NE Strats.

[ChunkyMunky]

I play mostly solo and 2v2 RT. I like NE but I can't play them very well. My hero choices are leaning towards KotG and PotM the more I play. What options are open to me in both settings with these heroes?

[Cheapo5020]

A nice thing about that hero combo is that those heroes work well with almost everything. However, with heroes like them, I would advise going for Ancients of Lore for mountain giants for meat, perhaps bears, and some ranged including dryads, archers, and chims. Trueshot works very well with the ranged, and the Keeper of the Grove's entangle roots compliments mountain giants very well. Treants could be chosen for additional meat as well. Chims are there for some serious damage. Mountain giants taunt to draw ground-to-air attackers away from chims, and archers and dryads rip any air-to-air apart. Make sure to aim for heavy armored unit with your chims, including Tauren, knights, and even footmen and grunts, since they take double damage from the already devastating attack power of chims.

[ChunkyMunky]

Thanks, Cheapo. I really like hippo's. What I like to do is train hippo riders, with dryads, a few hunts, and a pair of MG's. the PotM's aura buffs everybody but the MG's (who are only for meat anyway), and should Air-to-air units arrive, the archers hop off the hippos and whatever air force they had gets shredded quickly. Then the archers get back aboard the hippos and go along. With the hippos, I can also snipe peon lines with the riders, too. But a KotG question, should I even bother with his aura or should I just go treants and roots? With the potm, I like to get the owl first, then alternate between aura and arrows. Bad ideas? Good ideas?

[Cheapo5020]

I certainly do advise an owl scout for your POTM, but I think you might want to focus more on the aura instead of searing arrows. I would say that you go with the scout first, followed by an aura, and then during levels 3, 4, and 5, place points in 2 more levels of the aura and one more level of the owl scout.

As for you keeper of the grove, his aura wouldn't be that great of a choice, since units do so little damage to mountain giants anyway, so very little damage would be returned with his thorns aura. I would say that you should stick with alternating roots and treants in this situation.

[tb473]

Hey,

My favorite non-hero unit in the entire game is Bears, so I figure why not post my now-infamous Bear strat here?
I'm not gonna post b/o's here, but I will post the basic form of the strat:
You get mass Archers @ the beginning with a KotG or PotM (KotG start w/Roots, PotM goes like this: Scout/Aura/Arrows/Aura/Arrows/Starfall). Perform the mass-Archers however you like, just DON'T attack, and survive to tier 3. While you're creeping, tech up as fast as you can. But as you tech, don't forget to research all the Archer upgrades and get replacement Archers, because if you replace the standard Dryad/Bear builds with Archers, ir frees up your AoL for more Bear builds. When you're @ tier 2, get the other hero that you didn't get (KotG or PotM, the one you didn't get). While teching btw. tiers 2 and 3, get an AoL and research DotC Adept. Get another AoL and when tier 3 comes along, you research DotC Master training and in the other AoL, you start getting some Bears. After Master training is done, get Mark of the Claw and start queing up some Bears on this AoL. Expand now if you haven't already. I may be able to get to this point in 12 minutes if I don't attack and almost straight tech. Once you have about 8 bears and 16 archers (once again you need Archers to replace Dryads) go expo searching with your Owl Scout. If you find one, go attack it (or them) first. As once you eliminate the expos, the main base will be his only funding, which by this time, will be close to running out or ran out by now. While expo searching and hunting, DON'T FORGET to keep building Archers, but mostly Bears. As the Bears are going to be taking the most damage, so you may need replacements fast. After you've taken out his expansions, we go for the big guns, his main base. By this time, your opponent may, just may have an idea of what you've been building. So for the main attack, we'll need a trump card. During you expo search, build an AoWinds, and research Hippogryph Taming. Duh-duh-DUH! Try to get these hyppo-ryders while you're expo-stealing. Once you have about 8 hyppos, mount them, and go for the main base.
When attacking you opponent, have your Archers Focus-Fire the opponent's Hero, along with your Hippogryph Riders. Have your Bears use Roar (this is important, as Roar is one of the most important things that makes Bears good), and have them attack enemy units at your opponent's Choke Point. Have your PotM help the Archer and Hyppo Rider cause, and your KotG help as well, until he gets Tranquility, then you use that to help heal everyone (Tranquility ROCKS!!!!).
That strat usually works for me (trust me it's easier than it sounds), and I hope it works for everyone. Thanks for listening.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I have a replay of this strat posted somewhere in these forums. I'll post the link:
http://www.warboards.org/showthread.php?t=6238&page=15&pp=10

[ChunkyMunky]

Oooh. That doesn't sound so bad. I'll haveta print that and try it. I'll save a replay and post it to see if I did it anywhere near correctly. Thanks! Oh, with the Keeper, would I want his aura with this strat? Since it relies on bears for meat instead of mg's...? Would an mg or two hurt this strat? What about a DotT or two??

