Level Talent Name Description Cooldown
1 The Plaguelands Increase Death and Decay's duration by 1 second. After gaining 30 Blight, increase the radius of Death and Decay's pool by 30%.
1 Blighted Frost Frost Nova deals 75% more damage to enemies in the center. After gaining 30 Blight, increase Frost Nova's Root duration by 0.5 seconds.
1 Barbed Chains Increase Chains of Kel'Thuzad damage by 125%. After gaining 30 Blight, Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces the Armor of pulled Heroes by 10 for 4 seconds.
4 Strip Shields Pulling a Hero with Chains of Kel'Thuzad grants Kel'Thuzad a permanent 128 (+4% per level) Shield, stacking up to 2 times. Additionally, Chains of Kel'Thuzad deals up to 270 (+2.5% per level) bonus damage to Heroes' Shields.
4 Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad Quest: Collect 12 Regeneration Globes to charge Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery. Reward: Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery can be activated while dead to immediately respawn at the Hall of Storms, but must be charged again. Passive: Kel'Thuzad heals for 10% of all Spell Damage dealt while the Phylactery is charged.
4 Armor of the Archlich Activate to gain 50 Physical Armor for 4 seconds. Upon activation, nearby enemies take 45 (+4% per level) damage and are Slowed by 35% for 4 seconds. 25
7 Accelerated Decay Each time a Hero is hit by Death and Decay's pool, they take 25% more periodic damage from Death and Decay for the next 4 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.
7 Chilling Touch Every 8 seconds, Kel'Thuzad's next Basic Attack hits all enemies in the area for 80% additional damage, deals Spell damage instead of Physical, and Slows by 30% for 2 seconds.
7 Ice Cold Reduce the cooldown of Glacial Spike by 10 seconds and increase its damage by 400%.
10 Frost Blast Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 115 (+2.5% per level) damage to its target and 275 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frost Blast are Rooted for 2 seconds. 50
10 Shadow Fissure Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 320 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemy Heroes in its area. If an enemy Hero is hit, set its cooldown to 1.5 seconds. 16
13 Icy Grasp Increase Frost Nova's Slow by 20%. Each time Kel'Thuzad damages enemies Slowed by Frost Nova, reduce the cooldown of Frost Nova by 0.75 seconds.
13 Chains of Ice After Chains of Kel'Thuzad's Stun expires, the enemy is also Slowed by 60% for 1 second.
13 Chain-Link Pulling a Hero with Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds and refunds its Mana cost.
16 Arcane Echoes Whenever Kel'Thuzad hits an enemy Hero with Death and Decay's explosion, its cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
16 Hungering Cold Enemies that are Rooted take an additional 55 (+2.5% per level) damage each time they are damaged by Kel'Thuzad.
16 Power of Icecrown Stunning, Rooting, or Slowing a Hero grants 6% Spell Power for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
20 Deathchill When Frost Blast's Root expires, enemies are Slowed by 40% for 3 seconds. Heroes killed while under the effects of Frost Blast instantly release another Frost Blast explosion.
20 Might of the Scourge If a Hero is hit with Shadow Fissure, a second one is cast below them 1 second later. This second cast will not duplicate itself.
20 Shifting Malice Activate to dash forward, dealing 150 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemies in the path. Takedowns reset the cooldown of Shifting Malice. 240
20 The Damned Return Activate to create a Shade of Naxxramas that lasts 15 seconds and mimics Kel'Thuzad's casts of Death and Decay. 15
Shortcut Ability Name Description Cooldown Mana Cost
Q Death and Decay After 0.5 seconds, launch an orb that explodes upon hitting an enemy, dealing 150 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemies in the area. The explosion leaves behind a pool of decay that lasts 2 seconds, dealing 82 (+2.5% per level) damage every 0.5 seconds to enemies. 5 20
W Frost Nova Create a nova that explodes after 1 second, dealing 180 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemies inside and Slowing them by 35% for 2.5 seconds. Enemies in the center are Rooted for 1 second. 8 50
E Chains of Kel'Thuzad Launch a chain, dealing 97 (+2.5% per level) damage to the first enemy Hero hit. For 3 seconds after hitting an enemy, Chains can be reactivated to launch to an additional enemy, pulling both enemies together and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds. 10 50
R Frost Blast Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 115 (+2.5% per level) damage to its target and 275 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frost Blast are Rooted for 2 seconds. 50 45
R Shadow Fissure Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 320 (+2.5% per level) damage to enemy Heroes in its area. If an enemy Hero is hit, set its cooldown to 1.5 seconds. 16 40
Master of the Cold Dark Quest: Gain 1 Blight every time a Hero is Rooted by Frost Nova or hit by Chains of Kel'Thuzad. Reward: After gaining 15 Blight, gain the Glacial Spike Ability. Reward: After gaining 30 Blight, gain 75% Spell Power. Blight: 0/30
1 Glacial Spike Activate to create a spike that detonates after 4 seconds, dealing 70 (+2.5% per level) damage to nearby enemies. The spike can be affected by Chains of Kel'Thuzad. 30

