I. Introduction
II. Gameplay Info
A. Upkeep
B. Damage Type vs. Armor Type
III. Choosing Heroes
IV. Grouping
V. Build Order
VI. Army Set-Up
A. Unit Pre-requisites
B. Setting up your Army
C. Army Strategies
VII. In-Battle Management
VIII. Tips
A. Credits
B. Copyright Notice
Before starting, i must remind you that this FAQs is not meant to give you
foundation on how to play this type of game. It's meant to provide a skill base
approach to players. I would assume that you have a working knowledge of this
type of strategy game.
Topics you'll see herein are chosen with proper ordering to very well explain
the subject of this FAQs, gameplay strategy. It is suggested to run through this
FAQs from the begining for not miss any points.
=====================
<>< Gameplay Info ><>
=====================
----------------------------
Damage Type vs. Armor Type
----------------------------
Piercing Damage do 75% Light 150% Heavy 35% Fortified
Normal Damage do 150% Light 100% Heavy 50% Fortified
Siege Damage do 50% Light 100% Heavy 150% Fortified
Medium Armor receives 100% damage from all Damage Type
Hero Armor receives 50% Piercing 100% Normal 50% Siege
Spell Damage do 100% damage to all Armor Type, except 75% on Hero
Chaos Damage do 100% damage to all Armor Type
1. Melee units have Normal damage and Medium armor.
2. Range units have Piercing damage and Light armor.
3. Spellcasters have Piercing damage and Light armor.
4. Siege units have Siege damage and Medium armor.
5. Flyers have Piercing damage and Heavy armor.
6. Heroes have Normal damage and Hero armor.
7. Defensive Structures have Piercing damage and Fortified armor.
NOTE: These does not apply to all, but mostly you'll see it this way.
In choosing your primary hero you should consider two things: Creeping and
Ultimate Spell. Your first hero must be effective enough to use in advancing
through creeps. Although you can use any hero to creep there are heroes which
can be use more effectively.
Proper usage of Skill Point must be done. Putting skill point on the 3 basic
skills can be a downfall for you, for the skill level is lower than have just
2 skills. I suggest leveling on two basic skills.
Skill descriptions are excerpts from the game, with enhanced tooltips.
----------------
Human Alliance
----------------
Primary Hero: Archmage/Mountain King
Secondary Hero: Paladin
1. Archmage
a. Blizzard - Calls down waves of freezing ice shards that damage units in a
target area.
b. Summon Water Elemental - Summons a water elemental to attack the Archmage's
enemies.
c. Brilliance Aura - Gives additional mana regeneration to nearby friendly
units.
d. Mass Teleport - Teleports 24 of the player's nearby units, including the
Archmage, to a friendly ground unit or structure.
2. Mountain King
a. Storm Bolt - A magical hammer that is thrown at an enemy unit, causing damage
and stunning the target.
b. Thunder Clap - Slams the ground, dealing damage to and slowing the movement
speed and attack rate of nearby enemy land units.
c. Bash - Gives a chance that an attack will do 25 bonus damage and stun an
opponent for 2 seconds.
d. Avatar - When Avatar is activated, it give the Mountain King 5 bonus armor,
500 bonus hit point, 20 bonus damage and spell immunity. Last 60 seconds.
3. Paladin
a. Holy Light - A holy light that can heal a friendly living unit or damage an
enemy Undead unit.
b. Divine Shield - An impenetrable shield surrounds the Paladin, protecting him
from all damage and spells for a set amount of time.
c. Devotion Aura - Gives additional armor to nearby friendly units.
d. Resurrection - Brings back to life the corpses of 6 friendly nearby units.
a. Wind Walk - Allows the Blademaster to become invisible and move faster for a
set amount of time.
b. Mirror Image - Confuses the enemy by creating illusions of the Blademaster
and dispelling all magic from the Blademaster.
c. Critical Stike - Gives a chance to do more damage on an attack.
d. Bladestorm - Causes a bladestorm of destructive force around the Blademaster,
dealing 110 damage per second to nearby enemy land units.
2. Far Seer
a. Chain Lightning - Hurls a bolt of damaging lightning at a target enemy that
jumps to nearby enemies. Each jump deals less damage.
b. Far Sight - Reveals the area of the map that is cast upon. Also reveals
invisible units.
c. Feral Spirit - Summons Spirit Wolves to fight enemies for a limited time.
d. Earthquake - Makes the ground tremble and break, causing 50 per second to
buildings and slowing units by 75% within the area of effect. Last 25
secondss
3. Tauren Chieftain
a. Shockwave - A wave of force that ripples out from the Hero, causing damage to
land units in a line.
b. War Stomp - Slams the ground, stunning and damaging nearby enemy land unit.
c. Endurance Aura - Increases the movement speed and attack rate of nearby
friendly units.
d. Reincarnation - When killed, the Tauren Chieftain will come back to life.
