mention destroying a Location can be used.
- Location cards will destroy themselves after using all durability charges.
- Locations can target minions that can’t be targeted by spells or hero powers.
- You can have more than one copy of the same Location in play.
That said, one could say that it’s basically Hearthstone’s take on enchantments from Magic: the Gathering; however, Locations are way less vulnerable, as you can’t take them off with the usual board wipes.
How to Use Hearthstone Locations
The most important thing when using Locations in Hearthstone is proper timing and focusing on pulling off the value. Since Locations have limited durability (usually two or three charges), you should aim to get the most value out of each activation.
Moreover, you should try to synchronize your Location’s abilities with your minions and spells. For example, using Nightcloak Sanctum to freeze a minion right before you need to stall for a board clear.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to proper resource management, and evaluating how each durability charge adds to the game against specific match-ups will take time — but no worries, you’ll get there!
Plus, keep in mind that as Locations occupy a spot on your side of the battlefield, you can use them to shield your key minions from enemy spells that affect adjacent cards.
The Best Location Cards in Hearthstone
The best Hearthstone Location cards are those that simply allow you to make a big impact on the board at a low cost. Yeah, the classic Hearthstone’s Mana-cheating always works, right?
However, by the “low cost,” I don’t necessarily mean low Mana cost. For example, Horizon’s Edge or Dangerous Cliffside cost four Mana, which is quite a lot for what they do. And as they synergize with popular deck strategies and specific card combinations, that extra Mana you pay upfront becomes a worthwhile investment, as you can use multiple charges in one turn.
Cards That Destroy Locations in Hearthstone
Although there are four Hearthstone cards that can destroy Locations, only one does so directly at a low cost. Fortunately, it’s a neutral minion, and I’m obviously talking about Demolition Renovator.
As for other Hearthstone cards that can remove Locations, we have:
- Reno, Lone Ranger (Neutral Hero card)
- Twisting Nether (Warlock Shadow spell)
- T.N.T. (generated by Boomboss Tho’grun, Warrior’s legendary card)
And honestly, since Locations are still a relatively niche card type, I don’t expect more Location-counter cards to be added anytime soon. That’s because Blizzard’s approach to countering a card niche type is ensuring that a Standard set includes at least one counter-card accessible to all classes; Eater of Secrets and Rustrot Viper are great examples of exactly that.
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If you like Hearthstone, you might like Magic Arena as well! Follow along as Cooper details his journey climbing the Mythic ladder, starting here.
