In this guide, we will look at a very strong hero with excellent potential as a damage-dealing tank in the middle and end of the game. So meet the Skeleton King - Leoric. We have very interesting spells that make it very difficult to kill us. A little about spells, we have a very good stun, excellent innate vampirism, a critical hit and an ult that allows you to be reborn after death. Our hero is very diverse, and the assembly shown below is not the only one for us.

What to collect for Leoric:

As you can see from our purchase, we assembled it into a good demager with a shot at the tank.

Power Threads - attack speed is important for any hero, especially for us, because we focused on dealing damage. It also gives a good increase in strength, which is also very suitable for us.

Dominator - we already have good vampirism, but it’s not very pleasant for us when enemies beat you and you don’t even notice them, so we definitely collect this artifact, later it can be improved in Satanic, which gives an excellent increase in strength.
Now it will be impossible to stop us.

Monkey King Bar - greatly increases our damage, gives increased attack speed, we will never miss the enemy again, and we have the ability to deal additional damage of 100 units and stun the target for 0.01 seconds.

Black King Bar - will make us immune to magic, which means no one can stop us, it also gives a good increase in strength and a little damage.

Assault Cuirass - by collecting it we will greatly increase our armor and attack speed, we also get an aura of reducing the enemy’s role.

Heart of Tarrasque is the most important artifact for any tank and hero belonging to the strongman class. It greatly increases our maximum health and provides fantastic regeneration.

As I said above, this is not the only correct purchase for Leoric. Below is a list of artifacts that are not included in the leoric guide. but they will also look good on us.
Artifacts for Leoric:

Buriza de Kanyon

Mask of Madness

Friends and enemies of Leorica:
like any hero capable of stun, we are friends with other heroes like Crixalix or Vengeful Spirit.

Enemies:
The most dangerous enemy for us is Magina, he will burn all the mana, and we will not be able to be reborn.

Result:
Leoric is a very strong hero, with huge potential, well suited for beginners, because thanks to his ult you are always protected from accidental death on the battlefield, and his only active spell is a hammer. I hope you liked our Leoric guide and you will definitely become the king of skeletons.

Guide to Leoric (Skeleton King) for version Dota 6.82. This one is hard to kill Skeleton King , I think many have encountered in their Dota games. He usually has 2 fates: either fattened Leoric enslaves every living thing in its path, or, having swung unsuccessfully, drags out a miserable existence until the end of the game.

1. Hero's story

Leoric- he's the same Skeleton King - he's just Skeleton- he's the same Skeleton King - that’s how many epithets this unusual hero in Dota has.

He was once a noble knight who defended his kingdom. But one day, by the will of fate, he was thrown into Hell, where his life flew through many centuries, until Lucifer brought him back to existence. But he did not return as the brave knight he was in life, no - he became a distorted and terrible Skeleton King. He returned to earth and knew for sure that only his dark side of the soul would help him in gaining power. His huge blade is endowed with unprecedented strength - blows with it are truly dangerous, and for many, fatal. Moreover, this terrible murder weapon allows the Skeleton King to take the blood of his enemies, thereby restoring his own lives.

2. Characteristics

Strength: 22 + 2.9 (main stat)
Agility: 18 + 1.7
Intelligence: 18 + 1.6
Damage: 54-56 - very stable damage, practically no difference from blow to blow
Armor: 2.52
Movement speed: 300
Attack range: 128 (melee)

3. Pros and cons of the hero

+ very easy to control - only one active skill, so it is well suited for beginners (in Dota 6.78, of course, he also got a 3rd skill, but it is rarely used in games - they mostly leave it as a passive so that critical damage works )
+ due to its ult it is difficult to kill, which is also very good for beginners
+ one of the best crits in Dota
+ has your own lifesteal skill
+ good initial damage

- at first there is a terrible lack of mana (at first there is only enough to cast your active skill (bolt) once (!!!))
- if he fails to swing normally, he will turn into a feeder even despite his ult

4. Description of abilities

Hellfire Blast(bolt) - Leoric (Skeleton) launches a clot of Hell energy accumulated at the end of his sword at the enemy, causing the victim to burn. Deals damage and stuns an enemy for 2 seconds and slows them by 20% for another 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 50 initial damage, 15 damage per second
Level 2 - 100 initial damage, 30 damage per second
Level 3 - 150 initial damage, 40 damage per second
Level 4 - 200 initial damage, 50 damage per second
Cast range: 525
Mana cost: 140
Cooldown: 8 seconds

Notes:
- damage type: magical
- total damage (by level): 80/160/230/300

A comment: our only active skill, but overall quite good, since stun is always better than, say, some simple slowdown skill. I remember once I even wrote in a chat in one of my games: “The principle of winning in Dota is simple - you need more stunners in the team”)). The only negative is that for such a mentally retarded character like us (well, this is understandable - there are no brains at all, just a cranium) it consumes a lot of mana, so in the initial stages we will be hellishly short of mana.
You can dodge this stun of Leoric with the help of a dagger/manta/eul, but rest assured that in the pub few people will have time to do this anyway))

Vampiric Aura- allied melee heroes and creeps (melee and ranged), including himself Leoric(Leoric), restore health (that is, simply lifesteal) when they attack enemies.

