- This article is about the living dead in general. For the playable race of undead, see Undead (playable), for lore see Forsaken. For the Lich King's faction, see Scourge. For other uses of undead, see undead (disambiguation).
Undead creatures
The undead were once-living creatures, now animated by spiritual or supernatural forces.[1] The term undead refers to all creatures or entities that function normally despite having terminated life functions. Most commonly known as zombies or ghosts, undead beings are most typically mindless, bloodthirsty fiends hostile toward any living thing that comes across their path.
The undead have appeared all throughout Azeroth, most commonly in nature as revenants or wraiths. They were used as a combat tool during the First War when the necrolytes of the Horde learned to animate corpses as skeleton warriors in their fight against the Alliance. Later, the studies of the necrolytes developed into necromancy, the form of magic used very heavily in the Third War when the Cult of the Damned spread the Plague of Undeath across Lordaeron.
In modern times, "undead" refers primarily to either the Scourge or the Forsaken, since nearly half of the human race have since become undead. According to the lore in most sources, the Forsaken share all the characteristics of standard undead. However, Forsaken player characters and NPCs are for most intents and purposes considered to be "humanoids" in World of Warcraft due to gameplay reasons and do not share all the characteristics of other undead.
Characteristics in World of Warcraft
- Cannot be skinned, except for certain undead animals that would otherwise be classified as beasts (i.e.: bears, boars, wolves, etc).
- Generally are unaffected by mind affecting spells, like
[Fear] (They've seen it all before), sleep or mind control, however, priests can use 
[Shackle Undead] to temporarily imprison monsters and paladins can use 
[Turn Undead] which works just like a fearing spell. This does not apply to player characters of the undead race, which are technically classified as humanoid, for purposes of game-balance. - Can be tracked by Paladins and Hunters.
- Death Knights under the effect of
[Lichborne] are considered undead. - Death Coil (death knight ability) can heal them, assuming they are of friendly allegiance to the death knight.
Types of undead
Corporeal
Coporeal undead are the average reanimated corpse trough the plague or necromancers or various bodyparts stitched together into abominations
- Abomination
- Flesh beast
- Flesh giant (Cyborg type)
- Flesh giant (Northrend type)
- Flesh titan
- Fungal monster
- Plague-dog
- Wight
- Crypt fiend
- Darkfallen
- First generation death knight
- Second generation death knight
- Gargoyle
- Geist
- Ghoul
- Mad scientist
- Necromancer
- Plague eruptor
- Zombie
Incorporeal
Incorporeal undead are ghost and spirits of the dead
- Banshee
- Ghost
- File:IconSmall Ghost Captain.gif Ghost (Captain)
- Shade
- Spectral gryphon
- Spirit healer
- Val'kyr
- Wisp
- Wraith
Skeletal
Skeletal undead are skeletons animated by magic
- Bone golem
- Bone wraith
- Lich
- Skeleton
- Skeletal gryphon
- Skeletal horse
- Skeletal raptor
- Skeletal wind serpent
- Undead dragon
See also
Trivia
For game balance, the Forsaken are registered as humanoids because, in a PvP setting, they would be massacred with 
[Exorcism], 
[Holy Wrath], [Turn Undead], and [Shackle Undead], but they would also be immune to other CC such as 
[Polymorph] and [Fear]. Forsaken were classified as undead in Beta, but it proved to be too problematic with PvP balance. Many Forsaken NPCs are also considered humanoid.
References
- ^ Monster Guide, pg. 199
Undead
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