Leoric is a melee warrior who relies on a skill shot and an escape to stay alive, but also depushes extraordinarily with his basic ability's area of effect. His ultimate ability either allows him to corner or block an enemies movement or deal damage while healing for enemy Heroes hit.

His unique trait allows him to stay on the field of battle when killed. During the respawn time he is able to see, move and use a special set of abilities to slow enemies and decrease his own respawn timer faster.

How to use this guide: The main goal of this guide is to give an in-depth overview on how to use Leoric's abilities. While most guides I have seen focus on explaining the talent choices given at the individual 7 tier levels, I wanted this guide to show the talents as options to improve the abilities so that the reader can decide for himself how much a talent is worth in his playstyle.

Furthermore, the explanations end with little tricks on how to use the ability discussed against certain enemy classes or even individual hero skills that I found worth noting.

What it is: an in-depth discussion of what skill and talents are good in certain situations.
What it is not: a quick talent look-up table

I think the main part is done and I am anxious to see what others think of this kind of guide.

Enjoy reading,
Axez D. Nyde

P.S.: Let me know of any typos and errors! Vote if you like this guide!

Guide Version Info: Revised March 15 2016 ( Xul, Patch 16.4 )

Combat Trait
	'What is dead my never die!' - Leorics's Unique Feature
Basic Abilities
	( Q ), ( W ) and ( E ) skills.
Ultimate Abilities
	Options for ( R )
Specific Leoric Talents
	Other talents available
General Talents Available to Leoric
	Talents shared with other characters

	Undying ( Trait )
Leoric's trait allows him to remain where he was killed instead of returning to the Nexus for reanimation. He can still roam around and see, but cannot mount. His ultimate and regular abilities are deactivated while he is returning to the mortal plane. In place of Skeletal Swing and Drain Hope he now has access to two new undead abilities that cost no mana:
	Ghastly Swing ( Q )	Enhanced by: Consume Vitality
While Undying use Ghastly Swing to slow down enemies and enemy Heroes. You can keep them inside area effect spells longer or delay their advance towards your team mates. Follow and slow them while on their way to objectives. Ghastly Swing profits from Consume Vitality ( level 17 ) but no other Skeletal Swing talent. Once you are dead and have Consume Vitality, make sure you hit 5 or more targets per swing to receive the maximum amount of respawn time boost. Buildings and walls do count as well.
	Drain Essence ( W )	Enhanced by: Willing Vessel
Keep Drain Essence on cooldown as much as you can! This skill shot must be aimed at enemy Heroes and then Leoric must remain in range for the ability's duration to receive the complete amount of bonus time. Willing Vessel ( level 4 ) will increase the gained time boost per tick. Other talents have no effect on Drain Essence. Use Ghastly Swing to help staying close to enemy Heroes. NOTE: ( Patch 15.1 ) Drain Essence does 12.5% heal on its own, Willing Vessel 'increases' it to 12.5%. Bug, maybe?
Note: Leoric cannot mount while undead, however he can use his Hearthstone. Use it to escape reviving amidst the enemy! A timer next to Leoric's portrait keeps track of your effectiveness at respawning. Use it to measure your performance! ( The more time you've cheated from death the better )

