Hero
Animations
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This page is a memorial for the Skeleton King, Wraith King's original design. For the current design, see Wraith King. For the arcana, see The One True King.
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More pages for my Black Grimoire!
This article or section contains content that has been removed from the game or store, or has never been released. It exists solely for archival purposes.
Ostarion, the Skeleton King, is a powerful melee strength hero, capable of taking plenty of damage before dying. His ultimate allows him to rise again, acting like an Aegis of the Immortal, making him especially difficult to kill. He also has a nuke that deals reliable damage and stuns, and he is able to stay in his lane longer because of his passive lifesteal aura. He can become a hard carry in later stages of the game depending on his farm.
Bio
▶️ "Bone is strongest where it's mended."
Lore:
The victim of a longevity spell that backfired, the Skeleton King Ostarion has built an empire from the bones of his enemies. He lives only to extend his reach, for as long as he is perpetually building and adding to his domain he cannot die. The walls of his palace are formed of fired bone; the streets are paved with bones of every sort of creature and every enemy; and even the wood and other natural features of his land have been swept away and replaced with replicas formed of bone. From the Ivory Forest to Ostarion's towering Throne of Bone, nothing happens in the Empire of Bones without the full knowledge of its Skeleton King.
Voice:
Abilities
Skeleton King fires a sphere of hellfire at an enemy unit, dealing damage and stunning, then dealing damage over time and slowing the target.
Cast Range: 525
Base Damage: 50/100/150/200
Damage over Time: 15/30/40/50
Move Speed Slow: 20%
Slow Duration: 2
Stun Duration: 2
Ostarion calls on his hellish lineage, laying waste to his opponents.
- Hellfire Blast travels at a speed of 1000.
- Deals the base damage instantly upon hitting, and the damage over time in 1 second intervals, starting immediately after the stun.
- Can deal up to 80/160/230/300 damage (before reductions).
Ability
Aura
Aura
Affects
Allies
Allies
Nearby friendly melee and ranged units gain HP based on their damage dealt when attacking enemy units.
- The lifesteal is not a Unique Attack Modifier, so it stacks additively with all other sources of lifesteal.
- Cannot lifesteal off of siege creeps, wards, buildings and allied units.
- The aura's buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- Does not affect invulnerable allies.
- Unlike other critical strikes, this one also works against wards.
- Mortal Strike uses pseudo-random distribution.
- The sound and particles play upon start of the attack, not when the attack lands.
- Increases attack damage by an average of 7.5%/15%/22.5%/30%.
Reincarnation
Ability
Passive
Passive
Affects
Self
Self
Skeleton King's bones reform after death, causing him to resurrect when killed in battle. Upon death, enemy units in the area will have movement and attack speed slowed by 50%.
Slow Radius: 900
Effect Delay: 3
Move Speed Slow: 50%
Attack Speed Slow: 50
Slow Duration: 4
Conspirators of the Skeleton King wonder why he never stays dead.
- Skeleton King does not revive if he does not have enough mana.
- If Skeleton King has an Aegis of the Immortal, Reincarnation triggers first, considering it is off cooldown and Skeleton King has sufficient mana.
- Reincarnation cannot be prevented in any way as long as Skeleton King has enough mana and the ability is off cooldown.
- Slow is applied at the beginning of the revival, not the end.
Recommended items
Starting items:
- Healing Salve or a tangoes provide Ostarion with a decent amount of regeneration in the laning phase.
- Clarity gives Ostarion more opportunities to set up kills early on with Hellfire Blast.
- Two Iron Branches give Skeleton King enough mana pool to cast Hellfire Blast two times at level 1.
- Quelling Blade is an excellent starting item for Ostarion as it allows him to get last hits easier. It also makes Mortal Strike hit harder against creeps and increases the effectiveness of Vampiric Aura when attacking creeps.
Early-game items:
- Magic Stick can sometimes be the difference between a death and a kill. Its active usually grants enough mana to sustain Reincarnation.
- Boots of Speed provide an excellent boost of speed for any hero.
- Helm of Iron Will can be built into an Armlet of Mordiggian later on and gives extra survivability in the form of armor and health regeneration.
Core items:
- Magic Wand 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 branches, making room for new items.
- Power Treads increases Ostarion's damage per second; attribute switching can also make his limited mana pool go much further if the treads are switched to intelligence.
- Armlet of Mordiggian is Ostarion's main DPS item. It is also easy to negate the health drain with the help of Vampiric Aura.
Situational items:
- Desolator makes Ostarion's physical attacks to hit harder, especially against targets with already low armor. Vampiric Aura also benefits greatly from it, as it heals based on dealt damage after armor reduction.
- Black King Bar negates Ostarion's main weakness: being chain-stunned and then burst down after Reincarnation. Furthermore, as long as he is not disabled, he can keep hitting enemies, healing himself up with his aura.
- Assault Cuirass increases Ostarion's damage output by increasing his attack speed and further reducing enemy armor. The aura from this item also increases his team's armor and attack speed. Since Skeleton King usually survives longer, the item's aura provides more impact.
- Abyssal Blade not only gives Ostarion some health and a decent attack damage boost, it also gives his attacks a chance to bash and, on top of Hellfire Blast, another active stun which also pierces spell immunity, which is very handy as he is easy to run away from if his own stun is on cooldown.
- Heart of Tarrasque gives Ostarion a great health, health regeneration and attack damage boost, making him even harder to kill and harder to ignore.
- Heaven's Halberd gives Ostarion some evasion against enemies which rely on their physical attacks, and lets him cut off an enemy carry from their primary source of damage for a while.
- Monkey King Bar increases Ostarion's attack damage, counters enemies with evasion abilities or items such as Butterfly or Heaven's Halberd, and provides him with a high chance to interrupt channeling spells when Hellfire Blast is not an option.
- Divine Rapier is an excellent item for Ostarion to get due to it not dropping if Reincarnation activates upon death, thus making it less likely for him to lose it. When carrying the Aegis of the Immortal, Ostarion has to die 3 times to lose the Rapier. The great damage boost also increases his endurance by improving his lifesteal aura's returns.
Gameplay
On the millennial solstice known as Wraith-Night, Ostarion stood frozen amid the carnage, absorbing innumerable souls as his champions sacrificed their lives for the King. Now brimming with Wraith Essence, Ostarion immobilizes his adversaries with Wraithfire Blast, stunning and searing them over time. His greatsword smashes foes in one Mortal Strike, sapping their essence to feed his Vampiric Aura. Only fools trust the erratic reports of Ostarion's death. For when slain, the wraith energies that bind his body begin to reconstitute his parts, joining limb to torso until the Wraith King's Reincarnation comes full circle. | |
Roles: | Durable Carry Disabler |
Complexity: | |
Adjectives: | Legs ( 2 )
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Audio
History
Equipment
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Trivia
- In DotA, Ostarion was known as King Leoric. Leoric was a recurring boss in the Diablo franchise, another game made by Blizzard.[1] He is an iconic boss in Diablo; he reprises his role in Diablo III, through the alias "Skeleton King."
- Skeleton King was re-introduced into Dota2 with The International 10 Battle Pass, as an Arcana for Wraith King.
- The arcana strongly resembles the old Skeleton King design, using its skeleton and red fire theme, instead of wraiths and green fire.
- The custom voice also resembles the old voice more, and introduces many of the old voice lines which were altered or left out completely on Wraith King.
- A low-violence version of the arcana exists as well, which also resembles the old low-violence version of the Skeleton King's old design.
Gallery
Low Violence model