Corpse
Resource gained when a friendly minion dies.

Corpses are a special secondary resource primarily used by the death knight class. Each time a friendly minion dies while playing as death knight, the Corpse counter under the mana crystals is increased by 1. Corpses in the counter can then be spent by cards with Corpse synergies. This mechanic and cards that reference it are by default exclusive to the death knight class.

Notes

• "Corpse" itself is not a keyword used by any card. Cards can either spend or gain Corpses, or reference the player's Corpses or Corpse counter in different ways.
• Minions that are "raised" rather than summoned or resurrected, such as by the effect of Battlefield Necromancer, will not add a Corpse to the counter on death. Risen tokens also have italicized reminder text stating that they do not leave a Corpse.
• Corpses are gained before Deathrattles occur.
  • As such, cards that spend Corpses on their Deathrattles need 1 less Corpse than how many they spend when they die, as they will themselves generate the last needed Corpse.
  • Example: Your Ymirjar Deathbringer dies while you have 2 Corpses. Ymirjar Deathbringer will generate a third one, allowing it to spend all 3 and activate its Deathrattle.
• All classes track Corpses throughout the game, but only death knights have the Corpse counter visible at all times.
  • For other classes, the Corpse counter is hidden until they generate or summon a death knight card.
    • The Corpse counter will stay visible until there are no more death knight cards in a zone the player can see, such as in hand or on the battlefield.

Cards that spend Corpses

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Cards that gain Corpses

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Related cards

These cards have effects related to Corpses or the Corpse Counter.

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Achievements

	Category	Name	Description	Rewards
	Gameplay - General - Classes	Corpse Husbandry	Spend 100 Corpses.	10
	Gameplay - General - Classes	Corpse Husbandry	Spend 500 Corpses.	10
	Gameplay - General - Classes	Corpse Husbandry	Spend 1000 Corpses.	10
	Gameplay - General - Classes	Corpse Husbandry	Spend 2000 Corpses.	10
	Gameplay - General - Classes	Corpse Husbandry	Spend 6000 Corpses.	20

History

Prior to Patch 25.4.0.165029:

• Only death knights could use Corpses, as other classes did not have a Corpse counter. If another class got hold of a card that required Corpses to be played or spends or gained them, it would have no effect. For example, adding Corpse Explosion to your hand as a non-death knight class would give you a card that does nothing.
• Corpses were effectively tied to the current class, not the hero or the class the player started with. If a player managed to switch their class to a death knight mid-match, they would gain a Coprse counter and be able to play cards that require them. Their Corpse counter would also retroactively update its count to where it should be, as if they started with it.
  • Inversely, if a death knight changed their class, they would lose their Corpse counter and the ability to manage Corpses.
• Other classes could not randomly generate death knight cards that would be unplayable without Corpses.^[1]

Patch changes

• Patch 25.4.0.165029 (2023-02-14): All classes will now have Corpses tracked throughout the game, in case they generate a Corpse-spending card. The Corpse counter will be displayed while there are any Death Knight cards in a zone the player can see (e.g. in hand or in play).
• Patch 25.0.0.158725 (2022-11-29): Added.

References