WarCraft III Personal Computer [PC] ============================================================ In-Depth FAQ on Undead Tactics for WarCraft III Version 1.5 Released [8/31/2004] E-Mail - leon_heart-berserker@hotmail.com ============================================================ Table Of Contents Section 1.)................... | Legal Disclaimer Section 2.)................... | Versions Section 3.)................... | Introduction Section 4.)................... | Undead Heroes 4.1.)................ | Death Knight 4.2.)................ | Dread Lord 4.3.)................ | Lich Section 5.)................... | Survival 5.1.)................ | Winning The Battle 5.2.)................ | The Undead Army 5.3.)................ | Enemy Counter Tactics 5.3.1.).............. | Against Orcs 5.3.2.).............. | Against Humans 5.3.3.).............. | Against Undead 5.3.4.).............. | Against Night Elves Section 6.)................... | Undead Counter Tactics 6.1.)................ | Orc Heroes 6.1.1.)............. | Tauren Chieftain 6.1.2.)............. | Blademaster 6.1.3.)............. | Far Seer 6.2.)................ | Human Heroes 6.2.1.)............. | Paladin 6.2.2.)............. | Mountain King 6.2.3.)............. | Archmage 6.3.)................ | Undead Heroes 6.3.1.)............. | Death Knight 6.3.2.)............. | Dread Lord 6.3.2.)............. | Lich 6.4.)................ | Night Elve Heroes 6.4.1.)............. | Priestess of The Moon 6.4.2.)............. | Demon Hunter 6.4.3.)............. | Keeper of The Grove Section 7.)................... | Miscellaneous 7.1.)................ | Building Order 7.2.)................ | Creeping 7.3.)................ | Items 7.4.)................ | Possess & Raise Undead 7.5.)................ | Expansions 7.6.)................ | Negation Wands Section 8.)................... | Contact Info --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Legal Disclaimer --------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide is (c) Leon Heart 2004, All Rights Reserved. This guide is protected under International Copyright Law, and may not be reproduced in any matter in newspapers, magazines, periodicals, or anywhere on the World Wide Web without prior written consent from Leon Heart (leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com). This guide should only be found on GameFAQs.com and http://gamenotover.com. If this guide was found anywhere but there, please e-mail the author (leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com) to report of where it was found, so legal action can be taken. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Versions --------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.5, strategy guide to War Craft III, The Undead Scourge By Leon Heart, leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com Released: [8/31/2004] Webpages Found On: GameFAQs [www.gamefaqs.com] Initial Release Consisted of: 100% of the guide Version 1.1, strategy guide to War Craft III, The Undead Scourge By Leon Heart, leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com Released: [10/9/2004] Webpages Found On: GameFAQs [www.gamefaqs.com], Gamenotover.com Initial Release Consisted of: 90% of the guide Version 1.0, strategy guide to War Craft III, The Undead Scourge By Leon Heart, leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com Released: [8/13/2004] Webpages Found On: GameFAQs [www.gamefaqs.com] Initial Release Consisted of: 90% of the guide --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------- In this small document, I will be discussing the strategies and tactics an Undead player should try to use in different situations and circumstances. I will try to concentrate throughout the guide on opinion, and tactical theories rather than statistical databases or numeric calculations. A word of caution though: I'm not one hell of a player, and I certainly am not an expert. I'm just one guy who likes to think a lot to come up with all sorts of ideas. Everything mentioned herein (ideas, opinion, suggestions) is given to you through my own perspective. For that reason, I'm not asking you to copy me, or even agree with me. Just read the whole thing, think it all in your mind, and then decide how "YOU" want to do it. Therefore, when you read about a certain tactic, I would really appreciate it if you took the time to think about it for a bit, and tried to study it in your mind before passing on your judgment. This means that not all tactics included are guaranteed to succeed if you were playing against smart opponents, because they may be able to find a way around them. So, don't take anything for granted! This is merely my opinion, which I formed from my humble experience. Keeping that in mind, I urge you to continue reading. And please, I will not include description for presumably well-known things, so make sure you have a good grasp of the game before proceeding. Note: This FAQ is for older versions of the game. Therefore, some information contained within may conflict with the new changes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Undead Heroes --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Undead, like all races, have three heroes for you to choose from. I will be dropping small footnotes about them in this section, but I will cover up how to use them effectively with other units in other sections. ************************* 4.1 Death Knight ************************* One of the best support units any army in WarCraft III could get. Yes, I did mean it when I said 'support' here. The Undead armies, unlike others, have no real melee heroes. They rely mainly on outnumbering the foe, and catching him off guard to win battles, and that's why their heroes who act as support units are so effective. Few people would argue that the Death Knight could solo in any way shape or form, and he would certainly be crushed if left to battle hand-to-hand with other melee heroes. Absolutely all of his skills are based on having other units around. His death coil is a very effective skill that can dish out some damage to your enemies, while retaining the ability to heal nearby units too. While on paper it might not seem really great (300 damage is not a lot, and healing every unit at a time can be troublesome) in battle it's a life savior. There are a few factors to consider here: 1 - It has a very short cool down (time you have to wait before you can use it again) period of about 5 seconds, so you can use it almost simultaneously in battle. 2 - It consumes a small amount of mana (75, compared to the 500+ mana he has al level 10). 3 - Has a longer range than most spells, so you can use it while staying at bay. 4 - The 600 HP it gives back to other heroes is indispensable. His second skill, death pact, isn't the most useful spell in the game, but at higher levels it works wonders. Anyone who has ever had his level 7+ hero die knows how irritating and even frightening it can be to wait for 10 minutes so your hero would be reincarnated. At higher levels, it is crucial that your heroes don't die! No matter what! At level 3, this skill will be able to give you back 660 HP for sacrificing a mere ghoul, and as long as your Death Knight is alive, your other heroes are too (remember death coil). It's not as bad a skill as many say, though you should leave it for later levels. That's when it shines anyway. His aura is arguable the best in the game; giving a 30% bonus to movement speed, and 150% to life regeneration for all units around him. This should be the first skill you maximize if you ask me. Your units will last much longer, and you can make fun of fleeing units. This is especially useful against Night Elves who use ranged units often. When going in-depth about Undead strategies in battle, this skill will always be a dangerous factor. Finally, his ultimate. The Death Knight's raise Undead is a great skill to use at the end of the battle. Mainly, because there will be many powerful units dead on the ground, and with their invulnerability, they can't be killed in melee. The only way to dispatch them is to use dispel magic, but since the summoned units will probably have high HP (abominations, knights, etc...) even that will fall a bit short. Suggested skill built: DC - UA - UA - DC - UA - RU - DC - DP - DP - DP ************************* 4.2 Dread Lord ************************* The Dread Lord should be the second hero you get, not only because his skills are very useful, but because they are so damn necessary! There are some tactics that your enemies could throw at you that would be almost impossible to face without him. He's a must have! The catch is his sleep spell. The debate about this spell went on something like this: Sleep is an awesome spell, and it owns all!!!!! You just use it on enemy heroes, and bam! They are out of the battle. Even though they won't be out for the whole 60 seconds they are supposed to, you will have the battle field under your control by the time they wake up. This was the dream of most newbies, and believe me, between newbies, it was a sensational skill, but... Then came those players who think with their minds and found one childishly simple solution. Order one of your footmen, ghouls or grunts to hit the sleeping unit once, and bam! They're awake and the spell has done nothing. Now this spell is considered to be the most repulsively pathetic spell in the whole world of gaming by those same guys who worshipped it. But then I decided to butt in, and analyze it, and... This spell is a life savior, here's why. First of all, the most obvious use for this skill would be creeping. Just hit the Ogre magi, high priest troll, or whatever strong creep with it, and he's out of commission. This is the first use of it, but then again, that doesn't make it a life savior, right? What does? Simple, its stopping power. There are some extremely dangerous skills out there that would be almost impossible for you to handle without this skill. Like what? Starfall. This skill damages all units around the Night Elve hero (Priestess of The Moon) at a rate of 75 HP per second. Why is it dangerous? Because the Undead players depend on numerous armies to destroy their opponents, and since this skill damages totally everyone around the Priestess of The Moon, your army will be flat on the ground in no time. Sleep, however, is the only skill the Undead have that has stopping power (asides from inferno, which stuns units in a big radius). It can stop the spell once and for all, meaning you will proceed to win the battle after you use your own ultimate skill. Of course, sleep can stop other spells too, like tranquility, blizzard, earthquake and death and decay. I'm not sure about blade master, because some say, he gets a spell immunity. His second skill, vampiric aura, is the second reason why you should get him. It gives your troops a 45% leech attack at level 3 (you gain 45% of the damage you deal as health). The main reason is to counter the side effects of unholy frenzy. When your necromancers cast it on a unit, the unit attacks 75% faster but loses 4 HP per second. With vampiric aura, however, the unit attacking faster only means it will leech more life, thus balancing the loss of HP. The Dread Lord's carrion swarm is his only damaging spell, but I can't recommend it a lot. Its damage is modest, to start with, and enemy units aren't usually stupid enough to stand in a line. The only time I found it useful was when enemy units were retreating. Logically they were fleeing in a line, and since this skill has such a long range, it kicked the hell out of them, and even nailed retreating heroes a few times. The Dread Lord's ultimate skill just rocks. It summons an inferno down from the sky while dealing a small amount of damage (50) to units in a big area, and stunning them for 4 seconds. If you keep in mind that he deals 10 points of damage per second to all units around him, and take into account that they will be stunned for 4 seconds. Then you will notice he deals 90 points of damage to all enemies in the area merely by his appearance. After that, with his 1500 HP, 49- 60 chaos damage, and fast attacking speed, he can totally change the tide of battle. Did I mention he isn't affected by magic (no dispel). What's great about the inferno is you can consider him a permanent unit in your army. What do I mean? If you look at the spell's cool down time, and the time he stays summoned (unless killed), you will notice that they are both 180 seconds. What does that mean? Well, it means that unless the inferno is killed in battle, he will always be around. By the time his summoning time is up, you will have another spell ready, so you can summon him again. This means that your army is up an inferno at all times. Now, isn't that great? Suggested skill built: Sl - VA - VA - CS - VA - In - CS - CS - Sl - Sl ************************* 4.3 Lich ************************* The Lich is practically - and impractically - useless. His skills by no means fit the Undead 'style' if I may say so, and they are insignificant in battle. His frost nova spell, which is his only decent one, has low damage. He has no skills to benefit an army of numerous units (like auras), and his ultimate is horrible. Not only is its damage so low (4%/sec) but it damages allies too. I won't talk long here, he isn't worth it. Leave him alone, unless you need him for a very specific reason (I can't think of any, maybe because you like him?). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Survival --------------------------------------------------------------------- An important question to ask yourself is, how do I win? How do you know if the battle is going to your favor, or your opponent's? You can't just crash into battle and throw everything you have at the enemy. Some people have very specific ways to deal with almost everything, and would use the chaos you've put yourself into to defeat you. To win a battle, you must have a vision of what you must do, and what you want to stop the enemy from doing. There is no one way for victory, but I have worked out the main points myself. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 Winning The Battle --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that everything in this section I have thought out by myself. This means that it's open for all kinds of debates. I've put my whole experience in these paragraphs, but as a human I err. So, I want you to read this while opening your mind for possible adjustments, and corrections. You have to be convinced of what you read, otherwise, it's just another guy blathering aimlessly, and not helping anyone. If you find yourself convinced of what I say, then you will be able to use it effectively in battle. If anyone has any suggestions, compliments or criticism, he can send me an e-mail. Let's get on with it. If you ask most Undead players, what is their general plan? They will tell you something like: "I will overwhelm him with forces and skeletons until I win" This I've found to be a terrible thing to do. Good players out there almost always carry negation wands (can be bought from merchants) with them, making short work of your skeletons and gaining lots of free experience in the process. Not to mention priests who have the dispel magic, and shamans with purge. This leads us to think that this isn't the right thing to do. From my experience, the following are the elements that will let you win a battle. If you have them all in a battle, you're most probably winning. The less you have, the higher is the chance you will lose. Here they are: 1 - The Death Knight is alive (all units have unholy aura). 2 - The Dread Lord is alive (all units have vampiric aura). 3 - Your abominations and Dread Lord have unholy frenzy cast on them by necromancers. 4 - Your Death Knight has anti-magic shell cast on him by a banshee. 5 - Enemy heroes are crippled, including some of their toughest units. 6 - Your banshees possess some of their toughest units. When I'm fighting a battle, these are the points that run through my mind. When all of these elements are accomplished, I'm sure that I will win (in an even match). That's not to say the enemy can't counter it. Actually, the whole battle for me is to prevent the enemy from countering it, because as long as the above elements are present, I have a high chance of winning. In the next section I will discuss how they can counter these strategies and what you should do. For now, know that you should try to follow these rules as much as possible (if you find them helpful anyway). Now, why are these stuff so important? You have to be aware that the Death Knight's survival keeps the battle going on. This is the most important of all rules. Not only does he give your units increased life regeneration, movement speed, healing, and he has the ability to damage enemy units, but he also holds the whole chain of command in his hands. How? His death coil will keep the Dread Lord alive, who in turn gives all units the vampiric aura, which keeps them alive while having the unholy frenzy on. So, if the Death Knight dies, he won't be able to death coil the Dread Lord, who in turn will die, leaving the units with unholy frenzy on them to lose 4 HP/sec, and consequently die. After that, you have lost. Conclusion: Don't let your Death Knight die. How can you do that? First of all, you don't want him in the heat of battle. Just leave him at the edge of the battlefield. This will protect him from melee attackers, and let him land a few hits in. Don't forget to let your banshees cast anti-magic shell on him. This will protect him from enemy spells (holy light and thunder clap come to mind). The only thing that endangers him now is enemy archers, so if he loses some life, sacrifice a ghoul and you should be fine. If you still don't have that skill then retreat to the back, but don't run too far away; you want your units to still enjoy your unholy aura. Note that some players will try to cast dispel on you (so you would lose the anti-magic shell). If that happens try to either keep him in the back, or renew the spell. Of course, the Death Knight will not be standing clumsily there. He will be regularly monitoring the Dread Lord's life. The minute it goes down, he will heal him. As long as the Dread Lord is alive, the abominations are too, so never forget that. And don't forget to land your inferno on your enemy's back rank (their archers and spellcasters). This is devastating. Also, when you feel that the most powerful units in both armies are down, cast raise Undead. Moreover, remember to cripple enemy heroes and heavy units. That's about it on how to manage your two heroes, as for your other units, it changes according to your enemy's plan. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 The Undead Army --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should increase and decrease the number of your units in each category depending on the choice of your opponent (his units), but you should always follow these general rules. - Always have both ghouls and abominations in your army, not only abominations. For one, you don't want your enemy to defeat you by using a lot of piercing damage (done mostly by archers, does more damage to abominations than ghouls, because they have heavy armor). And two, because ghouls provide fresh corpses for your necromancers to raise. If you feel confident, you can start raising Undead warriors during battle. - No matter what, always have some necromancers. It doesn't matter what strategy on earth you are using, these are necessary. - It's always advisable to have two or three banshees with you, no need for more than that. You only want them to cast anti-magic shell on your Death Knight, and then possess the most important units in your enemy's army. I will discuss which later. - Don't bother yourself to do the researches (in the graveyard) for the crypt fiends, gargoyles and frost wyrms until you finish the ghoul and abomination researches. The previous are only useful for countering enemy air forces, and by researching spider web alone, you can bring them to the ground so your already upgraded ghouls and abominations will do the dirty work. - Frost wyrms take a lot of population space, and are at the very top of the technology tree, so I wouldn't recommend that you build them. All good players have ways to counter them with extreme ease anyway. For example, if your opponent chooses to go for frost wyrms, you can either web them to the ground. Or, you can build some gargoyles in stead. Those can annihilate *any* aerial attack. I never faced any aerial assault they couldn't destroy with facility (add unholy frenzy, vampiric aura, and their melee air-to-air attack rocks). - Always make sure your army consists of different kinds of units, preferably some ghouls and abominations as your main force, supported by about 4-6 necromancers, and 2-3 banshees for emergencies. When you are besieging enemy bases, make sure to bring one or two meat wagons with you. You can fill them with corpses from the graveyard, and when you feel the enemy has no dispel magic left (or no units to cast it), start raising skeletons. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 Enemy counter tactics --------------------------------------------------------------------- Often, when playing against good players, you can expect them to sabotage your plan to the point of making your life miserable. You shouldn't despair or give up. Always try to accomplish what I talked about before by figuring a way around their tactics. ************************* 5.3.1 Against Orcs ************************* Orcs are your toughest enemy early in the game. They have heavy strong units at the very start of the game, while you barely have ghouls. And since you can't play tactically with only ghouls in your army, the Orc's brute strength wins. So try to avoid them early on. Later in the game, you can easily win. Orcs rely mainly on pure strength, so they don't have lots of tricks up their sleeves. What you want to do is decapitate the few support units they have (those who help other units rather than fight themselves) and the rest of the army will fall apart if confronted with strategic play. Brute power alone can't win, remember. So what do you have to do? Play exactly like mentioned before, but pull this small stunt. Use your banshees to possess their Kodo beasts, and then let the kodo beasts swallow any shamans around (the kodo beasts will be in the back rank). Now, let's see what this small stunt has done for you. First, it deprived the Orc units of the war drums aura, which increases their melee attack damage. Second, it gave your own units an attack boost. And lastly, the swallowed shamans are out of the battle until they manage to kill the kodo beasts. Try to make sure all shamans are killed because their purge can destroy summoned units, and deny your abominations the unholy frenzy. If you have inferno, deploy it on the shamans at the back. Once they are out of the battle, you can proceed to win. Main Objectives: 1 - Kill their shamans (necessary). 2 - If you could take out their witch doctors, and/or their kodo beasts next, then you will have a huge advantage. ************************* 5.3.2 Against Humans ************************* The Human race is a very versatile one, with vast numbers of strategies to choose from. However, only two seem to stop the strategy we discussed above. The priest's dispel, which damages all summoned units (instantly kills skeletons) and dispels your unholy frenzy, making your necromancers look like clowns. And secondly, the sorceress's polymorph. Both of them can be stopped by landing an inferno at the back rank (did you start to feel how important the Dread Lord is?). We mustn't assume that's always possible though, so you will have to do something about it. This is going to be a battle, a battle to get rid of the priests so you would be able to raise skeletons, cast unholy frenzy, and cripple. So basically, all you have to do to win is kill their priests! There is a number of things you could do. One is to try to possess their knights and attack their priests with them. Another would be to possess their priests, and death coil, carrion swarm the remaining others. You might even try to cast sleep on them. If your opponent wants to awaken them, he will have to attack them, and since they have really short lives it would give you a chance to kill them with your death coil. I personally wouldn't attack the humans until I have my Dread Lord at level 6 so I could cast inferno. It's much easier that way. As for polymorph, you can do two things. You may use a wand of negation (you always carry one, right? Bare in mind that it will kill any summons, and it dispels all magic), or you could just ignore it if you think the battle is going to your favor. After all, it's the priests that are the most dangerous. On a side note, you can cast anti-magic shell on the polymorph-ed units. This will bring them back to the game, but you can't cast unholy frenzy on them after that. Main Objectives: 1 - Get rid of their priests (top priority). 2 - Their sorceresses can be troublesome, so if you could kill some of them, then kudos to you. ************************* 5.3.3 Against Undead ************************* Undead opponents will probably use similar tactics to the ones you are using, so it's going to be an even match. Rule number one against Undead: Always carry one negation wand at least, or preferably two (six uses). This should give you a huge edge if they start summoning skeleton warriors, because they will use up their necromancers' mana, and give you tons of free experience. If the player in front of you goes on massing frost wyrms, then counter it by building about four crypt fiends and web them to the ground. This also works if he masses abominations, because crypt fiends do pierce damage, which does extra damage to the abominations' heavy armor. If you happen to face players who don't mass units of the same kind, or raise skeletons endlessly, then you're in for a good fight. What should be your objective? Kill the Death Knight. Most players will let him join the battle, and might not cast anti-magic shell on him, so basically, throw everything you've got at him. Cripple him, carrion swarm him, let your entire army target him, and when he dies the battle is over. Other than that, you just have to figure out a strategy by yourself. 1 - Exploit their main weaknesses if they mass units, or raise skeletons mindlessly. 2 - Kill the Death knight, and if you couldn't nail him, aim for the Dread lord. If either one dies, you'll tip the odds to your side. ************************* 5.3.4 Against Night Elves ************************* The Night Elve is a race to be feared. It's not that they can easily destroy you, but they have so many ways to counter your tactics, you have to be totally focused when facing them. I will start with this simple question: What is the most dangerous Night Elve unit? I'm sure some of you are thinking bears of the claw (bear form, extremely powerful melee units), and others thinking bears of the talon (cyclone), but if you ask me, neither one of them is the most dangerous. In my humble opinion, it's the simple dryads that could really sabotage your whole army. Why? They have abolish magic. This skill is the perfect solution for all the problems any Undead player would pose on them. It kills summoned units, dispels cripple, and doesn't allow your units to relish in unholy frenzy. What makes it even worse is they are 'immune' to spells. Oh god! So that means you can't use your banshees to possess them. But that's not the end of it, their attacks are poisonous to your units, and would slow them down, so if they decide to flee, you can't catch them! That's why the Night Elves are such hard opponents, because of those tiny dryads. How do you counter them? Combine all the tactics used above. Here are a few suggestions: 1 - As always, the inferno would do massive damage if he lands at the back rank. 2 - Meat wagons can do respectable damage, especially for an HP as low as the dryad's. 3 - Sneak in a few ghouls. They are small, fast (with unholy aura), and their attacks do extra damage to the dryads (normal vs. light armor). 4 - You can use your banshees to possess their druids of the claw or the talon, and then attack their dryads. 