| Posted By WhatUrMuva on 6/12/04 @ 8:55:37 AM |
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Against the Undead (from an Orc standpoint): The Orcs have, by far, the strongest tier 1 units. Grunts rip through all tier 1 and are feared at the high level, particularly by the weaker, less adaptable Ghouls. In addition to their high health points, high damage and lowered cost since Reign of Chaos (they now cost 200 gold), the Orcs have been provided with two blessings for early game healing: The Shadow Hunter, a new TFT hero capable of healing in waves as well as the Healing Salve. The Healing Salve is purchased at the Orc's Voodoo Lounge, for a mere 100 gold, and contains three charges. The Healing Salve is a non-combat consumable item. A Non-Combat Consumable item works thusly: once you have used a charge on a unit, that unit CAN attack and keep up the effects of the item. If, however, that unit IS attacked, the items effects stop immediately. The Healing Salve regenerates one of your Orc units, or heroes, health points by 400 over a period of 45 seconds. Upon completion of the Voodoo Lounge, you're able to purchase only two. If you buy both immediately, you must wait a minute before another is available at your shop. In this particular match-up, and in most, if not all Orc games, the Salve is a MUST. Two other items are available at the Voodoo Lounge, the Scroll of Speed, and the Lesser Clarity Potion. The Scroll of Speed's name is self-explanatory: It increases the speed of your units near the hero, as well as the hero, for ten seconds. It is the least costly Orc item available to them at the Voodoo Lounge at a mere 50 gold yet only one is available upon the shop's construction and has the same cooldown as the Healing Salve, one minute. The other item is another non-combat consumable item, the Lesser Clarity Potion. It regenerates mana, 100 mana points over a half-minute. No matter what build order you use as Orc, it is IMPERATIVE that you have a Voodoo Lounge, for reasons I will outline later on. The most popular, and by far most effective early game strategy for the Orcs employs early Farseer harassment. If you cannot harass effectively with the Farseer, you're in trouble as a player because it is extremely easy to do. First of all, if you're playing on a large map, use a Peon to find your enemy BEFORE your Farseer is out. If the map is relatively small, such as Turtle Rock, you may wait for the Farseer and scout using his Wolves, which are the ONLY ability you should give your Farseer (meaning your first skill will ALWAYS be Wolves if the Farseer is your first hero). Once you've found the opponent, proceed to his base. Summon your wolves just before you reach his blight and send them in to attack some acolytes and do some reconnaissance. Most likely, you will either see that his hero is not yet complete, meaning he has chosen to go fiends or is just plain bad, or he is out creeping and has gone ghouls. Also check to see if he has begun his upgrade to tier 2 and look, carefully, at his ziggurat placement. You should know the layout of his base like the back of your hand because a well designed Undead base is a terrible enemy to any Orc player. He will not likely have a tower up so, in this case, do the logical thing and target the nearest acolyte. If he teleports to his base, laugh and grow confident because he has made a dire mistake. If the acolyte continues mining and he makes no attempt to micro it, you've already found a weakness in his game: Go kill as many as you can before he brings his army in. This is where your game becomes complicated: Your base, no matter what build order you have used, should consist of two, possibly three, burrows, one barracks, one Voodoo Lounge and NO towers. You should, by now, have two to three Grunts out and, instead of letting them lay idley by in your base, send them to the nearest Green creep encampment and kill all the creeps there. If you do this, you're in good shape. New to The Frozen Throne is the elimination of experience range. Meaning, your hero can be on the other side of the map, say, harassing your opponent, while your Grunts are gaining him experience. The benefits of this tactic is obvious: Not only have you effectively prevented him from creeping, but you have hindered his creeping, keeping his army aware and, most likely, constantly in his base. Another thing to keep in mind while harassing is the counter to your desired units. In this match-up, I want to have Wyverns. The Undead counter to Wyverns is Crypt Fiends with Web or Gargoyles. Both of which require large amounts of gold. Killing Acolytes hinders their ability to counter my unit combo. If I was playing an Elf and I was most afraid of Huntresses or Chimaeras, I