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TangoTango
Quelling Blade
Iron BranchIron BranchIron Branch
Boots of Speed
Blade Mail
Blade Mail
Radiance
Mjollnir
Refresher Orb
Magic Wand
Soul Ring
Hand of Midas
Divine Rapier
Drum of Endurance
Armlet of Mordiggian
Heart of Tarrasque
Gem of True Sight
Heaven's Halberd
Satanic
Daedalus
Desolator
Black King Bar
Orb of Venom
Stout Shield
Tango
Quelling Blade
Ring of Protection
Ring of Basilius
Boots of Speed
Power Treads
Drum of Endurance
Ring of Protection
Quelling Blade
Iron Branch
Iron Branch
Tango
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For untold years, King Ostarion built a kingdom from the remains of his enemies. It was an obsessive's errand, done to pass the long eternities of a monarchy that seemed fated never to end. He believed that as long as he built up the towers of his palace, he could not die. But eventually he learned that he had been deluded...that bone itself could perish. Deeply mistrustful of flesh, he sought a more permanent way of extending his reign, and at last settled on pursuit of wraith energy, a form of pure spirit given off by certain dark souls at death. Should he infuse himself with Wraith Essence, he thought he might create a body as luminous and eternal as his ego. On the millennial solstice known as Wraith-Night, he submitted to a rite of transformation, compelling his subjects to harvest enough souls to fuel his ambition for immortality. No one knows how many of his champions died, for the only survivor who mattered was the Wraith King who rose with the sun on the following morn. Now he rarely spends a moment on his glowing throne--but strides out with sword drawn, demanding a fealty that extends far beyond death.
Wraith King is a Strength based tank carry with the ability to resurrect himself upon death. He can also play a bit of a support role with his vampiric aura.
Pros
-Extremely Durable
-Can be a huge presence in Teamfights
-Doesn't need to rely on BKB for the most part
Cons
-Can be easily kited
-Very Single Target oriented if ignored
-Very susceptible to Mana Burns
-No escapes
Wraithfire Blast
Wraithfire Blast Is a single target stun that deals damage, then slows the target for a little bit.
This ability is very straightforward, it is a disjointable missile that stuns the target when it hits it, then when the stun wears off, slows the target for 2 seconds. It has an 8 second cooldown, so for half the cooldown period, the target is CC'ed in some way, shape, or form.
This is one of two abilities that Wraith King has that use mana, the other being his ultimate. Make sure you save 140 mana for his ultimate, unless you have enough Magic Wand charges or a Soul Ring.
Vampiric AuraVampiric Aura
vampiric aura is a passive that gives all friendly units near Wraith king, ranged or melee, lifesteal that stacks FULLY with other orb effects, much like Vlafmir's Offering.
You can choose to get this ability at level 2 or level 8, depending if you have a free farm lane or you are suffering harassment. Do note by having this ability in the early game, you will marginally push your lane due to giving your creeps lifesteal as well.
Mortal Strike
Mortal Strike is a damage steroid that gives Wraith King crits on occasion for pretty good damage. Its sort of like having a built in Daedalus
NOTE: In an older patch, this ability used to have an active component that stole 20% of the target's life and gave it to the Wraith King temporarily for 8 seconds, and really contributed to a threatening early game Wraith King. It doesn't have this active component now, just a nice history lesson.
Reincarnation
Reincarnation Is Wraith King's Ultimate. If he dies while having 140 mana and this isn't on cooldown, he will be resurrected with full HP/Mana and slow all enemies nearby by 75% MS and AS.
Note if you have this ability ready and an Aegis of the Immortal, this ability will be used first, then the Aegis, unless you don't have enough mana to cast your ult.
This ability gives Wraith King more durability than most other heroes, as when he dies, as long as he has the mana, he'll revive and massively slow the enemy team. The downside is that you must make yourself be a big presence in teamfights to get the opposing team to attack you, and thus, trigger this ability. That is where your item build comes in. If you build the right items, Wraith King can make himself out to be a very powerful teamfight presence.
Starting Items
- Tangos are your basic healing item in lane. I personally get 2, but you can get 1 tango and a 
Healing Salve If you want.
- A Quelling Blade helps you last hit in lane, cut paths through trees, and kill wards that you can't reach if you happen to come across some.
- An alternative to Quelling Blade if you think you'll have heavy harassment in lane. Due to its price, you will have to run with one less Iron Branch if you chose this over a Quelling Blade
- Iron Branchs give very good stats for their price that early in the game and can build into a Magic Wand, mechanism or 25g. Starting with 3 Iron Branchs allows you to use your nuke twice at very early levels instead of once.
- Ring of Protection is your basic build item into Ring of Basilius, if you don't start with thie item you must have your courier bring it to you as unlike the 
Sage's Mask you can't buy this from the sideshop. Only used if going with the alternate buildup plan.
Boots
- Needed on every hero, builds into various items
- Phase Boots are used for a Racecar build, or a movement speed build. They synergize well with your nuke, as you can stun someone, they're slowed for 2 more seconds, and your phased for the remaining 4 seconds while you wait for your nuke to cool down, allowing you to stick to your target better.
- Phase Boots are standard Carry boots, can be useful for a Tank build due to the extra strength
- Arcane Boots are more for a support oriented build, they'll let you nuke more often and give mana to your teammates.
- Boots of Travel are very good for late game, as they increase your movement speed significantly so you can't be so easily kited and remove the need to carry TP scrolls. Though with their price tag of 2000g, they're used more for a late game presence.
- Tranquil Boots are not useful to you at all, don't bother getting them.
Core items(tank)
- Radiance is used for a tank build. Even though its buildup isn't that easy due to the 3800g Sacred Relic, it gives you a 50dps aura that drastically increases the AoE damage you do in a fight, as well as make your farming much easier. Due to your second life, if the opposing team kills you, they have to kill you again, giving you two lives of Radiance burning.
- Blade Mail is a very potent early game item. It gives you int, damage, and armor, as well as a very powerful active that makes it hurt when people focus you. So when they swap onto you due to the AoE damage your putting out due to Radiance and Mjollnir, plus your normal attacks/stuns that do quite a bit of damage.
- Mjollnir is another item that gives you nice stats and great AoE damage from the chain lightning shield and the On Hit chain lightning. It is advisable to cast the Lightning Shield ability on yourself before you enter a team fight, so that when the enemies or creeps hit you, you will zap them for considerable damage. Also greatly improves your farming speed.
- Refresher Orb allows you to refresh all your abilities, allowing you to refresh your ulti after you've used it once in a team fight, as well as refreshing your Mjollnir's Lightning Shield active and your Blade Mail active, helping to contribute to the damage you put out.
Core Items(racecar)
- Sange and Yasha is a very good item that gives Wraith King all that he needs, damage, AS, MS, HP, and a slow. A very good item for a Racecar build that has very easy buildup.
- Armlet of Mordiggian is a very good item on Wraith King, as his natural Life Steal synergizes well with the Armlet's active ability, and his ult allows you to attempt to Armlet toggle without much worry as if it succeeds you live longer, if it fails, you rez. It gives him AS/hp/damage/armor, all very good stats and a very good item, but not core if your using a tank build.
Situational Items
- Hand of Midas is only really useful if you have total freefarm for a long amount of time and expect the game to last a while. its active gives you 190 gold and extra xp from the creep you use it on.
- A Ring of Basilius helps alleviate Wraith King's mana issues early on and gives him some decent armor for a very cheap price of 500g. A good item to get if you need to run the alternate buying plan due to too much harass.
- Drum of Endurance are a very nice early game item that give you almost the stat value of an 
Ultimate Orb but this item can choke your inventory late game and delays you getting other parts of your core items. Still if your running the alternate item build plan, its a very good item for its cost.
- Soul Ring is very useful for Wraith King if you choose to use the item, giving him a stun every cooldown and allowing him to have mana for his rez if you activate it before he dies.
- Desolator is your standard damage item. Its very effective if the enemy has very low armor like 
Tiny.
- Daedalus is an alternative to Desolator if your facing enemies with high amounts of armor, as it offers almost the same damage bonus and gives you more crits.
- Divine Rapier is a very good item on Wraith King due to his innate resurrection ability and tankiness. While he can be kited a bit, this does give him the ability to destroy people if he gets close to them.
- an Orb of Venom is a very good item to get in the racecar build and maybe even the tank build if your getting lots of hits on someone, that 12% slow usually lets you get 1-2 more hits on someone before they can reach their tower, which can net a kill. Plus when your ganking later on in the game, it helps them stay close to you. It also builds into an 
Eye of Skadi. Situational depending on taste.
- Eye of Skadi is a very expensive item that works decently well for the Racecar build. It gives you a ton of total stats and might solve your mana issues by itself, as well as giving you a very powerful AS/MS slow to help keep people in melee range. If you get this item, you can't get Satanic, Desolator or other orb-like items.
- Black King Bar isn't as important on Wraith King as it is on other carries due to the nature of how Wraith King carries, IE, does lots of unavoidable AoE damage due to Radiance/ Mjollnir/ Blade Mail. It is very helpful though if you find yourself being mana burned by the enemy team however.
- Blink Dagger is very useful after its buff, as it costs no mana to use and allows Wraith King to have a very good positioning tool so he can't be as easily kited. A very good situational item.
- Heart of Tarrasque Is a decent tank item that gives Wraith King a buttload of hp/str and HP regeneration out of combat, making him even more durable. It doesn't help his damage though, so its only situational.
- Satanic is a more aggressive version of Heart of Tarrasque, as during its active effect, one crit could very well heal you to full from half or lower. It also has good damage and the 
Helm of the Dominator makes for a good buildup as you can use it to stack camps.
- Magic Wand is a decent item to build with your Iron Branches, as it allows you to have a small heal and regain mana when you have enough charges. This can let you have enough mana to reincarnate when you die if you were mana burned if it has at last 10 charges when used for example. A very good item.
- Mask of Madness is useful if you want even more movement speed and attack speed, and its downside doesn't bother you too much if you have a Blade Mail as your ult will just bring you back. If you have this you can't have Desolator. A situational item.
- Abyssal Blade gives you massive damage and a passive bash effect that can hold your targets in place while you beat on them, as well as a BKB piercing stun that can be used to stun magic immune targets. The basher that builds into this item is also extremely good for its bash effect as well.
- Assault Cuirass is a good team aura item that gives you a massive chunk of armor, attack speed, and reduces the armor of all your enemies while your near them. This can increase your presence in teamfights by debuffing your enemies and buffing your allies, making you more of a priority target to take down.
- Heaven's Halberd is a very good anti-carry weapon that gives you evasion and a disarm active that makes it so the enemy carry can't attack you while they are debuffed. A situational item
- Wraith King makes for a very good carrier for a Gem of True Sight due to how tanky he is, the only downside is he can't destroy wards that can't be melee'd unless he runs around with a Quelling Blade
Support Role items
- Scythe of Vyse is a standard item for a support. It gives you a bunch of mana and a very powerful active that turns the target into an animal, removing their evasion, damage block, and making it so they can't attack, use items, or cast spells.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a very situational support item that allows you to dodge large nukes or CC/set up someone on the other team for followup nukes. VERY situational
- Mekansm is standard on most supports. It gives you armor, hp regen, and an active heal that heals your whole team. The only downside is it costs 150 mana, so watch your mana pool.
- Force Staff is a mobility item like Blink Dagger that can be used on others or in combat. You can use it to help position a team mate, save a team mate from being chased, or push an opponent out of position.
- Pipe of Insight comes with an active that gives you and your team a shield that absorbs a good chunk of magic damage, as well as increasing your magic resistance. Situational.
- Necronomicon is an item that has good stats and summons Necromatic Warriors that have their own abilities. The blue archer has an active that manaburns the target and passively manaburns the target when it attacks while the red warrior manaburns the target, deals damage to the target if its killed by it, and at lvl 3, has truesight. Best used for push strats.
- Vladmir's Offering stacks with your own vampiric aura, has easy build up, and gives a very good aura. Great for a support role.
Tank Build
The tank build for Wraith King revolves around you taking the attacks of the enemy team instead of your team, while trying to make yourself as obnoxious as you can in team fights so that they focus you instead of your team mates, causing your ult to trigger, their whole team to be slowed, and your team mates hopefully relatively unharmed.
This build uses Radiance Mjollnir and Blade Mail to make you a threatening presence in team fights. Each item increases your right click damage, and passively each item allows you to do something if you are kited, as their effects happen passively and do a lot of damage in a team fight. Refresher Orb is also used in this build to give you 3 lives instead of two and allows you to use Blade Mail and Mjollnir a second time during a teamfight.
This is the standard build for Wraith King, as it uses the innate tankiness of this hero as effectively as possible by putting out lots of pressure on the enemy team, hopefully forcing them to attack you. This build also gives you some pretty good damage, so if they ignore you like they normally would, you are still putting out considerable damage due to Radiance and Mjollnir and your hard hitting right clicks.
This build is also very good against illusion heroes, due to the AoE damage you do.
This build works very well in a #2 role and can work in a #1 role as well as long as you have a good semi-carry in the #2 role. This is best as a #2 role though, often supporting an 
Anti-Mage, 
Storm Spirit, 
Sniper, 
Luna or other carry.
The alternate starting and early-game item builds are for if you are facing constant harass and need very easy build up items to make it so you can farm and the like. Do note you will probably sell those items later in the game due to them being dead-end items.
Racecar Build
This build is based around trying to fix Wraith King's biggest weakness, how easily kited he is, by giving him damage items that increae his movement speed and slow the speed of others. This is more of a standard #1 build when you have a low late game impact #2 like 
Pudge and the like.
This build doesn't have the teamfight presence of the other build, but it does make you an extremely hard hitting carry with a built in Aegis.
Support Build
This build is if you want a Wraith King support in the #3 or #4 roles. This isn't the best use of the hero, but if your running a Sniper carry or another ranged carry that greatly benefits from your lifesteal aura and you already have a #2, this build can also work, though not nearly as well as the others due to your low amount of farm.
Good Match Ups
Heroes that rely on their innate tankiness to win fights are good matchups for you since you are the greatest tank hero of them all. Add in a Blade Mail and your damage and most of them crumple. Just don't get hit by 
Meat Hook until you have your items!
Slow heroes that have no escapes are another thing you like, as they can't really kite you, allowing you to overpower them with your bulk and damage.
You are also good against most other hard carries if you use the tank build, due to double Blade Mail, Mjollnir, 3 lives, and your carry damage.
Bad Match Ups
Mana Burners are your worst enemy. They burn your mana so you can't resurrect, basically making you a walking 2 second stun with a vamp aura.
Illusion based heroes are another bad match up for you due to your single target nature. While the tank build does help alleviate this problem, it is still a bad match up for him.
Kiters are also your worst enemy tied with mana burners, as you have no innate gap closers or forms of advanced movement. Thankfully most of these heroes are squishy.
Meepo is another bad matchup for you, he kites, he has lots of damage, and your single target nature means you have a hard time killing one of his clones when he can kite you while running the clone with low hp away and forcing you to attack another clone. Though to be fair, Meepo counters a lot of heroes if played right and is so hard to play correctly that you'll rarely see him at all.
Wraith King has his problems and isn't a top tier hero like 
Lifestealer and the like, but he can hold his own very well and can counter a lot of team make-ups due to the damage he puts out and the punishment he can take.
Ty LittleTinGod for Skadi idea for racecar build.
Alternate Tank item build for Starting/Early game made by HailRake.
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