Undead Heros
Lich
While on Draenor, Ner'zhul commanded a number of orcish warlocks and spellwielding death knights. Yet, when Kil'jaeden and the Legion captured these sorcerers after that world’s destruction, they were transformed into twisted, spectral aberrations of their former selves. These newly born liches possessed tremendous magical powers, yet their immortal, undead bodies were bound to the iron will of Ner'zhul. As payment for their undying loyalty to Ner'zhul, the Lich King granted them control over the furious elements of Northrend. Now, the liches wield frost magic along with their own considerable necromantic spells.
FROST NOVA
Liches can call upon the freezing energies of Northrend to do their bidding. Using a single enemy as the focal point for their dire spell, liches can cause an explosion of frost to burst from the targeted creature that will damage everything around it. Creatures harmed in this way have trouble moving, incapacitated by the freezing ice that stiffens their joints.
FROST ARMOR
An allied creature can be encased in a protective armor of ice. Creatures attacking the Frost Armor have difficulty moving due to the jolt of freezing cold that moves through their bodies.
DARK RITUAL
By destroying one of his own minions, the Lich is able to absorb the energies of his lesser comrade, replenishing his dark magical powers. The lich can absorb the energies of his undead army by casting a Dark Ritual on them. Though this destroys the lich’s lesser comrades, it releases their energies back into the lich and replenishes the Lich’s power.
DEATH AND DECAY
The swirling negative energies known as the Death And Decay spell are favored by the liches for their power to decompose, rot and destroy everything within them. Not even the strongest warriors or the most durable structures can stand the full effects of Death And Decay.
Death Knight
Death knights were once heroic, virtuous defenders of humanity. However, they were corrupted by the subtle machinations of the Lich King and lured to his dark standard. These former heroes were given untold power and the promise of immortality in exchange for their loyalties. Although they retained their humanity, their twisted souls were bound to the Lich King's will for all time. Bestowed with black, vampiric runeblades and shadowy steeds, death knights now serve as the Scourge's mightiest generals.
DEATH COIL
Death knights can call upon the forces of darkness at will, causing bolts of death to issue from their hands. While doing considerable damage to the death knights’ enemies, the Death Coil also heals their undead brethren. DEATH PACT Through the sacrifice of his followers, a death knight can absorb their unholy energies and convert them into health for himself.
ANIMATE DEAD
Arguably the death knights’ most horrific power is their ability to raise recently slain corpses into an army of the undead, no matter what their allegiance in life may have been. Though they are brought back for a time, the death knights’ recalled warriors will eventually fall, never to be raised again.
UNHOLY AURA
All death knights can learn to exude a dark, raging battle aura that causes allied creatures around them to move and regenerate life more quickly.
Dreadlord
Dreadlords are incredibly powerful demons who wield the powers of darkness and mental domination. These cunning, malefic beings once served as the demon Kil’jaeden’s most trusted lieutenants. Yet, at Kil'jaeden’s request, the vampiric Dreadlords were sent to watch over the Lich King, Ner'zhul, and ensure that he carried out his orders to sow chaos in the mortal world. Though Dreadlords have been known to revel in the gore of single combat, they generally prefer to manipulate and beguile their enemies from the shadows.
CARRION SWARM
Dreadlords control the creatures of the night, and some of them have even mastered the ability to call swarms of bats and insects to strike at their unsuspecting enemies.
SLEEP
Through the mastery of subversion and hypnosis, Dreadlords have learned to put their enemies into a sudden, trance-like sleep. Though this mystical sleep will wear off in time, a sharp jab from either a friend or an enemy will always awaken the hapless sleeper.
VAMPIRIC AURA
Those who are fortunate enough to have a powerful Dreadlord as an ally can gain the benefits of his Vampiric Aura. This dark, unholy aura causes the Dreadlord’s allies to actually gain life by spilling their enemies’ blood.
INFERNO
The Dreadlord marks the pinnacle of his dark powers with the devastating ability to summon a fiery infernal. At his call, the infernal will streak down from the sky, stunning and wounding nearby enemy forces when it crashes to the earth. The infernal, engulfed in searing flame, will then rise to do the dreadlord’s bidding.
Undead Units
Acolyte
Acolytes are human beings who have given themselves over to the power of Ner’zhul and the Scourge. These bitter, fanatical men and women will stop at nothing to promote the Lich King’s will and maintain the secrecy and dominance of the Cult of the Damned. They view their own deaths and the possibility of becoming undead as the ultimate rewards for the service to Ner’zhul.
UNSUMMON
The unsummoning of buildings allows the acolytes of the Scourge to reduce fully constructed buildings to their base forms of matter and energy. Some of this matter and energy is lost in the conversion, as are most things that are pulled through The Great Dark Beyond.
SACRIFICE
Acolytes who wish to serve as the eyes and ears of Ner’zhul are capable of shedding their bodies and taking on the forms of invisible Shades.
Ghoul
Ghouls are the basic warriors of the undead Scourge. These lumbering, rotting corpses were once innocent townsfolk who have made the final transition into true undeath. Ghouls have great stamina and revel in combat with living beings. Ghouls are ravenous cannibals who can regenerate their health by eating the flesh of fallen warriors.
CANNIBALIZE
Ghouls that are wounded can consume the flesh of the newly dead to replenish their own lost health.
Necromancer
Though they retained their humanity after making their pact with death, necromancers became some of the most terrifying agents of the Scourge. These dark, nefarious men were once thought to be aspiring geniuses by the Magocracy of Dalaran. However, their insatiable lust to delve into the dark arts drove them to forsake their very souls. Ner'zhul, the Lich King, granted these malevolent sorcerers true power over the dead in exchange for their obedience. The shadowy necromancers have the power to raise skeletal warriors from the grave and bestow a number of dark enchantments upon their fellow warriors.