Reincarnation has a 240 second cooldown.
----------------
Undead Scourge
----------------
Primary Hero: Death Knight
Secondary Hero: Dread Lord/Lich
1. Death Knight
a. Death Coil - A coil of death that can damage an enemy living unit or heal a
friendly Undead unit.
b. Death Pact - Kills a target friendly Undead unit, giving a percentage of its
hit points to the Death Knight.
c. Unholy Aura - Increases the movement speed and life regeneration of nearby
friendly units.
d. Animate Dead - Raises 6 dead units in an area to fight for the Death Knight
for 120 seconds.
2. Dread Lord
a. Carrion Swarm - Sends a horde of bats to damage enemy.
b. Sleep - Puts a target enemy unit to sleep. A sleeping unit can be awoken by
attacking it.
c. Vampiric Aura - Nearby friendly melee units gain hit points when they hit
enemy units.
d. Inferno - Calls an Infernal down from the sky, dealing 50 damage and stunning
enemy units for 4 seconds in an area. The Infernal lasts 160 seconds.
3. Lich
a. Frost Nova - Blast enemy units around a target enemy unit with a wave of
damaging frost that slows movement and attack rate.
b. Frost Armor - Creates a shield of frost around a target friendly unit. The
shield adds armor and slows melee units that attack it.
c. Dark Ritual - Sacrifices a target friendly Undead unit to convert its hit
points into mana for the Lich.
d. Death and Decay - Damages everything in its area of effect by 4% of its base
hit points per second. Also destroys trees.
---------------------
Night Elf Sentinels
---------------------
Primary Hero: Demon Hunter/Keeper of the Grove
Secondary Hero: Priestess of the Moon
1. Demon Hunter
a. Mana Burn - Sends a bolt of negative energy that burns a target enemy unit's
mana. Burned mana combusts, dealing damage to the target equal to the amount
of mana burned. Does not affect Demon Hunters.
b. Immolation - Engulf the Demon Hunter in flames, causing damage to nearby
enemy land units. Drains mana until deactivated.
c. Evasion - Gives a percent chance to avoid attacks.
d. Metamorphosis - Transforms the Demon Hunter into a powerful demon with a
ranged attack and 500 bonus hit points. Last 60 seconds.
2. Keeper of the Grove
a. Entangling Roots - Causes roots to burst from the ground, immobilizaing and
damaging a target enemy.
b. Force of Nature - Converts an area of trees into Treants.
c. Thorns Aura - An aura that gives friendly nearby units a damage shield, which
returns a percentage of an attacker's damage back to it.
d. Tranquility - Causes rains of healing enemy to pour down in a large area,
healing friendly allied units for 20 hit point per second. Last 30 seconds.
3. Priestess of the Moon
a. Scout - Temporarily summons an Owl Scout which can be used to scout the map.
Can see invisible units.
b. Searing Arrows - Increases the damage of the Priestess' attack by adding
fire.
c. Trueshot Aura - An aura that gives friendly nearby units bonus damage to
their ranged attacks.
d. Starfall - Calls down waves of falling stars that damage nearby enemy units.
Each wave deals 50 damage. Last for 45 seconds.
To create a group select units you want to group and hold Ctrl+.
Recalling the assigned group is by pressing the button.
Have a definite assignment of groups in your army. Take note that having many
group assignments can burden you with management. I've narrowed down groupings
into three groups:
Combat Group - act as the main force in your army composing mainly of melee
units and other considerable damage dealers. Have a offensive melee Hero lead
this group.
Support Group - supporting force to the Combat Group, sufficing the weaknesses
of the Combat Group. Composing of range units and/or spellcaster units. Have a
defensive Hero lead this group.
Reserve Group - an assigned group intended for a special task. Specifically for
sieging towns with siege units, destroying expansion with flying units, for
scouting, and recon missions.
Group #1: Combat Group
Group #2: Support Group
Group #3: Reserve Group
======================
<>< Building Order ><>
======================
Is the method in building structures, training units and acquiring resources.
There are various building orders but every one differs in efficiency and speed.
----------------
Human Alliance
----------------
--------
Scenario: Starting of with 750 gold, 200 lumber, Town Hall, and 5 Peasants.
--------
1. Select 2 Peasants to mine gold.
2. Select a Peasant, have it build an Altar of Kings.
3. Select a Peasant, have it build a Barracks.
4. Select a Peasant, have it build a Farm.
5. Train a Peasant in the Town Hall.
6. Rally point Town Hall to the gold mine.
--------
Scenario: 2 Peasants mining gold, training a Peasant, building an Altar of
-------- Kings, Barracks, and a Farm, Town Hall rally point to gold mine.