know that both require large amounts of wood to produce (both for cost of the unit and pre-requisites), therefore I would try and slow down his lumber economy. Tactics in Farseer harassment: Proper Farseer harassment is a thing of beauty when executed well. Any (for lack of a better word) noob can select a Farseer and blindly attack his opponent and call it harassment but true harassment lies purely in micro. The Farseer has several advantages that he can use to aid his harassment. The first is his speed: he is by no means sluggish on his feet and can, therefore, effectively run away when the situation gets too difficult for him. Don't ever hesitate to run, a cowardly hero does better then a dead hero. His second advantage lies in his ability to deal damage without himself taking damage. He accomplishes this using his Wolves. If the situation gets too difficult for your Farseer, let your opponent chase him while your wolves tear up his Acolytes. One thing that should never happen is having your Farseer get caught in a well designed Undead base. The result of this is almost always death or a waisted Town Portal, neither are desirable outcomes. Therefore, constantly keep your Farseer from getting trapped between buildings or near the Ghouls mining lumber. Do NOT get tricked into chasing a wounded Acolyte around an Undead base, you're just waisting time and giving the Undead player more time to collect his army. Target another Acolyte and remember that one got away. It will pay off greatly when you reach level two and can use Chain Lightning. One final thought to keep in mind: Killing a Farseer's Wolf awards your opponent experience. If your Farseer is running while your Wolves are caught behind, facing certain death, rob your enemy of the easy experience and re-cast the Wolves. By the time you had four or five grunts, you have a decision to make (you should also be well on your way to the second tier, this is an easy accomplishment and, if anyone has trouble following the build order to accomplish this, message me and I will send you some replays of this being effectively done): Do you try and end the game now or advance to the second tier to wait for more powerful units. Your decision should not be based on your playing, but your opponents: 1) If he has chosen to go Ghouls, you know full well that his Ghouls will NEVER beat your Grunts in an all out battle. Therefore, return to your base and buy three items: A Healing Salve (or two depending, on how much damage your poor Farseer absorbed during your harassment), a Scroll of Speed, and a Lesser Clarity Potion. If you're low on mana, use the latter immediately so that you're almost full by the time you return to the Undead player's base. You will most likely catch him creeping a nearby creep camp or on the way to one (you know this because you know that your opponent knows he cannot out-muscle you in the first tier. If he is heading to your base with an army of Ghouls, it is because he has either not scouted you at all and is under the assumption that you have hard-teched without building a barracks or is under the assumption that his Ghouls will beat your Grunts, which is a misconception that will inevitably cost him the game). Engage him immediately. To do this effectively, hold down the Alt key at the beginning of the engagement and immediately target the nearest weak Ghoul. Do not use all your Grunts to do this, merely two or three. Now, it is your opponent's turn to make a decision. His decision will be based upon his skill, not his army. If he retreats, or attempts to, it is because he is half-decent and knows that he will not beat you by engaging you so early. If he stays, it is “GG” in your favor. If he runs, use your Scroll of Speed and block his path. If possible, surround his hero. If he teleports or you do not manage to catch up to his fleeing army, begin healing your wounded units using the Salve, build a Beastiary, train your second hero, the Tauren Chieftain, and begin constructing Demolishers. Your strategy is now the ever-deadly Gruntapault. Keep him in his base and apply loads of pressure using the Demolishers. Also, when you’re able, switch to Wyverns. Unless you’ve made an error or your opponent is significantly better than you, the Wyverns (excuse me but I refuse to call them Wind Riders) will mark the end of the game, as he will not have the resources to repair his damaged buildings, continue producing an army and add anti-air. 2) If he went with the ever-popular Fiend build, then several things have changed from the previously out-lined Ghoul build. First of all, his Fiend build will prolong the time it takes for his hero to get out, meaning your harassment should have been significantly more successful. Secondly, Fiends are large, slow, and have odd collision/pathing, meaning they’re significantly easier to surround and kill. Use the Scroll of Speed and kill as many Fiends as you can. If you kill a significant number, you’re in an excellent position to either execute the previously-outlined Gruntapault or to expand/creep. Your army should consist of either Grunts, Troll Berserkers and Demolishers in a constant, aggressive push or you can opt to go Raiders (yes, Raiders with Ensnare. Not more then four, but at least two), Grunts and either Shamans or Troll Witch Doctors. Use the Raiders to Ensnare running Fiends or anything he tries to micro. If you go Shamans, continuously, and manually, cast Bloodlust on your heroes and select units, leaving enough mana to cast Lightning Shield on clumps of Fiends/Casters and Purge on fleeing units. If you went Doctors (which are much better in this match-up in my opinion), lay down one Stasis Trap and one Sentry Ward at choke points and in areas just before difficult creep camps you intend to tackle. Your objective is to establish an advantage by using scouting. Attack him when he is weakest, i.e. when he is crossing a bridge you’ve put Stasis Traps on or when he is creeping a difficult creep group. DO NOT allow him to progress to the third tier and get Master Banshees. Banshees are truly your downfall in this match-up because the Orc don’t have much of a counter with the exception of air. Even Curse can devastate you. I am not trying to say that you’ve lost if the game reaches this point, I’m merely saying that you’ve lost the strangle hold you had in the earlier stages of the game. I will close by saying your best chance in this match-up lies in effective harassment combined with liberal usage of Scrolls of Speed. Orc In-Game Tips: -Maps with bridges are imbalances waiting to be abused. If you’re caught on a bridge, even if, until that point, you were in the better position, you can kiss your advantage goodbye. ABUSE bridges using Stasis Wards in conjunction with Sentry Wards to catch your opponent on the crossing. Heavy melee like Tauren should be used to block off the bridge and soak up all the damage while ranged units like Troll Berserkers and Wyverns do all the damage, unharmed. NEVER allow your hero to get caught in the middle of a bridge. -Know every solo ladder map by heart and have a different tactic for each one. For example, on The Two Rivers and Turtle Rock, killing the high-level creep groups (two on each map) will yield you a Rune of Rebirth, giving you your very own Ogre Magi with which to cast Blood Lust. If you have such a unit in your army, is it still wise to get Shamans when you can have both Bloodlust and the wards of a Witch Doctor? -If you’re unable to micro as well as the average player your level, and you’re worried your units are too little to handle your enemies, do not be afraid to build a tower. You’re not a noob for building ONE tower, as long as it is well protected by Burrows and can still reach the forefront of your base. -The final two items available for purchase at the Orc’s Voodoo Lounge are, perhaps, the most useful. A Blademaster with an Orb of Lightning is a better choice then a Tauren Chieftain because the Blademaster attacks significantly faster, increasing the chances of your Blademaster casting Purge on an attack. Also remember that, in a pinch, your heroes, melee or not, become excellent anti-air when equipped with an Orb. Tiny Great Halls are INSANELY useful for the Orcs, who are notorious for having a difficult time expanding. -Blademaster abuse! Though not as easy in the Orc vs Undead match-up, a Blademaster with Boots of Speed, some Claws of Attack and an Orb of Lightning becomes a KILLER. Watch Jaden-Craft replays (if you can’t find, I can send but try www.warsmith.org) and watch how everyone fears his Blademaster on maps with a Marketplace. -If the Undead player has many Destroyers/Gargoyles, two Batriders brought in over some forest (so they can’t be webbed) are more then enough to deal with this distraction. Proper Base Building for Orc Few things are more important to an Orc player then proper building placement. When properly build, your base is a weapon used to divide your opponents army and confuse him, forcing him to micro more then he would normally need to and spreading his attention out. If done successfully, your opponent’s errors will result in his fleeing with a broken army Against the Orc (from an Undead standpoint): The Undead player will find that he has a much more difficult time winning in this particular match-up. The reason for this is simple: In the first tier, Ghouls/Fiends require significantly more micro then Grunts. Fiends require focus-firing and constant