Undead

The undead were once living creatures, but after their death, were somehow supernaturally animated. Because these horrifying creatures are not actually living, they find it hard (if not impossible) to regenerate their bodily tissue, thus most undead are seen with the flesh rotting off their bodies and bare bones protruding through their garments. With this in mind, its not hard to understand why some undead creatures are capable of inflicting their victims with disease. Another side-effect of being animated (as opposed to being alive) is that most undead creatures no longer have blood flowing through their veins, and as such they are immune to conditions that only affect fleshy creatures. This renders useless certain skills that many warriors and rangers equip. In addition, Necromancer skills that exploit corpses are useless on Undead corpses.

Tyrian Undead
The undead can be found in numerous places throughout Tyria. The undead infesting the northern parts of the Kingdom of Kryta seem to be the animated remnants of the army of Orr (as they occasionally leave behind Decayed Orr Emblems when defeated) and are all minions of the Lich Lord. Raging Cadavers, and other skeleton-like creatures, can be found in The Catacombs of Pre-Searing Ascalon. These Undead seem to harbor no ill will other than those who invade the Catacombs, and so are likely masterless. Undead created by the necromancer Oberan the Reviled can be found in Old Ascalon. In addition to the undead hordes in Tyria, there is also an undead Skeleton Army prowling the battlefield in the Fissure of Woe. These are not animated undead however, as they seem to be their own faction, capable of thought, and are likely just the physical manifestation of the anger felt by the deceased Eternals and Shadows.

While the majority of Tyrian undead encountered are humanoid, the undead can be found in other forms such as Hellhounds and Bone Dragons.

Any party should be careful when adventuring in undead-infested regions such as Kryta. A solitary Zombie Warlock which seems like easy pickings can become dangerous when numerous previously-unseen ghouls burst forth from the sand to come to its rescue. Zombie Warlocks also seem to be trained Minion Masters themselves, capable of animating corpses from the ghouls they so often seem to keep as pets.

Elonian Undead
The Elonian Undead Army is similar to the Tyrian one, but is encountered comparatively much later in the game, and is therefore much higher level. Also, far more Elonian undead are vulnerable to conditions such as Poison, Disease, and Bleeding. This is likely due to the fact that while most Krytan undead are skeletons, most Elonian dead seem to be mummies. Nightfall's host of undead are far more dangerous, both due to their level and the way their skills combine to make fighting them more difficult. Also, they come in very large groups, sometimes containing twice the number of party members you have. Fortunately, many of these fights are reduced to the difficulty level of child's play due to the assistance players receive from the powerful Junundu Wurms.

Player-Controlled Undead
Most recently-deceased creatures can have their corpse exploited by a Necromancer to create an undead minion. This is done through the casting of an animation spell (like Animate Bone Horror or Animate Bone Fiend) on the creature's corpse. Be aware, though, that most undead creatures themselves do not leave behind corpses, limiting the use of such spells in areas where the undead are prevalent. Also, Undead animated by Necromancers are different from ordinary Undead. Most of these are discussed on the appropriate minion page, but it is important to note here that only animated, temporary Undead are affected by spells that target only Undead, such as Verata's Gaze and Jagged Bones.

Undead creatures take double damage from holy damage and light damage. Furthermore, animated undead are considered summoned creatures, making them vulnerable to certain skills such as Banishing Strike. Although "real" undead are intelligent enough to run from your DoTAoE spells, animated undead will run from nothing, making it extremely easy to dispatch them with spells such as Sandstorm.

Known Sub-Types
For a listing of known types of undead units see Category:Undead.