Great Hall
Gold Cost: 450
Lumber Cost: 150
Hit Points: 1500
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Provides 10 Food
Units Produced: Peon
Upgrades: Pillage, Upgrade to Stronghold
Stronghold
Gold Cost: 310
Lumber Cost: 90
Hit Points: 2000
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Allows for Spirit Lodges and Bestiality to be created, must upgrade
from Great Hall.
Units Produced: Peon
Upgrades: Pillage, Upgrades to Fortress
Fortress
Gold Cost: 345
Lumber Cost: 110
Hit Points: 2500
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Allows for all buildings and upgrades to be created.
Units Produced: Peon
Upgrades: Pillage
Every Orc settlement needs a great hall in order to survive. All normal online
games start with this building and five peons. The great hall is the only
building peons may bring gold back to. Lumber may be brought here as well.
The two upgrades allow for better buildings and upgrades to be bought.
Barracks are a must have. Without them, any attempt at an early game is lost.
While you might be tempted to just tech up around it, don't. Barracks allow
the creation of several units which can help your hero creep around, as well as
defend your base if needed.
Warmill
Gold Cost: 240
Lumber Cost: 0
Hit Points: 1000
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Upgrades and lumber return yard
Units Produced: None
Upgrades: Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Unit Armor, Spiked Barricades
Having a Warmill is certainly needed. Warmills open up all weapons and armor
upgrades for the Orc. Warmill's are also a place peons can bring lumber.
Thus, you want to place it close to trees, to shorten the journey between the
building and the valuable resource. Warmill's also allow for the creation of
Watch Towers.
Watch Tower
Gold Cost: 180
Lumber Cost: 80
Hit Points: 500
Armor: 3, fortified
Damage: 16-18, fast, piercing
Functions: Defensive Structure [though sometimes used on offense]
Units Produced: None
Upgrades: None
Of the defensive structures in the game for all races, the Orc Watch Tower is
arguably the best. It does the least damage, but fires the fastest. It is
also cheap compared to the others and does not require to be upgraded from a
previous building, like Human and Undead defensive structures. These towers
are often used to trap opponents inside of their bases early in the game.
Orc Burrow
Gold Cost: 170
Lumber Cost: 50
Hit Points: 600
Armor: 2, medium
Damage: 34-41, very slow, piercing
Functions: Provides 10 food. Up to four peons may take shelter in them during
an attack. Also attacks very slowly if a peon is present.
Units Produced: None
Upgrades: None
There is no way around it, burrows are a necessity. Compared to what other
races pay for their food supplies, burrows are very expensive. Peons can take
shelter in them if needed, which will allow burrows to open fire at enemy
units. If you are using burrows to defend, you will have to micromanage
putting one peon in each burrow, otherwise they will all just run to one or two
burrows, greatly limiting the damage you can do. Burrows have a lousy armor
class though, so do not rely on these to save you.
Altar of Storms
Gold Cost: 300
Lumber Cost: 100
Hit Points: 900
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Produces Heroes, allows for upgrade to Fortress
Units Produced: Blade Master, Far Seer, Tauren Chieftain
Upgrades: None
Yup, you will want one. This is the only building to make and revive heroes.
It also is needed to upgrade to a Fortress. You may have one hero with a Great
Hall, two with a Stronghold and three with a Fortress.
Spirit Lodge
Gold Cost: 225
Lumber Cost: 90
Hit Points: 800
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Support Troops
Units Produced: Shaman, Troll Witch Doctor
Upgrades: Shaman Adept Training, Shaman Master Training, Troll Witch Doctor
Adept Training, Troll Witch Doctor Master Training
This building creates support units. The Orc support units, often called
casters, require more teching than any other race. Neither unit has terribly
useful skills until the Master Rank. Casters are a must have against any
opponent who also has them. They're a sure thing if your opponent doesn't,
too.
Beastiary
Gold Cost: 230
Lumber Cost: 70
Hit Points: 1100
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Produces Advanced Troops
Units Produced: Orc Raider, Kodo Beast, Wyvern
Upgrades: Ensnare, Upgrade War Drums, Envenomed Spears
I have mixed opinions on this one. Wyverns are useful, but people overuse
them. Kodo beasts are great, but no one ever uses them. Raiders are nice, but
require a lot of micro. Many people live and die exclusively by this building.
