Dota 2 - Wraith King (Skeleton King) Build Guide

BIO
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.

INTRODUCTION
Skeleton King is a hero that have 2 lives. When he die, he have a skill to reincarnate. This sounds unfair for another heroes. But, this is the reality. If you face Skeleton King, you must face his 2 lives. Actually you can kill him once if he has less than 140 mana or if his ultimate is still in cooldown.
This hero also has high physical damage and lifesteal aura.
And he also has a nice single targetted stun to chase enemies.
This hero is also a tanker that tank any damage in a brutal teamfight.

PROS	CONS
Have 2 lives	Needs some mana to reincarnate
Have a nice lifesteal aura	Low mana pool
Have a nice critical strike	Low attack speed
Tanky	Don't have a skin
Have a high damage

ROLE

Melee - Durable - Carry - Disabler

STATS

LEVEL	1	15	25
HIT POINTS	568	1,339	2,270	SIGHT RANGE	1800 / 800
MANA	169	460	928	ATTACK RANGE	128
DAMAGE	54-56	95-97	144-146	MISSILE SPEED	N/A
ARMOR	4	7	12

ABILITIES
1. Hellfire Blast

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

MANA COST: 140/140/140/140	COOLDOWN: 8
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET	AFFECTS: ENEMY UNITS
DAMAGE: MAGICAL	DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200
STUN DURATION: 2	SLOW: 20%
DAMAGE OVER TIME: 15 / 30 / 40 / 50	SLOW DURATION: 2

Ostarion calls on his hellish lineage, laying waste to his opponents.
This skill is your main skill to stun the enemies. With this skill, you can gank enemy, you can disable 1 enemy in a teamfight, or you can chase enemy easily and attack him while he is being stunned by this skill.
I believe you should max this skill first because it will be useful to stun a single enemy in ganking.
Or you can defend yourself by using this skill to enemy whose chasing you.

2. Vampiric Aura

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

ABILITY: PASSIVE, AURA	AFFECTS: ALLIES
LIFESTEAL: 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%

Skeleton King's blade drains the marrow of bones into his own kingdom.
Help you and your teammates with a lifesteal ability for melee units. Creeps also get benefits from this skill.
This skill will helps you in jungling on early game. With a lifesteal, and also with your 3rd skill, critical strike you can jungle pleasantly.
Can helps allies in a teamfight for survivability if he keeps attacking.
You don't get benefit from this skill if you are not attacking, so keep attacking and keep alive

3. Mortal Strike

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.

MANA COST: 30/30/30/30	COOLDOWN: 25
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET	CRITICAL DAMAGE: 125% / 175% / 225% / 275%
AFFECTS: ENEMY HEROES	CRITICAL CHANCE: 15%
DAMAGE: HP REMOVAL	MAX HP DRAIN: 20%
DRAIN DURATION: 7

The power to crush a skull.
Will gives you a high chance of doing crtitical attack. This critical attack deal tons of physical damage that helps you in jungling, chasing, and killing enemies in teamfights. You are a true carry with this skill.

When you activate this skill, you temporarily steal some of tnemy's HP. a nice ability to last hit your opponent

4. Reincarnation

Skeleton King's bones reform after death, causing him to resurrect when killed in battle. Upon Reincarnation, enemy units in the area will be slowed by 30%.

MANA COST: 140/140/140	COOLDOWN: 260/160/60
ABILITY: PASSIVE	REINCARNATION TIME: 3 / 3 / 3

Conspirators of the Skeleton King wonder why he never stays dead.
Makes you to have 2 lives. This is a wonderful skill. This is like your team plays with 6 heros because you have 2 lives. You can deal more damage because of this skill, you can tank more damage with this skill.

This skill have a fundamental weakness. If you heve less than 140 mana, you can't reincarnate, so mana burn will makes you can't reincarnate, some heroes like Anti Mage or Ezalor that can burn mana will make you can't reincarnate. Diffusal blade is also harmful for you because diffusal blade will drain your mana and makes you can't reincarnate.

You can also gives your first life to save your friend's lives. Or you can give it to initiate a teamfight.

In situation when you have less than 280 mana, it's recommend for you to better die if Reincarnation is not in cooldown, because if you use the Hellfire blast, you cannot Reincarnate because lack of mana.

