================================================ Warcraft III Expansion - The Frozen Throne Hard Mode Guide (Part 2/4) ================================================ - written by Wirewyrm on 14 July 2003 - version 2.0 (19 July 2003) (C) Copyright 2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | DISCLAIMER: Warcraft III - The Frozen Throne is property of Blizzard | | and all names mentioned herein, unless stated otherwise, are | | trademarked by Blizzard. This document and its copyright in no way | | suggest that the author claims any ownership to the game, characters,| | or any other trademarks that may be involved. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- # Contents # ============== 0. Version History 1. Author's Note 2. The Basics 3. Sentinels Campaign - Terror of the Tides Chapter One - Rise of the Naga Chapter Two - The Broken Isles Chapter Three - The Tomb of Sargeras Chapter Four - Wrath of the Betrayer Chapter Five - Balancing the Scales Chapter Six - Shards of the Alliance Chapter Seven - The Ruins of Dalaran Chapter Eight - The Brothers Stormrage 4. Alliance Campaign - Curse of the Blood Elves Chapter One - Misconceptions Chapter Two - A Dark Covenant Chapter Three - The Dungeons of Dalaran Secret Level - The Crossing Chapter Four - The Search for Illidan Chapter Five - Gates of the Abyss Chapter Six - Lord of Outland 5. Scourge Campaign - Legacy of the Damned *Under construction* *Coming soon* 6. Bonus Campaign - The Founding of Durotar *Coming soon* 7. Glossary 8. Credits ============================================================================= 0. Version History ********************* Version 2.0 (July 19) - added complete Alliance campaign Version 1.1 (July 17) - minor content addition - added Version History section ============================================================================= 1. Author's Note ******************* This FAQ is originally written for GAMEFAQS. Do not copy, in whole or in part, using any medium, this document without first obtaining express permission from me. As of now, only the sites listed at the end of this FAQ have permission to publish this guide on the www; if seen anywhere else, please notify me. This FAQ is written for players of novice and intermediate skill level, so if you don't agree with it or think you can do better, then just don't read it. If you like it and want to tell me so, email me at . Also, it is a guide, not a walkthrough. I started off writing a walkthrough, but when i finished i decided it was too long, so i edited it. If you are stuck and have questions, feel free to email me. This FAQ may or may not contain spoilers. If you're reading this, I assume you've already beaten the game once on "Normal", or you're stuck at a certain stage on "Hard". I'll try to keep the guide as spoiler-free as possible, but if you're really spoiler-averse, then stay away from this guide until you've beat the game once. This FAQ may contain disagreeable language. Although there is no instance of reproductive body parts or actions, i personally think all other words are fair game for a guide like this. And if you think "ass" is a reproductive body part, then the one who needs help is you, not me. And if you found that last sentence offensive, don't read the rest of this guide. This FAQ is written specifically for "Hard" mode only. I have not played the game on "Normal", so i do not know if the same strategies will work under "Normal" difficulty. Please do not email me with questions regarding any difficulty setting other than "Hard". Sorry for the delay between campaigns. The writing part is easy enough, but i don't want to put up 100+ kb of un-navigable and senseless trash, so i edit my work very carefully before i submit it. Thank you for your patience. ============================================================================= 2. The Basics **************** So, you think this game is a cakewalk? Beat the game in less than a day on "Normal"? Well, playing it on "Hard" is a completely different matter. You'll have to use every dirty trick in the book (short of hacking; if you cheat, you don't need this guide anyway), and even then success is not guaranteed. I'll get straight to the point. No matter how good of a strategist you are, there's no way you're going to beat this without some degree of "micro" skills. "Micro" is short for "micromanagement", or controlling your units individually in the heat of battle. The most basic form of "micro" in this game is casting a hero spell, for example. When your army is engaged by the enemy, you click on your hero, click on a spell, and then target an enemy. Bam! That's micro. However, it's going to take a lot more than that to beat the campaign on "Hard". For example, both instances of the words "click on" in the previous paragraph should be replaced by "hotkey". I don't think it's possible to beat "Hard" using only your mouse. Here are some short tips on basic "micro" skills, and they should help to improve your game, not just in the campaign, but also in multiplayer. If you're already proficient at controlling your armies, then just skip on to the next section. Tip #1 - Using the keyboard You need to. There's no way around this. Here are some basic keys that are useful to know: F10 This brings up the game menu where you can decide to save, load, change game settings, whatever. Point is, it's also a way to pause the game. Very useful when you absolutely need to go somewhere else QUICK. Spacebar This centers the screen on the last announced event. An announced event is something like "We're under attack!" or "Upgrade complete". Pressing it quickly will allow you to cycle through older events. You can cycle through the last 5 or so events. Very useful when you're short on cash and can't afford to queue your builds or upgrades. When you hear that a unit is completed, Spacebar, build another one. Also very important for when you get attacked where you're not looking. Spacebar to check out what's happening, and if you're going to lose, reinforce or retreat quickly. Alt Holding this down brings up on-screen HP displays of all allied units. Good for when you need to target a Healing Wave or Holy Light. ` This weird key above Tab allows you to select and center on idle workers. Pressing it repeatedly will cycle through all idle workers. For clarity's sake, an idle worker is a lazy bum who is sitting on his/its ass after having built a building or exhausted a mine. But sometimes they just like to sit on their asses for no apparent reason. Bckspace Centers view on your highest tier town hall. I seldom use this, but maybe you can find a use for it. F1 - F4 Quick hero selection keys, in descending order of how their icons appear on the main display. Useful for chugging potions, town portal, etc. Press twice quickly to center the view on the hero. *NOTE* Make sure never to press Alt and F4 at the same time. Unless you want to quit the game quickly. There are others, but these are the more basic ones. Tip #2 - Using control groups Control groups allow you to manage your forces much more efficiently than you can ever accomplish with the mouse alone. Here is a quick lowdown on how to group units. While any of your own units are selected, holding Ctrl and pressing a number key will assign the selected unit to that number. Thereafter, pressing that number key will cause you to select the group, and pressing it quickly twice will center the view on that group. Practice doing this to get the hang of it. Much of this guide will involve making groups, and assumes you are proficient at it. Here are some keys that will help you along. Ctrl + left click This will select all units of the same type that you clicked on. Works on buildings too. Shift + left click This will add whatever you click on to the units selected. If you click on a unit that that is already selected, then it will remove that unit from selection. When deselecting, clicking on the unit's mini-portrait works as well. Sounds confusing? Just try it out. Tab This will cycle the control palette to the next unit type in a selected group. If you don't understand, just select a whole bunch of different units that can all cast spells, and you'll see what it does immediately. And that is exactly what it is meant to do: help you cast spells. Ctrl + Shft + click Adds all units of the same type to selection. Unfortunately you cannot use this to deselect units from a group more quickly. Practice these until you master grouping and selecting at least 2 groups. In general, melee units should be grouped together, and ranged units placed in a separate group. It is alright to have heroes in the same group as regular units. However, avoid putting more than 2 different types of casters in the same group, as it will force you to overuse Tab and possibly slow you down or cause mistakes. Conversely, avoid making too many different groups, unless you are good at typing and have no problem pressing the right number from 1 to 0 without having to look at the keyboard. Too many groups will also slow you down, and additionally, it will increase the chances of your units clashing into each other and getting stuck. Usually, i use 2 or 3 control groups, but never less than 2, and seldom more than 4. Practice to find out how many groups, and what kind of groups you are most comfortable with. One thing to note though is that you should be flexible about grouping and not have to stick to the same order throughout the whole stage. Sometimes different situations require different ways of grouping, like when you spot an enemy ahead and you want to do a pincer attack. Don't be afraid to rearrange