The Dead

For lore and general information about the dead, see Undead.

The Dead
RemasteredClassic
Race	Orc
Statistics
Hit Points	40
Armor	1 3 (1 upgrade) 5 (all upgrades)
Basic Damage	4 6 (1 upgrade) 8 (all upgrades)
Piercing Damage	1
Range	melee
Cooldown	80
Speed	5
Sight	2
Priority	30
Decay Rate	45
Production Related
Summoned by	Necrolyte
Campaign
Unlocked in	Grand Hamlet

This article contains lore or information taken from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and/or its manual.

When any unit is killed, it will begin to decompose and the remains will slowly seep into the ground. Necrolytes are trained in the black arts, and can raise these fallen warriors if they can reach the corpse before it disappears into the earth forever.

Information

The Dead (called Skeletons in-game) are raised from dead bodies by Necrolytes using the Raise Dead spell on them. The Dead are best used to cover up your vulnerable units, to kill Peasants going from the Town Hall to the Gold Mine/forest or to cover up a hasty retreat. They are rather weak and attack slowly, but with a considerably sized group they can put up a fight.

The Dead have a "Magic" bar that will slowly decay as time passes (-1 MP ever 45 game frames). When it is emptied, the creature will continuously lose HP (-5 HP every 45 game frames) until it dies.

They are not the same unit type as the Skeletons found in dungeon missions.

Units that can be raised include: Peasants/Peons, Footmen/Grunts, Archers/Spearmen, Knights/Raiders, Clerics/Necrolytes, Conjurers/Warlocks, Brigands and heroes. Dead Knights and Raiders can only be raised after the corpses of their mounts completely disappear.

The two leftmost bodies can be raised, but the remaining two cannot; the second body from the right hasn't decayed enough yet, while the rightmost body cannot be raised until the mount's skeleton completely disappears.

Upgrades

Upgrade Axe Strength

Increases the basic attack damage of Grunts, Raiders, Necrolytes, Warlocks, Spiders, Daemons and The Dead by 2

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time
750	Blacksmith	120

Upgrade Axe Strength

Further increases the basic attack damage of Grunts, Raiders, Necrolytes, Warlocks, Spiders, Daemons and The Dead by 2

The Dead as seen in the Warcraft: Orcs & Humans Manual.

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time
1500	Blacksmith	120

Upgrade Shield Strength

Increases the armor of all your units and buildings by 2

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time
750	Blacksmith	120

Upgrade Shield Strength

Further increases the armor of all your units and buildings by 2

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time
1500	Blacksmith	120

The Dead (Older Build)
Race	Orc
Statistics
Hit Points	12
Armor	1 3 (1 upgrade)* 5 (all upgrades)*
Basic Damage	Version 1.00 9 11 (1 upgrade)* 13 (all upgrades)* Version 1.01 3 5 (1 upgrade)* 7 (all upgrades)*
Piercing Damage	1
Range	melee
Cooldown	Version 1.00: 60 Version 1.01: 61
Speed	5
Sight	96
Priority	30
Decay Rate	N/A
Production Related
Summoned by	Necrolyte
Campaign
Unlocked in	Grand Hamlet

Older Builds

The Dead were (arguably) a far more powerful concept in the early builds in the game:

• Even though their HP was far less, they had greatly improved attack power, reduced cooldown and movement speed (comparable to a spellcaster's speed, instead of slower than them).
• Necrolytes only had to spend 50 MP to raise a Skeleton and it could be raised anytime, even if the corpse had long since sunk into the ground.
• They had no magic bar, meaning they would never run out of power and die off on their own.

Skeletons were given a special animation with them coming out of the ground which would be used when The Dead was revived.

• *Sword and shield upgrades were coded into the early builds of the game, but were not made available. The player would have to hack the current mission to add them in.

Notes

• The game's unit description refers to this unit as a Skeleton. The game manual refers to this unit as The Dead.
• In the game files (Version 1.00 and 1.12 - 1.22h), The Dead are given a cost of 100 gold, but this is inconsequential since The Dead cannot be created by anything other than a Necrolyte's Raise Dead spell.

See also

• Skeleton (Warcraft II)