Level 1 - 15% lifesteal
Level 2 - 20% lifesteal
Level 3 - 25% lifesteal
Level 4 - 30% lifesteal
Effect area: 900
Stacks with aura from Vladimir

A comment: quite a good innate lifesteal (much better than even the lifesteal from Vladimir), will help all melee heroes from our team in mix-ups, with pushes (after all, this aura also affects creeps), and will also help restore the HP of Leoric himself while farming in the forest and on the lines.

Critical Strike - Leoric (Skeleton) gains a 15% chance to deal critical damage when attacking.

Level 1 - damage is 1.5 times stronger
Level 2 - damage is 2 times stronger
Level 3 - damage is 2.5 times stronger
Level 4 - damage is 3 times stronger
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Mancoast: 30

A comment: Well, what can I say - one of the best critical hits in Dota. Thanks to this skill, Leoric can compete with the best damage dealers in Dota in the late game.

Reincarnation- When Skeleton King (Skeleton King) dies, he can return to life with a full supply of lives and mana. When reincarnated (reborn alive), slows down enemies by 50% (both movement speed and attack speed) with 900 AoE for 3 seconds.

Level 1 - spell cooldown 260 seconds
Level 2 - spell cooldown 160 seconds
Level 3 - spell cooldown 60 seconds
Manacost: 160

Notes:
- rebirth occurs 4 seconds after death
- when revived, Leoric slows down all enemies in AoE 900 by 50% for 3 seconds
- Leoric is reborn even if he was silenced before death
- if there is not enough mana (160), then revival does not occur (that is, the hero simply dies and his death is counted in statistics)
- rebirth does not occur if Leoric dies in an impassable area of ​​terrain
- Leoric is reborn with full HP and mana (trump, isn’t it)
- if Leoric has aegis, then reincarnation works (if it’s not on cooldown and there’s enough mana) before him

A comment: a skill that in many cases gives Leoric a second life. It is especially effective against the miner as it practically reduces the effect of its mines to nothing. The main thing is not to run too far into enemy territory alone, otherwise enemies can kill you twice as easily as once, making your ult useless.

5. Skillbuild

Skillbuild No. 1 (patient)

Aimed at gradually transforming Leorica into a killer of everything (sometimes even to the detriment of helping the team). Why don’t we immediately pump up the aura - after all, with its help it will be possible to restore HP on the line? The fact is that the aura also affects creeps - therefore, the meeting point of yours and enemy creeps in any case shifts in the direction of the enemy tower - and since Leoric is very weak before reaching level 6 and he doesn’t even have any super survivability at the first levels It smells - it's not very good. If the opponents against you on the line are weak, then with a pumped-up vampiric aura, the meeting of creeps will almost always take place near the enemy tower - as a result, the enemies will be able to last hit the creeps, and for you this will be problematic due to the danger of coming under fire from the enemy aura. If there are good ranged damage dealers on the line against you (that is, the line turns out to be very tough), then you are unlikely to be able to approach the creeps. Most likely in this case you will only have the opportunity to last hit your creeps near your tower. And if you pump up your aura, then the creep meeting point will no longer be near your tower, but a little further away - that is, with such tough opponents in the lane, you will still not be able to get close to the creeps for a last hit. I hope I clearly explained why, with this build-up option, it’s better to first pump up stats rather than aura.
At level 8, it is still advisable to pump up one level of aura, since at this stage of the game you will not only have to level up in the lane, but sometimes also farm in the forest, and there this aura will be very desirable for restoring your HP. Then there is no particular need to immediately pump up the remaining levels of the aura, since the increase in lifesteal as a percentage is no longer as large as from level 0 to level 1, and mass mix-ups will rarely occur. Instead, it is advisable to start pumping up crits as the power of your attacks becomes very noticeable. And after that, we pump up the remaining levels of the aura - the era of mass mixing is just beginning, in which it is desirable to have the maximum level of pumping the aura to help your team.

Skillbuild No. 2 (pusher)

Used when your team intends to play through a quick push (especially relevant when you have a good pusher in your lane, for example, Chen, Bansha, Druid-Bear). Here, the first thing we do is pump up aura - it will help us push enemy towers as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I think everything is clear with this skill build.

6. Itemorder
What to collect for Leoric

As an initial purchase for the starting 603 gold, we take the following with us to the line:

The hatchet is needed to facilitate the last hit of creeps - a very useful thing for melee heroes.

If you are sure that you will be able to buy a hatchet on the line in the side store (you will be able to get there), then to begin with you can use the following balanced purchase

On the line, one of the first items we buy are boots, which we will later upgrade to PT- for the initial stage of the game, perhaps the best boots for Leorica. If the game is going well and you are sure that you can quickly become a megafarmer and buy travel, then you don’t have to upgrade boots to bots (I’ll explain why later).
Next, we collect several bracers (you can even have 4 pieces) - they suit Leoric very well at this stage of the game. Sometimes in games on Leoric you can see a soul ring at the beginning, but personally I find it difficult to say whether he really needs it.
What else is collected for Leoric (Skeleton) in the middle stage of the game:
Vand- useful if you stand on the line against enemies who often use spells