attention. It is incredibly easy to lose a Ghoul or even two when you creep and so you must constantly observe the health of your Ghouls. The Grunts have the luxury of being tanks and losing a Grunt during the creeping of ANY creep camp on ANY map is a crime. Also, the tier one of the Undead is particularly poor, with costly Fiends and weak Ghouls. So now we must understand what you’re trying to accomplish at the game’s beginning. Your goal in the first tier is merely to survive. Once the loading screen appears, study the map you’re on and put yourself into your opponent’s shoes. The size of the map directly relates to the type of game the Orc will play. Small map? You’ll find yourself harassed at every turn, unable to make any mistakes lest they cost you the game. Needless to say, the larger the map, the better, though, in certain cases, on certain maps, he may double his aggression. As an Undead player, you must understand the goal of his harassment. Is he harassing so that you cannot leave your base and discover that, apart from his hero, his base is totally unprotected? Is he teching? Or is he merely trying to further his tier one advantage by slowing down your gold income? Unfortunately, the latter is the most common, most deadly tactic and you must recognize this. As you can see, determining the reason behind his harassment is essential, therefore, I suggest building an extra Acolyte, at some point before your hero comes out, and locating his base using this Acolyte. The advantage to using an Acolyte over a Ghoul is simple: You will never find yourself short on lumber in a game, and, if his harassment manages to kill an Acolyte (and, in all likelihood, he WILL kill at least an Acolyte), you can simply replace the dead one with the living one. When you find his base, make sure to take note of the buildings made and the ones under construction. Is there a VooDoo Lounge up when you arrive? If so, expect to be harassed. Are there two Barracks? You’re in trouble: He is most likely doing the ever common, ever deadly, Gruntapault or, possibly, a tier one Grunt rush (which is not nearly as effective and should NOT be used against the Undead). Whatever you discover, you will quickly realize that the battles will almost always be fought on your side of the map, particularly in the first tier. So, without further ado, I will proceed to the actual strategy: Scouting: I’d first like to start with scouting because it is one of the most important aspects of this match-up. Undead scouting revolves around liberal use of Shades. Have one Shade follow his army and heroes and have another constantly traveling back and forth between his natural expansions and his main base. This way, you know what he is doing and when he is doing it, giving you a large advantage. Also have one Shade follow your hero around so that you can spot any Sentry Wards he has laid down (and there will be many). This will not only give you excellent scouting (send the Shade ahead of your army when traveling in hostile territory) but will deny your enemy vision of your activities. Beware, he will quickly realize you’re using Shades when his low-health, Windwalking Blademaster is still being focus-fired. Some players use Ghouls, others choose to use Fiends. Myself, I vary based on the map. If I am playing a small to medium sized map, my army will be Ghouls. If the map is large, Fiends will be the majority of my early game army. As for heroes, the choice is almost always the same in this match-up: The Death Knight. Start with the Death Knight because the outcome of the game will hinge on him MANY times. Why the Death Knight? Apart from his Death Coil, which will save the lives of countless Ghouls, sparing you gold, he has the highly underestimated Unholy Aura. In the first tier, and often in the second, you will need to avoid your Orc opponent as much as possible. This is almost always impossible because you will inevitably cross paths at some time during your creeping pattern. Once you have played a few Orc verse Undead matches, you will quickly realize that you will be running away from him for the majority of the game. This becomes infinitely easier when your units move as quickly as they can with Unholy Aura. Therefore, needless to say, your hero skill points will go Death Coil, Unholy Aura, Death Coil, Unholy Aura, Death Coil, Unholy Aura. You will notice two variations on this (and yes, I almost never chose the Death Knight’s ultimate as his sixth level skill. Usually, I’d prefer to have increased speed and unit Hit Point regeneration. This also varies on your opponent, however, and, if you’re facing an “assassin” type player who feels that, to win, he must focus your hero at all costs. When faced with this situation, it is alright to choose Death Pact over Unholy Aura, though I wouldn’t max Death Pact. It is incredibly important to keep your Death Knight alive as losing him usually means losing your army and, consequently, the game. For this reason, never be afraid to splurge at a Market Place or your Tomb of Relics. Excellent targets for Death Pact are Skeletons, which you’ve raised using either a Rod of Necromancy (see further down) or Necromancers. If you do a good job of maintaining your army of about 11 Ghouls (plus three or four on lumber duty), you will find it is much easier to upgrade to the second tiers. This is incredibly important because you will not win this match-up in the first tier. Your second hero is going to help you immensely in your game play style, which has shifted from “run like hell the second you see the enemy” to a more fun, and annoying, hit and run style of play. The Lich’s Nova is the ultimate annoyance to an Orc player. Once you see the enemy, pick of weak units quickly, retreat for a while, bring both your heroes within range of a full health grunt and quickly hit F1, C, then click on the unit you wish to die, then F2, N, and again click on this unit. If he is running away from you, use Nova first to slow him down. Otherwise, don’t waste it because Nova does Area of Effect damage. Once you’ve killed this Grunt, run away and creep some more or, if he foolishly pursues, lead him to your base and use the Blight’s added regeneration to send him packing once again. Killing one Grunt costs him 200 gold. This is a large amount and even losing one Grunt significantly hurts his army. Therefore, do this hit and run tactic over and over, continually pissing off your opponent. When he gets fed up, Unholy Aura will keep him eating your dust. If he is intelligent and uses Scrolls of Speed, be smarter and Nova + Death Coil his hero to make him think twice about pursuing you. Do not, under any circumstances, allow him to surround one of your heroes. Ghouls and Fiends are highly expendable when compared to the life of your hero, so, if you find that your hero is at the end of your fleeing army, being chased by Grunts, Chain Lightning and Shock Wave, send a Fiend/Ghoul behind to patch block. Path blocking is a simple technique and should not require explanation but here I go anyways: The scenario is simple, your hero is in peril and will likely die if you do not do something to stop that Grunt quickly gaining on him. Take one of your higher health and, preferably larger units (Fiends and Abominations come to mind immediately), and send him behind your Death Knight, so that he is running between the Death Knight and your Aggressor Any attacks that would have hit the Death Knight will not hit the Abomination/Fiend and will be, effectively, wasted. Please note that both the Crypt Lord and the Dread Lord, though not the best choices in this match-up, are both extremely useful second heroes if the Orc player, for some poor reason, went with the Shadow Hunter first. Sleep and Impale will both disrupt channeling spells and are very useful for this purpose but far less useful later on. In my previous strategy, someone posted asking about the usefulness of the Dreadlord being that he can add Vampiric Aura. Well, until your Ghouls are fully-upgraded, the life return from Vampiric Aura is negligible and, since Ghouls are really mere cannon-fodder until they're supported by Unholy Frenzy, Statues and a level three Unholy Aura. If, however, you add the Ghoul Frenzy upgrade, the Dreadlord is a viable third hero. In my opinion, however, few solo ladder maps warrant three heroes and only in the most heated of games would you add the third. Also, I find the stopping power of Nova + Coil too much to pass up and Carrion Swarm, though nice, is truly better spent on Archers then Grunts. If you see an opponent with Headhunters instead of Grunts, then the Dreadlord is a good choice, if only to provide some kind of meat. The Tomb of Relics plays a key role in the Undead verse Orc match-up. Inside it, at the first tier, are the Rod of Necromancy, the Sacrificial Skull and the Dust of Appearance. The Rod of Necromancy costs 150 Gold, can be purchased once (since the recent nerf) before you must wait a full minute to purchase another. The Rod of Necromancy has four charges, each charge resurrecting two Skeleton warriors (melee only) to fight for you. Once you have cast it, you must wait 22 seconds before you can cast it again. These particular items are invaluable because they give you cheap meat-shields that will aid you in fending off rushes, attacking and, perhaps most importantly, fast creeping. The Undead are in no short supply of corpses, as corpses gather around the Graveyard once it has been built. To maximize the use of the Rod, creep a “green” creep camp and quickly cast the charge. Then head to the nearest creep camp you might have difficulty clearing with your normal army. Instead of passing it by, send in the two Skeleton warriors first, to soak up all the damage they can. Next, allow either one of your Fiends (if you went Fiends), or your Death Knight to absorb some damage. Once the Death Knight/Fiend has absorbed about 150-200 damage, substitute the hero/unit with another in full health. Doing this allows you to maximize the damage input without allowing your units to die. All races are capable of doing something similar however it is incredibly important that an Undead player masters this technique because the early game harassment/constant attacks will slow down the Undead player’s creeping significantly. The next item available for purchase is the Sacrificial Skull, which costs 50 gold and can be purchased twice before it must be re-stocked. To the common player, the Sacrificial Skull has one use: Lay it down in front of a Goldmine so that you can build defense while your Haunted Gold Mine is being summoned. To the savvy gamer, it is used as a means of cheap healing. Because the Sacrificial Skull lays down a small area of Blight where it is used, wounded units on this Blight will benefit from the Blight’s increased regeneration. Though useless in an Undead mirror match (because it provides both sides with regeneration*), it acts as an excellent means of boosting the healing of your wounded units in a melee battle. The final item available for purchase at the game’s outset is the Dust of Appearance. Though uncommon while compared to Farseer harassment, the Blademaster and his Windwalk ability are also used. If the Blademaster thinks he is being smart by Windwalking away when injured, he can think again. Buy this item for 75 gold (two charges, 60 second cool down between purchases) and kill his now visible Blademaster. Now that we’ve covered the basics, lets get down to the fighting. The Orc will most likely add Wyverns to his Grunt army, possibly accompanied by Spellcasters of some kind. Your goal is to tech to the third tier. The reasons for this are simple: To counter his Bloodlust, you will want Destroyers to Devour Magic. They’re also Magic Immune. Two Fiends will suffice to keep the Wyverns at bay, just make sure to manually cast Web when the Fiend isn’t intelligent enough to do so. As for the “feared Orc ground”, have a separately hot-keyed group of anywhere from four to eight banshees. Your Ghouls will deal the majority of the damage while, before every confrontation; if possible, your Banshees will cast AMS on your heroes and Crypt Fiends. Once you’ve entered the conflict, manually cast Curse on a select few powerful units (heroes, Tauren etc). You should have more then enough mana left to Possess his most powerful units (mainly his Tauren) or the odd Spellcaster to add Bloodlust or Healing/Sentry Wards and Stasis Traps to your already powerful army. Make sure to use a Destroyer to target all Healing Wards (as they’re a mere 5 health) as well as Stasis Traps. If a Stasis Trap goes off, the enemy Tauren get a few seconds of free hits on your army. This marks the end for your weaker Ghouls, especially with the added splash damage of the supposedly upgraded Tauren. Please note that this army is an absolute ideal and that, while attaining it WILL give you one of the hardest armies for the Orc to beat, it is also difficult to accomplish and will likely require a running expansion as well as your survival through-out your tech. {Also please note that I have not included Obsidian Statues in my ideal army. I have assumed that you have enough knowledge of the Undead to know that Obsidian Statues are a necessity in every match-up of absolutely every game. At least two must be following your hero at all times. Do not include them in your main armies control group as they’re simply used for their auto-cast abilities, not their damage. Because of this, keep them in the rear of your fighting force, away from harm yet close enough to heal your units taking damage}. Survival is the easy part, expanding is difficult. Because the game’s action will mainly occur on your end of the map, securing an expansion without your enemy knowing is EXTREMELY difficult. If you try to expand too early, his Gruntapault will tear you up more easily then normal. If you expand too late, you won’t have the resources to compete with him as he can expand at any time in the first two tiers, in almost any place, with full confidence, knowing that you’re still afraid of his army. Therefore, stopping his expansion is nearly impossible and you should concentrate your efforts on clearing a hidden