your units on the fly. Again, practice makes perfect. Tip #3 - Rally point If you don't already know this, all buildings that produce units can set rally points, where the units produced from the building will go once they are... produced. What you might not know is that buildings can set rally points even before they are completed. Also, a rally point can be set onto a unit. This is extremely useful for getting fresh troops to the frontline. Note though that if you set a rally point on a unit, and the unit dies, the rally point will be reset, and all units previously moving to that rally point will stop dead in their tracks. Usually i set rally points on a hero. A useful trick to know is when you are expecting reinforcements to a control group (eg. your group #2 has 4 archers and you are building another 3 archers), but you are fighting a messy battle, select the group every now and then and hold Ctrl + Shft and click on one of the units that you are expecting. This will add all your fresh troops to your selection, and if you hold Ctrl and press the group number again, you would have successfully added the reinforcements to your control group. Tip #4 - Queuing actions By holding Shft when you issue an order to a unit, you can queue the actions that the unit will perform AFTER its current action. Workers can queue what buildings to build, casters can queue who to cast spell on, etc. When a series of movements are queued, this is also referred to as setting "waypoints". Waypoints are useful when you are navigating units to avoid creep, or when you are scouting, or simply because you don't like things to move in straight lines. Hard to explain what exactly this is, so just try it out. Note that the rally points in buildings can be waypoint-ed too. So instead of setting the rally point on a unit, you can set waypoints to direct new units to where you want them to go. Tip #5 - Using hotkeys Hotkeys are the letter keys that substitute clicking on a command. For most units, for example, pressing "m" and then clicking on the map will make them move to that spot. Hotkeys are there for a reason. The reason is speed. You can fire spells faster and aim with much greater accuracy by using the hotkeys. You don't have to memorize the hotkey for every ability in the game, but at least be familiar with the ones that you use most often, especially those that require good aim. Blink and Flamestrike are good examples of abilities you should use the hotkeys for. Tip #6 - Formation and "micro" Simple logic dictates that in every fight, the stronger direct-combat (melee) units should go in front, and the weaker ranged units should go behind, and the casters even further back (or sometimes in the middle). The thing to note though is that when you get caught off guard, or flanked, always move your troops to face the right way before you fight, even if it means you are slower to attack the enemy. The reason is that unit counters are very strong in this game, which means that all it takes is a few seconds for enemy melee units to chew up your ranged units. So if an enemy surprises you from the side, quickly move your ranged units so that your melee units stand between them and the enemy. If you're very skilled at the mouse, you can attempt to move the exposed ranged units individually, but i would recommend just moving the whole group(s) out of the way before you try to engage. Once you are caught in a skirmish, check your units' health constantly to see who is taking damage. If a unit is losing health very rapidly compared to the others, it is likely that that unit is being focus-fired (FF'ed). That is to say, the enemy is concentrating all its attack on that one unit. Quickly move that unit back out of range of the enemy to save it. This is what most Battlenet folks call "micro". Don't wait until the unit's health is in the red before you pull him/her out, usually that will be too late. The best way to judge when to pull a unit out, however, is experience. There's no substitute for that. In any case, don't just let your army duke it out with the enemy on its own; you will always sustain casualties if you do, unless you outnumber the enemy 4 to 1. Resources are scarce, especially on "Hard" mode, so don't lose any units you don't have to. Tip #7 - Save Although i think saving and reloading constantly is a form of cheating, it does reduce the tedium of having to do a whole stage over from the start several times, and it protects you from accidents. Personally, i don't save a whole lot. But you should save if you pulled off a miracle attack, or after you've completely leveled one of several enemy bases and have a lot more resources to deal with the remaining enemies. Have at least 2 save files so that in case your judgment is wrong and you get stuck in an impossible situation, you have an earlier save to start from. ============================================================================= 3. Sentinels Campaign - Terror of the Tides ********************************************** "Come forth, you mindless wretches, and taste the wrath of the Sentinels!" - Tyrande Whisperwind, at the Battle on the River Arevass === Chapter One - Rise of the Naga === Difficulty: * Start with: 5 archers, Naisha (big huntress), Maiev (Warden Lv 2) NOTES @ In this stage, the time is always set at 1900h, which means it is always night, so your units will always regenerate. Also, make use of the fact that you can Shadowmeld instead of retreat, should the need arise. @ This stage is easy, but you should get all the secret items to help you survive later stages. Therefore i will focus mainly on the "secrets". @ It doesn't matter if Naisha dies at any point in time, she will be resurrected in the next stage. GOOD ITEMS - Tome of Int. - Ring of Prot.+1 - Jade Ring (Agl.+1) - Tome of Agl. - Tome on Int.+2 - Claws of Attack (Claws) +3 - Spider Ring (Agl.+1) - Scroll of Prot. - Healing Wards Move forward, engage mur'gul. Watch for ambushers from the back. Use Rune of Lesser Healing after fight. Blink to island on the east of 2nd pier northernmost pier before entering open gate to the west). Open crate to get Rune of Mana. Go south of island, open crate for Tome of Int. Go to southernmost tip of island. See rune further south across water, Blink to it. Don't get rune. Go south of small islet, see more land southeast, Blink there. Open crate, get ambushed by more mur'gul. Prize is 1 Rune of Mana, 1 Ring of Prot.+1, 1 Rune of Greater Healing. Blink back to tiny islet, get Rune of Mana, Blink back to main land. Continue on. -Cut scene- Fight furbolgs, break northernmost hut, get Rune of Mana. Go back north to the burning statue of a Keeper of the Grove, and break the crate behind the statue for a Jade Ring. Go through west, fight satyrs. Raise level, pick Fan of Knives (FoK) or Shadow Strike. -Cut scene- OPTIONAL QUEST - Enraged Beast Go north, open crate for Rune of Mana. Go northeast, see and follow wildkin until you see that there's more of them. To complete this quest with minimal effort, move the Warden, Naisha and huntress one by one to block the passage, and have them Hide. Use archers and dryads to attack from behind your wall. Sometimes your archers will not be able to reach from behind your wall. To remedy this, move a huntress a tiny step forward and quickly press 'i' to hide again. The wildkin should come stumbling into your rain of arrows. Keep wall hidden until the big mutha comes and does warstomp. Quickly FoK and finish off the weaker guys by focus fire (FF), then slay the enraged beast. Prize is a Tome of Agl. Move in and break 2 northern dens for a Rune of Lesser Healing and a Rune of Mana. Continue north, and inch your way forward through the arch. Don't rush through. This is important. Keep inching forward until... -Cut scene- Hold position and wait for the naga to return to their posts. Fight northern camp first, then fight southern camp. Open barrel in southern camp to get Tome of Int.+2. Looking to the northeast, there is an island with 3 sirens. If Maiev has full health, she should be able to take them on solo. Blink over and attack the lone siren further inland first to get a Tome of Str. and Rune of Mana. Use rune, kill remaining sirens, and Blink back to mainland. Move on west and rest at the fountain if necessary. You should see Rune of Mana on southwest cliff of waterfalls at the fountain. Look to the southeast cliff, and there should be a spider there. Blink to it and kill the spiders. The prize: Claws+3. Now Blink to the Rune of Mana on the southwest cliff. Move north along the cliff, through the trees and attack another group of spiders. You'll get a Spider Ring. About one screen-width to the east of the fountain, you will see some rocks to the north. Blink across the rocks and you will see a burning ship. Break all the crates here for a Scroll of Prot. and a Rune of Mana. Going north, you will encounter some satyrs attacking your scouts. Save the scouts to begin a new optional quest. The satyrs will drop a useful Rune of Mana here. To the east is the sea. Move Maiev north along the water's edge, and as you near the trees you should spot some land to the east blocked by trees and water. Blink over there and Blink east again to fight a furbolg hermit. He yields a set of Healing Wards, VERY useful in the next stage. Sometimes the deer there will block you from Blinking to the hermit. Just wait for the deer to move away so you can get there. OPTIONAL QUEST - Search and Rescue Moving north you will soon see a gate to your west, guarded by satyrs. Breaking through should be a piece of cake. Open the north gate to free your scouts. Add those to your