Why Was The Scourge So Effective? - WoW Lore

How powerful was the Scourge and why was it so effective?
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So we've seen the Scourge accomplish a lot and when looking at it from this perspective it was even more influential than the Burning Legion that created it, which raises a question why was the Scourge so effective?
I briefly go over Scourge lore and their creation and then I talk about the strategy and tactics they used, the fall of Lordaeron, Kel'Thuzad and the Cult of the Damned.
Lastly, I outline their effectiveness and overall strategy.
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All of the footage used in the video is copyrighted by Blizzard Entertainment unless stated otherwise. - I am not the owner of any of the art shown in the videos. All artworks belong to their rightful owners. Due to images being shared across various sites it is quite difficult to find who the original artists are. If I used your work I'd be more than happy to give you full credit, just contact me at [e-mail]

[@Doronsmovies]

How powerful do you guys think the Scourge was and why was it essentially more effective than the Burning Legion that created them? Also check out the second channel on history and science, bit.ly/SecondChannelDoron

[@Reblobler]

First to reply lol

[@Mr_SagittariusRealHd]

Why at the last video that you record the"top 10 stromgest races" why are they not entered. Are they important?

[@Reblobler]

@@Mr_SagittariusRealHd its thier leaders who brought the scourge to power the undead race is just a tool

[@Mr_SagittariusRealHd]

@@Reblobler i dont know if their is

[@robertserban2422]

What is more powerful:legion,black empire or scourge

[@rickhobson3211]

The Scourge was effective because they weren't owned by Activision.

[@ConfidentBlackMan1]

You sir, need all the gold stars

[@eradication541]

The dead will always outnumber the living -Lich king

[@mayuri4184]

There are, I believe, 111 billion dead to 7 billion living. The Lich King is correct.

[@mohdrosniezam8779]

He is indeed correct

[@PerpetualSushi]

Undead don't need sleep, they don't need food, they feel no remorse or mercy, They can take blows that would fell the living. Their ranks only grow with each victory.

[@luisvilca4467]

And defeat. Is better worded with, Their ranks grow with every soldier they kill.

[@tonydanatop4912]

Also they're obedient to the point of self destruction being able to act as perfect infantry,shock troops, guerillas or suicide bombers without so much as a whimper of insubordination...might as well be robots made of rotten meat (The forsaken dont count L.K was sick)

[@AsterixKearn]

The thing is, the Scourge was written to be a major threat- with no clear end goal against them in sight when they were introduced. We’re so used to bosses and lore figures nowadays being set up specifically so they can be knocked down that we’re mostly numb to their reveals and moves against us. The Scourge isn’t terrifying because it’s some zombie army. The Scourge is terrifying because it was written in such a way that made it look like an impossible foe to overcome; an unending wave of death, striking out against a world that- at the time- had no super powered heroes. To Azeroth, the Scourge was death itself. That’s why the Scourge was so effective. That’s why the death of N’Zoth has been so underwhelming. N’Zoth was set up to be knocked down, the Scourge wasn’t.

[@Saiku]

So true.

[@sipriano9829]

You can't bring the argument "it was written that way" to a lore discussion. It is kinda like saying that "Physics work like they do because god made it so"

[@tamiloxd7168]

@@sipriano9829 But it is true, the lore nowadays is written in a way that every villain will be easily defeated. Warcraft 3 happens in the way that guy above says. We only needed good armies and a group of 20 players to defeat every villain. And yes, we need in Legion the titanic things, the artifacts but the essence of the matter is the same as the Scourge is.

[@jayjaygolden5123]

And when we did eventually take it down, take the lich king down..It was with a group of 30 adventurers, that actually got completelt bodied and needed an actual legendary hero to swoop in and take down the lich king for us- without truly removing the actual threat of the lich king, mind you. it was just the host body that was termimated, essentially.

[@jayjaygolden5123]

​@@sipriano9829good job entirely missing the point by being pedantic

[@Zero60133]

Scourge was effective because of their initial subterfuge, Kel'Thuzad was instrumental in destroying Lordaeron from within, but Arthas was a big player in everything, if he hadn't been corrupted, Scourge would be back to square one, and Northrend would eventually be sieged from all ends by Alliance forces. Arthas overstepped and brought a force too small to properly fight the Scourge, but with larger army and better preparation it was possible and after he took Frostmourne he went on to destroy Lordaeron by striking at the capital city itself, again in disguise of a hero who destroyed the Scourge. After fall of Lordaeron it all snowballed from there and Scourge simply grew too large.

