Quick Facts

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Army of the Dead

Army of the Dead
1 Blood, 1 Unholy, 1 Frost

Channeled	10 min cooldown

Requires Death Knight
Requires level 80

Summons a legion of Ghouls over 4 sec who will fight for the Death Knight for 40 sec, swarming the area, taunting and fighting anything they can.

Buff

Spell Details

Duration

4 seconds

School

Shadow

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

Normal

Cost

1 Blood, 1 Unholy, 1 Frost

Range

0 yards (Self)

Cast time

Channeled

Cooldown

10 minutes

GCD

1 second

Effect

Apply Aura: Periodically trigger spell
Interval: 500 milliseconds

	Army of the Dead

Flags

Guides

Blood Death Knight Guide

Death Knight DPS Guide
(Frost/Unholy)

Raid and Class
cooldown list.

Warlords of Draenor Death
Knight Changes

Comments

Comment by Stryper7

What # of dead constitutes an army?

=D

Comment by PriestessAv

It says "6 seconds remaining," leading me to believe that this lasts 6 seconds.

Comment by Wraithsight

20 min cool down = not useable in arena thank god.

Comment by joeshmoe1089

for added coolness...make a macro that casts this and activates the script command

/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\HeadlessHorseman\\\\Horseman_Special_01.wav")

Also you could add
/y SOLDIERS ARISE, STAND AND FIGHT! BRING VICTORY AT LAST TO THIS FALLEN KNIGHT!

being as other players cant hear the soundfile being played

Comment by nick31896

Is this a base spell too? or only for unholy specced?

Comment by rrmp1987

Is it usable in arena? I dont think so, cause it has a 20min CD like Fire Elemental Totem from Shamans. :(

Comment by saibat3

like and love this spell

Comment by omgitsgod134

As of Patch 3.0.2 spell pushback now functions as such.

Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:

* When casting a spell:

The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
All hits after the second will have no effect.

* When channeling a spell:

The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
All hits after the second will have no effect.

I mention this because Army of the Dead is channeled. So if you get smacked twice then at most you would have a 2sec channel.

Note: I've noticed while playing my warlock since patch 3.0 that the pushback mechanic can still finish off your channel. Since I do a lot of drain tanking I inevitably get some pushback and if that occurs mid channel it will sometimes finish my Drain Life.

So what I have concluded from that is that the 'reduces current duration by 25% of total duration' will toast your channel if you manage to get hit by two mobs at the same time right before or on the second proc of Army of the Dead 'the summon part'.

Feedback is appreciated, I just wanted to mention the conclusions I've drawn about the utility of this spell in a solo PvE situation. Or rather the thought that the risk to benefit factor of using the spell as an 'oh $%^&' save the day ability in groups or when adds are starting to overwhelm you solo is in my opinion not good.

Comment by enigma3d

I just want to clear up a misconception that I'm seeing here. Army of the Dead does not in fact suffer from spell pushback. It may be able to be interrupted, i dont know (It probably can), but it cannot be pushed back. This was confirmed several times on the Beta forums by people who had used it.

Besides, it wouldn't make sense to include the bit about taking less damage while channeling if it could be pushed back, since you wouldn't want to be in a position to be hit in the first place.

Comment by Mafan

Be very careful with this spell. The zombies will run around mindlessly (hurr!) and add groups of mobs half-way across the room even. They'll also taunt mobs, even bosses, which in turn will one-shot every single ghoul.

Comment by frozenpryde

uses corpse dust...?

Comment by birgerogole

This Spell is special in its own way it will not consume the Corpse Dust since if you read the name "Army of Dead" it will use the corpses in the ground. Wich means that it just takes the corpses of some dead creatures that are in the ground (some little thing you might wanna think about) :). This spell is not that safe and should be used when you are in combat with a boss, and that boss must stand alone long away from other mobs. Or are in a very huge area where the ghouls cant find a new mob. This spell is some of the best you can use in a low lvl instance if you boost someone. Just realese it and the ghouls will go nuts and slaughter all thy can in the time thy are out and if they cant kill all they have attacked you just kill them with a Death & Decay

Comment by voldie

From the palla tank point of view - this spell is extremely cool at "oh crap, tank gonna die soon" at the bosses without AOE abilities (or with AOE with large cooldowns). Ghouls:

saves tank from any melee damage for 8 seconds at least, therefore allowing both tank and healer to refit
do some DPS (minor)
allows tank to move away freely (for example, if tank haz enuff aggro, he can just run away from boss; when all ghouls will be pwned, boss will run to tank saving like 2-5 second of heals which is uber good
if the tank is lagging or lost control thanks boss abilities (bash etc.) and the swarm of adds incoming, ghouls will save the day (or at least save healer).

Therefore - me like ghouls. Dey are cute AND useful, mon.

Comment by Ganj

Agreed, this is an awesome "oh #$%^" button, I can't count on one hand how many times a whipe was coming, pop Army, and tada, DK save's the day.

Comment by Pirwzy

This should have a small chance to proc an Abomination along with the rest of the Ghouls. That'd kick so much ass.

Comment by Drenvion

This ability usually helps on bossfights in heroics, I as a healer enjoy the fact that having a Death Knight in the group takes some pressure of me when facing hardhitting- or multiaddbosses.

Their taunt is usable on heroicbosses, such bosses that usually are immune to taunt, they will most likely be oneshotted but still the ghouls can absorb up 6strikes, the -damage taken is also very good when the DK is tanking.