7. A Peasant comes out of the Town Hall and mines gold.
8. Train a Peasant in the Town Hall.
9. A Peasant comes out of the Town Hall and mines gold.
10. Train a Peasant in the Town Hall.
11. A Peasant comes out of the Town Hall and mines gold.
12. Train a Peasant in the Town Hall.
13. Rally point Town Hall to the nearest tree.
--------
Scenario: 5 Peasants mining gold, training a Peasant, Town Hall rally point to
-------- the nearest tree, Altar of Kings, Barracks, and Farm are getting
done.
14. A Peasant comes out of the Town Hall and gathers lumber.
15. The Farm is done, have the Peasant gather lumber.
16. The Altar of Kings is done, summon Mountain King, have the Peasant gather
lumber.
17. The Barracks is done, train a Footman, have the Peasant gather lumber.
--------
Scenario: 5 Peasants mining gold, 4 Peasants on lumber, training a Footman,
-------- summoning Mountain King.
18. A Footman comes out of the Barracks, train another Footman.
19. Select a Peasant gathering lumber, have it build a Farm.
20. A Footman comes out of the Barracks, train another Footman.
21. Mountain King summons from the Altar of Kings, rally point to it the
Barracks.
Finished: 5 Peasants on gold, 3 Peasants on lumber, building a Farm, training a
Footman, 2 Footmen, and Mountain King.
--------------
Orcish Horde
--------------
--------
Scenario: Starting of with 750 gold, 200 lumber, Great Hall, and 5 Peons.
--------
1. Select 2 Peons to mine gold.
2. Select a Peon, have it build an Altar of Storms.
3. Select a Peon, have it build a Barracks.
4. Select a Peon, have it build an Orc Burrows.
5. Train a Peon in the Great Hall.
6. Rally point Great Hall to the gold mine.
--------
Scenario: 2 Peons mining gold, training a Peon, building an Altar of Storms,
-------- Barracks, and an Orc Burrows, Great Hall rally point to gold mine.
7. A Peon comes out of the Great Hall and mines gold.
8. Train a Peon in the Great Hall.
9. A Peon comes out of the Great Hall and mines gold.
10. Train a Peon in the Great Hall.
11. A Peon comes out of the Great Hall and mines gold.
12. Train a Peon in the Great Hall.
13. Rally point Great Hall to the nearest tree.
--------
Scenario: 5 Peons mining gold, training a Peon, Great Hall rally point to the
-------- nearest tree, Altar of Storms, Barracks, and Orc Burrows are getting
done.
14. A Peon comes out of the Great Hall and gathers lumber.
15. The Orc Burrows is done, have the Peon gather lumber.
16. The Altar of Storms is done, summon Blademaster, have the Peon gather
lumber.
17. The Barracks is done, train a Grunt, have the Peasant gather lumber.
--------
Scenario: 5 Peons mining gold, 4 Peons on lumber, training a Grunt, summoning
-------- Blademaster.
18. A Grunt comes out of the Barracks, train another Grunt.
19. Blademaster summons from the Altar of Storms, rally point to it the
Barracks.
Finished: 5 Peons on gold, 4 Peons on lumber, training a Grunt, a Grunt, and
Blademaster.
----------------
Undead Scourge
----------------
--------
Scenario: Starting of with 750 Gold, 200 Lumber, Necropolis, 3 Acolytes and a
-------- Ghoul.
1. Select 2 Acolytes to mine gold and the Ghoul to gather lumber.
2. Select the last Acolyte and build Altar of Darkness, Crypt, and a Ziggurat.
Have the Acolyte mine gold when it finishes.
--------
Scenario: 3 Acolytes on gold, a Ghoul on lumber, building Altar of Darkness,
-------- Crypt and Ziggurat.
3. Train Acolyte in Necropolis.
4. Rally point Necropolis in the gold mine.
5. Acolyte comes out of the Necropolis and mines gold, train another Acolyte.
6. Acolyte comes out of the Necropolis and mines gold, train another Acolyte.
7. Rally point the Necropolis in the open ground.
--------
Scenario: 5 Acolytes on gold, a Ghoul on lumber, the buildings are getting
-------- done.
8. Ziggurat is done.
9. Acolyte comes out of the Necropolis goes to open ground, becomes idle.
10. The Altar of Darkness is done, summon Death Knight.
11. Have the idled Acolyte build a Ziggurat.
12. The Crypt is done, train a Ghoul.
13. Rally point the Crypt to the nearest tree.
--------
Scenario: 5 Acolytes on gold, a Ghoul on lumber, an Acolyte on idle, building
-------- a Ziggurat, training Ghoul, Crypt rally point to a tree.
14. A Ghoul comes out of the Crypt and gathers lumber.
15. Train another Ghoul in the Crypt, rally point on open ground.
16. Ziggurat is done.
17. A Ghoul comes out of the Crypt and goes to open ground.
18. Train another Ghoul in the Crypt.
19. Death Knight summons from the Altar of Darkness, rally point to it the
Crypt.