[@petersander5802]

No if it wasn't arthas it would had been bloddy.

[@Doronsmovies]

This is very much speculation territory, but yeah I agree Arthas' role much like Kel'Thuzads' was crucial.

[@petersander5802]

@@Doronsmovies You could try the custom arthas campain?

[@Zero60133]

@@Doronsmovies When Scourge first arrived it was just Lich King and dreadlords, they slowly amassed an army but i doubt the dreadlords brought a great amount of demons alongside them, and biggest factor that allowed the Lich King to defeat Nerubians was awakening of Faceless Ones which forced them to fight on two fronts. Now of course, Northrend is home of Dragonblight which boosted the Scourge army with Frost Wyrms, but Northrend was otherwise quite barren of potential "recruits". The Scourge was a vast and terrible treat, but one entirely manageable by Alliance forces at the time, however they had factor of surprise, which allowed them to cripple Lordaeron from within and bait Arthas into a trap, and it just spiraled out of control from there, no one really knew what was happening, and Arthas was in middle of the mess, entirely incapable of seeing the bigger picture. Arthas was Ner'zhul's ticket out of deal with Burning Legion, but dreadlords didn't knew that, they just thought he'd be disposable host of Lich King's power until Archimonde is summoned into the world. Upon which Lich King would either be destroyed or claimed to be used in similar matter to other worlds.

[@ismaelsantos5378]

@@Zero60133 There's also the fact they faced each faction one by one. First they got rid of Lordaeron, with only a token force of High Elves, Dwarves and Dalaran forces, which were very divided at the time (Kirin Tor, Sorceress League, etc etc). The forces of Gilneas and Kultiras were absent and Stormwind was being rebuilt. Quel'thalas barely sent any help. The Scourge also attacked weak points: Humans: Food supplies, which affected big cities the most as the outbreaks could turn entire populations in days. Elves: Arthas used the scourge as a battering ram aiming directly to the Sunwell. Once the elves were cut off of it's energy they were screwed, crippled by magic addiction and their magic powers diminished. And they lost their leadership, which is a heavy blow to societies built on monarchy.

[@popopopoqwerty]

Scourge was so effective because of it's flexibility. 'Consume and adapt' was pretty much their motto.

[@TheNemesis432]

Old Horde was flexible as well (they used undead before it became lame), yet they lost. Scourge just got really lucky and they had a luxury of being able to attack from within because Alliance suddenly lost all it's points in intelligence. (Or maybe it's Alliance who just got lucky with Horde defeating itself and that explains their ineptitude against Scourge).

[@avekatten3207]

@@TheNemesis432Don’t think you know how the lore works buddy lol

[@TheNemesis432]

@@avekatten3207 I know how it works. It gets retconned every game and expansion.

[@LichlordKazam]

Mostly because of traitors and spies. Traitors like kel'thuzad, arthas and dar'khan were crucial to the scourge's success. Numbers are pointless without strength in certain places.

[@gj3717]

that traitor troll in Zul'Drak too, the youngest son of the agamand mills quest line in tiristfal glades also betrayed the mills (and his family) to the scourge. Plus during WotLK a lot of traitorous Cult of the Damned members that appeared during WoTLK quests. Traitors and corruption seems to be their thing.

[@Doronsmovies]

Indeed, most people just see the undeath and the growth potential, but it was really the inside traitors that really got the ball rolling.

[@Extrasailor]

All know that Scurge was that efective because they were feeding their army from the beeings that they kill. It's snowball efect, the Ball grows the further IT travels. Simple, nothing complicated.

[@julianmarco4185]

Yeah. Using one of the most powerful forms of magic in the Universe: the actual power of souls, will make one of the most powerful armies in the world. Imagine if the light had that kind of power. To ressurect the undead into new living people. Using charm powers to control other armies. Etc.

