Crypt Lord ( Warcraft III ) These ancient , evil behemoths were once the mighty kings of the subterranean spider kingdom of Azjol - Nerub . Though the Nerubians fell before the wrath of the Lich King during the fabled War of the Spider , the insidious Crypt Lords were swayed over to the Lich King ' s ranks and granted considerable power and the immortality of undeath . Now the giant , thundering beasts serve as the Lich King ' s mightiest warriors and the guardians of the Scourge ' s holdings in Northrend . Information . A warrior Hero , adept at summoning insect minions and crushing enemies . Betraying the Nerubian people , the Crypt Lords have sacrificed the lifeblood of thousands to bolster the Undead armies of Ner ' zhul , winning an eternal life of servitude in his name . Attacks land units . Crypt Lords are relatively weak early in the game because of a small mana pool and poor armor , but in the late game , they are very durable and good tanker heroes when compared to other heroes . Crypt Lords are undead heroes , so Paladins will be able to harm them using the Holy Light ability , but this can be compensated with the Death Knight using Death Coil to heal it instantly or healing the Crypt Lord over time with Unholy Aura . The Vampiric Aura from the Dreadlord is another option , as the Crypt Lord will heal itself every time it attacks an enemy with his melee attack . An undead player using a Death Knight , Dreadlord , and a Crypt Lord has a very powerful combination of heroes , often proving to be too much pressure in the late game . Crypt Lords start with high Strength , but have very low Agility and Intelligence , and as they level , their Agility and Intelligence progresses pitifully slow . Players using Crypt Lords are well advised to give them mana potions , and in team games , make the most of an allied Archmage with Brilliance Aura to use the Crypt Lord ' s skills more frequently . Crypt Lords are very good at creep killing , since he can cast Carrion Beetles on creep corpses , and when combined with a Lich , the Carrion Beetles are prime targets for the Lich to use Dark Ritual on . Impale is a good crowd control skill and useful against clusters of enemies , similar to the War Stomp ability of the Tauren Chieftain , but it functions very differently . War Stomp will damage and stun enemy units around the Tauren Chieftain , whilst Impale will damage and stun enemies in a small , long cone in front of the Crypt Lord . In addition , Impale deals more damage , but has a lower stun duration than War Stomp . The Spiked Carapace is useful when using the Crypt Lord as a tank against enemy melee troops due to the extra armor and the returned damage when enemy melee units attack . However , enemy players may counter this by using ranged units such as Riflemen , Headhunters , Crypt Fiends or Archers to focus their fire on the Crypt Lord . Lastly , Locust Swarm is very useful against large groups of enemies . Every locust that bites an enemy unit ( including spell immune units ) , will eventually return to the Crypt Lord and heal the Crypt Lord with a portion of the damage dealt , with a maximum of 15 HP per locust . While a player cannot count on Locust Swarm alone to heal the Crypt Lord if the enemy focusses their fire on the Crypt Lord , Locust Swarm can heal the Crypt Lord during the normal wear and tear of a battle . Once cast , Locust Swarm is automatically active for the duration of the ability , and remains active even if the Crypt Lord is stunned or ensnared . If the Crypt Lord dies while this skill is active , the Locusts die immediately . Ultimately , the Crypt Lord is a very powerful hero , even if it has a low mana pool , and is very durable with a lot of hit points , compensating his low Agility and armor with Spiked Carapace and returning damage to enemy melee units , and with crowd control using skills like Impale and Locust Swarm .