FINISHED: 5 Acolytes on gold, 2 Ghouls on lumber, an Acolyte on idle, Altar of
Darkness, Crypt, 2 Ziggurats, training a Ghoul, a Ghoul, and Death Knight.
---------------------
Night Elf Sentinels
---------------------
--------
Scenario: Starting of with 750 Gold, 200 Lumber, Tree of Life, and 5 Wisps.
--------
1. Select 2 Wisp to mine gold and a Wisp to gather lumber.
2. Select a Wisp and build an Altar of Elders.
3. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life.
4. Select the last of the 5 Wisps and build a Moon Well.
5. Rally point the Tree of Life to the gold mine.
--------
Scenario: 2 Wisps are mining gold, a wisp is gathering lumber, building an
-------- Altar of Elders, building a Moon Well, and training a Wisp. With the
Tree of Life rally point to the gold mine.
5. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life and mines gold.
6. Select the Wisp gathering lumber, have 70 lumber now, have it build an
Ancient of War.
7. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life.
8. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life and mines gold.
9. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life.
10. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life and mines gold.
11. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life.
12. Rally point Tree of Life to the nearest tree.
13. The Moon Well is done, have the Wisp gather lumber.
--------
Scenario: 5 Wisps are mining gold, a Wisp is gathering lumber, Altar of Elders
-------- is getting done, and Tree of Life rally point to a tree.
14. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life and gathers lumber.
15. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life.
15. The Altar of Elders is done, summon Keeper of the Grove. Have the Wisp
gather lumber.
16. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life and gathers lumber.
17. Train a Wisp in the Tree of Life and rally point to an open ground.
18. The Ancient of War is done. Train an Archer.
--------
Scenario: 5 Wisps are mining gold, 4 Wisps are gathering lumber, training a
-------- Wisp, training an Archer.
19. A Wisp comes out of the Tree of Life, have it build a Moon Well.
20. An Archer comes out of the Ancient of War, train another Archer.
21. The Keeper of the Grove summons from the Altar of Elders, rally point to it
the Ancient of War.
FINISHED: 5 Wisps on gold, 4 Wisps on trees, Altar of Elders, Ancient of War,
Moon Well, building Moon Well, training Archer, an Archer, and Keeper of the
Grove.
===================
<>< Army Set-Up ><>
===================
You may immediately conclude a army set-up of 2 Heroes, 13 Knights, and 7
Priests. Or maybe a combination of large units like Abominations and Frost
Wyrms. Though as we see it, it is powerful, but also not simple to do. We must
take into consideration the cost, resources, pre-requisites, and most
importantly time.
Setting up an army is a process. You start with a Town Hall and workers, and
from there you build up and acquire resources. Train lesser units at first and
then add stronger units. All these, while battling.
Keep also in mind the size of the map. It is not a logical thing to advance
through your technology tree on a tiny map, for you're battling for rushes.
Unless ofcourse if you know what you're doing.
Here, i will use terminologies i've discussed in the latter section, "Grouping".
This section is a continuation of the latter section, "Building Order".
NOTE: In the "Army Strategies", i've estimated the upkeep of each army
considering also the worker units.
----------------
Human Alliance
----------------
In your primary troop production building, the Barracks, at the start you may
only train the Footman unit.
Here are the pre-requisites of other units for you to acquire them:
1. With your starting Hero, keep supplying it with Footmen as you build up your
base, and group it as a Combat Group. Advance your Hero level by creeping.
2. You may want to discontinue Footmen production from time to time to enable
you to advance through your technology tree.
3. After having 3 Footmen, this is the perfect time to upgrade your Town Hall
to Keep, for you don't have any much spendings rather than the Barracks.
This would also allow you to summon your second Hero in Haste.
4. Keep training Footmen, and build a Blacksmith. This would allow you to
upgrade your unit's weapons and armors. Also allows you to train Riflemen.
Rifleman is expensive though but do considerable damage. If you would rather
advance to your technology tree, do not train Rifleman for the moment.
5. I suggest not to build a Lumber Mill until having upgraded to Castle. The
Lumber Mill is a pre-requisite of Knights and Gryphon Riders, units you
could only train in a Castle upgrade.
6. When the upgrade of the Town Hall to Keep is done, have enough resources to
summon you second Hero.
7. Build an Arcane Sanctum, to allow you to train Sorceresses and Priests, to
slow your enemies and to heal your wounded Footmen.
8. You may want to discontinue production of Footmen if you think their numbers
is sufficient. Keep upgrading your units in your Blacksmith.
9. When the Arcane Sanctum is done, keep training Priest. For the moment, do
not upgrade it.
10. When your second Hero summons, group it with the Priests as a Support Group.
11. You may want to build Riflemen to supply your Support Group. Or rather build
another Arcance Sanctum, to train Priest and Sorceresses and upgrades
simultaenously.
