GenocideAlive
01-26-2007, 12:12 PM
So, I've been asked a few times what I do as an L36 Random player, and how I achieve. There are a grand total of 16 different ways to play Random, one for each race and the mirror; obviously, the Random player has a lot of split-second choices to make. Seeing your opponent's race on the screen gives you a couple of options from the outset and you can immediately determine your course of action.
Of course, doing so is definitely an advantage: in chess terms, you are White. The first move is to you, because you will know your opponent's race well before he knows yours. You can build an appropriate hero and choose to ignore scouting for a fast tech, he must scout you regardless. Make sure you kill the scout, only wisps should be capable of getting away.
the Plight of the Undead Blight
Undead has a standard good-bad-average matchup in regard to the opposing three races. They tend to do well against HU, do poorly against Orc, and have a roughly 5% underdog rating vs. NE. In terms of percentages, it comes out to look something like:
NE: 45% win chance.
HU: 60% win chance.
Orc: 35% win chance.
NE:
Staple units: Ghouls, Gargs.
Against Night Elf, the cookie cutter is to get the DK and decide if you want to attempt to creep or if you wish to rush the NE: Ghouls for rushing, Fiends for creeping. NE tends to avoid tier 1 units and go for the dual-lore tech, as usual. Lots of players like to DK rush with ghouls, but I avoid that because I can't get it to work. NEs usually just milk my units for exp using moonwells and buildings, and I hate trying to play against campers.
Instead, I get a Dreadlord. I go Slp/Vmp/Slp/Vmp/Vmp. The logic for this works out quite nicely--the DH harass that inevitably comes gets me a free surround. At five ghouls I'll Slp him, surround him, and unleash the beats. He'll burn me once, then have to TP; good start for me. Later, that 50% regen from Frenzy really adds up for the Ghouls, whereas another 5s worth of Sleep on a hero never really gets to pan out anyway.
I get two zigs, a Crypt, four acolytes (two for mine, two spares), and an Altar to start. I'll build Ghouls to 30 food, tech. Build a second Crypt, another zig, Tomb of Relics, and a Graveyard during tech. At tier 2, immediately tech to tier 3 and throw down a Sac Pit, throw your spare aco(s) into it.
At first night, I start creeping. Sleep the highest DPS, non-L6+ unit around, and kick the shit out of the other units. Sometimes I'll Slp a caster instead of a melee unit (like in Broken Shard natural expos) because the caster is really what makes the camp so difficult with Heal + Inner Fire. You always want to prioritize goldmines, so you can threaten an expo at any time.
Usually if I forced the NE to TP early and it's a small map, I'll get my ghouls and go hunting for them again, to grab another Sleep surround. If it's a larger map, I'll clear out an expo and use one of my spares to get it started while I'm teching. From here it's a matter of figuring out their hero levels and units. They get DH + Panda, you're in for a huge fight. Don't let him level up the Panda to huge levels or you're going to be SoL. If they get Warden / Panda, skip the tier 3 Ghouls and go Disease Cloud Aboms, retrain to Carrion Swarm, and get a DK at tier 2. Nuke the shit out of the Warden. If she goes SS/FoK without Blink, don't bother to retrain. Just Sleep / surround her to death.
They mass Dryads, you mass gargs. They start throwing in Bears, you start Sleeping the ones that shift to Druid form (b/c they're going to use them to Rejuv). They start massing more Bears and less Dryads, you get Wyrms. Don't be afraid to retrain to Carrion Swarm, it kills heroes and units--way more useful than pissing away mana on Sleep that they just immediately Dispel. I just usually get it if they go mass Dryads, b/c Sleep is then useless with their mass dispel. If they get two weak INT/AGI heroes, nab a DK. You can use DL/DK to nuke and amp up your army speed for chases.
Orc:
Staple Units: Fiends, Statues.
The Orc matchup is the bane of every UD commander. They have huge-HP units, a powerful AoE combo, and ridiculous creeping. Usually UDs will grab a DK and try to creep harass with Coil and then use ghouls at another point of the map to creep (can be hard to micro). At tier 2 the Orc will begin pushing with a combination of Raiders, Grunts, a L3 FS and L1 TC. Fighting at this stage generally tends to go very poorly for the UD.
I have a variety of strategies that I like to use for this setup, all revolving around hero choices. First, I like my DL. Slp/Carrion/Slp/Carrion/choose. Just about the only thing early game Grunts have going for them is OKish DPS and huge HP pools. So if you Sleep the FS, you're basically guaranteed a Ghoul surround. He's got poor HP, so it won't take long to put him down, esp with a Carrion chaser. Vamp is worthless against Orc, because AoE will torch your shit way faster than Vamp can save it. I usually get a DK second for this m/u, because of the DL vulnerability to FF with Ensnare and the loaned opportunity to nuke.
The bane of this matchup lay in Wyverns. UD has no response that doesn't get smoked by either Grunt/Raider + AoE or Bats. Unless...you can use Carrion / Slp + Coil to your advantage. If you Sleep one Wyv, Carrion Swarm, and Coil, the air force of the Orc will be significantly weaker. Repeat, and you'll start getting kills and crippling the Orc. Your goal will be to have Fiends, stats, Banshees, and Abominations. You Shield all of your units against the nuke, send out the Aboms, and manually web badly placed Wyverns. It's a hell of a fight for the UD, but it can work to your advantage if you encounter a careless Orc player. Throw in 1-2 gargs--make him waste money on bats. Just be sure to get 1 armor upgrade, so you don't instant-die to the Unstable Concoction.
Frankly, I'm a big fan of UD casters in this matchup. Orcs tend to go raw Beastiary / Barracks and try to end quickly with grunt/raider/wyv/demolisher at tier 2. If you try to match up with your tier 1 and just skip tier 2, it usually fails; adding in Banshees really takes a lot of the edge off of the Orc offensive. The most general rule I put out there for UD players is to be sure that you don't let them use Wyverns and Chainwave to act as their anticaster. Keep your 4-5 Adept Banshees protected with AMS and well-placed--their attack isn't important, you just want their Curse and AMS. With AMS and Curse, you've got them at 66% strength and 0% spell damage, which you should be able to win or draw.
Be on the lookout for the Orc expo, because that briefly changes the tempo of the game--UD becomes the aggressor. Typically the UD spends most of the match on their heels, trying to avoid an early route. But if the Orc expands, he weakens his army temporarily to gain a game-winning advantage. You can strike there (at the expo spot, not his base), gaining levels and an advantage. Miss your opportunity (minute or two after expo is completed), and you are almost guaranteed failure. If he starts towers as soon as he starts the expo, you cannot wait. You will meet certain doom if you attempt to fight Orcs near their towers unless you grossly overpower them. Your choice at that point is to either expand yourself (and prepare to fight there), or destroy the attempted expo immediately.
Always remember that your ultimate goal is tier 3, where all of your units and buildings become most powerful. You want 3-4 Abominations vs. Orc, because they're extremely tanky and their huge collision size makes any microing for tactical strikes extremely difficult. You want casters against them, because they give the Orc fits. You want Destroyers vs. their Grunt/Raider army, because they do excellent splash and keep the Orc from doing any significant caster-tricks. The UD's power is in its late game tech (not necessarily units), and you must remember that.
HU:
Staple Units: Ghouls, Destroyers.
In this matchup, nearly everybody gets a DK. It's not a matter of preference at this point, it's just a matter of not fixing what isn't broke. HUs, no matter level or calibre, have fits trying to deal with the Death Knight. You get your DK in the HU's face from the beginning of the game to the end--harassing creeping, scouting for expos, Coiling. You can either choose to harass a vulnerable base by bringing in ghouls and trying to snap off a few Coils at weak peasants or you can just stick by the HU and keep creepstealing. HUs will probably try to ignore your DK, trying to instead creep hard regardless of your presence. If you get too close, they'll try to chase him off, but otherwise the DK cannot ultimately stop a good HU's creeping. Thus, I prefer a combination: creepstealing while janking some peasants at his base--3s after he engages creeps.
If the HU teleports, great. Just run your ghouls back to base and go in with your DK, finishing off the creeps he was working on and taking the item. He loses a TP, an item, maybe a peasant or two, and some creeps. You lose 1-2 ghouls, get exp from his creeps, and his item. If he doesn't, I'll try to micro my ghouls to whoop as many peasants (or militia) as possible while seeing about getting off a good Coil for a creepsteal. Usually even if I lose close to the same number of units, the HU is still worse off than me because his economy is connected to his peasants. He must pay to replace them and will suffer harvesting losses until he can.
At tier 2, the tables turn and the HU has the advantage with the production of Sorceresses and Priests. I try to make it a priority to take out a building Sanctum. I'll get a DK and a CL or DL (instead of Lich), and try to stall them while I tech like a madman to tier 3 for Destroyers. Protect your Tomb of Relics, protect your Slaughterhouses, and protect your acolytes. You cannot let any of those buildings fall, or the HU will halt your production right there, and Destroyers will never make the scene. WEs, Slow, and Bolt will pick you and your base to pieces. I generally use Coil + Impale to permit positioning for my ghouls (either around a hero or otherwise) while stunning possible anti-air units like Rifles. If I get DL (esp against high level AMs), I'll use Sleep on WEs. They're L3/L4/L5 units, so they'll get the 15/30/45 timer and it keeps them from tanking AND from doing damage. Carrion is a nice finisher for fleeing units, too. I dislike the Lich, because his low HP, slow move, and vulnerability to Bolt + Slow really don't make up for his uncapped Nova.
Once I get six or so Statues, it's important to make sure that I have enough wood, gold, and food for Morphing. Morphing two at a time isn't useful, and neither is morphing four at a time. They must all but one be Morphed at the same time, or the attempt is generally wasted. If he's got an expo, that's the first target. I'll get an aco in a corner to start an expo of my own, while I begin working his main / expo. 9 times out of 10, that's game right there.
If we're dealing with an MK/Pal early tier 1 expo player, the situation is different. Generally at that point, you cannot face off against the HU straight up with your DK or he'll get Bolt-surrounded. Your best bet is to station a skellie near them and keep tabs on their army. As soon as they start creeping, jack their base. Don't bother trying to interrupt their creeping, there's little point. You will lose to Bolt surround, and the odds of damaging their army badly enough to recover the cost of the TP + 500HP aren't good enough to justify trying it. Jacking their base, however, will prove to be quite profitable for you. Slowing their economy at that point will be crucial, because it will delay their tech, their expo, and pretty much everything else.
No matter how good your harassment is, however, you probably won't be able to stop the expo. Unless you're investing in tons and tons of Ghouls (feeding MK = bad), you're just not going to have to forces to beat militia + MK + foots + mana towers. This is OK. Your priority is to tech to tier 2, throw down a second Crypt, and get out gargs. Once you get 6 or so, you go straight to the expo and start killing peasants. When he comes to defend it, you go to the main and start fucking that up. Meanwhile, you go to tier 3. If during your tech to tier 3, you notice him throwing down Workshops, buy a Panda. His uber-imba AoE will come in handy later. Done correctly, you will basically be constantly destroying his advantage by killing an endless stream of peasants.
By the time you hit tier 3, you're going to be able to take a quick overview of his base and units and make a call. Is he getting Gyros? Is he massing, or does he just have something like 12? If he has a low number, your Panda and Destroyers will take care of them with a morph. If he has a very high number (24-36), get Necrowagon. You can get 2-3 Statues going during late tier 2 and take an assessment of his army. If he has mass gyros, stop and get necrowagon there (don't keep pumping stats). This is also a good idea if he's doing something like mass towers--UD's necrowagon is a terrific counter to mass towers. If he pops out with Gryphs, you'll still have Gargs to work them like cheap suits. If he goes with Gryph/Flying Machine, get 2-3 Banshees for Curse, Cripple the Gryphs, and recruit 2-3 Fiends to manually Web them.
Just make sure that you don't end up with mass Ghoul/Gargs vs. Steam Tanks or naked Necrowagon vs. mass Gryphs. You will be destroyed. The key here is to make sure that the HU doesn't make it to tier 3, or if he does, make it the last thing he sees. If you let the HU get to tier 3, throw down 4-5 production buildings, and get L3 Masonry...well, don't be angry at him for dragging out the game, because you pretty much blew tons of chances for 10 minutes straight.
UD Mirror
Staple Units: Ghouls, Gargs
This one can be the tricky one, but unfortunately I've found that it actually offers the very least amount of innovation of all of the matchups in Warcraft III. You have two choices for your primary hero, and that's the Lich (90%) or the DreadLord (10%). The reason for this is obvious--Ghouls are the primary choice for UD players because they start much faster, harass much more effectively, and have way better means of healing themselves early game (cannibalize) sans the DK. OFC, the DL offers Vamp Aura, which can be quite tasty too.
Most players pick the Lich for one reason and one reason only: Nova. Nova + Dark Ritual pretty much means that you're spamming uncapped damage on the very-small collision size units (Ghouls + Gargs) throughout the game. The Frost effect only amplifies your advantage, since your enemy just took crazy damage, moves slower, and attacks slower. Generally the Lich will run out front, Nova right before the units engage, and back off; he's given his army a pretty significant advantage. The CL is a much better choice early game, because Impale has uncapped damage and an added stun--but later when the Lich player forces gargs into the scene, CL loses badly.
I, OFC, pick my boy the DreadLord. Sleep / surround on the Lich early game = TP scroll advantage. Then I can run out and do a very, very early expansion while the Lich creeps. Unfortunately, though, it's a rare occasion that UD players stay off each other's throats for any appreciable period of time. Generally they just lurk around their base creeping greens and scouting their opponent's base for carelessly distant creeping. Once it's established that their opponent is extremely far away from their base, they'll blitz in with their Ghouls and try to take out either the Acolytes or the mine. Generally, most UD commanders will just kamekaze their ghouls into Acos/the Mine, because if they're very successful (3+ acos killed early tech or mine gone), it ends the game regardless. Don't. Let. It. Happen. To. You.
If I can force the TP through an early surround, that buys me time because the Lich player will be that much more hesitant to commit his forces to an attack on my mine. Assuming I come to defend in time, his Lich is in grave danger, and he'll be forced to fight, win, lose, or draw. And since he'll be sitting right next to my base, odds are I can pull some wood Ghouls and rally a few more to the fight to tip it significantly in my favor. It's not until around L3 that the Lich player really begins to effect battles with his mana pool, Dark Ritual, and better Nova. It's at this point that I usually consider retraining my DL to Carrion Swarm.
Q: Genocide, why get Sleep when you have to pay $300 for a retrain later anyway?
A: Sleep DOMINATES early game; Carrion Swarm fucking BLOWS. Paying $300 for uncontested tier 1 dominance = worth it.
After tier 3 when both sides get Frenzy, and whatever upgrades they're going to get, you're usually looking at the myriad of hero choices, with Lich / DL / DK going according to preference. Since I DL first, I typically chase with Lich, finish with DK. If there's a Tavern, I'll go DL / Lich / PL, because Destroyers are trash units in the mirror and the PL's ridiculous 30% dmg reduction in Howl pays off 10x better than some stupid L1 Coil from the DK. CS, Nova, Howl, and suddenly my opponent is dealing with 56 food worth of gargs to my 80. I'll have L3 Vamp for 50% lifesteal on top of my Howl, and suddenly that L3 Nova isn't quite as abusive as the Lich player was hoping.
Usually at that point they'll get desperate and try to do some Orb + Nuke + FF on heroes to try and get a quick win (typical UD player response to desperation), so it's important to make sure that you don't overcommit and let your heroes walk right up to their heroes. With the DK aura + Nova they'll be able to chase for the finish, and Coil will save their heroes from any nuke that you try to flip back at them. Just focus your efforts on the UNITS, because they will ultimately prove to be the winning factor of the game.