Kel'Thuzad

PTR 2024-09-26 PTR Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 10
    • Frost Blast
      • No longer ignores vision limitations when queued.

2024-08-12 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Deathchill now displays in the Death Recap.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Defense Matrix to not reduce the damage of the Shade's Death and Decay.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Shade's damage to not gain the benefits of Spell Leech.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Shade's Death and Decay to still be fired if Kel'Thuzad's Death and Decay cast is interrupted.

2023-11-16 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

  • Difficulty updated from Hard to Very Hard.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused Deathchill's marker to remain on the target if they gain Unstoppable.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Power of Icecrown's active bonuses to be lost when slain.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Basic Attacks to activate Icy Grasp while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Basic Attacks to activate Hungering Cold while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
  • Kel'Thuzad can now attempt to cast Frost Nova over unpathable terrain.
  • Kel'Thuzad's abilities in the command bar will no longer flash when Kel'Thuzad gains 15 stacks of Master of the Cold Dark.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Chilling Touch Basic Attacks to be incapable of killing Sgt. Hammer's Spider Mines.

2021-09-27 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Vitals
    • Health increased from 1445 to 1490.
    • Health regeneration increased from 3.01 to 3.10.

Abilities

  • Glacial Spike [1]
    • Damage increased from 60 to 70.

Talents

  • Level 7
    • Ice Cold [1]
      • Bonus cooldown reduction increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
  • Level 13
    • Icy Grasp [W]
      • Bonus cooldown reduction per Basic Attack increased from .5 to .75 seconds.

Developer Comment: Much akin to Kael'thas, we feel like Kel'Thuzad has been left out in the cold for too long. We are giving him some slight baseline buffs while also tuning up some underperforming talents.

2020-04-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Armor of the Archlich now also grants Physical Armor against Mercenaries, Monsters, Summons, Structures and Minions Undocumented

2019-11-22 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 7
    • Chilling Touch [Passive]
      • Bonus damage reduced from 100% to 80%.
  • Level 10
    • Frost Blast [R1]
      • Starting missile speed increased by 60%.
  • Level 13
    • Icy Grasp [W]
      • Bonus Slow amount increased from 15% to 20%.
      • Cooldown reduction increased from .4 to .5 seconds.

Developer Comment: These changes should be fairly minor, and are just intended to better round out some of Kel'Thuzad's talent tiers.

2019-09-24 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

​Talents

  • Level 10
    • Shadow Fissure [R2]
      • Hitting an enemy Hero no longer instantly resets the cooldown of Shadow Fissure, but instead sets it to 1.5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Talk about fireworks?! With our last balance patch, we introduced some changes to Shadow Fissure that ended up causing a bit more mayhem than we had expected. While we like rewarding players for hitting their abilities, a full instant reset of the ability ended up feeling pretty bad to play against in a lot of circumstances. This was compounded with the changes we also made to Might of the Scourge, so instead of a full reset, we decided to dial it back a notch and set the cooldown to 1.5 seconds instead.

2019-08-28 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 7
    • Accelerated Decay [Q]
      • Bonus damage increased from 20% to 25%.
      • Maximum stacks reduced from 6 to 4.
    • Ice Cold [Passive]
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 8 seconds.
      • Bonus damage increased from 300% to 400%.
  • Level 10
    • Frost Blast [R1]
      • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds.
      • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 45.
      • Root duration increased from 1.75 to 2 seconds.
    • Shadow Fissure [R2]
      • Mana cost reduced from 45 to 40.
      • Damage reduced from 360 to 320.
      • New functionality: Damaging an enemy Hero with Shadow Fissure resets its cooldown.
  • Level 13
    • Icy Grasp [W]
      • Damaging enemy Heroes who are slowed by Frost Nova no longer increases its slow duration.
      • New functionality: Damaging enemy Heroes who are slowed by Frost Nova reduces the cooldown of Frost Nova by .4 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Might of the Scourge [R2]
      • If an enemy Hero is hit by Shadow Fissure, then it will explode a second time below them 1 second later. This second cast will not duplicate itself.

