WarCraft III
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In-Depth FAQ on Undead Tactics for WarCraft III
Version 1.5 Released [8/31/2004]
E-Mail - [email protected]
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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

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1. Legal Disclaimer
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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 ([email protected]). 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
([email protected]) to report of where it was found,
so legal action can be taken.

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2. Versions
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 1.5, strategy guide to War Craft III, The Undead Scourge
By Leon Heart, [email protected]
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, [email protected]
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, [email protected]
Released: [8/13/2004]
Webpages Found On: GameFAQs [www.gamefaqs.com]
Initial Release Consisted of: 90% of the guide

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3. Introduction
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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.

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4. Undead Heroes
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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.

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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

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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?).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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6.1 Orc Heroes
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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.

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6.2 Human Heroes
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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.

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6.3 Undead Heroes
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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.

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6.4 Night Elve Heroes
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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 </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
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
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

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
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

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.

*********************************************************************

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

(c) 2004 Leon Heart ([email protected])

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