12. Build an expansion base. Supply it with workers for a fast-build.
13. Upgrade your Keep to Castle. Also build Lumber Mill for your workers not to
traverse long distance to return lumber.
14. When Castle upgrade is done, supply your Combat group with Knights. Also, if
the Combat Group's numbers exceeds a dozen, put some Combat units in the
Support Group.
15. You may want to build Workshop and Gryphon Aviary to train Gyrocopters,
Mortar Teams, Steam Tanks and Gryphon Rider to create a Reserve Group.
Knights are impressive melee units, have considerable damage and fast move and
attack speed. This is a must for every human army set-up. Sorceress is a
powerful spellcaster which could slow and polymorph enemy units. Priest as well.
These spellcasters are supported by the Archmage with Brilliance Aura for them
to cast spells continuesly.
To do this, you first stick to Footmen. Have 5-6 of them while creeping,
letting them die in the duration of your advancement in the technology tree.
Thereafter, have Spellcasters and switch from Footmen to Knights.
--------------
Orcish Horde
--------------
In your primary troop production building, the Barracks, at the start you may
only train the Grunt unit.
Here are the pre-requisites of other units for you to acquire them:
1. Troll Headhunter - War Mill (Barracks)
2. Catapult - War Mill, Stronghold (Barracks)
3. Shaman/Witch Doctor - Stonghold (Spirit Lodge)
4. Raider - Stronghold (Beastiary)
5. Kodo Beast - War Mill, Stronghold (Beastiary)
6. Wyvern - Fortress (Beastiary)
7. Tauren - War Mill, Fortress (Tauren Totem)
Setting up your Army:
1. With your starting Hero, keep supplying it with Grunts as you build up your
base, and group it as a Combat Group. Advance your Hero level by creeping.
2. After having 2 Grunts, this is the perfect time to upgrade your Great Hall
to Stronghold, for you don't have any much spendings rather than the
Barracks. This would also allow you to summon your second Hero in Haste.
3. Keep supplying your Combat Group with Grunts, until you have 5-7 Grunts. For
Grunts are expensive units, you may want to discontinue producing until you
have an expansion base.
5. Build War Mill, to allow upgrade for weapons and armors of your units. Keep
upgrading these when you have resources to spare. Also allows you to train
the Headhunters. You may want to switch in training Headhunters than Grunts,
for Headhunters are less expensive.
4. When the Stronghold upgrade is done, have enough resources and summon your
second Hero.
5. Build a Spirit Lodge, to allow you to train Shaman and Witch Doctors. Once
it's built, upgrade the Witch Doctor training. We need the Healing Ward
Ability of the Witch Doctor to heal your wounded Grunts, which is at the
master level.
6. When your second Hero summons, group it with the Headhunters and Witch
Doctors as a Support Group. You may want to add Shamans.
7. Build an expansion base.
8. You may want to build a Beastiary, to allow you to train a Raiders, Kodo
Beast and Wyvern. The Kodo Beast have War Drum aura that adds damage to your
units, and can be further upgraded for added damage. Train at least 1 Kodo
Beast and group it with the Support Group.
9. Upgrade your Stronghold to Fortress, to allow further upgrades on weapons
and armors of your units in the War Mill.
10. Once the Fortress upgrade is done, you may build a Tauren Totem to allow the
training of the powerful Taurens. Upgrade the Master training of the Witch
Doctor to acquire the Healing Ward ability.
11. You may want to upgrade and train Shamans, they have Bloodlust which could
enhance your unit's fighting capabilities.
12. You may now train Wyverns in the Beastiary, and create a Reserve Group.
Grunts do considerable damage and have a lot of HP, which makes it a great melee
unit. With the Tauren Chieftain's Endurance Aura and Berserker Strength upgrade
your Grunts would be tearing up flesh. And a Kodo Beast with War Drums Aura to
add more damage. Supported by Witch Doctors to heal your army. But this army
set-up lacks counter for air-borne units.
Same as Massing Grunts, but adding Headhunters for focus fire and to deal with
flying units. Headhunters have great damage but slow attack speed, Tauren
Chieftain's Endurance Aura omits this handicap. Witch Doctors is a must.
3. Grunts/Spellcasters
Combat Group: Tauren Chieftain, 11 Grunts
Support Group: Far Seer, 6 Shamans, 4 Witch Doctors, 1 Kodo Beast
Food Requirement: 67 (High Upkeep)
Grunts as well, supported by spellcasters. A Kodo Beast to add damage to your
units. Witch Doctor again. Plus Shamans, with Bloodlust and Endurance Aura your
units will gain up to 55% move and attack speed.
----------------
Undead Scourge
----------------
In your primary troop production building, the Crypt, at the start you may only
train the Ghoul unit.
