Skeleton and Skeleton Warrior

Necropolis Creatures

Level

1

 Skeleton

 Skeleton Warrior

Level

2

 Walking Dead

 Zombie

Level

3

 Wight

 Wraith

Level

4

 Vampire

 Vampire Lord

Level

5

 Lich

 Power Lich

Level

6

 Black Knight

 Dread Knight

Level

7

 Bone Dragon

 Ghost Dragon

Skeleton

Attack Skill

5

Defense Skill

4

Damage

1–3

Health

6

Speed

4

Move

Ground

Size

1

Growth

12 (+6)

AI Value

60

Fight Value

75

Cost Per Troop

60

Undead.

Skeleton Warrior

Attack Skill

6

Defense Skill

6

Damage

1–3

Health

6

Speed

5

Move

Ground

Size

1

Growth

12 (+6)

AI Value

85

Fight Value

85

Cost Per Troop

70

Undead.

Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors are the level 1 creatures of Necropolis. They are recruited from the Cursed Temple. They can also be generated by Necromancy. Building the Unearthed Graves increases skeletons' growth by 6 per week.

"While skeletons and skeleton warriors are average foot soldiers individually, it is possible to build massively populated troops of them. They are numerously produced, are the main creature produced by the Necromancy secondary skill, and other creature types can be converted into them at Necropolis Skeleton Transformers." ^{RoE manual}

Note: See Necromancy for more information.

Dwellings & Portraits

Heroes with a specialty

• Galthran the Death Knight (banned by default in Horn of the Abyss )

User Commentary

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Because of the Necromancy secondary skill and Skeleton Transformer, heroes can often accumulate way more Skeletons compared to other level 1 troops, especially on larger maps full of wandering creature stacks. Note that if the hero has skeleton warriors and no empty slots, the necromancy will produce skeleton warriors to the hero's army, instead of normal skeletons, but only at 2/3rds the rate. Normally, it is more convenient to have regular skeletons and then upgrade them, since almost 50% more skeletons (2 skeleton warriors → 3 regular skeletons) is worth more than the cost/convenience differential. A small downside of this is that regular skeletons slow your hero more due to lower movement speed unless you also have Walking Dead or Zombies.

5/6 attack and 4/6 defence is the highest of the level 1 troops. 6 health is average, and 1-3 damage is above average. 4/5 speed is their weakness as this is slowest of the level 1 troops. 60/70 gold is also rather expensive for a level 1 unit.

For the Necropolis army these will often end up being the primary damage dealers due to their numbers and above average damage potential. Direct damage spells will be a considerable threat to them since 6 health makes them not very resilient against magic damage.

In terms of spells, Haste removes their only downside making them far more threatening, while Slow will cause problems especially with ranged attackers. Bloodlust improves their damage output, and if the skeletons aren't taking too many casualties Counterstrike can help with engaging other melee units. Much like Resurrection for living creatures, Animate Dead is arguably the best spell for Skeletons since that allows you to not only bring back any skeletons lost in battle, but combined with Necromancy can allow your Skeleton stack to grow even faster.

For secondary skills, Offense and Armorer will always be a good choice. Tactics can be quite helpful since that allows the Skeletons to reach the front lines easier. Luck can be helpful as they often deal high amounts of damage already, so a lucky strike can be devastating for your enemy. Resistance can also come in handy as it can potentially save your Skeletons from being slowed, or hit with a damaging spell such as Destroy Undead or Implosion. Air, Earth, and Fire Magic are all helpful thanks to improving spells like the aforementioned Haste, Bloodlust, or Animate Dead. Water Magic is arguably the least useful as Skeletons cannot be Blessed, and while potent, Prayer cannot show up in Necropolis' Mage Guild.

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See Also:

• List of creatures

• Comparison of Level 1 Creatures