Hearthstone

For the digital card game, see Hearthstone (game).

• Hearthstone
• Binds when picked up
• Unique
• Use: Returns you to <home location>. Speak to an Innkeeper in a different place to change your home location.

A hearthstone in the TCG.

A hearthstone is an enchanted stone that can teleport the wielder to the location it is bound to, such as an inn. All characters receive a Hearthstone upon creation that returns them to their starting area. Asking an innkeeper to "make this inn your home" will set that as your new home location. Should the player destroy their hearthstone, they can recreate one by simply speaking to an innkeeper.

Background

The Innkeeper's Daughter in the TCG.

A hearthstone is a palm-sized, oval-shaped crystal bound by arcane magic to a particular person and place. They can be used to instantly travel from any distance to the stone's origin point. Only the specific person that a stone is bound to can make use of it. They are usually chiseled from a rare mineral, though Lilian Voss owns a hearthstone made of a chunk of gravestone. They are covered with glowing blue runes, one of them meaning "home" and the others referring to the location and person they're bound to. Teleporting using a hearthstone is referred to as "hearthing" and is done by holding the stone and concentrating until it flares and causes the holder to materialize at their destination.

Changing an old hearthstone's spell patterns is a monumental task, but creating a new one even more so. They can stop working if they become worn or damaged. In order to change who a hearthstone is bound to, the owner and recipient both place their hands over each other while the recipient closes their hand tightly over the stone and concentrates, "taking it into themselves" and making it theirs, until a faint blue light lines both people's hands and the binding of the stone shifts to the new owner. Twice, Tyrande Whisperwind has been able to use Elune's power to forcibly change who a hearthstone is bound to, but a stone can try to resist such an attempt if its current owner is still alive.

Hearthstones are very rare artifacts. They are known to have been used in the Kaldorei Empire prior to the War of the Ancients. King Varian believed them to be only a legend, calling them "things heard only in stories concerning magi... or elves." Broll Bearmantle had only seen a hearthstone twice prior to the War Against the Nightmare. Both the Alliance and Horde have lent hearthstones to adventurers to allow speedy relocation to areas in need of help.

According to legend, the dwarven innkeeper Bryher Stonekeeper once made a deal with a gnome warlock to turn his daughter Keelin into a hearthstone so that she would always return home to her father's inn. The Hearthsteed is a magical construct rumored to be chiseled from the same mineral as hearthstones. Hearthy is an animated hearthstone crafted by a powerful wizard who refused to wear robes with pockets.

Known hearthstones

The following is a list of specific hearthstones known to exist in the lore. For World of Warcraft items that function as hearthstones, see the "Similar items" section further down the page.

Hearthstone	Owner(s)	Bound to	History
Ambassador's hearthstone	Night elf ambassador to Stormwind	Darnassus	An old hearthstone, originally brought by a refugee from Zin-Azshari during the War of the Ancients. Tyrande Whisperwind would've had it destroyed if it wasn't for the difficulty of creating new hearthstones. She instead used Elune's power to change the binding on it. It was later given to the night elf ambassador to Stormwind City and bound to Darnassus. After being transported to Stormwind during the War Against the Nightmare, Tyrande, Broll Bearmantle, and Thura sought the hearthstone so that one of them could return to Darnassus. The group was ambushed by the Nightmare and by the maddened ambassador, and only Broll made it back. He dropped the stone upon arrival to Darnassus, and it rolled out of sight and disappeared.
Anduin's hearthstone	Anduin Wrynn Formerly: Jaina Proudmoore	Stormwind Keep Formerly: Jaina's Tower, Dustwallow Marsh	A hearthstone which Jaina Proudmoore arranged to be created specifically for Anduin Wrynn. She gave it to him shortly before the Cataclysm so he could come visit her in Theramore whenever his father was in one of his "Lo'Gosh moods". The prince later used the hearthstone to escape Ironforge when it fell under the control of the Dark Iron clan. Years later, Anduin attuned the stone to Stormwind instead. After the Argus Campaign, he used it to quietly return to Stormwind after a visit to Darnassus. During the War of the Thorns, he gave the hearthstone to Tyrande Whisperwind so she could save her husband Malfurion from Darkshore and return with him to Stormwind.
[Cracked Hearthstone]	Unknown	Tranquillien, Ghostlands	An old hearthstone, good for only one more use. Lent by Dark Ranger Lenara to Banshee loyalist adventurers so they could meet with Sylvanas Windrunner after the Battle at the Gates of Orgrimmar.
[Faol's Hearthstone]	Alonsus Faol	Faol's Rest, Tirisfal Glades	Lent by a Hooded Priestess to priest adventurers so they could meet with Faol.
Gary's Hearthstone	Gary Cofferdam	Drust Bar, Drustvar	Used by Gary during combat, only for him to realize that it wasn't very helpful since he'd bound to it a spot only a few yards away.
[Gidwin's Hearthstone]	Gidwin Goldbraids	Light's Hope Chapel, Eastern Plaguelands	Lent by Gidwin to adventurers after they rescued him from Baroness Anastari.
[Gilded Hearthstone]	Fleet Admiral Tethys	Salty Sailor Tavern, Cape of Stranglethorn	Lent by Tethys to rogue adventurers during the search for the Dreadblades.
[Glowing Hearthstone]	Lord Maxwell Tyrosus	Uther's Tomb, Western Plaguelands	Lent by Tyrosus to paladin adventurers during the search for the Ashbringer.
Heyman's Hearthstone	Heyman	Heyman's Hubris, Isle of Thunder	Found discarded at Heyman's Hideaway in Vol'dun.
[Lilian's Hearthstone]	Lilian Voss	Brill, Tirisfal Glades	Lent by Lilian to Horde adventurers during the efforts to restore the Ruins of Lordaeron.
[Mossy Hearthstone]	Hamuul Runetotem	Moonglade	Lent by Hamuul to druid adventurers so they could join the ritual to open the Emerald Dreamway.
[Thrall's Hearthstone]	Thrall	Broken Tusk, Orgrimmar	A hearthstone worn with age, lent by Thrall to orc adventurers during the quest to bring back the Kosh'harg.
[Vol'jin's Hearthstone]	Vol'jin	The Den, Durotar	Lent by Vol'jin to Horde adventurers so they could find Thrall and tell him about the attempt on Vol'jin's life.