Here are the pre-requisites of other units for you to acquire them:
1. Crypt Fiend - Graveyard (Crypt)
2. Gargoyle - Graveyard, Black Citadel (Crypt)
3. Necromancer/Banshee - Halls of the Dead (Temple of the Damned)
4. Meat Wagon - Graveyard, Halls of the Dead (Slaughterhouse)
5. Abomination - Graveyard, Black Citadel (Slaughterhouse)
6. Shade - Halls of the Dead (Sacrificial Pit)
7. Frost Wyrm - Sacrificial Pit, Black Citadel (Boneyard)
Setting up your Army:
1. With your starting Hero, keep supplying it with Ghouls as you build up your
base, and group it as a Combat Group. Advance your Hero level by creeping.
2. After having 3 Ghouls in your Combat Group, this is the perfect time to
upgrade your Necropolis to Halls of the Dead, for you don't have any much
spendings rather than the Crypt. This would also allow you to summon your
second Hero in Haste.
3. Keep supplying your Combat Group with Ghouls, upgrade the Cannibalize in the
Crypt for Ghouls. Build a Graveyard to allow you to upgrade your unit's
weapons and armors. This also allows you to train the Crypt Fiend, I suggest
not to train these units for the momment for they're expensive and their Web
ability pre-requisites the Halls of the Dead. The Web ability is effective
against flying units, but in this early part of the game your opponent don't
have any flyers.
4. When the Halls of the Dead upgrade is done, have enough resources and summon
your second Hero.
5. You may want to build Temple of the Dead to allow you to train Necromancers
and Banshees. Or you may chose not to build it and continue advancing in
your technology tree, and just stick to the mass ghoul strategy.
6. When your second Hero summons, group it as a Support Group with Ghouls and
any spellcasters if you have any.
7. Build an expansion base. You may want to build Ziggurat defenses here.
8. You may want to train Crypt Fiend to add to your Support Group, and also
upgrade the Web upgrade.
9. I suggest not to build Slaughterhouse until you have upgraded to the Black
Citadel, for in this level you could only train a Meat Wagon.
10. Upgrade your Halls of the Dead to Black Citadel, to allow further upgrades
of your unit's weapons and armors.
11. When the Black Citadel upgrade is done, build a Slaughterhouse to allow the
training of the Abomination. Do not research the Disease Cloud ability for
only do unnoticeable damage.
12. You may want to build a Temple of the Damned, to allow training of the
spellcasters to support your Combat Group. Abominations under the
Necromancer's Unholy Frenzy is a plus in battle. And with your heroes under
Banshee's Anti-Magic Shell would make them spell immuned.
13. You may want to build a Sacrificial Pit, to allow sacrifice of Acolyte to
become a shade for scouting your enemies. But more importantly, allows you
to build Boneyard, to allow training of the most expensive unit in the game
and the most food requirement, the Frost Wyrm.
14. You may train Gargoyles and Frost Wyrms to create a reserve group. If you
choose to train Frost Wyrms research their Freezing Breath ability which
could disable functions of structure it attacks, use this for defensive
structures.
15. Upgrade Frenzy in the Crypt for added speed to your Ghouls. Upgrade the
Master Training of your Spellcasters.
Army Strategies:
1. Mass Ghouls
Combat Group: Dread Lord, 11 Ghouls
Support Group: Death Knight, 11 Ghouls
Food Requirement: 54 (Low Upkeep)
A simple army set-up. Just have 2-4 Crypt and 2-3 Haunted Gold Mine would make a
continues flow of Ghouls. Ghouls are cheap but fast units. Adding the Ghoul
Frenzy upgrade, Dread Lord's vampiric Aura and Death Knight's Unholy Aura.
Fairly strong. But there's one little problem, Flying units.
Just like the Mass Ghould strategy. With addition of Gargoyle for leveling enemy
expansion base. Use Gargoyle with Hit and Run tactic against worker units.
3. Ghouls/Fiends/Necro
Combat Group: Death Knight, 11 Ghouls
Support Group: Lich, 6 Crypt Fiends, 5 Necromancers
Food Requirement: 60 (Low Upkeep)
Still a Ghoul populated army. Crypt Fiends have nice damage but slow attack
speed, the Web ability could pull off any flying units to the ground for the
Ghouls to feast upon. Supported by Necromancers with Cripple spell to greatly
slow your enemies and adding numerous skeleton warriors engulfing your enemy.
---------------------
Night Elf Sentinels
---------------------
In your primary troop production building, the Ancient of War, at the start you
may only train the Archer unit.
Here are the pre-requisites of other units for you to acquire them:
1. Huntress - Hunter's Hall (Ancient of War)
2. Ballista - Hunter's Hall, Tree of Ages (Ancient of War)
3. Dryad/Druid of the Claw - Hunter's Hall, Tree of Ages (Ancient of Lore)
4. Hippogryph/Druid of the Talon - Tree of Ages (Ancient of Wind)
5. Chimaera - Ancient of Wind, Tree of Eternity (Chimaera Roost)
Setting up your Army:
1. With your starting Hero, keep supplying it with Archers as you build up your
base, and group it as a Support Group. Advance your Hero level by creeping.
