Did you ever notice that bad guys who used to be good guys are always the biggest bad-asses of them all? Darth Vader was a great jedi. Saruman was Gandalf's pal before he started collecting jewelry. Even Spider-Man's arch-enemy, Venom, used to be a fairly friendly textile product.

So it is with the Death Knight (who I'm assuming once used that title without the ominous "Death" moniker and was therefore probably an OK guy). Apparently a life of virtue followed by an unlife of puppy-kicking brutality is its own reward.

The Death Knight is clearly designed to be the lynchpin of your undead-centric warband. His mere presence gives a nice +2 Attack to his lower-level henchmen (and there aren't many undead who are higher level than him). He also can turn even a glancing blow from an undead ally into a serious smackdown with his first Champion power.

In addition to being an inspiring leader of shambling mockeries of life, the Death Knight is a grade-A bully. His own attacks are formidable, but he really shines when he picks on the weak and injured with the Bloodthirsty ability and his second Champion power, also known as "Oh no you didn't try to run away from me!"

There are two major problems with the Death Knight, and they're closely related. world of warcraft gold First, your opponent will know who leads your warband and will be gunning for him. Second, his hit points are pretty terrible (at least they're protected by great AC and DEF scores). Be careful where you let the Death Knight hang out; like any bully, he won't survive a concentrated assault.

And like any good villain, the Death Knight has an archenemy. In fact, because he's so great, he has two. The Cleric of Pelor is a nightmare for the Death Knight to deal with, because the CoP's friends all do extra radiant damage. They're all effectively at +15 damage against him, all the time. What's more, many of the Death Knight's friends are likely to share his vulnerability to radiance, making this an uphill battle.

DK's other archenemy is the Eternal Blade, who can give her allies huge bonuses against a given keyword. "Undead" is a keyword, so this will be a problem. Fortunately for the forces of Darkness, the Cleric of Pelor and the Eternal Blade can't be in the same warband. That superhero team-up would quickly cause the Death Knight to share Darth Vader's and Saruman's eventual fates (Venom is doing fine, however, having settled down with a nice maid's uniform from the suburbs).

Synergies

You might consider some evil undead. I'm just sayin'.

Beyond that, anything that will help the Knight stay alive (if that's the right word for an undead creature's continued existence) will be much appreciated by him. Try flanking him with an Iron Defender or two and let them do what they do best. wow gold An Eternal Blade is even better, if you can afford her price.

500-Point Play

Sure thing. Tougher minions who can still benefit from the Death Knight's leadership can only help keep him alive ?not dead ?moving around the battlefield in an obscene parody of life. Yeah that's it