In World of Warcraft

Casting Hearthstone

A player's hearthstone is a key adventuring item in the game. Upon moving to a new area or reaching a new continent's capital city, players will often want to bind their hearthstone to the local inn to allow efficient travel back to the area. Among the most common times to use it are:

• after completing special events like the Darkmoon Faire or holiday activities;
• before or after visiting capital cities to make use of the auction house, bank, profession trainers, and chat and trade with other players;
• after finishing a "one-off" quest with no follow-up;
• to aid in a quest tasking the player to travel a long way or to many locations;
• returning from an in-person visit to an instance;
• to save a few minutes of walking back to the quest giver after completing a set of quest objectives.

Item usage details

Activating the teleportation effect:

• After using a hearthstone, it has a cooldown of 30 minutes. This cooldown continues even if the player is logged off.
  • The guild perk [Hasty Hearth] reduces this cooldown to 15 minutes.
• A hearthstone has a 10 second Cast time.
• A hearthstone can be used during combat; however, the casting will be interrupted if the user takes any damage.
  • Being hit will not interrupt the casting of a Hearthstone if the player is immune to the type of damage caused by the hits. As such, Bubble Hearthing is possible for paladins.
• A Hearthstone can be used while sitting or laying down.

Working with innkeepers to manage hearthstone "bind points":

• Players can talk to an innkeeper at any inn to change their bind point (the place the hearthstone will teleport them to once it's activated). Sometimes the "inn" is simply a small tent or rest area. Rarely, the "innkeeper" is simply an object that shows the hearthstone icon when hovered with the mouse, not a person.

interact with innkeeper innkeeper out of range

• The hearthstone is initially bound to the starting zone of the player. Specifically, the very spot that the character was initially created. There is no way to set a hearthstone back to this location once changed.
• If a hearthstone is destroyed, any innkeeper can provide a new one to the character, but it will be bound to that inn rather than the location of the one that was destroyed.

Similar items

Several items in the game have an effect similar to that of a hearthstone. The following ones share a cooldown with a regular hearthstone, essentially acting as a cosmetic change to the typical tool:

•  [Hearthy], a pet rewarded from  [Master of Minions].
•  [The Innkeeper's Daughter], a rare Dwarven Archaeology find.
•  [Ruby Slippers], a drop from the Wizard of Oz Encounter in Karazhan.
•  [Ethereal Portal], a TCG item.
•  [Dark Portal], another TCG item.
•  [Tome of Town Portal], from the Diablo's 20th Anniversary world event. See also the Scroll of Town Portal below.
•  [Headless Horseman's Hearthstone], from the Hallow's End world event.
•  [Greatfather Winter's Hearthstone], from the Winter's Veil world event.
•  [Lunar Elder's Hearthstone], from the Lunar Festival world event.
•  [Peddlefeet's Lovely Hearthstone], from the Love is in the Air world event.
•  [Noble Gardener's Hearthstone], from the Noblegarden world event.
•  [Fire Eater's Hearthstone], from the Midsummer Fire Festival world event.
•  [Brewfest Reveler's Hearthstone], from the Brewfest world event.
•  [Scourgestone], provided to death knights in place of the usual hearthstone. This only returns them to Acherus: The Ebon Hold, the only friendly inn before completing the introductory quest chain, after which they can acquire a real hearthstone by talking to any innkeeper.
•  [Eternal Traveler's Hearthstone], from purchasing World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Epic Edition.
•  [Kyrian Hearthstone], bought for 750 Anima after reaching [Renown] 11 with the Kyrian Covenant.
•  [Necrolord Hearthstone], bought for 750 Anima after reaching [Renown] 11 with the Necrolord Covenant.
•  [Night Fae Hearthstone], bought for 750 Anima after reaching [Renown] 11 with the Night Fae Covenant.
•  [Venthyr Sinstone], bought for 750 Anima after reaching [Renown] 11 with the Venthyr Covenant.
•  [Broker Translocation Matrix], bought from Vilo for 5000 at exalted with the Enlightened.
•  [Dominated Hearthstone] is rewarded from  [The Jailer's Gauntlet: Layer 2].
•  [Timewalker's Hearthstone], from purchasing World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Epic Edition.
•  [Ohn'ir Windsage's Hearthstone] is rewarded from  [Honor Our Ancestors].
•  [Path of the Naaru], bought from Gaal after completing  [Seeing Red].
•  [Deepdweller's Earthen Hearthstone], from purchasing World of Warcraft: The War Within Epic Edition.

