Army of the Dead



Army of the Dead is learned by Death knights at level 80. It was the first Death knight ability to be announced. It is a channeled ability which summons a number of ghouls to fight for the death knight. These creatures run around and attack nearby hostile targets at random.

Unlike most other guardian pets, ghouls cannot benefit from Bloodlust/Heroism directly. However, if these spells are active on the player prior to summoning the ghouls, they will benefit from the added haste. Additionally, effects that increase damage done by a percentage, such as Frost Presence or Bone Shield will not increase their damage, however, the haste added from Unholy Presence will. Attack power effects will not aid them yet strength will. This means that while Battle Shout or Blessing of Might are useless for the ghouls, Horn of Winter is useful.

It is also worth noting that the adds will not taunt bosses in raids. Bosses in any 5 man dungeon or adds on raid boss encounters will be taunted by the ghouls.

Background
This is a variation of a spell type, commonly used by Death knights in previous games, called Raise Dead in Warcraft II, Animate Dead in Warcraft III, and Undead Minions in the RPG.

Taunt effectiveness
Level ?? bosses are immune to the taunt effect, but that does not mean that all mobs at least three levels higher than you will be, so do not make that mistake. For example, adds on the Valithria Dreamwalker encounter are Level 83 (non-skulled) but they are still affected by taunts cast by Level 80 Army of the Dead ghouls.