Big D Dustin M. Kulwicki Vanphinele@aol.com Big D's back with a new FAQ And a very long one at that WarCraft 3 Skirmish Guide Tips, Tactics, & Strategies The man that brought you the JKII Saber Guide Who is he? http://bigdwebcam.m150.com The guide is copy written, okay? Just ask me if you want to put some, or all of this guide somewhere, ill say yes, I promise. But you need my permission to do it, or I can sue you, I think. Version 2.0 - Upgrading to version 2.0! yay! .. Im constantly playing this game - so I Constantly discover new strategies - and that some of my old tactics are bad. So it's constantly evolving.. So.. Ill place a **NEW** over whatever has been changed. Chapters (yes, its a big guide folks) - A Basic Overview of the Units - Chapter 1: Human Units **NEW** Chapter 2: Orcish Units Chapter 3: Undead Units **NEW** Chapter 4: Night Elves Units **NEW** Chapter 5: Heroes - Some simple Strategies No matter your race - Chapter 6: Basic Fighting Strategies **NEW** Chapter 7: Upgrades Chapter 8: Spreading - The more Advanced Strategies for each of the Races - Chapter 9: Human Strategies **NEW** Chapter 10: Orcish Strategies **NEW** Chapter 11: Undead Strategies **NEW** Chapter 12: Night Elves Strategies **NEW** *COMING SOON* - Ways to beat each race - Chapter 13: Beating Humans Chapter 14: Beating Orcs Chapter 15: Beating Undead Chapter 16: Beating Night Elves *COMING SOON* Chapter 1 Human Units - Peasant The humans builder unit, they have 2 advantages: they can be turned into militia, which, is a very good town defense at the sacrifice of loosing all income. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless your good on resources, or the currently attacked base is tapped out of resources, when turned into militia, they are actually quite effective, they're damage is slightly below the footman's, and they have the life of a peasant.. So they don't last as long. They're 2nd ability is by far one of the best in the game, and that's the ability to let more then 1 peasant build something at a time, it functions just like the "repair" ability in that it zaps extra resources, but its an extremely effective way to get buildings up faster. I recommend using 2-3 peasants to build just about everything. - Footman The humans first "attacking" unit, your basic average knight-type guy decked out in a sword and shield. They're a great unit to make a lot of in the early game, they aren't nearly as powerful as orcs, but they're easier to build, and cost quite a bit less, and they have an ability called Defend, which lets them reduce the Ranged damage they take, at the cost of they're movement speed, which is highly effective, but in the art and war of combat and multitasking, using this ability usually comes as a 2nd or third thought, before your hero, so.. Id only research it if you know your going to use it, Its the tool of destruction against the night elves. - Riflemen The humans generally 2nd attacking unit, and its a dwarven rifleman, these guys are better then knights almost all around, they have a ranged attack, and they dish out more damage. But since they have a "pierce" type damage, and some units are strong to that, I recommend a solid combination of Footman and Riflemen for the best strategy, They're only special ability is to upgrade the range, which is VERY-much so worth it, if your planning on making a lot of riflemen. - Knight These guys are basically beefed up footman - they are stronger, faster, and have a lot more Hp then a basic Footman, they are much better armored as well. Knights are extremely powerful, never underestimate them, especially when upgraded, They're only downfall is that they can't attack Air units, so when you have the time and resources - build these in place of footmen. - Priest Extremely effective, bottom line, if you have 2-4 of these units backing a squad, it forces the enemy to either get whomped on, or get the priests first, so the trick is finding a way to let the priests heal, and defend them at the same time. if your quick at ordering them, you can make very good use of them. As if that wasn't enough, they're two abilities are very good also, Dispel magic is decent, as you can kill summons with it, and make the enemy weaker, while the Inner Fire ability is Extremely strong, especially since its auto cast with heal, it makes the priest an extremely deadly ally when comboed with a hero or squad, or both. - Sorceress They're first ability makes them a strong supporter, and that's Slow. Keep in mind that slow doesn't ONLY slow the enemy down, but it slows how fast they attack as well. Then they get Invisibility, which is okay.. But Only really useful for scouting the map, and Gyrocopters can do a better job of that. They're final ability, polymorph, is quite useful, always remember that it insta-destroys a summoned unit, that's a VERY good thing, and it basically takes a unit out of combat. So by casting polymorph on the enemies strongest units, you can do some effective things. - Gyrocopter They are partially effective; I would recommend only using them as scouts, as they're damage is meager for they're build time and cost, on top of that, you have to research something just to let them attack ground units. So I say just use them as scouts, because they can reveal invisible units, useful for if your fighting night elves and its night. - Mortar Team Moooorrrtaaarrr Coooommmbaaat!!! I love that.. Mortar teams are effective ONLY as support units, they are artillery, so be careful when your attacking units, also note that they have a VERY high spread damage, so they damage your own units partially as well, the main use in these guys is in Assaulting towns, as they deal a great amount of damage to buildings, they're "Flair" ability reveals hidden units so its a great way to scout. - Steam Tank I love it, and I hate it. They can only attack buildings, which makes them a Town-Killer.. and never forget that they can be repaired by peasants. They're range is Very crappy, so they gotta get close to do the job, they're very thick armor helps with that, and