Abilities that behave similarly to hearthstones without sharing a cooldown also exist, but are much rarer or more restricted:

•  [Scroll of Town Portal], the counterpart to the Tome of Town Portal, from the Diablo's 20th Anniversary world event. It has no cooldown and is consumed upon use.
• Scribes can make and use stacks of  [Scroll of Recall] of various levels. They have a 20-minute cooldown, and one scroll is consumed on each use.
• [Astral Recall], a Shaman spell, has a default cooldown of 10 minutes.
• Warlords of Draenor introduced the  [Garrison Hearthstone], a special hearthstone with a cooldown separate from the normal one. However, it can only return the player to his or her Garrison.
• Legion provided a similar  [Dalaran Hearthstone] to players upon entering the new continent, which again has a separate cooldown and only returns to that one location.
• Vulpera characters can use their [Make Camp] racial ability to create a campsite in any outdoors location that acts as a rest area and can be teleported back to using [Return to Camp], which has a 1-hour cooldown.
• A number of items and spells can teleport players to specific locations, which may avoid the need for a player to bind their hearthstone in that area.
•  [Wrap of Unity] /  [Wrap of Unity] and two similar items with cooldowns of 2/4/8 hours, which teleport you to Stormwind/Orgrimmar, which can be purchased from your guild vendor after obtaining appropriate guild reputation.

Tips

While leveling, players usually set their hearthstones either to a major capital city, or individual inn locations where their current quests revolve around. The capital allows for access to city amenities like the auction house or Portal rooms, while individual inns allow hearthstones to be used to quickly recall and hand in quests.

For max level characters, access to the most current content is usually a priority. During most expansions, there is typically a newly established "hub" city that has the newest dungeons, raids, and world content available and players will bind their hearthstones there. If access to the world is a priority, players will normally bind their hearthstone to Orgrimmar or Stormwind to allow access to the most robust network of portals. See Portal (city) for a list of past and present portal connections out of various cities.

Removed functionality

The subject of this section has been removed from World of Warcraft.

During the World of Warcraft alpha, hearthstone functionally was made available by a spell called "Word of Recall".

Until patch 3.1.0, it was possible to "trick" the game into teleporting characters to their hearthstone point while it was on cooldown. A player would create a group with someone else, zone into an easily accessible instance (such as the Stockade), then pass the group lead to the other person and leave the group. The system would then teleport them to their hearthstone point as an invalid group member. This technique was known as "ghetto hearthing". Post-patch, the game transports such characters to the nearest graveyard instead of to the hearthstone location. At this time, the cooldown of a hearthstone was also lowered to 30 minutes, reducing the motivation for such tricks.

In other Blizzard games

The digital card game Hearthstone is named after the famous stone. The game itself takes place in an inn and is narrated by the innkeeper who welcomes back returning players upon logging in. The trademark Hearthstone swirl also serves as the game's logo.

Hearthstones can also be found in the team brawler Heroes of the Storm, where it serves a similar purpose to that in World of Warcraft, to teleport the player back to the Hall of Storms.

Trivia

• A Hearthstone plushie was available at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.
• The release of Hearthstone has seen the creation of an extensive range of both official and third-party merchandise featuring Hearthstones or the Hearthstone design, including plushies, t-shirts, mugs and phone cases.

Gallery

• 

  Icon from Warcraft III

• 

  Icon from Warcraft III: Reforged

• 

  Hearthstone plushie

Patch changes

• Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): The cooldown reduced to 30 minutes. 'Ghetto hearthing' brings you to the nearest graveyard, instead of your home location.
  
• Patch 2.3.2 (2008-01-08): The cast time on this item is no longer affected by spell haste.
  
• Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): The mouse pointer changes when hovering it over an innkeeper NPC that can bind:

interact with innkeeper innkeeper out of range

• Patch 0.10 (2004-09-18): No longer shares a cooldown with [Astral Recall].
  
• Patch 0.6 (2004-04-13): Added.
  

See also

• Hearthstone TCG card
•  [Heated Hearthstone] and  [Spare Heated Hearthstone]

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB