In the spirit of itemizing threads to be more focused I'd like to build a list of bosses you have used Army of the Dead on without causing raid issues.

To start with, Army of the Dead is assumed to be a damage increase over any other use of BFU.

Patchwerk is the common boss this ability is used on but I ran a 10 man Naxx last night on an alt and invited an unholy DK from another guild to cover my debuffs.

He used Army of the Dead on Loatheb, Gluth, and Heigan without issue.(By issue I mean it appeared to not taunt the bosses at any point)


What bosses have you used AoD on successfully? Are there any DK's that have been adventurous and tried to explore which bosses are eligible for this ability?


The following is quoted from Bloodmourne, '//' indicates my additions to his quoted text where I differ.


From testing and observation: AotD in Naxxramas
This is from a couple weeks of testing and observations in Heroic Naxx using AotD.

(-)- Recommend not using
(+)- Strongly recommend

Arachnid Quarters
Anub'rekhan (-)- From the impales to adds, not really recommended to use aotd here. I found using them no matter how good the timing something always comes up and kills them fast. Short fight to begin with.

Faerelina (-)- Same thing. Adds and AoE. If you have one on an add, just sac it (which can be a dps loss).

Maexxna (+)- Had an increase of dps here. Key is to summon right out of a web spin and just before enrage. Army stays on maexx and will ignore adds, leaving you to kill adds (increasing your dps).

// In my experience the best use case for AotD is on the pull, in this way all damage is "plus" damage. I'd recommend pre-casting army and sending them in on your attack. Also note, that army will execute the commands you give your perma-ghoul. My strategy is based and biased on an unholy build with a permanent pet.

Construct Wing
Patchwerk (+)- Army shines here. Use around 40%-35%, nice dps increase.

// I use army pre-pull.

Grobbulus (-)- Probably one, if not the worse boss, to use AotD. Instantly die to any poison drop, and can pick up adds

Gluth (tbd)- Testing Needed

Thaddius (-)- DPS loss. Better off dropping a DnD then spending time summoning.

//Pre-casting this just after you make the jump to start the boss phase is a nice DPS increase.

Plague Wing
Noth the Plaguebringer (-)- Constant adds make it a problem.

// Cast this when Noth is on the balcony and all adds are killed.

Heigan the Unclean (-)- Had some sucess on P1, really depends on the tank and how well he positions Heigan, but he can be stubborn and anything behind him will die. Honestly not worth using, better to save for Loatheb

Loatheb (+)- Same as Patchwerk, seems to shine here.

//pre-cast before pull.

Military Quarters
Instructor Razuvious (-)- Need confirmation, but when I have summoned AotD here, the army would taunt Razuvious and get instapwned, even at -50%. Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but there you go.

Gothik the Harvester (+)- If you are on dead side, summoning just as he comes down and ports to your side was excellent dps increase. Only negative is when he ports to other side your army of course does not follow. If you have excellent dps in your guild though gates will open and army will follow to other side.

// Cast this when Gothik is on the other side of the fence.

Four Horsemen (tbd)- Some guilds explode Thane or one of the other 4hmen before 3 stacks. Still need to test, but could see possibly summoning before pull, will need to test or get confirmation.

// Pre-cast before pull.

Sapphiron (-)- Sapph > AotD. Bad enough our ghouls and gargoyles get owned consistently thru the fight. Worst fight in the instance for our ghouls.

KT (+)- I say +, because it is a dps increase if used properly. Used AFTER the adds are out and tanks have picked up the adds. Sometimes a random void will appear and own your army, that's just unfortunate, but if used after your tanks have pulled the adds away from KT and to the other side, they will all go on KT.

// You can cast this just as KT activates and they they will be long dead prior to the adds being summoned. Overall a small dps increase but may soak frostbolts if your interrupters aren't on top of it.



AOTD Testing V2 Ulduar

Results and conclusions with aotd testing I have done so far:
Same keys as before: + good use = undetermined - not a good use

Leviathan- AOTD useless with this fight, stay in your vehicles -

Razorscale- There is tons of aoe and adds you probably do not want to use your army here, even when she has landed. -

// Again, my points are valid only with a permaghoul, but given the ability to target your army as you target your ghoul, best use case is to pre cast it as the final turret is being fired, then send your army to Razor. This equates to a very real DPS increase.

Ignis- I have had sucess using on the pull. They will die on first jets though but they do the job before then, so user discretion here to save for next fight. +

// pre-cast this during the pull.

XT- Yes, they shine here. Success popping at 75% heart phase, they go right for the heart. Probably second best fight for them. +

// Make certain you have the runes available and be finished channeling just prior to the heart dropping. This is a substantial DPS increase.

Iron Council- Again, fight with TONS of aoe and if going for medium to hard mod... adds. -

// You can precast this regardless of which mode you're attempting. They don't represent much of a dps increase in this fight.

Kologarn- This one is a = because of the pet bug, which seems to still be in existence as of yesterday (4/29). Will refuse to attack Kologarn.

// precast this before pull. Send them to Right Arm

Auraiya- No way. -

Hodir- Die instantly -

//precast prior to pull and send them to whichever npc you're freeing. Please note that I assume a targetable AotD.

Thorim- Very useful for phase 2 when all adds are down, anything to push your dps is good this phase. +

// I have strong concerns that they may spread the chain lightning. I would be very careful in casting this spell on Thorim, if at all.

Freya- Strong - here. Lots of adds and 4 that need to die at same time.

// I'd only use AotD when you're done with adds and actually on Freya. There is generally a short period when she shows to have a 10 stack of healing left where you can summon your army without losing dps time.

Mimiron- I have used it on 3 of the 4 phases. They do well on 2 but that is about it. Phase 1 and 4 they are instant fodder. +

// I use army on phase 4 of this fight, they are a small contributor to damage as noted above.

General- Best fight to use them in! Pre-pull summon and they have all day riding that bug faced general. +++!



Yogg-Saron- If you have used it previous fight chances are it is down. For Phase 1 no way, bad idea to use it here. Phase 2 seemed to do well in brain room doing one or two ways depending if you have time on your side down there. You can summon as soon as you port down OR if you have anywhere between 35-40+ seconds to work with, summon as soon as brain room opens and all tentacles are down. I prefer the latter but to each his/her own. On Phase 3 still need to do more testing, but i would use only if your melee is ahead on adds and the one you have up is about to go down. Then they go on yogg-saron. My preference is to use aotd on Phase 2, so it is down by this phase. +

// I've found no practiacal use for army on this fight.

Algalon- = Obvious, but from the only video i have seen on the fight... (and again it is to early to say) -

Many thanks to Bloodmourne for providing a comprehensive breakdown of his AotD experiences.

It's inaccurate to say this ability categorically provides higher DPS than anything else you may do in five seconds (on sapph, the ghouls will die before finishing their spawn animation).

Aotd Ghouls don't taunt in raids, so there is no harm done in using it other than maybe a slight dmg decrease if they die instantly.

So the real question is: how long do your ghouls need to live to make up for they loss of 3 runes for 10 seconds and which bosses are likely to kill your ghouls before that time?

Are Loatheb, Gluth, and Heigan all untauntable? I would think the issue would be easily solved by current testing of whether a boss is tauntable or not.

They do not taunt raid bosses.

The ghouls just don't taunt even tauntable bosses in 25 man(not even sure if they can taunt trash either). Not a single fight. This got ninja'd in sometime time or other without making it into any patch notes because at the start and in beta they definitely taunted a boss repeatedly(which was kind of op for tanking)

If they got buffed with the AOE avoidance in the patch, I could see them avoiding a lot of the damage possibly, but currently, I think they'd die way too quickly.

This is interesting to know that AOTD can be used on all raid bosses, thanks for the info!

I can absolutely say this is wrong. I popped it during Phase 3 of a Kel'Thuzad kill and they taunted the bug adds and caused a wipe.

It was definitely frustrating considering I'd used it several times in the raid without issues.

I tend to pop them right as Thaddius becomes active (rather, start channeling when I get down to where he becomes active), I've popped them on Gluth, Maexxna, Anub, 4H, Raz.

Those are the fights I can think that I've actively popped them before.

They don't taunt raid bosses. I pop them on the adds on KT, then taunt them off the ghouls so when they die, I have 200k+ threat on each add and then can go afk till he dies.

The only reason I usually bother to use them is the damage reduction while channeling, so namely when I'm tanking 3drake sarth I'll use it for one of the breaths.

Upon summoning they will only attack the first target you attack, I've summoned them, icy touched the boss, then went to add duty and they stayed on the boss.

And six seconds of your player not attacking the boss -- which eclipses any rune usage.

I've used them in Pug Naxx 25 to pull Raz when the shadow priests weren't reliable enough. They seem to hold agro just fine until a player takes over.

They aren't really worth using once a fight has already started due to a drop in DPS from you while casting.

Would be a decent use for mitigating a sparked Malygos breath too I'd assume. As other people have mentioned, it's essentially a ~60% damage mitigation cooldown... which averages out to be the same amount of damage you'd reduce from a melee attacker, but also works against spells of course which is the main draw.

As far as I can understand it through my own observations, they do not taunt anything marked "?? Boss" at all, but will taunt any other level defined mobs involved in a raid or heroic 5 man fight. They don't taunt pre-WotLK raid bosses either.

That said I'm usually still to scared to use them, especially on Gluth. Talk about an ability that makes people panic.

They do good damage, assuming they stay alive, and it's certainly a good idea to channel them before the fight or during a time you would just be standing around waiting anyway. As far as them being worth the six second channel and BFU cost, I would think it is, assuming you get the full duration. I believe they can do an upwards of 75k damage to a fully debuffed boss, which I doubt you can pull in six seconds.

They do around an average of ~1700 dps for the duration on a fully debuffed mob. They will not taunt any raid boss, even those that are normally tauntable. They can occasionally grab adds, though their aggro range for that seems really small, good positioning can make it a non issue. Saph is the only boss I don't use them on.

Other notes since we're talking about them:

They do not gain raid-wide buffs like LotP, or Heroism, so after debuffs are up, it's fairly irrelevant when you use them; worry more about timing them for max uptime.

On the ptr, they did not seem to be effected by NotD's aoe reduction, but I need to run some more tests to be positive.

You should use it every fight. Army won't taunt any raid boss mob but will taunt adds which can annoy OT if you use it in wrong moment.

If army is alive and kicking for full duration (40 sec?) it can add as much as 10-15% total damage - basically as much as Ghoul does for whole fight.

From testing and observation: AotD in Naxxrama
This is from a couple weeks of testing and observations in Heroic Naxx using AotD.

(-)- Recommend not using
(+)- Strongly recommend

Arachnid Quarters
Anub'rekhan (-)- From the impales to adds, not really recommended to use aotd here. I found using them no matter how good the timing something always comes up and kills them fast. Short fight to begin with.

Faerelina (-)- Same thing. Adds and AoE. If you have one on an add, just sac it (which can be a dps loss).

Maexxna (+)- Had an increase of dps here. Key is to summon right out of a web spin and just before enrage. Army stays on maexx and will ignore adds, leaving you to kill adds (increasing your dps).

Construct Wing
Patchwerk (+)- Army shines here. Use around 40%-35%, nice dps increase.

Grobbulus (-)- Probably one, if not the worse boss, to use AotD. Instantly die to any poison drop, and can pick up adds

Gluth (tbd)- Testing Needed

Thaddius (-)- DPS loss. Better off dropping a DnD then spending time summoning.

Plague Wing
Noth the Plaguebringer (-)- Constant adds make it a problem

Heigan the Unclean (-)- Had some sucess on P1, really depends on the tank and how well he positions Heigan, but he can be stubborn and anything behind him will die. Honestly not worth using, better to save for Loatheb

Loatheb (+)- Same as Patchwerk, seems to shine here.

Military Quarters
Instructor Razuvious (-)- Need confirmation, but when I have summoned AotD here, the army would taunt Razuvious and get instapwned, even at -50%. Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but there you go.

Gothik the Harvester (+)- If you are on dead side, summoning just as he comes down and ports to your side was excellent dps increase. Only negative is when he ports to other side your army of course does not follow. If you have excellent dps in your guild though gates will open and army will follow to other side.

Four Horsemen (tbd)- Some guilds explode Thane or one of the other 4hmen before 3 stacks. Still need to test, but could see possibly summoning before pull, will need to test or get confirmation.

Sapphiron (-)- Sapph > AotD. Bad enough our ghouls and gargoyles get owned consistently thru the fight. Worst fight in the instance for our ghouls.

KT (+)- I say +, because it is a dps increase if used properly. Used AFTER the adds are out and tanks have picked up the adds. Sometimes a random void will appear and own your army, that's just unfortunate, but if used after your tanks have pulled the adds away from KT and to the other side, they will all go on KT.

Will be testing more and this will be updated frequently as I go. Any imput to this would be welcome

Tested Gluth in 10-man Naxx while tanking. Did not taunt Gluth.

Have used the summon channel as a CD for Sartharion tanking and works nicely. If you're on lava blazes duty the army can kill 2-3 blazes that aren't enraged by themselves (10 man). The Army won't taunt Sartharion or the drakes but will taunt lava blazes and whelps.

KT shouldn't be a huge problem as long as no one panics if they taunt the Guardians. Once the ghouls die the adds should go straight back to the offtank unless someone did something silly like a DPS taunting them thinking the offtank died. If anything it can really help an offtank who just barely has the gear to survive the adds until KT died. They start to hit very hard after a while and a few seconds of relief for the tank and healers can do a lot.

I summon AoTD right before the pull most often. That way I get the AoTD damage, don't lose time DPSing the boss, and even if they die a few seconds into the fight, I don't feel like I've really lost that much.

Maexxna, Patchwerk, Loatheb, Sartharion, & Malygos - I summoned AoTD before the pull, and it seemed to work fine.
Instructor Razuvious, Faerelina, and Gluth - Haven't tried.
Anub'rekhan - AoTD basically tanked one of the two intial adds for me. AoTD didn't do much damage because they died so quickly, but I didn't take any damage OTing either.
Grobbulus - AoTD can interfere with the first spawn and dies pretty quick here.
Thaddius - I've tried it both before we engage Stalagg or Feugen and after jumping off the platform. It didn't seem to cause any problems, but I don't think it was that beneficial either.
Noth - AoTD taunted adds and annoyed our add tank, so I don't use it here anymore unless I'm the add tank.
Heigan - Sometimes they die really fast, but I always try to use it.
Gothik the Harvester - If I don't feel like the group needs it during the add phase, I use it right before Gothik comes.
Four Horsemen - I usually tank one of the back horsemen. AoTD dies super fast, but you can use it to prevent yourself from taking a little damage.
Sapphiron - AoTD always dies fast.
Kel'Thuzad - I use it after the adds are dead, and it has worked out fine so far.

I have used AotD on grobbulus a few times (usually channeling while I'm the target of injection for the damage reduction) without issue, and they seem to be a dps increase for the short duration they are alive. However, once I summoned AotD on grobbulus and he appeared to turn around to kill a ghoul and slime sprayed the raid, creating several slimes. I say appeared because this would violate two things I have observed to be true: AotD doesn't taunt raid bosses, and slime spray doesn't create slimes from pets or minions. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but grobbulus had an army of the dead ghoul targeted when he turned around, unless my unitframes deceived me (entirely possible). I'd be more inclined to believe that a warrior or deathknight accidentally taunted grobbulus and my pitbull displayed a ghoul's portrait instead.

I'm not trying to spread misinformation, but has anyone else experienced this behavior?

Gluth - They will most likely taunt zombies (and die) but if you use them at start that won't happen.
Thaddius - Summon before "real" fight spawn (along with ghoul) and you won't loose any dps.
Noth - Summon at very start then nuke the hell out of him.
4h - Again use on pull and nuke.
KT - Simply use before P3 adds spawn and no problem. Void and aoe forstbolts kill them easily so it is RNG based how long they will live (same for garg really).