In the event that you play some deluded dumbfuck that tries to go DK/CL Fiend/Stat/Dest, just count yourself lucky for an easy win and dominate his ass. Pressure his goldmine tier 1, and tiers 2 & 3 just pump pure gargs. Your hero choice will be DL/Lich (in whatever order) and CL third. Nova first, Impale second, and CS third, aiming for the center of the fiends with each spell. Split gargs into two groups, and FF his statues first (can't be Coiled, removes his regen). Use Dust or Shade to prevent Burrow saves, and keep spamming the trihero nuke. Assuming comparable levels (5/3/1), he's totally fucked.
Taking all of the above into account, keep in mind that you don't ever, ever want to chase an UD player into his base unless he's completely untowered or has 1 Nerub. It's just suicide, he'll use towers to slaughter your units. Additionally, make sure you don't find yourself trying to chase down his high level heroes with a bunch of weak units (orangish) after winning a fight. The way to win the UD mirror is via macro--expand and expand and expand. Do NOT at any point try to win via using units to kill his heroes. Especially consider this against the Lich and the Dreadlord: a couple of Novas or Carrion Swarms on Ghouls or Gargs, and you are feeding him GOBS of experience and he is chewing through your entire treasury. If he runs, fuck him. Go expand and throw out some Shades to make sure that he can't do the same. Rarely is this matchup won via a building destruction.
Orc Teeth & Orc Axes: Biting Hard
Orc's matchups are fairly good in all respects. There are generally no races that have a severe advantage over Orc, though unfortunately they are slight underdogs in a few different respects while being massively advantaged in a third. Grubby does well to win so consistently with Orcs, but if you can force your opponent to face your high level AoE combo of FS/TC, there's little they can do to win.
NE: 45% win chance.
HU: 45% win chance.
UD: 65% win chance.
NE:
Staple Units: Headhunters, Walkers
I'm sure some of you are looking at this Staple Units list and thinking "Huh? I don't see these consistently..." and my reply is: yes, because cookie cutter Orc v NE blows. IMO, getting Grunts + FS is stupid, because pretty much every freaking NE unit gives the Grunt build hell. If they get Dryads, the FS is hopelessly lost--no CL, no wolves. If they get a lot of Talons, Grunts are hosed. I hate cookie cutter Orc v NE builds because I think they tend to fail miserably but people beg them to work anyway. While tons and tons of Orcs were losing to mass Talon (and I hear some still do), I've had little to no problem with them.
I pick the BM first. Why? Because he can wisp harass, he can avoid the Demon Hunter, he can outmatch NE mobility (which is amazing in its own right), and he makes an excellent FF tank. So he can creep, he can harass, he can do all of the things that the FS can normally do, but without the FS losses to NE units. True, the BM loses out on CL, but frankly with Mana Burn out there, you only get 1-2 CLs before you're out of mana entirely. Once the BM gets high levels, between WW and CS, he's almost AoE for as fast as he moves + the fast/hard damage he deals.
I also get Headhunters from the very beginning, making a War Mill very early. It's important to guard them closely when the DH comes to harass so that he doesn't pick them off, but you shouldn't have any trouble keeping him away with a wisp harass ing BM + burrows at base. I typically buy Boots at nightfall after my tier 2 tech, because it's crucial to make sure the BM can outpace the NE. Once I get a cadre of around 30 food, I'll start wandering out to creep, depending on how my harass went at his base (to cancel buildings, wisps, etc). At tier 2 I'll throw down a shaman shack and go right to tier 3. I'll pump Witch Doctors, the Regen upgrade for HH's, a tower or two, and the WD upgrade. At tier 3 I'll plop down a Tauren Totem, get the Witch Doctor upgrade, two walkers, the Berserker upgrade and Fortified Burrows.
Tier 3 is very resource intensive for me, but since I've only had an army of around 30-50 food of mostly HH's + WDs, I'll usually have some to spare. It's important to pick and choose fights during these times, and usually I'll make sure my towers are well placed so that the NE doesn't want to come near my base. If he does, HH's + trap usually do well enough for NE tier 1 & 2 units. It's typically leftover archers and Dryads, and they go down pretty quick vs. the superior HH dmg. Regen keeps HH health up from creepcamp to creepcamp, so you rarely get caught needing tons of salves or red units straggling around.
At tier 3, you take a quick assessment of your opponent's build. If he's unit-mixing (Bears, Talons, Dryads, archers), then you should get 2-3 Tauren, the Adept upgrade for your Walkers (Master if time & wood permits), and you should be fine. Disenchant only after they've Cycloned at least two Tauren or most of your zerks army has been Faerie Fire'd. Make sure that when you plop down your Healing Wards (2), and Traps (2), that you've got them well placed. The damage output will come mostly from your zerks, so make sure that you shift-click a bunch of their (unarmored) units so that they stay on task. Get your BM back there and start chopping up Talons to make sure that they lose their spell advantage. After that, just chase around red units.
If they've got just Bear-Dryad (or just Bears), then get 5 Tauren and Master Walkers. Healing Wards give the Tauren 26HP/s and Traps + Walkers Spirit Link (no FF) + Disenchant (no Rejuv) + Ressurect pretty much hoses them. There's just no way to beat Tauren pound-for-pound, ground-for-ground. No way. And there's no way that they're going to stop you from getting Tauren, because DH + Dryads + archers won't beat BM + Docs + Towers+ HH's and you'll have Tauren as fast as they have Bears.
If Chimeras make the scene in any number more than 3, you need to have Wyverns. Frankly, if they have 3, you've got some choices to make in regard to their unit complement. If their unit complement is Bears, Dryads, Talons, or Hunts, you're clear for Wyvern pwnage. If they've got mostly Archers, a couple Hippos, and Chims, you've got tough choices. I'd chunk a few bats in there (5-6) and try to mop up with the BM and Zerks. Maybe you can make Wyverns work. I work by strategy, and Wyverns vs. Archers w/out AoE is suicide for me in every way--so I can't see myself doing that. Trying to micro up a hill isn't my style.
If they mass ranged units, just keep pumping zerks and docs. Even if you fight a slightly losing battle, it won't matter. When the BM hits L6 (which he will), you just WW over there and Bladestorm those fuckers like it's 1999. Dryads, archers, and Talons have dick for HP and small collision size. This means that when you click "B" for "Bladestorm", you might as well be clicking "R" for "Rape".
If they mass Talons, just keep pumping those HH's, and get 3-4 Walkers instead of 2. When they start Cycloning, wait 'till they've got about 4 up there, and slap it with a Disenchant. Rinse, repeat. They can try to Cyclone all of the zerks, but it ain't happening. Food for food you match them, and trap + Disenchant (even if they Cyclone the Walkers) will keep them off long enough to shut down their mass Cyclone attempts.
Errors in gameplay:
Focus firing the Demon Hunter. Mistake, mistake, mistake. This one is pretty much GG for the Orc, because piercing damage vs. hero armor is very bad for the attacker. Piercing damage completely hoses Night Elf units and does 150-200% damage to something like three-quarters of their total units. Putting it on the Demon Hunter, however, will give you less than half that because of hero armor class, his high armor, and Evasion. If you let him tank when he comes running up on the front lines, he will fuck you. Yes, he has good DPS and letting him run amok can really give you hell. But as you will see, it will take seconds for his entire army buckle to yours if you stay on target. Once you've broken his army, THEN you can FF him for a finish. Until then, use Spirit Link on units he's attacking and keep plugging away.
Over-microing your HHs. HHs are unique in WC, in that they have the best damage/food/HP ratio, but they have horrible range. Thus, in order to make them effective, you have to click the squad practically next to the target, THEN FF it. If you click on the target as it's running up, the HHs will be outranged and start tripping over one another. Soon your opponent will micro the FF'd unit back and you'll get nothing besides more tripping. Get them next to thier target, and leave them there. Classically you'll see people trying to "save" ranged units by microing them back, but that doesn't work well with HHs. Their collision size combined with their range means that in order to get one HH back, you're probably going to have to move 2 others out of the way. That's 2-4 HHs you're going to "turn off" for 5+ seconds in order to possibly save one. Let Spirit Link do the work, and let the Zerk do as much damage as possible before he goes. Shift-click targets, then make sure your spells are in place (SL & ward/trap).
Misusing the BM. This isn't as grevious an error as the previous two, simply because it's not as easily made. Over-microing the BM is pretty common for low-level players who fall in love with his magical CS damage and neigh-invulnerable WW. However, he still has some rules of thumb that all players need to keep under consideration. First, the NE is going to pay attention to the BM, regardless of his M.O. They will FF him, they will Cyclone him, they will Faerie Fire him, they will Mana Burn him. As Mr. Miyagi says, "best way to take punch, is to not be there".
Using the BM in this circumstance is all about positioning--if you let him get Burned and then Faerie Fire'd while you're trying to run to the NE back lines, you're in hot water. So don't let him walk up to the DH--stay in WW as soon as the armies see each other. When you pop out of WW for a backstab, do it in the back lines, where the DH will have to micro back to burn you. Before he gets there, WW again. If your BM gets Faerie Fire'd while he's doing his thing, don't panic. Just keep him on the outer edges of the army at all times and make sure that you don't let him get too close to their squads. Once a clumped all-ranged army turns on you, things get dicey fast, so pick off the stragglers. If they start firing at you while you're doing your thing, run AWAY from the center of the NE army. Avoid the instinctual urge to run back to the "safety" of your army--you'll basically be giving them target practice, and the NEs don't really need much practice.
I generally keep an HP pot on my BM no matter what. He's too vital to lose, and he's too easily endangered with even effective use. That quick HP boost will save him time and again, while he soaks huge damage running away and your army wipes them out. If you find that your opponent is overzealously taking every opportunity to kill him or trying to keep him Cycloned to put him out of the fight, get an invul pot and fucking work his shit while he flops around like a fish out of water. His obsession will screw him for at least 7 seconds while you force him to deal with your army as-is.
UD:
Staple Buildings: Barracks, Beastiary
I vary the "Staple" terms in this matchup for a good reason. In basically every standard matchup of Orc and Undead, Orc has these buildings, and at least three at that. A lot of the imbalance of the matchup roots from this fact--Orc's production vs. UD is centralized to these two buildings. They have about 90% of their effective attacking force using these two buildings, whereas UD's effective attacking force lay in Crypts and Temples at tier 2, and Slaughterhouses at tier 3. If they want to be effective against Orc, they're going to need a lot of space for these buildings; that tends to be a problem because Grunt/Raiders' specialty is buildings and anti-repair (Ensnare, Chainwave).
Keeping this in mind, the Orc simply has to keep the UD scouted and make smart choices from there. At tier 1, the standard 2-Grunt tech works dandy. You keep rallying Grunts to your FS while you try to creep hard and avoid the DK. Sometimes people suggest a speed-scrolled attack on Acos during this time, but honestly no good UD player will leave your FS untracked. Typically no matter where you go, there's the DK to try to Coil for creepsteals or to finish off your Grunts. If I am left to myself, I will certainly go over to the UD's base and start giving him hell, but as a general rule I do not attempt obvious tactics like that, because as an UD player I relish the opportunity to trade one acolyte (I keep a spare) for my opponent's TP scroll + some exp.
At tier 2 you've basically have the world open to you. If you've kept good tabs on your opponent, once your Beastiaries finish, you should have a good idea of what you should be doing. If he's dropped a Slaughterhouse and doesn't appear to be doing anything else, get Grunt/Raider/Wyv/Demo rolling. He's probably going to attempt a Destroyer tech or an expansion, and there's no point in standing around waiting for him to get it done. Bring peons, tower his ass, and force him to fight--keep rallying units to your position and don't get over-eager and chase him into the myriad of buildings in his base. Cold towers will really give him the opportunity to drain the life out of your offensive. Even if he gets his Destroyers, they won't be enough to save him from the Towers + demos.
If he's dropped two Temples + Slaughterhouse, I suggest you immediately halt any Beastiary production (keep one building) and get a Shaman Shack yourself. Wyvs, Raiders, and Bats are trash against most Temple units, and trying mass Wyvs to take out caster-mixes is ridiculously risky. Once he's become heavily invested in tier 2, you're going to have to plan on a fight, rather than the usual slaughter.
Once he begins his tech, he basically just started your timer. At UD tier 3, all of his units will basically double in strength--Necros will get Cripple and Skellie Mages, Banshees will get Possess, and he can break out Abominations for the front lines and Destroyers for eating Wolves. It'll be twice as hard to match a UD (much less win) once he gets those tech-upgrades completed. Watch yourself, and remember that Orc air isn't the god-units that they normally are without UD casters present.
Orc:
Staple Units: Grunts, Raiders, Kodos
This matchup is known for making people want to kill themselves. There is absolutely nothing to do here other than get into a spamclickfest. Your options are either FS/FL, FS/SH, and BM/SH. From there, it's basically either creeping as fast as you can while avoiding / committing to good harass for an ultimate tower / summons push at tier 2, or using your BM to try to ride their FS to victory. Hex and CS over and over is about the only way to work it there.
In the battles, it's the usual suspects: Grunts for tanking, Raiders for the FF, and Kodos for the easy dmg boost and the eat-and-run gay. FS/FL summons and casts CL on the weak ones, and the SH can Hex for the added focus power, healing wave to do a couple of quick saves, and then just spam wards with the leftover mana.
Wyverns are, of course, suicide. They're level four units that cost 265, and one Bat followed by a CL will wipe it while forking over PUH-LENTY exp. Tauren can be great if you can manage an advantage through midgame while your opponent is massing the cookie cutter. Once he's got 80 pop of grunt / raider, Tauren is pretty much teh sex--towerpush there and end it. But if he starts pumping a lot of Kodos, when he runs up, eats, and TPs to the back of his base without you having towers going up in his main at the same time, you're in a lot of fucking trouble. More often than not, people avoid Tauren for that simple reason.
Going caster building second is an option when you're encountering a FS/FL combo, because their summons gay gets hard-stopped by shams or SWs. I prefer shams, because it forces them to stop their Beastiary production and get a Shaman hut themselves. If they don't, they're going to lose to Purge (!) and Bloodlust (!!!). Of course, if they go FS/FL Grunt/Raider/Walker/Kodo, then you've basically taken the Orc mirror as far as it will go.
Playing as HU - Work, Work.
The HU player has several unique problems and multiple ways to approach them. First and foremost among every HU's list of problems are their workers. Peasants have the potential to be an absolute nightmare to defend against a harassing hero. Once you tech, losing 3-4 wood peasants can doom your entire game as the semi-intensive wood costs of HU buildings freezes your tech in place while you scrabble to replenish your stock of workers.
Unfortunately, the HU's natural defense is also their workers. Militia are among the best in the game in terms of grappling with armies vying for a contested zone near the HU base, but it's a double-edged sword. While your workers are militia, they're not harvesting resources--they might as well not be there. Additionally, losing a militia unit provides even more experience than a simple worker. Militia require superior tactical thinking to maximize their strengths.
Another problem for HU is their inability to get tier 1 units rolling with any efficiency. Footmen are their "natural" units to be produced out of the barracks, and they are extremely poor units. They move slowly, they do minimal damage, they have low HP, and they are rather easy to snipe with heroes. If you research Defend for your Footmen, you can counter most ranged units without a lot of trouble, but you'll sacrifice all reasonable speed in doing so.
Lastly, HUs struggle with early hero choices. The ArchMage provides the best creeping in the game while providing a good aura for other heroes and casters, but sorely lacks in mitigating damage from hit-and-runs at low levels. The Mountain King has problems with mana reserves, and the Paladin and Bloodmage are specialist heroes that lack relevance from early-to-midgame in most builds.
When I detail below, I will address several of these problems and ways to solve them.
NE: 45% win chance.
UD: 40% win chance.
Orc: 55% win chance.
UD
Staple Units: Gryphs, Flying Machines, Steam Tanks
Undead is the classical counter for HU players: good harassment, good nuke, and good mobility. All of it centers around the Death Knight, who can steal creep kills with Coil, blow your AM out of the water with Coil, and heal up WE-eating Destroyers to the tune of 600HP with Coil. Not a winnning Scenario for the ArchMage. Solution? Pick the MK.
Stick to your base and don't
Of course, doing so is definitely an advantage: in chess terms, you are White. The first move is to you, because you will know your opponent's race well before he knows yours. You can build an appropriate hero and choose to ignore scouting for a fast tech, he must scout you regardless. Make sure you kill the scout, only wisps should be capable of getting away.
the Plight of the Undead Blight
Undead has a standard good-bad-average matchup in regard to the opposing three races. They tend to do well against HU, do poorly against Orc, and have a roughly 5% underdog rating vs. NE. In terms of percentages, it comes out to look something like:
NE: 45% win chance.
HU: 60% win chance.
Orc: 35% win chance.
NE:
Staple units: Ghouls, Gargs.
Against Night Elf, the cookie cutter is to get the DK and decide if you want to attempt to creep or if you wish to rush the NE: Ghouls for rushing, Fiends for creeping. NE tends to avoid tier 1 units and go for the dual-lore tech, as usual. Lots of players like to DK rush with ghouls, but I avoid that because I can't get it to work. NEs usually just milk my units for exp using moonwells and buildings, and I hate trying to play against campers.
Instead, I get a Dreadlord. I go Slp/Vmp/Slp/Vmp/Vmp. The logic for this works out quite nicely--the DH harass that inevitably comes gets me a free surround. At five ghouls I'll Slp him, surround him, and unleash the beats. He'll burn me once, then have to TP; good start for me. Later, that 50% regen from Frenzy really adds up for the Ghouls, whereas another 5s worth of Sleep on a hero never really gets to pan out anyway.
I get two zigs, a Crypt, four acolytes (two for mine, two spares), and an Altar to start. I'll build Ghouls to 30 food, tech. Build a second Crypt, another zig, Tomb of Relics, and a Graveyard during tech. At tier 2, immediately tech to tier 3 and throw down a Sac Pit, throw your spare aco(s) into it.
At first night, I start creeping. Sleep the highest DPS, non-L6+ unit around, and kick the shit out of the other units. Sometimes I'll Slp a caster instead of a melee unit (like in Broken Shard natural expos) because the caster is really what makes the camp so difficult with Heal + Inner Fire. You always want to prioritize goldmines, so you can threaten an expo at any time.
Usually if I forced the NE to TP early and it's a small map, I'll get my ghouls and go hunting for them again, to grab another Sleep surround. If it's a larger map, I'll clear out an expo and use one of my spares to get it started while I'm teching. From here it's a matter of figuring out their hero levels and units. They get DH + Panda, you're in for a huge fight. Don't let him level up the Panda to huge levels or you're going to be SoL. If they get Warden / Panda, skip the tier 3 Ghouls and go Disease Cloud Aboms, retrain to Carrion Swarm, and get a DK at tier 2. Nuke the shit out of the Warden. If she goes SS/FoK without Blink, don't bother to retrain. Just Sleep / surround her to death.
They mass Dryads, you mass gargs. They start throwing in Bears, you start Sleeping the ones that shift to Druid form (b/c they're going to use them to Rejuv). They start massing more Bears and less Dryads, you get Wyrms. Don't be afraid to retrain to Carrion Swarm, it kills heroes and units--way more useful than pissing away mana on Sleep that they just immediately Dispel. I just usually get it if they go mass Dryads, b/c Sleep is then useless with their mass dispel. If they get two weak INT/AGI heroes, nab a DK. You can use DL/DK to nuke and amp up your army speed for chases.
Orc:
Staple Units: Fiends, Statues.
The Orc matchup is the bane of every UD commander. They have huge-HP units, a powerful AoE combo, and ridiculous creeping. Usually UDs will grab a DK and try to creep harass with Coil and then use ghouls at another point of the map to creep (can be hard to micro). At tier 2 the Orc will begin pushing with a combination of Raiders, Grunts, a L3 FS and L1 TC. Fighting at this stage generally tends to go very poorly for the UD.
I have a variety of strategies that I like to use for this setup, all revolving around hero choices. First, I like my DL. Slp/Carrion/Slp/Carrion/choose. Just about the only thing early game Grunts have going for them is OKish DPS and huge HP pools. So if you Sleep the FS, you're basically guaranteed a Ghoul surround. He's got poor HP, so it won't take long to put him down, esp with a Carrion chaser. Vamp is worthless against Orc, because AoE will torch your shit way faster than Vamp can save it. I usually get a DK second for this m/u, because of the DL vulnerability to FF with Ensnare and the loaned opportunity to nuke.
The bane of this matchup lay in Wyverns. UD has no response that doesn't get smoked by either Grunt/Raider + AoE or Bats. Unless...you can use Carrion / Slp + Coil to your advantage. If you Sleep one Wyv, Carrion Swarm, and Coil, the air force of the Orc will be significantly weaker. Repeat, and you'll start getting kills and crippling the Orc. Your goal will be to have Fiends, stats, Banshees, and Abominations. You Shield all of your units against the nuke, send out the Aboms, and manually web badly placed Wyverns. It's a hell of a fight for the UD, but it can work to your advantage if you encounter a careless Orc player. Throw in 1-2 gargs--make him waste money on bats. Just be sure to get 1 armor upgrade, so you don't instant-die to the Unstable Concoction.
Frankly, I'm a big fan of UD casters in this matchup. Orcs tend to go raw Beastiary / Barracks and try to end quickly with grunt/raider/wyv/demolisher at tier 2. If you try to match up with your tier 1 and just skip tier 2, it usually fails; adding in Banshees really takes a lot of the edge off of the Orc offensive. The most general rule I put out there for UD players is to be sure that you don't let them use Wyverns and Chainwave to act as their anticaster. Keep your 4-5 Adept Banshees protected with AMS and well-placed--their attack isn't important, you just want their Curse and AMS. With AMS and Curse, you've got them at 66% strength and 0% spell damage, which you should be able to win or draw.
Be on the lookout for the Orc expo, because that briefly changes the tempo of the game--UD becomes the aggressor. Typically the UD spends most of the match on their heels, trying to avoid an early route. But if the Orc expands, he weakens his army temporarily to gain a game-winning advantage. You can strike there (at the expo spot, not his base), gaining levels and an advantage. Miss your opportunity (minute or two after expo is completed), and you are almost guaranteed failure. If he starts towers as soon as he starts the expo, you cannot wait. You will meet certain doom if you attempt to fight Orcs near their towers unless you grossly overpower them. Your choice at that point is to either expand yourself (and prepare to fight there), or destroy the attempted expo immediately.
Always remember that your ultimate goal is tier 3, where all of your units and buildings become most powerful. You want 3-4 Abominations vs. Orc, because they're extremely tanky and their huge collision size makes any microing for tactical strikes extremely difficult. You want casters against them, because they give the Orc fits. You want Destroyers vs. their Grunt/Raider army, because they do excellent splash and keep the Orc from doing any significant caster-tricks. The UD's power is in its late game tech (not necessarily units), and you must remember that.
HU:
Staple Units: Ghouls, Destroyers.
In this matchup, nearly everybody gets a DK. It's not a matter of preference at this point, it's just a matter of not fixing what isn't broke. HUs, no matter level or calibre, have fits trying to deal with the Death Knight. You get your DK in the HU's face from the beginning of the game to the end--harassing creeping, scouting for expos, Coiling. You can either choose to harass a vulnerable base by bringing in ghouls and trying to snap off a few Coils at weak peasants or you can just stick by the HU and keep creepstealing. HUs will probably try to ignore your DK, trying to instead creep hard regardless of your presence. If you get too close, they'll try to chase him off, but otherwise the DK cannot ultimately stop a good HU's creeping. Thus, I prefer a combination: creepstealing while janking some peasants at his base--3s after he engages creeps.
If the HU teleports, great. Just run your ghouls back to base and go in with your DK, finishing off the creeps he was working on and taking the item. He loses a TP, an item, maybe a peasant or two, and some creeps. You lose 1-2 ghouls, get exp from his creeps, and his item. If he doesn't, I'll try to micro my ghouls to whoop as many peasants (or militia) as possible while seeing about getting off a good Coil for a creepsteal. Usually even if I lose close to the same number of units, the HU is still worse off than me because his economy is connected to his peasants. He must pay to replace them and will suffer harvesting losses until he can.
At tier 2, the tables turn and the HU has the advantage with the production of Sorceresses and Priests. I try to make it a priority to take out a building Sanctum. I'll get a DK and a CL or DL (instead of Lich), and try to stall them while I tech like a madman to tier 3 for Destroyers. Protect your Tomb of Relics, protect your Slaughterhouses, and protect your acolytes. You cannot let any of those buildings fall, or the HU will halt your production right there, and Destroyers will never make the scene. WEs, Slow, and Bolt will pick you and your base to pieces. I generally use Coil + Impale to permit positioning for my ghouls (either around a hero or otherwise) while stunning possible anti-air units like Rifles. If I get DL (esp against high level AMs), I'll use Sleep on WEs. They're L3/L4/L5 units, so they'll get the 15/30/45 timer and it keeps them from tanking AND from doing damage. Carrion is a nice finisher for fleeing units, too. I dislike the Lich, because his low HP, slow move, and vulnerability to Bolt + Slow really don't make up for his uncapped Nova.
Once I get six or so Statues, it's important to make sure that I have enough wood, gold, and food for Morphing. Morphing two at a time isn't useful, and neither is morphing four at a time. They must all but one be Morphed at the same time, or the attempt is generally wasted. If he's got an expo, that's the first target. I'll get an aco in a corner to start an expo of my own, while I begin working his main / expo. 9 times out of 10, that's game right there.
If we're dealing with an MK/Pal early tier 1 expo player, the situation is different. Generally at that point, you cannot face off against the HU straight up with your DK or he'll get Bolt-surrounded. Your best bet is to station a skellie near them and keep tabs on their army. As soon as they start creeping, jack their base. Don't bother trying to interrupt their creeping, there's little point. You will lose to Bolt surround, and the odds of damaging their army badly enough to recover the cost of the TP + 500HP aren't good enough to justify trying it. Jacking their base, however, will prove to be quite profitable for you. Slowing their economy at that point will be crucial, because it will delay their tech, their expo, and pretty much everything else.
No matter how good your harassment is, however, you probably won't be able to stop the expo. Unless you're investing in tons and tons of Ghouls (feeding MK = bad), you're just not going to have to forces to beat militia + MK + foots + mana towers. This is OK. Your priority is to tech to tier 2, throw down a second Crypt, and get out gargs. Once you get 6 or so, you go straight to the expo and start killing peasants. When he comes to defend it, you go to the main and start fucking that up. Meanwhile, you go to tier 3. If during your tech to tier 3, you notice him throwing down Workshops, buy a Panda. His uber-imba AoE will come in handy later. Done correctly, you will basically be constantly destroying his advantage by killing an endless stream of peasants.
By the time you hit tier 3, you're going to be able to take a quick overview of his base and units and make a call. Is he getting Gyros? Is he massing, or does he just have something like 12? If he has a low number, your Panda and Destroyers will take care of them with a morph. If he has a very high number (24-36), get Necrowagon. You can get 2-3 Statues going during late tier 2 and take an assessment of his army. If he has mass gyros, stop and get necrowagon there (don't keep pumping stats). This is also a good idea if he's doing something like mass towers--UD's necrowagon is a terrific counter to mass towers. If he pops out with Gryphs, you'll still have Gargs to work them like cheap suits. If he goes with Gryph/Flying Machine, get 2-3 Banshees for Curse, Cripple the Gryphs, and recruit 2-3 Fiends to manually Web them.
Just make sure that you don't end up with mass Ghoul/Gargs vs. Steam Tanks or naked Necrowagon vs. mass Gryphs. You will be destroyed. The key here is to make sure that the HU doesn't make it to tier 3, or if he does, make it the last thing he sees. If you let the HU get to tier 3, throw down 4-5 production buildings, and get L3 Masonry...well, don't be angry at him for dragging out the game, because you pretty much blew tons of chances for 10 minutes straight.
UD Mirror
Staple Units: Ghouls, Gargs
This one can be the tricky one, but unfortunately I've found that it actually offers the very least amount of innovation of all of the matchups in Warcraft III. You have two choices for your primary hero, and that's the Lich (90%) or the DreadLord (10%). The reason for this is obvious--Ghouls are the primary choice for UD players because they start much faster, harass much more effectively, and have way better means of healing themselves early game (cannibalize) sans the DK. OFC, the DL offers Vamp Aura, which can be quite tasty too.
Most players pick the Lich for one reason and one reason only: Nova. Nova + Dark Ritual pretty much means that you're spamming uncapped damage on the very-small collision size units (Ghouls + Gargs) throughout the game. The Frost effect only amplifies your advantage, since your enemy just took crazy damage, moves slower, and attacks slower. Generally the Lich will run out front, Nova right before the units engage, and back off; he's given his army a pretty significant advantage. The CL is a much better choice early game, because Impale has uncapped damage and an added stun--but later when the Lich player forces gargs into the scene, CL loses badly.
I, OFC, pick my boy the DreadLord. Sleep / surround on the Lich early game = TP scroll advantage. Then I can run out and do a very, very early expansion while the Lich creeps. Unfortunately, though, it's a rare occasion that UD players stay off each other's throats for any appreciable period of time. Generally they just lurk around their base creeping greens and scouting their opponent's base for carelessly distant creeping. Once it's established that their opponent is extremely far away from their base, they'll blitz in with their Ghouls and try to take out either the Acolytes or the mine. Generally, most UD commanders will just kamekaze their ghouls into Acos/the Mine, because if they're very successful (3+ acos killed early tech or mine gone), it ends the game regardless. Don't. Let. It. Happen. To. You.
If I can force the TP through an early surround, that buys me time because the Lich player will be that much more hesitant to commit his forces to an attack on my mine. Assuming I come to defend in time, his Lich is in grave danger, and he'll be forced to fight, win, lose, or draw. And since he'll be sitting right next to my base, odds are I can pull some wood Ghouls and rally a few more to the fight to tip it significantly in my favor. It's not until around L3 that the Lich player really begins to effect battles with his mana pool, Dark Ritual, and better Nova. It's at this point that I usually consider retraining my DL to Carrion Swarm.
Q: Genocide, why get Sleep when you have to pay $300 for a retrain later anyway?
A: Sleep DOMINATES early game; Carrion Swarm fucking BLOWS. Paying $300 for uncontested tier 1 dominance = worth it.
After tier 3 when both sides get Frenzy, and whatever upgrades they're going to get, you're usually looking at the myriad of hero choices, with Lich / DL / DK going according to preference. Since I DL first, I typically chase with Lich, finish with DK. If there's a Tavern, I'll go DL / Lich / PL, because Destroyers are trash units in the mirror and the PL's ridiculous 30% dmg reduction in Howl pays off 10x better than some stupid L1 Coil from the DK. CS, Nova, Howl, and suddenly my opponent is dealing with 56 food worth of gargs to my 80. I'll have L3 Vamp for 50% lifesteal on top of my Howl, and suddenly that L3 Nova isn't quite as abusive as the Lich player was hoping.
Usually at that point they'll get desperate and try to do some Orb + Nuke + FF on heroes to try and get a quick win (typical UD player response to desperation), so it's important to make sure that you don't overcommit and let your heroes walk right up to their heroes. With the DK aura + Nova they'll be able to chase for the finish, and Coil will save their heroes from any nuke that you try to flip back at them. Just focus your efforts on the UNITS, because they will ultimately prove to be the winning factor of the game.
In the event that you play some deluded dumbfuck that tries to go DK/CL Fiend/Stat/Dest, just count yourself lucky for an easy win and dominate his ass. Pressure his goldmine tier 1, and tiers 2 & 3 just pump pure gargs. Your hero choice will be DL/Lich (in whatever order) and CL third. Nova first, Impale second, and CS third, aiming for the center of the fiends with each spell. Split gargs into two groups, and FF his statues first (can't be Coiled, removes his regen). Use Dust or Shade to prevent Burrow saves, and keep spamming the trihero nuke. Assuming comparable levels (5/3/1), he's totally fucked.
