War Craft 2 Walkthrough/FAQ Version 1.0 By abz1986 (abz1986@yahoo.com) http://www.abz1986.u4l.com ============================================================ 1. Introduction 2. Updates 3. General Strategy 4. Human Campaign Act I. The Shores of Lordaeron 1. Hillsbrad 2. Ambush at Tarren Mill 3. Southshore 4. Attack on Zul'Dare Act II. Khaz Modan 5. Tol Barad 6. Dun Algaz 7. Grim Batol Act III. The Northlands 8. Tyr's Hand 9. The Battle at Darrowmere 10. The Prisoners 11. Betrayal and the Destruction of Alterac Act IV. Return to Azeroth 12. The Battle at Crestfall 13. Assault on Blackrock Spire 14. The Great Portal 5. Orc Campaign Act I. Seas of Blood 1. Zul'Dare 2. Raid at Hillsbrad 3. Southshore 4. Assault on Hillsbrad Act II. Khaz Modan 5. Tol Barad 6. The Badlands 7. The Fall of Stromgarde Act III. Quel'Thalas 8. The Runestone at Caer Darrow 9. The Razing of Tyr's Hand 10. The Destruction of Stratholme 11. The Dead Rise as Quel'Thalas Falls Act IV. Tides of Darkness 12. The Tomb of Sargeras 13. The Siege of Dalaran 14. The Fall of Lordaraeon 6. Units 7. Magic Spells 8. Buildings 9. Cheats 10. Final Word 11. Legal Information ============================================================ =============== 1. Introduction =============== I've gotten this game a long time ago, and brought it back from the shelf a few weeks ago. Then I realized how awesome this game is... so I present my first Faq/Walkthrough, Warcraft 2. If you want to know the story, clans, etc, look in your instruction booklet. It provides a really detailed story and unit description. But here's the basic story: The evil orcs (who came from the Great Portal) laid the smackdown to the human nation of Azeroth in the First War. Now the survivors have fled to Lordaeron, and the humans are preparing to reclaim their land, while the orcs are preparing to take over the rest of the human nations. ========== 2. Updates ========== 8/9/2001 Version 1.0 - I have finished the walkthrough for the Orc Campaign, the "Buildings" section, the "Spells" Section, and corrected the many grammar errors plaguing the previous version. That means that this is the final version of my FAQ/Walkthrough, so I probably won't be updating it unless I get Beyond the Dark Portal... or if I decide I want to add something else. 8/4/2001 Version 0.6 - First Release! More Updates on the way. Completed the Human Campaign for Warcraft II: Tides of the Darkness, and the Units section. Started the Spells section. =================== 3. General Strategy =================== Read this first before you go reading the walkthroughs, because you'll need this strategy to complete the game. When you start, build as many peasants/peons as possible as fast as possible, and get them mining gold and chopping trees. You'll need a fast and good supply of gold and lumber so you can build new units as quickly as possible. Peasants/Peons, although useless in battle, are the building blocks of cities. You'll need ALOT of them to build a good city and a good army. It is also good to upgrade, but don't upgrade if you don't need to (that's common sense). If you're not going to use many Troll Axethrowers, then don't upgrade their axes at the lumber mill. When battling, battle in groups. Strength in numbers is a key element in Strategy games like Warcraft 2. Also, go for the powerful units first. In battles on land, that would generally be the guard/cannon towers, catapults/ballistas, the paladin/ogre-magis, and the knight/ogres. In water battles, that would be the battleships/Juggernauts. I'd concentrate on one unit at a time, instead of trying to take them all out at once. Form your own strategies on battles; each situation needs a different strategy. There are some buildings that are very important. They mainly consist of the Town Hall/Great Hall, Lumber Mill, Barracks, and farms. They are very key buildings, because they'll allow you to build more buildings and units. Save your game often if you are playing only the computer (especially if this is a Campaign). You never know when you'll screw up. But only save when you're doing well. If you're about to lose the game, saving the game may not be the best idea. One last thing, turn off the fog of war. I shouldn't even have to tell you why! ================= 4. Human Campaign ================= The humans are the good guys in the game, reclaiming their homeland after the brutal and savage orcs took it over in the first war. The first few levels are easy as heck, but then it starts getting more challenging. But the last three levels are sure to give you a hard time, unless you're a very experienced player. ------------------------------ Act I: The Shores of Lordaeron ------------------------------ I call these the training missions. The first 3 missions lets you get comfortable with the general Human Units, and the last mission is a intro to the battles you'll have to make like in the rest of the game. ------------ 1. Hillsbrad ------------ Story: You're to set up an outpost to feed troops and build more troops; it's as simple as that. Objectives: Build 4 Farms Build a Barracks Strategy: You need help for this level? Anyhow, take your little army or 3 footmen and slaughter the few orcs in the area... build more peasants and make 4 farms and a Barricks. You don't even need to build more units! ------------------------ 2. Ambush at Tarren Mill ------------------------ Story: Some Elven Archers were captured by orcs and are being held in a prison guarded by the orcs... you are to rescue at least one of them (heh heh) and bring him back to the Circle of Power. Objectives: Rescue a captured Elven Archer Return him to the Circle of Power Strategy: Personally I'd build some more troops before I rescue 'em archers, since there is a significant number of orcs in this level. You're ships will help you in killing the orcs near the shores and a single Troll Destroyer in the waters, but then they're trash. The prison is located in the northwest corner of the level, and the watch tower there may be upgraded into a guard tower a while into the game, which isn't good. And remember you only need to rescue ONE Elven Archer, the rest are at your desposal. ------------- 3. Southshore ------------- Objectives: Build a Shipyard Build four Oil Platforms Strategy: Don't concentrate on your ground forces. Build a shipyard and a "mighty" armada made up of at least 4 (I prefer 6+) Elven Destroyers. Lay waste to the Troll Destoyers in the seas and destroy their oil platforms so you can build more oil platforms. Pretty easy eh? --------------------- 4. Attack on Zul'Dare --------------------- Objectives: Destroy Dun Algaz Strategy: You're first "real" game! Now the orcs will actually build units and send guys to attack you! But this level is pretty easy. Build an army of footman (and some archers if you want), and build the necessary buildings (barracks, lumber mill, more farms). When you have built a blacksmith, upgrade your armor and swords. You can also build towers and upgrade them to guard towers or cannon towers to help you, but they aren't really important. When