Wraith King - Semi-Basic Carry Guide

Introduction

Hello, my name is Caduceus, and this is my first Dota 2 guide on this website(and any website at that).

Since Wraith King is currently the hero I am most successful with (over 50 wins), I have decided to make a guide for him. I plan for it to be a streamlined guide, explaining what to do very quickly and (hopefully) descriptively.

Wraith King is by far, not a hard hero. He is in fact one of the easiest carries to play as, but one of the hardest to master. With three passives, new players are able to pick him up very easily and learn to play him fast, and veteran players can find a new hero to add to their playables.

Pros and Cons

Pros!

-He is a tanky hero.
-He has an ultimate that allows him to respawn upon death, when combined with Aegis of the Immortal, it makes him practically invincible.
-He has a reliable ganking stun.
-Has a damage buff in the form of a critical strike.
-He is green. Who doesn't like green?

Cons!

-Utterly useless if underfarmed
-Starting damage is low
-No AOE damage without Battle Fury, which isn't recommended.
-Everyone will target you in team fights regardless of whether your ultimate is up or not.

When to play/pick WK

Pick WK when:

-Your team needs a carry.
-Your team needs a tank.
-Your team needs a good stun.
-Your team has terrific AOE and teamfight damage.

Refrain from picking WK when:

-You are inexperienced at last hitting.
-Your team needs a support.
-The safe lane is unavailable.
-Your team has too much carries.

Skills and their explanations

Wraithfire Blast:

This is an exellent stun, with decent damage as well. Casting this at the right time could save your life, net your team an extra kill, and even both at the same time! However, the mana cost is disappointingly high, and when used improperly, can drain you of mana very quickly, and disable Reincarnation from activating.

Tactics:

-When fighting two people at once and you're about to die with your ultimate up, but with only 140-280 mana left, DO NOT CAST WRAITHFIRE BLAST. If you cast it, you will most likely die and not reincarnate, and if you don't cast it, you will die, slow them down, and reincarnate with full mana.

-Always use this skill while ganking and an enemy is running away. It's damage is fairly low late game and will not often kill-steal.

Vampiric Aura:

This is the skill that permits Wraith King to push and farm the jungle effectively, and also gives your team lifesteal in teamfights, regardless of whether they're ranged or not.

Tactics:

-If you're winning your lane, take VA early to push further and down the enemy tower.

-If you're losing your lane, do not take VA until you wish to jungle, as this will shift the power of the creeps in your favour, pushing the lane and making you and your possible lane partner vulnerable to a gank.

Mortal Strike:

WK's bread and butter damage steroid in teamfights. With the right items, you will start to crit for 400 damage plus.

Tactics:

-Practically no disadvantage or explanation to this skill, but taking it will increase your damage significantly whether in lane or out.

Reincarnation:

WK's signature skill. Just as the title says, it allows him to respawn after death, right where he died. Cool, right? That's not all. It reduces the attack AND movement speed of surrounding enemies by 75% for FIVE. WHOLE. SECONDS. Amazing, and with the correct items, you will turn into a nuisance to kill, and sometimes be unable to kill at all.

Tactics:

-Watch your mana, as explained in the Wraithfire Blast tactics section. If you do not have at least 140 mana upon death, even if the skill is off cooldown, you will not reincarnate.

Items and their explanations

Hand of Midas:

More gold late game, and the extra attack speed helps too!

Vladimir's Offering:

More lifesteal which stacks, helps with pushing, helps the team. Why not?

Power Treads:

Attack speed, strength, and movement speed. Straightforward item, and can also toggle to INT if you're in need of that extra little bit of mana for your ultimate in a stressful teamfight.

Sange and Yasha:

Tankiness, damage, attack speed. The extra movement speed helps when chasing, but that's just a bonus.

Desolator:

The ultimate item for WK. This item allows him to crit for immense amounts of damage due to the armor reduction.

Heart of Tarrasque:

With this item, you will be extremely hard to kill. That in itself, as an understatement, with Reincarnation people will have to mow through two layers of 2000 hit points, and that's not putting in WK's offensive potential either. Ouch.

Mjollnir:

Replace your Midas with this or Assault Cuirass depending on the situation. Get this item if you are extremely terrifying, and no one in the enemy team can stand up to might of the king.

Battlefury:

Not recommended, but the AOE damage and extra farming potential is very nice.

Assault Cuirass:

This item provides another aura, on top of Vladimir's and Vampiric, you will be walking aura-vendor to all teammates. It gives attack speed and armor, get this item if you are dominating, but at risk of death.

Blink Dagger:

Escape/ganking mechanism. Fairly straightforward to use.

Boots of Travel:

Get this if the game is dragging on very late, and your base is at risk of being backdoored by radiance holders, or anyone with an escape.

Divine Rapier:

Get this if you are certain you will not die, because if you do die and the enemy team manages to pilfer it, you may as well have lost.

Black King Bar:

Get this If you are continuously getting stunned/nuked down by those pesky INT heroes. Damage, magic immunity for a full ten seconds upon first use, and slight tankiness.

Aegis of the Immortal:

If you want to live forever.

Abyssal Blade:

If you have great attack speed, get this. It gives tankiness and an amazing amount of damage.

Armlet of Mordiggian:

Cheap attack speed + strength + damage steroid. You'll have to pay more attention in teamfights as a result, however.

Refresher Orb:

Get this item if you have seriously nothing better to get. With Aegis, two ultimates, and your first life, it all adds up to FOUR LIVES of destruction.

Oh my god, why is there no armlet?

Armlet is included in the Situational Items section, however I do not buy armlet often, unless we're losing badly and I need a quickly-activated damage, hit-point, and attack speed steroid all in one. You can buy armlet at any point in this guide.

End.

Thank you for reading throughout my first ever guide on Wraith King!

Constructive criticism on the comments is highly appreciated :)