Burn My Bones Off the Reservation!!! - A Ganking Build

Guide in progress...

**This guide is still a work in progress.**

Introduction

As the title implies this is an extremely unorthodox build for Skeleton King. I was given the idea after seeing Laudes' Skeleton King guide, which is a little more conservative then this build. This build, however, is not a cookie cutter build and should not be attempted unless you already have an understanding of Skeleton King. Rather this build's purpose is to turn Skeleton King into ganking nightmare.

Pros / Cons

Pros :D

• You are a ganker and A DPS FIEND!
• Stats give you early game ganking possibilities
• Lots of damage per second in early game
• Less mana worries throughout the game
• Less dependent on your teammates in a battle
• Higher mana
• Shadow Blade gives the King an escape
• Early game stats make him less item dependent

Cons x(

• YOU ARE NOT A CARRY!
• Not as much durability as in usual builds
• Cannot rely on your hellfire's damage to take down your opponents hp (this does not apply to the jungle build)
• Susceptible to slows, silence, and stuns until you get Shadow Blade
• Takes more skill to play this build

Why I did what I did... (Item Explanation)

- Good for those tricky last hits.

- Helpful against those tough lanes where harassment is guaranteed.

- This is your basic healing item in the field, whether jungling or laning.

- Gives you that nice little boost to your hp that helps you survive that last arrow as you run under the safety of the tower. (turns into Bracer, bracer into Drum of Endurance)

- Many have lost a lot of farm underestimating the twig. This items is great because it gives you a boost to all your attributes. More attributes = better last hitting.

- Gives a great boost to your strength as well as lesser boost to int/agi.

- Really? These speak for themselves.

- This is one of those early items which you can (if you so desire) to keep throughout the whole game. Skeleton King's ultimate Reincarnation requires a small mana usage of 140, but as we all know, mana is tough to maintain on a Strength hero. The Soul Ring allows you to instantly activate it and gain 150 mana, which is a life saver to the King. So whenever you are low in mana and you are surrounded by the whole enemy team... use the ring, Frodo!

- The reasons why phase Phase Boots chosen over Power Treads is two fold. First, in this build, you already have levels attributed to stats. Instead you receive the +24 DMG which is handy with your crits in a ganking situation. Secondly, your boots give you a tremendous speed boost on activation allowing you to catch your targets or escape from harm.

- Although this may seem strange at first, the main reason for this item is the atk speed and movement boost. The cherry on this pie is that the 17% lifesteal stacks with King's passive Vamp Aura, altogether, this adds up to a whopping 47% lifesteal!

- This item gives you a 25% chance to stun your opponent for 1.4 seconds (cooldown 2 sec). When combined with your MoM, you already have that crazy attack speed and now you have a chance to stun them and get even more crits on them. (This turns into a Abyssal Blade later on)

- Although this might not be your first pick on a strength hero, it comes in handy when you need a hasty exit from a reincarnation or just a boosted movement and attack. Not to mention the +30 dmg and +30 atk speed.

- As used with most initiators/gankers, the blink dagger is a great entry and exit from a battle. Though it does not allow you to get atk speed or dmg, it is much cheaper and you don't have to worry about Dust of Appearance or a Sentry Ward.

- The drum is a great item in the fact that it gives you great stats, decent atk and movement speed, and an active effect at a reasonably low price. (and you can turn your bracer into this)

- This item is recommended because its the next step up from the Skull Basher, supplying you with more dmg and an active stun effect.

- Lets face it... any Strength hero's greatest dream is to have armor and atk speed. Well, this is definitely a choice item for Skelly King as a ganker because it not only adds atk speed and armor to you, but also to your allies within a 900 radius. Wait, you want more? Ok, how bout that it degrades any enemy's armor by 5 who are in that same range? Better.

- The BKB adds dmg, strength, and a temporary magic immunity which is great for any hero.

- The Halberd is the Butterfly's strength brother. Its Maim has a chance of slowing the atk and movement speed of heroes which is great against those pesky high movement characters. It also has a active ability that allows you to disarm (cannot attack) ranged heroes for 4 seconds and melee for 3.

- The MKB is very effective item if your opponents have evasion either naturally ( Phantom Assassin or by an item ( Butterfly, Heaven's Halberd). Also with pierce damage and a mini-bash, the MKB can hold it's own late game if you have enough attack speed.

- This item is sort of controversial on whether its worth getting, late game it is helpful because 35% of the dmg you dish out to the silenced enemy is returned as magical dmg at the end of the duration.

- First of all, THIS ITEM DOES NOT STACK WITH MoM. So it must be a replacement if you decide to get it. The combination of the atk speed and the 160 bounce dmg is lethal in a team fight. You can use the active ability to give yourself or an ally a charged shield that has a chance to dmg enemies when hit.

- THIS ITEM DOES NOT STACK WITH MoM OR MJOLLNIR. If you choose to select this item as your unique attack modifier, you can use the purge charges to slow and debuff the enemy.

- This item adda a fantastic mana regeneration rate for late game, but the main reason you are picking it up is for the active ability of resetting your cooldowns. Anyone want three lives for the price of one?

--When using the Jungle build--
If you would like to be a little more durable and have free farm, I would suggest looking at the jungling build. These items are the only ones that are added to the jungling build.

- This awesome lookin' shield is a beefed up version of a stout shield. It gives the owner reasonable durability at a good price. The damage reduction is especially useful at soaking up damage during a gank.

- This item is the ultimate tank-maker. Vanguard can be disassembled to help produce this item.

Friends and Foes

Friends

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Healers: This build's Achilles Heal is the lack of hp regen early game, so it's best to lane with a healer early on.

Necrolyte

Foes

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Mana Burners: Cardinal Sin of Skeleton King Players is to let their Mana be burned. Take care when fighting a Mana Burner.

Closing Remarks

So that's it for now, I've still got some work to do on it (Skill and play explanations), but I decided I would publish now, so I could gain as much feedback as possible.

Speaking of feedback - COMMENT PLEASE! If you liked or disliked the guide please tell me why. Whether it's positive or negative, if it improves the integrity of this guide, we all win.

Thanks for your time! Take this information and go bone your opponent!