group, and attack southwest. A hellcaller will Animate Dead, and it will be a big fight. Use the Scroll of Prot. if you feel that you need it. Save the rest of the scouts in the clearing and the quest is complete. The satyr boss drops a Potion of Healing. If you did not use the Scroll of Protection, your item list should be full. In that case just leave the potion and go. Before breaking open the next gate, make sure all units are in top condition. Go back to the fountain to heal injured units. The next fight is tough, but it doesn't matter to lose a few units, as long as Maiev survives. Charge through the door... -Cut scene- NEW QUEST - Save the ships. To do this, dispatch the first wall of enemies quickly, and then focus on the ones attacking the ships. If you need, a crate among the burning buildings to the southwest of the ships contains a Rune of Mana. One thing to note: when you have so many archers, they tend to get stuck behind each other. To avoid this, move them closer to the target before commanding them to attack. === Chapter Two - The Broken Isles === Difficulty - ** Start with: Maiev, Naisha, 4 archers, 2 transport ships and a base with every kind of Night Elf building you can make in this stage, except for the Ancient of Lore (AoL). NOTES @ Night Elves have a very serious lumber shortage problem in early game, so be sure to set more wisps on lumber at the start. @ Once again, it doesn't matter if Naisha dies, she will be resurrected in the next stage. GOOD ITEMS - Pendant of Energy (max. Mana +150) - Healing Wards - Scroll of Healing - Claws+6 - Periapt of Vitality (max. HP +150) - Robe of the Magi (Int.+6) - Scroll of Prot. - Lesser Scroll of Replenishment - Mana Stone In every stage that you can build things, you will always need to put more wisps on lumber, so build wisps before you upgrade your Tree of Life (ToL). Expect attacks from the west, then the north, in an alternating pattern. Northern attackers are primarily air units. Build defense as necessary. As for upgrades, you cannot go beyond tier 2 in this stage, which means you can make druids but not bears. Therefore, concentrate your upgrades on the Moon series. There are 4 lines of creeps on your main island: sea giants to the northeast, lobsters to the south, mur'gul to the west and southwest, and more sea giants in the northeast. They give the following treasure, respectively: Pendant of Energy, Scroll of Healing, Maul of Strength (Str.+1), and Healing Wards. You have time to creep 2 camps before the first wave of naga attacks. After that, you can split your forces in half in order to defend your base and creep at the same time, assuming you are constantly building units. When you level up, get Blink level 2. You will need it in the next stage. The Naga Strike Force camp to the west should be a priority target. Taking them out relaxes the pace of the game considerably, and allows you to build up your numbers much faster. To eliminate them, you will need about 2 glaive throwers (new ballistae), 7 archers, 5 huntresses and 3 druids of the claw (DotC). With a Scroll of Prot. and Healing Wards, the battle should be easy. Don't forget to Roar near your glaive throwers: they can destroy buildings much faster that way. Also keep some archers and Ancient Protectors (APs) at home to defend in case attacks come from the north. It is imperative to begin your assault as soon as possible, right after you repel a wave of enemies. You don't want to be intercepted as you are crossing the water. Make sure your units are at least partially upgraded. To the north of the naga base are some wildkins. Use caution when you see more than one. The terrain favors them heavily, so don't pass them off for target practice. Kill them and you will be rewarded with a Claws+6. Now you can explore more freely. You only need a small force to clean up the islands to the west and south of your base. One transport ship's worth should be more than enough. To the north are some mean clans of sea giants, who are really not worth the trouble. Just avoid them. There are some gold coins in the west (for you to start a new ToL on one of the islands if your own mine runs out), and a hydra will yield a Periapt of Vitality. At the very northwest of the map, there are some lobsters. Kill them to get a Scroll of Prot., a Lesser Scroll of Replenishment, and a Mana Stone. OPTIONAL QUEST - Silence the Ghosts Now that things are a little less tight, you can also go on the quest that the orc gives you. Using a small strike force with Maiev, go to the island indicated by the orc and destroy the summoning pits. Don't bother with the skeletons, they will fight themselves and leave you alone if you leave them alone. It is wise not to bring ranged units here, because they tend to shoot wildly and attract unnecessary attention. Just destroy the summoning pits, grab the artifact as proof of your bargain and return it to the orc. Quest done. The reward: a Robe of the Magi. Once the sidequest is done, you can concentrate on breaking through the last naga base to the north that has harassed you to no end. It will take about 5 glaive throwers, 3 DotC, 6 huntresses, 8 archers and 2 dryads. They should fit snugly into 3 transports. Once you repel the next wave of naga, travel north quickly until you find their base. Again, avoid the sea giants, they will only slow you down. West of the naga base is a very good beaching point. You can sneak your transports all the way up north and drop your troops in a pocket of shallow water where they will go largely unnoticed. You should have an abundance of disposable items now, so just use them. This battle should be easy. -Cut scene- Now you don't have to worry about defense anymore. Finish the optional quest if you have not already done so. Bring these items with you to the next stage: Healing wards, Mana Stone, Periapt of Vitality, Pendant of Energy, Claws+6, and the Robe of the Magi. === Chapter Three - The Tomb of Sargeras === Difficulty - ** Start with: Maiev, Naisha, 1 huntress and 3 archers. NOTES @ Similar to the 1st stage, the time in this stage is set permanently to 2300h. Again, use this to your advantage by hiding to block passageways and kill enemies with your archers whenever you need. @ Get used to pressing the hotkeys 'b' and 'f' for Blink and FoK respectively, at least for this stage. You will find the skill most useful. @ Take your time to look around in this stage. It is a classic dungeon crawl filled with many enemies, as well as treasure. Use any item at your disposal to keep your troops alive. @ Remember that runes affect all nearby units. Use mana runes to power the DotCs' Rejuvenation and dryads' Abolish Magic. @ To complete all sidequests, you need to keep Naisha alive. Watch her health. GOOD ITEMS - Tome of Int.+2 - Manual of Health (max. HP +50) - Shadow Orb (special item) - Tome of Int. - Tome of Agl. - Stone Token x2 At the first fork where demons are guarding the door, go west first for a Manual of Health. Beware of the skeleton champion, he can cast Death Coil. When you come back out and go south of the fork, you will enter a courtyard with a statue in the middle. To the east are some stairs. When you're halfway up the stairs, look to the south and you should see a rune on the wall. Blink to it and follow the path all the way west. After you defeat the 2 big red skeletons, go to the north of the room and look north to see another rune. Blink to it and you will find a Shadow Orb, or rather, a piece of it. This will start a new optional quest. OPTIONAL QUEST - The Shadow Orb So you have the first orb. If you don't have room in your inventory, you don't have to pick the orb up. Each time you pick up a new piece of the orb, the old one disappears and fuses with the new one. In other words, as long as you find the orbs and try to pick them up, you don't have to carry them with you. Of course, by the time you find 6 or 7 you should swap one of your items for it, because it will have abilities other than damage increase. Continue on your journey through the tomb. When you hear something about breaking rocks, look to the south wall and hit the rock chunks. You will get reinforcements, and start an optional quest. Turn the DotC into bears, they are much stronger that way. OPTIONAL QUEST - Barriers This quest is simple and needs no explanation. Just break rock walls whenever you see them, and your army should be a healthy size by the end. At the mouth of the tunnel where the DotC emerged from, on the west side, you should see some boulders blocking a rune. Blink to it, follow the narrow weed-choked path all the way around to get the 2nd Shadow Orb piece. To the east of the bear tunnel there are some glowing tiles. Stepping on them will open a sliding door. Go to the glowing spot on your minimap, fight some slime, Blink over to kill the big slime, and to the west of that big slime, there is another rune. Blink to that throne room to get Shadow Orb piece 3. In the next fight against skeletons and stormreavers, watch out for the dual combo of death coil and chain lightning. By now you should raise another level. I strongly suggest getting level 3 Blink, because you will be using it A LOT before this stage is over. Still, the choice is yours, as long as you have Blink 2 you should do fine. If you've been alert, you'll have noticed another rune across the water to the west of the bridge where you fought the stormreavers and skeletons. Blink to it, and to the west of it you'll see some sea elementals and a stormreaver. To the south of the gang, in a small recess lies the 4th piece of the Shadow Orb. Just grab the orb and run. The elementals are hardly