[tb473]

Oooh. That doesn't sound so bad. I'll haveta print that and try it. I'll save a replay and post it to see if I did it anywhere near correctly. Thanks! Oh, with the Keeper, would I want his aura with this strat? Since it relies on bears for meat instead of mg's...? Would an mg or two hurt this strat? What about a DotT or two??I don't see how the aura could hurt the strat... since I always hated Treants, maybe there could be a build like this:
KotG: Roots/Treants/Roots/Aura/Aura/Tranquility
As you won't need the Treants later on, and I like the Aura better.
About the Mg's, they couldn't hurt the strat too much. I mean, they take a LOT of pain, and are almost indestructable with upgrades. The only problem I see is with keeping your supply under 100. Mg's are 7supply each, and 2 take 14 supply which could be used for Bears. But try it out, and see if it works.
Now about the DotT's, they can be very useful as well, but only really as a caster. Faerie Fire and Cyclone are very, very useful spells, and 4-6 DotT's would help out cause more. But I find it hard to use two casters in a WC3 game, so control may be an issue, but if you can control them, it may help a ton.
Now to control supply issues, I think you should only use one of the following units as our 'Trump Card':
-Mountain Giants (great meat, indestructable)
-Hippogryphs (great AA, great Archer/Hyppo combo)
-DotT's (awesome spells, alright AA)
Now to analyze each issue:
Mg's: Once again, great meat, and almost indestructable units. Also with the tree clubs, they can eliminate buildings with ease (seige might be an issue with my strat). But to get Mg's, you lose some great AA choices (Hyppos and DotT's), so you have to rely on Archers for AA (which may cause a problem if the enemy has AoE). But overall, they are a good choice for opponents who don't usually use AA (1/2 of all Orc players, guessing).
Hyppos: Hyppogryph's are my natural choice. They can fly over the enemy ranks, and as Hyppo-Ryders, FF the opponent's hero(s). They can be dismounted to attack the enemy's Air units. They definetly accompany this attack strat. They compliment the Archers in AA, but if the opponent has strong AA, dismount and strike swiftly.
DotT's: The DotT's are a solid choice. They're Faerie Fire skillfully can compliment the Bear's attack drives (awesome vs. Knights or other hi-armor units), and Cyclone can incapacitate any unit they want to. Personally, I prefer DotT's in this strat over Mg's, as it replaces our normal Hyppo choice, and Storm Crows aren't that bad for AA. But they shall die quicker than Hyppos, but will help the opponent's units die faster. They'll work, as long as you can pull off the double-caster moves and keep them from dying.

[ChunkyMunky]

So I should probably stick to hippos more often than not, to better control my heroes/casters? Also, I tried this against a compie (I won!), and I think it would be better if instead of getting both attack and armor for the archers, I get just the attack for them and the attack for the bears? Or since they'll be buffed so much by roar/aura, I think I should get the armor upgrades instead.

[tb473]

So I should probably stick to hippos more often than not, to better control my heroes/casters? Also, I tried this against a compie (I won!), and I think it would be better if instead of getting both attack and armor for the archers, I get just the attack for them and the attack for the bears? Or since they'll be buffed so much by roar/aura, I think I should get the armor upgrades instead.Yes, for the most part it would be easier to stick w/Hyppos. But as to be honest, Hyppos aren't very suprising. So if you want to suprise your enemy, throw in some Mg's or DotT's on the assault of his main base only, cuz if you take them along for the expo hunting, it ruins your element of suprise.
Yes, most likely just the attack upgrade for the Archers, and for the Bears, try to get both if it's possible, but if you can't, I see where your coming from.

[tb473]

Sorry to double post, but I have a replay about my NE Bear strat:D.

I think I played the strat out fairly well (but my gameplay in general was por IMO), but I didn't get a second hero. Post what you think on my strat here, and on my gameplay in the replay thread.

[Prozerran]

I've seen quite a few NE strats lately. My favorite so far uses the Dark Ranger with Dark Arrows and Archers and the Warden. I prefer the Warden first for Shadow Strike and Archer FF for early hero kills. Get 1-2 Hunts for meat.

At Tier 2, get a mixture of Dryads w/ abolish magic and Druids of the Talon, researching the adept training and teching fast to Tier 3. At Tier 3, get 2 MG's, a Druid of the Claw (for Roar), and some Hippo's for anti-air support. Research DoT Master Training.

Your Third Hero is the Keeper with Entangle. Cyclone major melee units, FF heroes and use Shadowstrike, Entangle, and the Dark Arrows to kill off heroes and units for more skellies. When the Melee units come out of cyclone, the DoT's will cast faerie fire reducing their armor, and the battle will be in your favor.

That is all.