2. After having 3 Archers, this is the perfect time to upgrade your Tree of
Life to Tree of Ages, for you don't have any much spendings rather than the
Ancient of War. This would also allow you to summon your second Hero in
Haste.
3. Keep supplying your Support Group with Archers. Build a Hunter's Hall, to
allow you to upgrade your unit's weapons and armors. Also, this allows you
to train Huntress. You may train Huntress but take note that it is expensive
and i would suggest that you stick on Archers for the momment.
4. When the Tree of Ages upgrade is done, have enough resources and summon your
second Hero.
5. Train Huntresses and group it as a Combat group. Huntress are good frontal
units used as meat shields, works well when supported by Archers for these
units do considerable damage.
6. Build an expansion base.
7. When you second Hero summon, have it command the Combat Group.
8. You may want to build Ancient of Lore, to allow you to train Dryads and
Druids of the Claw. Dryads are good support units, for the have Abolish
Magic (modal ability), have slow poison attack and spell immuned. Druid of
the Claw are impressive melee units in its Bear Form; and also have Roar
which increases the damage of your units and Rejuvenation to for healing.
9. Or rather build Ancient of Wind, to allow you to train Hippogryphs and Druid
of the Talons. Hippogryphs are flying melee units, can learn Hippogryph
Taming to allow an Archer mounts it. Druid of the Talon works best in their
Night Elf forms, have the Faerie Fire which reduces armor of enemy units and
gives sight of the unit and also have Cyclone which sends an enemy circling
around in the air.
10. Upgrade your Tree of Ages to Tree of Eternity, to allow further upgrades of
your unit's weapons and armors.
11. When your Tree of Eternity upgrade is done, you may choose to build a
Chimaera Roost to allow you to train Chimaeras. You should have Ancient of
Wind in order to build the Ancient of Wind. Group it as a Reserve Group.
12. Upgrade Marksmanship in Ancient of War for an increase damage of your
Archers and Hippogryph Riders. Upgrade Moon Glaive in Ancient of War for a
added bounce of Huntress' Attack. Upgrade the Master Training for your
Spellcasters.
Army Strategies:
1. Huntresses/Archers
Combat Group: Keeper of the Grove, 8-11 Huntresses
Support Group: Priestess of the Moon, 11 Archers
Food Requirement: 56-65 (Low-High Upkeep)
This army set-up is for endurance battles, it is less expensive than having
your army with Spellcasters. Less cost the more you'll get with upgrades of your
unit's weapons, armors and abilities. Upgrades in Hunter's Hall would only
require you the Strength of the Moon and Moon Armor upgrades.
Huntresses act as meat shields for your low HP Archers. Have bouncing attacks,
and with the Moon Glaive upgrade the attacks will bounce on 3 targets. But the
real force in this army is the Archers. An Archer at level 3 Strength of the
Moon, Improved Bows, Marksmanship plus a level 3 Trueshot Aura would be dealing
a massive 34-46 damage at a range of 600! Averaging 40 damage per shot, 11
Archers focusing fire would be dealing 440 Piercing Damage per wave! And to add
to it, the Priestess of the Moon with Searing Arrows.
To do this set-up, train Archers until having a set. Then have an expansion base
to finance the training of expensive Huntresses. I suggest using Keeper of the
Grove as your primary hero, to have Treants act as meat shields when you still
don't have Huntress.
2. Huntresses/Dryads
Combat Group: Demon Hunter, 11 Huntresses
Support Group: Priestess of the Moon, 6-11 Dryads
Food Requirement: 61-76 (Low-High Upkeep)
Huntress are do considerable damage with its bouncing glaive. Supported by
Dryads, having Slow Poison attacks which slows enemy units and chip off 8 HP per
second. Huntresses will then finish up helpless enemies slowed by dryads. Also
have Abolish Magic which dispels spells on you and your enemy, plus a spell
immunity. In using this army set-up, just do Attack Ground to for dryads to
evenly slow large number of enemy's units.
Looking after your every single units in battle can be troublesome, that is, if
you have no knowledge on how to do it efficiently. These are things you must do
in a battle to turn the tide to your favor:
1. Hotkeys
Know your hotkeys, it is very handy in battle to keep your mouse cursor pointed
in the battlefield and not bothered by clicking in the buttom panel. This also
keeps your eyes on the battlefield, and not looking at icon pictures in the
buttom panel to click on.
F1 = Primary Hero
F2 = Secondary Hero
F3 = Tertiary Hero
Numpad 1-2,4-5,7-8 = select an item from your hero inventory
2. Attack Ground
Using the Move command (right-click on ground) to move your army, they will not
engaged on enemy units it encounters until it reaches the point commanded to it
to move. While using the Attack Ground (A+left-click on ground) would make it
auto-engage on enemy units encountered in the trip.