SKILLBUILD

Level 1: Hellfire Blast
Level 2: Critical Strike
Level 3: Hellfire Blast
Level 4: Vampiric Aura
Level 5: Hellfire Blast
Level 6: Reincarnation
Level 7: Hellfire Blast
Level 8: Critical Strike
Level 9 : Critical Strike
Level 10: Critical Strike
Level 11: Reincarnation
Level 12: Vampiric Aura
Level 13: Vampiric Aura
Level 14: Vampiric Aura
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Reincarnation
Level 17-25: Stats

Why maxed Hellfire Blast first? Hellfire Blast is your main skill for ganking and for teamfights.

When ganking you should use this to your enemy and makes him get stunned so your friends can
attack him easily.

When in a teamfight, you should use this to disable 1 target and he can't do anything for 2 sedonds.

Why maxed Critical Strike before Vampiric Aura? Critical strike is important skill for last hitting and harassing. Also makes you can knock down enemy easily while he is being stunned by your Hellfire Blast.

You will deal about 2 times of your normal damage and makes your opponent on low HP.

STRATEGY
Early Game
You should try to last hits every creeps to earn gold fast and get your items fast. You are also a carry, so you need items. You can also doing jungling and kill neutrals, you are able to do this because you have vampiric aura and critical strike. If you want to steal firstblood, gank enemies with your Hellfire blast, and hope you get critical attack with your right click. And with your friends, I believe you can at least get firstblood or kill

Mid Game
You have 2 options in mid game.
1. Ganking
2. Farming

If you are feel more comfortable with ganking, then get ready to find opponent together with your friends. Your main skill in ganking is Hellfire Blast. You should come from the jungle and immediately use Hellfire Blast to stun your enemy. And then you and your friends attack and use skill to him until he die. Just repeat this and you will be safe.
If your friends is in danger, you can give up your first life and save your friend. Remeber you have 2 lives. Remember to keep your mana above 140, or if you feel the enemys is 1 Hellfire Blast away from die, you can use that mana for the Hellfire Blast.

If you feel you need to farm for the glory of the late game, that's ok for you. You have the potential for being a good carry. Just farm fast and earn items fast. I recommend Hand of Midas for fast leveling and gold flow. I recommend you to kill ancient creeps constantly each minutes they respawn. With this strategy, you will be the main damage dealer for your team. Your weapon is your critical strike. You will deal lots of damage for your enemies.

If you have aegis of the immortal, you will have 3 lives, and that's so hard for your opponent to kill you 3 times. And that's your chance to win the game.

Late Game
In late game I believe you should already have some nice items for your DPS output. You will deal lots of damages in teamfights as a carry. Be focused on a single target and change target if he dies, or he already far away to chase. You can Hellfire Blast him to makes him get stunned and easy to kill.

Be brave with this hero. You are a durable DPS-er. I believe you can survive and keep killing each enemy in teamfight.

ITEM BUILD
1. Quelling Blade
Cost: 225

Active: Destroy Tree - Destroy a target tree. Passive: Quell - Gives bonus attack damage against non-hero units, depending on the type of hero you are.   MELEE BONUS: 32%     RANGED BONUS: 12%      Cooldown: 5

Why Quelling Blade? Makes you easier to lasthit every creeps.

2. Stout Shield
Total cost: 250

Passive: Damage Block - Gives a chance to block damage, depending on the type of hero you are. MELEE BLOCK: 20    RANGED BLOCK: 10    BLOCK CHANCE: 60%

Why Stout Shield? To tank damages in early game, this items will be very helpful.

3.  Hand of Midas
Total cost: 1400
Recipe: Gloves of Haste + Recipe

Active: Transmute - Kills a non-hero target for 190 gold and 2.5x experience. Cannot be used on Ancients. + 30 Attack Speed Cooldown   100

Why Hand of Midas? It will boost your golds and exp so you can be the richest in the maps.

4. Power Threads

Total cost: 1400
Recipe: Gloves of Haste, Boots of Speed, Belt og Giant Strength/ Robe of Magi/ Band of Elvenskin

Active: Switch Attribute - Changes selected attribute between Strength, Agility and Intelligence. Flat movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack. + 55 Movement Speed + 8 Selected Attribute   + 30 Attack Speed

Why Power Threads? It will gives you attack speed, thats what you need, attack speed and damages. Power threads is laso a flexible shoes, you can change it to STR, AGI, or INT for what you need.