Urn- gives an increase to HP and mana regeneration rate, and also allows you to accumulate charges for killing enemies (which you can then use to heal yourself or deal damage to enemies). But personally, I don’t collect Leorik’s urn because at this stage of the game he is not yet a good hero killer

Vanguard- some people collect it, but I personally don’t buy it for Leorik because I think that vanguard is well suited for most agilists, but not for security forces

Vladimir- can be collected, but in my opinion, in most cases there are better candidates in the team to collect this item for the team

Sobi musk or basilius- and these are the items I sometimes Leoric I'm collecting it to somehow improve things with the severe lack of mana at the initial stages of the game
Medal- also sometimes great for Leoric

To become a death machine by the end of the game, you need to do Leorica a good farmer because at first he is a bad farmer (there are no skills to quickly destroy creeps). To help Leoric with this shortcoming, one of the following items is good for relatively experienced Dota players: armlet or MoM. For weaker players, one of the following items is a good choice: battlefury(it will improve matters not only with damage, but also with mana regeneration), hyperstone(then can be turned into ribs) and radiance. If you are sure that you can quickly collect one of these items, then you can, as I already wrote, not upgrade the boots to PT, but immediately after assembling one of the items turn them into travel- in this case we will become a real megafarmer, quickly moving along the lines and quickly sweeping away packs of creeps. But remember, if your team loses, no travel, since you will mostly have to hang out near your base, in this case it is better to invest money in increasing your survivability and damage, rather than travel.
Personally, I really like collecting Leorica radiance in pub games. Of course, the game does not always develop in such a way that you can collect this item, but sometimes you can still find opportunities. If we play carefully and remember that we have an ult, then the chances of assembling a radic in pub games are quite good.
Of course, from the very beginning it’s quite difficult to save up for a sacred relic (3800 gold), so at the beginning I usually stock up on several bracers (with them we won’t feel inferior until the middle of the game).

What else is collected by Leorika (Skeleton King):
Ribs- in principle they suit us well

ICD- stacks with our critical damage skill and is well suited against heroes with evasion - Morta, Void, etc.

Tarasik- collected if the team needs a good tank, and of course, Leoric looks better as a damage dealer, not as a tank

Halberd- fits well with almost all Dota security forces, gives much needed evasion in the late game

Desolator- reduces the defense of enemies and thereby increases the damage done to them, but personally I don’t really like this item on Leoric (Skeleton)

Satanik- looks pretty good on Leoric in the late game. Considering our innate ability for vampirism, our lifesteal together with the Satanist turns out to be fantastically large

BKB- if the enemies are very annoying with their magic

Rapier- looks great on Leoric if Roshan’s shield is knocked out - it turns out that you can die twice and be immediately reborn. But if the game goes well, then some people collect the rapier Leorik even without the Roshan shield - after all, he still has one free life from the ult

Refresher- two free revivals in a batch (if there is enough mana, of course). Personally, I never refresh in games on Leorike I haven’t seen it, but in some online guides on Leoric it’s still there

One of the good late-game builds for Leoric would look like this:

A terrifying and almost indestructible death machine, isn’t it?))

What not to collect Leorica:
Sasha and Yasha- its price is inadequate to the benefits Leoric receives from assembling this item. In general, starting from Dota 6.73, I no longer collect Sasha and Yasha for almost any of the Dota security forces - it was replaced by the halberd

Linkin- we are not a magician, so BKB suits us much better for protection against magicians than this item

Butterfly- earlier in the late game it was collected quite often by security forces who had gained a lot of HP, but now this item for security forces is replaced by the same halberd

7. Game tactics

Level 1-6
Leoric is not well suited to go solo mid - he will quickly be overwhelmed there, so it is advisable to go to one of the easy side lanes (bottom for sentinels and top for scorje). If you have a stunner as your allies along the line, then your chances of shedding first blood are quite high. We behave calmly and carefully on the line. If the opponents in the lane are tough, then we try to approach the creeps only for a last hit, but if there are miles of heroes against you in the lane, then you can behave more aggressively. And in any case, we throw stuns carefully and only if you are sure that the stun will help you kill. But in general, we just farm to the maximum and wait for level 6.

Level 6-11
At this stage of the game, we try to continue farming, and also not miss opportunities to push the line (after all, they pay good money for demolishing a tower). At these levels, it’s almost impossible to kill us 1v1, but it’s not worth dying once again, getting into trouble against several enemies. Remember that even 3 wounded enemy heroes pose quite a big threat to us (and our ult will not help much here). Also, at these levels, we begin to slowly connect to ganks if they pass near your farming places - our stun in this case will be useful.

Level 11-16
Now we are strong enough to impose our own rules of the game. We already have good crits and not bad artifacts. Conclusion: we must go and knead our enemies! But it is worth remembering that our enemies are also not immune and have also swayed. Therefore, some precautions still need to be taken. And we don’t gank enemies with full HP alone - in most cases they will run away from us since we only have one stun.
Levels 16-25
Now problems with mana will only arise if there are nearby enemies who can burn mana (see the list of friends and enemies in this guide). At this time, expensive artifacts are being collected and positional warfare begins, as well as the era of pushes/anti-pushes and mass mix-ups. If you leveled up correctly and died a little, then at this time Leoric finally turns into a death machine and we now have one of the key roles in the mixes. But still, you can’t fight alone against five, since the BKB lasts only 10 seconds, and during the rest of the time they will have time to shower you with stuns and hexes.

