For complete skills statistics click the icons below:


Hellfire Blast

A single target but great nuke. Has decent damage (300), has 2 second stun, 2 seconds slow and only 8 seconds cd. Really great for chasing. Allows him to land more hits to his target.


Vampiric Aura

Gives him decent survivability. Makes up for life lost from Armlet which is his core. Also helps other melee teammates.


Critical Strike

This skill makes him a great dps-er. Synergizes well with Vampiric Aura. This is why we are gonna get dps items on him. Crits boosts a hero's dps especially with damage items.

Reincarnation

Free aegis!

Lvl 1 Hellfire Blast
Lvl 2 Stats
Lvl 3 Hellfire Blast
Lvl 4 Stats
Lvl 5 Hellfire Blast
Lvl 6 Reincarnation
Lvl 7 Hellfire Blast
Lvl 8 Vampiric Aura
Lvl 9 Critical Strike
Lvl 10 Critical Strike
Lvl 11 Reincarnation
Lvl 12 Critical Strike
Lvl 13 Critical Strike
Lvl 14 Vampiric Aura
Lvl 15 Vampiric Aura
Lvl 16 Reincarnation
Lvl 17 Vampiric Aura
Lvl 18 - 25 [COLOR="Yellow"]Stats[/COLOR

Justifications:

This is an agressive build to Leoric. Hellfire Blast is maxed first. Your only nuke. No arguing there. I put two early levels of stats to compensate for his lack of mana. I put one level of Vampiric aura at level 8 'coz this is the time where you go neutral creeping for a while. I maxxed Critical Strike earlier than Vampiric Aura though, 'coz crits helps you kill creeps and heroes much faster than having a more defensive oriented skill in lifesteal. The rest is self explanatory.

Item Build

CORE ITEMS

1
2
3 or
4
5
Justifications:

You need to attack fast and the +8 str from treads adds to your damage and survivability. The attack-speed bonus helps to proc your crits and to lifesteal. This is a no-brainer.

Magic Wand is definitely one of the best, if not the best, early-game item on almost every hero. Skel King is no exception.

Urn of Shadows gives him some damage and a decent regeneration. It also helps to cover some of your hp when you decide to put treads to int for a few seconds just to be able to cast an additional stun. You can also replace this with an Empty Bottle as it also solves his mana issues quite well.

Armlet of Mordiggan is a straight str hero dps item. Gives him some survivability in clashes and provide a big boost in dps. Skel King, with his Vampiric Aura, is one of the few heroes who can somehow minimize the negative regeneration of this item.

Stygian Desolator is a very good dps item. Increases SK's killing ability by a lot. Increases crits and lifestealed generated by his passive skills.

Always, always, always bring with you a Scroll of Town Portal. It is very important in teamplay. It is important that you are never late during tower defence. One hero late for the clash can mean the loss of the tower and sometimes loss of the game.LATE-GAME ITEMS


Assault Cuirass is one of the best end-game items for str-based heroes. It gives them what they lack: imba attackspeed, imba armor and nice auras. The recipe costs a lot but Hyperstone and Plate Mail are extremely good on their own.LUXURY ITEMS



Heart of Tarrasque is definitely a big boost to Skel King's survival. If you need to tank more then this is a decent item for him.EXTRA/SITUATIONAL ITEMS


If you're going up against a disable heavy lineup Black King Bar would do you well.


Kelen's Dagger of Escape can be viable on him if he really needs to have that great positioning especially when the opposing ranged carry deals him so much damage before he can even get close.


Although this item is getting so much hate, I still have to mention it here. If you didn't get yourself a Stygian Desolator and went for other dps increasing item then this item can be a good follow up. Not letting your target escape and hitting like a madman. Same as some pros (Yaphets) getting SnY on Nevermore, it can also be viable on SK. (Yaphets used it on him too)

Strategy

Early Game

Choose between solo or tri-lane: If an opponent would solo a melee hero (which is very unusual) he can lane against it. If the opposing solo is ranged, he would have a hard time. He would be totally harrassed and outfarmed if laned solo against a ranged hero. He can work with a tri-lane with two ranged stunners like WD, DW and CM that can somehow harrass for him while he goes for last hits.
Learn to chain stuns: If you are part of a tri-lane then you need to pay attention to your teammates' and opponents' positions. If an opportunity arises, be sure to be able to cast your stun in succession to other disables your team is gonna throw.
Play conservatively: Being the pure-carry of your team, you need to focus on last-hitting creeps. Though your stuns are very important to your team, your farm would much likely give you the win.


Mid Game

Farm for your items: Go for Armlet quickly. These item allow you to dps quite well for such a low cost. They also help you in farming 'coz your only way of farming comes from normal attacks. Take advantage of any opportunity you get to farm. Pure-carries really needs a lot of items.
Farm safely: Do not wander too far from your teammates. Without their help, you wouldn't survive a well-coordinated gank even if your ult skill is ready.
Defend your towers: I have been telling you to farm, farm and farm. Nevertheless, it is also your duty to defend the towers since you have a great disable in Hellfire Blast. You can also get some kills this way.

Late Game

Do not give your your Resurrect without a fight: Make sure to be able to deal damage before you go down the first time so you can finish them off after resurrecting.
Do not eat their nukes:You are either tank or pure-carry. If you are pure-carry then somebody has to tank for you. I don't think that you can tank and carry very well at the same time. You need that extra life to finish the opposing team off. Do not waste the first life eating nukes.

Replays

I suggest you go to Dota Commentaries.com as they don't just give you replays, they also give some analysis of the item builds, warding and team play. Not to mention, they are commentating competitive games and not your ordinary pub games where any build would work.

Hero Synergy

Anybody with a decent disable is a good ally to every hero so I would mention only a few with great synergies with him.

Good Allies

Anybody with a decent disable is a good ally to every hero so I would mention only a few with great synergies with him.


Whatever Skel King lacks in AoE damage, this fiery lass can provide. He also helps Lina land her Light Strike Array. These two are almost exact opposite of each other that having both of them covers almost all of your team's weaknesses.


Same as with Lina Inverse.

Weaknesses


Being able to Resurrect is Skel King's biggest asset. Resurrect makes him tanky without even purchasing tanking items. Allowing him to focus on obtaining dps-increasing items. Not having enough mana to do so would reduce Sk's ability potential to half. If he can't Resurrect then he wont last that long during team-fights.

Competitive Scene

He is used as a pure-carry having Armlet as his core. Armlet allows him to deal a ton of damage while having great survivability. Negating most of the item's negative effects through lifesteal. Skel King is no longer a regular pick due to being a melee carry and that makes him a step slower in obtaining carry items as opposed to ranged carries. But having the Resurrect ability allows him to get back at the other team's carry with a full hp advantage.