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Skeleton King

Posted on by Manh Vinh
skeleton king dota 2
10
Oct

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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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

Ostarion, the Skeleton King

▶️ “Bone is strongest where it’s mended.”

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.

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 Animation: 0.35+0.5

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

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140

Slow persists and attempts to damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Blocked upon impact.

Modifiers

Hellfire Blast: Dispellable with any dispel.

Stunned: Dispellable with strong dispels.

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

Notes:

  • 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).

Vampiric Aura

WV

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

Radius: 900

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

Modifiers

Vampiric Aura Buff: Dispellable with death only.

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

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

Proc Chance: 15%

Critical Damage: 150%/200%/250%/300%

Red critical numbers are before illusion and armor reduction.

The power to crush a skull.

Notes:

  • 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%.

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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

260/160/60

140

The slow does not affect spell immune enemies. Slow persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

Reincarnation: Dispellable with death only.

Reincarnate Slow: Dispellable with any dispel.

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

Notes:

  • 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.
  • Revives with full health and mana. Spells and items are not refreshed.
  • Slow is applied at the beginning of the revival, not the end.

Recommended items

Starting items:

Early-game items:

Core items:

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

Audio

History

Equipment

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

  • Splash artwork

References

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Scores: 4.3 (11 votes)

Manh Vinh