Tauren Totem
Gold Cost: 225
Lumber Cost: 90
Hit Points: 1200
Armor: 5, fortified
Functions: Produces heavy melee units
Units Produced: Tauren
Upgrades: Pulverize
This building is the highest on the tech tree, and creates the biggest Orc land
units.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Units
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peon
Gold Cost: 90
Lumber Cost: 0
Food Taken: 1
Damage Type: Normal
Attack Speed: Very Slow
Damage: 7-8
Armor Type: Medium
Armor: 0
HP: 250
No base can function without peons. If the Great Hall is as close to the gold
mine as possible, five peons should be mining from it. No more, no less.
Generally, four to get lumber as well. Five for the first expansion. So,
dedicate 14 or 15 food to peons at all times. Peons can build structures as
well as repair them. They do not make good fighters, so run them away if
combat occurs inside of your base, or better yet, burrow them. Peons are built
at Great Halls, Strongholds and Fortresses.
Grunt
Gold Cost: 235
Lumber Cost: 0
Food Taken: 3
Damage Type: Normal
Attack Speed: Average
Damage: 18-21 [+1 minimum damage and +4 Maximum Damage per melee weapons
upgrade, +3 minimum and maximum damage with Berserker Strength]
Armor Type: Medium
Armor: 1 [+2 per armor upgrade]
HP: 700 [+100 with Berserker Strength]
Grunts are the strongest tier one melee attackers in the game. That having
been said, they're also quite expensive. I tend not to use grunts very much
any more, preferring the Head Hunter for early combat. The advantage to the
Grunt is having double the life. If you intend to be heavy on grunts, make
sure to get Berserker Strength, as it is essentially a weapons and armor
upgrade put into one. Grunts are built at Barracks.
Troll Head Hunter
Gold Cost: 160
Lumber Cost: 20
Food Taken: 2
Damage Type: Piercing
Attack Speed: Slow
Damage: 23-27 [+1 minimum damage and +5 maximum damage per ranged weapons
upgrade]
Armor Type: Light
Armor: 0 [+2 per armor upgrade]
HP: 350
Troll Head Hunters are sweet units at any point in the game. With the
exception of a Crypt Fiend for the Undead, they are probably the best tier 1
units in the game. Head Hunters attack slowly, but have decent range and great
damage. Bring a few of these along for creeping. Head Hunters are
exceptionally potent with the Shaman's Bloodlust spell. Their only real
weakness is low HP, but this can be combated with Troll Regeneration. Head
Hunters, unlike Human Rifleman and Night Elf Archers are unable to get
increased range from an upgrade. Head Hunters are built at Barracks, but
require a Warmill as well.
Catapult
Gold Cost: 260
Lumber Cost: 70
Food Taken: 4
Damage Type: Siege
Damage: 82-102 [+1 minimum and +21 maximum damage per ranged weapons upgrade]
Attack Speed: Very Slow
Armor Type: Light
Armor: 2 [+2 per armor upgrade]
HP: 425
Catapults are the best unit for base sieging available to the Orcs. They do
enormous damage compared to most other races siege weapons as well. They have
better range than all defensive structures in the game, making them fairly
ideal for knocking down bases which build solely towers. Be certain to guard
the catapults though, they are very fragile and often the first target when
sieging someone down. Catapults are build at Barracks, but require a War Mill
and Stronghold as well.
Shaman
Gold Cost: 150
Lumber Cost: 20
Food Taken: 2
Damage Type: Magic
Damage: 8-9
Attack Speed: Slow
Armor Type: Unarmored
Armor: 0
HP: 355 [+40 for each rank of training]
MP: 200 [+100 for each rank of training]
Shamans rule. Simple as that. Their initial spell, purge removes positive
spells [often called "buffs"] from a unit and slows its movement speed greatly
for twenty seconds, the unit will get faster and faster as the twenty seconds
near expiration. It's second spell, Lightning Shield, creates a ball of
lightning which spins around a unit damaging nearby units. This can be used in
many facets. The final spell, Bloodlust, greatly enhances a units attack
speed. Make sure to have a few of these, but don't go overboard, they are not
great fighters.
