Corpse Explosion

Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion (5 ranks) Death knight ability 30 yd range 40 Runic Power 5 sec cooldown Instant Cause a corpse to explode for X Shadow damage to all enemies within 20 yards. Will use a nearby corpse if the target is not a corpse. Does not affect mechanical or elemental corpses.
Properties
Class	Death knight
School	Shadow
Cooldown	5 sec
Talents
Talent tree	Unholy, Tier 3
Talent required	Corpse Explosion

[[Category:death knight abilities]][[Category:death knight abilities]]

"This existence is not without its perks."
—Triton the Sacrilegious

Corpse Explosion is a death knight ability that allows the death knight to cause a corpse to explode damaging all enemies within 20yds. Corpse Explosion may be cast on a death knight's own (living) ghoul.

Exploded corpses change to meat or bones models and can still be looted and skinned.

Rank table

Rank	Level	Damage	Cost
1	20	166	Talented
2	60	192
3	70	262
4	75	383
5	80	442

Casting on one's own ghoul

As mentioned above, this spell can be used against a death knight's raised ghoul. Though the tooltip does not indicate this, the ghoul's explosion is far different from the effect of the regular spell. Rather than an instant detonation of a corpse for minor area damage, the ghoul's explosion is delayed by two seconds.

The ghoul is lost upon detonation but the amount of damage is significantly more than what is listed in the tooltip. The effect is similar (or possibly equivalent) to the self-destruction Explode ability a player gains when risen by a Death Knight using Raise Dead (pre-3.0.8), [Raise Ally] (post-3.0.7) or becoming a Risen Ghoul himself.

In order to specify the ghoul as the target of the spell, the ghoul must be selected before the spell is used. This is especially true during circumstances where a compatible corpse is already within range of your enemy target.

In one single test where no critical hits occurred, 155 damage was done by the normal spell compared to around 1500 for the ghoul's explosion. This test was performed before the increase in damage introduced by patch 3.0.8.

Glyphs

20

• Glyph of Corpse Explosion
• Minor Glyph
• Use: Permanently teaches you this glyph.
  
  Increases the radius of effect on Corpse Explosion by 5 yards.
• Classes: Death Knight
• Requires Level 55
• Sell Price: 50

Glyph of Corpse Explosion is created with Inscription (75); discovered through [Minor Inscription Research]. Teaches the ability Corpse Explosion.

Materials required:

1x [Ethereal Ink]

1x [Heavy Parchment]

Patch changes

• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Removed. Corpse Explosion is now taught by Necrophile Tome: Corpse Explosion.
  
• Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Now requires 75 Inscription (was 340) and learned from  [Research: Ethereal Ink] (was [Minor Inscription Research]).
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Re-added. Now teaches the Corpse Explosion ability. Now requires 3  [Ethereal Ink], and 1  [Light Parchment] (was 1 Ethereal Ink, and 1  [Heavy Parchment]). .

  Previous version: Increases the radius of effect on Corpse Explosion by 5 yards.
  

• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Removed. Existing items converted into  [Glyph of Path of Frost].
  
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): Glyph redesigned. Formerly caused targets killed by Corpse Explosion to also explode.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Added.
  

External links

Item	Spell
Wowhead WoWDB	Wowhead WoWDB

Patch changes

• Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Damage increased substantially, added 5 second cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
  

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB