Kel'Thuzad

Kel'Thuzad
"Obey the call!"
Basic Info
Title	Archlich of Naxxramas
Role	Ranged Assassin
Difficulty	Hard
Franchise	Warcraft
Price	750 / 10,000
Release Date	September 5, 2017
Base Stats
Attack Type	Ranged
Health	1490
Health Regen	3.0976
Resource	500 Mana
Unit Radius	0.875
Attack Speed	1.0
Attack Range	5.5
Attack Damage	72
Data Page

Kel'Thuzad, Archlich of Naxxramas, esteemed Lich Lord of the Plaguelands, Commander of the Dread Necropolis, Master and Founder of the Cult of the Damned, formerly of the Council of Six, Creator of the Abomination, Summoner of Archimonde the Defiler, Betrayer of Humanity, Hearthstone Enthusiast, and Majordomo to the Lich King, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the Warcraft universe.

Kel'Thuzad has faithfully served the Lich King both in life and after death. Reanimated as the Archlich of the Scourge and given domain of the Dread Necropolis, Naxxramas, Kel'Thuzad remains Arthas's most trusted advisor and master of the cold dark. Drawn to the immeasurable power found within the Nexus, Kel'Thuzad has turned several of the noblest Heroes against their allies.

Background

This section concerns content exclusive to the Warcraft universe.

Kel'Thuzad was a powerful member of the Kirin Tor, but his interest in the dark arts caused him to be expelled from Dalaran. He went on to become the founder of the Cult of the Damned and one of the principal agents of the Lich King. After bringing the plague to Lordaeron, he was slain by Arthas Menethil. When Arthas became a death knight, he used and defiled the powers of the Sunwell to resurrect Kel'Thuzad as a lich so he could summon Archimonde to Azeroth. Following Arthas's departure for Northrend, Kel'Thuzad was left to command the Scourge forces in Lordaeron from his floating necropolis, Naxxramas.

Gameplay

Kel'Thuzad is a burst damage Ranged Assassin who locks down enemies and devastates them with powerful combos.

Strength

• Burst Damage
• Control
• Siege

Weaknesses

• Early Game
• Dive
• Mobility
• Heavy Poke

Abilities

See Data page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

Master of the Cold Dark

❢ Quest: Gain 1 Blight every time a Hero is Rooted by Frost Nova or hit by Chains of Kel'Thuzad.

❢ Reward: After gaining 15 Blight, gain the Glacial Spike Ability.

❢ Reward: After gaining 30 Blight, gain 75% Spell Power.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Self

Properties: Spell Power

---

• Unstoppable enemy Heroes cannot be Rooted and thus do not grant stacks from being hit by Frost Nova. Chains of Kel'Thuzad, however, still does as it only requires hitting enemy Heroes.
• Spell Power from Master of the Cold Dark stacks additively with other sources of Spell Power as well as other offensive damage and healing dealt modifiers affecting Kel'Thuzad's Spell Damage or healing output.

Q

Death and Decay

20 Mana Cooldown: 5 seconds

After 0.5 seconds, launch an orb that explodes upon hitting an enemy, dealing 150 damage to enemies in the area. The explosion leaves behind a pool of decay that lasts 2 seconds, dealing 82 damage every 0.5 seconds to enemies.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect, Clamping, Skillshot, Splash

Cast time: 0.5 + 0 seconds

Range: 11

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius:
- Initial: 2.5
- Pool: 2.0

Hitbox: 1.0 x 1.25

Missile speed: 20

Tickrate: 2.0 per second (x4)

---

• Units that are immune to skillshots cannot be hit by the initial projectile, but can still be damaged by the splash and AoE damage.
• Casting Death and Decay sets Kel'Thuzad's Basic Attack cooldown to 0.5 seconds.

W

Frost Nova

50 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds

Create a nova that explodes after 1 second, dealing 180 damage to enemies inside and Slowing them by 35% for 2.5 seconds. Enemies in the center are Rooted for 1 second.

---

Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect, Root, Slow

Cast time: 0.125 + 0 seconds

Range: 9.0

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius:
- Inner: 1.5
- Outer: 3.0

---

• Enemies hit by the center are both Rooted and Slowed.
• Casting Frost Nova sets Kel'Thuzad's Basic Attack cooldown to 0.5 seconds.

E

Chains of Kel'Thuzad

50 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds

Launch a chain, dealing 97 damage to the first enemy Hero hit. For 3 seconds after hitting an enemy, Chains can be reactivated to launch to an additional enemy, pulling both enemies together and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds.

---

Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Skillshot, Pull, Stun

Cast time: 0.125 + 0 seconds

Range: 9.5

Hitbox: 1.0 x 1.5

Missile speed:
- Initial: 25
- Minimum: 15
- Acceleration: -1.0

Pull duration: 0.4375 seconds (max)

Pull speed: 22

---

• Chain is launched from primary target toward target point on reactivation.
• If one target is Unstoppable, the other is pulled all the way to them.
• Casting Chains of Kel'Thuzad sets Kel'Thuzad's Basic Attack cooldown to 0.5 seconds.

R

Frost Blast

45 Mana Cooldown: 50 seconds

Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 115 damage to its target and 275 damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frost Blast are Rooted for 2 seconds.

---

Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemy Heroes (targeting), Enemies

Targeting: Unit target

Properties: Area of Effect, Root

Cast time: 0.25 + 0 seconds

Range: 14.0

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius: 5.5

Missile speed:
- Initial: 8.0
- Maximum: 35
- Acceleration: 4.0

---

• Frost Blast missile can only be disjointed if the target dies, is removed from the plane (certain Stasis effects) or instantly teleports farther than 30 units from its previous location. When disjointed, the missile explodes upon reaching the target's location before the event. Otherwise, the missile will keep redirecting to the target unit.
• Frost Blast always explodes, applying its area effects upon reaching the end location, regardless of being able to hit its original target.
• Primary target does not take area damage.
• Casting Frost Blast sets Kel'Thuzad's Basic Attack cooldown to 0.5 seconds.

R

Shadow Fissure

40 Mana Cooldown: 16 seconds

Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 320 damage to enemy Heroes in its area. If an enemy Hero is hit, set its cooldown to 1.5 seconds.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: 0.125+0 seconds

Range: Global

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius: 2.25

---

• Casting Shadow Fissure sets Kel'Thuzad's Basic Attack cooldown to 0.5 seconds.

1

Glacial Spike

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Activate to create a spike that detonates after 4 seconds, dealing 70 damage to nearby enemies. The spike can be affected by Chains of Kel'Thuzad.

Quest requirements must be completed before activating.

---

Type: Spell Damage / Pathing blocker

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemies / All units

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: 0.125 + 0 seconds

Range: 8.0

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius:
- Damage: 3.0
- Collision: 1.5

---

• The spike has collision.

Talents

1

The Plaguelands

Increase Death and Decay's duration by 1 second. After gaining 30 Blight, increase the radius of Death and Decay's pool by 30%.

---

Bonus radius: 0.6

---

• Does not affect the initial splash radius.

Blighted Frost

Frost Nova deals 75% more damage to enemies in the center. After gaining 30 Blight, increase Frost Nova's Root duration by 0.5 seconds.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting Frost Nova's damage.

Barbed Chains

Increase Chains of Kel'Thuzad's damage by 125%. After gaining 30 Blight, Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces the Armor of pulled Heroes by 10 for 4 seconds.

---

Type: Defensive damage modifier / Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Enemy Heroes / Ability

Properties: Armor reduction

---

• Does not stack with other negative Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.
• Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers.

4

Strip Shields

Pulling a Hero with Chains of Kel'Thuzad grants Kel'Thuzad a permanent 128 Shield, stacking up to 2 times.

Additionally, Chains of Kel'Thuzad deals up to 270 bonus damage to Shields.

---

Type: Shield / Spell Damage

Scaling: 4.00% / 2.49023438%%

Affects: Self / Shields

---

• Damage is dealt to Shields only, cannot overflow to the target unit.

Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad

❢ Quest: Collect 12 Regeneration Globes to charge Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery.

❢ Reward: Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery can be activated while dead to immediately respawn at the Hall of Storms, but must be charged again.

Passive: Kel'Thuzad heals for 10% of all Spell Damage dealt while the Phylactery is charged.

---

Type: Healing

Scaling: -

Affects: Self

Properties: Lifesteal

---

• All stacks are consumed and passive effect is lost when the Ability is activated.

Armor of the Archlich

Cooldown: 25 seconds
Active: Activate to gain 50 Physical Armor for 4 seconds. Upon activation, nearby enemies take 45 damage and are Slowed by 35% for 4 seconds.

---

Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control / Defensive damage modifier

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies / Self

Targeting: No target

Properties: Area of Effect, Physical Armor, Slow

Cast time: Instant

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius: 6.0

7

Accelerated Decay

Each time a Hero is hit by Death and Decay's pool, they take 25% more periodic damage from Death and Decay for the next 4 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• Counter tracks each enemy Hero affected by Death and Decay separately.
• Damage bonus stacks additively with itself and other offensive damage modifiers.

Chilling Touch

Every 8 seconds, Kel'Thuzad's next Basic Attack hits all enemies in the area for 80% additional damage, deals Spell Damage instead of Physical, and Slows by 30% for 2 seconds.