Because of it's cooldown, think of it like a Shaman's Earth Elemental Totem, which helps if used on hard bosses, or simply to add some damage, but mostly to take the edge of the tank and healer or soaking up randomtarget spells.
It should never be used on good pulls, in order to save the group sure, but never just to add dps.

If your healer can't keep the tank up during good trashpulling, or the tank can't hold aggro, it's not your fault, just don't hit the cc'd and try not to dps as much if you're pulling aggro (Death Knights does not have any active threatreducers).

As far as I can tell from various instances with Death Knights in the party, the ghouls acts mainly as a small taunting unit and Ive never seen a ghoul run to other groups, then again, Ive never seen a Death Knight use it on trash.

And to clear it up from the confusing post of birgerogole who wrote it from an RPview; Army of the Dead does not use corpses that you can see, so no matter how many corpses there are around you, it will always summon the same amount, given you finish the channeling.

Comment by Kotumser

another neat little trick for this would be to use DRW first then cast, thus creating twice as many ghouls. as of right now this works, im not entirely sure if this is intended though

Comment by Traum

This ability can actually be quite handy for dps for a lark in certain situations. Probably the most readily apparent is patchwerk, but any situation where the boss can't be taunted this ability adds quite a bit of damage.

Certainly more than the channel time.

Comment by Dhaarlak

I haven't seen anyone else point this out so...

The ghouls seem to generate immense amounts of threat (mine ticked over for 11000 TPS today) and they all seem to stack as one mob on the threat meter. So, if timed correctly, a quick Dark Command can give the DK a massive, very quick burst of threat. Even DC'ing early can give the DK 20-30K or more threat in a few seconds. (I have tried this, it does work).

Comment by midjetboy

i love this spell! in naxx today, had a blood dps DK and one of the tanks got a little low, he hit this button, all the little ghouls taunted off the tanks, healers managed to get the tank back up, ghouls died, boss back to the tank. saved us from wiping so, all in all, its a good "OH CRAP" button weather you or another person are tanking

Comment by uchiharsala

so could you summon the ghouls and sacrifice 1 of them to get 20% of ure maximum health back using death pact? that would be pretty usefull for tanking aswell no?

Comment by Morza

Agreed.EXTREMELY useful.When Epoch Hunter does his bladestorm/Timestop move the ghouls get the atks instead of the healer and dps.love having a DK in the party for H Old Srat

Comment by syamrio

I got a question, is the Spell for Army of the Dead applicable to all builds.. blood, frost and unholy alike?

Comment by TokiLoki

There is a unholy talent, Night of the Dead, that reduces the CD of Army of the Dead per hit. So would it be able to be used in arena with this talent. (15min CD limit in arena).

Comment by WindxWalker

This spell is perfect for farming especially in spots where the respawn timer is less than 5 second.

Comment by Kendeura

Please stop using this with any boss that has a tail swipe or breath...

Comment by Wisdomsword

hmm maybe there like shamans spirit wolves or druids treants they all attack the same target

Comment by Harson

Does this work in arena? Haven't tried it yet, but it would be freaking awesome.

Comment by SpikedMilk

I hope that the taunt on each ghouls will be removed and all the threats they made from attacks transferred to you.

This is suppose to be our big skill, especially with a 20min cooldown, I am hoping that this will make the army last longer instead of having each ghoul targeted by the boss and one shotting them all ending up lasting for 10 seconds.

Comment by coins

Dear Death Knights,

Please do not use this spell at the beginning of a heroic/raid boss fight ESPECIALLY when the boss has an AOE frontal cone attack.

Just don't. Please? =)

Comment by grayfox425

There are times when NOT to pop this. Coming from a tank point of view this can pose a lot of problems if used improperly.

There is a misconception that tanks do not want to take any damage whatsoever, this is false. The objective is to survive the damage and to keep the target attacking you. You cant hold threat without any rage as a warrior or druid or mana as a paladin. When DK's pop this ability you are starving tanks for rage or mana and this can cause severe problems once the ability has worn off.

Also, you should never pop army on kel thuzad, as his adds grow stronger every time they switch targets, so you are basically guaranteeing a wipe.

Comment by bowtothescurge

Hehe yeah i saw an alliance DK do this in ATV. everyone stopped, probably with their moths gaping and everyone started to lay down ALL of their CCs and AOEs. I was laughing my *** off. (this is with DRW cause i counted like 16-20). I agree: its really awesome and is great for pvp. i usually use it then use freeze everyone. giving the healer time to regenerate their full mana.......at the cost of just a few more mobs but by that time i can lay on my defense buffs.

Comment by Drenvion

Something worth mentioning is that your ghouls takes some time to spawn, so if you're not tanking, trying to time this right can be difficult (if you are tanking, you will take over 50% less damage and that alone can be enough to save you).

Also note that you loose 6seconds worth of dpsing (or building threat if you're tanking), the dps the ghouls do does not make up for that loss, mostly because they will each only hit once then die and can even be wiped out by a single AoE.

Also note that you should never use this if the tank is struggling to hold aggro, the 6hits could be parried or otherwise avoided, opening up abilities like Revenge and Rune Strike which adds alot of threat.

Comment by bowtothescurge

hmm so if you add ice bound fortitude and unbreakable Armour does that basically make you invincible for the cast time? (considering your is frost stance)

Comment by Remord

PATHETIC DKS NERF OR ........ YOUR MUM!

Comment by bowtothescurge

man this is actually worth it just for the buff you get while casting it! AND you call apon a platoon of undead! and I sure hope they don't nerf this.

Comment by Abaddon87

Best wav file to play in a macro for this spell:

/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\Ashbringer\\\\ASH_SPEAK_12.wav")

Fits perfectly!

Comment by m3withoutyou

If your healer can't keep the tank up during good trashpulling, or the tank can't hold aggro, it's not your fault, just don't hit the cc'd and try not to dps as much if you're pulling aggro (Death Knights does not have any active threatreducers).

If you specced for Subversion, and using Blood or Unholy Presence (as any decent DPS DK would), then Subversion is an active threat reducer.

So long as Blood or Unholy Presence is active.

Comment by daGELLO

As a side note while the tooltip says that the ghouls taunt what they attack, apparently they taunt other things around them as well...

My guild was doing Gluth the other night and I had a request to pull up my army. They were attacking Gluth and the tanks had no trouble maintaining their aggro because of how much threat they already had but for some reason they kept taunting the zombies so they would run toward Gluth (ultimately to be eaten).

Needless to say it resulted in some difficulty until the army died. So, be careful where and when you summon them.

Comment by exShinra

I was wondering how the ghouls scale with the Death Knight?

Do they take your strength stamina or ap? or is it just a flat amount of damage they do.

Comment by FurySpec

If you specced for Subversion, and using Blood or Unholy Presence (as any decent DPS DK would), then Subversion is an active threat reducer.

I believe that what he meant by "active" was an ability that allows you to choose when to dump aggro, like the Priest's Fade or the Hunter's Feign Death. With those spells, you pick your moment, hit the magic button, and your threat (hopefully) drops to zero. Subversion isn't like that; it reduces your threat for as long as you have the talent and are in the appropriate stances. Once a DPS DK has drawn aggro, however, all s/he can do is to ask the tank to take it back, or if possible, to kill the mob him/herself.

You are correct, however, that any decent DK should know enough to stay out of Frost Presence when not tanking, and that Subversion is a great DPS talent, because it allows the DK to dish out more damage before drawing aggro.

Back to AotD, I've found it useful in a couple of ways:

As mentioned above, it's helpful for distracting Tauntable bosses; even if you only get a few seconds, that's long enough to drink a potion, apply a bandage, or lay down some additional threat to regain control of the situation.
I've used it in Wintergrasp on a few occasions. It's probably to save until either you or your opponents are making that last push for the Orb before time runs out. Again, distracting the opponent for even a few seconds can make a big difference.

Comment by Manbearcat

Is this interruptable with feral charge? I don't want to respec just to check it out.

- Edit -
Whats your point in downrating? Why can't i get a reply before downrating this?

Comment by Boostjuice

this+/dance= thriller night baby

Comment by huitzilipochtli7

Please, Death Knights everywhere -- this is an EMERGENCY button. I have seen the army save runs, but I have seen it ruin them even more often. If you are dps, with a warrior or druid tank, then the tank relies on rage, and he needs mobs to hit him in order to generate threat. That means that if you unleash your army when the tank does not have either a healthy lead in threat or a full bar of rage, you are crippling your tank.
The appropriate time to use the army is when your group is in big trouble, such as:

1) When the tank is dead.
2) When the tank will obviously die without the army.
3) When the tank needs to do bandage, innervate the healer, cast battle rez, or do some other non-tanking task.
4) When the group is thoroughly overwhelmed and people are about to die.

The army should not be used:

1) At the start of a boss fight, either before or immediately after the tank pulls. If you don't believe anything else, I'm writing, just PLEASE don't use it at the start of the fight.
2) Any time the group is not in trouble. I know its a cool ability and you want to use it, but it is on a 20-minute cooldown. Save it for the times when your group really does need help and they will love you for it. Use it when the tank is doing fine on his own, and you are abusing the coolness of your army.

Comment by hallaven

hey guys anyone know the sound file for that scary sounding scourge horn you know the one that is sounded before you go to battle against the argent dawn as a DK? i think that would be awsome to be played for the army of the dead. oh btw the army of the dead can be commanded by using your pet goul (if your unholy) as your army general. just send your pet in and the army will follow. btw if you find out the sound file lemmi know :D

Comment by Trusas

I am the bone of my raid.
Blood strikes are my body, Plague Strikes are my blood.
Unknown to nerfs, nor known to respecs.
Have withstood responsibility to tank many bosses.
but those bosses will never drop plate.

So, as I switch to DPS...

UNLIMITED GHOUL WORKS!

Comment by demoftw

I think it'd be cool if this summoned the ghouls, but instead of the ghouls taunting they would have a different effect depending on what presence your in.

frost presence:taunts them and redirects their aggro to you
blood presence:they do more damage
Unholy presence: they have a longer duration and have more health

Comment by hallaven

i've noticed army of the dead is pretty handy in duels. when ever i use it in a duel my enemy loses focus on me and can't get a lock on me cause hes too distracted with my army xD. instead he just tries to run away while i stand there and watch doing nothing. i do like to use chains of ice though just to make it hard for him to escape my army.

Comment by sealie

I don't know if anyone mentioned this specifically in any other post, but there are certain situations when you should definitly be holding your UD horses.. For instance:

* popping these on tauntable dragon bosses, will turn them around risking to cleave your raid in their face, and tail lashing healers.

* popping these on certain tauntable bosses, will risk facing the boss the wrong way when doing certain abilities. Grobbulus for instance, and the last boss in UK (probably tons of others)

* popping these on general mobs, will represent an increase in parry hits for your tank, and will most likely annoy your melee DPSers as they will turn all mobs around the block..

* popping these on a rage based tank (or a holy dmg dependant protadin) will rage-/threatstarve him for => 8 seconds (minimum)

Comment by ThyFlame

If you specced for Subversion, and using Blood or Unholy Presence (as any decent DPS DK would), then Subversion is an active threat reducer.

So long as Blood or Unholy Presence is active.

No, that is passive. Active abilities require you to use them, passive abilities are always active, regardless of any requisite like being in a certain stance.

Do you click Subversion? No.

Comment by Bohrizan

Quite possibly a reference to the movie, "Army of the Dead".

Comment by Vefantur

Or it could be a reference to the fact that you summon a small army of ghouls. :)

Since no one mentioned it... these benefit from sparks on Malygos, so i would assume they benefit from simliar effects.

Comment by n4rt0n

Spell like Fear and Cyclon cancel the channel but it will keep the ghouls that you already summoned.

that means if you get feared with just 1sec of channel just 1 ghoul will arise.
if with 6 secs, 6 ghouls will arise.

~~Silence and Counterspells effects won't stop the channeling, only Effects that makes you loss the control of your character.~~

After 3.2 Silences and Counterspells (kick, pummel, etc) will cancel the channel but you'll still keep the ghouls already summoned.

I've tested with my warlock and worked (5 times).

Comment by Psyblade1st

Army of the Dead...meet Holy Wrath.

Comment by Tr1nus

Not trying to break the party for you guys, but this isn't really such a good spell in raids.
It's a good oshi- button in 5men and certain bosses, I agree, but in certain situations, it could cause more harm than good, when the ghouls start to taunt the boss then reposition it in @#$%ed up ways...which means, after 3 seconds, the whole raid will eat a standard breath, cleave or swipe.

Comment by brendanm362

must over power move ever

Comment by Shorty

I checked with the raid boss target dummy and recount. From the time the first ghoul attacks to the time the last ghoul dies the army does about 1100 DPS in early naxx 10/heroic gear. Pretty respectable.

Also, they won't taunt raid bosses.

Comment by zoorroo4

COOL!
my comment is too short

Comment by Aeroxima

Reminds me of this: http://dagobah.biz/flash/come_my_minions.swf

"Come my minions
Rise for your master
Let your evil shine!"

Comment by Vefantur

Since i do not believe it has been mentioned, these ghouls can somewhat be controlled by deathknights with the talent "Master of Ghouls" as they seem to stay with your ghoul. What i mean is that if you tell your ghoul to follow you, your aotd does as well and if you tell your ghoul to attack, the aotd attacks. I have noticed that this does NOT work on "stay" tho. It's simple, but useful. :)

Comment by ZetaZero

This apparently used sort of like the mage's mirror image. I see a lot of DKs pop it right when the tank starts running towards the bosses.

Comment by wildmak18

Can You use Army of the dead in arena if you have Night of the Dead to rank 2?

Comment by Kimmoz

Just a little word of advice, DONT use this spell under the Svala bossevent in Utgard Pinnacle, They will run under her when she flies up, and they will die almost instantly, = waste of cooldown !

Comment by Derreklock

Coolest. Spell. Ever.

I was so happy when I got DC:S and DC:T ...

Seeing what AotD can do for most of those "Oh, bugger..." situations, I'd rather have this.

DKs Rule.

Comment by quidnunc

The ghouls, or some of them anyhow, are apparently female. I popped AotD on the Icecrown Valhallas arena quest, and one of them got the killing blow. The ringmaster shouted that "Army of the Dead Ghoul and her brave companions" had won. Go figure.

Comment by trogodor

Wait a minute,did that death knight just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?

Comment by Kurtosis

As of patch 3.1 (or somewhere around there) Army no longer taunts raid bosses, only 5man and H 5man bosses. Just pure dps on raid bosses.

Comment by Hellzpaladin

Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Neckturn... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word!

Comment by iceangel561

I have been researching this spell lately so I thought I'd post what I've got so far. From what I know, the ghouls last 40 seconds each. Not 40 seconds from when you cast the spell, but 40 seconds from when they come out of the ground and become active. Each ghoul has a leap spell, and an instant attack claw spell. They hit for between 150 and 350 depending on the caster's gear. Each ghoul has a health between about 2000 and up to 4300ish was the highest I've seen. The ghouls benefit from night of the dead, making them difficult to AoE down. Each ghoul is about half the size of your pet ghoul and there are 8 of them. I hope this helps.

Comment by barunedpat

my favorite to play while using:
/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\MordreshFireEye\\\\MordreshFireEyeAggro01.wav")
Slay them bretheren, for the scourge. Were mayby not of the scourge anymore, still sounds cool in my opinion.

Comment by lootman

Great fun using this on the boat in deadmines :P. Summon em and run to van cleef and all the mobs are dead xD. Dont use while boosing tho cos you dont get the loot from the kills that your ghouls do without any damage from you, bit like pets.

Comment by Dragnis

Not sure if it does or does not myself yet using the "Army of Dead" using Coprse dust, but I would get Glyph of Raise Dead anyway. Sort of annoying trying call Ghouls and you run of dust. Fyi it's a minor glyph for Dk.

Comment by Supahtoons

Anyone know if these guys benefit from Glyph of the Ghoul or Ravenous Dead?

Comment by Fiammifero

NEVER use it on boss only if tank is dead

Comment by Supahtoons

It's actually a pretty useful DPS boost on raid bosses since they don't taunt them anymore. I always pop it in Vault on Emalon and they don't even taunt the adds.

