The Lich King


 * For the boss of the same name, see The Lich King (boss).
 * For the Battlegrounds hero, see The Lich King (Battlegrounds).

The Lich King is a legendary neutral minion, from the Knights of the Frozen Throne set.

Strategy
The Lich King is similar to Ysera, as it's a large card that generates special, powerful cards at the end of your turn. Notably, this minion's stats are identical to Ironbark Protector, but with a massive upside. This minion has much higher attack than Ysera, making it more offensively powerful, but the lower health makes it far easier to trade into. Taunt is both a benefit and a downside, as the Taunt can be used to protect your hero and valuable minions, but The Lich King himself cannot be hidden behind other Taunts, making it easier for your opponent to destroy.

The largest downside of The Lich King is the randomness of his effect and the extreme difference between cards. Cards such as Death Grip and Anti-Magic Shell are far better when ahead on the board, whereas Doom Pact and Army of the Dead are far better when behind.

Remember that the majority of Death Knight cards are Shadow spells, making cards like Tamsin Roame amazing follow-ups, especially with Anti-Magic Shell, Death Coil, and Death and Decay.

Death Knight cards
There are eight Death Knight cards available, giving each a 12.5% chance of being added to your hand. Because The Lich King's effect triggers at the end of your turn, barring any Secrets, he is guaranteed to generate at least one card for you.

Anti-Magic Shell
This is an extremely powerful buff if you already have multiple minions on board, but it can be worth using just to keep a minion you want protected from removal spells, such as the Lich King himself.

Army of the Dead
This card can potentially generate a huge board swing, but is very risky because it removes any non-minion cards drawn. It also doesn't activate their Battlecries and brings you a lot closer to fatigue. This card is more effective on control Deathrattle-based decks and it is recommended to hold this card back until you draw your important non-minion cards first, such as the hero cards.

Death and Decay
A simple but powerful board clear that doesn't damage your own board, and can even be used as a finisher.

Death Coil
A flexible single-target card that can be used for removal, a finisher, and healing in more desperate cases.

Death Grip
This is a fairly simple spell that should be played as soon as possible. It can potentially steal an important minion from your opponent, such as Archmage Antonidas, Lord Jaraxxus, or even another The Lich King himself, but can also steal a weak early game minion.

Doom Pact
This card is a very cheap full board clear, but because it removes cards from your deck, it is unwise to use this on a packed board. It will also remove cards for each of your own minions, so the best scenario to use this card is when you have no minions and the opponent has a few large minions. Like with Army of the Dead, you may want to hold off playing this until you have drawn your important cards. Playing the card with no more cards in your deck does not cause fatigue damage, so it's best saved for the end of the game in control matches.

Frostmourne
This weapon's stats and effect is extremely powerful, but needs a few turns for it to return your investment. If you can manage to kill even one or two medium to high-powered minions, it can turn the board in your favor after it breaks. Taunt minions are great targets to kill with Frostmourne. This strategy is more effective on tankier classes like Priest and Warrior, but even if you don't have much health remaining, you can still use this to deal a respectable amount of face damage each turn.

Obliterate
This card is an extremely cheap hard removal, but for classes that need stricter health management like Rogue or Warlock, this is a risky card to use on high-health minions. It is well worth using on a Divine Shield minion.

Lore

 * ''The is the master and lord of the Scourge, which he rules telepathically from  atop the.


 * '' the Deceiver created the Lich King from the spirit of the orc shaman to raise an undead army to weaken  in preperation of the 's invasion. Initially trapped within the Frozen Throne with Frostmourne, the Lich King eventually betrayed Kil'jaeden and merged with the human Arthas Menethil. At the climax of the, the Lich King was defeated by Highlord Tirion Fordring and his . With the destruction of Frostmourne and the death of Arthas, Bolvar Fordragon took up the mantle of the Lich King in order to keep the undead Scourge in check.


 * The Lich King Arthas was the titular antagonist of .

Trivia

 * The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Icecrown" series, for the card The Lich King.

Patch changes

 * Added.