Taking all of the above into account, keep in mind that you don't ever, ever want to chase an UD player into his base unless he's completely untowered or has 1 Nerub. It's just suicide, he'll use towers to slaughter your units. Additionally, make sure you don't find yourself trying to chase down his high level heroes with a bunch of weak units (orangish) after winning a fight. The way to win the UD mirror is via macro--expand and expand and expand. Do NOT at any point try to win via using units to kill his heroes. Especially consider this against the Lich and the Dreadlord: a couple of Novas or Carrion Swarms on Ghouls or Gargs, and you are feeding him GOBS of experience and he is chewing through your entire treasury. If he runs, fuck him. Go expand and throw out some Shades to make sure that he can't do the same. Rarely is this matchup won via a building destruction.
Orc Teeth & Orc Axes: Biting Hard
Orc's matchups are fairly good in all respects. There are generally no races that have a severe advantage over Orc, though unfortunately they are slight underdogs in a few different respects while being massively advantaged in a third. Grubby does well to win so consistently with Orcs, but if you can force your opponent to face your high level AoE combo of FS/TC, there's little they can do to win.
NE: 45% win chance.
HU: 45% win chance.
UD: 65% win chance.
NE:
Staple Units: Headhunters, Walkers
I'm sure some of you are looking at this Staple Units list and thinking "Huh? I don't see these consistently..." and my reply is: yes, because cookie cutter Orc v NE blows. IMO, getting Grunts + FS is stupid, because pretty much every freaking NE unit gives the Grunt build hell. If they get Dryads, the FS is hopelessly lost--no CL, no wolves. If they get a lot of Talons, Grunts are hosed. I hate cookie cutter Orc v NE builds because I think they tend to fail miserably but people beg them to work anyway. While tons and tons of Orcs were losing to mass Talon (and I hear some still do), I've had little to no problem with them.
I pick the BM first. Why? Because he can wisp harass, he can avoid the Demon Hunter, he can outmatch NE mobility (which is amazing in its own right), and he makes an excellent FF tank. So he can creep, he can harass, he can do all of the things that the FS can normally do, but without the FS losses to NE units. True, the BM loses out on CL, but frankly with Mana Burn out there, you only get 1-2 CLs before you're out of mana entirely. Once the BM gets high levels, between WW and CS, he's almost AoE for as fast as he moves + the fast/hard damage he deals.
I also get Headhunters from the very beginning, making a War Mill very early. It's important to guard them closely when the DH comes to harass so that he doesn't pick them off, but you shouldn't have any trouble keeping him away with a wisp harass ing BM + burrows at base. I typically buy Boots at nightfall after my tier 2 tech, because it's crucial to make sure the BM can outpace the NE. Once I get a cadre of around 30 food, I'll start wandering out to creep, depending on how my harass went at his base (to cancel buildings, wisps, etc). At tier 2 I'll throw down a shaman shack and go right to tier 3. I'll pump Witch Doctors, the Regen upgrade for HH's, a tower or two, and the WD upgrade. At tier 3 I'll plop down a Tauren Totem, get the Witch Doctor upgrade, two walkers, the Berserker upgrade and Fortified Burrows.
Tier 3 is very resource intensive for me, but since I've only had an army of around 30-50 food of mostly HH's + WDs, I'll usually have some to spare. It's important to pick and choose fights during these times, and usually I'll make sure my towers are well placed so that the NE doesn't want to come near my base. If he does, HH's + trap usually do well enough for NE tier 1 & 2 units. It's typically leftover archers and Dryads, and they go down pretty quick vs. the superior HH dmg. Regen keeps HH health up from creepcamp to creepcamp, so you rarely get caught needing tons of salves or red units straggling around.
At tier 3, you take a quick assessment of your opponent's build. If he's unit-mixing (Bears, Talons, Dryads, archers), then you should get 2-3 Tauren, the Adept upgrade for your Walkers (Master if time & wood permits), and you should be fine. Disenchant only after they've Cycloned at least two Tauren or most of your zerks army has been Faerie Fire'd. Make sure that when you plop down your Healing Wards (2), and Traps (2), that you've got them well placed. The damage output will come mostly from your zerks, so make sure that you shift-click a bunch of their (unarmored) units so that they stay on task. Get your BM back there and start chopping up Talons to make sure that they lose their spell advantage. After that, just chase around red units.
If they've got just Bear-Dryad (or just Bears), then get 5 Tauren and Master Walkers. Healing Wards give the Tauren 26HP/s and Traps + Walkers Spirit Link (no FF) + Disenchant (no Rejuv) + Ressurect pretty much hoses them. There's just no way to beat Tauren pound-for-pound, ground-for-ground. No way. And there's no way that they're going to stop you from getting Tauren, because DH + Dryads + archers won't beat BM + Docs + Towers+ HH's and you'll have Tauren as fast as they have Bears.
If Chimeras make the scene in any number more than 3, you need to have Wyverns. Frankly, if they have 3, you've got some choices to make in regard to their unit complement. If their unit complement is Bears, Dryads, Talons, or Hunts, you're clear for Wyvern pwnage. If they've got mostly Archers, a couple Hippos, and Chims, you've got tough choices. I'd chunk a few bats in there (5-6) and try to mop up with the BM and Zerks. Maybe you can make Wyverns work. I work by strategy, and Wyverns vs. Archers w/out AoE is suicide for me in every way--so I can't see myself doing that. Trying to micro up a hill isn't my style.
If they mass ranged units, just keep pumping zerks and docs. Even if you fight a slightly losing battle, it won't matter. When the BM hits L6 (which he will), you just WW over there and Bladestorm those fuckers like it's 1999. Dryads, archers, and Talons have dick for HP and small collision size. This means that when you click "B" for "Bladestorm", you might as well be clicking "R" for "Rape".
If they mass Talons, just keep pumping those HH's, and get 3-4 Walkers instead of 2. When they start Cycloning, wait 'till they've got about 4 up there, and slap it with a Disenchant. Rinse, repeat. They can try to Cyclone all of the zerks, but it ain't happening. Food for food you match them, and trap + Disenchant (even if they Cyclone the Walkers) will keep them off long enough to shut down their mass Cyclone attempts.
Errors in gameplay:
Focus firing the Demon Hunter. Mistake, mistake, mistake. This one is pretty much GG for the Orc, because piercing damage vs. hero armor is very bad for the attacker. Piercing damage completely hoses Night Elf units and does 150-200% damage to something like three-quarters of their total units. Putting it on the Demon Hunter, however, will give you less than half that because of hero armor class, his high armor, and Evasion. If you let him tank when he comes running up on the front lines, he will fuck you. Yes, he has good DPS and letting him run amok can really give you hell. But as you will see, it will take seconds for his entire army buckle to yours if you stay on target. Once you've broken his army, THEN you can FF him for a finish. Until then, use Spirit Link on units he's attacking and keep plugging away.
Over-microing your HHs. HHs are unique in WC, in that they have the best damage/food/HP ratio, but they have horrible range. Thus, in order to make them effective, you have to click the squad practically next to the target, THEN FF it. If you click on the target as it's running up, the HHs will be outranged and start tripping over one another. Soon your opponent will micro the FF'd unit back and you'll get nothing besides more tripping. Get them next to thier target, and leave them there. Classically you'll see people trying to "save" ranged units by microing them back, but that doesn't work well with HHs. Their collision size combined with their range means that in order to get one HH back, you're probably going to have to move 2 others out of the way. That's 2-4 HHs you're going to "turn off" for 5+ seconds in order to possibly save one. Let Spirit Link do the work, and let the Zerk do as much damage as possible before he goes. Shift-click targets, then make sure your spells are in place (SL & ward/trap).