8. Friends and enemies

This guide will talk about Skeleton King - Leoric. The Skeleton King has enormous power with which he can crush his enemies.

Pros of Leoric.
1. Good increase in strength per level.
2. Good armor at the very beginning.
3. Thanks to the ult we can be reborn.
4. Good stance.

Cons of Leoric.
1. little mana at the very beginning.

Description of Skeleton Kinga skills

The Skeleton King creates a sphere of fire and throws it at the enemy. If hit, the target will take damage and will be stunned and slowed for several seconds.

Leoric is surrounded by a magical aura that grants lifesteal to all melee allied units.

When attacking, the leoric has a small chance of landing a critical hit.

Our ultimate revives the Skeleton King with full health and mana, and all enemies near the revived Leoric will be slowed by 50%.

Skill build description
Upgrading our skill build will depend on whether we stay on the line or go farm the forest.
If we are on the line and there are heroes against us who are constantly trying to hit us, then we pump this way.
1, 3, 5, 7.
2, 4, 13, 14.
8, 9, 10, 12.
6, 11, 16.

Forest skill build.
1, 3, 13, 14.
8, 9, 10, 12.
2, 4, 5, 7.
6, 11, 16.
Plus 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

Itembuild.
The initial purchase will depend on whether we go to farm the forest or not. will increase our damage to neutral units and enemy creeps, , , tango - our skeleton should have this build, if we go to the line, if we choose the forest, then we buy , , tango .

We try to collect the initial artifacts as quickly as possible, which will make our life easier:
- will give a bonus to all characteristics and allow you to accumulate charges every time enemy heroes nearby use skills. Maximum of 15 charges, one charge restores 15 mana and lives.

I increase the regeneration of mana and lives.

Bonus to attack speed and any stat of our choice.

A must have for any self-respecting skeleton. Increases our attack speed, damage, lives and strength.

Reduces the enemy's armor when we attack him.

Bonus to armor and attack speed, also give an aura to reduce enemy armor and increase attack speed and armor of allies.

If the enemy team has a lot of strong magicians and stunners. Also increases damage slightly and gives a bonus to strength.

Bonus to damage and the ability to stun the enemy and deal additional damage to him. Can be upgraded to an abyssal blade, which will give another stun.

Against various heroes with powerful hand damage, for example Ursa, Sven.

A good artifact for us, it also increases the speed of attack, running and the ability to slow down the enemy during an attack.

Against heroes who can evade our attack, or who have collected butterfly.

Bonus to strength, maximum life and regeneration.

If the game drags on for a long time, then it’s not a sin to collect leorica. They will give you a bonus to movement speed and free teleport.

Collected if the enemy cannot kill you. Increases damage greatly, but drops when you die.

Ruthless Wraith king, sometimes referred to as King Leoric. He is a special hero, since his distinguishing feature is only one active skill, but there are no weak heroes in Dota 2 and, as practice shows, Leoric can turn the outcome of a battle with his passive abilities. This is practically a killing machine, as it has a stun, lifesteal and critical hits. And if you still manage to kill him, he will rise again having rebirth after death. Skeleton from Dota 2 has almost everything that any other carry would want. This guide to the wraith king from Dota 2 will describe the principles of playing for this unique hero and methods for assembling artifacts for him.

Wright King's skills in Dota 2

Wraithfire Blast

This ability is one of the best stuns in the game. He can throw it in a fairly large radius and has a very low cooldown, so it is used several times in a batch. It also slows down the enemy and deals dot damage to them. With a reliable support, you can freely pick off enemies early in the game.

Vampiric Aura

The king carries a blade in his hands that can steal the enemy’s vital forces and feed the owner’s aura with them.

This aura will allow us to survive, it is given to you and your allies. But you shouldn’t level it up at an early stage, otherwise our creeps will start pushing the lane too much under the influence of our aura. What will create problems for us is that you will regularly be under the enemy’s tower, which is very dangerous. In addition, your aura stacks with things for vampirism.

Mortal Strike

Crits on our hero are very important, we can inflict gigantic damage despite the fact that we ourselves do not hit very quickly.

Reincarnation

This is exactly the ability with which we can unleash the full potential of our hero. It gives you the ability to resurrect (Yes, just like Aegis), but after that you also slow down your attack and movement speed. Therefore, in battles you can provoke enemies to attack you and kill you.

Sequence of leveling up skills for Wraith King

lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Skill

lvl	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Skill

Guide on how to play as Wright King Dota 2

In this part of the Leoric guide, the principles of the game and methods of assembling the hero will be described, as well as situations that may arise during the game of Dota 2 are illustrated.

Beginning of the game

The idea of ​​the Leoric guide is that, thanks to artifacts, you can make the hero such that your opponents will have to kill you. That is, in other words, you must deal so much damage that it would be necessary to kill you, but also have so much HP that it would be difficult to do this. Then you will really become a headache for the enemy. In words everything is very simple, let's see how to make such a Leoric with the help of our guide.