you have made a nice navy and a strong enough army (I'd say about 10 to 12 units would do the job right), get yourself some transports and destroy Dun Algaz. Use the Elven Destroyers to kill the orcs near the shores before you send in your ground units. ----------------- Act II: Khaz Modan ----------------- These are what I consider the "real" missions. They are more difficult than the previous missions, but nothing too hard. You'll also get introduced to more cool units in this act... ------------ 5. Tol Barad ------------ Objectives: Reclaim Tol Barad Destroy Dun Modr Strategy: When the level first starts, you'll view will be at Tol Barad, where a bunch of orcs invaded the city. Quickly send in your troops to kill those orcs. Because the longer you wait, the more buildings they destroy. Use your Gnomish Flying Machine to scout the area (these things are very useful), you'll see that the city of Dun Modr is located at a BIG island to the northeast. Build an army of footmen, and maybe some archers and ballistas. Destroy as much as you can of the city with your ships (preferably the guard and cannon towers), and launch an assault. 12 or so units (with 2 ballistas) should do the trick. Be careful of their ogres, because they can kill your troops quickly if left unattended. ------------ 6. Dun Algaz ------------ Objectives: Destroy Dun Algaz Strategy: Oh yeah!!! You get to use knights in this mission! They are quick and powerful, and well armored. You want to build alot of these guys to kill them orcs. Position some units in the entrance/exits of your city to fend off orc attacks. If you need more gold, there's a gold mine in the northeast corner, but that's about all the gold you're gonna get. The orcs occupy most of the southern region, but alot of their buildings and units are spread out. Use that to your advantage. Employ your deadly knights and crush them orcs. Beware of the ogres, they are as powerful as knights. But you should of upgraded you're knights at the blacksmith before battle... I hope. After you destroy the surrounding buildings, it's time for the main place, heavily fortified with cannon towers. Ballistas are good at taking the cannon towers, although you shouldn't rely only on them. Once you destroyed the city, you'll have won. ------------- 7. Grim Batol ------------- Objectives: Destroy 5 Oil Refineries Strategy: This level is actually kinda hard... because you'll have to take over a city, then you get to build stuff. And taking over the city is no easy task. There are two ways to take over the city. You can get all your guys into the transports and sail them to the land on your right and land (you'll have to go south to land) on the mainland attack the Orc's City. You can also send your army south and kill some orcs to get some free catapults (up to 3, depending how far you go) before you do that. That'll get you some catapults, but it'll take away health from your men, and we need all the health we can get to destroy the city. Personally I'd only get the first 2 catapults, then go east to the mainland containing the city. The last catapult isn't worth risking the lives of your precious army. When you attack the city, use the catapults to destroy the towers from a distance and your men to kill the orcish forces. You'll lose alot of your men here, but it'll all be over soon enough. When you have destroyed their city, get out those peasants (hope you didn't use them in the battle and got them killed) and start building your town. Concentrate on building a navy (Grim Batol is mainly a port). Since you get to build battleships, I'd forget about building the Elven Destroyers. You might want to build a few if you're low on resources, but remember that one battleship is as good as 3 Elven Destroyers. When you finally decide to attack Grim Batol. Build a navy of at least 5 Battleships (OH yeah!) and head out to Grim Batol. Remember that you only need to destroy the oil refineries. So attack only the oil refineries and the threats (cannon towers, catapults, and orc ships). ----------------------- Act III. The Northlands ----------------------- These are more challenging than the ones in the previous act, and introduce you to many more new units. ------------- 8. Tyr's Hand ------------- Objectives: Quell the peasant uprising Build a Castle Destroy enemy forces Strategy: You begin in a nice, refreshing, forest setting with some knights. But you gotta hurry! Get to the town and you'll see some orange (Alterac) peasants attacking the town. Those bastards! But your knights will make short work of them. When you get back the town, start producing more peasants and building up the city. Enemy Orcs will come from the east and the north, so position units there. There are 3 orc settlements in this level. One at the southwest corner, one at the northwest corner, and one at the northeast corner. When you have explored the land with the Gnomish Flying Machine, decide with Orchish Settlement is the weakest and attack that one. Remember, the longer you wait to attack, the less gold you have. I suggest you attack the northwest settlement last because they are well fortified with towers, but again, it's all up to you. Oh yes, one last thing, remember to heal your troops after each battle with the Paladin. --------------------------- 9. The Battle at Darrowmere --------------------------- Story: Uther Lightbringer is needed at Caer Darrow to comfort the people there. Well it's your job to escort him there, but it's not that simple, as you will see. Objectives: Escort the Lightbringer to the Circle of Power at Caer Darrow Strategy: Once you have explored the map with your flying machines (don't let them get shot down! They are good to draw fire away from the transports), you should know the route you have to travel... send your transports through the river guarded by many towers to Uther's turf. Then go all the way back, and travel south through more danger to the Caer Darrow, at the southeast corner of the map. Start off by sending your ground troops to the nearby island to destroy as many cannon towers and other hazards as you can. Once you've done what you can do, send your ships to destroy some more of the towers. You don't need to destroy all the towers, just destroy about half of them. Now send all your transports to Uther. If you move them fast, they won't get hit much. Put Uther in the Transport with the least amount of damage done to it and sail back to the piece of land you started on, and change Uther to the least damaged transport if necessary. Now launch your remaining navy (if you have any left), your remaining ground troops (if you have any left), and your remaining Flying Machines down south to the area with cannons and ships. They'll provide great distraction while you maneuver your transports quickly down the river to Caer Darrow. The empty transports will also provide good cover fire. Once Uther Lightbringer arrives at Caer Darrow, move him to the Circle of Power. ------------------ 10. The Prisioners ------------------ Story: Some Alterac Traitors have been captured