Annihilan Born from the sheer hatred of the Nether , the Annihilan are a powerful species of demon s recruited by Archimonde the Defiler to serve the Burning Legion . Their leader , the most feared of them all , was Mannoroth the Destructor . The pit lord are presumed to be a subrace of the annihilan species . Background . The annihilan pit lords are described as engines of destruction . They are driven by pure rage and bloodlust . Their bodies resemble massive lizards , with six powerful limbs ( four legs , similar in nature to the hybrid races , such as the centaur and the dryads . ) , a tail , and wings sprouting from their backs ( the wings are vestigial and occasionally used for defense — even with eredar magic , pit lords are far too heavy to fly ) . Their upper torsos are more humanoid , with a large chest , two arms and a large horned head . Their mouths are filled with rows of teeth , their eyes are on fire and even their tongues are studded with fangs . The preferred weapon of the pit lords is a massive double - bladed sword . Though they may look sedentary , they can move at relatively high speed despite their massive stature . The pit lords who served under Mannoroth are some of the most cruel , barbarous butchers to ever roam the trackless wastes of the Twisting Nether . These hulking engines of hate and death love only to kill and bring sorrow to all living creatures . Fanatically loyal to Mannoroth and the Burning Legion , the pit lords will stop at nothing to see the will of the Burning Legion upheld . At some unspecified point in time , Archimonde recruited the annihilan into the Burning Legion , an invitation the pit lords readily accepted . This would have occurred somewhere between twenty - five and eleven thousand years ago ; the pit lords were a major integrated part of the Legion by the War of the Ancients ten thousand years ago . Annihilan are rarely seen on the battlefield , since they are too important to simply waste in combat . The only two annihilan that entered Azeroth during the war of the ancients and the third war were Mannoroth and Azgalor , so it is presumed that the annihilan are either generals for smaller forces of the Burning Legion or are still on the Legion ' s homeworld . Mannoroth ' s blood was used to forge a blood - pact with the corrupted orc s on Draenor , making their corruption permanent — only one clan , the Frostwolves , escaped . During the Burning Legion ' s second invasion , Thrall and Grom Hellscream defeated Mannoroth , and broke the blood pact he had forged and thus freed the Orcs from demonic corruption . Hellscream did not survive the encounter . After Mannoroth ' s death , Azgalor became the new Demon King of the pit lords . Though the blood of both Mannoroth and Magtheridon has been used to corrupt the orcs , it is not clear whether this is an ability inherent to all Annihilan , or simply to certain powerful individuals . Since there are few pit lords willing to submit to experimentation , it ' s unlikely the question will be answered any time soon . Culture . Nothing is known of the culture of the annihilan , but it is likely one where raw power is valued above all else . While Mannoroth was certainly quite powerful , he probably rose to become their leader through his cunning and magical knowledge — he is said to have been as skilled as a mid - level eredar . Besides Magtheridon , no other pit lord has shown particular affinity for the arcane arts . Notable annihilan . < onlyinclude > < includeonly > < / includeonly > As with other demonic races , the precise hierarchy of the annihilan is unknown . Unlike the eredar or nathrezim , the names of pit lords are not readily known to warlock s , as they are more focused on making war than strategizing it . However , there is information on a few of the annihilan pit lords , as several fought in the Third War and died on Azeroth . Other named Annihilan include : < / onlyinclude > Name origin . The term pit lord may be a class or rank within the annihilan or the Common name for the species .