At the start, we need to buy a stout shield, tango, healing slave and twigs for change. In the event that you know that the hero against you hits hard from his hand, then we buy a quilin blade, instead of twigs and flasks.

Our initial task is to go to the lane with some kind of support, try not to give up and farm well. If a support offers to gank, our potential allows us to do this at the beginning, so feel free to support it, it will give you a good advantage.

By level 6 it is worth collecting threads and sticks. Watch your mana pool carefully, then you will always have mana for reincarnation.

With the advent of the ultimate, you can safely start fights; at this stage your debuff is especially strong, which guarantees the success of the fight. You need to deal as much damage as possible in your first life, but not survive... that is, you need to tank as much as possible and deal damage. In this case, you will be able to successfully complete the batch. In principle, later in the guide on Leoric, the method of behavior in the batch is exactly the same.

You need to carefully look at who needs to be given the stun. Look at the situation and evaluate who will cause more damage to the team. This may not always be a carry.

Mid game

We ask that supports provide vision in order to farm comfortably and easily avoid ganks. You will also need a TP scroll, you will either quickly rush to the team for help or you can make a tpaut in order to get out of a difficult situation.

At this stage of the game you can easily take Roshan, well, know that all team fights depend on the CD of your ultimate, if you have an ultimate, you can freely initiate a fight. But if the ult is on CD, then it’s better to play from defense and farm. After the blade mail, we collect the database or drums. This will allow you to initiate the batches. You will need Drums in a team with Wisp or Ogre Mage. Since the drums will speed you up under the buffs of these heroes and give you the attributes you need.

Next you will need Maelstor and Sacred Relic, we will have to upgrade CP to Radiens. After assembling Maelstorm, if we upgrade it to Mjolnir, he will be able to tank very well, and this art will greatly increase our DPS.

BKB is worth collecting if you play against heroes with mana burn, so they will not let you use your ultimate. And this will hurt in the batch.

End of the game

The Leoric guide is structured so that the transition of a party in Dota 2 to the late game only strengthens this character. Let's explain why. Firstly, your ultimate cooldown will only be 60 seconds. Therefore, in each batch you will have the opportunity to throw a very powerful debuff on your opponents. But let’s take into account that in the late game you should think three times before getting into a fight, since a fight can cost you the game.

In addition, this hero’s byte potential also increases significantly, so you will feel very comfortable in the late game.

We make Radiens the first in the late game, this art will greatly increase our DPS. Next, we collect Mjolnir from Maelstorm, the advantages were described above. Later, you should sell the blademail, as it loses its relevance, and buy an Ebyssal blade. If there are a lot of heroes who have dodges, it’s worth collecting the ICD. And the last art, if there is one, is to buy a Refresher, throwing out the DB and taking the Aegis, you will simply become unkillable.

If you have any questions about playing for this character or something is not clear, then you should watch a video guide on Leoric in Dota 2. Or watch championships with the participation of this hero.

Hero laning

The following table shows which lane the hero feels better on when leveling up.

Hyde on Skeleton King (Leorica) For Dota 2 (update 6.85) . Skeleton King is one of the best late-game players in Dota 2 thanks to his lifesteal aura and his critical damage skill, in addition, in the late-game he has amazing survivability thanks to his ultimate.

1. General description of the hero

Skeleton King (in the first Dota he was more often called Leoric than Skeleton King, in Dota 2 on the contrary - he is more often called Skeleton King than Leoric) is an almost ideal hero for beginners - only one active skill (and quite simple to control) and an ult that grants a second life if the first one was carelessly missed. But at the same time, in the late game, with the right build-up, he is capable of turning into a real death machine, not inferior to the best late-game players of Dota 2. Also, thanks to his ultimate, he counters the miner well (which, however, has not yet appeared in Dota 2, but let's hope that someday will appear) - with its mines, this hellish creature kills us once, but we have an ult that revives us after that.

2. Characteristics

Strength: 22 + 2.9 (main stat)
Agility: 18 + 1.7
Intelligence: 18 + 1.6
Damage: 61-63 - very stable damage, practically no difference from blow to blow
Armor: 2.52
Movement speed: 300
Attack range: 128 (melee)

3. Pros and cons of the hero

+ very easy to control - only one active skill, so it’s good for beginners in Dota 2
+ thanks to its ult it is difficult to kill, which is also very useful for beginners
+ one of the best crits in Dota 2
+ has its own lifesteal aura
+ good initial damage

- at the beginning of the game there is simply a terrifying lack of mana (in the beginning there is only enough to cast your stun once (!!!) once)
- if he couldn’t swing normally, he can benefit the team only with his aura, but otherwise he will be useless

4. Description of abilities

Wraithfire Blast(bolt, stun) - Skeleton King launches a clot of Hell energy accumulated at the end of his sword at the enemy, causing the victim to burn. Deals damage and stuns an enemy for 2 seconds and slows them by 20% for another 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 50 initial damage, 15 damage per second
Level 2 - 100 initial damage, 30 damage per second
Level 3 - 150 initial damage, 40 damage per second
Level 4 - 200 initial damage, 50 damage per second
Cast range: 525
Mana cost: 140
Cooldown: 8 seconds

Notes:
- damage type: magical
- total damage (by level): 80/160/230/300

A comment: our only active skill, but overall quite good, since stun is always better than, say, some simple slowdown skill or other disable. I remember once, even in the chat of one of my games, someone wrote: “The principle of winning in Dota 2 is simple - you need more stunners in the team”)). The only negative is that for such a mentally retarded hero like us, it consumes an extremely large amount of mana, so in the initial stages of the game we will be terribly short of mana.
Enemies can dodge our stun with the help of dagger/manta/eul/bkb, but rest assured that in the pub few will have time to do this anyway))

Vampiric Aura(aura of vampirism, lifesteal) - allied melee heroes and creeps (melee and ranged), including Skeleton King himself, restore health (that is, simply lifesteal) when they attack enemies.

