Skeleton King (Diablo III)

The Skeleton King to his foe(s)
 * "You dare to bring the warmth of life into my tomb?!"

The Skeleton King is a boss character in Diablo III. He is in fact King Leoric, the mad king of Tristram, bound once again to the mortal realm.

Gameplay
The Skeleton King appears as the first major boss of Act I, standing between you and the Fallen Star. His remains rest in the Royal Crypts deep within the Tristram Cathedral, and he can only be bound into a physical form by means of his old crown, which must be placed atop his head.

Once the king is activated, numerous undead minions appear. As long as the King is active, more groups of monsters will appear, but they disappear after he is defeated. The King has a large amount of Life, but moves slowly. On Torment difficulty, he has no enrage timer. Upon being killed for the first time during a single Campaign at level 5 or higher, he drops Leoric's Crown.

The Skeleton King is one of the six bosses handpicked as an Uber Boss in the Infernal Machine event, under the title of The King of the Dead, Mockery of Life. His uber appearance boasts only significantly higher statistics, with no change in strategy, but he does fight alongside Uber Maghda. Like her, he can drop the Writhing Spine (Leoric's Regret) upon defeat.

Crusader King is the Rift Guardian variant of the Skeleton King.

Attacks

 * Skeletal Swing: The King swipes at the player with his mace.
 * Wraith Walk: A ghostly apparition of the King moves towards the targeted player. Afterwards, the King teleports to where the ghost is, swinging his mace for a high damage attack.
 * Summon Skeletons: Six Skeletal minions are summoned, surrounding the player. This ability is used twice before it is set on cooldown. After the first cast, the Skeleton King will also teleport backwards, getting out of the player's melee range. Only through crowd control effects will this teleport be canceled.
 * March of the Black King: The King laughs and spins in three consecutive circles, doing moderate damage in wide area. The first successful hit deals very high damage (often enough to instantly kill or bring a hero down to very low Life on higher torment levels), but the subsequent hits are less powerful.

Related Achievements

 * I'll Be Your Wingman
 * Instant Karma
 * Pink'd
 * Short Reign
 * The Mad King's End

Quotes

 * "The power of the fallen star awakened me... and soon all will suffer, as I have suffered. Guards! Bring me his bones!" (First encounter, as the Skeleton King is seen chasing after Deckard Cain)
 * "You dare to bring the warmth of life into my tomb?!" (Upon entering The Royal Crypts)
 * "You will never defeat me!"

Development
The Skeleton King first appeared in the Wizard introduction trailer. Unlike the released game, in which his essence only enters the body gradually and in shapeless form, in the trailer his spirit possesses the remains directly and without player's help.