because they were found to be working for the Horde. Your job is to escort them to the Circle of Power at Caer Darrow for questioning. Objectives: Build Transports at Stratholme Transport 4 Alterac Traitors to the Circle of Power at Caer Darrow Strategy: All right, don't worry about the prisoners for now, although I'd kill some of the footmen down there escorting the prisoners to free up farm space. The Orcs in this level (located in the northwest) will constantly attack you, so build up a good land defense. But you also need a good navy... screw Elven Destroyers, you want them battleships. I'd build up at least three to defend your oil platform(s), especially if it's located near the Orchish City. Use your battleships to kill the orcs near the coast at Stratholme (no no no, Stratholme isn't the Orchish city to the left. It's the piece of land blocking a direct sea route to the prisoners), and then kill the rest of the Orcs at Stratholme with land forces. Use Ballistas to destroy the Juggernauts at Stratholme (the Juggernauts usually won't fire back, unless your Ballistas are too close to the coastline). Build a Shipyard at Stratholme and build about 4 Battleships. Send those battleships to destroy the cannon towers guarding the river path, and build transports to transport the prisoners to Stratholme. There, transport the prisoners to Caer Darrow. You can also destroy the Orc City to the west, but it's not necessary, and only should be attempted if you are 100% sure you can beat the level (that means the prisoners are at Caer Darrow already, but has not reached the Circle of Power yet). Use battleships to ravage the coastline, then send in your ground troops to destroy the rest of the city. ------------------------------------------- 11. Betrayal and the Destruction of Alterac ------------------------------------------- Story: Alterac has betrayed the Alliance! They have been working for the Horde since the beginning! Time to take 'em out. Objectives: Free the Mages and Peasants Destroy Alterac Strategy: You get to use both Mages and Dwarven Demolition Squads in this level! That's two new units to use! But you first have to rescue Mages and Peasants before you can build anything. The prison (follow the path leading north) is very well guarded (not like that trash prison those Elven Archers were held in) and can destroy your troops before you can even rescue the prisoners if you're not careful. Use your army to kill any opposition while you move up the path. When you are near the prison, send the 2 Dwarven Demolition Squad Units up to the main gate and blow up the two cannon towers blocking the entrance. Now move your troops into the prison and start your killing. Remember that the Towers and Ballistas are of first priority, they can kill several of your men. When you have rescued the mages and peasants, bring them down back to town and start getting resources/building with the peasants. Alterac units WILL attack you constantly, so be alert and build up a good defense. When you have explored the land, you'll see that Alterac is located to the north and extremely well fortified with towers. And full attack won't be easy. That's where the Dwarven Demo Squad comes in... I'll talk about that later. There's also a gold mine with plenty of gold to the southwest. But some Alterac boyz and a Dragon guard it. I'd kill the land units first with footmen and knights/paladins, then haul-ass and send in about 3 to 4 archers to take out the dragon. Now, before you assault Alterac, you'll need to weaken its defenses, or your troops will get slaughtered before they actually get into the city. The main things defending the city are cannon and guard towers, and if most of them are destroyed, you'll have a much easier time invading the city. Here's how you get rid of them easily: Find a Target tower. Preferably it's not too deep inside the city and not surrounded by other defenses (the main threats are archers, ballistas, and other towers). Now get a Demo Squad and go blow it up. One Demo Squad will destroy the tower. Destroy the towers on the outer edge of the city first, and then go for the ones that are farther in. Some of the towers are too well defended for you to get to it and blow it up, just ignore those towers; you only need to destroy most of the towers. When you have weakened the defense significantly, go send the Calvary into Alterac. You'll need about two teams (that's around 18 units) composed mainly of knights to really do the job right. You can use mages' Flame Shield... which is good to use on the enemy if they are in-groups, or use on your troops if they are alone. It also makes a wonderful defense for those easy- to-destroy ballistas. ------------------------- Act IV: Return to Azeroth ------------------------- These three final levels are hard. This is where saving the game comes in handy. Save the game on regular bases if you are doing good. If you screw up or start to lose then quit the game and load up the saved game. That's perhaps one of the best strategy I can offer. --------------------------- 12. The Battle at Crestfall --------------------------- Story: The main Orc Naval Base is located at Crestfall, and the Orcs are expected to launch their remaining armada and retreat back to Azeroth. Well, go in and destroy their base. Objectives: Destroy Orc Transports Destroy all Oil Derricks Destroy all Shipyards Strategy: In this level, you MUST have a good navy. That is the whole point here. Sure land forces are important, since the orcs will attack your city. But you need a good navy, since most of your battles here will occur at sea. Get a shipyard and a little navy started ASAP. You can build Elven Destroyers at first, but you really need to be moving on to the Battleships. Use your Flying Machine to explore the map and find the oil patches. The best one for you to build is probably the one northwest of your island, guarded by a lone juggernaut. Take your ships and a flying machine (they spot sea turtles) to the oil patch and secure it. Put some ground troops into the transport and transport them to the island just west of the oil patch you secured. Blow up the cannon tower with a Demo Squad and kill the remaining orcs on the island with your ground troops. Get a peasant there and build an Oil Refinery on the island you just took over and build an Oil Platform on the oil patch you secured. Start hauling a lot of oil and use your navy to defend the platform, tankers, and refinery, because the enemy will almost definitely attack it. Start building your own armada (remember to always have a Flying Machine with your ships, so you can see any sea turtles hiding underwater) and go to the oil patch up in the northwest corner when you feel confident of your navy. If there's an orc oil platform and orc ships there, then destroy it and build your own oil platform on the oil patch (and maybe a refinery on the island near the oil patch), and defend it. If you have taken these two oil patches, the orcs will have almost no way of getting more oil (no lie). There is another oil patch in the southeast