5 - Remember, you don't have to kill them all. Abolish isn't an auto- cast spell, and it needs a considerable amount of mana, so if you cut their number to two or one, then you'll be ok. The above tactics can be also used to attack any druids of the talon they may have. You don't want to have all your units trapped in cyclones, do you? A good technique I found especially useful against the Night Elves is to possess their druids of the claw. No, you don't want to do that because they are their only powerful melee units. The catch is to, as soon as you possess a druid of the claw, change him back to his human form (if he was in the bear form) and cast roar. Now, all of your abominations and ghouls will become invincible. Imagine this: About (4-8) abominations with increased life regeneration and movement speed (unholy aura), 45% leech attack (vampiric aura), 75% faster attacking speed (unholy frenzy), and 25% boosted damage as well (roar). Isn't that marvelous? That's what's great about the Undead, and that's why they are so adaptable. The moment you feel you are in big trouble, use the banshee's possess spell, and turn your enemy's power against him. A word of caution though: Don't build too many banshees! Trying to possess all enemy units simply doesn't work. You merely want to possess their most valuable units, and turn them against them; while you let your own forces wreck havoc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Undead Counter Tactics (Hero Adversaries) --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've read through the entire FAQ before this point, then you know what are the main indicators that you are winning a battle, and how to try to make sure your enemy doesn't stop you from doing them. If you are at all interested, or if you find my advice at all helpful, then I urge you to continue reading forward. We've discussed how to manage your army and heroes, and how to fight your enemy's army, but we never talked about his heroes. Here I will try to take every hero alone, and suggest how you should face him in battle. I obviously can't include a way to defeat every combination of two or three heroes, so you'll have to read the tactic for each hero individually, and then do what you feel is best. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- 6.1 Orc Heroes -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The Orcs, as you know, depend mostly on brute strength. And that's why it doesn't come as a surprise that they have the most durable heroes in heavy melee battles. Even their ultimate skills tend to be centered on enhancing the hero's efficiency rather than support other units. So as a general rule, you shouldn't bother too much in trying to kill their heroes. Their army won't necessarily fall apart the way Undead armies do when they lose them. ************************* 6.1.1 Tauren Chieftain ************************* The best melee unit in the whole game, has a huge pool of HP (1425 at level 10), massive damage (55-65), and at levels (6+) is like god. I often found it futile to go after this hero first in battle. He will just use war stomp to stun and damage all enemies around him, and when you finally get to kill him (after a long time), he gets reincarnated again with his ultimate skill. Although he has a very good aura that helps all Orc units, it would be foolish to go after him first. When you see him in an army try to ignore him, that's the best you can do until his army is down in number. Only go after him in one case. If: 1 - The shamans are dead. 2 - He draws too near to your forces. If he was close to your troops so you can completely surround him, and if the shamans were dead so you can cripple him and cast unholy frenzy on your units, he will be most easy to kill. Otherwise, concentrate on destroying other units before trying to nail him. Note: At levels (1-3), he's a sitting duck, so you should try to kill him quickly to get rid of that endurance aura. After that, he becomes much more dangerous. ************************* 6.1.2 Blademaster ************************* It's ironic how two of the Blademaster's skills are put there just to make him harder to kill, while you can simply ignore him, and pretend he isn't there. If you go after him, he will either cast wind walk (which makes him invisible, and much faster), or mirror image (which creates duplicate images of him that do no damage). So basically, yes, he is pretty much near impossible to kill without sacrificing time and effort. But the catch is to let him go. He has no auras to help his fellow grunts, and he has no damaging skills (save for the passive critical strike which is unlikely to connect often). So my recommendation is to leave him be. Whatever he does won't affect the battle, and unlike your Undead heroes, his death won't mean much. This holds true until he's at level 6. Now, you should start to worry. His ultimate skill, blade storm, allows him to whirlwind (if you've played Diablo II, you know what I mean) for 8 seconds, dealing a massive 110 damage/second! Yes, this is frightening because he can take out half a dozen ghouls, and badly injure your remaining units in merely 8 seconds. So what should you do you ask? Try to avoid him. Don't let your units surround him, always keep him away of your low HP units (ghouls, necromancers, banshees...) and don't be afraid to retreat if only for 8 seconds so his skill has to cool down. After that you will be able to win. So basically, you want to avoid him until there are a few units on the battlefield, then you should try to flood him with skeletons, and cripple him with your necromancers. Carrion swarm, and death coil could prove useful here too. Note: At levels (1-5) you should totally ignore him. Al levels (6+), stay away of his bladestorm. ************************* 6.1.3 Far Seer ************************* Early on, the far seer is a formidable foe. His far sight skill allows him to spot your army, and evaluate your relative strength. Should he choose to get in battle afterwards, he can cast chain lightning on your ghouls messing them up really bad, and that's not the end of it. His summoned wolves will make sure the odds of numbers are to his favor. You should try to avoid him at all costs in the beginning of the game. However, as the game goes on, his powers will start to fade away until they become completely useless. His summoned wolves will be easily dispelled. The chain lightning which used to **** up your ghouls can barely scratch abominations, and his far sight skill will be replaced by more efficient scouting. What's even worse? His ultimate sucks. What's the use of tearing down buildings or slowing units in a real battle. Actually, it can be easily put to a stop using sleep. So what do I do you ask? Well, much like other Orc heroes, his presence hardly affects the battle, so why don't you let him take a nap? When the units blocking your way to him are killed, then you can go straight to hunt him down. You don't even need to cripple him, but that would certainly make it easier. Note: Avoid fighting him at levels (1-4), after that, you can either ignore him or try to kill him. Both ways, he will go down. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- 6.2 Human Heroes -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- As I said before, the humans are a very versatile bunch, so there is no general way to approach them. Each hero of theirs will need a special technique to handle, so you should always adjust according to circumstances. That's why their heroes become even tougher when combined together. Nevertheless, you must always prioritize, and that's what we are here to do. ************************* 6.2.1 Paladin ************************* The Paladin is a tricky hero to fight. He can be considered the humans' Death Knight counter part. Their skills are really similar, and so is their importance in battle. Just his presence greatly tips the odds to the humans' favor. Be it because of the Paladin's devotion aura, which gives all friendly units 3 more armor, his holy light which can heal allies for 600 HP or damage Undead units for 300 points, or resurrection which brings back six dead units back to the fight. I reckon you came to the same decision I came to. Yes, he must be killed. Only it's easier said than done. The Paladin is not a very powerful fighter, so gang up on him and he'll be dead in no time. But (and a big but it is) he has one last trick up his sleeve. Most players will let him fight right in the heat of battle, and just at the moment you think you've won. Bloody hell, he's used divine shield! This means you have to wait for 10 - 30 more seconds before you can harm him (he's invulnerable then). So this leads us to the expected question: What should I do? To be honest, there isn't one definite way, but I've found this strategy to generally work. See, most players will wait until his life is in the red before using divine shield, and that's the thing I might have done if I were in their place. A trick that works out here is, at the moment his life is really down (the moment you think he will use divine shield) to cast both death coil and carrion swarm on him. This can instantly rip him of about 350 HP letting him cross the line and die immediately before your opponent has the time to cast divine shield. And if he casts divine shield early on, then just ignore him and attack something else until it wears off. Then he will be totally helpless. Whatever your enemy does, remember, the Paladin is high priority. Him, and the priests your inferno and/or banshees should be busy taking out. Note: If he has the devotion aura, or is at level (6+) hunt him really soon. If not, then you can wait for a small while. ************************* 6.2.2 Mountain King ************************* The Mountain King is one fearsome hero. It's true his skills by no means affect ally units, but he can do enough damage on his own to cover up for that. His skills are all very useful, and make him a force to be reckoned with. After you deal with support units (the priests, most of the sorceresses, and the Paladin), then this hero will be your next priority. However, you must be aware of all the skills he has in order to kill him. Here's a rundown. One great skill this hero has is storm bolt. It allows him, at its highest level, to deal 300 points of damage to a unit and stun it for 9 seconds in the process. This is