[@dylanbrewer8605]

Good job on this one Doron. Another point could be that the undead presumably do not feel pain unless exposed to the holy light, making them a tougher opponent to everyday fighters except for priests and palidins.

[@Doronsmovies]

Thank you. Yeah that is a great point, no one has ever fought or seen anything like it before.

[@WolfofKaos]

Not only would the undead not feel pain, but they have no needs to begin with. They don't hunger, they don't sleep, they don't even breathe. And realistically, an undead (well, one reanimated by magic) can't die from anything except magic. If your only weapon is a sword, how can you kill something whose vital organs don't even matter to it? Assuming their vital organs hadn't rotted away Best option is to chop off limbs and the head, so at least the undead can't fight any longer, but as we've seen, the Scourge simply repurposes those parts to create their Abominations

[@Doronsmovies]

Indeed, I should have mentioned that in the video. The fact that the constantly expanding armies required minimal supplies was a huge boost for the Scourge.

[@cihannesvat4261]

I love that you used footage from the original wc3

[@Titan990]

The scourge was effective not because of their tactics which is still pretty damn good. It was effective because of the alliance of lorderon breaking down. Had the alliance held together, the scourge would have not gotten off the ground or at worst contained.

[@lucifermorningstar2766]

What I wanna know is why the legion didnt just recreate the undead. They could have used the strategy on other worlds and have the scourge mk II + the demons to fight against azeroth

[@SepphirohX]

Good as always. Thank you.

[@bsybilly]

because The more living armies U sent，whoever was killed The scourge can just resurrect them to serve The lich king

[@khalidkothiwale4133]

i think scourge will even burst the burning legion if they got them on the target

[@GuilhermeToppan]

Could you do a video about Zul'jin and the Amani trolls? Great content as always.

[@Doronsmovies]

Thank you. What sort of video do you have in mind?

[@GuilhermeToppan]

@@Doronsmovies Your usual type of video like telling the origins of the Amani since Warcraft along with what happened with Zul'jin and his hatred both for the alliance and horde alike, putting some extra information here and there. I'm not good at making scripts :p

[@henriquebitencourt4280]

@@GuilhermeToppan the alliance cut his arm and almost eliminated his people(they deserved it tho) and the Horde abandoned the forest trolls because of the Darkspear weaklings(another dumb decision by Blizzard because the forest trolls fit more in the Horde and have more in common with the orcs; a primitive, barbaric warmongering race)

[@eurosonly]

Good leadership and communication are key to success in any large scale operation.

[@MrFudgum]

Loving these videos: short and sweet

[@inquisitorgarza312]

After the Second Great War the Alliance’s was the greatest superpower, and with it the Burning Legion had to attack weak points in the Alliance. First they attack one of the Major Human Kingdom, and only defeated them, but also conquered it. This caused a ripple effect that spread across the other human kingdoms, which in turn couldn’t defend against such a force. Second, they attack the High Elves in their homes and corrupt the sun well which was the lifeline to them. Third, is the attack of the city of magic, which was attack by the Legion.

[@CBRN-115]

Is it me or does the Scourge kinda feel similar to the Night King's wight walker hordes?

[@shadowgamer4306]

Can you do a same video like this one but just about the burning legion

[@toasterrobot8566]

4:39 What's the music?

[@PhantasmaAdoria]

Love this video! Great job

[@Doronsmovies]

Thank you very much.

[@PhantasmaAdoria]

Doronsmovies very welcome:)

[@lolosh99]

More or less attrition is the answer.

[@newfacepaula]

Ner'zhul was given more freedom. plus he is freaking genius for killing the enemy from the inside(aka the plague).

[@bindair_dundat]

Have you ever looked deeper into Necromancy? When you raise a skeleton, what fight moves does the skeleton have? Does the necromancer control each and every skeleton in combat individually or do skeletons retain their moves from their lives and perform them on their own? If the necromancer controls them, how adept they must be at all fighting styles and weapons to be able to effectively "use" their puppets? If the skeletons retain their movesets, how hard could it be to balance having a dead hero's power without actually granting them free will? What if you raise peasant skeletons? How can they fight? What if you raise warrior skeletons that don't have their weapons/armor on them (which is usually the case with corpses)? What will they fight with? If magic holds them together, why have meticulous movements like walking instead of just have them float? How much force needs applying for the magical bond between bones to fail? How do skeletons use perception without eyes and ears? Are they magically granted sight and hearing as well? Does a skeleton army require constant concentration on the necromancer's part or is it a one time cast that require no further power usage? Considering the sorry state of most corpses, wouldn't it be more effective to just enchant a suit of armor (or several) to do your bidding? Consclusion: Their vast numbers, lack of needs, and the psychological terror they apply are great, but all the unknown factors and having to arm them (or maintain their equipment in a long-term offensive) might be too much hassle.