so they are an effective town killer, the trick is finding an undefended town, scout the enemy well, and send two of these to attack the least defended town, then send a main force to crush the other one, the enemy will be diverged, and screwed one way or another, or sometimes both ways. - Gryphon Rider The humans "Final" unit.. the Gryphon Rider shoots thunder down from hammers so they play an effective role already, also know that they deal Quite a bit of damage, and that the damage DOES have splash damage. A few of these and your in business. Note that the Knights upgrade also effects these and adds hit points, and then when they're attack can strike 2 instead of one, it makes them Very powerful. Chapter 2 Orc Units - Peon Peons are the Orcs basic builder, and decently effective at that, They aren't very good at Attacking, nor can two of them be used at once, peons will auto-repair stuff, which is highly effective. Capable of Pillaging, but since they're a crappy unit, it really doesn't matter. The peons also have one distinct advantage that deals with Burrows, they can hop inside and shoot arrows out at enemies, this is highly un-effective. Its easy to destroy them, and since it auto-takes 4 food to keep them filled, in a world where 90 food is a maximum, its not worth it to fill these up. Only do it if you're being attacked. - Grunt Your basic attacking unit, and a Very good one at that, Orcs have the most effective basic unit, far outweighing any other "first" attacking unit in the game, only problem is, they are slow to produce, and cost a lot, but on the upside, once upgraded, your definitely going to get your moneys worth, They can also research a "berserk" ability which grants more damage and more life, making grunts an effective unit during any stage of the game. Capable of Pillaging. - Headhunter These units are substandard, especially with Grunts being available, although they do cost less, and once you upgrade the regeneration, they become a lot more effective, they give great cover fire to Grunts though, and its the orcs most basic way of dealing with air units. NOT capable of Pillaging. Id recommend a combination of these and orcs early on, but 2 to 1 orcs. - Catapult The Orcs basic siege weapon, catapults are great at taking out towns, you should back up an army with 2-3 catapults, to help destroy enemy armies, and to flank and destroy buildings much easier. Never forget that upping the "headhunters" basic upgrade ALSO increases the damage of the catapult, which when fully upgraded can make them extremely devastating, dealing well over 100 damage. - Shaman A decently effective orc supporter - They're purge ability is useful on summoned units, and on Very powerful enemy units, but other then that, not really. They're 2nd ability makes up for that, Lightning shield is VERY powerful when used right, by the name "Shield" it makes you think you need to cast it on your own troops, which works, but its twice as effective when cast on Enemy troops, forcing them to move apart or die together. When they get bloodlust, they become extremely helpful in battles since that ability is Auto cast on friendly units, making them attack MUCH faster and far more effectively. - Witch Doctor I don think these units are very effective, they work well as scouts with the ability of Sentry ward, which lasts a minute or more, and then they can cast traps which only STUN an enemy, which makes placing them anywhere but in combat, not that effective. They're final ability is a healing ward, which is actually quite useful to cast during a fight, or after a fight to heal the hurt units. - Raider These guys are Very effective, one thing you must know is that they deal Siege damage, which means they crush buildings. Useful for hit and run attacks, not to mention they can use the Pillaging ability while they do it. This makes them a great unit to begin with. On top of all that, they have the ensnare ability, which drops air units down, to be attacked by the Horde. Very effective for the pesky dragon or Zeppelin, these guys are pretty Vital to Orc attacks. - Kodo Beast they're initial ability is often overlooked, they can devour an enemy unit, just eat it, and take it out of combat, and deal damage to it, so eat the strongest unit you can find. You can't eat heroes. After they get the ability to buff friendly units damage, it makes them quite effective as a support unit, you just need to keep in mind that they are slow - so your army will move slow if you have formations on, and want them to move as a group. - Wyvern Rider A pretty effective combat unit to begin with, they are flying which makes them a rough target to begin with, and they deal quite a bit of damage, on top of that, once they research venom spears, they can take enemy units down quite easily, it Almost doubles they're damage over time. - Tauren Tauren, arguably the final unit (or the Wyvern Rider) are a valuable asset to the orcish horde, the damage they deal isn't tremendous, but once they have a 25% to deal splash damage, they become very effective, especially when paired with units that speed up they're attack. Chapter 3 Undead Units - Acolyte The undeads base unit, Keep in mind, they can Summon things, so in that effect, 1 Acolyte can build an entire base, much like the Protoss could in Starcraft. But they are limited in the effect that they have a "Creep" much like the Zerg did, and so they can only summon on the Creep, but the creep repairs units at a Very slow rate automatically. They can also be turned into Shades at a later time, which makes them extremely effective as a Scouter, since Shades are very good at that. They have one downfall - they can't harvest trees! Oh! Never forget, that they can Unsummon a building to regain half the resources spent, very effective. They Unsummon a gold mine automatically when it gets drained, so Undead always get a bit more then everyone else for using a gold mine. - Ghoul The undeads basic attack unit, and also they're Tree harvesters, make sure you build at least 3 to harvest tree's, its easy to