5. Vanguard
Total cost: 2225
Recipe: Ring of Health + Vitality Booster + Stout Shield

Passive: Damage Block - Gives a chance to block damage, depending on the type of hero you are. + 250 Health    + 6 HP Regeneration    BLOCK CHANCE: 70% RANGED BLOCK: 20    MELEE BLOCK: 40

Why Vanguard. Will reduce physical attacks damage. So good for a tanker like Skeleton King. Really helps in a teamfight against some physical attacks.

6. Armlet of Mordiggian
Total cost: 2600
Recipe: Helm of Iron Will, Blades of Attack, Gloves of Haste

Active: Unholy Strength - Gives +31 damage, +10 attack speed, and +25 strength while active, but drains 40 HP per second. You cannot die from the health loss when the bonus strength is gone, or the health drain per second.

Why Armlet? It will gives you additional damage, attack speed, and tanking ability. Very good and also cheap for you.

7. Maelstorm and upgrade it into Mjolnir
Total cost: Maelstorm (2700) + Hyperstone (2100) + Recipe (900) = Mjolnir = 5700

MAELSTORM

MJOLNIR

Passive: Chain Lightning - Grants a chance on attack to release a Chain Lightning that hits 4 targets, dealing damage. Maelstrom is a Unique Attack Modifier that stacks with other Unique Attack Modifiers, but overrides them when Chain Lightning occurs. + 24 Damage + 25 Attack Speed CHANCE TO CHAIN: 25% CHAIN DAMAGE: 120

Active: Static Charge - Places a charged shield on a target unit Passive: Chain Lightning - Grants a chance to release Chain Lighting on attack, dealing damage to multiple targets. Mjollnir is a Unique Attack Modifier that stacks with other Unique Attack Modifiers, but overrides them when Chain Lightning occurs. + 24 Damage + 80 Attack Speed CHANCE TO CHAIN: 25% CHAIN DAMAGE: 160 Manacost: 50    Cooldown: 35

Makes you a decent carry with it's additional attack speed and lightning ability.

8. Heart of Tarrasque
Total cost: 5500
Recipe: Reaver + Vitality Booster

Passive: Health Regeneration - Restores a percentage of max health per second. This ability is disabled if damage is taken from an enemy Hero or Roshan within the last 4 seconds if your hero is melee or 6 seconds if your hero is ranged. + 40 Strength   + 300 Health     HEALTH RESTORED: 2%    Cooldown:

Why Heart of Tarrasque? Makes you tanky. Tarrasque is an alternative of BKB. You can choose this item or Black King Bar, if the enemys is more physical attack, I recommend you to buy this. Nice for survivability.

9. Assault Cuirass
Total cost:: 5300
Recipe: Platemail, Hyperstone, Chainmail, Recipe

Passive: Assault Aura - Grants attack speed and armor to nearby allied units, and decreases armor for nearby enemies. Multiple instances of Assault Aura do not stack. + 35 Attack Speed     + 10 Armor       AURA ATTACK SPEED: 20 AURA BONUS ARMOR: 5                ARMOR REDUCTION: 5

Why Assault Cuirass?
+Armor aura and -Armor for enemies  are very important for late game, so good for increasing team's defense and increasing team's attack.

GOOD ALLIES
1. Carries
(Example: Magine, Void, Luna)

Carries should come after you initiate a teamfight and they should right click and use all their skills to the enemies.

ANNOYING ENEMIES

1. Mana Burners & Diffusal Blade
Because of your mana being burned, you have lack of mana for Reicncarnation, very annoying.
(Example: Magina, Ezalor)

Magina: Have Mana Break that will burn your mana with his physical attack
Ezalor: Have mana leak that will reduce your mana the farther you move
Diffusal Blade: Sama as magina, will burn enemy's mana with each physical attack

2. Cloners

(Example: Naga Siren, Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer)

You have a single targetted stun which is required to know which one is your real target, and cloners can makes you use your stun into its illusion which is a harm for you.