What's up everyone? Not many people know me outside of my group of friends, but I'm here to give you all my own take on the greatest traitor of Tristram, Leoric. Leoric has quickly become possibly my favorite character to play, next to Uther, Murky, and Chen.

One of the first things to know about this monster is that, although he's a warrior, he is an absolute bully in the laning phase, being able to easily take most 2v1s and still come out on top. Skeletal Swing is very handy, since it can easily hit most of, or all of a minion wave, obliterating it instantly due to its double damage to non-Heroic targets. When it comes to team fights, his Skeletal Swing is a good, broad damage dealer with a massive range, easily capable of hitting 2-3 heroes even without Ghastly Reach. Drain Hope is an excellent healing ability, since its healing doesn't depend on the damage done to the target, but on if you can keep it active until it finishes. For the sake of this build, this is essentially your bread and butter. You're going to want this active as much as possible, as it ensures maximum survivability. As for Wraith Walk, this has so much more use than just escaping. It can be used to catch a fleeing target, or deke out high-damage abilities, such as Diablo's ever-destructive Lightning Breath, giving it much more value. Finally, Undying, One of my favorite things about Leoric. This essentially makes him a better version of Murky. But by no means does that mean that you should play him like you are, you still award full experience for dying, and it will certainly get you some flack from your teammates. As you all can guess by the name, this build will focus on Drain Hope and getting the most out of it. Now, without further ado, lets get this show on the road!

Mana Thirst: NO - In my experience, I have never really had any problems with mana with Leoric, not to mention that Skeletal Swing is mostly used to clear minion waves or finish off a hero. I would not advise taking this talent.

Hopelessness: YES - This is probably the best talent for this Tier. The extra range can help secure kills, or keep you alive when you're running away. A+.

Block : NO - Better than Mana Thirst but still, there are better talents available.

Reanimation: MAYBE - This is a fairly good talent, Leroic's own version of Regeneration Master that persists while you are in Undying, which is a nice bonus. This helps if you're getting focused down quickly, as it lets you return to the fight sooner. Due to the recent nerf to most of Leoric's healing abilities while in Undying, this talent has significantly lost value.

Fealty Unto Death : MAYBE - This is an okay Talent, also being helpful if your finding that you're getting focused, letting you fill up that health bar quicker, combined with the double damage to minions, you can quickly fill your health.

Willing Vessel : NO - This talent is just plain not worth it. The measly 5% increase is not at all worth it compared to other talents in this tier. 0/10. Would not recommend.

Hardened Bones : YES - This is an excellent talent. You will find that this will save your life over and over.

Royal Focus : NO - For the sake of this build, Wraith Walk is used primarily to escape, and odds are, you're going to take damage while you're using it, meaning you get minimal value from this talent. Not worth sacrificing Hardened Bones.

Ghastly Reach : NO - There is absolutely no need to increase the range on Leoric's Ghastly Swing, as its range is already monstrous. Pretty much a useless talent.

Lingering Apparition : NO - This is an... interesting talent. It's also not necessary considering that you really only need the base duration for Wraith Walk and taking this only ensures that your getaway is cleaner.

Paralyzing Rage : YES - For the purpose of this build, this talent gives us exactly what we need, which is time. This talent pretty much guarantees that you will get the full duration of Drain Hope.

Ossein Renewal : MAYBE - Leoric's own First Aid, which also heals while Undying. The fact that this also works while you're dead gives it good value, but aside from that, you're already healing for twice this amount with Drain Hope. Not extremely useful.

Entomb : YES - This heroic is awesome. This will secure you with so many kills, its not even funny, not to mention the fact that you can use this to secure your teams escape, or stop the enemy from capturing an objective. Excellent Talent.

March of the Black King : NO - This is... well, it's pretty much garbage.If you miss, you're pretty much a sitting duck, and this can and will get you killed especially doing it into the entire enemy team. Not a good heroic at all.

Burning Rage : NO - This is just plain not advisable to take, and its even more inadvisable compared to some of the talents you would be sacrificing in this tier. 0/10.

Crushing Hope : YES - This talent turns you into a damage BULLY. With one ability, you take out 35% of your opponents health, while healing you for 25% of your own. Value at its finest.

Drain Momentum : MAYBE - I used to use this all the time, but its not really necessary with Paralyzing Rage. It helps get the full duration of Drain Hope but taking this talent makes that less of a priority.

Spell Shield : NO - This may have use on other characters, but on Leoric, due to its placement on the same tier of other essential talents, its just not the talent of choice.

Renewed Swing : NO - This is a good talent, but for the purpose of this build, its just not ideal.

Consume Vitality : NO - Again, another good talent, especially since you can use it while Undying, but for the purpose of this build, its just not what we want.

Unyielding Despair : YES - This is a game changer. This talent, combined with Paralyzing Rage and Crushing Hope, You become almost unkillable in a 1v1 situation, since you constantly have the ability to be healing. This also allows you to have this ability up for as long as any team fight lasts.

Imposing Presence : NO - This is just not a good talent compared to what you're giving up to take it. This can shut down heroes like Zeratul, The Butcher, and Tychus but its not really much of a game changer since you won't have much trouble taking them on, even in a 1v1 situation.

Buried Alive : NO - The same rule of thumb applies to pretty much all talents of this tier: Spectral Leech is too good to give up. That and the damage is easily less that what you can do with Spectral Leech and requires you to drop your Heroic. Not a good trade.

Death March : NO - This would be a good talent if it wasn't the base version of Drain Hope. Due to that fact however, it is not worth giving up Spectral Leech.

Spectral Leech : YES - On top of Leoric already having high Auto Attack Damage, this sends it through the roof, AND heals you for it. Easily on of his best talents.

Hardened Shield : NO - This is just plain trash. No one takes this and for good reason. Avoid at all costs.

One key thing to know about this build is that you're trying to survive. The reason this is so important and why I think Leoric's meta build is wrong is because that is a build that relies on you dying in order to be put to its maximum effectiveness. My philosophy is that you should not rely on dying in order to get the most value from your build. You may not respawn at the Nexus like all other heroes, but that doesn't mean you should count on yourself dying all the time. His trait is called Undying. Lets make sure that name holds true, eh?