forget in the early game. Now, these guys are basically the Undead's "Zerglings" good for rushing, small and crappy on an individual basis, but can overwhelm when there's a lot of them. Make sure you research they're Frenzy ability in the late game, nearly doubling they're effectiveness. They're ability to eat things to regain life is decent, if you have no way to heal your Ghouls, and are planning on making a lot of them, this is a good way to heal them on the run, otherwise, i would Not research it. - Crypt Fiend One of the Undeads most effective units, Great in the early game for attacks, and they can drop air targets as well. They have quite a high damage capacity as well, so just note that they are Far more effective than Ghouls. Note that they will sometimes automatically cast Web to drop an enemy flying unit, making it far more worthwhile to research it. - Gargoyles These guys are Air-killers, these guys are perfect for dispatching of the Heavy Flying units like Gryphon riders and Dragons, they're horrid at attacking the ground though. They're Stone form ability is useful, when they are fully armored they're armor can reach an incredible amount of 21 when stone shaped, you can really piss off an enemy by making them nearly impossible to kill. - Abominations These guys are partially effective, on one hand, they aren't Extremely strong, but they have a lot of Hp, so they last longer, they also have a Disease cloud ability that damages enemy units for them, so it helps make up for it, if you can find a way to keep them healed, they can be extremely effective. Even after they die, disease cloud aura still effects targets. These guys are great to use in combination with the Vampires Aura, since they will pull back they're health. It makes them extremely powerful. - Meat Wagon The Undead's Siege weapon, its kind've odd. They deal proper siege damage, and that makes them needed for town sieges in the first place, they have 2 other odd abilities, the first is a disease cloud, which keeps those pesky 'repairers' from being there, and damages other units. They can also collect corpses, which seems like a dumb idea in the first place, but when utilized with Necromancers, they can produce a nice supply of skeletons to attack towns, on top of that, A Death Knight, that reaches lvl 6, can resurrect those units also, and make quick work of enemy towns/armies. The rule of thumb is, When you see a skeleton laying around and you have a meat wagon, make sure you Pick it up. - Necromancer These guys are fun to play with... They have a few uses, the first is the "creating Skeletons" - This works two ways, one is to use meat wagons to transport corpses across terrain to enemy bases and resurrecting them on the spot to attack, The other use is building Graveyards, which produce Skeletons naturally on they're own, Now if you take the time to build 2-3 Graveyards in your base, then 5-6 Necromancers, select them all and have them cast Skeleton, and you have an instant, FREE army of 12-16 skeletons to defend the city with. They're next ability, Unholy Frenzy, is Very effective to put on your big strong units, like Heroes. They're Final ability, the Cripple is useful for putting on the Powerful enemy units, ESPECAILLY enemy heroes. The Necromancer, when powered up, becomes the undead's best support unit. - Banshee They're initial ability makes them Very effective, they curse an enemy, making them miss about 25% of the time, The cool thing is that its an "auto target" so you don't have to manually do it, they're next ability helps against mage-casters, but there aren't to many, it makes a unit immune to magic, which doesn't really matter too much in the long run id say, so .. not that useful. They're final ability is Beautiful, they can sacrifice themselves to make a unit on your own team. YOU CAN possess other builders and go up the Tech Tree, but your food limit remains at 90, sadly. Note that you can never have more then 3 hero's Either. - Shade A Basic scouting unit from the undead, you cant get it until the mid/late-game, but it can really help out as its naturally invisible and can see invisible units, leave them all over to scout gold mines, and know where your enemy is at all times. - Frost Wyrm Powerful. They deal a lot of damage, have a lot of life, and Deal Splash damage, they are a very effective unit, they can also, once researched, freeze buildings, which stops the building production, which makes town sieges even more effective. Chapter 4 Night Elf Units - Wisp The basic elvish builder unit, it "builds" the trees around it, sometimes you get your wisp back after building something, sometimes you don't, if the building is an "Ancient" building, you don't get your wisp back. They also automatically repair friendly units and structures, on top of all that, they don't use lumber from the trees, they generate it, so when a wisp works at a tree, it will never knock it down, which means you can move your wisps away to scout and harvest at the same time, or keep them at home, where you'll never run out of lumber. Wisps can also detonate themselves, dealing damage to summoned units and stopping all magical effects around it, AND sapping mana from any spell castors ..This is useful for taking down heroes and killing summons, but that's about it. - Archer The night elves first attacking unit, they are weak and frail, so you want to keep them away or have someone ready to defend them, at night, they turn invisible, so they cant be seen, this makes them effective scouts on they're own nature, and also makes it easy to plan a huge attack at night. If your archers get attacked by melee - you want them to Run away, as quick as possible. later in the game, they can mount Hippogriffs and use them to fly, making them as effective as ever. Note that when placed on a Hippogriff, the unit changes entirely, and as such, its damage pretty much doubles itself. - Huntress They are another of the elves attack units, and scout units, they are naturally invisible at night as well. They're "sentinel" ability is a Godsend - build these up in the early game and put them at gold mines to make sure no one is taking them, and along the main path. The only way to remove the owl is to cut down the tree, which catapults are effective at doing. They can upgrade to moon glaive, which lets them strike more units, making them even more effective, Huntresses, are the bread and butter of the night elves, an army of archer's is quite bad, when compared to an army of Huntresses, so make absolutely sure you make these as soon as you can, trust me. - Ballista The Night elves siege weapon, this is pretty effective, but you want to keep it away from enemy Units, much like the Archer unit. Once upgraded - its one of the best units to produce in the game for assaults, its also good for base defense, line them up, the enemy army won't know what hit them, also note that this is a good way for the Night Elves to get tree's out of the way. - Dryad There basic attack slows enemy units and poisons them, making Dryads a decent support unit, but Night elves have a Ton of support units already. They are also immune to magic and once researched, they have the ability to deal a lot (300) damage to summoned units, and the ability makes the enemy's good buffs go away, and your bad buffs go away as well. - Druid (claw) Finally - a melee unit for the Night elves, druids are absolutely vital to the success of the night elves, a few druids, and then a wave of Archers is a good combination, don't be suprised if your enemy tries to go just for the archers, most will, try to stop them. use bear form to make them good melee units, and after that, use them as Shamans to heal and what not. - Hippogriff The Night elves first flying unit, this unit isn't that effective, its good for scouting, and for fighting air-to-air, and when upgraded to a Hippogriff rider, its a lot more effective then you'd think, with nice damage increases and such. Hippogriff riders are good scouts, and air-combat supporters. - Druid (talon) A scouting unit, these guys can transform themselves into Crows and fly around, yet another "support" unit for the Night elves. Faerie fire is extremely effective to cast on enemy Heroes, and So it Cyclone. - Chimera Very effective units, they are the night elves final unit, effective at taking out enemies, when it comes to buildings, they're corrosive breath can almost crush a building in one to two attacks. 'nuff said. Chapter 5 Hero's Let me first start out by saying heroes are necessary to win in a Skirmish, but don't have much power until lvl 4+. Your hero wont do much unless he's supported no matter his level, always make sure your hero is supported by at least 5 troops. Also, you want to make sure that the first thing you do is make a hero and a squad, and go LEVEL YOUR HERO UP! ..the higher your hero level, the better your chances are of winning, if you get attacked, you ALWAYS have the town portal scroll, which means you can be there nice and quick. After you've learned how to get your heroes up, then you need to learn how to utilize them Most effectively, which differs upon heroes, some should lead the war charges, while others should stay back and defend, in this section I dive in and talk about each hero individually So read on, if your confused about heroes, First I talk about Humans, then Orcs, then Undead, and finally, Night Elves Human Heroes Paladin - Definitely one of the better of the 3, with his healing abilities, and improved armor, and then resurrection, he can be a Very effective unit. Every one of his abilities is completely worth it, but id recommend the Holy Light to start off with, as it makes a great starter-squad, healing your units is a great way to take out the npc's without loosing anyone and gain some levels, all 4 of his powers are equally worth getting, it all depends on what your looking for, But when you get all 3 powers realized, give him a squad of knights and your in business, have him heal the knights as they get damaged, one by one, if the enemy starts concentrating on you, use the Invulnerability, and continue to heal. Note that a paladins Holy Light can damage undead, but it heals twice as much when used on a Friendly unit, so id steer away from using it for damage, only when he is alone vs. the enemy. Archmage - He's an interesting hero , A bit different from the humans average perspective, you have to learn to use him effectively, his first ability, Blizzard, isn't that useful. It has to be maintained by the archmage, which means he can't do anything else, and almost every enemy will simply move from it before the 3rd or 4th blast hits, and it's only 50% effective on buildings..so the most damage it can deal is 250 to a building, which is very meager. His 2nd ability is much more useful, the Water Elemental is useful in combat, as a distraction, and a decent comrade, and also its very good as a scout. His final ability is extremely underestimated, the mana regeneration not only helps him, but every spell caster around him, including your other hero's and your teammates other hero's. Mountain King - This is your big "melee" fighter, I think he works best when combined with the Paladin so he can be healed. Thunder Clap is probably his best ability, dealing 70 damage to everyone around him and slowing them down at lvl 1. Storm Bolt is also effective for taking down a hurt, retreating foe, it deals 100 damage with every level, so its very strong for a single attack. His final ability just makes him a badass, plain and simple. Orc Heroes Blademaster - This character is a VERY effective fighter, he can be used as a Scout, a Fighter, and a Sniper. To use him as a Scout, cast wind walk and walk around invisible or cast mirror images of him and send them around to scout out, To use him as a fighter, give him a squad and let him lead, and just as the fight begins, have him cast Mirror image, this will confuse the enemy, and keep the enemy from attacking your main squad as well. To use him as a "sniper" cast wind walk, and run into a town, then cast bladestorm to destroy the things mining, or small buildings, like