Wraith King/Guide

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Gameplay

Playstyle
Wraith King is a durable carry with a reliable stun in Wraithfire Blast that also slows and does damage-over-time. allows Wraith King and other allies to gain lifesteal based on their damage, which can help in teamfights and pushing lanes. Mortal Strike allows Wraith King to deal 3 times his normal damage, and it can summon skeletons that are useful for pushing and farming. His ultimate, Reincarnation, effectively doubles his health in a teamfight, as well as slowing enemies by a large amount. He is traditionally popular among new players for his survivability and simple playstyle. However, Wraith King can also be played at a high level of skill, particularly by using active items. He is, however, particularly vulnerable to abilities that burn mana, as well as break.
Pros	Cons
High survivability. Reliable stun. Easy to play. Reliable front liner. Fast farmer with Skeletons. Good laner. Not particularly hindered by silences.	Low mana pool. Slow attack speed and movement speed. Low armor in early to mid game. Abilities that burn mana can prevent Reincarnation (if the level 20 talent is not chosen). The break status effect can negate his critical strikes and lifesteal.

Carry

Wraith King is most often played as a farming position 1. Unlike other traditional carries like Anti-Mage or Phantom Assassin, he is equipped with a reliable stun and slow from the start with Wraithfire Blast. Therefore, paired up with an average support, your laning phase should have high kill potential from the get-go. To increase the likelihood you score a couple of kills, try to keep the creep equilibrium somewhere between your tier 1 tower and the intersection, in order to provide plenty of hiding spots for your support to initiate from the shadows.

You can't be too wrong if you choose to max out Wraithfire Blast first, with a value point in your aura at level 2 for sustain, and maxing your Mortal Strike in second. However, if you don't require the additional burst (maybe the enemy offlaner has already fled) from extra levels in your nuke, you can also choose to skip extra levels in it and max out your critical strike first.

Ability Builds

Carry Wraith King
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Talents

Hero Talents
Reincarnation Casts Wraithfire Blast	25	-2s Mortal Strike Cooldown
+5 Minimum Skeletons Spawned	20	+35% Cleave
+23 Skeletons Attack Damage	15	+1s Wraithfire Blast Stun Duration
+25% Summon Skeleton Duration/-25% Cooldown	10	+10% Vampiric Spirit Lifesteal

Notes:

• Cleave from talents is not disabled by Break.

Tips & Tactics

General

• Due to Wraith King's sustainability, he usually should initiate fights and tank up some damage first. Sometimes, it is great to even die first, triggering Reincarnation which heavily slows every nearby enemy. At this point, the enemies usually either prepare to take him down again, or try to escape when they can't take him down a second time. This is the perfect opportunity for Wraith King's team to follow up and catch the enemies off-guard.
  • Besides these, dying last as Wraith King basically just wastes his Reincarnation, since he cannot do much on his own after respawning besides dying a second time right away.

Abilities

Wraithfire Blast

• Wraithfire Blast is a decent nuke early on, which also allows Wraith King to stun and slow at the same time. A perfect tool for ganks and team fights, it has a relatively low cooldown, but its relatively high mana cost does not allow it to be used frequently. It should be saved for when it is really needed.
• Max Wraithfire Blast first if Wraith King wants to gank more often with teammates.

Vampiric Spirit

• Wraith King may skip Vampiric Spirit in the laning stage if he is doing well, investing in more offensive abilities to farm and gank.
• Having Vampiric Spirit active during the laning phase shifts the creeps equilibrium, since it also affects the allied lane creeps, forcing Wraith King to farm and fight closer to the enemy tower, which makes him more susceptible to enemy ganks in the early game. If no early pushes are planned, it should be toggled off until after the laning phase.
• Vampiric Spirit's life-stealing particles are hidden from the enemy so long as they do not have vision of Wraith King, so there isn't a need to toggle it off when jungling or ambushing to mask Wraith King's location.

Mortal Strike

• Buy items that enhance attack speed, like Mjollnir, for more chance to crit. Or, buy items that reduce enemies armor, like Desolator, to deal more crit damage.