corner, but that's very far from the orc's mainland. Now build a bunch of battleships and start attacking the coastline of Crestfall. You're goal is to destroy the Transports and Shipyards, but you need to destroy anything that is attacking your battleships. Once your plunder the coastline, you should be victorious, unless you missed an oil platform. ------------------------------ 13. Assault on Blackrock Spire ------------------------------ Story: Blackrock spire is like the main Orc City in this side of the Great Portal (well I'm not exactly sure, but I think it is). Lord Lothar has led a group to Blackrock Spire to negotiate with Ogrim Doomhammer of the Blackrock Clan. Well, they didn't report back, so all we can do is assume the worst. Objectives: Destroy Blackrock Spire Eradicate any and all enemy forces Strategy: When the level begins, you're view is shifted to Blackrock Spire, where Lord Lothar and his 2 knights are fighting a huge amount of Orcs... well now ya know what happens to him. This level has 2 enemy cities. One is the smaller one to the northwest, and one is a much larger one to the northeast. You should take out the one to the northwest first, since it's smaller and all, and then the larger one to the northeast... I'll tell you how. But we'll get to that later. First of all, you should really concentrate on your defenses. The orcs in this level will attack you constantly, and with pretty powerful units. Get a naval base started and start building up your level. Once you get a Castle, the two most important things you want to build are a Church and the Gryphon Aviary. The Gryphon Rider is perhaps the strongest unit you get to use on this level, and the base of my strategy. My strategy is this: Use things like Demo Squads to take out the things that pose the biggest threat to the Gryphon Rider, mainly the guard tower. Then, use Gryphon Riders to wreck havoc on the defenseless orcs. Sure Trolls and Guard Towers you didn't destroy will cause some problems, but they can be easily taken care of. When your Gryphon Riders are hurt, return them back to the main land and heal them up good with Paladins. That is my basic strategy for this level. But I'll still give you a walkthrough. Build a good-sized navy, you may need to make some destroyers to fight off the few dragons in this level, but the main ship in your navy should be the battleship. Clear out the island to your north by destroying the Guard Towers with your battleship and then using your Gryphon Riders to clear out the rest of the island. When you finally have control of the island, you'll get access to more gold. There is also more of this precious gold on an empty island to the southeast of that island. Build up a good Air Force with 6 Gryphon Riders (they are not good in large groups, since they have a tendency to hurt each other by accident while attacking, but if you watch the gryphon riders carefully, and control them well, they will not do this as much). You're ready to attack the smaller orc city. Get Demo Squads to blow up some of the guard towers and use your battleships to attack the coast (go for the guard towers and trolls). When all is left is a bunch of Grunts, Ogre-Magi, Death Knights (no they won't attack your Gryphons for some reason), and a few trolls and a few watch towers, you're Gryphons are ready to fight. Go for the guard towers and trolls first, since they are the only ones that will attack your Gryphons. Once they're dead, destroy the remainder of the smaller city (you don't even need ground forces), and start your second Gryphon Rider squad. Now all that's left is the main part of Blackrock Spire, where the Blackrock Clan Dwells. But for now, build a town hall in the ruins of the smaller city to get the plentiful resources there. As I mentioned before, start building your 2nd Gryphon Team. It'll compliment your first team in the destruction of the remainder of Blackrock Spire. You'll also need some ground support, preferably a team of Paladins. Fix up your Armada also, they'll play a significant part in this big battle. Ready? Ok, start your Gryphon Assault from the south; remember to use the Demo Squad to clear out major threats to our airborne friends. Use the battleships to destroy the towers in the bay. Death Knights will bother your battleships with Whirlwinds, but try your best to dodge it. Make sure you destroy as many towers as you can before retreating. Send your Gryphons to the most northern part, where the fortress is, after the defenses there are crippled. Remember to use them in groups, and attack the guard towers, Daemons, and trolls first. Use your second team if your first team is crippled. Once all threats are cleared for the Gryphons, concentrate on destroying the barracks. Once they are gone, destroy the pathetic Ogre-Magi, Death Knights, and Grunts, who are helpless in your deadly flames. Once the land units are almost gone, ravage the rest of the city with your ground units and Gryphons. Remember! Healing Gryphons Riders is a smart thing to do. Gryphons cost too much, and it costs a bundle to build another one. -------------------- 14. The Great Portal -------------------- Story: After Blackrock Spire is made into a heap of trash, the orcs rally to protect their last hope... the Great Portal that lead them to this world. It's your civic duty to destroy that portal, and end this Orcish nightmare. Objectives: Destroy the Great Portal Strategy: Man, after you get done with this level, you'll absolutely HATE dragons... trust me. Now there are 4 main clans in this level. The Burning Blade occupies the first area, and they are very damn powerful. You'll have to use your men to kill them so you can use their land to build buildings and get resources. Then there is the Black Tooth Grin Clan, which has a lot of land units and a few sea units. The most annoying however, would be the Dragonmaw Clan (white clothed). They, you guessed it, attacks you constantly with Dragons! The last clan is the Blackrock Clan, they are mainly at the portal, and consists of mostly death knights and Daemons. But the 3 dragons they have are very dangerous. Ok, time for the strategy. The first part is perhaps the hardest part, because so many things can go wrong. You start out with a whole crap load of men, 3 transports, 6 peasants, 2 Elven Destroyers, and a Battleship. Use the attacking ships and sail them left. You'll reach the coast of the Burning Blade settlement. They have 3 cannon towers, and 2 Catapults to greet your ships. Make sure the Destroyers and the Battleship are together when you attack the coast, because the cannon towers will make short work of the weak Elven Destroyers, and the Battleship will have no support. You'll probably loose all your ships in this little battle, but that's ok, since they're useless after this. Bring your soldiers with transports to the Burning Blade Settlement and start your killing. They're Ogre-Magi are a pain in the ass, with their bloodlust, but you out number them about 3 to 1. Still, you'll loose most of your men in this battle. Once you defeat the