farms or some such, then, when he needs to get out of combat, have him use Mirror Image to confuse his pursuers.. He's an all-around champion. Farseer - These guys are pretty effective also, they're Feral Spirit ability is very good for scouting, and for mid-combat, these wolfs are pretty strong, and help in combat, especially since you can summon another 2 pretty easily after the first 2 die. Chain Lightning is fairly effective; it doesn't deal a lot of damage, but it bounces, just make sure you have at least 6 units around before casting it. They're other ability, Farsight, is very useful because its an effective scouting method, and spots invisible units, its one of the Orcs primary ways to do that, so make sure you use it effectively. In my opinion, his final ability makes him extremely strong, just march him right in the middle of enemy territory and use Earthquake, even if he dies, your STILL probably going to get your money's worth. And it takes units forever to get to him, its very effective. Tauren Warchief - He's also an effective unit, which makes deciding a hero to pick with the orcs a very tough job - Id say the Tauren is most effective in team games, due to that Aura he has, which makes attacking units almost twice as effective in combat. Shock Wave isn't that incredible, as the damage it deals isn't that great, and it usually misses a lot of units in the heat of combat. War Stomp is effective, march your Tauren right into the heat of combat, and stomp on them, for an effective tactic. His final ability is good if your on the defense or if you need your hero back quite fast. Undead Heroes Death Knight - The undeads fighting hero, its good at rising undead, stealing and giving life out. Death Coil damages living units, but heals undead, I should point out that it heals double what it damages, so its usually more effective as a healing spell, unless you don't have any units on your side to support, Death Pact is a great way to make your hero pretty much invulnerable as long as he has a nearby unit to steal life from, never forget you can kill summoned units for life back, which is free, and very effective. They're Aura is also very good at speeding movement up, especially when making an assault. His final ability, Lets him raise basically an army, and you can really overwhelm any opponent with this, just make sure you use it at the right time, when there's enough skeletons around. Dread Lord - Another powerful undead unit, this guy is a favorite! Carrion Swarm is how to deal some damage to a lot of units at once, Sleep is a very powerful tool to put an enemy hero or power-unit out of commission. the vampire Aura ONLY works with melee units, so for awhile, its only good when used with ghouls, and even then, not so good.. SO only get vampire aura if you plan on getting some much stronger melee units for the undead, otherwise, get sleep and C. Swarm. His Inferno ability is damn useful, plummet it right in front of the enemy squads, and let the thrashing begin. Lich - Another strong undead unit, his Frost Nova is good at injuring enemy grouped units during combat. His frost armor can be used on one of your stronger melee units to help him out a lot, its even more effective when used on a friendly hero. Its final, death and decay, is a VERY powerful spell, it can kill anything in its area of effect, it takes exactly 25 seconds to destroy anything, - ANYTHING - ..so keep the enemy in that area for 25 seconds and they're dead, also note that it can clear trees. Night Elf Heroes Demon Hunter - This guy is a requirement for the Night elves, lucky he's such a god. He's the melee unit that keeps everyone away from the Night elves precious archers, and he does his job very well. Use Mana burn on enemy heroes, it steals the mana, and they're life, all in one nice package. Immolation is also effective, Run the demon hunter in and keep the enemy as tied up as possible, this just deals extra damage. His other ability, Evasion, makes him a prime Melee unit, period. Not to mention metamorphosis.. Use it whenever possible during heavy Combat. Keeper of the Grove - can be effective when paired with archers, use the entangle to keep archers safe and to stop heroes, or melee units, and have the archers finish the poor sap off. Force of nature works well to summon Treants, which make nice additions to armies, also help with clearing forests and also as scouts! The Thorns Aura makes Archers a double-edged sword, it makes them twice as deadly because anyone attacking them dies even quicker, its a great way to keep the enemy away, or dead. His final spell is simple - just use it to heal units, though you might want to not use it during combat, as it can be disrupted. Priestess of the Moon - A Very good unit, probably the best to start out with, her Trueshot Aura effects any ranged unit's damage, and since 75% of the Night elves are ranged, its a good combination. Next, her Flaming arrows are very useful, simply because you can right-click to turn them on permanently, her other ability, Sentinel, Is kind of useless in my opinion simply because the night-elves are already such good scouters, and because Huntresses are required in the early game to basically stay alive, I Don't like that ability. her final, Starfall, is VERY effective, it virtually forces the enemy to stay the freak away, or die, which means, you gather the archers around her like a little barrier against melee units. Its Very effective. It's not good against buildings, so don't use it against buildings. Chapter 6 Basic Fighting Strategies The computer is already very effective at fighting in a melee fight, infact, I know the game uses 2 AI types for fighting alone, a Basic fighting AI, and an advanced fighting AI, the basic is used for the Neutral creatures of the map, (Creeps) who just attack you, chase you, and then stop if you run far enough, the advanced AI uses tactics, placing units more strategically, and if a unit gets damaged, the comp RUNS that unit away to the back and makes it twice as hard to deal with, making the