Strategy
Gameplay
| Playstyle | |
|---|---|
| Wraith King is a durable carry with a reliable stun. As his ultimate, Reincarnation, effectively doubles his health in a teamfight, he is commonly built as a tank carry. 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. | |
| Pros | Cons |
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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 side shop, in order to provide plenty of hiding spots for your support to initiate from the shadows. Don't forget to toggle off Vampiric Aura.
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 |
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.
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- Wraith King may skip Vampiric Aura in the laning stage if he is doing well, investing in more offensive abilities to farm and gank.
- Having Vampiric Aura 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 Aura'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.
- Wraith King gains skeleton charges when he keeps killing units, so he should consider mobility items like Blink Dagger to help him reach different farming places.
- Units killed by skeletons do not count toward building new skeleton charges. Wraith King has to land the last hits himself to gain charges.
- Skeletons can attack and push by themselves, and do not need Wraith King to order them.
- Skeletons do not block creep camps in the jungle from spawning.
- Use Wraithfire Blast after Mortal Strike to order skeletons to attack desired target.
- Since Wraith King has limited control over the skeletons, avoid using Mortal Strike near enemies who can clear them for gold and experience, like those with cleave.
- Watch out for abilities like Fortune's End and Dispel Magic that apply dispel in an area to vaporize skeletons after they have reincarnated.
- Usually, Wraith King should rely on farming lane creeps to build charges.
- Otherwise, look for neutral camps like Troll Camp and Golem Camp which spawn more units for Wraith King to make skeletons.
- Kobold Camp also has five easy creeps for Wraith King to clear in a short amount of time.
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.
- Stout Shield blocks some physical attacks to increase resilience in lane.
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. Increases the effectiveness of Vampiric Aura when attacking creeps. 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 cost of health drain, but Vampiric Aura helps negate it.
- Blink Dagger solves another Wraith King's deficiency: mobility. It negates countering through kiting, helps with positioning, as well as moving across the maps quicker, thus increasing farm speed. Another possible trick is to instantly blink away after using Reincarnation, as Reincarnation delay and Dagger cooldown are both 3 seconds.
Late game:
- Desolator causes Wraith King's physical attacks to hit harder, especially against targets with already low armor as well as towers. With Mortal Strike, Wraith King can quickly kill squishy carries and low-armor supports in the stun duration of Wraithfire Blast. Besides, it synergizes well with Assault Cuirass from the aspect of armor reduction; Vampiric Aura benefits greatly as the aura heals based on dealt damage after armor reduction.
- Mjollnir increases attack speed and damage output. The item should be considered if Wraith King is counter picked by illusions, damage-over-time and slows, as the Chain Lightning and Static Shield are more likely to trigger against them. The item also accelerates his farm speed.
- Assault Cuirass increases his damage output by increasing the attack speed of his team and reducing enemies' armor, and single-handedly settles Wraith King's armor problem most of the time. The Assault Aura lasts longer thanks to Wraith King's high durability.
- Black King Bar grants spell immunity to protect Wraith King against disables and mana break, so he can survive and output damage.
Situational items:
- Blade Mail provides decent armor and damage boost. If Wraith King is the primary target of the enemy, the active damage return strongly discourages enemies from focusing him and helps Wraith King with damage output.
- 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 adds a burn effect on Wraith King which constantly deals damage and a miss effect to nearby enemies. The effect of the item lasts longer on Wraith King because of Reincarnation and his high durability. The item also helps him farm faster and clears out creep waves.
- Abyssal Blade allows Wraith King to stun an enemy for a total of 4 seconds on top of Wraithfire Blast. Meanwhile, the item gives him an edge in close combat due to the bash component. Though the HP bonus as well as damage block is at least moderately decent, the item is bought most of the time for its lock-down viability.
- Aghanim's Scepter enables Wraith King to elongate his teammate's lives and allow them to unleash powerful ultimates or dish out damage without fear of being focused down at first. While the item provides overall decent attributes, it does not provide much damage output for Wraith King and should be considered situational.
- 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 is very special item for Wraith King because it doesn't drop if Reincarnation activates upon death, thus making it less likely for him to lose it. When carrying the Aegis of the Immortal, Wraith King has to die at least 3 times (at least 4, if Refresher Orb is used) to lose the Rapier. The great damage boost also increases his endurance by improving his lifesteal aura's returns.
