"Leoric resisted Diablo’s attempts to possess him, but the effort left him weak and confused...

When his son Albrecht was kidnapped to be a vessel for Diablo, it destroyed any sanity Leoric had left. He commanded an army of the dead deep within the cathedral, finally serving the Lord of Terror he had resisted while alive. Many adventurers tried and failed to slay the Skeleton King. It was left to Leoric’s eldest son, Aidan, to finally kill the monster his father had become.”


Leoric, the Skeleton King, is a warrior from the Diablo universe. As a human he travelled to Tristram, a town in Khanduras, and there declared himself king. Initially respected for his pure heart and kindness, Leoric soon fell victim to the Lord of Terror himself: Diablo. Unbeknownst to Leoric, Diablo slumbered beneath Tristram’s Cathedral and slowly corrupted his mind. Whilst Diablo was unable to fully corrupt Leoric, he siphoned away the honour and hope that had gained Leoric much respect over the years, leaving him in a spiral of insanity and bloodlust. At the crux of his madness, he started a war and ordered the execution of his own wife and queen. When his troops returned from battle and learned of his cruelty, Leoric’s own Lieutenant cut him down. Unfortunately, the citizens of Tristram were still unaware of Diablo’s presence and chose to give their Mad King a proper burial within the cathedral. Instead of eternal rest, Leoric was given the curse of undeath by Diablo, rising to become the monstrosity now known as the Skeleton King.

Within the Nexus, King Leoric is a Melee Warrior. While his kit leaves much to be desired in the ways of CC, Leoric is a high HP and high Damage tank with major lane pushing potential. Even when you do kill him, he can still drive you mad with his passive by slowing you in death and returning to the battlefield right where he left off.

Starting Stats

Health: 1020
Health Regen: 2.12
Mana: 500
Mana Regen: 3.0
Damage: 55
Range: 2
Attack Speed: 0.77

Abilities

Hover over icons to view Abilities

Primary Abilities				Heroic Abilities
Skeletal Swing Swing in front of you to deal damage and slow enemies by 40% for 2.5 seconds. Deals double damage to all non-Heroic and non-Structure targets.	Drain Hope Grab an enemy Hero's soul, dealing up to 25% of their maximum Health as damage and healing you for up to 25% of your maximum Health while you are nearby, over 4 seconds. You are slowed by 20% while this is active.	Wraith Walk Separate from your body, becoming Unstoppable and gaining Movement Speed accelerating up to 50% over 2.5 seconds. When Wraith Walk ends or is canceled, your body jumps to your wraith.		Entomb Create an unpathable tomb in front of you for 4 seconds.	March of the Black King Become Unstoppable and swing your mace three times, healing yourself for 7.03% of your maximum Health for each enemy Hero hit and dealing damage.

Heroic Trait			Undying Abilities
Undying Become a ghost when you die, and resurrect upon reaching full health. Your Abilities don't do damage while dead, but can still heal causing you to cheat death.			Ghastly Swing Swing in front of you to slow enemies by 40% for 2.5 seconds.	Drain Essence Throw out a chain, attaching to the first enemy Hero hit, healing you for 12.5% of your maximum health over 4 seconds as long as you remain close to the enemy. You drain more essence the longer you remain connected.

Talents

Level 1

Mana Thirst Skeletal Swing restores 10 Mana per enemy hit, up to 50 Mana.

Mana Thirst - Skeletal Swing only costs 10% of his mana pool at level 1 and once you take into consideration his base mana regeneration it just isn’t worth the trade off. Leoric doesn’t typically have mana problems so this talent is overkill. Late game, the mana restoration becomes obsolete.

Hopelessness Increases the range of Drain Hope by 20%.

Hopelessness - At level 13, the Talent “Drain Momentum” becomes available, removing the self-slow from Drain Hope. The 20% extra range to help keep the tether becomes obsolete.

Block Periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Basic Attacks by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.

Block - Block is nothing new. It’s another situational talent that is subpar on Leoric. His high Health pool and regenerative abilities more than make up for the damage you might take.