Comment by rnbw

Indeed there are some bosses in heroics where this ability could make the encounter more difficult. I don't think any of the encounters will become impossible but with lower geared groups, or with people not paying attention it could have a signifficant impact on the encounter.
On the other hand it could greatly improve some encounters by the army having taunt adds, or more important they can chew up debuffs (like poisons and curses) or other party-targeted spells.

Here are some examples where I found the Army have an adverse effect on the encounter:
Mal'Ganis: he has a frontal cone AoE which causes a disease like debuff, and the Army can potentionally face him towards the group.
Krystallus: people get stoned and nuke others who are nearby. With a stoned Army, you have more chance to get damage (though they are probably dead before this can happen).
Eck the Ferocious: his spit does some damage, albeit not that much (and people stand in it on purpose for the achievement), but it still sucks if the Army taunt him in all directions and he spits all over the party.
Xevozz: basically makes him unkitable for a few seconds while the Army is doing his thing. More of a problem with moron DPS who think they should DPS the boss rather than walk away from the balls.
Lavantor: has a frontal cone breath, enough said.
Trollgore: he damages nearby units for more stack of his buff, so if he damages all of your party, you're basically giving him free buffs. :D
Tharon'ja: not that bad, but can potentially keep the boss pinned in the poison cloud for a few sec. Again more of a problem with moron DPS who don't walk out of it.
Anub'arak: also not that bad, but I've seen an Army taunt him right before a pound while the DPS didn't notice it and most of them died of it.
Keristrasza: tail swipe.

On these bosses the Army can make the encounter a bit easier:
Svala Sorrowgrave: any of the ghouls can be 'captured' under Svala's sword.
Argent Confessor Paletress: she targets the ghouls for her random smites, so that's less damage to the party.
Maiden of Grief: she targets the ghouls for her curse, which means less party damage.
Slad'ran: they can attack the snakes.
Zuramat the Obliterator: they can attack the shadow orbs.
Ormorok the Tree-Shaper: they can attack the flayers, keeping them off the healer for a few sec.

In any case,... please think a few seconds before mindlessly popping an army!

Comment by entendu101

can anyone confirm if the ghouls benefit from raid buffs especially those from Imp Icy Talons/Abom's might

Comment by infernofurry

THIS IS THE BEST SKILL IN WHOLE GAME i mean in buggy situations and More!
btw First its hard playing as Death Knight but everything comes together after 1h or lower everything is great

Comment by Rizela

Holy Wrath combined with Consecration is pretty much the ultimate anti-AOTB skill combo. A well-geared Paladin, especially one with high +spellpower, can easily counter an inexperienced DK's AOTD, which is overused and poorly understood by DK's in general, especially in PvE.

Comment by Danteskain

Imagine 40 unholy death knights with the talent and goul all use this to raid a city!

EVERY BODY RUUUUUNNNNN!

ZOMBIE INVASION!

Comment by Vefantur

And imagine the dmg that a mage could do that stumbled upon your 40 DKs with their AotD out. :) Although I do agree that would be amazing; in the Hodir fight an awesome way to start out is to have all DK's use AotD because they rip through the ice. The most DKs I have had do this was 4 and our ghouls were everywhere, haha.

edit: Also Danteskain, there was a Zombie Invasion at the end of BC and it was quite amazing :D

Comment by Nyriko

As far as I can tell, your army will not taunt cc'd mobs. Using it on Faction Champions (heroic) tonight, there were no reports of any of the ghouls breaking sheep, or any other kind of crowd control that is canceled by damage.

Comment by shadyz

i hope they make a Glyph that decreases cooldown on it to atlest 10 mins

Comment by tmptfate

How to have an epic Army of the Dead cast
To make your Army of the Undead summon even more epic, use the macro below that plays one of the Headless Horseman's scripts right before you use the ability! You wont be disappointed. :D

Macro:
#showtooltip
/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\HeadlessHorseman\\\\Horseman_Special_01.wav")
/cast Army of the Dead

edit: sux that your group cant hear it, oh well, it still is a lot of fun to have setup

Comment by Deivijs

How to have an epic Army of the Dead cast
To make your Army of the Undead summon even more epic, use the macro below that plays one of the Headless Horseman's scripts right before you use the ability! You wont be disappointed and your whole group will love it. :D

Macro:
#showtooltip
/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\HeadlessHorseman\\\\Horseman_Special_01.wav")
/cast Army of the Dead
Last edited by tmptfate 2 days ago (Patc

Yeah, son.

There's a problem, you're the only one who hears the sound... so it's a regular buff and won't really make the group love this spell.

Comment by Jarski

thats just awesome

Comment by Malik8u

This has been buffed to a 10 minute cooldown in the 3.3.0 PTR.

So with Night of the Dead, there would be no cooldown and you could keep spamming Army of the Dead on every rune refresh?

Comment by Arkhirion

One thing of notice.
The little guys will share their Threat table and build up LOTS of it all by themselves.
This can be useful to tanks having a bit of start-up threat if they taunt off the ghouls before the last one dies.
This can be as high as 50k threat in mere seconds. not bad I'd say.

Comment by ZarDoom

This spell is channelled, and the cooldown will be triggered at the instant were you start channeling it, even if you didn't summon any ghouls. You are still vulnerable to crowd control or cast-stopping effects, so be cautious about it (Using Icebound Fortitude can be a good idea, for the anti-stun effect, or AMS to be immune to crowd-control and silence, only leaving cast-stopping (like Kick) to be a problem). It can be frustrating to lose such a cooldown for nothing :o

Comment by mixter

Krystallus: people get stoned and nuke others who are nearby. With a stoned Army, you have more chance to get damage

Lol ...dude heeeeeavy

Reminded me of the soulstone lock macro

/use soulstone
/raid <Target> is now stoned....duuuude heeeavy

Comment by scr00chy

"While channelling Army of the Dead, the Death Knight takes less damage equal to <his/her> Dodge plus Parry chance."

What exactly does this mean? That it's safe to cast while tanking? That it works like a damage reduction cooldown? I don't get it.

Comment by PinkWolf

I just wouldn't recommend it against anyone with a knockback, or interrupt, or aoe daze or stun, or a pet with an aoe taunt, or... you get the point.

...that means don't use this against anyone!

Comment by Meggie

The Foulest Stench is in the Air
The Funk of Forty Thousand Years
And Grizzly Ghouls from Every Tomb
Are closing in to seal Your Doom

I love this spell against tauntable dragons, like Cyanigosa or Keristrasza. It turns the most modest of fights into a wild, unfriendly snooker match!

Comment by ZarDoom

Stuff to know about the ghouls this spell summons :

-It is nearly impossible to take aggro from the ghouls. Even through taunting (wich will fail most of the time), if you actually manage to get aggro, one of the ghouls will take it back in less than a second. This is not true against raid bosses. The Ghouls won't taunt mobs that are flagged as "Boss" in-game (level ?).

-The ghouls will use two abilities : Claw (wich deals 150% normal damage and is an instant attack) and Leap (wich is a Charge that will get the user behind the target, instead of taking the shortest way to get in range, that will be usable in combat and that looks really cool when the whole pack of ghouls leep to their target). The Leap is more useful than it appears : not only will it get the ghouls at the best place to DPS (except against most dragons ennemies, like Onyxia, where you should deactivate the automatic use, and send your ghoul to the dragon after placing yourself, but that's not the subject since you can't control the Army ot the Dead Ghouls) and give them high mobility, it will also bring them instantly to the ennemy you would have, say, Death Gripped if they are far away from it.

-The gouls will die after 40 seconds, if not killed before that. That timer starts at the first moment where you can select them with the /target Army of the Dead Ghoul command.

-The ghouls only take 10% damage (90% damage reduction) from area of effect spells, even without the Night of the Dead talent (that talent gives your personnal ghoul (pet given from Master of the Ghouls) the same area-of-effect damage reduction), meaning they'll be fine even by staying near any NPC using a nova-like spell.

-The ghouls' taunt has a 30- or 40-yard range (needs confirmation), so once they engage a mob, any mob within that taunt range will also be pulled. Always keep that in mind cause it can really screw you -- and your raid -- up (as an example, do not use Army of the Dead against Anub'Arak's phase 3 (in ToC) if not all of the adds are dead, cuz the ghouls will probably pull the add off the ice).

-The ghouls' melee swings represent 60% of the damage they deal during their 40-second life. The remaining 40% are from the Claw ability.

-Each ghoul will use their Claw ability about 10 times if they've been in combat and in range of using it during the 40 seconds while they are active.

-Each Ghoul will have about a fifth of your current maximum health when the spell is casted.

-The ghouls hate Holy Wrath.

-The ghouls have a Northrend ghoul sound-file, but a "normal" ghoul model and skin.

-The strength, stamina and attack speed (originaly one attack every two seconds) of your ghouls will vary dependantly with your own strength, stamina and haste, respectively.

As a quick summary, Army of the Dead will summon 8 copies of a pet-ghoul that will deal 50% less damage and will be a lot more frail (mine have 8K hp each when my personal ghoul has 31K), will not have Gnaw or Huddle and will have a +20000% generated AoE threat (that last estate is exagerated, of course ...), even if you don't have the Master of the Ghouls talent.

About the spell itself :

-You summon 2 ghouls per second with the Army of the Dead spell, wich is channelled for 4 secondes (total of 8 ghouls). They use energy as a ressource. The ghouls will pop out from the ground faster and the total cast time will be reduced proportionaly to your haste.

-While you channel this spell, you will have a damage taken reduction equal to the sum of you dodge chance and parry chance. If you have 10% dodge and 20% parry, while you channel Army of the Dead, all damage done to you will be reduced by 10+20=30%.

-You can be stunned while chanelling this spell. Use your Icebound Fortitude to prevent that.

-You can be interrupted by spells such as Kick while chanelling the spell, but you won't have a channel-time penalty for taking damage.

-It is a Shadow-type spell. You won't be able to use Death Coil or Death and Decay after being interupted by a Kick / Pummel, etc.

This post will be completed and corrected by the future.

Comment by Zentro

^^ but as with other spells like this, the channeling ends abruptly anyways once the last ghoul goes off. (such as with Corruption, haste decreases time between ticks but buff duration stays. As a result the buff dissapears with a few seconds remaining once the last tick has gone off)

Comment by whitegold

As a tank I have to say Army of the Dead is a very powerful spell and should be used extremely carefully. A lot of DKs simply drop it when there's a boss. This does two things, one is that it makes a boss who moves on his own and cannot be controlled or positioned by a tank.

The other thing it does is just plain $%^& us off. Army of the Dead renders a tank completely powerless on a boss. We end up with a boss that's not agroed to us, and not hitting us, so we can't generate any rage/mana. This means when Army is "done", usually with no warning at a random time, we end up with a boss we have no threat on and zero rage. As well as being dangerous it's just plain rude.

Army can be incredibly useful in some fights (it trivialises The Black Knight, phase 2, for example) but can also cause wipes if used on bosses that need to be moved or controlled (such as Ick and Scourgelord Tyrannus). On fights that require the wit to stop DPS (like Devourer of Souls) Army can kill your healer and wipe your group.

There's a time and place for Army of the Dead, use it wisely. If you want to drop it on a boss, just ask the tank if he minds first.

Comment by Eod89

There is nothing more annoying to a DPS feral druid than a Death Knight who pops this skill during bosses. Much of my DPS is reliant on my being able to attack from behind, but that's almost possible with several taunting ghouls changing the boss's direction.

Comment by DeusExMachina

This spell makes most of the Northrend group quests rather trivial. Pop your Ghouls and DPS away. I myself use it regularly for Threat from Above. Just watch those bombs.
As already stated, this ability also screams for some... well, screaming while performing it.
I prefer "At my command: Let the blood ov the Kirin Tor flood the streets ov Dalaran!"

Comment by vexew

As a Warrior tank i usually kick the DK's who use this ability out of the group.

Revenge crit's for 12k, 5s cooldown without being hit it won't proc, the DK is essentially reducing the overall dps of the group by ever using this ability with a Warrior tank, worst spell in the game outside Typhoon which is also a auto-kick from my groups.

Comment by Supahtoons

/s Who wants to play spin the dragon?
/cast Army of the Dead

^Macro of win.

Comment by Cyrus82

...that means don't use this against anyone!
True. Let me rephrase that, then: if you're going to use it in a duel, cast it before the fight starts or the enemy gets within reach. I'm sure this can give you a good dps boost and casting pushback if the ghouls are already out, it's just that it's too easy for other people to prevent them from getting out in the first place.

Comment by Derren

They should remove the taunt from this spell or at least make the taunt only if the DK is in his tank presence

Comment by therailz

This spell is quite annoying for any 5 man heroic boss, usually you see low GS Dks using it and it just messes things up I'm a warrior tank working on my gear and its hard to get rage with just dps not to mention not being able to use revenge while AoD is up. The main point is even if it doesn't cause a wipe it doesn't help at all. Basically, as a rule if your not tanking don't go around using spells that taunt things as this is the tanks job. Its almost as bad as a hunter leaving growl on auto, maybe worse.
I wouldnt go so far as to try and kick the Dk using it but I would ask them politely if they wouldn't mind not using it. Usually this does the trick, get more bee's with honey or something like that.
P.S. People who use this just to "stir things up" should be lined up and shot, if your bored with dps, start tanking your own damn self don't mess with other tanks for fun. Grrr

Comment by StaticLgtBrngr

#showtooltip Army of the Dead
/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\LichKing\\\\HR_Lich King_RasieDead01.wav")
/cast Army of the Dead

My army of the dead macro, perhaps not the best here but I have a certain fondness of the modern Lich King voice.

Comment by martinic

Guys dont care if they call you a noob when you use this skill in 1v1 if you are unholly and summon all of them they do 3k DPS and are the perfect distraction because taunts in PvPmake the enemy target the ghouls

Comment by dubiumguy

I prefer using this soundfile to go with the script...

/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\Ashbringer\\\\ASH_SPEAK_12.wav")

;)

Comment by thesandman87

easy fix for these in pvp at least for a pally, i just hit holy wrath, and then proced to whack the DK.

but i absolutly hate it when a DK pops this randomly, it screws up any order, messes with DPS, and can make a boss take longer to kill, and in general pisses me off.

Comment by PalaDinka

What about yelling on cast?:''Face the rage of the fallen!"

Comment by Rauderce

Simply one of the many spells that represent the tenacity of death knights.

Comment by darthdeathknight

This is my new favorite spell. There are three problems with it, though:

The cooldown is far too long, and they removed the talent that lowered it.
I can't use it very often.
The tank will never tell me when to use it- though that's not the spells fault.

I think they should lower the cooldown, and I think that they should make a few modifications to the ghouls- though the modification isn't very important.

Comment by deathmist

i think this is the best macro:

/run PlaySoundFile("Sound\\\\Creature\\\\LichKing\\\\LH_LichKing_LightsHopeEvent06.wav")

APOCALYPSE

Comment by Byrhtnoth

Never use this ability on Karsh Steelbender.
Especially when he's standing in the fire.

And if you do, after the wipe, don't cuss the tank.

Comment by Kyhle

Also known to BM hunters as "your worst nightmare" :P The ghouls completely distract your pet for the duration. Hopefully there will be an incoming nerf, Maybe make the pets taunt immune? :D

Comment by grodon909

Don't forget, with 40 spare RP, they can also be sacrificed for health!

Comment by Redclouds

Does anyone know if interrupting this spell still activates its CD? Sorry if it seems like a stupid question it seems to have slipped my mind how silences affect spells. Afterall, I'm a hunter with no casts that actually have cooldowns.

Thanks in advance!

Comment by hilltopperpete

It's time to give Army of the Dead it's due! It's a fantastic DPS CD on raid bosses now, and it's very helpful in a number of 5-man heroic encounters (I tank 99% of the time with my DK), especially ones with very little physical damage being doled out, like Lord Godfrey, Akil'zon, and it makes the otherwise deadly skill, Hatch All Eggs, completely trivial in the Jan'alai encounter, allowing the group to drop the boss extremely quickly. Make sure you know the mechanics of the fight well because if it requires significant movement like Karsh Steelbender-- it's almost a guaranteed wipe.

It does make my heart skip a beat when a the DPS pops AOTD, but it's easy to stay atop the threat meter with periodic taunts followed by a high-threat skill.

SInce so few geared players are actually doing Cata 5-man heroics in lieu of endless Zandalaris because of the lower valor rewards, being able to push 20k DPS as a tank makes valor farming much more enjoyable and AOTD is an integral part of that.

Comment by skullripper

i think they need to add a glyph or something that alows us to take the taunt off of the ghouls, that way we can have a dps cooldown rather then a situational cooldown

Comment by smithwess

Can anyone tell me exactly how many ghouls are raised?

Comment by iZallen

This spell will summon 8 minions to your aid.

Comment by Theilea

Death Knight tanks need to take another look at this skill! Most people seem to think it's a DPS tool. It's not!

This is basically a short, channeled defensive cooldown. It adds your dodge and parry and reduces your damage by that amount. What's even better is that Dancing Rune Weapon plays into this. So, for example, if your DK has about 30% dodge and parry combined, you will have 50% mitigation during the channel time. It is a short amount of time with a long cooldown, but it's excellent for burst damage such as impale on Madness.

Comment by Wathley

Rejoice all -
Rejoice tanks -

Comment by Wathley

So by my Maths, if you use this and Raise Dead (non-unholy) on Murozond you can get 50 Ghouls. Oh yes...

Comment by superwario15

If you have Glyph of Foul Menagerie and happen to summon a minion that resembles Bone Sentinel, IT TALKS! "Hey there" "What can I do for you?" (Human male audio) I realize that this is a bug, but it's a fairly humorous one and IMO it shouldn't be fixed.

Comment by Orissan

Now with Geists , Mini Festerguts, Aberrations, and various skeletons. And of course a few ghouls.

Glyph of Foul Menagerie

Comment by sorsa

Army of the Dead scales with Vengeance, making it very powerful if you use it right after taking a high-damage boss mechanic (of course only if you do not absolutely need the runes for another Death Strike).

Quick example test:
at 0 Vengeance and completely unbuffed army minions hit for about 1.6k non crit with each melee swing and Claw for about 2k.

With only 20k Vengeance and Horn, they did 2.5k non crit melees and 3.1k Claws (570k total damage done in total by 1 Army).

With high Vengeance in raids, those numbers would go up by alot. But if you plan to use Army offensively and don't need it as an emergency Add control CD, then it's worth Glyphing into Army of the Dead first in add heavily fights.

Comment by Dazandra

As of WoD Alpha Patch notes on WoW's website. April 22, 2014

Army of the Dead now deals 75% less damage and is only available to Blood Death Knights.

Source:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/13423478/warlords-of-draenor%E2%84%A2-alpha-patch-notes-04-17-2014-4-18-2014

Comment by Celellach

I was trying to find a list of all the minions and guardians available to players through spells, talents and glpyhs (not from items) and ended up creating one.
Hope this is useful for others as well.

Death Knight:
Ghoul - Available at level 55.
Geist - Minor glyph that changes the appearance of the Ghoul to that of a Geist.
Skeleton - Minor glyph that changes the appearance of the Ghoul to that of a Skeleton.
Undead Monstrosity - Available at level 70. Transforms the Ghoul into an Undead Monstrosity.
Gargoyle - Available at level 74.
Legion of Ghouls - Available at level 80.
Various undead - Minor glyph that changes the appearances of the Ghouls of the Army of the Dead into various undead minions.

Druid:
Treants - Available at level 60. Four different versions: Balance, Feral, Gaurdian and Restoration.

Mage:
Water Elemental - Available at level 10.
Unbound Elemental - Minor glyph that changes the appearance of the Water Elemental to that of an Unbound Elemental.

Monk:
Xuen, the White Tiger - Available at level 90.

Paladin:
Guardian of Ancient Kings - Available at level 75. Three different versions: Holy, Protection and Retribution.

Priest:
Shadowfiend - Available at level 42.
Mindbender - Available at level 45.
Sha Beast - Minor glyph that changes the appearance of the Mindbender to that of a Sha Beast.

Shaman:
Earth Elemental - Available at level 58.
Fire Elemental - Available at level 66.
Spirit Wolves - Available at level 60.
Spirit Raptors - Minor glyph that changes the appearances of the Spirit Wolves to that of Spirit Raptors.

Warlock:
Imp - Available at level 1.
Fel Imp - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Imp to that of a Fel Imp.
Voidwalker - Available at level 8.
Voidlord - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Voidwalker to that of a Voidlord.
Succubus - Available at level 20.
Shivarra - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Succubus to that of a Shivarra.
Felhunter - Available at level 29.
Observer - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Felhunter to that of an Observer.
Felguard - Available at level 42.
Wrathguard - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Felguard to that of a Wrathguard.
Infernal - Available at level 49.
Abyssal - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Infernal to that of an Abyssal.
Doomguard - Available at level 58.
Terrorguard - Available at level 75 upon learning Grimoire of Supremacy. Changes the appearance of the Doomguard to that of a Terrorguard.
Eye of Kilrogg - Available at level 22.

Comment by Tithanas

Army of the Dead doesn't decrease the damage taken during chanelling for a total of dodge + parry any more. That feature is unfortunately removed from the ability and it is instant now instead of channelled.

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