Troll Witch Doctor
Gold Cost: 170
Lumber Cost: 25
Food Taken: 2
Damage Type: Magic
Damage: 10-14
Attack Speed: Average
Armor Type: Unarmored
Armor: 0
HP: 315 [+40 for each rank of training]
MP: 200 [+100 for each rank of training]
To be honest, I don't use Witch Doctors as much as I should. Sentry ward lasts
for ten minutes and reveals a huge portion of the map. It detects invisible
units and is itself invisible. The second spell, Stasis trap can prevent units
from taking action for a certain amount of time. It lasts longer when there
are fewer units nearby. The final spell, healing ward, is the only source of
Orc healing aside from natural regeneration.
Orc Raider
Gold Cost: 210
Lumber Cost: 40
Food Taken: 3
Damage Type: Siege
Damage: 23-27 [+1 minimum and +5 maximum damage per melee weapons upgrade]
Attack Speed: Average
Armor Type: Light
Armor: 0 [+2 per armor upgrade]
HP: 610
Raiders make their return from the first Warcraft game in a new capacity. They
are great units for hit and run attacks on lightly defended expansions of
opponents. Raiders can also learn ensnare, which is similar to the undead
skill of web, but can not be auto=cast. Raiders do not make great combat
troops, they are better served leveling expansions while your main forces
engage armies elsewhere.
Kodo Beast
Gold Cost: 300
Lumber Cost: 60
Food Taken: 4
Damage Type: Piercing
Damage: 16-20
Attack Speed: Fast
Armor Type: Heavy
Armor: 1
HP: 1000
Kodo beasts are a must, though generally only one. They pound war drums giving
a ten percent damage boost to all friendly units nearby. The drums can be
upgraded to make that boost twenty percent. If you are playing in a game and
have three allies, you may need to build two or three Kodo beasts to influence
the entire army. Kodo beasts can also eat enemy troops very slowly.
Wyvern
Gold Cost: 310
Lumber Cost: 40
Food Taken: 4
Damage Type: Piercing
Damage: 35-46 [+1 minimum and +5 maximum damage per ranged attack upgrade]
Attack Speed: Slow
Armor Type: Heavy
Armor: 0 [+2 per armor upgrade]
HP: 570
Wyverns have many great assets, but most Orc players rely on them too heavily.
If your opponents are undead/Orc/human, wyverns in small groups make great
gatherer killers. In combat, wyverns certainly need some sort of casters to
back them. Their air to air combat skills are poor, to say the least.
Gargoyles eat them as do hippogryphs. Virtually, anything with piercing damage
will cream a wyvern. They can learn envenomed spears, which deal a small
amount of damage half a minute. Like many air units, if not properly managed,
wyverns will stack on top of each other making them easy bait for Frost Nova
and other similar spells.
Tauren
Gold Cost: 325
Lumber Cost: 80
Food Taken: 5
Damage Type: Normal
Damage: 30-36 [+1 minimum and +7 maximum damage per upgrade]
Attack Speed: Average
Armor Type: Heavy
Armor: 3 [+2 per upgrade]
HP: 1300
In case you missed all of that, Taurens are exceptional tanks. With bloodlust,
they can deal a good amount of damage too. The pulverize upgrade allows them
to occasionally deal splash damage. Tauren's make a much better melee fighter
than grunts do and will certainly be needed to battle knights and abominations.
This upgrade gives all grunts you control an additional 100 maximum HP as well
as raises both their minimum and maximum damage by 3. This upgrade is far more
effective than any one individual weapons upgrade, however, it only affects
grunts, which get progressively weaker as the battle rages on. This upgrade
requires a stronghold to research.
This upgrade allows Orc Raiders to throw large nets onto enemy units. Any unit
caught in one will be unable to move for 15 seconds. That unit can still
attack, however, as long as something comes into its range. This ability can
also be used to bring flying creatures to the ground. High level flying
creeps, however, as well as heroes, have a greatly reduced duration time of
being ensnared.
