Skeleton

A skeleton is a re-animated collection of bones from primarily human corpses (one or more) that has been filled with dark energies as well as spirits of the dead to act as simple guards or servants of dark sorcerers or Necromancers.

Skeletons are Undead monsters.

Diablo III Monster

Diablo III Monster [e]
Skeleton
Classification:	Undead
Monster Family:	Skeleton
Role:	Cannonfodder
Monster Stats Norm/Night/Hell/Inferno
Life:	Unknown
Mana:	None
Armor:	Unknown
Resistance:	Unknown
Offence Norm/Night/Hell/Inferno
Armament:	Sword
DPS:	Unknown
Low Damage:	Unknown
High Damage:	Unknown
Range:	Melee
Speed:	Unknown
Movement:	Medium
Monster Modifiers
None
Spells/Abilities
None
Found In
Tristram Cathedral Forgotten Tombs Leoric Highlands

Well-armored.

As iconic as zombies, animated human skeletons have been featured in all of the Diablo games, and just about every other fantasy RPG ever made. In Diablo 3, plain skeleton warriors are joined Skeletal Summoners, Skeletal Archers, Skeletal Shieldmen, Skeletal Executioners and (perhaps) other types not yet revealed. These skeletons spawn in mixed packs and work together with much better AI than they've shown in the previous games in the series.

This "plain" sort of Skeleton with a sword is quite straight forward, and is mostly only dangerous in large packs, or together with other skeletal types. Avoid being surrounded, and kill other high priority targets first. They typically have a somewhat slow movement speed, normal swing speed, and low damage.

Known Skeletal Types

• Skeleton
• Skeletal Archer
• Skeletal Executioner
• Skeletal Shieldman
• Skeletal Summoner

Famous Monsters

• King Leoric

Background

Living skeletons in dungeons and country side have existed for a long time in Sanctuary, at least some three hundred years before the the Darkening of Tristram, but in the last two decades they have been a constant higher danger for travellers and any would-be archaeologists. These skeletons are in most cases remains of warriors from one or another war or conflict, and have been reanimated by unnatural forces by a rogue Sorcerer or a demonic being.

Necromancers and Skeletons

Skeleton on the move.

While many believe that Necromancers are evil, they are really Priests of Rathma who mostly have just received a bad reputation and nickname due to their study of life and death. They dedicate their lives to the sacred balance of life and death as well as the natural balance between Order and Chaos. To them, death is merely a natural part of life and they do not seek to deny its arrival. They truly comprehend the balance of all things, and understand and accept their place in what they refer to as the Great Cycle of Being. In truth, they never suffered corruption from magic that other ancient mage clans like the Vizjerei have. In the end, they use the naturally existing forces and spirits to raise inanimate objects (including Skeletons) to help their cause against imbalance between extra-planar forces on Sanctuary. In most cases you will find skeletons reanimated by a Necromancer to be of help against the Darkness.

Skeleton Summoning, Intelligence and Power

Shieldmen protect archers.

Skeletons themselves generally have a quite limited intelligence, even if their capability to understand and carry out orders exceed those of a Zombie. They are more organized, and blindly determined to whatever task is set before them. Even less powerful forms of skeletons are capable of using simple tools, and they have been observed to use swords, clubs, bows, and even armour and shields (often equipped in the same armament in which they fell). They are walking vessels of Hell's influence on the mortal realm (besides the ones raised by a Priest of Rathma), and are corpses and spirits of the deceased, which are twisted and corrupted, are imbued with a hatred for the living that defies understanding. They don't seek consume the flesh of the living like Zombies, but they are intent on extinguishing the life of their victims. Some reports have also said that victims of some of these skeletons have risen themselves as skeletal soldiers against the still living.

Contrary to popular belief, they do not need to be bones from the same corpse, however, but can be a composition of several different ones. This makes it possible to form and reform skeletons by a summoner, as broken pieces can easily be replaced. As there generally always are some bone material from some time in the distant past, a necromancer or other summoner is able to raise their creatures anywhere. It's just easier to do it in a graveyard.

Skeletal Summoner and skeletons.

