Since 2004, World of Warcraft has introduced some enemies that strike fear into the hearts of other players. Some of them include:
- Monstrous Kaliri in Skettis. They're fast patrolling aerial monsters that, once locked onto your ass will chase you down, slow you down, and eventually knock you off your flying mount unless you have immunity from daze, and only tank specced characters with sufficient defense will have this blessing. If you can't escape them, then your only hope is to land somewhere safely so you can kill them at your leisure, and 'safe' landing points are rare enough as it is in Skettis. Blizzard even upgraded their AI, changing your chances to escape from "low" to "extremely slim".
- Also the trolls of Zul'Mashar. One type will immediately run for help, making it pretty much impossible to fight one at a time. Even the murlocs have the decency to wait until they've been damaged. The other turns you into a frog, and uses a Life Drain on you as you helplessly hop around on the floor. If you're playing the wrong class the only way to kill them is to wait until they run out of mana.
- Similarly, Kurzen Medicine Men in Stranglethorn Vale. If you had no way of stopping a heal spell from going off or couldn't do a lot of damage quickly you pretty much had to wait for them to bleed their mana dry, as they could heal to practically full health with each heal.
- Let's not forget those basilisks in Zul'Farrak that like to stun you in the middle of fights. Or all of those hostile elite mobs that are overpowered for their zones and like to come out of nowhere and attack. You know... the Sons of Arugal in Silverpine, the devilsaurs in Un'goro Crater, the fel reavers in Hellfire Peninsula, et cetera?
- In Un'Goro Crater, those Pterrordaxes too. One variant will randomly cast fear on you once in a few seconds which makes you run around like an idiot and there is a good chance that you will aggro more monsters.
- Sons of Arugal. While not as deadly Statistically Speaking (players were able to retreat and Silverpine wasn't as popular as Westfall or Barrens before Cataclysm) they could still appear with virtually no warning and was probably a lot higher level than you. Some players even took this as a hint that they shouldn't go to that zone yet.
- Alliance players will remember their own version of the Sons of Arugal, Mor'ladim in Duskwood falls under this category. He may have been nerfed, but players who have been playing for long enough will remember him. Looks like many of the other skeletons in the area, moves incredibly quickly, and will kill you in two hits if he gets close enough. Many a high level player would come back to this area when they could kill him and murder him over and over again. Another honorable mention from Duskwood is Stitches, a mighty quest-summoned abomination. He could take on Darkshire on his own before being nerfed. It's no longer possible to do so after Cataclysm was released, because he's only seen in a quest that's phased.
- The assorted Defias thugs near the Human starting area. They aren't, but unlike every other starting zone enemy, they are hostile, and will swarm you to death unless you very carefully pick their groups apart. Oh, and they run and call for help. They have, however, been made nonaggressive in a pre-Cataclysm patch, so this no longer applies.
- Defias Pillagers, level 14-ish spellcasters that were located in Westfall and in large numbers in the town which contained the first dungeon most Alliance players would go through. Prior to the 2.3 patch, these guys would cast Fireballs that hit immensely hard for their level, so much so that they frequently were on the list for the top 10 most dangerous mobs (Mobs that kill the most players). They only nerfed them by just a tiny bit, though, as they still hurt like hell for appropriate player level.
- Underbog Frenzies in the Underbog can and will frequently one-shot players due to how strong their melee attacks are. During Timewalking weeks for Burning Crusade dungeons, their aggro radius is high enough that players can accidentally aggro them and die with no warning. They drop no loot either, so the player must avoid aggroing them at all costs.
- The Void Reaver trash from Tempest Keep qualifies. All it takes is for one of your locks to miss a banish for a couple of seconds and the next thing you know, half the raid is face down on the floor from that damned sawblade spam.
- Mobs with elemental immunity probably apply for most caster classes, since nearly all casters will be focusing on spells of one element. Run into an enemy (or three) that's immune to that element, and you're stuck with the spells you've been neglecting and may not even keep on your action bar. And if you rely too much on "crowd control" (read: if you're a mage) there are mobs that are immune to that, too.
- Runed Giants in eastern Grizzly Hills are elite mobs that are hostile. They could sneak up on your character with no warning other than loud footsteps, hit like a freight train and don't have any noteworthy drops other than poor quality items. If you get dazed, you're pretty much dead.