dangerous mainly because its cool down is shorter than the 9 seconds stun period. This means that a unit can be hit with storm bolt repeatedly without even having the time to snap out. That's one of the reasons I don't cast unholy frenzy on my Death Knight, but anti-magic shell instead. His passive bash is also beneficial in that it gives him a small chance to stun the unit he's attacking while doing extra damage. But what's truly fearsome is his thunder clap. This one is trouble. It makes it almost impossible to kill him, because you don't want to cluster all your units around him lest he uses it on them. However, the ultimate skill he has is your only chance to kill him early on in the battle. Indeed, when he casts avatar he becomes much stronger with more life, damage, and armor, but there's one small detail. He becomes immune to magic. At first glance this may seem ridiculous, but when he's in avatar mode his immunity to magic stops other units from healing him (priests, and the Paladin). Second of all, he will become seriously aggressive. No one wants to keep a Mountain King with avatar on in the back. So use this opportunity to gag him, and with no healing magic, ouch. I haven't tried the last tactic many times though, so I'm not sure it always works out the way you want it to, but in those few times I tried it, it helped a lot. Note: If he's level (6+), lure him to attack you in his avatar form then completely surround him. If not, then try to have him crippled before attempting to dispatch him. ************************* 6.2.3 Archmage ************************* The Archmage has a reputation of being a great harasser, and for the Undead that's true, until the first 10 minutes of the game are over. By then, all of his skills will have become mildly effective and can be easily countered. Let's go over all of them. Blizzard is not what I would call an awesome spell. It can damage allies as well as enemies, and if you feel it's really hurting you, then stop it with the Dread Lord's sleep. I strongly think that against good players, this skill won't be efficient at all. His water elemental is a powerful summon, but can be easily killed, or even dispelled should the need arise. Finally, his brilliance aura is indisputably a fantastic aura, but if you take out the priests and most of the sorceresses (which you should), it won't stay that useful. I know many people will disagree with me when I say he is weak later in the game, but I've never met an Archmage that really made me slam my forehead. That being said, I must comment also that mass teleport is of no use if you made sure your base is always patrolled with one shade at least. I do that. Anyway, after you get rid of the priests, the Paladin, and possibly the sorceresses, this hero will become practically useless, so don't take risks trying to hunt him down. He isn't worth it. Just counter his spells and you'll be fine. Note: When the spellcasters are dead (which should be your first priority), this hero becomes useless. Therefore, unless you have a straightforward kill, just leave him at bay playing his little games. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- 6.3 Undead Heroes -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- You already know all the tactics the Undead use, so I can't really help you there. You have to improvise while keeping in mind all the stuff we said before. Bare in mind at all times that the Undead rely to a great extent on auras from their heroes, their necromancers' spells, and banshees to counter very tough situations. ************************* 6.3.1 Death Knight ************************* We've talked a lot about him, so you already know you have to take him out. Just cast dispel on him to remove anti-magic shell or unholy frenzy, and possess any heavy units around him to try to bring him down. After he's dead, you're guaranteed to win (in an even fight, while your Death Knight is still alive). Cripple would also cripple him (pun intended) should he be dumb enough to not bring negation wands with him. And remember, you can't use death coil to damage enemy Undead units, so I'd concentrate on keeping those fat frenzied abominations kicking instead. Note: The Death Knight is dangerous at all times, but especially at levels (7+), because his death pact will make sure he never dies. ************************* 6.3.2 Dread Lord ************************* He comes second in priority after the Death Knight. Just beware his inferno, and make sure he doesn't land it right on your necromancers' heads. Should he feel like playing little games, by casting sleep on your units, just wake them up by letting a fellow ghoul attack them. If he tries to flee you can use carrion swarm to bring him down. After all, it has very long range. Note: You should probably try to kill him after you nail the Death Knight. It becomes much easier then. However, always beware his inferno. That brute can quickly take out any necromancers, or banshees you have should he land at your back rank. ************************* 6.3.3 Lich ************************* If your opponent chooses the Lich as his hero, then you are blessed. First of all, he has no auras, second of all, he does no real damage. And lastly, his ultimate skill plain sucks (not to mention it can be stopped by sleep anyway). Do whatever you wish, I doubt this hero's presence affects the battle in any way. Well, only in one case. I know some players who have a very effective way of using this hero. They will use nova a couple of times, and then sacrifice a ghoul to regain mana. Doing this repeatedly can really dish great amounts of damage, even if it was at the expense of their own army. Therefore, if you face such a player, try to take the Lich out right after the Death Knight, or the Dread Lord slams the ground. Note: Unless he uses the strategy mentioned above, the Lich's presence is almost unnoticeable, so you can totally ignore him. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- 6.4 Night Elve Heroes -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The Night Elve heroes are known for being a very troublesome bunch. They require a lot of micromanagement from your part to counter their activities, which consequently gives you less time to work with your own units. Especially their ultimate skills require quick and decisive responses to stop. That's not saying they are more powerful than your heroes, actually they have so little connection together I sometimes feel they are really weak, but you need to keep a constant eye on them. ************************* 6.4.1 Priestess of The Moon ************************* The Priestess of The Moon is the most popular hero at the Night Elve's camp, used mainly as a second hero after the Demon Hunter. This makes great sense since she has the powerful trueshot aura. This aura ideally suits the Elves in that almost all of their units are ranged ones. Even the huntresses, who are used as tanks, are short ranged units rather than melee ones. Thus, the 30% bonus to ranged attacks proves to be incredibly useful. The next reason many people love her is because of her ultimate skill, starfall. This skill calls down something that looks like a meteor shower, which damages all enemy units in a large vicinity at a rate of 75 points/sec. Since undead players rely mainly on numbers to win (you should too, when the priests, shamans...are killed), and since this skill damages 'all' units regardless of their number, it can be quite a killer. The catch is to be always anticipating it. Most players will wait till their priestess is in the middle of the battlefield before using it. At that exact moment have your cursor centered on her with sleep selected. Right when she starts, poof! Nothing. If you fail to do so, I guarantee it to you that you will lose. Starfall can make a mockery of your vast army. Remember that well. As for her other skills, they should barely affect you. Owl scout is ridiculous later on, almost worthless if compared to the far seer's far sight (he can use it repeatedly nearly without mana loss uncovering a huge area). And her fire arrow ill-suits her if you ask me. It's not like she's an excellent fighter, and nor does this skill make her one. I have to admit that it's not bad, but a spell would have suited her more. Now, what should you do when you face one? Kill her as soon as possible. She doesn't pose any real threat by herself, but if surrounded by a dozen of ranged units, her aura becomes extremely dangerous. By now, you should have become an expert at killing heroes. First, destroy the spell casters. In this case they are the dryads. Then cripple the opposing hero, and after that cast unholy frenzy on a couple of abomination and set them loose. When she's dead, you can take a deep breathe, and know you've gone a really long way. Note: She should be hunted as soon as possible. At levels (6+), always be ready to cast sleep on her whenever she brings down her starfall. ************************* 6.4.2 Demon Hunter ************************* The Demon Hunter is the hero most Night Elve players get first. Statistically, he has no astonishing aspects. Many other heroes precede him in speed, HP, raw strength and damage. What makes him so special, if I may say so, is his awesome skills. Not only do they make him terribly hard to kill, but they also turn him into a brutal killing machine. His ultimate is from the absolutely best skills in the whole game, and one of the hardest to counter. That's not saying 
he's unstoppable, but I've had so many rough times with him I just 
instinctively get alerted when I see him coming. Here is a brief 
summary of what my experience, and other people's advice have taught 
me.