[@Normandreas]

Uhm, at 3:50, did you say the human kingdoms repelled the last demon attempt, the War of the Ancients? The humans were nowhere near that war. I don’t think they existed yet

[@bobthedestroyer6205]

Thoughts on BFA ending?

[@Reblobler]

What do you think happened to the cult of the damned after woltk?

[@Doronsmovies]

A fraction of it remained and they were even a threat up to legion, but its nowhere near its complete power.

[@Reblobler]

@@Doronsmovies but whom are they worshipping now that the lichking is gone?

[@Lichdark1]

@@Reblobler I think they worship Kel'Thuzad now but the question here do you think he is still alive somewhere ؟

[@dragoliched1977]

@@Lichdark1 We never recovered his phylactery the second time did we?

[@Lichdark1]

​@@dragoliched1977 We did not take it the second time so I hope he is alive somewhere and it is possible that he plans to revive Arthur and lead the rest of Scourge's armies will actually be a nice move Especially after what Sylvanas did in Helm of Domination from Bolvar the Bitch king so it would be good if Arthur and Kel'Thuzad led the Army of Scourge again

[@MarkD5678]

Now if only Sylvanas didn't just outright spell it out to Arthas how to defeat Quel'Thelas' defenses then Kel'Thuzad would remain dead and not be able to summon Archimonde.

[@aleksandarvil5718]

The Lich King = Night King The Scourge = Others/White Walkers; Wights

[@Doronsmovies]

Yeah there are a ton of similarities. Although the Game of Thrones final battle was terrible compared to the campaign against Arthas.

[@aleksandarvil5718]

@Doronsmovies YES INDEED

[@CheebsCheeby]

Say, "it's not a tumor!"

[@af8511]

Cool video man

[@Doronsmovies]

Thanks.

[@af8511]

Doronsmovies no u

[@NerdGasims]

Well the Scourge is mostly undead and undead doesn’t feel pain, aren’t afraid to die and well it’s hard to kill what’s already dead. The living beings in the Cult of the Damned/Scourge wanted to die since they thought being killed and brought back into undeath as a great gift. Then there is the snowball effect where the living fight the undead, they kill a couple of ghouls but the Scourge kills a squad of living soldiers and brings them into the Scourge as undead minions replenishing their forces and also creating a psychological effect on the living; kill one of the undead and then they’ll have instant reinforcements when they kill the living. Also seeing someone you’re fighting alongside with die then raised as undead and they start attacking you will have a effect on the living fighting them as well. One more thing, the rule of cool, the Scourge looked cool, had a neat concept and Arthas was just a cool well written villain from the point of view from us looking at the story and playing the game

[@lucusvanbeek3309]

Shocktactics for one. Imagine fighting against a abomination, who can kill you in one strike. not only that, that walking thing is disgusting in such a way only hardened men could stand a chance. Subterfuge also played a factor. But the most scary part i think is seeing a fellow soldier die, only to stand up to kill the soldier next to you and repeat. Also remember that the burning legion did employ necromancers, but not in this massive scale. Also the only thing to stop the dead rising again was by cremation. Which was if i am correct a big no-no in human society.

[@datemasamune2904]

Why they should have been a third faction. If they were an alternative between Horde and Alliance, I'd pick them all the way.

[@henriquebitencourt4280]

The Drakkari trolls were present in TFT or were added in The Wrath of the Lich King?

[@WankerTheWetFingers]

They were present, but only as creeps. They didn't play aby significant rolę.

[@GrimgoreIronhide]

The scourge flourishes when it can circumvent hard targets and attack the soft underbelly of its foe, and it has become adept at doing so. This is also why they had a much harder time after their initial victory, once there were no more civilian populations in Lorderon there was no longer any way for them to grow their numbers by leaps and bounds, or to demoralize the crusader expeditions that came after them.