---

Type: Spell Damage / Offensive damage modifier

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies / Ability

Properties: Attack Modifier, Slow, Splash

Radius: 3.0

---

• Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting Chilling Touch's damage.

Ice Cold

Reduce the cooldown of Glacial Spike by 10 seconds and increase its damage by 400%.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Scaling: 4.00%

---

• Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting Glacial Spike's damage.

10

Frost Blast

Cooldown: 50 seconds
Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 115 damage to its target and 275 damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frost Blast are Rooted for 2 seconds.

Shadow Fissure

Cooldown: 16 seconds
Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 320 damage to enemy Heroes in its area. If an enemy Hero is hit, set its cooldown to 1.5 seconds.

13

Icy Grasp

Increase Frost Nova's Slow by 20%. Each time Kel'Thuzad damages enemies Slowed by Frost Nova, reduce the cooldown of Frost Nova by 0.75 seconds.

---

Type: Crowd control, Cooldown reduction

Affects: Enemies

Properties: Slow

---

• Cooldown reduction is triggered by every tick of damage dealt by Kel'Thuzad from both Basic Attacks and Abilities.

Chains of Ice

After Chains of Kel'Thuzad's Stun expires, targets are Slowed by 60% for 1 seconds.

---

Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Properties: Slow

Chain-Link

Pulling a Hero with Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds and refunds its Mana cost.

---

• The effect can trigger only once per cast regardless of how many Heroes were chained.

16

Arcane Echoes

Whenver Kel'Thuzad hits an enemy Hero with Death and Decay's explosion, its cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds.

---

• Cooldown reduction can trigger multiple times per cast.
• Periodic damage instances do not grant cooldown reduction.

Hungering Cold

Enemies that are Rooted take an additional 55 damage each time they are damaged by Kel'Thuzad.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemies

---

• Bonus damage is added to every tick of damage dealt by Kel'Thuzad from both Basic Attacks and Abilities.

Power of Icecrown

Stunning, Rooting, or Slowing a Hero grants 6% Spell Power for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Self

Properties: Spell Power

---

• Spell Power stacks additively with itself and offensive damage modifiers affecting Kel'Thuzad's Spell Damage output.

20

Deathchill

When Frost Blast's Root expires, enemies are Slowed by 40% for 3 seconds. Heroes killed while under the effects of Frost Blast instantly release another Frost Blast explosion.

---

Properties: Slow

---

• The post-Root Slow from Deathchill also counts as being affected by Frost Blast, triggering the secondary explosion upon a Hero's death.

Might of the Scourge

If a Hero is hit with Shadow Fissure, a second one is cast below them 1 second later. This second cast will not duplicate itself.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemy Heroes

---

• The secondary explosion has the same area and initial delay, which starts after the 1 second secondary cast delay, as the original, but it does not grant the cooldown reduction upon hitting an enemy Hero

Shifting Malice

Cooldown: 240 seconds
Active: Activate to dash forward, dealing 150 damage to enemies in the path. Takedowns reset the cooldown of Shifting Malice.

---

Type: Spell Damage / Movement: Dash

Scaling: 2.49023438%

Affects: Enemies / Self

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: Instant

Range: 7.0

Hitbox: 2.0 x 2.0

Missile speed: 14

The Damned Return

Cooldown: 15 seconds
Active: Activate to create a Shade of Naxxramas that lasts 15 seconds and mimics Kel'Thuzad's casts of Death and Decay.

---

Type: Summon figment

Targeting: Point target

Cast time: Instant

Range: 9.0

---

• Shade is Invulnerable and Untargetable and has no collision.
• Shade's Death and Decay benefits from all talents affecting it.

Builds and guides

Icy Veins Kel'Thuzad Guide

Kel'Thuzad Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire

Kel'Thuzad Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth

Skins

Kel'Thuzad Skins
Archlich of Naxxramas
Backstory: Kel'Thuzad has faithfully served the Lich King both in life and after death. Reanimated as the Archlich of the Scourge and given domain of the Dread Necropolis, Naxxramas, Kel'Thuzad remains Arthas's most trusted advisor and master of the cold dark.
750 / 10,000 Archlich of Naxxramas	Free Northrend	Free Scourge	120 / 75 Blightlord	120 / 75 Naxxramas
Star Lich
Backstory: "What the heroes of this pitiful blue marble fail to understand is the Earth's fate cannot be delayed forever. In the end, the stars will fade and die, and in the cold dark... our empire is eternal."
Features: Altered voice-over, themed abilities.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of Superheroes vs. Eternal Empire skins.
350 / 400	350 / 400 Neutron	350 / 400 Hunter	350 / 400 Frost	350 / 400 Eternal

Mounts

Kel'Thuzad Mounts
Unrelenting Frost
Backstory: It is said the frosts of Northrend descend upon the unwary in an instant; chilling beyond the bone and into the soul.
Free

Portraits

Kel'Thuzad Portraits
Call of Kel'Thuzad	Carbot Kel'Thuzad120 / 75	Dark Ritual75 / 40	Death and Decay75 / 40	Eternal Star Lich Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Frost Armor75 / 40	Frost Nova75 / 40
Hearthstone Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Kel'Thuzad Emblem75 / 40	Kel'Thuzad Hero	Kel'Thuzad Mastery	Star Lich Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Stylized Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Toon Kel'Thuzad75 / 40
Toon Star Lich Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Warcraft III Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	WoW Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Xenotech Kel'Thuzad75 / 40

Sprays

Brightwing Sprays
Calavera de Kel'Thuzad120 / 75	Carbot Kel'Thuzad120 / 75	Lil' K.T.'s Xylobones120 / 75	Meow of Mr. Bigglesworth75 / 40	Star Lich Kel'Thuzad75 / 40	Stylized Kel'Thuzad75 / 40

Emojis

Kel'Thuzad Pack 1			Kel'Thuzad Pack 2
Emoji	Name	Shortcut	Emoji	Name	Shortcut
	Kel'Thuzad Happy	:kelthuzadhappy: :kelthappy:		Kel'Thuzad Angry	:kelthuzadangry: :keltangry:
	Kel'Thuzad ROFL	:kelthuzadlol: :kelthuzadrofl: :keltlol: :keltrofl:		Kel'Thuzad Cool	:kelthuzadcool: :keltcool:
	Kel'Thuzad Sad	:kelthuzadsad: :keltsad:		Kel'Thuzad Embarrassed	:kelthuzadoops: :kelthuzadembarrassed: :keltoops: :keltembarrassed:
	Kel'Thuzad Silly	:kelthuzadsilly: :keltsilly:		Kel'Thuzad in Love	:kelthuzadlove: :kelthuzadinlove: :keltlove: :keltinlove:
	Kel'Thuzad Speechless	:kelthuzadmeh: :kelthuzadspeechless: :keltmeh: :keltspeechless:		Kel'Thuzad Surprised	:kelthuzadwow: :kelthuzadsurprised: :keltwow: :keltsurprised:

Quotes

Main article: Kel'Thuzad/Quotes

Trivia

• Kel'Thuzad first appeared in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (July 2002).
  • His book debut was five years later, in World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness (August 2007).
• Kel'Thuzad is voiced by Michael McConnohie in all of his game appearances with the exception of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (November 2008).
• Kel'Thuzad was under consideration for inclusion as early as 2011.
• Preliminary work on Kel'Thuzad's model was done on the artists stage at BlizzCon 2014.
• Kel'Thuzad owns a cat named Mr. Bigglesworth, who appears during his owner's dance animation. This is a reference to the cat owned by Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers series (May 1997).
• Early on Kel'Thuzad development, one of his level 1 talents was actually Mr. Bigglesworth which was a pet he could summon and move around with his 1 Key, similarly to Lunara's Wisp. While it was out, it had an aura that increased Kel'Thuzad's spell power as long as he was near it, but had a long cooldown if an enemy hero was able to attack it. Another idea we tried was that Mr. Bigglesworth was a scout like the Wisp, but if it was attacked it would run away and Kel'Thuzad would yell at the enemy team for attacking it and gain a huge damage buff for a short amount of time. The developers moved away from these ideas for a few reasons, but the main thing was that as a combo mage, it felt tedious and fatiguing to be constantly maneuvering a pet around while trying to land difficult combos.
• One of Kel'Thuzad's quotes references the running joke about Darkness.
• The Frost Nova, Frost Armor, Dark Ritual and Death and Decay portraits all represent of Kel'Thuzad's respective ability icons from Warcraft III (His abilities are the same as those of an ordinary Lich).

Gallery

General

• 

  Kel'Thuzad's artwork

• 

  Kel'Thuzad's artwork

• 

  Kel'Thuzad home screen

• 

  The beginnings of Kel'Thuzad's model

• 

  Mr. Bigglesworth

Abilities

• 

  Q: Death and Decay

• 

  W: Frost Nova

• 

  E: Chains of Kel'Thuzad

• 

  R1: Frost Blast

• 

  R2: Shadow Fissure

External links

• Kel'Thuzad Hero Week
• Kel'Thuzad - Heroes of the Storm
• Kel'Thuzad - Wowpedia
• Resurrecting Kel'Thuzad
• Kel'Thuzad Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes