Warcraft III – The Basics

Before I start on the main chunk of this article I would like to point out something which should be obvious from the title. This article is for beginners. Simple as that, so comments saying "omg everyone knows that, noob" are unwelcome and unnecessary. That being said, any pro will tell you that there’s always room for improvement.

What I’d like to cover in the first part of this series is some basic strategies – the cookie-cutter tactics for each race – and hero choices. Nothing too complicated, I’m sure you’ll agree. Let’s start off with my favourite race, Orc.

Orc for Beginners: Hero

Assuming, then, that you're reading this as a complete and utter beginner, your hero should almost always be Farseer. The Farseer is one of the most versatile heroes in the game and there is rarely a situation where any other hero would do a better job. However, it is important to note that you should never let him get into orange hit points if you can avoid it, because intelligence heroes are very prone to a quick death, particularly against damage-dealing heroes. Death Knights love nothing more than to coil a low HP Farseer.

Your skill choice is simple and will be the same every time you play with the Farseer: Wolves, then Lightning. Repeat until level six when you may choose his ultimate, Earthquake, but a lot of players prefer to take level three Chain Lightning. This, of course, depends on the way the game progresses. If your opponent has a lot of weak units, Chain Lighting is an awesome spell to have. Conversely, if you get into a base race where maximum damage to buildings is required then Earthquake is far more appropriate. The reason for this order is that Wolves are one of the best summons available in the game. Their attack rate is incredible, even at level one, and they can cut through those pesky archers like a knife through butter. Also, let’s not forget that they’re excellent for scouting, since you can just re-cast them for free if they are killed.

Orc for Beginners: Build Order

The trouble with having such a versatile hero is that is difficult to have one main, basic strategy. As with any other race, your strategy will and should vary depending on your opponent. However, the following is a simple and easily adaptable tactic which can be used on most, if not all, maps.

The build order for orcs rarely changes except for unique strategies which require something a little special. Since this is not one of those, we will stick to the tried and true Altar, Burrow, Barracks build. Firstly, send all five peons into the gold mine and build two more peons in your Town Hall. When the first peon empties his gold into the Hall, send him to build an Altar. We won’t concern ourselves too much with the placement right now but it is important to keep your base fairly compact, so you can defend it with Burrows and maybe Towers later on. Just be sure you don’t trap your units inside!

The first peon out of your Hall, we will call him #6 (for obvious reasons), should build a Burrow close to both Hall and Altar. Now, start building another peon, which should leave you with around 185 gold when the second peon, #7, comes out. This peon should build a Barracks within firing range of your Burrow. Select your Hall and right click on the trees near your base to set a rally point which will allow the peon coming out soon to immediately starting harvesting lumber. When you have enough gold, build another peon so that you have nine food worth of peons. By this time your Altar should be close to completion. If your timing is right, the Burrow will follow shortly and you can begin to build your Farseer. Depending on the number of spawns on the map, you may send the peon who built your Altar to scout all the spawns to seek out your opponent’s base. If there are only two spawns on the map then there isn’t really much point but some players like to see their opponents base early so they can judge what they are up against. This is really another personal choice.

When you reach 360 gold and 40 lumber, which should be just before your Barracks is built, you should build another Burrow. You now have 200 gold, enough to build your first grunt as soon as the Barracks is complete. Once you reach 200 gold again you can queue another Grunt, which will take you to twenty food. Once you have two Grunts you may go power creeping or go to harass your opponent’s base and your build order is almost done. If you spawn close to your opponent, harassing is perhaps the better option and you may force him to cancel a few buildings, kill some workers, or just generally cause as much hassle as you possibly can. Remember to micro your units if they are focused on and run them back to your base if they get into low HP.

As soon as you can afford it, upgrade your Town Hall to a Stronghold and keep pumping out grunts while this is building. You may also throw up a War Mill to upgrade your units’ armour and defense and allow you to build Watch Towers. This isn’t completely necessary, but it helps to defend your base against those pesky harassing heroes or early rushes. You should build a voodoo lounge as soon as you can while you are teching to tier two. This shop can be a life-safer when you have to run away from battles and heal units on a map with no fountains.

Once you hit tier two, for this strategy we’re going to build dual Beastiaries. Hopefully you won’t have lost too many units and will have enough gold to put two up straight away. If not, don’t panic. Build one for the time being and a second one when you have the resources to do so. Once your Beastiary or two is up, build one raider and the Ensnare upgrade as soon as possible. This strategy hangs on the fact that you have Ensnare researched in order to trap units. Once your research is done it’s up to you. Keep pumping Raiders and Grunts with upgrades when you feel necessary. I deliberately haven’t described a tier three order because the idea of this tactic is to win in tier two. Orc has probably the weakest tier three units in the game but the flexibility of Farseer and Raiders at tier two more than make up for it.

Orc for Beginners: What to do

This tactic was really perfected by Grubby, but it’s simple enough for anyone to use if done correctly. The idea is to avoid large battles wherever possible and just retreat. Once you hit tier two and have Raiders you can start to fight some more. Run a couple of them towards your opponent’s army and ensnare the units closest to you. Try to kill them but be sure not to get into a large battle. Just try and pick off one or two units until you feel the advantage. From here it’s all about personal options. Raiders are perfect if you want to kill a hero. Trap him and deal as much damage as you can, using Chain Lightning to finish him off if possible. However, beware, Ensnare lasts a very short amount of time on heroes, so be ready to re-ensnare every few seconds.

Alternatively, you can just try and eliminate his army instead. It’s important to match up damage types against armor types. For example, if your opponent has some un-armoured casters then use the siege damage of your Raiders to deal extra damage to them. Archers causing you trouble? Send in your Grunts and Spirit Wolves to mow them down with the help of Chain Lightning.

The final option is to hit and run on your opponent’s base. Make sure your hero has a Scroll of TP or at least a speed scroll before you attack. Raiders deal extra damage to buildings due to their siege attack and they are fast enough to run away when your opponent comes to defend his base (hey, they don’t call them Raiders for nothing). Try and take down a building or two before he teleports into his base to defend. If you can run away, do so, but you will probably need to teleport out. This is not a problem. This strategy usually stops you from losing many units and, therefore, gold. You can just buy another scroll and head right back into his base again.

I hope this has been of some help. Next time out we’re going to cover what is considered by many to be the hardest race to play, Human.