Misusing the BM. This isn't as grevious an error as the previous two, simply because it's not as easily made. Over-microing the BM is pretty common for low-level players who fall in love with his magical CS damage and neigh-invulnerable WW. However, he still has some rules of thumb that all players need to keep under consideration. First, the NE is going to pay attention to the BM, regardless of his M.O. They will FF him, they will Cyclone him, they will Faerie Fire him, they will Mana Burn him. As Mr. Miyagi says, "best way to take punch, is to not be there".
Using the BM in this circumstance is all about positioning--if you let him get Burned and then Faerie Fire'd while you're trying to run to the NE back lines, you're in hot water. So don't let him walk up to the DH--stay in WW as soon as the armies see each other. When you pop out of WW for a backstab, do it in the back lines, where the DH will have to micro back to burn you. Before he gets there, WW again. If your BM gets Faerie Fire'd while he's doing his thing, don't panic. Just keep him on the outer edges of the army at all times and make sure that you don't let him get too close to their squads. Once a clumped all-ranged army turns on you, things get dicey fast, so pick off the stragglers. If they start firing at you while you're doing your thing, run AWAY from the center of the NE army. Avoid the instinctual urge to run back to the "safety" of your army--you'll basically be giving them target practice, and the NEs don't really need much practice.
I generally keep an HP pot on my BM no matter what. He's too vital to lose, and he's too easily endangered with even effective use. That quick HP boost will save him time and again, while he soaks huge damage running away and your army wipes them out. If you find that your opponent is overzealously taking every opportunity to kill him or trying to keep him Cycloned to put him out of the fight, get an invul pot and fucking work his shit while he flops around like a fish out of water. His obsession will screw him for at least 7 seconds while you force him to deal with your army as-is.
UD:
Staple Buildings: Barracks, Beastiary
I vary the "Staple" terms in this matchup for a good reason. In basically every standard matchup of Orc and Undead, Orc has these buildings, and at least three at that. A lot of the imbalance of the matchup roots from this fact--Orc's production vs. UD is centralized to these two buildings. They have about 90% of their effective attacking force using these two buildings, whereas UD's effective attacking force lay in Crypts and Temples at tier 2, and Slaughterhouses at tier 3. If they want to be effective against Orc, they're going to need a lot of space for these buildings; that tends to be a problem because Grunt/Raiders' specialty is buildings and anti-repair (Ensnare, Chainwave).
Keeping this in mind, the Orc simply has to keep the UD scouted and make smart choices from there. At tier 1, the standard 2-Grunt tech works dandy. You keep rallying Grunts to your FS while you try to creep hard and avoid the DK. Sometimes people suggest a speed-scrolled attack on Acos during this time, but honestly no good UD player will leave your FS untracked. Typically no matter where you go, there's the DK to try to Coil for creepsteals or to finish off your Grunts. If I am left to myself, I will certainly go over to the UD's base and start giving him hell, but as a general rule I do not attempt obvious tactics like that, because as an UD player I relish the opportunity to trade one acolyte (I keep a spare) for my opponent's TP scroll + some exp.
At tier 2 you've basically have the world open to you. If you've kept good tabs on your opponent, once your Beastiaries finish, you should have a good idea of what you should be doing. If he's dropped a Slaughterhouse and doesn't appear to be doing anything else, get Grunt/Raider/Wyv/Demo rolling. He's probably going to attempt a Destroyer tech or an expansion, and there's no point in standing around waiting for him to get it done. Bring peons, tower his ass, and force him to fight--keep rallying units to your position and don't get over-eager and chase him into the myriad of buildings in his base. Cold towers will really give him the opportunity to drain the life out of your offensive. Even if he gets his Destroyers, they won't be enough to save him from the Towers + demos.
If he's dropped two Temples + Slaughterhouse, I suggest you immediately halt any Beastiary production (keep one building) and get a Shaman Shack yourself. Wyvs, Raiders, and Bats are trash against most Temple units, and trying mass Wyvs to take out caster-mixes is ridiculously risky. Once he's become heavily invested in tier 2, you're going to have to plan on a fight, rather than the usual slaughter.
Once he begins his tech, he basically just started your timer. At UD tier 3, all of his units will basically double in strength--Necros will get Cripple and Skellie Mages, Banshees will get Possess, and he can break out Abominations for the front lines and Destroyers for eating Wolves. It'll be twice as hard to match a UD (much less win) once he gets those tech-upgrades completed. Watch yourself, and remember that Orc air isn't the god-units that they normally are without UD casters present.
Orc:
Staple Units: Grunts, Raiders, Kodos
This matchup is known for making people want to kill themselves. There is absolutely nothing to do here other than get into a spamclickfest. Your options are either FS/FL, FS/SH, and BM/SH. From there, it's basically either creeping as fast as you can while avoiding / committing to good harass for an ultimate tower / summons push at tier 2, or using your BM to try to ride their FS to victory. Hex and CS over and over is about the only way to work it there.
In the battles, it's the usual suspects: Grunts for tanking, Raiders for the FF, and Kodos for the easy dmg boost and the eat-and-run gay. FS/FL summons and casts CL on the weak ones, and the SH can Hex for the added focus power, healing wave to do a couple of quick saves, and then just spam wards with the leftover mana.
Wyverns are, of course, suicide. They're level four units that cost 265, and one Bat followed by a CL will wipe it while forking over PUH-LENTY exp. Tauren can be great if you can manage an advantage through midgame while your opponent is massing the cookie cutter. Once he's got 80 pop of grunt / raider, Tauren is pretty much teh sex--towerpush there and end it. But if he starts pumping a lot of Kodos, when he runs up, eats, and TPs to the back of his base without you having towers going up in his main at the same time, you're in a lot of fucking trouble. More often than not, people avoid Tauren for that simple reason.
Going caster building second is an option when you're encountering a FS/FL combo, because their summons gay gets hard-stopped by shams or SWs. I prefer shams, because it forces them to stop their Beastiary production and get a Shaman hut themselves. If they don't, they're going to lose to Purge (!) and Bloodlust (!!!). Of course, if they go FS/FL Grunt/Raider/Walker/Kodo, then you've basically taken the Orc mirror as far as it will go.
Playing as HU - Work, Work.
The HU player has several unique problems and multiple ways to approach them. First and foremost among every HU's list of problems are their workers. Peasants have the potential to be an absolute nightmare to defend against a harassing hero. Once you tech, losing 3-4 wood peasants can doom your entire game as the semi-intensive wood costs of HU buildings freezes your tech in place while you scrabble to replenish your stock of workers.
Unfortunately, the HU's natural defense is also their workers. Militia are among the best in the game in terms of grappling with armies vying for a contested zone near the HU base, but it's a double-edged sword. While your workers are militia, they're not harvesting resources--they might as well not be there. Additionally, losing a militia unit provides even more experience than a simple worker. Militia require superior tactical thinking to maximize their strengths.
Another problem for HU is their inability to get tier 1 units rolling with any efficiency. Footmen are their "natural" units to be produced out of the barracks, and they are extremely poor units. They move slowly, they do minimal damage, they have low HP, and they are rather easy to snipe with heroes. If you research Defend for your Footmen, you can counter most ranged units without a lot of trouble, but you'll sacrifice all reasonable speed in doing so.
Lastly, HUs struggle with early hero choices. The ArchMage provides the best creeping in the game while providing a good aura for other heroes and casters, but sorely lacks in mitigating damage from hit-and-runs at low levels. The Mountain King has problems with mana reserves, and the Paladin and Bloodmage are specialist heroes that lack relevance from early-to-midgame in most builds.
When I detail below, I will address several of these problems and ways to solve them.
NE: 45% win chance.
UD: 40% win chance.
Orc: 55% win chance.
UD
Staple Units: Gryphs, Flying Machines, Steam Tanks
Undead is the classical counter for HU players: good harassment, good nuke, and good mobility. All of it centers around the Death Knight, who can steal creep kills with Coil, blow your AM out of the water with Coil, and heal up WE-eating Destroyers to the tune of 600HP with Coil. Not a winnning Scenario for the ArchMage. Solution? Pick the MK.
Stick to your base and don't