expansion that he won’t know you have. On Tranquil Paths, for example, you can sneak your army into a Goblin Zeppelin and clear one of the island expansions. Another under-handed method of expanding in stealth is using only your air units to clear a creep camp. Though it is harder to get the items, your hero will still gain experience from the kills and you won’t have to leave the protection of your side of the map. Make sure to target all anti-air creeps (Troll Berserkers being the most prominent) before killing anything else as, quite often, the strongest creeps cannot attack air (Ogre Lords are a prime example and many Ogre camps have NO anti-air. One word: Abuse). I hope I have not put it in your head that it is alright not to know where/when your opponent has expanded. Though you may not be able to stop his expansion, you can still easily slow down his income by making passes at his expansion with air units (Gargoyles are excellent for this). Target Peons and try to force him to build towers. Once the towers are up, do not return so he has essentially wasted them. Similarly, if you’re being harassed often, and you have Ziggurats near your Goldmine, double click on one and upgrade them all to Spirit Towers. No, I am not a “noob” for doing this. The idea is that he will see the towers being upgraded and feel he has accomplished his mission of making you waste resources on unnecessary defense. When he leaves, cancel the towers. Psychology plays a large role in close games and it’s also fun to cheat your opponent by playing with his mind. Another way to annoy his expansion involves the use of an incredibly powerful, yet underused unit: The Goblin Sapper. When he is just about half-way through the construction of his town hall, send these babies in to explode. If you’re very lucky, the expansion will die and he will have lost all the gold/lumber it took to make it. Though beware, this will leave you with one pissed off opponent. Using the Neutral Heroes: On many Official Blizzard Solo Ladder maps, you can use Neutral heroes. Of the six Frozen Throne neutral heroes, two are considered “Undead” and therefore benefit from the effects of Death Coil and are harmed by Holy Light. The Dark Ranger, the first of these Undead heroes, is totally useless in this match-up so we will avoid her. The Pit Lord is a “viable” hero, though I wouldn’t recommend him. Because he can be healed by Death Coil, he is a good tank and, when you consider that Howl of Terror acts much like Curse and Rain of Fire is an AoE spell worthy of the imbalanced Human army, he is an all-around decent pick against most any race. Rain of Fire, however, is particularly devastating against ranged units of low health (Archers, Headhunters and Riflemen come to mind first). The Naga Seawitch is a better choice for the Orc player because her Cold Arrow can help slow down the fleeing Undead armies while Forked Lightning is a more efficient killer against the low-health Ghouls then it is against Grunts. The Pandaren Brewmaster is also fairly useless for the Undead (and for most races) so I won’t bother explaining how to use him (Drunken Haze plus Breathe of Fire for those who don’t know). That leaves one hero and, luckily for the Undead, he’s earning a reputation for being devastating against the Orcish Horde. The Beastmaster provides an excellent tank, both with his body and his summons, the Bear. It is important to note that the bear, which has Bash at level two and Blink at level three (only God knows why Blizzard would give the Bear Blink), can be summoned more then once (more then one Bear on screen at a time) and thus provides some strong meat should you ever be forced to combat the Orc in the early game. The Hawk, however, should be your first skill choice when you use the Beastmaster against Orc. Why? Because not only is the Hawk an excellent scout, but, at level two and three, the Hawk deals Magic damage (which does extra damage against Heavy armor and, conveniently, Grunts have Heavy armor). Also, the Hawk lasts 70 seconds and it is possible to summon more then one at a time. Against an Orc doing a Gruntapault, the only anti-air the Orc will have will most likely come from his heroes. Therefore focus your Thunder Hawks on weak Grunts. Also note that a level three Hawk DECIMATES Burrows (which also, conveniently, have Heavy Armor). This means that you can effectively harass the Undead player and kill off his Burrows while he is out creeping. While the Beastmaster is an excellent hero, I would personally not use him as a second or third hero and only use him on fairly large maps (i.e. not Turtle Rock) because Unholy Aura and Death Coil are simply much more useful. |
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