computer a very deadly adversary. The trick to combat is understanding that it flows very slow - Units have Very high hit points and it takes many slashes to destroy a single unit, so you do have some time to move units, and decide where they are going, and things like that. When one of your main units gets weak, march him back a bit, That leaves your opponent with two choices, take the time to go after him, and let all the other units attack while he chases, Or forget him, and let you keep the unit, only to re-march it in a few moments later, when the forces aren't concentrating on it, the computer beats the hell out of this strategy and angers you with it. Beware. That's why ranged units are a bit more effective against the Computer. In the heat of combat - always KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE! ..know your units, and know the special abilities, and KNOW the strategy, the tab key is your friend, know what you want to use and when you want to use it, the Footman's defend is a good example, when your going up against Night elves, or any ranged unit, tab over to your footman, and click it! They will last 30 % longer. Turn on the Auto casting, BABY! - Know that about 50% of the abilities in the game can be auto cast, to switch an ability to auto cast, Right click on it, and sparkly things will begin to circle, that means, when the situation presents itself, that whoever is set to auto cast, WILL auto cast, this makes micromanaging about 50% easier, so absolutely positively know who can auto cast, and turn IT ON! Who to attack?! - When your squad runs into the enemy squad you have basically 3 Methods of attack - the first is to attack the leader, the 2nd is to attack his squad members individually, the 3rd is to make an assaulting action, and let your units attack the closest enemy to them. Which is the best? it all depends..Its kind've like a game of rock paper scissors. Its sometimes a good Idea to start with one - and then switch to another, for example, start with Paper, to wear them down a bit, then hit scissors, to finish they're units off quickly, and surprise them. Rock=Attacking they're hero Paper=Attacking they're forces Scissors=Attacking one enemy at a time It really does make sense - But you also need to beware.. The heroes alter this formula, They are the randomness that works, ill give an example... Scissors(you) vs. Paper(enemy) ..you should win this, your going to kill his units faster than he can kill yours - BUT what if he has a paladin hero.. And he keeps healing that single unit.. Then he can win.. So you need to scope out the enemy and know what the hero is capable of, once you know that, watch his tactics, find out what he's doing and find a way to stop it - even if it means marching one or two units out of battle. Chapter 7 Upgrades Upgrading, is it worth it? Absolutely. In StarCraft, massing units was just as effective, and in some cases, MORE effective, but its the exact opposite in this game, always keep in mind that the Unit limits are low, 90 is the limit. that's it, that's about 30-40 attack units MAX with a town going, and since the resources are ALSO tuned way down, you want to make sure you get the most from your units. So upgrading is an absolute MUST in this game. The only reason NOT to upgrade is an early Rush... Chapter 8 Spreading In WarCraft 3, Spreading is handled a bit differently.. NPC's cover the goldmines making it a bit harder to expand. But make no mistake, Spreading to a new gold mine is as Vital as it Always has been, its something you want to do in the early game, and usually that's kind've hard, because the npc's who are guarding it are usually lvl 6-8. But either way, pick out the closest (or best) gold mine to spread to.. probably one that's close to your home base, and send a scout out, Typically, you want about 5-7 units and 1 hero to take a gold mine, its dependent on the lvl's of the monsters of course, but that's about the average, on top of that, its a good way to level your heroes up. You can spread quickly by Clearing the monsters out, then clicking on the your home town real quick, building one builder, and right clicking on the gold mine on the map, then get back to your squad. You should also note that you need to spread a lot more in this game as gold runs up a bit quicker then before, So that means your opponent is going to be spreading a lot, and you want to scout out the other gold mines and make sure he isn't trying to take them, using whatever means necessary. Keep him away from the gold mines and you've already won. Chapter 9 Human Strategies Basic Start - immediately click your town hall, make 3 peasants, and right click on your gold mine, so they go there, then send 2 of your 5 peasants to the gold mine, take 1, and have him start a barracks, take another peasant and have him help the first with the barracks. Take your 1 remaining peasant and have him make a farm, Now that your underway, let your first two peasants go to the gold mine, so you have 4 mining, when your last peasant comes out, stop him from mining gold and go cut trees, somewhere close to your town hall. start 2 more peasants, let one go to the gold mine, and have the other go cut trees. Your barracks will be up by now, and AS soon as it gets up, you want to make Footmen, one peasant that was doing that should go cut trees, and the other should help with farms.. when you have about 2-3 farms up, and at least 5-7 food free, you want to then build an Alter and Summon a hero. Rushing Start - Immediately select one peasant, have him start a barracks, have 3 others go over and help him out, then start building two more peasants, take the one peasant left, and have him start a farm. From then on, as peasants come out, and people get done building, you want to make a total of 5 people mining gold, then take the remaining ones and build another farm when you have the time. The trick is making sure your Barracks is constantly producing footman, and set the rally point somewhere far from your base - halfway to your enemies base. Be careful to