Reanimation Every Regeneration Globe gathered increases your Health Regeneration by 1.5 per second, and increases Health Regeneration during Undying by 0.75. You also gain the ability to gather Regeneration Globes while Undying.

Reanimation - This is arguably the best talent in this tier. It lowers your Undying death timer from the Health Regeneration increase and allows you to continue stacking orbs whilst Undying. Leoric doesn’t have any inherent damage mitigation, just a heck of a lot of health, so the more regeneration you can get the better off you’ll be.

Level 4

Fealty Unto Death When a nearby Minion dies, you gain 1% of your maximum Health and 5 mana, even while Undying.

Fealty Unto Death - This is a situational talent that can be switched out with Hardened Bones. This talent is okay whilst alive, but given the major nerfs to his regen whilst Undying, this talent becomes very viable on smaller maps where creep waves are always close by.

Willing Vessel Increases the healing from Drain Hope to 30% of your maximum Health. Increases Drain Essence's healing to 15% during Undying.

Willing Vessel - This talent only increases your potential healing from Drain Hope by 5%. With Reanimation, you have enough regeneration that this talent will need a buff before being worthwhile.

Hardened Bones During Wraith Walk, you take 25% less damage.

Hardened Bones - When you use Wraith Walk, until the ability ends or is cancelled Leoric’s body is literally a sitting corpse. This is a 25% decrease in damage taken across the board. If you’re using Wraith Walk to get out of a hairy situation or to chase someone in a team fight, there’s a pretty good chance your body is taking a beating. Take this talent.

Royal Focus If your body takes no damage during Wraith Walk’s duration, the cooldown is reduced to 4 seconds.

Royal Focus - Wraith Walk is your only escape, and if you’re using it there’s a pretty high chance you’re going to be hit by something at least once. This talent has no value unless you’re only using Wraith Walk to engage from a distance.

Level 7

Ghastly Reach Increases the range of Skeletal Swing by 25%.

Ghastly Reach - With its base range, Skeletal swing can already hit every minion in a wave, or every tower and gate. The mobility from Wraith Walk means you can catch up to enemies easily so the extra range is unnecessary.

Lingering Apparition Increases the duration of Wraith Walk by 60%. Increases the duration from 2.5 to 4 seconds.

Lingering Apparition - The extra second and a half of increased speed can be the difference between life and death, for you or a fleeing enemy. It's an extra second and a half of being unstoppable as well. After the nerf to Ossein Renewal whilst Undying, this talent is a strong contender in this tier.

Paralyzing Rage Increases the Movement Speed slow of Skeletal Swing to 60%.

Paralyzing Rage - You already apply a 40% slow for 2.5 seconds with Skeletal Swing, the extra 20% is negligible especially if you have any other form of CC on your team.

Ossein Renewal Activate to heal 20% of your maximum health over 6 seconds. Can be used while Undying to heal for 10% of your maximum health to revive faster.

Ossein Renewal - Not only does this talent shorten your death timer, but it also improves your sustain in teamfights. It’s a bit worse than the First Aid talent, but since it can also be used to shorten your death timer it’s well worth it.

Level 10 (Heroic)

Entomb Create an unpathable tomb in front of you for 4 seconds.

Entomb - This talent takes proper positioning on your part and a lack of mobility on the enemy team to be effective. You’re looking for heroes like Jaina, Kael’Thas, Zagara and Tyrande on the other team. You can also use this to trap in their tanks and use Drain Hope to take a chunk of their health and keep them out of the fight for 4 seconds, allowing you to get the full duration of Drain Hope off.

March of the Black King Become Unstoppable and swing your mace three times, healing yourself for 7.03% of your maximum Health for each enemy Hero hit and dealing 200 (+10 per level) damage.

March of the Black King - If you’re going to be the main tank for your team and take the brunt of the damage, this Talent provides excellent sustain and can divide the enemy team if they try to avoid you.

Level 13

Burning Rage Deal 10 (+2 per level) damage per second to nearby enemies.