worth the effort of fighting. -Cut scene- A fight with some mur'gul will yield a Tome of Int., and a hydra will give a Tome of Agl. Going west, you will eventually reach another breakable wall. Break it, and dryads will come out to dispel all the faerie fires. Neat. Avoid the mana rune to the south, it is not worth the trouble. Go north, fight some hydras, and then look east. There should be a lone palm tree next to a rock pillar. Use Naisha to set an owl on it. See the rune that the owl reveals? It's the guide rune to Shadow Orb piece number 5. Come back down and go up the north slope. At the west-most part of the platform there are some crates. Break them, and you should see another rune to the west. Blink to it, break more crates, and get Shadow Orb piece 6. As you move east along the passage, you will see another suspicious palm on the north wall of the passage, where you fought some hydras. If you hadn't noticed, Naisha has unlimited owls, so set another one on the tree, and Blink into the little turtle cave that the owl reveals. In the stomach of one of the turtles lies another shard of the Shadow Orb. Grab it and break the eggs in the northwest of the cave. Who woulda thought it, a Stone Token in a turtle egg. -Cut scene- Watch out for Naga Royal Guards. They pack a whole slew of surprises. The rocks at the east-most wall after you slay the first royal guard will reveal some druids of the talon (DotT). Releasing them will complete the Barriers optional quest. Search the northern room Shadow Orb piece 8. It is in a crate. -Cut scene- Moving on, break the door and have only Maiev go through. There's a rune on the wall north of the doorway. Blink to it, go north along the wall until you reach the very end of the wall. Looking up north as far as Maiev can see, you should be able to see another rune. Blink to it, follow the passage west to find Shadow Orb piece 9. Retrace your steps until you're back at the doorway. South of the doorway you should see a ditch filled with water. The end of the ditch closest to the door is blocked with rocks. On the other side of the rocks is another rune. Blink to it, follow the ditch south then east to complete the Shadow Orb. If you read the description, it has gradually become a pretty kickass item. Blink back to the doorway. Staying in the room, go north until you hit a wall, and follow the path east. Among the crates is a Rune of the Wild. Handy for killing the Naga blocking the last door. You may as well use your Stone Token too if you haven't already, there's another one in the south of this room, across the ditch on the balcony, in a crate. -Cut scene- Don't you just love these self-destruct sequences? 2 minutes and 30 seconds to blow this joint, not a whole lot of time if you're gonna walk the whole way. But Maiev is a Warden, so she doesn't have to walk. If you have Blink level 3, this should be easy. Maiev can teleport a considerable distance, so don't be afraid to try even if it looks too far. Also, she can even Blink to places she cannot see, as long as she has explored there previously. If you don't stop to fight anything, you should be able to get out in under 30 seconds. === Chapter Four - Wrath of the Betrayer === Difficulty *** Start with: Maiev, 2 DotC, 4 archers and a Night Elf Runner (a slow-moving unit that cannot attack, but has heal). At the home base, from which you are separated, you have 2 DotC, 2 dryads, 5 huntresses, 2 archers, 8 APs, 1 Tree of Eternity, 1 Ancient of War (AoW), 1 AoL, and 7 Moonwells. There's also an Ancient of Wonders, but its only use is to clutter your base. NOTES @ This stage takes considerable skill and reflexes, even with the right strategy. Be prepared to try more than once. @ All DotC should be turned into bears at all times. You will not have time to use Rejuvenation, especially at the home base, and the runner is a good enough substitute healer. @ The first wave of naga that attacks your base comes from the south. You have exactly 80 seconds to prepare for it. @ The stage starts at night, and although time moves in this stage, you can use Shadowmeld to your advantage to repel the first attack. @ The runner's team is in no immediate danger, so take time to set up your base defense first. @ The APs in the home base start at horrible positions. Rearrange them between waves of enemy attacks so that your defense is more concentrated at the core of your base. @ Upgrades improve the units in your runner's team too, so it's not a bad idea to upgrade before you start moving them out. @ The Moonwell upgrade is VERY useful. Get it ASAP. @ The naga's bases are blocked by water and rocks, so don't bother trying to launch a counter-offensive. @ There is a graphical bug where all the tooltips will disappear just before lightning strikes, and you cannot see where buildings are going to be placed. This will make building Moonwells and repositioning APs next to impossible, so if it happens just go and do something else first. Once lightning strikes everything will return to normal, until the next lightning comes. I can't be sure if this applies to every system, but i thought i'd mention it here. I'm running this on a GeForce Pro II with 64mb onboard RAM, just for clarification. GOOD ITEMS - Orb of Slow - Mana Stone - Talisman of Evasion Once you've set up your base defense to a manageable extent, focus on Maiev and the runner. After you fight the first group of enemies, you'll get an optional quest. Move quickly with Maiev, because your gold mine will run out soon, and picking up gold coins will be your main source of income. OPTIONAL QUEST - Naga Excavators The first excavator yields a crap item: Staff of Teleportation. Keep going with your runner's group, Maiev should level up soon. Vengeance, her ultimate skill, is not very useful this stage, but it will help you in the next. When you reach the first fork, go up the slope to the south. Kill the guards, then follow the path east. You will find the next excavator there, and some very handy gold coins. The item is again pretty useless: a Staff of Negation. The next excavator gives a very useful item: the Orb of Slow. Use your Stone Token here if you have no room in your inventory, the golem will be very helpful against the royal guard. Further on, there's a glyph in the water. After you get this your protectors at home will survive longer. After you get the runner to the ship, you should focus primarily on the runner's group. Look back to base only when you're under attack, or to finish upgrading. Make sure your base defenders don't run too far out from your base. When you reach the point where you can unload your ships, you will be at a crossroads. Going up the south slope is a waste of time. 2 royal guards and a siren guard some gold coins. Not worth the time nor effort. Attack the north slope instead to find the last excavator and he will give you a Mana Stone. There are also gold coins here. From here on, use the hippos to scout around and the glaive throwers to lure enemies to you. There are no more useful items to get, so just Blink in to enemy camps to steal gold coins and Blink out, if you need the money. Keep the glaive throwers alive, you will need them until the very end. After you fight another group of Couatl (blue flying naga) guarding a massive gate and kill the royal guards beyond the gate, you're almost home free. Destroy the remaining 2 tidal guardians (naga turrets) with your glaive throwers, and you can finish the stage. But if you want to complete my secret optional quest, don't beat the stage just yet. WIREWYRM'S SECRET OPTIONAL QUEST - Grank the Rat in the Magical Garden of Eternal Blossoms So you think you've seen it all? Well have you seen Grank the Rat? To the north of the platform where your glaives took out the last guardians, across the water, is a sealed-off garden, complete with decorative fountain. The path to it lies to the east. Have your forces take out the pesky sirens guarding the garden, and let Maiev blink into the magic garden. What so magic about this place? Nothing. There's absolutely nothing in this sealed-off room. That's what i thought at first, until i spotted something moving in amongst the flowers. Clicking on it, i found Grank the Rat. 15 hp critter with 0 armor of the light variety. It makes an irritating squeak when you try to touch it. So what did i do? Try to kill it, of course. What's this? Maiev missed! So i stood there for 15 minutes trying to kill Grank the Rat. Apparently the guy has a 99% - 100% evasion rate. Ok, so i reload the game, choose Shadow Strike instead of FoK, and i try to kill it again. What the hell?! It's immune to magic too! What an amazing rat! Then it occurred to me: the age-old way of killing a critter for sure. I start to click on it repeatedly. More irritating squeaks. After about 10 or so squeaks, Grank will give up and follow the path of all of his kind: he explodes. Haha, that was fun, wasn't it? But for your cruelty, you are rewarded with no less than a Talisman of Evasion! Too bad it's not 99% or 100% evade like what Mr. Grank had. But it'll still come in handy in the later stages. === Chapter Five - Balancing the Scales === Difficulty - **** Start with: 3 heroes and a crapload of different units, all in the wrong places. NOTES @ The hardest part about this stage is Maiev is under siege constantly, so it's hard to get Malfurion's team to move at all. Even quicker reflexes than the previous stage are needed. @ As usual, your APs are poorly positioned at the start. Move them inside your base. @ Which side the first group of enemies comes from is quite random. From experience, they tend to prefer coming from the west first. But don't count on it. @ With the Talisman of Evasion and full Shadow Orb, Maiev can take a lot more punishment than before, so put her in front to take the brunt of the assaults. Be careful not to let her die though. @ Vengeance can raise spirits from all corpses, but the sirens' parasite will reduce the corpses available. Let Maiev Blink behind enemy lines to kill the sirens first. @ Malfurion's Tranquility recharges VERY fast, so use it often. It makes your bears almost invincible. @ Make sure Tyrande's Searing Arrows are on autocast. Starfall does not recharge anywhere as quickly as Tranquility, but it will speed up your journey considerably. Use it every time you see more than 3 enemies. @ Once they start their ultimates, Tyrande and Malfurion will ignore any commands you give to the group they are in, although the rest of the group will still follow the commands. When you want them to stop their ultimates and start moving again you'll have to give them the command personally. @ The lightning graphics bug occurs in this stage as well. It shouldn't affect you as badly as in the last stage though, because there's not much rearranging of buildings to be done. GOOD ITEMS - Tome of Int.