avoid the Neutral units, they will auto-attack during the day, so steer all your footmen away from them. You probably want your rushed footmen to go attack the opponents gold mine, it all depends on what they're base is, and what they have. Exploration - I would say the humans have a hard time exploring, in the early game, id recommend using the Arch-Mage's Summon Water Elemental Ability to scout out. Also, later, Gyrocopters, Mortar Teams, and Sorceresses can also lend a hand to the scouting figure. Defending - Cannon towers are the way to go, they dish out blast damage, and although they cant attack air, they are the prime way to defend for humans If you note your opponent going a lot of air, or if its an "aerial" map.. you might want to build Guard Towers instead. Assaulting - I recommend Footman for the early game, but if its a bit later, you want Knights in combination with a few riflemen. Take 1-2 priests for healing, and preferable the Paladin or the Mountain King as a hero, or both, finally, take 1-2 Mortar Teams for Artillery support. Maybe swap a knight or priest with sorceresses. Night Elf Killers - As a human player, going up against night elfs, you have a strong advantage, id say about 75% of the Night Elves units are Ranged attackers, so by just researching "Defend" and using it, you've cut out about 50% of the damage that will be dealt in combat. Also use Gyrocopters at night to scout out those invisible pesky Night elves. Chapter 10 Orc Strategies Basic Start - immediately build 2 peons, and right click on your gold mine so they auto-go there. Take 1 peon and start a Barracks. Take another peon and start a burrow. Take 2 peons and put them into the gold mine, and take the last and have him start cutting trees. let the 2 peons go to mining gold, and produce 2 more and right click on a tree, so they start cutting trees. When your peon is done with the Barracks, have him start an alter, and start producing Grunts. When your peon is done with the Burrow, have him start another, then when he's done with that, have him build 1 more, OR start a War Mill. The Dreaded Tower Rush - My God...this strategy can SLAY computer opponents so easily, basically, start out by making 1 peon, and start a War Mill, (You want to make this War Mill as absolutely close to the tree's as humanly possible, closer=better) take two peons, and send them over to the enemies base, or scout if you don't know where it is, make sure you guide them so they don't run into Creep's, that will destroy this strategy. While the two peons start going, take your other 2, and have them start mining gold, while producing 3 more, two to produce gold, you just want to pump out peons for resources, you want 4-5 mining gold, and about 6-8 getting lumber, you Need lumber for this. When that's all done, and your peons get there, start building Towers, its really that simple, when you get 4 up, you should be in business, start walling the enemy in, like a prison, later, make sure you research spiked buildings quickly, so melee units take even more damage. Exploration - Primarily with the Farseer, which is why its a good idea to build him first, for his Farsight ability, scout out the enemy and keep an eye on the gold mines next to his city with that ability. Other then that, the orcs are pretty basic, go and explore with your Grunts or Headhunters. Defending - Orcs have a great Defense, and that's the Spiked upgrades, Spiked buildings provide an effective natural defense. The cool thing to do, is to turn defense into offense, once you get those things researched in the late game, and you have a melee opponent, go build some Watch Towers on his turf. But Spiked upgrading, paired with a few Watch towers, is also a great method. As for the Orc Burrows and peons hiding out in them, DONT keep peons in them, as it subtracts from your total units, 90 is the max, so never do that. IF you fall under a very heavy attack, or perhaps an aerial assault and you have no defense, THEN click on all your burrows, and click the box down there..it will make all your peons go into them automatically, it helps, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have no other defense. Place Burrows next to important buildings. Assaulting - Orcs are good at attacking also. Id recommend staying away from Any ranged units with orcs, because for one, they're not nearly effective as Grunts or Raiders, but id make 3 Grunts, 3 Raiders, 2 heroes, and some support Catapults, You want to use the Catapults to attack FORCES ONLY, and defensive structures, but not towns. Because the Orcs can raid things so you want to let your grunts and Raiders do it, to give you more gold. Use this generated revenue to bring out more troops. Free Gold!! - The Orcs pillage ability is what makes them one of the competing races in the game, it opens the potential for an infinite supply of gold, Infact, its a GREAT strategy to send a few units to a building, attack it, and when the opponent repairs it, that's a GREAT thing, because it all means more money for you in the end, You want to attack buildings as OFTEN as possible, Avoid squads, be evasive, and go assault the buildings as much as possible. Remember that ranged attackers don't pull in income, so you ONLY want your melee units doing the work, Grunts and Raiders, to be more specific. Orc Turtlers! - With orcs, its effective to build a lot of Watch Towers, a LOT of them, at a choke point, just make sure to keep a grunt or two on hand to destroy any catapults that threaten you, and there wont be shit that can get through that. 3 Rows of about 5 towers should do it, and there actually pretty cheap for how effective they are in mass quantities, especially if you rush with them (See "Tower Rush" above.. ) Chapter 11 Undead Strategies Basic Start - First send your lone Ghoul to get Lumber, then take 3 Acolytes and go get gold. Next Start building 2 more Acolytes, and right click on your mine, so they auto-go there. With you're single remaining Acolyte, start building a Crypt, then two Ziggurats. As soon as you have enough