first round of Ogre-Magi, you'll see a gold mine up ahead. Quickly transport your peasants and any other soldiers still back at the starting point and start your building and resource collecting. There are still some Ogre-Magi up ahead, but it's good to not disturb them, until you're army is built up good again. Sooner or later, a dragon will attack you. You'll need at least 3 Elven Archers to kill a dragon successfully, and you'll need to keep on producing more Archers, since they get killed pretty easily. More dragons will attack you, but that's ok, as long as you have your archers. Once you built up a good army, and is running out of gold, it's time for you to move up north and destroy the remainder of the Burning Blade. There are more deadly Ogre-Magi, but if you're army's good and big enough, they should fall to your blades. There is another gold mine up here, so you can keep on expanding your city. Be careful of the 3 Blackrock Dragons, who will appear sooner or later. You'll need a lot of Elves to take them out. Once you get the Gnomish Flying Machine or Paladin, survey the land by flying around the map with the Flying Machine or using the Paladin's Holy Vision. You'll get a good idea of the enemies' locations. Very useful for planning your next attack. Remember to build those Gryphons! You're next attack will be the Black Tooth Grin Clan (black clothed orcs). They are to your east, and will sometimes send death knights for a quick attack. Personally I think you should attack them with your ground forces, since there are too many trolls and guard towers for you to safely perform an air attack, and those defenses are too deep in their city for the Demo Squad. Mages are good for polymorph, and flame shield. You can also use blizzard, but that'll get the orcs' attention, and they'll come running to your mages. I guarantee you that the mages will not survive those orcs. Just use a lot of knights/paladins, catapults (fully upgraded I hope), and mages on the side. You should be able to pull it off. You can use Gryphons for support if you need it, but they can do more harms than good. Once you take over the Black Tooth Grin Clan's settlement, you'll get access to another gold mine! I forgot to mention that there's also a gold mine near the waters, you'll need a demo squad to get access to it. With more gold, it's time to build up your navy, and more Gryphons. The Dragonmaw Clan will rapidly produce dragons and send them to attack you, if this doesn't happen, it will soon enough. If that happens, use your Gryphon Riders and some Destroyers to take them out, and build around 4-6 Demo Squads. Send those Demo Squads to the Dragonmaw Settlement and use those Demo Squads to destroy the 2 Dragon Roosts. That should take care of this Dragon Problem. When you think you're ready to attack the Dragonmaw Clan, build a bunch of Demo Squads, enough to take out all the guard towers. Once you destroy the guard towers near the farms, you can send your Gryphon Riders there and have some fun. Build more Demo Squads to destroy the guard towers surrounding the Fortress. Once you destroy those, your Gryphon Riders are now free to terrorize the Fortress. There goes the Dragonmaw Clan. This last part is pretty easy. Send all your Gryphon Riders to the Great Portal Area, guarded by Blackrock Clan's Death Knights and Daemons. The Death Knights may use Whirlwind, but usually not if your Gryphons are directly over them. Kill the Daemons and everything else orchish in that area. Time to destroy the Great Portal. Use your Gryphons to take out the Great Portal. It's too much a hassle to send ground units to destroy it, since you have to build a new shipyard and new transports. Once the Great Portal is destroyed... enjoy the ending. =============== 5. Orc Campaign =============== -------------------- Act I: Seas of Blood -------------------- The introduction missions to the Orc Campaign... disturbingly similar to the first 4 human missions. They are also extremely easy. ----------- 1. Zul'Dare ----------- Story: You are to build a base at Zul'Dare that'll feed orc troops and stuff. Objectives: Build 4 Farms Build a Barracks Strategy: You need strategy on building farms and a barrack? What pity. Take your troops out for a massacre on the surrounding human forces. -------------------- 2. Raid at Hillsbrad -------------------- Story: The troll leader known as Zuljin has been captured along with a band of his followers. Ogrim Doomhammer believes that rescuing them will blackmail Zuljin into helping the Horde. So rescue Zuljin and bring him to his nearby base. Objectives: Rescue Zuljin and bring him to the Circle of Power Strategy: This is actually easier than the human campaign counterpart. You don't even need to build more units, just send your orcs up north and destroy the feeble "prison", and rescue Zuljin and his trolls. Then take your war southwest to make your way up into Zuljin's place. ------------- 3. Southshore ------------- Story: In preparation for the attack on Hillsbrad, you are to build a naval base and obtain a lot of this "oil". Objectives: Build Shipyard Build four Oil Platforms Strategy: Build some more land troops if you'd like to kill off the humans on your island. But you're main goal is to build Destroyers, at least 4, and send them around the map to destroy human things. Build 4 oil platforms, and you're done! ----------------------- 4. Assault on Hillsbrad ----------------------- Story: Hillsbrad, a human township, is ordered by Ogrim Doomhammer to be destroyed. That's where you come in. Objectives: Destroy Hillsbrad Slaughter the Alliance's defenders Strategy: This is your first real level as an orc. Humans will attack you occasionally, but if you sink their transport, they probably won't anymore (never tried that, but it should work). Build a large land force, composed mainly of Grunts (I'd say about 12... at least), for attacking Hillsbrad. If you need more gold, there is an island in the southwest with a gold mine on it. Use destroyers to ravage Hillsbrad's coastline, and then go for the kill with your ground units. ------------------ Act II: Khaz Modan ------------------ This is where the Orc Campaign takes a different route from the Human one, and where the missions start getting fun. ------------ 5. Tol Barad ------------ Story: A vital Orc Staging Area, Dun Modr, was taken over by Stromgarde humans. You're job is to rebuild the city, and destroy the nearby Stromgarde island citadel of Tol Badar. Objectives: Retake Dun Modr Destroy Tol Badar Strategy: This uses the same map as the fifth level in the Human Campaign, so if you've played through that, you should know the layout of the level. Move south and destroy the humans that occupy the land. Build your own settlement with your peons and get your resources. Build more troops to get ready for more human attacks. Once you get about 6 Troll Destroyers, send them on a maiden voyage of destruction and destroy all the ships in the sea. Once you've done that, use the remaining ships to assault the island, attacking the Towers, Ballistas, and Archers first, then the other Structures. Send about 12 to 18 troops (probably 2 of them should be catapults) onto the island and decimate the city. That wasn't too hard right? --------------- 6. The Badlands --------------- Story: Cho'gall, the leader of the Twilight Hammer clan, is going to Grim Batol to inspect the Oil Refineries there. Because a ambush of Stromgarde forces is expected, Cho'gall needs your protection as you escort him to the city. Objectives: Escort Cho'gall to the Circle of Power at Grim Batol Strategy: Cho'gall's one weak ogre-mage. He has 0 Defense power, and very low attack (about as much as a peon). So keep him away from enemies and battles, although it's wise to use his spells (mainly Bloodlust) to aid your troops. Grim Batol is at the Southeast corner of the map, and you start in the Northwest corner. You can get to the city by going diagonally, but there will be troops guarding the paths to Grim Batol. I won't give you a really deep walkthrough, since this is a pretty easy level. Just remember to use your many orcs to attack the humans guarding the path you're going down, and keep Cho'gall in the back with a few guys protecting him. If you're almost to the city, you can just quickly navigate Cho'gall to the circle of power. Make sure that Cho'gall isn't in a lot of danger, because he is killed easily. Once he makes it to the Circle of Power, it doesn't matter if he's killed or not, you will win the game. ------------------------- 7. The Fall of Stromgarde ------------------------- Story: Cho'gall reports that the Oil Refineries are up to standards in their oil production. That means that we can build a great navy. The only trouble that remains here in Khaz Modan is the human city of Stromgarde. You must destroy it, so it does not cause trouble with us. Objectives: Recapture the Orc Transports Destroy Stromgarde Strategy: Bring your Destroyers down near the island your troops are on, and destroy the Destroyers guarding the orc transports. The procede with your destroyers to destroy as many as the footmen on the island as you can. When your ships can't reach anymore footmen, send your troops up and kill the footmen one by one. Put them in the transports and sail them northwest to the nearby island. There is a cannon tower and some footmen on this island, destroy the cannon tower first. Once you've cleared the island of any threats, send your peons to start building your city. Build a good naval force and a bunch of ogres (your new units you get in this mission). Once you're ready to invade Stromgarde, send your ships to the coast of Stromgarde. Destroy as much as you can with the ships (remember to clear all hazards first) and send in 2 transports full of ogres (and maybe a third transport of mixed variety... notably catapults and berserks). Let your ground troops destroy the rest of Stromgarde. --------------------- Act III: Quel'Thalas --------------------- These are harder missions (and more fun) than the previous two Acts. They also introduce you to many more Orc units. ------------------------------- 8. The Runestone at Caer Darrow ------------------------------- Story: The humans are guarding a precious Runestone at Caer Darrow, which is an Elven Artifact. You must destroy the guardians of the Runestone, and take it over for use by the Horde. Objectives: Destroy the Human Castle Secure the Runestone Strategy: Start building your city, and rallying your ogres so they can defend the city more effeciently. Gold is very plentiful in this level; there are 3 more gold mines you can easily gain access to. Your main concentration should be building a very large armada, composed of 8 juggernauts (believe me, that's still not enough), and a zeppelin (to spot submarines). Once you're done with that, and have upgraded your ships to the max, start on your second juggernaut navy and move your juggernauts to the island with the Runestone on it. There, destroy ALL cannon/guard towers, ballistas, archers, and other ships near the island that are threats to your juggernauts. You'll lose a lot of ships, but it's worth it. If you're first juggernaut force is destroyed, send in your second one and clean up the island of all it's main defenses. Remember that you're main objective is to destroy all towers, ballistas, archers, and ships in the sea. You're secondary objective is to destroy the barracks, who can produce more archers and ballistas. The island is made so that everything can be destroyed by your juggernauts except the castle, runestone, some Paladins, and maybe a barracks (maybe all the barracks can be destroyed, I'm forgot). Now send in your team of Ogres... two transports full will definitely work. Have them destroy the remaining human units and buildings on the island and secure the Runestone. You don't need to bother with the human settlement on the mainland to the south, but they are easily destroyed with juggernauts if you don't think they are worthy enough to survive. --------------------------- 9. The Razing of Tyr's Hand --------------------------- Story: With the Runestone, Gul'dan has made his loyal ogres into Ogre-Magi, and taught them many magiks to use at their disposal. Now with the Ogre-Magi, you are to take over and build a Fortress at the Mouth of Tyr's Bay, to stop human shipments into Quel'Thalas. Objectives: Build a Fortress and a Shipyard on the island at the mouth of Tyr's Bay Strategy: Use the same strategy you used in the last level. Build a strong armada full of Juggernauts, and sail to Tyr's Hand and destroy the dangerous defenses first (cannon/guard towers, ballistas, archers, other ships), then procede to destroy as much as the island as you can with your juggernauts. If the first juggernaut group gets destroyed, send in a second one. After you destroyed as much as you possibly could with the juggernauts, send in your Ogre-Magi (12 is a good number), blood lust, and destroy everything on the island. You can procede to destroy everything on the mainland too. Bring a peon to the island, build a Great Hall and upgrade it to a Fortress. Remember to also build a shipyard on the mouth of Tyr's Bay. That's all. --------------------------------- 10. The Destruction of Stratholme --------------------------------- Story: Stratholme is preparing to deliver mass amounts of oil to the western cities. You are to halt this shipment and destroy the city of Stratholme. Objectives: Destroy all Oil Platforms Destroy Refineries Destroy Stratholme Strategy: You start out with a bunch of guys... use your Goblin Sappers to destroy the rock surrounding them, making a path (you'll only need about 2 to 3). Move your men eastward and you'll soon find a gold mine. Start building your settlement there. You can use your other guys to explore north, but don't go too far. You'll find another gold mine up there. Anyway, build your up your city. Once you've run out of gold and/or lumber, you can start another town hall up where the second gold mine is. You have to be careful when building this town hall, don't build it left or towards the left of the gold mine. The entrance to Stratholme (guarded by three cannon towers and a bunch of ground units) is a few feet away, northwest of the gold mine. Human forces will probably attack you quite frequently now that you're stationed near the human city, so station all your troops up here where the new gold mine is. If the humans attack and then retreat, don't follow them... The path left of the gold mine, that leads north will take you directly to the main entrance of the city (guarded by three cannon towers, ballistas, and many humans as I mentioned before). You're orcs will get creamed if they even step near the entrance, so I advise you not to go up there. Once you get a Zeppelin, explore the map. You'll see that the city is only heavily guarded in areas, and can easily be penetrated. Start building a shipyard on the coastline to the south and building up your navy. To attack the city, build many Goblin Sappers. One word of advice, before you deploy a sapper to destroy something, save the game. If the sappers get killed before they complete their mission of destruction, just load up the saved game once more and try again. Your first two targets are the cannons guarding the main entrance. Send one at a time to blow up each cannon tower. If you're having a hard time doing that, use a "decoy" (grunt, peon, or other cheap unit) to draw fire. Send in the decoy a bit before you send in the sappers, so the enemy will attack him (and they'll usually attack him until he dies). But don't wait too long after sending the decoy in, because if the decoy is killed, the humans will attack your Sappers. When you have destroyed the cannon towers, its time to concentrate on the guard towers in the eastern section of the city. There are two guard towers in the eastern section of Stratholme. To get into Stratholme, destroy the wall (catapult, ogres, whatever). Send in a Catapult and Ogres (by now, you should have Ogre-Magi) to protect the Catapult. Use the Catapult to attack the Guard Tower (Because Catapults have better range than towers, they can attack towers from a distance greater than a tower's range. That means the tower can't fight back). After you destroy the first tower, send in a goblin sapper to destroy the second guard tower farther north (there is a ballista there that can cause trouble to your catapult). The sapper should of destroyed the guard tower, the ballista, and severely damaged the Stables. Finish off the stables with the catapult. Now the humans can't produce Knights/Paladins! Speaking of Paladins, if you haven't killed the two Paladins to the right (beyond the wall) of where the second guard tower was, now is the time to do so. Use your catapult to kill them, they usually won't come to your area and fight back. Continue destroying the other stuff in this area (Gnomish Inventor, Church, farms, etc), with your catapult and Ogre-Magi. If any enemies come, then use your Ogre-Magi to kill them (remember to bloodlust). Once you've destroyed everything to the east of the human's gold mine, then start going deeper into the city. Personally, I'd kill the Mages and destroy the Mage Tower first, because they are very annoying. The Barracks is also an important target. Remember to kill all the human troops before you go for a building, since the buildings can't hurt you. There are 4 towers remaining in the city, all easy targets for Catapults. Once you've destroyed the city, then you're ready for the sea assault. Remember I told you to build warships awhile back? 6 Juggernauts should be enough, with a Zeppelin following them (I forgot if there are submarines in this level). Destroy the enemy ships, then oil platforms, tankers, refineries, etc. This sea campaign shouldn't be a hard one, and once you've destroyed everything you need to, mission complete. -------------------------------------- 11. The Dead Rise as Quel'Thalas Falls -------------------------------------- Story: The only force that remains in the Northlands is the ancient Elven city of Quel'Thalas. Burn it to the ground! Objectives: Destroy Elven Stronghold Strategy: Honestly, I thought this was an easy level (easier than the last level I mean). Sure the humans attack you very often, but they are easy to kill and don't pose much of a threat. When the level first begins, some humans will immediately attack you from the south. Use your ogres to crush them (leave your sappers outta this). Now start building up your city. When you explore this map, you'll see three more gold mines for you to use scattered around the land. Quel'Thalas is located in the southwest, and it's a pretty big city that's very well defended. Speaking of defense, you'll need to defend your city to protect against the numerous human attacks. Place 2 to 3 cannon towers at the western entrance of your city (they hardly ever come from the south) and a couple of troops there. There, your city's defended! When you feel like it, send ogres down to each of the groups of Elves scattered throughout the realm (don't cross the ice bridges to Quel'Thalas yet, just the Elves on your side). Kill each and every one of them, and you can make them into Undeads (Skeletons) if you want, using Death Knights. Once you've cleared the whole place of those Elves, send peons to build Great Halls, so you can get more gold. Continue building your army, and rebuilding your defense. However you want to attack Quel'Thalas is up to you, if you have a big enough army, almost any strategy will work. Even if your army does get wiped out, you still have those guys defending your city, and you can build more troops. But I'll give you two strategies, and you can decide which one to use. Here's the first one, the one I used: First, I'd destroy the outer defenses of the city. From the north, you can use sappers (or catapults, provided they get protection) to blow up the towers on the outside boundary of the city. The Death Knight's "haste" spell, and decoys to draw fire away from sappers will help you destroy the towers. Sappers can also take out the towers deeper in the city, but it'll be harder and more risky. You should also position a team of 12 or so (composed of mainly Ogre-Magi and a few Catapults) in the eastern entrance of Quel'Thalas. Again, sappers or catapults will take out the outer towers easily. Move your way into the city, it's not really hard and you don't need any special tactic to beat this. Catapults can easily take out towers and ogre-magi can take out the other guys (Paladin, Elves, etc). Replace/Add to your troops with fresh ones as you move along into the city. Go for the powerful units first, then destroy the others. Soon, the city should be yours, and you will win. Second Strategy: I haven't tried this out, but it should work in many levels, including this one. Create a shit load of Ogre-Magi (I'm talking a lot) and Catapults, and storm them through the city. You'll have plenty of gold and lumber (this is a forest!) to do this. ------------------------- Act IV: Tides of Darkness ------------------------- These last three levels are the final levels, and indeed they are not easy. Remember to save