Skeleton King

King Leoric was driven insane by Diablo's attempts to possess him. In his madness the King brought about the destruction of his kingdom, and would have killed everyone in it had not his royal guards turned on him and put him out of his misery. His torment was not yet at an end, for Leoric returned as The Skeleton King, his gigantic reanimated skeleton bent on raising an army of the dead to serve his new lord, Diablo. Much of the plot of Diablo revolves around revealing the cause of Leoric's madness, and the fate of his son and his trusted adviser, Lazarus.

In singleplayer the Skeleton King has a 50% chance of appearing. He is encountered in a special dungeon entered from level 3. Leoric can (and will) raise up dead skeletons as he fights in the single player experience. He always drops the unique Undead Crown when killed in single player.

In multiplayer the Skeleton King is encountered every game, located randomly somewhere on level 3. He isn't that fearsome himself, but the huge mob of skeletons around him can be very difficult, especially if there are dozens of skeletal archers firing at your new, low-AC character. He does not raise skeletons in multiplayer, but instead has 100% life steal, gaining as much life as he inflicts upon you in damage. He can heal completely, or even fill up more than his beginning hit points. He drops a random magical item when killed in multiplayer.

• See The Curse of King Leoric's quest page for more details on the single and multi-player differences, as well as some strategy tips.
• See the Skeleton King 101 strategy article for numerous how-to tips.

Voice Actor: Chris Metzen

Statistics

The Butcher, The Skeleton King, and Diablo are the three special monsters in the game. None of the three are classified as Animals, Demons, or Undead, and their stats and behaviors are unique to them, rather than borrowed or modified from other monsters.

Statistics

• Stats are listed by Normal / Nightmare / Hell difficulty levels.
• MFL: Magic / Fire / Lightning.
  • I = Immune
  • R = Resistant (75%)
  • - = no resistance or immunity to that element
    • No monsters in Diablo or Hellfire have any physical resistance or immunity.
• Dlvl = Dungeon Level. The boss will be found on this level only if the base monster type spawns on that level.
• Mob = Some bosses spawn with a mob. The number of minions in the mob generally increases with difficulty level. Minions have the same stats as normal monsters of their type.
• IntF = Intelligence Factor. Values are from 0-3; smarter monsters will pursue more doggedly, and the value is used in various calculations. Monsters that can Follow if you break the line of sight or open Doors are marked with F and D.
• Attack Type: Some bosses have different AI, and behave like monsters of another type. More information on attack types can be found on the Diablo Monsters page.

Name	DLvl	Mob	IntF	Mlvl (combat)	Mlvl (items)	MFL	Attack Type
The Skeleton King	3	No	3 DF	14 / 44 / 74	9 / 9 / 9	IRR / IRR / IRR	Skeleton King

Combat Stats

Name	Experience	HPs (MP Diablo)	HPs (SP Hellfire)	AC	To/Hit	Damage
The Skeleton King	570 / 3140 / 6280	240 / 721 / 963	120 / 410 / 580	70 / 120 / 150	60 / 140 / 180	6-16 / 16-36 / 30-70

Movement Speed

Characters walk at 0.4 speed. See the Diablo Characters page for swing speeds, casting speeds, and other useful character speed break points.

Name	Walk time	Hit Recovery Time	Attack Time	Hit Time
The Skeleton King	0.30	0.30	0.80 / 0.30	0.40 / 0.0*

• *Second time is for the Revive Skeleton animation.

The Black King

Excerpt from The Black King, Diablo I in-game book

Hail and Sacrifice to Diablo - Lord of Terror and Destroyer of Souls.
When I awoke my Master from his sleep, he attempted to possess a mortal's form. Diablo attempted to claim the body of King Leoric, but my Master was too weak from his imprisonment. My Lord required a simple and innocent anchor to this world, and so found the boy Albrecht to be perfect for the task. While the good King Leoric was left maddened by Diablo's unsuccessful possession, I kidnapped his son Albrecht and brought him before my Master. I now await Diablo's call and pray that I will be rewarded when he at last emerges as the Lord of this world.