World of Warcraft General Guides - Death Knights and Duskwood Guides
Death Knights are a very interesting class because I think that they’re going to have an interesting role to play in Cataclysm. However, we have to understand two big points. The Death Knight class as we know it now lacks any real direction because they’ve gotten their revenge. The other is that a worse type of Death Knight exists from the original WarCraft game that actually is a bit overpowered.
This is where things get a bit complicated, so I’m going to try to explain only what’s needed to drive the point home. Let’s begin with the fact that the Death Knights under Arthas are the second generation of Death Knights. The first generation is a bit more fearsome. See, in WarCraft II Gul’dan took the souls of the slain Warlocks of the Shadow Council and placed them into the bodies of the various members of ‘The Brotherhood of the Horse’ (Knights of Stormwind). This resulted in a Warlock’s soul in a Knight’s body (no Paladins back then). They were very powerful; their Death Coil was strong enough to kill in a single hit.
We don’t just meet him though. You release him from this eternal prison and he rides off to the Black Temple where you kill him as a boss. This bit of information is interesting because in the “Horde Player’s Guide” Brann Bronzebeard states that Teron Gorefiend may be the leader of the Dark Riders of Deadwind Pass (also known as the Black Riders). These Black Riders were responsible for a lot of the corruption in Duskwood and are associated with Deadwind Pass.