Undead Hero: Death Knight

Undead Hero

DEATH KNIGHT

Primary Stat: Strength
"The pact is sealed!" The main power from the Undead race comes from their heroes. Of all the heroes in Warcraft 3, the Undead heroes are fit to work as a team to become extraordinarily powerful. The Death Knight (DK) is by most players standards, a very strong and well-balanced hero in the Undead army. He has powerful spells, but he is a Strength hero. His mana bar is not very big, and he can not use his spells as often as say, the Lich (Undead's Intelligence hero).

Specializing in keeping his fellow undead soldiers alive, the Death Knight typically sits to the side of battle or in the back lines by more cautious players. Undead are known for having very few healing options. The Death Knight and the Obsidian Statue are the only two units in the Undead army that can heal, and he cannot use Death Coil on himself. If he wants to regain health, the Death Knight must sacrifice one of his own fellow units.

Abilities (Hotkey):




Death Coil (C):
A coil of death that can damage an enemy living unit or heal a friendly undead unit.
Rank 1: Damages 100 or heals 200 hit points
Rank 2: Damages 200 or heals 400 hit points
Rank 3: Damages 300 or heals 600 hit points

Death Coil is the main reason why people choose a Death Knight as one of their three heroes, usually the first. A fun strategy is to get the Lich as the second Undead hero, stack him with items such as Invulnerability Potion so that he does not die, and use Frost Nova and Death Coil in unison on an enemy unit. The focus fire will obliterate the unit. This spell can also heal up an Undead unit for an obscene amount. Make sure you know who you are fighting when you are using Death Coil. You cannot use it on another Undead player to damage them. It will not heal your enemy Undead player if you try, but simply give you an error message. Managing the undead forces is much more difficult without the healing power from Death Coil to save units from focus fire.




Death Pact (E):
Kills a target friendly unit, giving a percentage of its hit points to the Death Knight.
Rank 1: 100% conversion
Rank 2: 200% conversion
Rank 3: 300% conversion

This has got to be the most tragically underrated ability in Warcraft 3. Thanks to the awesome power of Death Coil and Unholy Aura, Death Pact has gone by the wayside. As you might or might not know, the Death Knight can not use Death Coil on himself. The only way to heal him is by standing on blight to regen health, be healed by an Obsidian Statue, or to use Death Pact. This makes him a good target for focus fire. At rank 2 it is virtually impossible to kill a DK and at rank 3 it is impossible so long as he has a unit around and has mana.




Unholy Aura (Passive)
Increases the movement speed and life regeneration rate of nearby friendly units.
Rank 1: +10% Movement Speed and 0.5 health per second
Rank 2: +20% Movement Speed and 1.0 health per second
Rank 3: +30% Movement Speed and 1.5 health per second

Unholy Aura is the Death Knight's 'other' ability, much like Evasion for the Demon Hunter, Critical Strike for the Blademaster and Brilliance Aura for the Archmage. This aura is quite powerful though. Your army slowly gains health over time, and moves very fast. Enemy players have a hard time fleeing from an Undead army led by a Death Knight. Undead players usually get this ability instead of Death Pact because of these reasons and the fact that the Death Knight cannot sustain the mana cost of Death Coil and Death Pact in unison.




Animate Dead (D) (Ultimate):
Raises 6 dead units in an area to fight for the Death Knight. Animated units are invulnerable.

Ultimates are typically quite deadly, but this one falls short in most situations. The Death Knight must make sure that there are around six corpses around him, and that he can actually use the animated corpses after he raises them. They are completely invincible, and run on a timer. This spell is best used in the middle of a large scale battle after a few units have fallen on both sides (Yes, it raises the enemy's dead units as well). It can tip the scales by helping finish off an enemy army or killing all their defense towers and workers.

Happy reading!
-Kibble