Don't let this hero get too close to your heroes, and try to avoid 
him with your units (don't let them surround him) in general, at 
least until you can see the road clear to a definite kill. Why? First 
of all, his mana burn can seriously mess up your heroes, especially 
your Dread Lord, whose sleep spell is indispensable. And secondly, 
because his immolation can heavily damage everyone around him. We're 
talking 20 damage/sec at level 3, which would shred your ghouls, 
necromancers or banshees to pieces on the long run. My recommendation 
is to try to surround him with abomination while having unholy frenzy 
on, for I have seen many players let their Demon Hunters escape the 
battle field when they saw how fast he was getting trashed (remember, 
his skills may sound great, but he's fragile for a melee hero).

Even with his passive evade skill, he will still die quickly if 
surrounded with powerful high-HP-ed units. When does this stop to be 
effective? At levels 6+. Then things start to toughen, and he becomes 
a much harder nut to crack. His ultimate skill, metamorphosis, turns 
him into a demon for 60 seconds, with more life, a chaos ranged 
attack (unique), and faster attacking rate. He then should consume 
all of your attention, because if left alone he can kill even the 
heaviest of your units. Yes, even abominations fall fast under his 
blows. As usual, this leads us to the obvious question: What should I 
do?

Let's go over all the possibilities. You can't cripple him because 
the dryads will dispel the magic, and even if there were none around, 
it won't necessarily work because his attack is ranged, so he can 
hide behind other units. Thus, if you rush to kill him, you'll have a 
really hard time following him around. You can try to hit him with 
ranged units, like crypt fiends and meat wagons, but this also does 
no good. Remember, the most serious weakness the undead have is the 
lack of good ranged units, and with his increased HP, that would 
barely affect him. Ok, I see you're starting to get desperate, or am 
I wrong? I won't lie to you, I felt that way too at first, but it's 
not hopeless.