Have your army attack ground when engaging an enemy, in these way all of your
units will engage your enemy and stop moving. After this, you may do focus fire.
3. Focus Fire
Focus fire is done by focusing the fire power of a selection of units to a
single enemy unit. A very important technique you could use to take down an
enemy unit fast, and thus reducing your enemy's numbers in haste.
Focus fire on an enemy unit posing a threat to you. Like heroes, large melee
units, flyers, and spellcasters.
Focus fire is normally associated with ranged units. But you could also use
melee units to focus fire to trapped an enemy unit preventing it to escape.
When using ranged units to focus fire on a specific enemy unit, the enemy may
try to run the unit off the battle, these would make your ranged units follow
and position in-between the melee units. Which can devastate your lightly
armored ranged units with normal damage from enemy melee units. So you may want
to keep an eye on your ranged units.
4. Unit Status Check
When you select a unit, at the buttom panel there is a "Status" indicator below
which shows icons (small picture) of aura affecting it and spell casted on it.
5. Group Check
Select a Group, so could see the HP/MP indicator below the portraits of the
selection of units. In these way, you could sensibly conclude if your army could
take more beating and probably win the battle. And also if you should teleport
back to your town to regroup.
When you see a unit being focus fired indicated by continuesly reducing of its
HP, you could move the unit out of the battle behind your line. To have enemy
units focus firing it to follow or maybe to force them to redirect their focus
fire to other units with more HP. And after, you could re-enter it to battle.
Also units with their portrait in red indicate a negative spell casted on it.
Double-clicking on it and checking its status to identify the negative spell,
this would give you idea on what must be done.
6. Subgroup
To select a Subgroup, press Tab to go to the next Subgroup and Shift+Tab to go
to the previous Subgroup.
A Subgroup is a collective term for similar units in a group. For example, we
have a Support Group consisting Headhunters, Shamans and Witch Doctors; All of
the Headhunters is a Subgroup, as well as each the Shamans and Witch Doctors.
Pressing Tab would cycle you through each Subgroup, high-lighting the portraits
of the current selected Subgroup, allowing you to easily access the abilities of
your Spellcasters with hotkeys or by clicking.
7. Modal Abilities
Modal abilities are those abilities you could right-click on the icon to toggle
auto-casting. Very handy and it could save you time, rather than casting the
spell manually.
Don't forget to turn on these abilities for in some units auto-casting is turned
off the moment the unit comes out from training.
8. Keep your Hero alive
Your hero poses the biggest threat to your enemy, the reason it is most likely
to be focus fired on. So keep an eye on the hero portraits on the upper left of
the screen, which indicates the HP/MP level of the hero. The hero portrait also
tells you if your hero is under attack, by a blinking red portrait. Or a red
portrait indicating a negative spell casted on it.
If it is been focus fired upon, run it behind your units. Or if it's about to
die, teleport it. Remember that it is very costly to revive heroes, requiring
a lot of resources and takes long to revive, the higher the level.
Use items of your heroes. Have at least one of your heroes have Scroll of Town
Portal, for emergency purposes.
9. Minimap
Accustom yourself into frequently looking at the minimap.
A transmission is indicated by the minimap, which you could press spacebar to
center to the last transmission. Transimission looks like a circle enlarging
from a point in the minimap. Transmission is called when a enemy engaged with
your/ally's unit, a unit finishes training, finish contructing a building and
when upgrade is done. Also, you could activate such transmission by using the
"Minimap Signal" button on the upper right of the minimap.
You could "Toggle Minimap Ally Colors" and "Toggle Minimap Terrain" on the upper
right of the minimap. These may help you to easily indicate an enemy unit in the
minimap. Also in large battles, you could see if the enemy's number overwhelms
your army.
============
<>< Tips ><>
============
1. In the early part of the game, i suggest you not to build two or more
primary troop production building. For they would only cost you the
resources and you'll notice latter on that you're only using one of it for
unit production. You may choose to build another when you have a expansion
base.
2. Every army set-ups has downsides, there are no perfect army. This is why we
enjoy the game, coz it's challenging.
3. Have at least 2 Heroes.
4. Kill as many creeps as possible. It not only advance your heroes in levels
it also provides you extra income.
5. When creeping, bait your Hero or summonable units. Hero have higher HP
capacity and regeneration rate compared to normal units.
6. Don't tech too much. Meaning, using resources most in advancing through the
technology tree and not producing any unit.
===============
<>< Credits ><>
===============
Thanks to the people at Game Point (Ice Breakers)...
...and the people at Extreme Challenge (The Ice) :D
Please do e-mail me corrections, suggestions, comments, criticism...
If you have any questions regarding Warcraft III, please do e-mail. I don't mind
newbie questions, please do ask me. Please understand if i haven't answered your
e-mail for i have other matters to take on. But i'll do answer it.