Burning Rage - Only useful if you're constantly pushing or want better merc camp clear.

Crushing Hope If Drain Hope lasts its full duration, it deals bonus damage equal to 10% of the victim’s Maximum Health. This damage does not heal you.

Crushing Hope - This Talent is particularly useful when combined with Entomb, and counters high-HP enemy heroes very well.

Drain Momentum Drain Hope no longer causes you to lose Movement Speed.

Drain Momentum - If you don’t feel like you need the extra 10% HP drain from Crushing Hope, this is your go-to Talent for this tier. It removes the 20% self-slow from Drain Hope. If you’re in the middle of a team fight, this is negligible since the enemy will be on top of you, but if your team is built around chasing the enemy down, it can be a worthwhile investment.

Spell Shield Upon taking Ability Damage, reduce that damage and further Ability Damage by 50% for 3 seconds. Can only trigger once every 30 seconds.

Spell Shield - If you’re solo-tanking, sustain and damage reduction is always welcome. If the enemy team has enough burst Ability Damage, this will give you the time to heal up with Ossein Renewal or Drain Hope and stay in the fight.

Level 16

Renewed Swing Skeletal Swing can be recast again for free within 3 seconds for 50% damage.

Renewed Swing - If you are playing as a secondary tank or just feel like pushing, this talent can be worthwhile. Otherwise, it is subpar in this tier.

Consume Vitality Skeletal Swing heals you for 2% of your maximum Health per target hit, up to 10%. While Undying, effectiveness is reduced to 1% of Leoric's maximum Health per target, up to 5%.

Consume Vitality - Previously, Consume Vitality could be worth it because of the 10% HP regen you could get every 8 seconds whilst Undying. With the change down to 5% Max HP, it's a waste of a talent to choose.

Unyielding Despair Every second Drain Hope is active, its cooldown is reduced by 1 second.

Unyielding Despair - Another great combo Talent with Entomb and Crushing Hope or Draim Momentum. That leaves you with a 4 second cooldown (as opposed to an 8 second cooldown) whenever you complete the full cast of Drain Hope.

Imposing Presence Enemies that attack you have their Attack Speed slowed by 50%.

Imposing Presence - Now that Imposing Presence has been nerfed down to 40% and requires the enemy Hero be attacking you specifically to apply, it's incredibly less effective on Leoric.

Level 20

Buried Alive Enemies inside Entomb take 30 (+6 per level) damage per second.

Buried Alive - Typically, the goal of Entomb is to trap a Hero without an escape and burst them down, so the low damage isn’t worth it. If you’re using it to hold a tank in place, the extra damage will be negligible.

Death March Your final swing of March of the Black King also applies the base version of Drain Hope to all enemy Heroes in a large area.

Death March - If the enemy team is all melee and you can guarantee at minimum 3 of their champions will stay within range of your Drain Hope, the 25% heal return per enemy Hero majorly boosts your sustain. In any other situation, do not choose this talent.

Spectral Leech Basic attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 5% of the Hero’s maximum Health and heal you for the same amount.

Spectral Leech - You can dish out some amazing damage at level 20 with this talent, depending on which heroes you are focusing. Since it’s percentage based, if you’re focusing on taking their tank down your overall Hero Damage will skyrocket. If the enemy team can’t kill you before your other sustain abilities kick in, this can clean up a team fight pretty quickly.

Hardened Shield Activate to reduce damage taken by 75% for 4 seconds.

Hardened Shield - No matter what the enemy team composition is, you will always benefit from this Talent. If you’re unsure whether or not you want to take Spectral Leech or even Death March, this will always be a safe and smart choice.