Leoric is a brawling melee warrior. His abilities allow him to support his team via quick wave clear and area of effect slow in fights. Also he can temporarily increase his sustainability and move into or out-of fights unhindered.
	Skeletal Swing ( Q )	Enhanced by: Consume Vitality Ghastly Reach Mana Thirst Paralyzing Rage Renewed Swing
His first ability, Skeletal Swing, is an aimable area of effect damage skill. All enemies in a half circle are hit by a swing of Leoric's mace. The size is enough to hit all 7 minions of a regular wave. The ability also applies a short slow to enemies struck. This can give an edge in teamfights or to chase runners. When enhanced with level 1 talent Mana Thirst Leoric can basically stay in lane forever. This talent also has its use when on maps with many objective minions as in Infernal Shrines or Haunted Mines. If you expect teamfights to last ( e.g. because teams have low damage output ) then this talent is also viable. Otherwise, as most mana talents, this is considered a comfort talent. At level 7 you get to choose either Ghastly Reach or Paralyzing Rage. Ghastly Reach can help you chase down nasty ranged heroes, like Kael'thas or Falstad, who will try to stay out of your reach while burning through your hitpoints. Paralyzing Rage is of more use when teamed-up. Your allies can close gaps or evade being killed when you slow enemies harder. By the time you reach level 16 and get to choose either Renewed Swing or Consume Vitality you should already have a good feeling if you're being oppressed or winning fights. Renewed Swing can help securing kills as you can now slow twice in a row and in different directions. If you feel you are dying too much, Consume Vitality will aid with staying alive longer and also reduces your respawn time, as your Ghastly Swing now also heals while undying.
With Ghastly Reach and/or Renewed Swing your chances of uncovering stealthed heroes rise		If you miss Skeletal Swing against certain heroes you will never reach them. Escape and return when off cooldown
Consume Vitality is good in team fights against enemy heroes with spawns, like Anub'arak, Azmodan, Xul or Zagara.
	Drain Hope ( W )	Enhanced by: Crushing Hope Drain Momentum Hopelessness Unyielding Despair Willing Vessel
Drain Hope is Leoric's skill shot. While its main use is to keep Leoric sustained during fights, it also deals a solid amount of damage to its target. In order to get the most out of this skill, Leoric has to remain close to his target for 4 seconds. Choosing Hopelessness at level 1 helps no only with reaching heroes but also while the effect ticks Leoric can be further away from his enemy without breaking the effect. This talent is good against all heroes that will easily walk away from you to cancel the skill. Heroes with dodging skills such as Zeratul, Valla or Falstad can still escape the prolonged Drain Hope quite easily. With Willing Vessel at level 4 you can upgrade the healing effect to get even more sustain. Get it when you are the main tank in your team. NOTE: It should also have an effect on Drain Essence but that seems broken. At level 13 either Crushing Hope or Drain Momentum can be chosen. While Crushing Hope helps to break through healthier opponents Drain Momentum finally removes the movement penalty while Drain Hope is active and Leoric can now chase after and run from opponents while draining off their hitpoints. Unyielding Despair at level 16 reduces the cooldown of Drain Hope. This both increases your damage and sustainability.
In combination with Wraith Walk your body remains and keeps leeching an enemy while your ghost escapes to safety.		If you fail to land Drained Hope consider aborting an assault, it might cost your life otherwise ( well, unlife actually! ).
You can grab heroes behind walls and towers, or other obstacles. This can enable you to catch an offensive Abathur hiding close behind an enemy gate.
	Wraith Walk ( E )	Enhanced by: Hardened Bones Lingering Apparition Royal Focus
Wraith Walk is a very unique ability. While your Wraith separates from your body, you can move it around while increasingly becoming faster. Meanwhile, your body is left behind but gains unstoppable for the time being. After the effect has ended, your body is teleported to where your Wraith is. Bear in mind, that your body remains damagable all the time. If you land a Drain Hope before using Wraith Walk then it will not be interrupted but continue on normally. While Wraith Walking you can always hit ( E ) to call your body to your soul early. Watch your health and cancel early to get your body out of harms way. Level 4 lets you pick up either Hardened Bones or Royal Focus. While Royal Focus has no scenario making it worth picking ( that I know of ) Hardened Bones really shines when escaping from a couple of foes focusing on you. The reduce damage that your body takes while you Wraith Walk to safety often helps to keep you alive. Lingering Apparition on level 7 increases the duration to 4 seconds. You will be able to walk the last 1.5 seconds with the maximum speed increase of +50% and so distance-wise this really gets you a long way ( pun! ).
Quirks and Questions: Leoric can Wraith Walk through enemy gates. Gazlowe's Xplodium Charge and Grav-O-Bomb 3000 will not stun or pull your body, but do damage Use Wraith Walk to pass Tassadar's Force Wall. Leoric can pass his own ( or enemy Leoric's ) Entomb as a ghost. The Butcher's Ruthless Onslaught will cancel if you use Wraith Walk before he has reached you. Xul's Bone Prison can neither slow nor stop you. Zeratul's Void Prison has no effect on your desert body. Anub'arak can still cast Cocoon on you. Stitches can still Gorge you. Zagara's Devouring Maw can still swallow your desert body.
Once stunned, you cannot use Wraith Walk, but your immune to stuns while Wraith Walking. Anticipate stuns and hit ( E ) early!

Leoric can choose between Entomb and March of the Black King as his Ultimate Ability. At first glance, Entomb seems to be the ability requiring more skill, but be aware that failing at positioning the tomb ( e.g. catching a teammate ) can be undone by pressing ( R ) again, whereas the March of the Black King can totally zone yourself out. Therefor, I advise beginners to start off with Entomb.
	Entomb ( R )	Enhanced by: Buried Alive
Entomb lets you put up a little square cage that has three walls and is open on the side facing you. It is created with a little gap between you and the two side walls, so in order to make sure the captured enemies do not escape ( this is no problem with hulking chars like Azmodan being caught ) you have to step towards the tomb to close it off. The walls of the tomb hinder the movement of all enemies and allies alike, so make sure not to catch fleeing teammates et cetera. In case you misplaced your cage you can tear it down instantly by pressing ( R ) again. The tomb can also be used to cut off paths without actually imprisoning anyone. This can be useful to hinder multiple enemies from entering ( or leaving ) an area through a narrow point. The level 20 talent Buried Alive lets you deal damage over time to anyone caught in the tomb, but the damage per second is low and I do not recommend choosing this talent.
Strong Versus		Weak Versus
Low Mobility, Squishy, Melee		High Mobility, Tanky
Nova, Murky, Tyrande, Gazlowe, Thrall, Sonya		Muradin, Illidan, Kharazim, Zeratul
Bolt of the Storm	All heroes with Bolt of the Storm can easily escape the tomb.
	March of the Black King ( R )	Enhanced by: Death March
March of the Black King lets you swing your mace 3 times while advancing forward. With every enemy hit you heal a decent amount of hitpoints. Once activated, you become unstoppable and march forward automatically until the third swing or you are out of health. Be careful where you are aiming this. This can be used to initiate team fights. The heal effect will give you with a good sustaining effect while you are marching and the level 20 talent Death March can apply Drain Hope with the final swing so that your sustain is kept up afterwards as well. However, if you choose to use March of the Black King to finish off opponents, the Death March would be a waste to take.
Strong Versus		Weak Versus
Low Mobility, Low Damage -> Warrior, Support		High Mobility, Ranged -> ( Ranged ) Assassin
Arthas, Uther, Nova		Valla, Zeratul
Summary: Choose Entomb if your team needs more crowd control. If you feel your team is missing initiation and damage, then March of the Black King would be the ultimate of choice.

Apart from the afore mentioned talents, Leoric also possesses some talents which do not modify or enhance one of his basic or ultimate abilities. They all have to do with healing the Black King in one way or another. These talents are to be discussed in the following section.
	Reanimation ( Level 1 )
Reanimation is a level 1 talent and very similar to the Regeneration Master talent of some other heroes. But additionally, the effect persists in death for 50% effectiveness. This means that it contributes to the time you cheat from death as well. Also, Leoric will pick up health orbs while dead. Use it to stack up large amounts of self healing. This talent becomes most effective later in the game. Take it when you will spend a solid amount of the game laning.
	Fealty Unto Death ( Level 4 )
Fealty Unto Death is a good laning talent. It not only keeps your health pool filled but also your mana will deplete at a much slower pace and you will be ready for fights while in a lane. While dead, dying minions near you make you respawn faster as well. Your mana will be fully recovered when you respawn, so the mana part of the effect is worhtless while dead.
	Ossein Renewal ( Level 7 )
Ossein Renewal Let's you regenerate 1/5 of your hitpoints over 6 seconds. It's just a little band-aid to patch you up, use it when your team's support is overburdened or focused on healing the main tank. It also regenerates 1/10 when dead, so basically it can reduce your respawn time by almost 1/10 when used when dead.
	Spectral Leech ( Level 20 )
Spectral Leech is a good choice at level 20 when you have picked Entomb and do not care for its extension talent Buried Alive but still want to dish out more damage. This talent is a good choice against high maximum health enemy heroes, because the damage dealt scales with their hitpoints. Also, prefer this in matches in which it is easy for you to stay close to the enemy heroes.

Leoric has access to some of the talents shared with other heroes. These are:
	Block ( Level 1 )
Block can help you stay alive longer. It works best against heroes which deal most of their damage via auto-attacks.
Works best against heroes with strong and slow basic attack.
Great if enemy Nova chooses Anti-Armor Shells. Good option against Cho with C'Thun's Gift.
Strong Versus		Weak Versus
Sgt. Hammer, Zeratul, Valla		Kharazim, Tychus
	Burning Rage ( Level 13 )
Burning Rage is a solid choise when your team is in the lead and Leoric has to face many minions, be it in lane, at objectives or as enemy heroes' spawns.
Works best against heroes with additional spawns.
Great to burn Zagara's Creep Tumors. Uncovers nearby stealthed heroes. Burns through clustered minions as on Infernal Shrines.
	Spell Shield ( Level 13 )
Spell Shield helps Leoric survive an initial burst of damage when initiateing for example. Due to its long cooldown, it is rather ineffective at negating much damage.
	Imposing Presence ( Level 16 )
Imposing Presence does not only work on heroes attacking you. If you are in enemies area of effect spells you will trigger this, too. This way even your teammates benefit from this.
	Hardened Shield ( Level 20 )
Feeling Squishy? Getting killed too often? Hardened Shield helps you out once you have reached level 20.