Skeleton King

Skeleton King 22 + 2.9 18 + 1.7 13 + 1.6
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 120 604 1484 2386 2760 +0.25 +2.45 +6.51 +10.61 +12.26 Mana 75 231 495 831 951 +0 +0.65 +1.77 +3.17 +3.67 Armor 3.52 6.52 10.49 15.32 17.07 Magic Resist 25% 26.3% 28.54% 31.34% 32.34% Damage Block - Damage 1 1 23 23 63 63 104 104 121 121 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.69/s 0.83/s 1/s 1.07/s Attack Range U 128 ( ? ) Attack Speed 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.56 + 0.44 Projectile Speed Move Speed 300 ( 330) Turn Rate 0.4 Collision Size 27 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Default Internal Not Provided

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 stun, another nuke which temporarily drains the life of his opponents for himself, and is also able to stay in his lane longer because of his passive lifesteal aura. He can become a hard carry in later stages of game depending on his farm.

Bio

Ostarion, the Skeleton King

▶️ "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:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Abilities

Hellfire Blast

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Skeleton King fires a sphere of hellfire at an enemy unit, dealing damage and stunning, then dealing damage over time and slowing the target.

Slow: 20%

Slow Duration: 4 Seconds

Stun Duration: 2 Seconds

Damage over Time: 15/30/40/50

Damage: 50/100/150/200

Range: 525

 8

 140

Ostarion calls on his hellish lineage, laying waste to his opponents.

• Deals 80 / 160 / 230 / 300 total damage.
• 2 seconds stun, then 2 seconds slow and damage

Vampiric Aura

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Allies

Nearby friendly melee units gain HP based on their damage dealt when attacking enemy units.

Lifesteal: 15%/20%/25%/30%

Radius: 900

Skeleton King's blade drains the marrow of bones into his own kingdom.

• Fully stacks with other life-steal effects and with orb effects.

Mortal Strike

EC

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Damage
HP Removal

Skeleton King passively gains a chance to deal bonus damage on an attack. When activated, Mortal Strike steals a percentage of the max HP from the target hero, giving it to Skeleton King for the duration, and returning it after. While Mortal Strike is active, the passive component is disabled.

Critical Chance: 15%

Critical Damage: 1.25×/1.75×/2.25×/2.75×

Max HP Drain: 20%

Drain Duration: 7

 25

 30

The power to crush a skull.

• Critical strike affects mechanical units (such as Siege Creeps, Plague Wards, Serpent Wards, the Death Ward, Tombstone and some others).
• Doesn't affect max HP, just temporarily drains then returns it.

Reincarnation

RR

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Ability
N/A

Affects
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 30%.

Reincarnation Time: 3 Seconds

 260/160/60

 140

Conspirators of the Skeleton King wonder why he never stays dead.

• Skeleton King won't revive if he doesn't have enough mana.
• If Skeleton King has an Aegis and Reincarnation off cooldown, Reincarnation will trigger first.
• Revives with full HP and Mana.
• Slows movement and attack speed of enemies in a 700 radius by 30% for 4 seconds
• Will revive even if silenced on death.

Recommended items

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Equipment

Skeleton King Equipment (expand sets) Sets Regalia of the Bonelord Set

Tips

• Hellfire Blast is a very good nuke, allowing you to disable and slow at the same time. A perfect tool for ganks and team fights, it has a relatively low cooldown, so spam it if you have enough mana.
• Learning Vampiric Aura during laning phase will shift the creeps equilibrium and you'll be forced to farm and fight under enemy tower. Good for pushing, but hurts your farm and puts you and your allies in disadvantageous position.
• Mortal Strike's passive drastically increases Skeleton King's melee DPS. Synergizes well with Vampiric Aura, healing Skeleton King a big chunk of health every time he crits.
• Mortal Strike's active effect also helps in making ganks faster by softening the opponent up, and can even be finished off with Hellfire Blast's DoT. Don't use it too early though, or the enemy might heal back right before dying!
• Ideally, during late game, Mortal Strike's active should be saved for the last enemy in a team fight, because when it's on cooldown it will severely cut down Skeleton King's damage output.
• Always make sure to save some mana for Reincarnation, if you have less than 140 mana, you will not reincarnate. Soul Ring is handy for this purpose.
• Hellfire Blast is usually maxed first and Reincarnation is taken as soon as possible. It's also recommended to take two levels of Stats on early levels to improve Skeleton King's mana pool and health. Alternatively take two levels of crit for slightly more dps early on, only do so if you really know what you're doing with Skeleton King though.
• Armlet of Mordiggian and Soul Ring are commonly built for Skeleton King because Vampiric Aura allows him to heal up quickly after taking damage from these items. With both items, at very low health, you can activate Armlet, then Soul Ring, then quickly deactivate and reactivate Armlet for what is essentially a free Soul Ring use.
• Activating Phase Boots and Drum of Endurance at the same time will give you enough mobility to chase and kill.
• Grabbing a Force Staff can help make up for Skeleton King's lack of mobility.
• Divine Rapier is a very strong item on Skeleton King, allowing him to take advantage of his great survivability (from Reincarnation and Vampiric Aura).
• Refresher Orb is situational. It allows you to potentially Reincarnate twice in a fight allowing you to be that much more useful in a team fight as well as solving all of your mana issues.
• Although picking up the Aegis of the Immortal may seem redundant on Skeleton King, it is recommended if he is his team's main carry. This way, he has 3 lives to expend, and unlike Reincarnation, the Aegis doesn't require mana.
• It seems counter-intuitive, but you should try to initiate or try to soak all the damage; if you are the last to die, nobody will be able to help you when you proc Reincarnation!
• Although some people think that Divine Rapier is risky even with Skeleton King, combining it with his passive critical and vampiric aura allows him to deal insane damage and heal insane amounts of HP, making it also an excellent item to improve his already enormous survivability.

Trivia

• In DotA, Ostarion was known as King Leoric. Leoric was a recurring boss in the Diablo franchise, another game made by Blizzard. He is an iconic boss in Diablo; he reprises his role in Diablo III, through the alias "Skeleton King."

Update history

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Balance changelog

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Replaced Abilities

Critical Strike

EC

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Skeleton King gains a chance to deal bonus damage on an attack.

Critical Chance: 15%

Critical Damage: 1.25×/1.75×/2.25×/2.75×

The power to crush a skull.

Hellfire Blast (Old)

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Skeleton King fires a sphere of hellfire at an enemy unit, dealing damage and stunning.

Stun Duration: 2 Seconds

Damage: 100/150/200/250

Range: 525

 8

 140

Ostarion calls on his hellish lineage, laying waste to his opponents.

Gallery

• 

  Splash artwork

See also

• Skeleton King responses

Voiced by Dave Fennoy Batrider (Responses) Ember Spirit (Responses) Faceless Void (Responses) Huskar (Responses) Jakiro (Responses) Skeleton King (Responses) Venomancer (Responses) Wraith King (Responses) Ostarion, the One True King (Arcana Responses) IMDB Wikipedia

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