Wraith King/Guide

Carry
Wraith King is most often played as a farming position 1. Unlike other traditional carries like or, he is equipped with a reliable stun and slow from the start with Wraithfire Blast. Therefore, paired up with an average support, your laning phase should have high kill potential from the get-go. To increase the likelihood you score a couple of kills, try to keep the creep equilibrium somewhere between your tier 1 tower and the intersection, in order to provide plenty of hiding spots for your support to initiate from the shadows.

One point in Wraithfire Blast is enough to do the job. A few points in Vampiric Spirit will allow you to quickly farm the jungle with skeletons or push down towers with your team. Then max Mortal strike to get the most from your lifesteal and deal deathblows to squishy supports in teamfights.

General

 * Due to Wraith King's sustainability, he usually should initiate fights and tank up some damage first. Sometimes, it is great to even die first, triggering Reincarnation which heavily slows every nearby enemy. At this point, the enemies usually either prepare to take him down again, or try to escape when they can't take him down a second time. This is the perfect opportunity for Wraith King's team to follow up and catch the enemies off-guard.
 * Besides these, dying last as Wraith King basically just wastes his Reincarnation, since he cannot do much on his own after respawning besides dying a second time right away.


 * Wraithfire Blast is a decent nuke early on, which also allows Wraith King to stun and slow at the same time. A perfect tool for ganks and team fights, it has a relatively low cooldown, but its relatively high mana cost does not allow it to be used frequently. It should be saved for when it is really needed.


 * Vampiric Spirit gives Wraith King substantial lifesteal which is also applied to his skeleton army. This ability allows you to sustain your HP in lane just by hitting creeps. Combined with Mortal Strike, a single attack can cause large bursts of healing for Wraith King. This makes him especially tanky as long as he is able to continue attacking his target.
 * The skeleton army produced by Vampiric Spirits' active ability allow Wraith King to quickly farm the jungle or siege towers with teammates. Additionally, casting Wraithfire Blast after casting Vampiric Spirit will cause all of the summoned skeletons to attack the Wraithfire Blast target. This makes for an excellent kill combo on squishy supports. Remember to bring Dust of Apperance if they have a Glimmer Cape!
 * Units killed by skeletons do not count toward building new skeleton charges. Wraith King has to land the last hits himself to gain charges.
 * Skeletons do not block creep camps in the jungle from spawning.
 * Since Wraith King has limited control over his skeleton army, avoid using Vampiric Spirit near enemies who can clear them for gold and experience, like those with cleave.
 * Watch out for abilities like and  that apply dispel in an area to vaporize skeletons after they have reincarnated.


 * Wraith King's Mortal Strike is cooldown based, so higher attack speed won't proc more crits. Instead, you can buy items that reduce enemies armor, like, to deal more crit damage.


 * Reincarnation has quite a high mana cost for Wraith King's rather low mana pool and regeneration. It is best to always keep his mana pool high enough for Reincarnation to trigger, or to make sure that enough charges of his are present in case of an emergency.
 * Another possible solution to this problem is to have a, since it grants enough mana to sustain Reincarnation's mana cost when already having at least some left-over mana, unless the enemies have mana burning capabilities. The health loss from Soul Ring's active ability is usually not a problem thanks to Vampiric Aura.
 * It is generally beneficial for Wraith King to die first during a gank, as the slow only activates upon his death, which will greatly benefit his other team members. This prevents the enemies from effectively escaping or attacking back, allowing Wraith King's allies to pick off their targets with ease.
 * Additionally, if Wraith King is the last to die, the benefit of the slow is greatly reduced, as there would be no allies around to make the most of the slow.
 * The bonus works even while Wraith King is reincarnating himself. Allies will still enter Wraith form so long as they are within range of Wraith King when they perish.

Items
Starting items:
 * helps Wraith King sustain his health against lane harassment.
 * also restores health to Wraith King.
 * allows Wraith King to get last hits easier. It also makes Mortal Strike hit harder against creeps which makes you clean camps and creep waves faster. It increases the effectiveness of Vampiric Aura when attacking creeps as well. It can be used to cut trees and move faster from one camp to another while farming the jungle.
 * gives attributes like intelligence so Wraith King will have enough mana to use Wraithfire Blast twice at level 1.
 * provides passive health regeneration and burst mana to use Wraithfire Blast.

Early game:
 * can sometimes be the difference between a death and a kill. Its active usually grants enough mana to sustain Reincarnation. It also combos with toggle, as one can deactivate, use Magic Stick, and reactivate buying enough time for it to provide the 500 bonus hp.
 * provide an excellent boost of speed for any hero.
 * sustains mana when jungling, where it is unlikely to be canceled by hero damage.

Mid game:
 * Rushing this item after upgrading your boots will allow Wraith King to become an ultra-fast farmer and it provides incredible teamfight presence, which is made longer thanks to his reincarnation. It helps killing weak units to stack skeleton charges, and the AoE burn will also disable blink daggers on fleeing enemies during chases.
 * provides the same kind of benefit as the Magic Stick does, but it also provides a small amount of attributes. It makes great use of the earlier bought Iron Branches, making room for new items.
 * Gives armor and damage to help contest his lane. Increased speed and phased movement allow Wraith King to stay on targets in fights when Wraithfire blast is on cooldown.
 * provides attack speed and attribute switching to make his limited mana pool go much further if the treads are switched to intelligence before casting a spell.
 * provides lots of damage at a reasonable cost, while the health drain is mitigated by Vampiric Aura and Reincarnation. This item synergizes greatly with Desolator, causing larger crits and heals with Mortal Strike and Vampiric Spirit.
 * solves Wraith King's mobility issues, letting him engage and chase more effectively and giving him an escape after Reincarnating.

Late game:
 * shreds armor, boosting the damage output of Wraith King and his skeletons while improving Vampiric Aura's lifesteal.
 * grants attack speed and can efficiently clear out hordes of illusions and/or summoned units.
 * solves Wraith King's armor problems and gives bonus damage output to him, his teammates, and his skeletons.
 * grants spell immunity to protect Wraith King against disables and mana break, so he can survive and output damage.
 * gives Wraith King excellent amount of Health pool and regeneration, makes him difficult to kill, besides he also has Reincarnation which causes a long effective presence in fights.

Situational items:
 * provides decent armor and damage boost, while discouraging enemies from focusing and kiting him.
 * gives Wraith King strength, evasion, and status resistance to tank up, and lets him disarm an enemy carry, shutting down their primary source of damage output.
 * gives Wraith King high lockdown potential in combination with Wraithfire Blast, and the bash lets him manfight more effectively.
 * can guarantee an ultimate cast or some extra damage for Wraith King and his teammates, but its stats are of little benefit to Wraith King himself.
 * is highly situational, as it allows to potentially use Reincarnation twice in a fight allowing him to deal damage for longer periods of time.
 * grants damage that synergizes with Vampiric Aura and Mortal Strike, and is not dropped if Reincarnation activates; combine with Aegis of the Immortal and/or Refresher Orb for best results.

Wraith King/Guia Wraith King/Руководство 冥魂大帝/攻略