The Curse of King Leoric

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The Skeleton King is the risen corpse of Mad King Leoric, returned to malevolent life and gifted with magical powers to raise and control a skeletal army. He must be destroyed to free the souls of his former priests and soldiers, but with his protectors and his combat ability, this will be no easy task.

The Skeleton King

Leoric
  • Quest Name: The Skeleton King
  • Frequency: Every game in MP. Half the time in SP.
  • Triggered By: Speaking to Ogden after reaching the second level of the dungeon.
  • Given by: Ogden.
  • Location: In MP the Skeleton King and his retainers are found somewhere on level 3 of the dungeon. In SP a special passage to the Skeleton King's sub-level is found on level 3 of the dungeon.
  • Reward: Random magical item in MP. In SP, the Skeleton King drops The Undead Crown, a unique crown with life leech. There are also a number of treasure chests in the Skeleton King's dungeon that contain multiple magical items.

The Skeleton King is a defleshed giant of a man. He's at least 3 meters tall and carries a long sword taller than your character. He fights well with it, but prefers to stalk around just out of reach, raising up fresh skeletons to join the battle and taunting you with his ghastly, echoing voice.

Ogden's quest dialogue is worth a read:

The village needs your help, good master! Some months ago, King Leoric's son, Prince Albrecht, was kidnapped. The king went into a rage and scoured the village for his missing child. With each passing day, Leoric seemed to slip deeper into madness. He sought to blame innocent townsfolk for the boy's disappearance and had them brutally executed. Less than half of us survived his insanity...
The king's knights and priests tried to placate him, but he turned against them and, sadly, they were forced to kill him. With his dying breath, the king called down a terrible curse upon his former followers. He vowed that they would serve him in darkness forever...
This is where things take an even darker twist than I thought possible! Our former king has returned from his eternal sleep, and now commands a legion of undead minions within the labyrinth. His body was buried in a tomb, three levels beneath the cathedral. Please, good master, put his soul at rest by destroying his now cursed form...

Strategy Tips

D1-u-undead-crown.gif

The Undead Crown
5% Life Stealing
Armor Class: 8
Durability: 60

The King can hit hard and fast, but he moves quite erratically, and seldom races right into melee range. Mages and Rogues will generally fire a lot of shots and miss him with most of them, but he has enough power and speed to rip up a lightly-armored character at melee range, so try to keep your distance. For a melee character, the King can hit pretty hard, but at least while he's fighting at melee range he won't raise skeletons very often.

If at all possible, equip a blunt weapon before taking on the King, since the extra 50% damage from a club or mace will make a huge difference over the course of beating on so many skeletons.

Battling the Skeleton King is quite a different experience in single player or multiplayer.

Multiplayer

In MP, the King is found somewhere on level 3, and where he spawns, and what type of skeletons he spawns with, make a big difference in how the battle goes. He always appears with a great mass of skeletons, thirty or more, who are a mixture of melee fighters or archers. If the King appears in a small room, or a narrow hallway, his skeletons can be dealt with just a few at a time. If he spawns in a large open room, and especially if he does so with a great number of archers, he can be very difficult or even impossible to reach for a melee fighter, due to the torrent of arrows his skeletal archers fire. His undead servants will usually remain near their spawning spot, so it's up to you to brave their artillery fire, or try to lure them out, or try to lure the King away from his backup.

Single Player

In SP, the King is always in a special dungeon area which is a lot of fun to explore. Which skeletons he spawns with are randomized here as well, but there are a lot of other skeletons in the level who are the same type and are found in the same location every game. This makes the level more predictable, but also means the King will have dead skeletons in every direction, so no matter how you retreat when the fight begins, you will always have to run back over skeletons he can raise up.

In addition to the Skeleton King, there are a number of bone levers and crucified corpses in the area. Throw the bone levers to open secret doors to bonus areas, and knock down all four of the crucified skeletons to open a secret door in the rear of the King's burial chamber, where you'll find a great deal more skeletons and three well-loaded treasure chests as well.


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Quests in Diablo and Hellfire -- Quest General Info -- D1 & HF Quest Items [e]

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