Revision as of 14:19, 9 November 2008

Leoric returns.

The Skeleton King is undead, a superunique, and a quest boss.

Leoric the Skeleton King returns in Diablo III. His undead bones have been reanimated, and once again he's raised an army of the undead and awaits any hero who might dare bring the warmth of live into his tomb, in the catacombs beneath Tristram. Leoric is one of the first quest bosses a new character encounters, and defeating him brought an end to the Blizzcon demo, the first playable version of Diablo III ever seen by the public. See The Skeleton King page for more details about the quest.

Leoric is found on a throne at the end of a scripted level. The player must fight through several blockades and traps to reach Leoric's room. Once you do the bridge crumbles behind you, and there is no way out; you must defeat Leoric to survive. Leoric's giant-sized bones are found on a throne, and they remain motionless until a player produces The Crown of the Skeleton King, a quest item found in the dungeon above. The crown restores Leoric to life, and he rises up, taunting the player wielding a massive two-handed maul. As soon as Leoric is activated squads of all types of skeletons come from the sides of the screen, and more are found throughout Leoric's throne room, if the player retreats from the dais on which Leoric's throne sits.

Leoric deals substantial damage with his massive club, but only swings once every few seconds, giving a player plenty of time to score hits on him between swings. It's a good idea to try to stay just out of range so you can dodge the attack, since it deals considerable damage.

Leoric also retains his ability to summon skeletons, and will do so during the fight, if given the opportunity. Most players at Blizzcon would fight Leoric for a moment, then run off and kill some of the skeletons he summoned to get a health globe or two, then return to the battle with Leoric.

Leoric dropped 4-6 rare items when killed in the Blizzcon build, but the game is much too far from completion to use that as a prediction of how valuable he'll be in the final game.

Media

See screenshots and concept art of the Skeleton King in the Image Gallery.

Lore

King Leoric of Khanduras was one of the first to fall for Diablo's corruption after Archbishop Lazarus. He is also known as Leoric the Black King

He noticed the possession, but hid it from his priests in hope to defeat it himself. He failed the attempt to stop Diablo, and became corrupted, beheading people that disagreed with him. His once proud and rugged form became distorted and deformed. Leoric began to send his Knights to other villages to bully their townspeople into submission. The people of Khanduras who had once grown to see great honor in their ruler began to call Leoric the Black King.

Manipulated by Lazarus, Leoric got rid of most troublesome advisors by declaring war with Westmarch, sending them, including the honourable Lachdanan to their deaths against the Westmarch armies.

The King was never completely bent to be the shell for Diablo, but he was forever sealed in his tomb under Tristram, where he later was defeated by the unnamed hero who fought for Tristram, but seems to be reincarnated in Diablo III.

This is just part of the material available on this topic. The Diablo2Wiki Skeleton king article is available in the Diablo 2 wiki, which has a specific Diablo I and Diablo II focus. A lot of information unique to the first two Diablo games is available there. You can find it here:

• Diablo2.DiabloWiki.net/king Skeleton king.