Level 1 - 15% lifesteal
Level 2 - 20% lifesteal
Level 3 - 25% lifesteal
Level 4 - 30% lifesteal
AoE aura: 900
Stacks with the aura from Vladimir.

As of update 6.85, it no longer shows the lifesteal effect on enemies if Wraith King is in the Fog of War or invisible.

A comment: quite a good innate lifesteal (much better than even the lifesteal from Vladimir), will help all melee heroes from our team in mix-ups, with pushes (after all, this aura also affects creeps), and will also help restore the HP of Leoric himself while farming in the forest and on the lines.

Mortal Strike(Critical Hit) - Leoric (Skeleton King) gains a 15% chance to deal critical damage when attacking.

Level 1 - damage is 1.5 times stronger
Level 2 - damage is 2 times stronger
Level 3 - damage is 2.5 times stronger
Level 4 - damage is 3 times stronger

A comment: one of the best critical hits in Dota 2. Thanks to this skill, Skeleton King really inspires fear in enemies in the late game.

Reincarnation(reincarnation, rebirth) - when Skeleton King dies, he can return to life with a full supply of lives and mana. When reincarnated (reborn alive), slows down enemies by 75% (both movement speed and attack speed) with 900 AoE for 5 seconds.

Level 1 - skill cooldown 260 seconds
Level 2 - skill cooldown 160 seconds
Level 3 - skill cooldown 60 seconds
Manacost: 160

With Aghanim collected, allies within a 1200 radius of Wraith King turn into ghosts for 7 seconds upon death, delaying their death. They can continue to attack, use their abilities, etc. When the 5 seconds are up, they die and the kill is awarded to whoever dealt the final blow to them in the first place. The revival aura for allied heroes using Reincarnation with Aghanim's Scepter remains active during the reincarnation of Wraith King.

Notes:
- rebirth occurs 4 seconds after death
- when revived, Skeleton King slows down all enemies in AoE 900 by 50% for 3 seconds
- rebirth occurs even if Leoric was silenced before death
- if there is not enough mana (160), then revival does not occur (that is, the hero simply dies like any other Dota 2 hero)
- rebirth does not occur if Leoric dies in an impassable area of ​​terrain
- Skeleton King is reborn with full HP and mana (trump, isn’t it)
- if Leoric has aegis, then reincarnation works (if it’s not on cooldown and there’s enough mana) before him

A comment: a skill that in many cases gives Leoric a second life. It is especially effective against the miner as it practically reduces the effect of its mines to nothing. The main thing is not to run too far into enemy territory alone, otherwise enemies can kill you twice as easily as once, making your ult useless.

5. Skillbuild

1. Stan
2. Stats
3. Stan
4. Stats/Vampirism
5. Stan
6. Ult
7. Stan
8. Vampirism
9. Crits
10. Crits
11. Ult
12. Crits
13. Crits
14. Vampirism
15. Vampirism
16. Ult
17. Vampirism /stats
18.-25. Stats

This skill build is aimed at gradually turning the Skeleton King into a killer of all living things on the Dota 2 map. Why don’t we immediately upgrade the aura - after all, with its help it will be possible to restore HP on the line? The fact is that the aura also affects creeps - therefore, the meeting point of yours and enemy creeps will in any case shift in the direction of the enemy tower - and since Skeleton King is very weak before reaching level 6 and cannot boast of any super survivability at this time - this is not very good. If the opponents against you on the line are weak, then with a pumped up aura of vampirism, the meeting of creeps will almost always take place near the enemy tower - as a result, the enemies will be able to last hit the creeps, but for you this will be problematic due to the danger of coming under fire from the enemy tower. If there are good ranged damage dealers on the line against you (that is, the line turns out to be very tough), then you are unlikely to be able to approach the creeps (and you will also practically not be able to heal from the aura). Most likely in this case you will only have the opportunity to last hit your creeps near your tower. And if you pump up your aura, then the creep meeting point will no longer be near your tower, but a little further away - that is, with such tough opponents in the lane, you will still not be able to get close to the creeps for a last hit. I hope I clearly explained why, with this build-up option, it’s better to first pump up stats rather than aura.
At level 8, it is still advisable to pump up one level of aura, since at this stage of the game you will not only have to level up in the lane, but sometimes also farm in the forest, and there this aura will be very desirable for restoring your HP. Then there is no particular need to immediately pump up the remaining levels of the aura, since the increase in lifesteal as a percentage is no longer as large as from level 0 to level 1, and mass mix-ups will rarely occur. Instead, it is advisable to start pumping up crits as the power of your attacks becomes very noticeable. And after that, we pump up the remaining levels of the aura - the era of mass mixing is just beginning, in which it is desirable to have the maximum level of pumping the aura to help your team.
Sometimes at level 4, instead of stats, you can pump up an aura - if you are going to soon go to the forest to level up or things are very bad with your HP and your tower is pushing a lot under the pressure of enemies.