RAISE DEAD
Through the powers of Ner’zhul, the corpses of the recently slain can be raised again as skeleton warriors. Though relentless and fearless, these mindless automatons of death soon fall apart and fall to dust.
UNHOLY FRENZY
With their unholy powers, necromancers can greatly accelerate a creature’s movement and attack rates. Those under the influence of this spell find themselves moving so quickly that their bodies begin to burn and ache, slowly dying from the effects of their unholy frenzy.
CRIPPLE
Drawing dark energies directly from Ner’zhul, necromancers can cause their enemies’ muscles to suddenly spasm and quake – leaving them immobile and effectively helpless.
Abomination
The twisted, mutilated bodies of the abominations are comprised of multiple dead limbs and body parts from many different corpses. These enormous warriors, scarred by loose stitchings and putrid, open sores, love to carve flesh and tear their enemies apart. The slow-moving and dull-witted abominations constantly drip blood and smell like disease-ridden slaughterhouses. They carry large cleavers into combat and wield various sickle-bladed hooks on their disproportionate limbs.
DISEASE CLOUD
A cloud of festering rotten flesh-vapors follows the abominations wherever they go. The vile cloud is renowned for rotting living flesh upon contact. This nameless disease is often spread to meat wagons, thus allowing the contraptions’ rotting ammunition to deal further damage to the enemies of the Scourge.
Banshee
Banshees were once beautiful female elves who fell before the power of the Scourge. Their restless spirits were left to wander the world in silent, tortured lamentation. Then, the Lich King gathered them together and gave them terrible voices so that the living would finally hear their bitter anguish. Thus, the banshees have pledged themselves to Ner’zhul’s cause and now serve as valuable agents of the Scourge. On certain nights, when the moon is full, their unnerving, unholy screams can be heard in the icy winds blowing from the north.
CURSE
By channeling the powers of their unholy screams, banshees can cause their enemies to temporarily lose their honed combat skills. As a result of this terrible curse, the victims of this spell find themselves unable to hit their targets.
ANTI-MAGIC SHELL
By melding the powers of necromancy and the warped music of their screams, banshees can form protective shells around any creatures. The uncanny “shell” makes those creatures impervious to all magics for a short period of time.
POSSESSION
Banshees have an unsettling ability to force their way into the bodies of living creatures, thus replacing the creatures’ spirits with their own. While this ability causes the banshees’ bodies to dissipate, it does give them permanent control over their new forms.
Gargoyles
The dreaded gargoyles of Northrend are voracious flying creatures who revel in slaughter and mayhem. Brought from the frozen north by the armies of the Lich King, these strange, wiry flyers have rough, crystalline hides which protect them from all manner of attacks. In times of great peril, gargoyles can land and condense their hides into a stone-like surface. Though they are unable to attack in this state, they can take time to regenerate their wounds and replenish their energies.
STONE FORM
The voracious gargoyles of Northrend are capable of condensing their crystalline hides to make themselves nearly impervious to any forms of attacks. Though they must land and remain motionless while in this state, Stone Form does allow them to recoup their energies for battle.
Crypt Fiend
The cunning crypt fiends were once the lords of the ancient spider kingdom of Azjol-Nerub that ruled over the arctic land of Northrend in ancient times. However, the Lich King destroyed the crypt fiends’ civilization and took control of the frozen continent. Now the vile fiends command their spider underlings in the name of their master, Ner’zhul. These aberrant creatures are capable of summoning swarms of vile insects and projecting web-like strands to incapacitate and harm their enemies.
WEB
The crypt fiends of Azjol-Nerub have always been adept at catching flying creatures in their powerful webbing. Though creatures captured in this webbing will eventually break free and may still defend themselves, they are immobilized while caught in the crypt fiends’ webs.
Frost Wyrm
In ages past, venerable dragons nearing death flew to the land of Northrend to die. To this day there are entire dragon graveyards littered with massive petrified bones and skulls. When Ner’zhul, the Lich King, took control of Northrend, he used his powerful magics to raise the ancient dragon skeletons from the dead. Now the skeletal dragons radiate cold power and think of nothing other than serving their dark master. Frost wyrms have a cold-based breath weapon that can shatter entire buildings. They are also quite fond of devouring their hapless enemies whole.
FREEZING BREATH
Ner’zhul’s vicious frost wyrms hold the frosts of Northrend within their skeletal hearts. By inhaling a great deal of air, frost wyrms can expel blasts of freezing cold so extreme, that they pull all the moisture from the air around a building and freezes it solid.
Meat Wagon
One of the strangest and most dire tools utilized by the Scourge is the dreaded meat wagon. This rickety contraption is used to collect and store recently slain corpses from the field of battle. At any time, corpses can be pulled from the meat wagon and raised into undead warriors. When upgraded, the Meat Wagon can also fling diseased corpses at enemy units with its crude catapult device. An invaluable support vehicle for the Scourge, the meat wagon strikes fear and woe into the hearts of even the most resolute defenders.
Skeletal Warrior
Called forth from the grave by the insidious necromancers, skeletal warriors are mindless slaves of the Lich King’s powers. These lumbering fighters are highly resilient and tireless. When operating in great numbers, skeleton warriors serve as an invaluable part of the Scourge’s combat force.
Shade Called
forth from the depths of the sacrificial pits, shades are vile, wraith-like creatures who exist only to serve their dark lord, Ner’zhul. The invisible shades are virtually undetectable by normal sight, making them ideal scouts and spies for the Scourge. Though they cannot attack the living, they are still considered valuable assets to the Lich King’s forces.