+2 - Tome of Str.+2 - Tome of Agl.+2 x2 - Amulet of Spell Shield x2 Once you are done organizing Maiev's defenses and building whatever you can from her pitiful cash reserves, quickly move Malfurion's team up north, then east through the temple, where naga will attack. At the north part of the temple is a room hidden by trees. Inside are 3 tomes of +2, and some small items. The east part of the temple has some useful gold coins. Both rooms are trapped. -Cut scene- OPTIONAL QUEST - Night Elf Fleet Don't worry about the quest for now, getting to Maiev is priority. Attack the crates where the cut scene takes place for a Moonstone and Ring of Prot.+3. Use the Moonstone, it will help the Moonwells recharge a little. Using Malfurion's group, press on east, then follow the passage south. 2 nasty royal guards. Don't worry about losing units here, there are not many more fights to go. Pick up gold coins in the room east, and move south to get even more coins. Continue south. You will come to a crossroads, with 2 suspicious looking statues to the east. The statues themselves are not hard to defeat, but the naga base that lies just beyond will not be something your small party is prepared to deal with (even though the instructions tell you Tyrande and Malfurion are "fully prepared to challenge all who stand against them"). Take the south of this fork, you will meet the first ship in the Night Elf Fleet and get some reinforcements. To the east of this landing point is a camp of stormreavers. They are blocking a shortcut to Maiev's base, so obliterate them. Have Malfurion use Force of Nature (FoN) on the trees east of the encampment to clear a path through. If you need more mana, the northeast tent in the stormreaver camp has a rune of mana in it. Once you get through this bush Maiev will be saved. -Cut scene- Don't slow down until you've got a gold mine. Attack the naga base to the northwest as soon as you can. Get one or 2 glaive throwers if you feel you need them, but assault the base quickly. The longer you wait the thinner your forces will become. For some reason the naga base is much weaker after you rescue Maiev. It should be a fun battle now that you have 3 ultimates to use simultaneously. Just north of the naga base is the 2nd ship from the Night Elf Fleet. Meet up with it soon, it contains "special allies" that will help you defend your base. Concentrate on defense as you upgrade your base, there are not many items nearby of much interest for now anyway. The easiest solution for this stage is to build air units. Chimeras make much better siege weapons than glaive throwers. Use Tyrande's scout to ascertain the naga's position constantly. When you are ready to attack, i suggest taking on the naga base one section at a time. The southern flank is easier to penetrate, from my experience. When attacking the northern section, entering from the west side seems to be easier. Don't destroy all the buildings yet, just break all the Coral Beds (farms) to stop the naga from building more units. There are many good items to get in this stage. If you try do the reverse of this (ie. destroy everything else but leave the farms), the computer will consider that you have won and end the stage prematurely for you, so just kill all the farms instead. The optional quest is a breeze to finish, since you already know where the ship is to begin with. Do it anytime you like. The dragon turtle at the mine north of your base will give an Amulet of Spell Shield. There are some barrels between the lower section of the naga base and the upper section. The barrels are up on the ledge on the easternmost edge of the map. In the middle barrel is a Tome of Agl.+2, tailor-made for Maiev to get. On the northeastern-most corner of the screen is another set of barrels on a ledge surrounded by water. Breaking them will reveal another Amulet of Spell Shield, again made just for Maiev. You will be playing as Tyrande and Maiev in the next stage, so suit them up as necessary. === Chapter Six - Shards of the Alliance === Difficulty - * Start with: Tyrande, Maiev, 2 mountain giants (MG), 2 DotC NOTES @ This stage is fairly straightforward. Just keep the caravan moving, stop only to repel attackers from the back or to complete the side quest. Once you get a sizeable number of mercenaries, however, you can slow down and explore more thoroughly. @ The caravan advances only if Tyrande moves forward, so you can use Maiev to scout ahead while Tyrande stays back to defend. Alternatively, you can have Tyrande lead the caravan while Maiev brings up the rear. @ Conserve your troops. You will need every last one at the end. Use the DotCs' Rejuvenation as often as you can, even though they should in bear form whenever you fight. @ Watch out for Banshees: they will Possess. @ MGs should always hold clubs. The added range helps them a lot. GOOD ITEMS - Scroll of Animate Dead OPTIONAL QUEST - Retrieve Supplies This quest is convenient to do, and helps you a lot. When you are attacking the outposts where the gold is hidden, kill the Dreadlord before you use Starfall. When you get to it, choose the long route instead of the short one, but have Maiev bring some troops with her up the short route to get the last stash of gold and finish the side quest. The easiest way to finish is to take your time. At the end, there is an item shop. Sell low level items that you don't need, and use the cash to buy more mercenaries. === Chapter Seven - The Ruins of Dalaran === Difficulty - *** Time Limit - 30 minutes Start with: Maiev, Malfurion, 1 chimera, 2 faerie dragons, 2 DotC, 2 DotT, 2 huntresses, 1 archer, all not upgraded. NOTES @ You will need a good balance between defense and attack in this stage. @ Mana flare is very effective against necromancers and banshees. @ You will need about 6 minutes to fight from your base up to the altar to stop the ritual, so pace yourself. @ Chimeras do splash damage, and their damage type is very strong against bears, so don't mix the 2 types of units, you will end up killing your own guys by the truckload. Mountain giants, on the other hand, have light armor AND damage reduction... @ You will need to help Kael'thas defend his base occasionally, otherwise you risk having his entire base razed to the ground and the undead on that side coming at you instead. GOOD ITEMS - Tome of Agl. - Helm of Valor - Tome of Int. From where you start, go south to kill a creep camp and in one of the barrels is a Tome of Agl. West from here is an undead base that you can and should take out very early. The base is defended mostly by necromancers, banshees and a Lich. Faerie dragons are key. Once you get the gold mine here, you can start cranking out units and upgrading very quickly, so it's a good strategy. OPTIONAL QUEST - Save the Paladin You should do this quest even though you have limited time, because the Paladin's aura and Resurrection really help. It is not a hard quest anyway. The only problem is you might get lost in the maze. Just have Maiev attack- move to the Paladin, and everyone else follow her. The enemies on the way are not hard if you have chimeras, mountain giants and archers. On the way to the paladin, if you killed all the creep, there is a Helm of Valor and a Tome of Int. for Malfurion to pick up. The naga altar is to the northwest of your base. The quickest way in is to go west, then north through the mess of guardians. Use chimeras, giants, archers, and have faerie dragons follow Malfurion. While you are breaking through to the temple, be sure to constantly build units and rally to Malfurion. If Maiev is out of mana in the final attack, let her consume the Mana Stone. There is no use for it after this stage. With any luck you should be able to stop the naga before your army is completely decimated. === Chapter Eight - The Brothers Stormrage === Difficulty - **** Start with: Malfurion, Illidan, and many units. NOTES @ There's no question about it, this stage is a real bitch even if you know what you're doing. @ The undead attack erratically, in large numbers, and from all sides. To be honest, this stage is what inspired me to write a guide. @ There is no way for Illidan to get to Malfurion, and vice versa. GOOD ITEMS - Pendant of Mana - Mask of Death - Crown of Kings - Healing Wards x2 - Inferno Stone - Claws+15 On Malfurion's side, you will be relying mostly on archers, mountain giants, and glaive throwers (yes, that's right, glaive throwers) to defend your base, because only glaive throwers have the range to effectively counter meat wagons, and also because they will help to take out the undead base southeast of Malfurion's camp. You will need about 5 MGs, 8 archers and 5 glaive throwers to destroy the base fast enough. Once you do that, you'll only have to defend from the north. A fun thing to do is to riddle the cliff with APs so that the undead 'zeppelins' get destroyed before they can land. If you place APs on the east cliff too, you can lift some pressure off Tyrande and give Illidan ample time to complete his mission. A band of trolls guard the east cliff though, and killing them will yield... er, Healing Wards, which Malfurion really doesn't need. On Illidan's side, have fun checking out the new units. The creep camp southeast of his base gives a Rune of Shielding and a Ring of Prot.+5. Use the item shop to the west of his base to suit Illidan up temporarily until he can find better items. OPTIONAL QUEST - Dam Trolls This quest will take some time to do, but it is very useful for several reasons: it gives you a much better position to attack the red base from, and it yields mad items. With 3 myrmidons, 3 sirens and 3 turtles, you should be more than a match for the dam trolls. Remember that turtles can Devour enemies, so abuse that whenever possible. Sirens have Parasite which gives you free units, so remember to use the parasites as shields. Somewhere along the way you should find a Pendant of Mana. Kill the troll boss, and for your efforts, you get a Mask of Death. South of the trolls, previously blocked by the dam, is a Fountain of Health guarded by some sasquatches. Finish them off for a Rune of Restoration. You should save this for later unless you're in really bad shape. The slope to the east has more sasquatches for you to slaughter, and as your reward, you'll get a Crown of Kings. The undead base west of the fountain is relatively weak and comprises of mostly necromancers and banshees. Use Devour and Mana Burn to stop banshees from Possessing your units. You'll need about 4 myrmidons, 6 dragon turtles and 5 sirens to level this base quickly. Your sirens' Parasite will prevent the necros from raising too many skellies, and with Illidan's help your parasites should soon overrun the base. Turtles have siege damage, so use them to take out the towers as quickly as possible. One thing to note: don't let your forces stray too far north, otherwise you will incur the wrath of the red army before you are ready to face it. To the west of this base, there is a small band of mur'gul who will give you a set of Healing Wards. Quite useful for Illidan. It is not advisable to try to tackle the green undead base directly west of Illidan's base. They have superior position and numbers. If you like the extra challenge, you can go ahead and try, but before doing that i would recommend first taking out the small section of the green base that is directly north of the red base. Between the 2 northern sections of the green undead base, there is a small tributary. If you have Illidan follow the tributary all the way west, then north, you will find an Inferno Stone just lying on the riverbank. If you follow the stream to the northernmost end, you will find a river golem. With the Crown of Kings and the Mask of Death, Illidan alone can handle the golem. Upon defeat, it will give you a Claws+15! The items don't get better than that in this stage, so go ahead with the main mission now. The red base is harder to beat than it looks. The Lich and Dreadlord combo there is deadly, and the frost wyrms will almost neutralize Illidan. Take the initiative by Mana Burning the Lich. If you bring a maximum supply army here with some of each kind of unit, and you use sirens' Cyclone and turtles' Devour a lot, the battle should be manageable. Congratulations, you have finished the Night Elf Campaign! ============================================================================= 4. Alliance Campaign - Curse of the Blood Elves ************************************************** "This is preposterous! Am I to assault the undead with nothing but sticks and harsh language?" - Kael'thas, at the Betrayal of Dalaran === Chapter One - Misconceptions === Difficulty: * Start with: Kael (Lv2 Blood Mage), 3 footmen, 2 spell breakers, 2 priests and 1 peasant. NOTES @ This stage is easy, just don't rush. Runes are scarce though, so use the priests to keep your forces alive until you have a base. @ Remember to have the footmen defend when you fight ranged units. @ Observatories seem to be made up completely of lumber, and as such they phenomenal amounts of wood to repair. Be prepared to have lots of peasants assigned to lumber. GOOD ITEMS - Manual of Health - Tome of Int. x2 - Tome of Str. - Periapt of Vitality - Tome of Agl. - Healing Wards Once you start, break the crate near the slope to your west for a scroll of the beast. Start moving. Don't attack-move your priests, you need them to be healing at all times. OPTIONAL QUEST - Hidden Caches I always knew Kael was a sneaky guy. He has gold hidden everywhere! The first 2 caches are on the way, so just grab them as you go. The other 2 are quite far flung, but have very nice items. At the southwestern cache, there is a crate hidden under some trees that has a Tome of Agl. The northwestern cache has Healing Wards. -Cut scene- You have no choice but to accept the ships provided by the naga. Once you sail across and build your Town Hall, upgrade it as soon as possible. You need to build and Arcane Sanctum and start making more breakers and priests to defend your base. Attacks will start coming from the west soon, comprising of either ghouls and necros, or banshees and crypt fiends. After one or two waves meat wagons will start coming too. Get mortar teams to counter them, since accumulating mortar teams will help you to flatten the undead base eventually anyway. It will take no more than 8 mortar teams, 7 breakers and 6 priests to purge the undead base. Take them out once you have enough firepower, they can be a nuisance if you let them stick around. The group of mur'gul to the north of the first observatory will give a Maul of Str. In other words, they're a waste of time. === Chapter Two - A Dark Covenant === Difficulty - ** Start with: Kael, 4 archers, 4 priests, 2 sorceress, 1 spell breaker, 2 dragonhawk riders (hawks), some workers. NOTES @ You cannot save the north and south parts of your base. However, all the units that survive the undead onslaught will be teleported to your main base when after the first cut scene. I recommend making all the fighters in the condemned bases run to the eastern-most part of their respective "islands" to escape the attack. They can help to defend your base later. @ Workers should continue mining to get you more gold. When they are under attack, have them run to the further gold mine to harvest. @ While you watch your bases get destroyed, it is wise to start cranking out hawks and building farms on your main island. That way you can start the counterattack as soon as the cut scene ends. @ The observatory is still active in this stage, which means you get advance intel on where and when the enemy will strike. Keep an eye on the minimap, and advance or retreat your hawks as is necessary. @ The naga units are irreplaceable once lost, except for Lady Vashj, so do not be careless with them. GOOD ITEMS - Tome of Int. - Claws+6 - Tome of Agl.+2 - Ring of Regeneration (Regen) - Mana Stone - Ring of Superiority (+1 to str. agl. int.) - Potion of Greater Healing - Pendant of Energy If you had been building hawks right from the start, you should have about 6 or 7 in total by the time the stage proper starts. Immediately attack the purple base to the south with all the naga and all the hawks. Don't attempt to cross the bridge to the west, just destroy the section closer to your base. In the crates near the mine here, you will find all you need to start an expansion (expo) here. Don't worry about defending this place, as long as Kael stays at home the undead will leave your expos alone. In the middle of the fight to recover this mine, however, it is quite likely that your base will be attacked. Retreat just your hawks, and have the naga finish up. You start with all the buildings you can build, and full upgrades, except for the Altar of Kings (altar) and Arcane Sanctuary (sanc). It is a good idea to build a sanc when you have the money. You will need to replace the priests that die. The northern base should be your next target. Again, just take the section closer to your main base first. You do not want to overstretch your army until you have vastly superior numbers. To the west of that mine are some crates that will again, yield all that you need to start an expo here. Now with 2 mines, you can afford to have more Gryphon Aviaries (aviaries) producing hawks simultaneously. Use them and the naga to retake your lost bases one at a time. You should be able to do it with no losses. Once you are done, all you need to do is have the hawks intercept any incoming "dropships" or air squadrons, and you can accumulate troops in peace. To destroy the last undead base, i recommend taking out the Ziggaruts (zigs) one by one using hit and run tactics with 2 full groups of hawks. Once the last zig is destroyed you can launch an all out assault. Unfortunately, even destroying all the zigs will not halt their production, because the Black Citadel itself produces 90 food. However, if you destroy the Black Citadel and all the acolytes, the undead will not be able to produce any more units, so try to make that a priority if you can. Leave some Boneyards alive so that you can go off to hunt some creep. The creep to the west of your main base will yield a Tome of Int. and a Claws+6. There is a hidden hydra in the southwestern-most corner of the map. It will be folly not to hunt it: it yields a Tome of Agl.+2, a Mana Stone and a Ring of Regen. The gnolls at the northwest corner of the map give a Ring of Superiority and a Scroll of Prot. The gnolls and ogres to the east of the last undead base will give a Scroll of Healing and Replenishment Potion respectively. The trolls in the northeast of the map give a Scroll of Lesser Replenishment, and breaking in one of the crates there is a Potion of Greater Healing. To the east of this camp are some lightning lizards. If you approach their cave, a big lizard will emerge, and killing it will get you a Pendant of Energy. OPTIONAL QUEST - Acquire Gold Mine This quest is strange, because putting down the instant town halls doesn't seem to trigger it. In fact, i've tried everything i can think of, but the computer just doesn't seem to register that you completed this sidequest. If you know something i don't about this, please write to me. === Chapter Three - The Dungeons of Dalaran === Difficulty - * Start with: Kael and Lady Vashj. NOTES @ This stage is easy if you take your time. There are lots of runes to get. @ When you have an opportunity to stop a guard, simply Banish him. Or you can just let him raise the alarm, the elite guards are not too hard to fight. @ Iron doors cannot be broken. You'll have to find a switch or solve a puzzle to open them. GOOD ITEMS - Medallion of Courage (str. & int. +4) - Stone Token - Tome of Knowledge (str. int. agl. +1) - Tome of Str. - Ring of the Archmagi (special item) - Tome of Agl. - Scroll of Mana - Tome of Int. - Boots of Speed - Frost Wyrm Skull Shield - Essence of Aszune - Shamanic Totem Go westward to free your lieutenant and other elves, and continue west to fight some spiders. The mother spider has a Medallion of Courage. There is a Rune of Restoration in an egg sack behind the mother spider, but otherwise there is nothing of interest in the eggs, except a Ring of Prot.+1. Remember to free your elves before you leave here. To the east of where you start, across shallow water, is a golem guarding a large crate. Inside is a Tome of Knowledge. Flamestrike the mushrooms to clear the way for Lady Vashj to get the Stone Token in the Water. OPTIONAL QUEST - Ghosts of Dalaran. As per the cut scene, step on like-colored runes to open doors or reveal items. Normal units can step on runes too, so make use of that fact. The Gem Fragments that you can get are like the Shadow Orb pieces in the Night Elf quest: they will accumulate at the latest fragment that you touched, so you don't have to actually pick them up until you find the last piece. Just make sure to right-click on every fragment to activate it. One of the pair of runes opening the door to the third ghost is blocked by some crates and the other is in the water further down the passage. After you walk in on a big battle between the undead and the human guards, in a room with lots of wagons loaded with gold, slay the undead and look to the southeast of the room. Near some mushrooms you will see a hole in the wall that seems to have light blue bubbles near it. Have someone walk into that hole, and you will find the solution to a previously unusable rune. This will open the door to the last ghost. If you read the item description, you'll find that the Ring is perfect for Kael, who typically depends on breakers and priests as the mainstay of his army. To the south of the gold room there is a room with 3 sheep. Step on the square in front of the blue, then red, then gold sheep to open the door. Pick up the ? for a special surprise later. To the east of this room, a big battle awaits. After you win, Flamestrike the mushrooms to the north to reveal a Rune of Restoration, and underneath that is the solution to open the Demonic Gate you passed by earlier. Go back and enter the gate to get some neat items. The fight against Kassan is marginally hard. Kassan himself is immune to magic, so be careful. ### Secret Level - The Crossing ### Difficulty: ? Start with: Kael, Lady Vashj, 2 workers and 2 towers. NOTES @ TOWER D!!! JOIN NOWW!!!11! @ This stage is hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing when i first saw it. @ Anyway, the key here is to upgrade your towers. @ You can only build on places with grass, or in other words, along the sides of the circuit. @ Don't build too many boulder towers. If you do, you'll get screwed when the flying enemies come. @ You can sell unwanted items at the goblin merchant in the west to boost your economy. Use runes of speed to help your hero move along to the shop. @ There is a reward for beating all the rounds in this stage, but i won't say what. Just try it out for yourself! GOOD ITEMS - Claws+9 - Tome of Agl. - Gloves of Haste - Ice Shard - Mana Stone - Orb of Slow - Ring of Regen - Periapt of Vitality +300 (???) If you've played any kind of tower defense before, you should know what to do here. The trick to getting a high score is to build your towers on the inside of the curves instead of the outside. Concentrate the towers first where there are a lot of kinks in the path. It is a good idea to leave some spaces between your towers to put better towers that your engineers invent later. Once you develop a better tower, build nothing but that. Except the cold tower, which cannot hit magic- immune units. Build those sparingly, and spread them out. As if the madness wasn't enough, the designers have sprinkled a myriad of cool items throughout the map in crates and barrels. The crates near your starting position hold a Claws+9, the wyvern cage (big crate) to the southeast has an Ice Shard. The barrel in the water to the west of the portal holds a Tome of Agl. The magic vault south of this barrel has a Gloves of Haste. The magic vault to the northeast holds a Mana Stone. The vault to the north of your starting point has an Orb of Slow. In the crates in the northeastern-most part of the map is a Ring of Regen. Err... yeah, the Pandaren Brewmaster drops a Periapt of Vitality +300. Well, he doesn't exactly drop it, but once you kill him, it appears in the middle of the map where you start. Hmm, testing has shown that it is a bogus item, and once you pick it up, you can't drop it! Although it appears to add 300 to your max HP, the item will disappear in the next stage, and it doesn't come back the stage after that either. It seems to be a trick item to make you waste a slot to pick it up. === Chapter Four - The Search for Illidan === Difficulty ** or **** Start with: Kael, Lady Vashj, and possibly Jinta Reedwine NOTES @ This stage is similar to many customs maps out there such as defense of the ancients (DotA) or 10 hero siege. You cannot control the forces on either side. Only your heroes are available to you. You do, however, get the gold that is being mined. GOOD ITEMS - Sobi Mask Use your gold to buy mercenaries to bolster your forces. The Sobi Mask is available at the goblin merchant, and it is a good item to buy. The only thing to note about this stage is that you should have your heroes stay with the main front of your allied forces at all times. You don't need to "escort" the cage personally; once it is under your control it will automatically move towards your base on its own. Staying with the front of your army will ensure that the enemy doesn't break through, and give the cage enough time to get to your base. If you find that your army is losing, however, it is a good idea to retreat and wait for the next wave of your allies to come to battle. === Chapter Five - Gates of the Abyss === Difficulty - *** Start with: Kael, Lady Vashj, 6 swordsmen, 3 archers, 3 priests, 2 mur'gul reavers, 1 siren. NOTES @ This is kinda like the custom maps of the "protect the (insert name here)" series. You got to protect Illidan for 3 minutes every time he tries to close a portal. @ Once the timer reaches 0, all the demons that came out from the portal will die instantly. @ You can build couatl in this stage, and they are very good against dragons. @ I suggest destroying all the orcs before attempting to close any other gate. Their bases are not hard to penetrate with some help from your ally, and they will prove to be a constant pain in the ass if you don't kill them first. @ To maximize battle potential, build up to your supply limit before rescuing prisoners. GOOD ITEMS - Scroll of Resurrection - Belt of Giant Str. (+6 str.) - Runed Bracers - Manual of Health - Hood of Cunning - Khadgar's Gem of Health - Greater Scroll of Replenishment - Claws+12 One thing to note is not to let your troops run too far away towards the portal. They have a bad habit of doing that. If your defenses are failing, fall back and let Illidan take some hits. He's a real behemoth and can take at least 10 seconds of punishment all by himself. After you seal the first gate, orcs will attack you soon, usually from the south. There are some crates around your base, one of which contains a Potion of Greater Healing. A crate near the first portal you sealed has a Scroll of Resurrection. OPTIONAL QUEST - Draenei Village South of your base, a Draenei village is under attack. It is easy to help them. With the right items, just your 3 heroes alone are enough to crush the orcs that are bothering the Draenei. In the Draenei village are many crates filled with goodies. There is a Belt of Giant Str., a Pendant of Energy, a Runed Bracers, and some Goblin Land Mines. Once you help the Draenei, they will start to suicide charge another orc base every now and