Developer Comment: We're making some changes to Kel'Thuzad to reduce his burst damage combo with Shadow Fissure, as well as to make some adjustments to his talents to make them more competitive with one another.

2019-08-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Blinding Wind, Shadow Dagger, Seeker Swarm, Frost Blast, Unstable Compound, and Weak Spot Acquired will no longer apply their effects to Heroes in Time Stop.

2018-12-11 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Added a quick-cast option for Glacial Spike.

2018-10-31 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Frost Blast (R)
    • Cooldown reduced from 70 to 60 seconds
    • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
    • Root duration increased from 1.5 to 1.75 seconds

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Barbed Chains (E)
      • Armor reduction decreased from 15 to 10
  • Level 7
    • Ice Cold (Passive)
      • Damage bonus increased from 250 to 300%
  • Level 13
    • Icy Grasp (W)
      • Frost Nova slow increase changed from 10 to 15%

2018-08-22 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Death and Decay (Q)
    • Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
    • Periodic damage increased from 70 to 82
  • Frost Nova (W)
    • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
    • Damage reduced from 212 to 180
  • Chains of Kel'Thuzad (E)
    • Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
    • Can no longer be used on Structures
    • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
  • Master of the Cold Dark (Trait)
    • First reward no longer grants cooldown reduction
    • First reward now grants the Glacial Spike ability
  • Frost Blast (R)
    • Damage increased from 100 to 115
    • Minimum speed increased from 1 to 5
      • This matches the starting speed of Pyroblast
  • Shadow Fissure (R)
    • Damage reduced from 400 to 360
    • Cooldown reduced from 20 to 16 seconds
    • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 45

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Blighted Frost (W)
      • Bonus damage increased from 50 to 75%
  • Level 4
    • Strip Shields (E)
      • Shield amount increased from 120 to 128
  • Level 7
    • Glacial Spike (Active)
      • Removed
    • New Talent: Ice Cold (1)
      • Reduce the cooldown of Glacial Spike by 5 seconds and increase its damage by 250%
    • Accelerated Decay (Q)
      • Bonus damage decreased from 25 to 20%
  • Level 13
    • Chain Link (E)
      • Now only requires 1 Hero to be pulled by Chains of Kel'Thuzad
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 4 to 5 seconds
    • Icy Grasp (W)
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the slow of Frost Nova by 10%. Each time Kel'Thuzad deals damage to enemy Heroes that are slowed by Frost Nova, its duration is increased by .5 seconds
  • Level 16
    • Arcane Echoes (Q)
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds
    • Hungering Cold (W)
      • Adjusted functionality:
        • Enemies that are rooted take an additional 55 damage each time they are damaged by Kel'Thuzad

Developer Comment: These changes to Kel'Thuzad are being made with two goals in mind. Our first goal, which is in line with many changes we make, is to improve talent diversity. We've moved Glacial Spike into his baseline first quest reward, which should both help his Level 7 talent choices as well as open up new build possibilities with the increased flexibility on that tier. Second, we want to slightly reduce his variance and increase his reliability. We've moved most of his cooldown reduction reward baseline, and with Glacial Spike being his first quest reward, he can now combo enemy Heroes anywhere in the field, without needing to rely purely on having other enemy Heroes or structures nearby. In exchange for this, we've removed some of his burst damage and the ability to use Chains of Kel'Thuzad on structures. While chaining enemy Heroes to structures made for some cool moments, it could be oppressive to play against, particularly on maps with large pushing objectives like the Punisher on Infernal Shrines.

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Fixed some confusing wording in the tooltip for the Hungering Cold talent.

2018-06-27 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Shields: Talents that deal damage versus Shields, such as Varian's Shattering Throw, no longer also deal damage to the target's Health.

