Resurrect
To resurrect is to bring a dead character back to life. Any player may resurrect themselves by running back to their corpse as a ghost from a graveyard. Spirit Healers, who are always available at a graveyard, can resurrect a player with a penalty of increased durability loss and resurrection sickness.
Lore
Through different sources of magic, it is possible for magic users to bring back someone from death to life with a spell of resurrection. Unlike necromancy, those who are resurrected do not come back as undead but as living beings, however, resurrection seems to require certain conditions, notably that the death must be recent, that the body is still whole, and that the soul of the deceased is still present in the Veil.[1] Beyond these conditions, the possibility of achieving resurrection seems limited or just impossible.
- By invoking the grandeur of the Light, mighty paladins can bring recently slain comrades back to life – enabling them to fight on for justice, freedom, and the glory of Lordaeron.[2]
- The power of resurrection is one of the paladin's greatest honors which is taught to paladins of the Alliance who have proven to be worthy.[3]
- The draenei paladin Kaylaan managed to resurrect the priestess Ishanah after Socrethar slew her.[4]
- The Blood Knights used the power of M'uru to resurrect Sangrias Stillblade, although it was noted that once he was dead "too long", not even the Light could bring him back to them.[5]
- According to Librarian Lightmorne at the Sanctum of Light, paladins can use the Light's blessing to resurrect their allies.[6]
- At the Netherlight Temple, Anduin remarked that priests are able to "sometimes" bring the dead back to life with the help of the Light,[7] which appears to be the most common method, but required the assistance of both Alonsus Faol and the naaru Saa'ra in order to successfully revive Calia as an undead infused with the Holy Light.
- In Exile's Reach, priest adventurers resurrected Expedition recruits who died following their shipwreck, but they had to hurry as long as their death was still recent.[8]
- Sally Whitemane possessed immense capabilities of resurrection, preventing her from dying and allowing her to resurrect her champions.[9]
- It was noted by Tyrande Whisperwind that, "No priestess of Elune could bring her back now" when she observed a slain kaldorei woman who had been dead for "several days".[10]
- The World-Shaman Thrall was able to revive a Life Warden slain by Asira Dawnslayer when trying to reach Wyrmrest Temple during the Cataclysm.[11]
- The taunka shaman Roanauk Icemist brought back to life all his fallen warriors while fighting Under-King Anub'et'kan.[12]
- The ghost of Terenas Menethil II resurrected the champions fighting Arthas Menethil at the Frozen Throne.[13]
Non-combat resurrection abilities
Classes with healer specializations also have spells that can resurrect allied players. Note that you do not need to be specialized as a healer to use your resurrection abilities (i.e. Protection and retribution paladins can cast Redemption, etc.) These abilities can be used to save players a run back into an instance as well as used for wipe recovery (especially if coupled with a combat-dropping ability such as 
[Shadowmeld]).
- Druid:
[Revive]. Cost is 4% of base mana. - Evoker:
[Return]. Cost is 0.8% of base mana. - Monk: [Resuscitate]. Cost is 0.8% of base mana or 50 energy.
- Paladin:
[Redemption]. Cost is 4% of base mana. - Priest: [Resurrection]. Cost is 4% of base mana.
- Shaman:
[Ancestral Spirit]. Cost is 4% of base mana.
All of these abilities resurrect the target with 35% health and mana, and cannot be used during combat. They also all have a base cast time of 10 seconds (modified by haste), and have no cooldown.
Tips
Following resurrection, the character will usually need to restore their resources, either by being healed or eating and drinking food. Resurrected players will have lost most previous buffs, and so may also need to be rebuffed. When a target is resurrected, it is restored to the location of the resurrecting player when the resurrection spell was cast - not where the player's corpse is, nor where the resurrecting player is when the resurrected player accepts the resurrection.
Resurrection abilities cannot be used in combat unless otherwise stated. If the casting player enters combat during the spell's casting time, the spell will be cancelled. However, it is possible to temporarily leave ongoing combat by removing oneself from the battle, in order to resurrect fallen allies. In PvP, it can be useful to retreat behind a pillar or other obstruction, in order to hide and avoid ranged attacks until the resurrection can be completed.
Like all spells, these abilities are affected by haste. Players can use haste boosts from sources such as trinkets and racials in order to drastically reduce the cast time of a resurrection ability.
There are some common misconceptions involving resurrection and releasing. Players can be resurrected whether or not they choose to "Release Spirit". If the dead player has not released, the resurrecting player can target the body and cast the spell. If they have released and the body is out of range, the resurrector must click the spell and mouse over the corpse since the corpse is not selectable. There are reasons not to release however. If a player releases, they will not see loot on mobs killed while the player is dead. Players who release do not receive credit if a required quest event happens while the player is dead. Players dead while a kill is made receive reputation but not experience (if eligible for experience).
Casting a resurrection spell on a character who is flagged for PvP (impossible to determine visually) will cause the resurrecting player to also become flagged.
In the open world, there is no way to tell whether or not a corpse belongs to the player's faction except by inspecting it visually. If the corpse does belong to the player's faction, it is possible to tell whether the player is still online or not by typing "/who playername." A response of "0 players found" indicates that the player has logged off (or is of the wrong faction). A response giving the target's race, level, and class indicates that the player is still online and can be successfully resurrected. Note that landing a resurrection on an offline or cross-faction player's corpse is indistinguishable from landing one on an online player's corpse who simply declines the resurrection. In both cases, the mana is wasted, and resurrection will not take place.
Defibrillate
Engineers can use tools to attempt to "defibrillate" dead allies. These tools are not always successful, but when used on a resurrecting-capable class can save a party from a long run back.
[Goblin Jumper Cables]. Requires Classic Engineering (165). Has around a 1:3 success rate.
[Goblin Jumper Cables XL]. Requires Classic Engineering (265). Has around a 1:2 success rate.
[Gnomish Army Knife]. Requires Northrend Engineering. Has around a 2:3 success rate.- [Ultimate Gnomish Army Knife]. Made with Draenor Engineering (100). Success rate unspecified. Shorter shared cooldown.
Combat resurrection
Also called battle resurrection or battle res. Four classes have abilities that can be used to resurrect fallen allies during combat. Most combat resurrections provide 60% health and 20% mana when resurrecting, but a Druid's Rebirth will provide 100% health instead.
| Class | Ability | Cast Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Druid |  [Rebirth] |
2 seconds | 2% of Base Mana |
| Death Knight |  [Raise Ally] |
Instant | 30 Runic Power |
| Paladin |  [Intercession] |
2 seconds | 2% of Base Mana |
| Warlock |  [Soulstone] |
3 seconds | 1% of Base Mana |
[Soulstone] can also be used preemptively, allowing players a self-resurrect for 15 minutes. Until the warlock has reached level 48, [Soulstone] can only be used preemptively.
Engineering
Certain Engineering tools can provide a combat resurrection. These items are limited to players at or under a certain level, that level being the maximum level of the expansion that introduced the item. All of these items have a chance to backfire, damaging the user instead.
| Item | Expansion | Level Cap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 [Tinker: Arclight Vital Correctors] |
Dragonflight | 70 | Usable by Non-Engineers |
 [Disposable Spectrophasic Reanimator] |
Shadowlands | 60 | |
 [Unstable Temporal Time Shifter] |
Battle For Azeroth | 50 |
Hunter Pets (Removed)
| Ability | Pet | Cast Time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Eternal Guardian] |
Stone hound | Instant | Reworked - Revives Pet |
| [Gift of Chi-Ji] |
Crane | Instant | Removed |
| [Dust of Life] |
Moth | Instant | Removed |
Limitations
Combat Resurrections | 2014-10-13 00:00 | 
Rygarius
In Warlords of Draenor, the Flex tech has expanded to more difficulty levels, and we needed a new system to handle combat resurrections more fairly. We knew that continuing with a constant 3 would encourage using the smallest possible raid sizes, while scaling with hard breakpoints would discourage specific group sizes just under those points. Additionally, the limit is not shown anywhere in-game, so it can be easy to lose track of how many resurrections the raid has available (or even know that the limit exists).
So we’ve built a new system to be more transparent, and improve usability.
- During a boss encounter, all combat resurrection spells now share a single raid-wide pool of charges that’s visible on the action bar button.
- Upon engaging a boss, all combat resurrection spells will have their cooldowns reset and begin with 1 charge. Charges will accumulate at a rate of 1 per (90/RaidSize) minutes.
- Example 1: A 10-player raid will accumulate 1 charge every 9 minutes (90/10 = 9).
- Example 2: A 20-player raid will accumulate 1 charge every 4.5 minutes (90/20 = 4.5).
- A charge will only be deducted when a combat resurrection is successful (when the target accepts the resurrection).
- Raid frames now show a debuff indicating that a dead player has a pending combat resurrection available.
- Outside of raid boss encounters, combat resurrection spells retain their normal cooldown behavior.
After the cap is reached, attempting to use one of the three abilities will result in an error message, reading "You can no longer resurrect during combat."
Note that there are no limits to combat resurrections during trash or 5-man dungeon boss encounters. Self-resurrections such as 
[Reincarnation] and 
[Darkmoon Card: Twisting Nether] do not deduct from the raid-wide battle resurrect pool.
Self-resurrection
Shaman are able to self-resurrect on a 30 minute cooldown with their [Reincarnation] ability, instantly resurrecting with 20% health and mana. Additionally, [Ancestral Protection Totem] is a Shaman ability that confers a self-resurrection on any player to die within its radius. Notably, these abilities do not count toward the combat resurrection limit during a boss fight.
All classes may also equip a [Darkmoon Card: Twisting Nether] which provides a 10% chance on death to gain a reincarnation ability, also returning 20% health and mana.
Mass resurrection
All healing specializations have a mass resurrection ability as a part of their baseline set of spells, which allow them to revive all dead party and raid members within a 100 yard range.
Before these abilities, players in guilds could use the guild perk 
[Mass Resurrection], a which also resurrected all fallen allies within 100 yards for 35% health and mana. Mass Resurrection was a 10 second cast and while it had no direct cooldown, players that were resurrected this way received a debuff called "Recently Mass Resurrected" for 10 minutes. The debuff persisted through death and did not allow future mass resurrections via the perk. In patch 7.0.3, Mass Resurrection was removed as a guild perk and healing specializations received their individual abilities. Priests retained the original Mass Resurrection spell.
Resurrection timer
After dying there is a time in which you can not return to your body or accept the resurrection cast by another player. This is known as the "Resurrection Cooldown" (not to be confused with the cooldowns on engineering, combat, and mass resurrection abilities). This timer increases with each death to a maximum of 2 minutes. This timer does not affect resurrection at a Spirit Healer or instance portal.
References
- ^
[1-10] Resurrecting the Recruits
- ^ Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos manual, Human Hero Units, Paladin
- ^
[12] The Tome of Divinity
- ^
[25-30G5] Deathblow to the Legion
- ^
[12] Redeeming the Dead
- ^
[45] Fate's Blessing
- ^ "Priests healed, but their patients were flesh. They mended wounds, cured illnesses and curses, and sometimes, if the Light willed, brought the dead back to life." Before the Storm
- ^ [1-10] A Priest's End
- ^ [10-30D] Blades of the Anointed
- ^ Seeds of Faith
- ^ [35D] To Wyrmrest!
- ^ [15-30] Return of the High Chief
- ^ Lich King (tactics)#Terenas Menethil 2