Only a minor magical investment is needed by a summoner to bring a single, unintelligent skeleton to life, which makes it possible to raise armies in the hundreds for a powerful magician. It seems to be a fairly simple equation in terms of intelligence and power, where a summoner can choose between having one truly powerful and intelligent servant, or a hundred daft skeletal warriors, with limited capabilities. The skeleton intelligence is limited by the power and scope of the spell used in the creature's creation. Giving the skeleton enough mental capabilities to protect themselves with shields, or use bow and arrows is just a little bit more demanding than summoning a regular bone warrior.

More Powerful Skeletons

The bones of truly powerful individuals still retain some part of their essence, and also some of their old power. It's harder to corrupt the truly good or independent, but the effort will at the same time produce even more powerful servants. Using the bones of a deceased sorcerer makes it easier to create spellcasting undead horrors. They can also be induced with the capability to summon skeletons themselves, making Skeletal Summoners truly dangerous. They are more powerful and they attain a higher level of intelligence, making it possible for him or her able to replenish the ranks even in the field.

Prime Evil Skeletons

Most undead (including skeletons) are brought to life on this plane through power from Mephisto. Some variants are adapted by other Prime Evils, demon lords or specific dark sorcerers of humankind. Some skeleton summonings require extra treatment, especially if the intention is to make the reanimated creature extra powerful. One example is the Reanimated Horde used by Baal in the assault of Mount Arreat. The Reanimated Horde consisted of warriors that had their hearts turned black while they were still alive, and were given a new existence as skeletons, with vengeful fury. They had an extraordinary level of ferocity, and the lingering power in them even allowed them to re-animate themselves if they were destroyed.

Extraordinary Skeletons

The Black King, Leoric.

Bones of extraordinary men and women can be infinitely more powerful than any regular skeleton, and retain a significant portion of their own personality and memories, if not all of them. An example is King Leoric, who was reanimated by the Lord of Terror himself, as he was not able to overtake his mind completely. Diablo still managed to corrupt Leoric's mind, which is the source of the madness he retained as an undead. Due to the power of Leoric as an entity, even defeated it was possible to summon him again, 20 years later (in Diablo III). The amount of power needed to permanently displace his spirit from this realm will be significant.

"Life" of a Skeleton

Skeletons are generally frail, and the consensus among students of undeath is that you don't have to utterly destroy every single bone to stop a skeleton, but rather just deal enough damage to it in order to dispell the summoning spell. As mentioned, the bones can later be induced with dark energies anew to rebuild it, easily replacing damaged parts. Even though these monstrosities are frail, people find them very dangerous in numbers as a single stab of a sword in the wrong place could potentially bring down any warrior. With enough numbers, they can bring down any hero.

In some cases, the undead are being continuously kept alive by their summoner, and killing the controlling necromancer or evil sorcerer will also either dispel the magic keeping the undead moving, or at least rendering them immovable, lacking orders.

Healing

Life energy, primarily channelled through magic granted by the High Heavens unto human vessels, such as Paladins or priests of the Light will have a very destructive effect on a Skeleton. Magic that will heal living creatures will in turn damage or dispel the undead. An example is the Paladin Holy Bolt, which can either heal friends of the Paladin, or damage the undead that might cross the path of the hurling spheres of pure Light.

Skeletal Humor

The capability of humour of these creations is strange. The traveller and writer Abd al-Hazir made the following comment on the topic in his eight entry from the book Writings of Abd al-Hazir:

I am at a loss to explain the average skeleton's somewhat ludicrous mental predisposition, however. Perhaps the implausibility of its own existence makes the skeleton think it hilarious to hide in a barrel, cackling intermittently for some three hundred years until a victim happens by?

Permanently Disposing of Skeletons

As with most undead, the only way to permanently destroy the creature, is to burn the bones to ashes on a pyre.

Lore

During the last days of King Leoric's reign, even the skeletons of the ancient dead could not rest. They took up their broken armor and weapons once more -- ready to cut down anything that yet drew breath. Though wasted and fragile, these creatures possess a twisted cleverness that makes them quite formidable.

Deckard Cain

Media

You can find numerous pictures of skeletons in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:

• Skeletons in Act One screenshots.
• Skeletons in Act Two screenshots.
• Skeleton concept art.

• 

  King Leoric milling about.

• 

  A Skeletal Summoner showing off.

• 

  The Skeletal Shieldman variant.

• 

  Regular Skeleton.

• 

  Another regular skeleton.

References

• Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0008
• Diablo I Manual
• Diablo II Manual
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Manual