This upgrade gives all wyvern riders spears a poisoned tip. Any enemy struck
by the normal attack of a wyvern after getting this upgrade, will become
poisoned, taking 4 damage per second for the next 25 seconds. Oftentimes, this
damage can become lethal to retreating foes. In a large battle, the effects
are not as noticeable, as everything is getting slaughtered anyway, but every
bit of damage helps. This upgrade requires a fortress to research.
This upgrade raises the damage created by the aura which Kodo Beasts give to
nearby unit. By default, their permanent war drums improve damage by 10%.
After this upgrade, the damage is improved by 20%. This is an important
upgrade to get, provided you use Kodo Beasts, which you should be. You must
have a Fortress to research this upgrade.
When Grunts, Raiders or Peons deal damage to enemy buildings, a very small
amount of gold and lumber will be given back to you. In actuality, the upgrade
probably costs more than you'll ever get back. But if you're huge on raiders
nailing expansions, this a great upgrade for you to fatten your wallet.
This rather expensive upgrade allows for a 25% chance that any Taurens will
deal splash damage upon an attack. The splash range is modest, but considering
the slow attack speed of Taurens, it will certainly help in softening up
nearby units. Do not get this upgrade unless you're going mass Taurens,
otherwise you're just wasting your money.
This upgrade teaches all of your Shamans, current and future, the Lightning
Shield spell. In addition, all Shamans you control gain a 40 HP maximum health
bonus, and 100 MP maximum health bonus.
This upgrade teaches all of your Shamans the Bloodlust spell while giving them
all a maximum HP boost of 40HP and a maximum MP boost of 100 MP. This upgrade
is critical for supporting your army, as bloodlust is a great spell.
All of your headhunters and witch doctors will enjoy improved HP regeneration.
Much as in Warcraft II, this upgrade is nice to have, but not effective while
in battle, but rather between them. I tend not to get this upgrade unless I'm
going quite heavy on the headhunters.
War Mill Upgrades
Researched at: War Mill
All of these upgrades improve the armor of your units, or their weapons. There
are three classes of upgrades. The effects are felt differently by each
affected unit. Please refer to the unit section for the exact numerical
upgrade for that unit, per upgrade.
Melee Weapons 1 [Steel]
Gold Cost: 100
Lumber Cost: 75
Requires: -
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Taurens, Raiders
Melee Weapons 2 [Thorium]
Gold Cost: 200
Lumber Cost: 125
Requires: Stronghold
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Taurens, Raiders
Melee Weapons 3 [Arcanite]
Gold Cost: 300
Lumber Cost: 175
Requires: Fortress
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Taurens, Raiders
Ranged Weapons 1 [Steel]
Gold Cost: 75
Lumber Cost: 75
Requires: -
Units affected by upgrade: Troll Head Hunters, Wyverns, Catapults
Ranged Weapons 2 [Thorium]
Gold Cost: 150
Lumber Cost: 150
Requires: Stronghold
Units affected by upgrade: Troll Head Hunters, Wyverns, Catapults
Ranged Weapons 3 [Arcanite]
Gold Cost: 225
Lumber Cost: 225
Requires: Fortress
Units affected by upgrade: Troll Head Hunters, Wyverns, Catapults
Armor 1 [Steel]
Gold Cost: 150
Lumber Cost: 75
Requires: -
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Troll Head Hunters, Catapults, Raiders,
Wyverns, Taurens
Armor 2 [Thorium]
Gold Cost: 300
Lumber Cost: 150
Requires: Stronghold
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Troll Head Hunters, Catapults, Raiders,
Wyverns, Taurens
Armor 3 [Arcanite]
Gold Cost: 450
Lumber Cost: 225
Requires: Fortress
Units affected by upgrade: Grunts, Troll Head Hunters, Catapults, Raiders,
Wyverns, Taurens
---
These upgrades improve your buildings to some extent. Anytime an enemy dealing
damage with a melee attack strikes one of your buildings, it will take damage
back for each hit. This is not hugely effective against a large army hitting
your town, but if it is just a couple of enemies, they'll die faster than the
buildings will.
Spiked Barricades 1
Gold Cost: 75
Lumber Cost: 25
Requires: -
Damage: 4 damage the source of any melee attack strikes one of your buildings.