Reincarnation

• Reincarnation has quite a high mana cost for Wraith King's rather low mana pool and regeneration. It is best to always keep his mana pool high enough for Reincarnation to trigger, or to make sure that enough charges of his Magic Stick are present in case of an emergency.
  • Another possible solution to this problem is to have a Soul Ring, since it grants enough mana to sustain Reincarnation's mana cost when already having at least some left-over mana, unless the enemies have mana burning capabilities. The health loss from Soul Ring's active ability is usually not a problem thanks to Vampiric Aura.
• It is generally beneficial for Wraith King to die first during a gank, as the slow only activates upon his death, which will greatly benefit his other team members. This prevents the enemies from effectively escaping or attacking back, allowing Wraith King's allies to pick off their targets with ease.
  • Additionally, if Wraith King is the last to die, the benefit of the slow is greatly reduced, as there would be no allies around to make the most of the slow.
• The Aghanim's Scepter bonus works even while Wraith King is reincarnating himself. Allies will still enter Wraith form so long as they are within range of Wraith King when they perish.

Items

Starting items:

• Tango helps Wraith King sustain his health against lane harassment.
• Healing Salve also restores health to Wraith King.
• Clarity sustains mana so Wraith King can use Wraithfire Blast more often for early kills.
• Iron Branch gives attributes like intelligence so Wraith King will have enough mana to use Wraithfire Blast twice at level 1.
• Enchanted Mango provides passive health regeneration and burst mana to use Wraithfire Blast.

Early game:

• Quelling Blade allows Wraith King to get last hits easier. It also makes Mortal Strike hit harder against creeps which makes you clean camps and creep waves faster. It increases the effectiveness of Vampiric Aura when attacking creeps as well. It can be used to cut trees and move faster from one camp to another while farming the jungle.
• Magic Stick can sometimes be the difference between a death and a kill. Its active usually grants enough mana to sustain Reincarnation. It also combos with Armlet of Mordiggian toggle, as one can deactivate, use Magic Stick, and reactivate buying enough time for it to provide the 500 bonus hp.
• Boots of Speed provide an excellent boost of speed for any hero.

Mid game:

• Magic Wand provides the same kind of benefit as the Magic Stick does, but it also provides a small amount of attributes. It makes great use of the earlier bought Iron Branches, making room for new items.
• Power Treads provides attack speed and attribute switching to make his limited mana pool go much further if the treads are switched to intelligence before casting a spell.
• Armlet of Mordiggian provides lots of damage at a reasonable cost, while the health drain is mitigated by Vampiric Aura and Reincarnation.
• Blink Dagger solves Wraith King's mobility issues, letting him engage and chase more effectively and giving him an escape after Reincarnating.

Late game:

• Desolator shreds armor, boosting the damage output of Wraith King and his skeletons while improving Vampiric Aura's lifesteal.
• Mjollnir grants attack speed and can efficiently clear out hordes of illusions and/or summoned units.
• Assault Cuirass solves Wraith King's armor problems and gives bonus damage output to him, his teammates, and his skeletons.
• Black King Bar grants spell immunity to protect Wraith King against disables and mana break, so he can survive and output damage.
• Heart of Tarrasque gives Wraith King excellent amount of Health pool and regeneration, makes him difficult to kill, besides he also has Reincarnation which causes a long effective presence in fights.

Situational items:

• Blade Mail provides decent armor and damage boost, while discouraging enemies from focusing and kiting him.
• Heaven's Halberd gives Wraith King strength, evasion, and status resistance to tank up, and lets him disarm an enemy carry, shutting down their primary source of damage output.
• Radiance helps with farming and stacking skeleton charges, while making Wraith King a walking hazard that is difficult to ignore.
• Abyssal Blade gives Wraith King high lockdown potential in combination with Wraithfire Blast, and the bash lets him manfight more effectively.
• Aghanim's Scepter can guarantee an ultimate cast or some extra damage for Wraith King and his teammates, but its stats are of little benefit to Wraith King himself.
• Refresher Orb is highly situational, as it allows to potentially use Reincarnation twice in a fight allowing him to deal damage for longer periods of time.
• Divine Rapier grants damage that synergizes with Vampiric Aura and Mortal Strike, and is not dropped if Reincarnation activates; combine with Aegis of the Immortal and/or Refresher Orb for best results.