It is useful to start pumping up the Skeleton King’s aura of vampirism at the beginning only if he is on a line with one of the good pushers (for example, Spider, Furion, Lycanthrope) and from the very beginning you are aimed at quickly demolishing the enemy’s first tower.

Some argue that Skeleton King can be leveled in the forest from the very beginning of the game (naturally, in this case, the aura of vampirism and crits are maximized, not the stun), but personally I am against this, because Leoric does not have any skills that help kill creeps quickly enough ( for example, his first skill helps in this matter, and his second skill and passive help well), so from the very beginning of the game he will creep in the forest very slowly and because of this he will significantly lag behind the other heroes in the game in terms of levels. I believe that Leoric can go to the forest to level up no earlier than after he reaches level 4-5.

6. Itemorder
What to collect for Skeleton King in Dota 2

After the latest updates in Dota 2, I use the following items as an initial purchase for Skeleton King

The hatchet makes it easier to last hit creeps, 2 packs of tango will allow you to hold out on the line until you reach level 6 against almost any enemies (it will not always be possible to use a kuru at the beginning of the game because there is usually only one for the whole team), but the glove is to effectively use the remaining Spend 150 gold (well, if the game goes hard, you can upgrade it to a bracer).

Since at the initial stage of the game Leoric will be terribly short of mana, and he will need mana not only for the stun, but also for the ult to work (rebirth will not happen without mana), then It is advisable for Skeleton King to buy at least one item that increases the regeneration/reserve of his mana. Such items may include:
basilius- along with the increase in mana regen, it gives another +6 to damage and an aura of increased armor, if no one else in the team wants to collect basil (or items based on it - vladimir, aquila ring), then assembling basil will look good at the initial stage of the game

urn- gives +6 strength and 50% mana regen, and also accumulates charges for the deaths of enemies, which can then be used to heal allies (and yourself too) or cause gradual damage to enemies. But since in the initial stages of the game farming is more important for Skeleton King than participation in ganks, he will most likely accumulate few charges from the urn, so the urn will not be as useful to him as, say, a born ganger and hero killer.

peach- with a further upgrade to battlefury - not bad for mana regen, and for subsequent farming and damage, but a little expensive just for the purpose of increasing mana regen. Sometimes battlefury, of course, looks very good on Leoric, but in most cases I still like to collect mzholnir instead because it significantly increases the attack speed and thereby significantly increases the rate of crits

soul ring- this is the item I like most on Skeleton King to increase the regen of his mana - it’s cheap, and it additionally regenerates HP (which, unlike, say, basilius, makes it easy to stand on the line even with an unpumped aura of vampirism), and even has an active that instantly gives you 150 mana in return for your HP - and this in many cases will save your life, since quite often it happens that you spent all the mana on stuns, you see that you will soon be killed and there is not enough mana for ult - with soul In this case, with the ring you easily solve the problem of your survival because it provides you with enough mana for your ult to work (let me remind you, it requires only 140 mana).

arcana- a rather exotic option, but some on the network claim that with arcana Leoric does not face the problem of lack of mana at all. But it seems to me that collecting arcana for a carry (which is Leoric) is still too much.

So, in most cases, after the initial purchase, I start assembling the Skeleton King on the soul ring line - a regen ring and a mana mask for it can be bought in the side store, but the recipe for assembling it will have to be dragged from the base with a chicken. Also, during the initial standing on the lines, it would be nice to buy boots. If you have enemies on the line who often use spells, then a stick would be a good buy at this stage of the game.

In the future, I like to upgrade boots for Leoric in PT - they give +8 strength and +30% attack speed, which is quite good for this cost. But more advanced dotters can also collect phases for Skeleton Keen - if you know how to use them correctly, then due to their activity they can help you in many situations.

After the soul ring and PT, I usually start collecting Skeleton King Maelstrom (later upgraded to Mzholnir), since it improves farming due to lightning quite well, and increases our attack speed, which is quite good for our critical damage skill. Personally, I think that if a hero has some kind of passive that gives some effect when attacking from his hand (bash/crit/slow, etc.), then it is more priority for him to increase attack speed rather than attack power .

But there is another good item for the mid-game that looks great on Leoric - this is the armlet (although it was fixed in the latest updates, it is still quite good on Leoric). But it is worth collecting it just like the phases for more experienced dotters (not beginners) who know how to handle it. What to collect first in this case: armlet or mzholnir - here I find it difficult to answer because a lot depends on the situation in the game.

Also, Midas would look good on Skeleton King - but it is very rarely possible to collect it for him in the first 8-9 minutes of the game (well, unless the support on the line with you is good), and later there is no particular point in collecting it - it will not pay off. An item like drums would also be a good fit on the Skeleton King - it gives quite a lot of bonuses for its price, but usually the team has more suitable candidates for assembling this item.