Spiked Barricades 2
Gold Cost: 150
Lumber Cost: 75
Requires: Stronghold
Damage: 10 damage [6 new] the source of any melee attack strikes one of your
buildings.
Spiked Barricades 3
Gold Cost: 225
Lumber Cost: 125
Requires: Fortress
Damage: 16 damage [6 new] the source of any melee attack strikes one of your
buildings.
Witch Doctor Adept Training
Researched at: Spirit Lodge
Gold Cost: 100
Lumber Cost: 0
Witch Doctors will gain a maximum HP boost of 40 and a maximum MP boost of 100.
They also learn the stasis trap ability.
Witch Doctor Master Training
Researched at: Spirit Lodge
Gold Cost: 250
Lumber Cost: 100
Witch Doctors will gain a maximum HP boost of 40 and a maximum MP boost of 100.
They also learn the healing ward ability. This is the only method of healing,
aside from natural health regeneration, that the Orcs possess.
The Orcs are fortunate enough to have three great hero classes. Most races
have two which are very good and create excellent combinations. Orcs have
three, which makes them even harder to prepare for if you do not know which
hero your opponent has. All heroes start at level 1 in normal games and can
reach level ten. Each level requires experience points. Experience points are
earned from killing creeps or opposing forces. Higher level creeps give more
experience than lower level ones. Higher quality enemy troops give more
experience than lower quality ones. Enemy heroes give the same experience
regardless of their level.
Heroes have four skills they can improve. Each skill has three levels, except
for the elite skill which has only one level. The elite skill can only be
learned at level 6 or above. Normal skill can learn their first level at any
level, their second level when the character level is 3 or higher. Normal
skills can be learned at their third and highest level when the character level
is 5 or more.
In most games, the first hero you create costs only five food. Additional
heroes each cost 500 gold, 100 lumber and 5 food.
---
Blade Master
---
The Blademaster is a commonly used hero. He provides stealth abilities and
"spike" damage. The Blademaster has the largest armor of any Orc hero and
attacks quite quickly, but does have a rather large damage range, which can be
bad if he keeps hitting at the low end. This used to be my favorite Orc hero,
but I found I was spending too much time concentrating on it's stealth
abilities and not enough focusing on building/using my actual army. A gem of
true sight can also really hurt one of the better skills this character has,
Wind Walk.
This skill turns the Blademaster invisible to enemy units and improves his
running speed. If he strikes from this mode, he will do additional damage, but
will become visible again.
Level 1 - 10% speed bonus, lasts for 20 seconds, 40 extra damage
Level 2 - 40% speed bonus, lasts for 40 seconds, 70 extra damage
Level 3 - 70% speed bonus, lasts for 60 seconds, 100 extra damage
Mirror Image - 125 MP
This skill creates duplicates of the Blademaster. These duplicates deal no
damage, but your opponent can not tell which one is the real one.
This skill gives the Blademaster a chance to deal extra damage with a regular
attack. This ability does not affect the initial hit when coming out of wind
walk, or any strike done during blade storm. The extra damage is nice, taking
200+ HP off of an opponents hero suddenly from a normal attack is great,
however, the low % chance makes this unreliable. Also, critical strike does
not improve damage against buildings.
Level 1 - 15% chance to deal 2x damage.
Level 2 - 15% chance to deal 3x damage.
Level 3 - 15% chance to deal 4x damage.
Blade storm - Elite Skill - 200MP
Blade storm causes the Blademaster to spin circles quickly for 7 seconds. He
will deal 110 damage to any unit inside of this spin each second. The radius
of this skill is rather large, and can more or less destroy a cluster of enemy
melee attackers if used correctly. This skill is not effective against
buildings, so do not waste the MP to cast it in the middle of a town.
---
Tauren Chieftain
---
The least used Orc hero, but probably the best hero in the game. The chieftain
is the only Orc hero which can stun opponents, this is highly useful against
the night elf heroes. The stun is also an area of effect skill, which will
essentially cripple a melee-heavy army. The chieftain does have a lot of life,
but it is countered to some extent by his lack of armor. The chieftain attacks
slowly, but endurance makes up for that and helps all nearby allies. His
damage is high and has a consistent range.