Builds

Sustain Drain (Tank) Build

Reanimation Every Regeneration Globe gathered increases your Health Regeneration by 1.5 per second, and increases Health Regeneration during Undying by 0.75. You also gain the ability to gather Regeneration Globes while Undying.	Hardened Bones During Wraith Walk, you take 25% less damage.	Ossein Renewal Activate to heal 20% of your maximum health over 6 seconds. Can be used while Undying to heal for 10% of your maximum health to revive faster.	March of the Black King Become Unstoppable and swing your mace three times, healing yourself for 7.03% of your maximum Health for each enemy Hero hit and dealing 200 (+10 per level) damage.	Crushing Hope If Drain Hope lasts its full duration, it deals bonus damage equal to 10% of the victim’s Maximum Health. This damage does not heal you.	Unyielding Despair Every second Drain Hope is active, its cooldown is reduced by 1 second.	Spectral Leech Basic attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 5% of the Hero’s maximum Health and heal you for the same amount.
1	4	7	10	13	16	20

This build is ideal if the other team has few escapes or a beefy tank. Hardened Shield is also a viable talent for this build; however, we feel Spectral Leech is more effective if you’re able to stay in the middle of a fight and take full advantage of its health returns.

1 - Reanimation
4 - Hardened Bones
7 - Ossein Renewal
10 - March of the Black King
13 - Crushing Hope
16 - Unyielding Despair
20 - Spectral Leech

Cheat Death Build

Reanimation Every Regeneration Globe gathered increases your Health Regeneration by 1.5 per second, and increases Health Regeneration during Undying by 0.75. You also gain the ability to gather Regeneration Globes while Undying.	Fealty Unto Death When a nearby Minion dies, you gain 1% of your maximum Health and 5 mana, even while Undying.	Lingering Apparition Increases the duration of Wraith Walk by 60%. Increases the duration from 2.5 to 4 seconds.	Entomb Create an unpathable tomb in front of you for 4 seconds.	Drain Momentum Drain Hope no longer causes you to lose Movement Speed.	Unyielding Despair Every second Drain Hope is active, its cooldown is reduced by 1 second.	Hardened Shield Activate to reduce damage taken by 75% for 4 seconds.
1	4	7	10	13	16	20

This build is for when you want to minimize death timers and clear waves as fast as possible. Often seen in double-warrior comps, this build allows Leoric to clear waves and protect the base like a specialist while still being able to stand his ground in team fights.

1 - Reanimation
4 - Fealty Unto Death
7 - Lingering Apparition
10 - Entomb
13 - Drain Momentum
16 - Unyielding Despair
20 - Hardened Shield

Gameplay

Early Game

Because of his low utility, Leoric is best suited to stay in lane and bully the enemy heroes. If they’ve set up a bush gank in lane, Leoric can easily escape using Wraith Walk. You can clear a wave with two Skeletal Swings, quickly stacking Reanimation, and Drain Hope deters your foes from trying to collect globes of their own or duke it out in melee range.

On maps like Dragon Shire, it’s imperative Leoric stay in either top or bottom lane, as he is a master of early objective control due to his low death timer and proximity damage. On other maps, though, your main goal as Leoric is to farm and harass so that when your allies roam to your lane, it’s an easy kill to secure.

Due to his sustain and ability to escape, Leoric can solo lane quite easily, but having a teammate with hard CC in lane can quickly turn into a nightmare for the enemy team. If Leoric can finish his Drain Hope casts and land his Skeletal Swings, a few melee attacks will assure an early kill in your lane.

Mid-Game and Objectives

At this point, you’ve decided on a strategy: you’re either going to push to your heart’s content or provide a strong tank presence in team fights. Based on your talent build and plan of attack, there are two different possible ways to go mid-game:

Pushing:
Leoric can push lanes pretty darn quickly if left alone. While his siege damage has been nerfed, his wave clear is still on par with Heroes like Jaina and Nazeebo. Left alone to farm Reanimation stacks, Leoric will become a beast in no time and his creeps will push hard. Level 16 is where you really shine, but even before that you can wreck havoc. The risk in this strategy is that it often leaves your team in 4v5 team fights with your team at a disadvantage. If you want to help your team and prioritize pushing, you need to think about timing.