then. If you launch a joint attack with them using your heroes and dragon turtles, you should be able to destroy that orc base too. There are lots of Draenei held captive in cages all around the map. If you break the cages they are held in, they will join you. The crates near their prisons usually have good items too. Just east of your base, some infernal contraptions one such prison. The crates there will give a Manual of Health. To the north of the east-most orc base is another prison, and the crates there hold a Hood of Cunning. There is another prison to the north of your original base, and the crates there hold a Khadgar's Gem of Health. The last group of orcs will cycle between sending dragons, raiders, and grunts together with a Blademaster to harass you. Have some troops at home to defend if you are out raiding bases or closing gates. When attacking the last orc base, be prepared to fight lots of dragons. Couatl are the best bet against dragons; hawks just don't do enough damage. With fully upgraded troops you should have no trouble beating them. The dimensional gates are not too hard to close, but don't underestimate them. The demons that emerge are generally the same type as those that were guarding the gate. For example, the gate in the south will release mostly flying units. Watch out for maidens, they can Charm your units. The crates around the gates usually have useful items in them, so check them out. There is one in the northwest corner of the map holding a Claws+12. === Chapter Six - Lord of Outland === Difficulty - *** Start with: Kael, Illidan, 5 breakers, 3 priests, 2 sorceresses (sorcs). Team 2 has Lady Vashj, 2 royal guards, 2 dragon turtles, 3 snap dragons. Team 3 has some interesting characters, used mostly for assassination and sabotage. NOTES @ All your units start off fully upgraded. @ Remember that Illidan can walk on water. @ Even if you don't set your assassins to hide, they won't attack unless their allies nearby are attacked. You can sneak around with them with ease. Take note that casting spells and using items will cause them to be revealed temporarily. @ You cannot rebuild any of the assassins, so take care of them! You can, however, revive their leader at your altar, so don't worry too much about him. @ On Illidan's side, the orcs will keep sending waves of attackers to slow you down, and they will always track the location of your visible party. I've never known them to try to attack your base though, so don't worry about defense. Lady Vashj's side does not experience this. Most of the enemies she has to fight are static. @ There are too many Tomes and other good items in this stage, so i will only indicate those that are exceptional, or hard to find. @ To maximize battle potential, build up to your supply limit before rescuing prisoners or siege machines. You will have over 100 supply in units, which is, of course, a good thing. @ The Master of Pain and Mistress of Torment have Truesight, so they can see invisible units. Don't try to sneak past them. @ This is the last stage of the campaign, so don't hesitate to use all your consumable items. GOOD ITEMS - Helm of Valor - Mask of Death - Ankh of Reincarnation - Claws+12 x2 - Robe of The Magi - Demonic Figurine OPTIONAL QUEST - Disable Defenses Huh? How is this an optional quest? You will suffer ridiculous losses if you don't do it, so there's really no other way about it. The generators are marked on the minimap, so it's only a matter of getting to them to destroy them. If you find that your forward scouts ever have any trouble, remember that your sorcs have Invisibility, which works just fine on Illidan and Kael (although Illidan still leaves ridiculously conspicuous footprints when he's invisible). To the west of the first generator (that the computer destroyed for you in the cut scene), there is a room with a lot of tomes and some prisoners to rescue. Go in for a special surprise! OPTIONAL QUEST - Siege Bastion After destroying the first orc base, there is a room to the west that holds some siege weapons. It is a good idea to get them. The guards are easy to kill. But maybe that's because my Illidan was doing 69 - 91 dmg at "very fast" speed, and draining half of that life with the Mask of Death. Just before the north-most orc base on Illidan's side, to the west, there is a waterway down which Illidan can go. Follow it south then east to get a Manual of Health, and up a southern slope for a Helm of Valor, 2 Tomes of Agl. and some gold coins. It's a good idea to do this after you destroy the north orc base, because they have a habit of coming out to attack your forces while Illidan is away. The easiest way to play this stage is to control only Illidan's side first, all the way up to the Master of Pain, and then use Illidan to meet up with Lady Vashj, and bring all 4 heroes to fight the Mistress of Torment together, followed by the Master of Pain. To get to Lady Vashj before defeating the Master of Pain, destroy the mushrooms to the northeast corner of the first orc base you destroy. It will lead you to a Fountain of Mana. Illidan can go down the south slope here and cross to the other side, which eventually leads to Vashj. WIREWYRM'S IMPOSSIBLE OPTIONAL QUEST - Melt the Mysterious Stay-Frost Snowmen In the southwest corner of the same orc base, there is another clump of mushrooms. Burning these away will reveal some gold coins, and 3 Mysterious Stay-Frost Snowmen. No matter how hard i tried, i couldn't melt them away. Can you? In the southeast corner of this orc base, behind more mushrooms, are some more gold coins. There is nothing in the northwest corner of the base. To get to Lady Vashj, Illidan has to go through an orc base. Go through it? Why not just lay waste to the whole base with Illidan? If you have the Mask of Death and Crown of Kings, as well as the Claws+15 left over from the Night Elf campaign, you should be more than able to take them on. Kill the warlocks first, they have irritating magic. Then kill the grunts next. When the catapults start attacking you, stand right next to a building as you fight so that the splash dmg from the enemy catapults will hit the building. Destroy the catapults last: they take up precious supply so that the enemy cannot build more of other units, and also because they will help you to demolish their own buildings. When you are playing as Lady Vashj, if you check to the west of the main waterway, you will find some hydras. After killing them, break the rocks to reveal and Ankh of Reincarnation and a Claws+12. If you go north, then west again, you will fight some ships. A small recess to the north of those ships has some gold coins and a Robe of the Magi in it. Go east from here, past the Fountain of Health, and then south down a passage to find 2 of each kind of tome (str. int. & agl.) as well as some gold coins. You should be pretty loaded by now. Go north past the ex-orc base and you will find some explosives by the mushrooms. Blow them up! They will reveal a path, and if you blow up even more mushrooms, you will find some coins and a rune called a Shard of Summoning. It summons a very large flesh golem for a limited time. To the west of this is the hydraulic bridge. Step on the glowing squares on either side to complete the bridge. Once you trigger the bridge, you can form up your entire party to attack the Mistress of Torment. I think her side is easier because her guards cannot charm your units. Defeat her and claim her Mask of Death. The Master of Pain should be easier now. One thing to note is that you should try to save either at least one catapult or some of the invisible units. You still have one last generator to destroy. Once he is done for, destroy the last generator. It is invulnerable until you kill both the Master and Mistress. A glowing tile behind the Master's throne reveals his treasure room to the west, but there is nothing of much value there. Before you fight the final battle, look to the east side of the passage for a small room that is sort of like a warehouse: it has many crates. One of the crates has a Demonic Figurine. You can either fight Magtheridon directly, or lure his guards away first. Either way, the fight should not be too difficult. Congratulations, you have finished the Human Campaign! ============================================================================= 7. Glossary ************** This is a glossary of terms used and common abbreviations, in no particular order. Str. = Strength Agl. = Agility Int. = Intelligence Prot. = Protection Claws = Claws of Attack Dmg = Damage Focus fire (FF) = using all your units to attack one enemy. Quite simply put, it means concentrating your firepower. Expo = Expansion, or a satellite base, usually for the sole purpose of harvesting gold. FoK = Fan of Knives FoN = Force of Nature ToL = Tree of Life, Night Elf town hall ToE = Tree of Eternity, Night Elf town hall level 3 AoW = Ancient of War AoL = Ancient of Lore AP = Ancient Protector Hall = Town Hall Aviary = Gryphon Aviary Sanc = Arcane Sanctum Zigs = Ziggaruts MG = Mountain Giant DotC = Druid of the Claw DotT = Druid of the Talon Breakers = Spell Breakers Hawks = Dragonhawk Riders Sorc = Sorceress Necros = Necromancers Skellies = Skeletons ============================================================================= 8. Credits ************* Thanks to: - Blizzard and the design team that made this addictive game. - L.G. Rhone for letting me play on his computer, where i got lured into buying the game myself eventually. ============================================================================= "Fear the fearsome fury of the forest fawn!" (C) Copyright 2003