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Death (WoW)  

Death occurs when a player character, non-player character or Mob reaches zero or less health points. This article deals specifically with the effects and repercussions of the death of a player character.

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Possible Causes of Death

Death occurs when a character's health points are completely depleted. The most common cause of death is usually Player vs Environment combat, or a player fighting against a mob. A player can also be killed by drowning, falling, or other environmental hazards such as lava. Note that abilities such as Life Tap, which drain the player's health, cannot cause the player to die, but may weaken them and make them more susceptible to other damage. It is also possible to die outside of combat due to poisons or bleeds if the player is not quick enough or able enough to heal themself before death occurs.

Repercussions of Dying in PvE

When a player dies in any area other than battlegrounds or the Arena, they will automatically be given the option to 'release spirit' or wait up to 6 minutes for another player to revive them. If they choose to release, they will return as a ghost at the nearest graveyard to their place of death. Additionally, a 10% durability penalty is assessed on all equipped items. This penalty is based on maximum durability, not current. To revive, the player must either speak to a Spirit Healer at the graveyard, or return to their corpse in order to resurrect there at half health and mana. Dying can be a time-consuming and expensive process, exacting a penalty that is not too severe but still desirable to avoid.

Death in PvP

There are two types of Player vs Player combat, with different penalties for each. These are World PvP, in which players fight each other in ordinary areas, and battlegrounds, instanced areas set aside for PvP with specific objectives.

Penalties for World PvP

When killed by another player, there is no immediate durability penalty on death. However, penalties enacted by a Spirit Healer remain the same regardless of cause of death. There is an additional risk when returning to one's corpse; if the reviving player is still PvP-flagged, then any enemy character nearby can freely attack them. The player may find themself an easy target, being at half health and mana from just being revived, and may soon die again. The practice of lying in wait for an enemy player to resurrect is known as ganking.

Penalties for Battlegrounds

Upon dying and releasing in a battleground, the player will find themself at the nearest graveyard controlled by their faction. There is no durability penalty for dying in a battleground. Located at the graveyard is a Spirit Guide, who revives all players within a certain area every 30 seconds. Players revived in this way suffer no durability penalty, nor any Resurrection Sickness, and are brought back to life with full health and mana. If the player chooses not to wait for a Spirit Guide to resurrect them, they may seek to revive at their corpse in the normal fashion. This is rarely advisable unless the place of death is very nearby and there is a long wait until the next wave of revivals from the Spirit Guide.

Durability Loss in PvP.. Sometimes

Note that it is not impossible to die in a fashion that causes a durability penalty to be assessed. If an enemy Priest Mind Controls you, for example, and causes you to throw yourself from a high cliff, the cause of death is fall damage and you will suffer the normal penalty. This also applies for being forced to drown yourself or jump in lava. (However, abilities such as a Warlock's Fear will not cause you to risk environmental hazards, but will cause you to avoid them automatically.)

This page last modified 2008-06-16 10:31:54.