Basically, the Demon Hunter should become the center of your 
attention, so throw everything you have at him. Cast sleep on him; 
even if your opponent wakes him up by letting another unit attack 
him, that would take a few seconds off those 60. If you have wands of 
wind (casts cyclone) in your inventory, great, cast it on him 
repeatedly until his time is up. You must consider this a stalling 
game. You want to stall him until his time as a demon is up, or kill 
him while doing so. Just remember to keep a watchful eye over him. 
When the dryads are finally dead (you'll be trying to kill them, 
right?), cripple will leave him helpless to face 4 abominations with 
unholy frenzy on, and possibly a dozen of skeletons with them. 

Note: At levels (1-5), you should try to keep your units and heroes 
as far away from him as possible, until you can see a clean kill (he 
has no mana, is crippled with no dryads around, is surrounded with 
frenzied abominations...). At higher levels when he uses 
metamorphosis, just make him the center of your attention and throw 
everything you have at him. Make sure he either dies, or is unable to 
do much while in demon form. 

*************************
6.4.3 Keeper of The Grove
*************************

The Keeper of The Grove is possibly the weakest hero in WarCraft III, 
or so most people are convinced. I'm not totally with them, but 
compared to the Priestess and the Demon Hunter, this guy is like 
summer breeze. Let's start with his aura. The Keeper of The Grove's 
thorn aura is one of the weakest ones in the whole game, especially 
against Undead, because you have the vampiric aura which can negate 
its effects, and for abominations, overcome them. I wouldn't consider 
it a dangerous factor in battle, unlike all other auras, so you 
shouldn't freak about it. 

Force of nature, which summons up to 4 treants, truly sucks as a 
summoning spell. First of all, you can use a wand of negation once to 
mess them up really bad, or twice to simply take them out. And second 
of all, they are pathetically weak. I mean, they 're close to 
skeletons (who you can raise dozens of) in relative strength, but 
with a bit more HP. What's the use of them?

And his only active skill, entangling roots, royally sucks. It can be 
effortlessly dispelled with anti-magic shell, and even if you didn't 
do that, it won't affect the battle on any scale. That's not saying 
it's totally useless, but it's damn close to being so. The only skill 
he has which isn't worthless is his ultimate. Tranquility heals all 
Night Elve units in a large area around the Keeper of The Grove at a 
rate of 20 HP/sec for 30 seconds. This I think is a great skill if it 
wasn't for your Dread Lord. His sleep can put an end to this once and 
for all, making it almost impossible to benefit from its healing 
power in battle. 

Note: At levels (1-5), don't bother yourself too much with him. If 
you get the chance, kill him, otherwise just leave him alone. He 
can't affect the battle a lot. At levels (6+), just make sure to cast 
sleep on him whenever he uses tranquility, and you'll be ok.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Miscellaneous
---------------------------------------------------------------------

In this section I will discuss issues that weren't fit to include 
anywhere else. So you can consider it "hints and tips", or something 
like that.

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7.1 Building Order
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I've seen and heard of many different building orders, and because I 
strongly feel that the way you open the game can lead to your victory 
or defeat, I've done my share of research on the subject. Here are 
the results:

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone until now use this building 
order, but after trying it and many others for so many times, I can 
confidently say it is the absolutely best building order for the 
undead, and it allows you to be the first player in the game to 
creep. Here is how to do it:

1- Order two of your acolytes to mine gold, your ghoul to chop wood, 
and then start building one acolyte from the necropolis. The third 
acolyte should build a crypt, an Altar of Darkness, and then go to 
the mine. (when done, it should be around 8:30 - 8:50)

2- After a few seconds you will notice that your stockpile of gold is 
about (140) and rising. Order one of your acolytes to build a 
ziggurat (by the time he reaches the position you want to build in, 
you will have more than 150 gold) and then return to the mine again. 
(when done it should be around 9:00 - 9:20)

3- The acolyte you ordered should be ready at around (9:00), send him 
to mine (or better set a rally point).

4- The moment you have (90) gold (9:25 - 9:45), start building 
another acolyte.

5- The fifth acolyte should be ready at around (10:10 -10:30).

6- At around (10:20 - 10:40), you should have (150+) gold, and (60) 
wood. If you only have (40) wood, then order the ghoul back, he will 
have gathered more than (10) wood by now. Order an acolyte to build a 
ziggurat, and then return to mine. (when done, it should be around 
10:50 - 11:10).

7- The crypt will be the first building to be finished (about 11:15), 
so start pumping ghouls non-stop.

8- At about (11:20 - 11:40), the altar of darkness and the first 
ziggurat should be ready, so start building a Death Knight or a Dread 
Lord instantly (I prefer the first). 

9- At about (14:15 - 14:35), you should have a hero and four ghouls 
ready, so send them creeping. You should also have your fifth ghoul 
ordered in the crypt. Don't order the sixth until you've started 
building a graveyard (while the fifth ghoul is being built, as soon 
as you have 250 gold let an acolyte build it). When you have (140) 
gold after that, then start building a sixth ghoul.

Note: If you haven't noticed, this building order sacrifices a bit of 
income (you don't build a fifth acolyte right away) to be able to 
creep faster. Therefore, I'd recommend that you start creeping as 
fast as possible (even though the creeps won't be asleep yet), in 
order to gain back some of the lost gold. 