Shockwave sends out a projectile straight ahead with about two units worth of
width on either side. It deals decent damage to anything lined up in a
straight line, especially at the higher levels. Shockwave does effect builds,
so don't be afraid to use it on a line of farms. This is best used against a
line of archers or other enemies with low HP.
Arguably the most devastating skill in the entire game, War Stomp is the
chieftains best all around attack. The damage is limited, but the stun time
keeps going up and up. The are is about two body lengths of the chieftain in
all directions around him. This skill recharges quickly and is cheap, allowing
it to be spammed. It is best used when the chieftain is completely surrounded,
but can be used to stop enemy heroes from running away. At level 3, the
recharge of the skill and the stun length are nearly identical. Can you find a
good use for this?
Level 1 - 25 damage and a 3 second stun
Level 2 - 50 damage and a 4 second stun
Level 3 - 75 damage and a 5 second stun
Endurance - Aura, passive
Endurance is the other of the Chieftains great abilities. This aura affects
all friendly units nearby. It increases their movement speed and attack speed.
This is highly effective with wyverns and head hunters, and goes great with
bloodlust, or as a substitute for not having it.
Level 1 - 10% movement rate, 5% attack speed
Level 2 - 20% movement rate, 10% attack speed
Level 3 - 30% movement rate, 15% attack speed
Resurrection - Elite - Passive
This skill will automatically revive the Chieftain a few seconds after he dies.
He comes back at full HP and MP. This skill does need to recharge after it
takes effect, and that recharge takes a couple of minutes. Resurrection sounds
great, but it's not that useful. Two basic things can happen. If your
Chieftain is the last unit to die, he simply comes back to life, still in the
middle of everything which killed him. In which case he dies again. Scenario
two, the Chieftain dies first, and then comes back once everything has moved
forward. This instance is actually quite useful, because you come back with
full MP, allowing you to war stomp the hell out of anything nearby.
---
Far Seer
---
The most commonly used Orc hero. The Far Seer seems to be used only for his
early game harassment skills and caster nuking abilities, though. In a long
game, if the Far Seer is your only hero, expect to lose, the HP and armor are
quite lacking. If you can keep him alive though, the high MP to spam spells
can be the difference between victory and defeat against caster heavy players.
This is the bread and butter spell of the Far Seer. Chain lightning is
excellent crowd control, striking several targets for decent damage. This
spell absolutely shreds closely bundled casters and ranged units.
Level 1 - 85 damage, maximum of 4 hits
Level 2 - 125 damage, maximum of 6 hits
Level 3 - 180 damage, maximum of 8 hits
Far Seeing - 75 MP
For eight seconds, target area of the map is revealed to you and all of your
allies. This spell can see any invisible unit, as well. The area uncovered
increases with each level. In all honesty, you should just put one point into
this early, and not again until you're level 9. The main purpose is to be able
to see concealed units, or to find out what your opponent may be doing.
Neither one requires a huge diameter of this skill.
Level 1 - Uncovered area is about the size of the screen
Level 2 - Uncovered area is about the size of four screens
Level 3 - Uncovered area is about the size of nine [maybe sixteen] screens.
Feral Spirit - 75 MP
Feral Spirit creates two wolves for 60 seconds. These wolves are roughly as
strong as human footmen when maxed, so they are handy. Often used early to
harass the other team before they have any units, this ability quickly becomes
obsolete. The two wolves are always handy, but the extra MP to cast chain
lightning would be more handy.
Level 1 - 200 HP, 11-12 damage
Level 2 - 300 HP, 16-17 damage, critical hit 15% chance 2x damage
Level 3 - 400 HP, 21-22 damage, invisible [at night when still], critical hit
Earthquake - 150 MP - Elite
The end all and do all in leveling bases. Earthquake deals 50 damage per
second to structures. It does not deal damage to units, thought, but it does
slow them by 75% if they walk through it. Earthquake lasts for 25 seconds, so
if you do the math you will realize that knocks down most buildings in the
game. The area of effect is rather large as well. Extremely useful against
towers if you can manage not to die while casting it. If the Far Seer moves,
or is stunned, this skill ends.