Some advise collecting Skeleton King Vladimir - like it gives mana regen, and his lifesteal aura stacks with our vampirism aura, but in my opinion this item will be in demand on Leoric only if your team is aimed at winning the game using fast pushing tactics.

So, after assembling the soul ring, PT and maelstrom (and possibly an armlet), I start saving up for hyperstone to upgrade the maelstrom to mjolnir - with it our attack speed will be colossal and crits will fly out quite often. If there is a lack of survivability at this stage of the game, then before buying a hyperstone I usually collect a sasha (in the late game it can be upgraded to a halberd) or a BKB (useful if enemy magicians are very annoying). Next, there are two options for building up the Skeleton King - either start collecting a tarasik (if the team lacks tanks), or a cuirass (if the team lacks damage dealers and no one else in the team plans to collect a cuirass). In most cases, of course, it is useful for Skeleton King to collect both of these items - the only question is which of them to collect first.

What else can you collect Skeleton King in the late game:

Halberd- due to evasion, it is well suited for almost all Dota 2 security forces in the late game

Moon shard- with it our crits will fly out much more often, it is logical to collect instead of a cuirass if someone else in the team collects the cuirass

ICD- can be collected if the enemy team has at least a couple of heroes with evasion (either their own or from items)

Desolator- personally, I prefer mzholnir as an orb on Skeleton King, but in some cases this item may be more useful, for example, if our team already has heroes capable of reducing the armor of enemies with their skills (Slardar, Templar, Dazzle)

Satanik- stacks with our aura of vampirism, but does not stack with lightning from Mzholnir, although some still like to collect these 2 orbs together (in this case, in 25% of cases, lightning from Mzholnir will fly out when hit, and in other cases, lifesteal from Satanic will work )

Rapier- you can almost fearlessly collect if Roshan’s shield is knocked out (that is, in fact, in this case we get 2 additional lives in the batch, and maybe 3 if the batch lasts more than 60 seconds). Although sometimes, when your team is dominant, Skeleton King's rapier is collected even if he does not have an aegis.

Daedalus- sometimes they collect Leoric, but keep in mind that since Leoric has his own crits, the effectiveness of crits from Daedalus on him decreases to some extent

Abyssal- can be collected if you have already collected mzholnir and cuirass, which significantly increase the attack speed of Skeleton King. Without them, there is little point in collecting because Leoric’s own attack speed is low. Although in the deep late game it can still be useful to stop dangerous damage dealers, especially since his stun penetrates BKB and Guli’s avatar

Radiance- earlier, when I just started playing Dota, I really loved this item on Leoric, because it provided him with excellent farming and therefore gave him the opportunity to get ready for the late game “as it should.” But, apparently, in those days my rivals were too weak since they allowed me to save up for this item relatively painlessly. This artifact is really very good if you have time to collect it in the first half of the game, but with adequate opponents it is very difficult to do this because in the initial stages of the game the farmer from Leoric is simply useless.

Aganim- with the latest upgrade to our hero’s ult, sometimes in the deep late game it can be useful to collect this item when the battle with pushes is life or death.

7. Game tactics

Level 1-6
Skeleton King is not well suited for going solo mid - he will quickly get crushed there, so it is advisable to go to one of the light side lanes (bottom for light and top for darkness). If you have a stunner among your allies along the line, then your chances of shedding first blood are quite high (the most likely chances of this are when you and your ally reach 3rd levels). We behave calmly and carefully on the line. If the opponents in the lane are tough, then we try to approach the creeps only for a last hit, but if there are miles of heroes against you in the lane, then you can behave more aggressively. And in any case, we throw stuns carefully and only if you are sure that the stun will help you kill. But in general, we just farm to the maximum and wait for level 6.

Level 6-11
At this stage of the game, we try to continue farming, and also not miss opportunities to push the line (after all, they pay good money for demolishing a tower). At these levels, it’s almost impossible to kill us 1v1, but it’s not worth dying once again, getting into trouble against several enemies. Remember that even 3 wounded enemy heroes pose quite a big threat to us (and our ult will not help much here). Also, at these levels, we begin to slowly connect to ganks if they pass near your farming places - our stun in this case will be useful.

Level 11-16
Now we are strong enough to impose our own rules of the game. We already have good crits and good artifacts. Conclusion: we must go and knead our enemies! But it is worth remembering that our enemies are also not immune and have also swayed. Therefore, some precautions still need to be taken. And we don’t gank enemies with full HP alone - in most cases they will run away from us since we only have one stun.

Levels 16-25
Now problems with mana will only arise if there are nearby enemies who can burn mana (see the list of friends and enemies in this guide). At this time, expensive artifacts are collected and a positional battle begins, as well as the era of pushes/anti-pushes and mass mix-ups. If you leveled up correctly and died a little, then at this time Skeleton King finally turns into a death machine and we now have one of the key roles in the mix-ups. But still, it’s not worth going out to fight one against five, since the BKB lasts only 10 seconds upon the first activation (and with subsequent activations even less, if mass mixing occurs very often, then sometimes you have to buy the BKB a second time to return its duration to 10 seconds again ), and for the rest of the time you will be bombarded with stuns and hexes and easily killed.