Note: Don't bother to research cannibalize too early on. Just keep on 
pumping ghouls, and if some of them are hurt while creeping. Then 
send them back to chop wood, and order the freshly built ghouls to go 
creep with the hero. This way you'll always have fresh ghouls to 
creep with the hero, while the injured ones chop wood (they also 
regain life quickly, since they are on creep).

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7.2 Creeping
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You should think of creeping as an investment. You sacrifice some 
time and HP, in order to gain experience and money. If you ask me, 
the one who is able to creep more, while maintaining the defense of 
his base, will have much higher odds of winning. However, you must be 
aware that creeping is no excuse for losing units. It's vital that 
you lose absolutely no units while creeping early on, and very few 
ones later on, because every ghoul counts if you were rushed, or had 
to fight a big battle.

In order to do that, you must handle creeping like you would handle 
any important battle; with utmost care. For example: You should 
always prioritize which creeps to kill first. The ones with auras 
should be your first priority, while priests and sorcerers should 
come next. You should also make sure no one of your units gets killed 
in the process. If one of your ghouls is about to die, then lead him 
out of the fight. If you think he won't make it (because of ranged 
attackers) then death coil him. 

Likewise, you shouldn't take injured units to creep. Early on, just 
keep building new ghouls and taking them to creep, while the injured 
ones chop wood. Believe me, if you have the higher level hero, and 
your army is full (you lost no units), then you have much higher odds 
to survive anything your opponent might throw at you.

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7.3 Items
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Items can be a decisive factor in winning battles. You should always 
divide any items you have amongst your heroes, so they would be able 
to make the best use of them. For instance, why give your Dread Lord 
a healing potion, when your Death Knight can easily heal him? Let the 
Death Knight carry the potion, in order to increase his duration. 

Another example, why give your Death Knight a claw of attack, when 
you know that he will be trying to avoid combat? The Dread Lord who'd 
be neck-deep in melee fighting should carry it instead. Likewise, a 
mana potion would be more useful to the Death Knight than the Dread 
Lord, because he will need a lot of mana to be able to constantly 
cast death coil, and should the need arise, raise undead. While your 
Dread Lord only needs a little bit of mana to call down his inferno 
and stop (sleep) hero spells.

As a general rule, you want your Death Knight to carry all the 
potions, wands and aura-items (certain items that work like auras). 
While the Dread Lord should carry the items that boost stats, because 
he'll be relying mainly on them for survival. 

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7.4 Possess & Raise Undead
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There are certain things that you have to be aware of about those two 
skills, so you'd be able to use them wisely. First of all, raised 
units that aren't undead won't have the weapon or armor upgrades even 
if they had them before their death. Raised Undead units keep them 
though. You should also note that you can't cast any spells they used 
to have. This includes dispel, purge, cyclone and all active spells. 
Likewise, you can't order raised peons or workers to build anything.
Passive skills like the dryads' poison still apply though. 

Possession is a totally different matter. It's true that possessed 
units also lose their weapon and armor upgrades, but they retain 
their active spells. This means that you can use a possessed priest 
to cast dispel, or a possessed druid of the claw to cast roar. 
Therefore, possessing spellcasters can be more beneficial than 
possessing melee or ranged units, because they keep their spells. And 
in the same logic, raising melee and ranged units is more worthwhile 
than raising spellcasters because the latter lose their active 
spells.

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7.5 Expansions
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Expansion is very important in WarCraft III, since it's the only way 
for you to gather enough gold for building units, and doing their 
upgrades. Consequently, you should expand soon, and often, while at 
the same time, work on denying your opponent any new expansions. You 
don't necessarily have to bust open his base and tear down all of his 
buildings to win. Simply stopping him from expanding can mean your 
victory. 

Now, what should you build in each expansion? I recommend building, 
beside a haunted mine, three ziggurats and turning them to spirit 
towers, in addition to a graveyard. The latter serves three purposes, 
first of all, it allows you to do researches much faster. Secondly, 
it serves as a defensive countermeasure, for you can easily raise 
skeletons from those corpses around the graveyard. And lastly, and 
least importantly, you can send your ghouls to chop wood there if you 
feel it's going to be attacked soon, and you don't want to stop them 
from their wood-cutting duties just to protect the place. 

Building a necropolis too would be a wise thing to do, for it allows 
you to teleport back to the expansion with facility, in addition to 
serving as a defensive building. However, it's not necessary. And of 
course, don't forget to unsummon all those buildings when the mine 
runs out. 

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7.6 Negation Wands
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If you haven't noticed, the Undead is the only race that has no 
dispel magic (as a general term) in any shape or form. While humans 
have dispel, Orcs have purge, and Night Elves have abolish magic, 
Undead only have anti-magic shell, which can hardly be considered a 
"dispel" magic. For one, it doesn't kill summoned units, and if you 
cast it on a unit to remove a de-buff spell from it, you can no 
longer cast any buff spells on that unit afterwards. 

Thus, you should carry one, or even two wands of negation with you at 
all times. To illustrate my point, I will tell you about my first 
ever game against a human being. I played the Undead, while he chose 
human as his race. In the last battle of the game (it was the second 
one); he had a level 2 Archmage, many rifle men, and was hiding 
behind seven defensive towers. My attacking group consisted of a 
level 4 Death knight, a level 2 Dread Lord, and many ghouls, along 
with two meat wagons. 

I used the meat wagons to knock down his towers, while my ghouls took 
care of the rifle men. He tried to cast blizzard on my clustered 
ghouls, but a sleep stopped it. And when he finally figured out to 
summon a water elemental, I dispelled him with my negations wands. 
Well, that was an easy win, but the point is: You can always make 
good use of negation wands! No matter how poorly your opponent 
played.

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8. Contact Info
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If you wish to use my guide, or post it anywhere on the world wide 
net, you have to ask for my permission first. This can be done by 
sending me an email, and including the URL of the site you want to 
post my guide in. I'll check the site and get back to you later. If 
you got no response from me after waiting for a couple of weeks or 
so, then you can use my guide on your site on the condition that you 
give me due credit for it. When I have the time, I'll check on your 
email.

Please, send me anything you want. Suggestions, criticism, 
compliments or even hate mail would be greatly appreciated. And 
please, if my guide let you win a few games, or lose ones, then tell 
me about it. I'll be happy to know that I've helped some people 
improve, and if I have screwed some of you, then I'll apologize to 
them and try to correct my mistake.

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This walkthrough/guide/FAQ is copyright 2004 to Leon Heart and is
protected under International Copyright Law.

(c) 2004 Leon Heart (leon_heart_berserker@hotmail.com)