On a map like Sky Temple, if one temple is up and you're at a disadvantage (either teammates are dead or you have a talent disparity), pick a lane far away and push as hard as you can. Your low death timer means that, even if they send somebody to stop you, you’ll be back within 30 seconds to continue the good fight. Try not to play as if you were Murky, your deaths do still give the enemy team experience, but if you’re drawing at least two enemy Heroes away from their teammates to deal with you, you’re left with a lot of pushing power and 3v4 team fights with your team with the advantage.

Tanking:
Your job is to put yourself between the enemy and your back line allies. Make sure to use Drain Hope as soon as you have a target that will stay in your range for the full cast time. Skeletal Swing packs a hard punch, but keep it mind it also slows and can sometimes be more effective by slowing an enemy going for one of your allies or to catch a Hero trying to flee the fight.

If you chose March of the Black King as your level 10 Talent, be ready to use it at a moment’s notice. If the enemy team stacks up or is focusing you down, March will allow you to deal massive amounts of damage, split up their team and heal yourself up. Sustain is everything as Leoric, so optimize your March with that goal in mind. Try to use Skeletal Swing before you use March of the Black King so that the enemy is slowed and will have a much harder time avoiding your mace-swinging self.

If you chose Entomb, be ready to cancel it if you trap an ally instead of an enemy. The cooldown on this ult is only 50 seconds meaning, if you mess it up, you’ll have another shot to land a quality Entomb very soon after. You can also use Entomb to block off a choke point and delay or flat-out avoid a team fight. On maps like Cursed Hollow, you can use Entomb to block the enemy off long enough for your team to capture a Tribute and get the heck out.

Late Game

By the time the late game rolls around, your goal is no longer to collect orbs or avoid fights, it’s to push your heart out and to stay alive in team fights. Leoric can be a very annoying hero, so even if it’s a poor choice by the enemy team they will often try to focus you down just to get you out of their sight. Joke’s on them, though, as you’ll still be around to slow and Drain Essence, then resurrect in the middle of the team fight ready to re-engage and stop the enemy in their tracks.

Useful Information

• Unless a single tick of damage from Drain Hope will kill an enemy, avoid just throwing it out there unless you can get at least 50%+ of its cast time off.
  
• Try to use Drain Hope on the more tanky enemy Heroes to maximize its damage output if the situation allows for it.
  
• Drain Hope works on Garden Terrors and Dragon Knights. Taking extra damage talents for DH on Dragon Shire and Garden of Terror crushes the effectiveness of their objectives immensely.
  
• Right-click to move as soon as you cast Wraith Walk; your wraith-form won’t move until you give it a move command.
  
• Wraith Walk will always be faster than running in the direction you want to go. If you’re trying to chase someone down unmounted, you have a higher chance of catching up by using Wraith Walk.
  
• Wraith Walk can go through enemy gates.
  
• Since Wraith Walk makes you unstoppable, you can easily avoid abilities like The Butcher’s Ruthless Onslaught; you will still take the damage, but you will not be stunned.
  
• Entomb can be cancelled, breaking down the walls.

Playing Against Leoric

• Try to wait until Leoric uses Wraith Walk to stun him. After Wraith Walk, Leoric has no escapes.
  
• If an enemy Leoric chooses Entomb and you have no wall jumping or escape abilities, stay back unless you’re a tank. He will trap you, and his team will kill you.
  
• If an enemy Leoric is using the push build, don’t fall into the trap of sending multiple people to stop him. He will throw you and your teammates off, and he will annoy you to no end, but try to avoid sending more than one person to deal with his split-pushing.
  
• Stay at full attack range from Leoric as a ranged Hero. If he uses Drain Hope on you, back up immediately so the ability cancels.
  
• Drain Hope does not cancel if Leoric is stunned or if he uses Wraith Walk.
  
• Ghost Leorics look the same, so if both teams have a Leoric (in Quick Match) you will not be able to differentiate their ghosts. Watch death timers and health bars to figure out which one will be on your side when he revives.
  
• As a tank, pay close attention to Leoric’s build. If he builds to counter your high HP pool via Drain Hope, respond accordingly with your talent choices and positioning.