- Note that most of the above examples have been nerfed into oblivion with the Cataclysm expansion, which overhauled a majority of the old content and gave considerable power boosts to most classes in the early levels. Most modern instances of this trope turn up in the level 80+ zones, generally due to wonky respawning issues and mob density. The cultists in the "gauntlet" section of Twilight Highlands leading up to the entrance of Grim Batol deserve special mention. The packs are huge, the melee'ers hit like trucks, and the casters love to snare you with frost spells.
- Stonecore Earthshapers in the Stonecore. If the player doesn't interrupt a certain spell, they transform into a Force of Earth, and start using AOE attacks that devastate the party.
- The Firelands has quite a few, from groups of five or more Flamewalkers immune to Crowd Control, to scorpions that explode when killed, to turtles that are so strong and difficult to tank that not even trash raids that form for reputation and chances at sellable epic items will kill them.
- The trash in the Lost City of the Tol'vir pitches in on this as well. Oathsworn Skinners have a very unpleasant Fan of Knives that they will keep throwing out just as often as they see fit. The Neferset Plaguebringers and Torturers can also be rather unpleasant. The first does decent damage and, much more worryingly, likes throwing out rather lengthy fears VERY liberally. The same applies to the Torturers, except theirs is a silence and will almost invariably be thrown on the healer.
- Murlocs are a borderline case. Wherever they appear, you can bet there will be at least twenty of them. The Demonic Spiders part of it is that murlocs tend to run when their health gets low. Unless you kill the little bastard quickly, that one murloc you were fighting can turn into three or four.
- The Mists of Pandaria version of Murlocs are the Virmen, literally rabbit-men where murlocs were fish-men. They come in groups, have several different versions (three small weak ones that leap at you, medium sized ones that stun from a distance, large ones that burrow/teleport and stun you, and which run off at about 1/3rd health to aggro more) and are nearly impossible to pull one at a time. Every one on one fight turns into a family reunion mosh pit. Hozen are almost as bad, in many of the places they appear.
- Special mention goes a particular type of Springtail Virmen in Valley of the Four Winds, namely the Springtail Gnasher. Attacks in packs? check. Has a bleed that deals approximately 17,000 damage a tick at maximum stacks? Check. Are they everywhere in the cave you're supposed to save a quest target? Check. Before the level squish in Shadowlands that introduced level scaling to older zones, they posed a threat to Level 90 players.
- The six ritualists prior to Dark Animus in Throne of Thunder are largely considered to be, in some ways, more difficult than the boss itself because of their devastating Ritual Lightning.
- In the Timeless Isle, the Molten Guardians, as well as the King Mook, Cinderfall, count. They often use a frontal cone attack that can be dodged, but will sometimes spew fire all around them, which is almost impossible to avoid for melee classes and can be dangerous if you're just passing through. To make matters worse, griefers like to pull them to where the rival faction is fighting Ordos.
- Siege of Orgrimmar has a few. There are the Lingering Corruption adds before the fourth boss, which apply a debuff on a random player when they die that damages them and everyone close to them after a few seconds or when it's dispelled; too many stacks, and a player 'will die. Kor'kron Shadowmages have a Mind Spike that can potentially one-shot players, while the Treasury Guards hit quite hard. The trash before Garrosh is also very difficult, particularly the slimes that heal ones nearby when they die.
- Legion presents a few in the first set of dungeons. They become especially dangerous on higher levels of Mythic Plus runs.
- Rockbound Pelters in Neltharion's Lair ignore tank aggro and spam a ranged attack on whatever player takes their fancy. As an extra bonus they have Retreat, which lets them disengage from melee range, potentially landing right next to and activating other mobs or even a boss.
- Blazing Imps in the Court of Stars are, on their own, easily dealt with. They are of course never alone, traveling in large, fast-moving packs with long patrol routes. Each member of the pack can channel Drifting Embers inflicting party-wide damage; if not interrupted or killed quickly, this can easily wipe a party.
- The most feared enemy in the Eye of Azshara is not an elite mob or even usually hostile — it's the neutral Cove Seagull. It's not the damage they can deal that is the danger either but their long disorient ability. Accidentally pulling a Seagull during a boss fight can result in the tank being disoriented, allowing the boss to randomly attack and likely kill other party members. Many players consider them more dangerous than even the bosses.
- The Sentries in Suramar (any unit with the Detector ability) have drawn some ire from the fanbase as well. They can see through illusions, will mob the player and can even see through stealth abilities such as Shadowmeld and Invisibility.