gold, produce an Altar, then when you have enough gold, build a Graveyard and upgrade your Ziggs to Spirit Towers so they act as defensive structures, when your Crypt comes in, start producing 3 Ghouls and tell them to harvest lumber. Next, id work on a starting hero, and Crypt Fiends for a starting Force. Rush Start - First, take 1 Acolyte, and have him build a Crypt, then 1 Ziggurat. Immediately send all your acolytes the mine, and produce 1 more and right click on your mine, now click on your crypt, and Ctrl+1 it, so you can hit 1 to go back, take your Ghoul and Scout for the opponent, be careful to avoid neutral units and Flee if he gets attacked, constantly shift back to your Crypt, and when it gets done, build more Ghouls, as soon as you find your opponents city, send all your built ghouls there to attack. Exploration - Shades are the best way to explore with the undead, leave a few at gold mines you suspect your foe to try to take over, and always keep one hidden away in your opponents town, most opponents wont even realize there's a Shade in they're town until you know damn well what he's doing, if you find a task force, let a shade follow them around, In the real early game, before you can get Shades, you should scout out with a few Ghouls. Defending - Undead Defense is simply put, Ziggurats around, and upgrade them to Spirit Towers, One might think to "line them up" because they hit more targets, but the ideal way to place is them is where melee units cant get to them, and to spread them apart so your opponent has to take the time to move before attacking the next tower, this will keep his forces Diverged, and spread in your base, as he runs rampant trying to get the Spirit towers, this will give you the initiative. Another good tactic is to have some Graveyards next to each other, and a bunch of Necromancers there, when you see a force coming, Summon skeletons and send them out. Its a quick and Highly effective defense, in my Opinion. Assaulting - Take 2 Heroes, about 6-8 Crypt Fiends, 2-3 Meat Wagons (Filled with Corpses from your local graveyard) and then some Necromancers. Right before you start the assault, empty the meat wagons and make skeletons with your necromancers, when the skeletons and enemies fall, be sure to REFILL the meat wagons, or re-make skeletons on the spot. The Meat wagons are a hell of a Siege weapon too, so make sure they get to throw some corpses in the duel, Id recommend taking a Death Knight to make sure the Crypt fiends stay healed. If you can afford it, swap the Crypt Fiends with a Stronger unit, make sure you take 1-2 Crypt Fiends along though, to take down flying units. That Cursed Ground - Note that the ground on which undead resides is NOT just for placing buildings - Its where units regenerate health slowly - So In the early game, when your fighting off one or two Creeps, and your Ghoul or Fiend gets damaged to where his life bar is a natural ugly red, signifying his death, and your hero can't heal him, send him right back up to the ground so he may regenerate and re-join your squad at a later date. Its partially important to keep in mind, that unlike the Zerg Creep, that if someone else builds a building on your ground, Your ground actually goes away. Chapter 12 Night Elf Strategies Basic Start - First - Send 4 wisps to a gold mine - then take your lone wisp and start an Ancient of war, produce wisps - when your first wisp comes, have him build a moonwell, when your 2nd wisp comes - have him go to a tree when another wisp comes - send him to the gold mine - when another wisp comes - start an altar, make sure you get 4 wisps eventually going at the trees, start producing archers - and get a hero out. Exploration - Night Elves are the masters of Exploration in my opinion, primarily by the effect of Sentinel, Make absolutely sure you Light up the map, get the gold mines sighted as soon as you can, and make sure you also get the heavily traversed roads, and if possible, get the enemy Base. Also use Force of Nature to summon Treants and have them explore for you. Defending - Night Elves have the cool ability of uprooting all they're Buildings that produce Units and having them attack on they're own, they can do this at the cost of not being able to build, which can be effective In times of need. On another note, Offensively, these units can be utilized as well. Other then that, the best Night Elf Defense is to KNOW that the enemy is coming and prepare ahead of time. Assaulting - For a good Night elf squad, id recommend some Archers, but, to be blunt, they're ineffective compared with the staying power and damage capabilities of the Huntresses, so you want as many huntresses in place of Archers as you can get, then a Ballista or two, a few Druids, and 1-2 heroes, and your set. Work at NIGHT! - To be blunt, Night elf's are far more effective during the night, they can see farther with an upgrade and most of them are invisible, make sure you figure out how to work the time scale effectively at the top middle of your screen, so you can figure out how much time you have left at night, Prepare the assault during the night, the enemy will have little hope of seeing it coming. Where did all the melee go? - Incase you haven't noticed yet, Night Elves are about 75% Ranged attackers, and MOST of they're ranged attackers are very weak, which leaves players aching for defense for there precious archers, One of the best solutions is Treants in the early game, on top of that, A GREAT tactic is to build Ancients to Uproot, and send them in front of the Archers, although slow, they take a lot of damage and are strong and they have a big physical size, so units have to literally run around them, you can form a wall of these guys that your enemy almost has to hack through before getting to your archers, if you can do this, your in business. Thanks for reading the Guide.. IF you have ANY questions/Comments Feel Free to Email me: Vanphinele@aol.com The Guide is constantly being updated As I discover new strategies, so if you have any help, don't hesitate to email them To me.