2018-06-06 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Basic Attacks: The following Basic Attacks that deal Spell Damage now correctly miss when the attacking Hero is Blinded or the target is Evading:
    • Kael'thas: Sunfire Enchantment
    • Kel'Thuzad: Chilling Touch
    • Li-Ming: Cannoneer

2018-04-24 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Phylactery can no longer be activated before its animation completes.

2018-03-27 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Shields

  • Armor will now mitigate bonus damage dealt to Shields by effects like Varian's Shattering Throw and Kel'Thuzad's Strip Shields.

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Chilling Touch can now correctly deal damage to Gall’s Eye of Kilrogg.

2017-11-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Glacial Spike will now correctly deal bonus damage granted by Ability Power gains.
  • Kel'Thuzad: The Hungering Cold Talent will now correctly deal its bonus damage to non-Heroic enemies rooted by Frost Nova.

2017-10-11 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Frost Blast (R)
    • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds
    • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Strip Shields (E)
      • Shield amount increased from 112 to 120
  • Level 13
    • Icy Grasp (W)
      • Increased slow duration from 1.5 to 2 seconds
    • Chain-Link (E)
      • Added functionality:
        • Also refunds the Mana cost of Chains Of Kel’Thuzad

Bug Fixes

  • Kel'Thuzad: Shadow Fissure can now be cast between map levels on the Haunted Mines battleground.
  • Kel'Thuzad: Shadow Fissure can now be cast on the minimap.

2017-09-20 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Frost Nova (W)
    • Mana cost increased from 45 to 50
  • Chains of Kel’Thuzad (E)
    • Mana cost increased from 45 to 50
  • Frost Blast (R)
    • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds
  • Shadow Fissure (R)
    • Damage reduced from 440 to 400
    • Cooldown increased from 15 to 20 seconds
    • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Phylactery of Kel’Thuzad (Active)
      • Quest requirement increased from 10 to 12 Regen Globes
  • Level 7
    • Accelerated Decay (Q)
      • Bonus damage increased from 20 to 25%
    • Glacial Spike (Active)
      • Damage reduced from 220 to 60
      • Delay before the spike spawns increased from .5 to 1 seconds
  • Level 13
    • Chains of Ice (E)
      • Slow duration reduced from 1.25 to 1 second
      • Slow amount decreased from 70 to 60%
  • Level 16
    • Hungering Cold (W)
      • Bonus damage reduced from 60 to 55

Developer Comment: As expected, there is a fairly large discrepancy between Kel’Thuzad’s performance across the entire game vs. players who are getting experienced with him at a higher level. His win-rate has climbed more than most of our other releases as players get used to his kit, so most of our changes are aimed at talent balance and toning his power down. While we like the sharpness of his power spike due to Master of the Cold Dark, we’ll continue to keep an eye on his burst potential and his overall strength going forward.

2017-09-05 Patch Notes

New Hero

Kel'Thuzad has faithfully served the Lich King both in life and after death. Reanimated as the Archlich of the Scourge and given domain of the Dread Necropolis, Naxxramas, Kel’Thuzad remains Arthas’s most trusted advisor and master of the cold dark.

Trait

  • Master of the Cold Dark
    • Quest: Gain 1 Blight every time a Hero is Rooted by Frost Nova or hit by Chains of Kel'Thuzad.
    • Reward: After gaining 15 Blight, the cooldown of all Basic Abilities is reduced by 2 seconds.
    • Reward: After gaining 30 Blight, gain 75% Spell Power.

Basic Abilities

  • Death and Decay (Q)
    • After 0.5 seconds, launch an orb that explodes upon hitting an enemy, dealing damage to enemies in the area. The explosion leaves behind a pool of decay that lasts 2 seconds, dealing damage every 0.5 seconds to enemies.
  • Frost Nova (W)
    • Create a nova that explodes after 1 second, dealing damage to enemies inside and Slowing them by 35% for 2.5 seconds. Enemies in the center are Rooted for 1 second.
  • Chains of Kel'Thuzad (E)
    • Launch a chain, dealing damage to the first enemy Hero or Structure hit. For 4 seconds after hitting an enemy, Chains can be reactivated to launch to an additional enemy, pulling both enemies together and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

  • Frost Blast (R)
    • Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals damage to its target and damages enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frozen Tomb are Rooted for 1.5 seconds.
  • Shadow Fissure (R)
    • Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing damage to enemies in its area.