[@johnhiggins1746]

1:25 if there burning legion so strong y they need to soften up azeroth

[@danielbojidarov5587]

do a battleground lore , why they exist , where are they and things

[@Jkush463]

my thing is, now that lich is dead would we not be working tot ake the contenet back, destroy the ICC tower ect? or its like horde and alli wrote off the content like "f that place"

[@r1cosito]

Supply lines, there fucking dead and the enemy is there resource.

[@Q8Bart]

They have watching Dorons Movies 😉

[@tamiloxd7168]

They didn't have all the problems that the Legion had, they grown with each victory and the Scourge wasn't written in the times of WoW, so we couldn't defeat the Scourge. WoW as a game doesn't allow the villains to win, they can't destroy cities and wipe out races, or kingdoms, everything stay the same.

[@viktorchernev8889]

Nice VIdeo!

[@Doronsmovies]

Thank you.

[@iHaveGrudgeAgainstUT]

When the scourge did more damage than the 3rd legion invasion.... WoW basically got dragonballz-ed

[@Castnine]

lets be honest plot is why they were so strong. UD horror is hard to pull off if its no threat lol

[@ValensBellator]

It always seemed to me like there was no real excuse for the scourge not to just wipe out the remainder of the eastern kingdoms. They sorta stalled for some reason, as if undead armies need rest.

[@ItsSpecialOps]

What I never understood is that they used and orc soul to make the litch king, so why was he trying to help the legion instead of help the orcish people since they were free?

[@danyelahtabaat4808]

His will is not his own

[@ishnuallahguy5740]

The scourge was so effective because they were potentially endless. End of video. Thanks for stopping by

[@MrShirial]

The scørge werent effective enøff

[@yusophhadjijamil567]

Orcs failure in conquering the Eastern kingdoms in an open battle has taught well the legion a lesson that in order to succeed it must be started from within. They learned which kingdoms to be feared and would compromise the invasion. So taking out first those three poweful kingdoms namely, Lordaeron, Quel thalas and Dalaran would be the priority. Thus the reason the second invasion is so effective. Not to mention the scourge is a perfect army for such invasion because it doesn't require resources (foods), logistics and training and every fallen enemy bolster their numbers. Insider (traitors) such as cult of the damned headed by kelthuzad are also instrumental in the fall of lordaeron.

[@surtr9728]

Where are you from? I love your accent

[@adityashrestha2774]

Because we played as them in wc 3

[@Erik-de8id]

Because they had the alpha chad nixxiom on their side.

[@moch.farisdzulfiqar6123]

By that argument can we say The Burning Legion are effective because had alpha chad Moocluck in their side?

[@af8511]

Moch.Fariz Dzulfiqar perfect

[@Erik-de8id]

@@moch.farisdzulfiqar6123 TRUE!

[@endo4137]

The scourge was awesome! But that bitch sylvanas destroyed the lich King, to think i used to side with her...

[@Liskenstein]

Death magic > Fel Always

[@xXLockStarXx]

I am a proud Death Knight thumps up for being an emo edgy character

[@Hawkens4k]

Religion is a good weapon... that and free dental is a plus too.

[@wastedviking6280]

Why were they so effective and then suddenly not effective at all?...

[@newfacepaula]

For The Warchief(of Draenor)! For Ner'zhul! fk Arthas!

[@KevinArcade87]

This whole video is about to get retconned

[@Reblobler]

First

[@tylerturner6423]

Probably because they could see past blizzards BS

[@uclongnguyen8860]

lich king just a usurper , the jailer is the true death master

[@theinterspeciesreviewer7400]

Well duh because they are dead. And scourge are awesome.

[@BeegBWolf]

Well it was effective, until Sylvanas, alone, singlehandedly, head on, without even trying to sneak and hide, butcher them all along with their Lich King Something that the Sentinels, Horde, Alliance, Illidari, Azjol Nerub, Drakkari, Faceless ones and every other factions failed to do in a fucking group Right now, with all the bullshitery I wouldn't even be surprised if she able to single handedly do the same thing to the Titans and the Burning Legion