when you're doing well, and save often. -------------------- 12. Tomb of Sargeras -------------------- Story: The only forces that remain are in the west... but first, you must take care of a little problem in the Horde. Gul'dan is reported to have raised the Tomb of Sargeras, and has betrayed the Horde. The Twilight Hammer Clan is helping Gul'dan and his Stormreaver Clan with this operation. Ogrim Doomhammer does not know what they are planning to do with the tomb, but orders them to be destroyed. Objectives: Destroy the Stormreaver Clan Destroy the Twilight's Hammer Clan Strategy: This level really isn't that hard, if you follow one thing. That thing would be to BUILD A STRONG SEA DEFENSE! Sorry for the caps, but I really had to emphasize that. The opponents in this level will attack you constantly with their ships, and rarely (if not never) with land forces. As soon as the level starts, load up your transports with ogres, grunts, catapults, and trolls. Sail east, past the first island and land on the second one. Unload your men and kill everything on the island. Then bring your peons and sappers onto that island to start building your city. With the ships you have, kill as much of you can of the two ogres on the first island you passed. Then, if your ships didn't do their jobs, send in ground troops to kill the remainder. The first island has only trees on it, which makes it a good place to build a lumber mill and harvest lumber. Don't concentrate on building a land army yet, you have plenty of orcs. Immediately build a shipyard and start hauling oil (oil patch is just north of your island). Build man Juggernauts, and protect your oil platform with your ships. Create a huge navy, with mainly juggernauts and one Zeppelin for seeing submarines. Enemy ships will attack you, but you shouldn't have trouble with them if you did what I said. Explore the map with Zeppelins and Eye of Kilroggs. Once you feel confident of your navy, it's time to take over that other small island with the gold mine. Sail over there and destroy all you can with your ships. Then send in ground troops to wipe the rest of the islander-orcs out. Start a new settlement there and get the resources on that island. You'll need at least six juggernauts (although I prefer 8) if you're going to attack the island (remember to also bring the Zeppelin). Make a destroyer also, incase the Daemons in the center of the level come over and attack your juggernauts (they don't do much damage, but are very annoying). Don't put the destroyer on your team, because they'll be the first to sink, just put them on the side. Send your juggernauts around and start destroying the coastline. Remember to destroy the hazards first (towers, catapults, trolls, other ships, etc). The death knights most likely won't attack you, but try to kill them, to make your land strike easier. If a Daemon's joining the fight, bring your Troll Destroyer and kill it. Once you've made a mess of the coastline, you're ready for the land attack. For the land strike, I'd make sure to have three transports. Fill them up with 10 or so Ogres, a couple of trolls (to take out the Daemons), and some death knights. Send them on the island and start your destruction. Take the transports back and load a couple of sappers on to blow up the rock surrounding the area with Gul'dan and Cho'gall. Once you've destroyed everything in the outer area, proceed into the area with Gul'dan and Cho'gall. They should be easy, if you want to minimize your danger, use your death knights in the outer area to create whirlwinds in there. Destroy everything in the inner part and you'll have won. ------------------------ 13. The Seize of Dalaran ------------------------ Story: Dalaran is the sanctum of the Mages of Lordaeron, and the only thing holding you back from Lordaeron. Destroy the city and everything on it. Objectives: Destroy Dalaran Destroy the Alliance's defenders Strategy: I won't lie to you; this is a difficult level. There are 39 human towers (either guard or cannon) in this level alone. To make it even more difficult, the opponent will always use Gryphon Riders to attack you... so you'll need teams of Trolls. When you begin, send all your troops south. There will be a few humans along the way, no match for your troops. Once you get down there... kill all the humans in the area and send your peons down there and start building your city near the gold mine. The enemy in this level will attack you mostly with Gryphons, so it's good to place a team of 5 to 6 Berserks with Regeneration in your city. Start building a land army and a sea army (with battleships, and a few destroyers to counter Gryphons). Explore the map with Flying Machines (it'll take more than one for you to explore the map, since they get destroyed so easily) or Eye of Kilroggs, and you'll see that there is another gold mine in the southeast. But to get to it, you must go eliminate the 2 elves, 2 footmen, 2 knights, 2 cannon towers, and ballista guarding the entrance to Dalaran. Personally I'd use the catapult to take out the cannon towers, and ogre-magi to protect the catapult from the land units. But anyway you do it will be fine. Once they are gone, send your peons to build another town hall near the gold mine and get the resources there. You should also build another shipyard on this side (right side) of the island, and station another berserk team there to protect your settlement. You should now have a shipyard on each side of the Cross-shaped Island, so build a juggernaut team on each side (of 6 to 8 juggernauts, with a flying machine in each team). Why so many juggernauts? The plan is this: Destroy the coastal towers, which make up about 2/3 or Dalaran's total towers. That way, when you begin your land assault, you'll deal with fewer towers. Send the 2 juggernaut teams, one on each side, to the coast on each side and start your destruction. Keep 2 dragon teams (about 3 dragons in each team) to the side incase the Gryphons attack your juggernauts. Move your juggernaut team on the left of the island up the west coast, destroying everything in your path. The juggernaut team on the right side of the island should be moving up the east coast, destroying all that it can. Remember to destroy the major threats (towers, ballistas, and human ships) first. Then destroy the minor threats, which would be the archers and mages. After the treats have been cleared, destroy the buildings in the area your ships can reach. You will loose juggernauts, replace your teams with new juggernauts when necessary. Your dragons can take care of gryphons that attack your juggernauts. The two juggernaut teams will eventually meet up at the top of the island, if you move both teams along the coast. Congratulations, you have destroyed most of the island's defenses. Time for the attack on land. For the land attack, you should bring mostly ogres, about 12 of them. You should also bring berserks and catapults. Berserks are to counter Gryphons, and ranged attacks. Catapults are the most useful tools you'll use to destroy towers. You can also bring sappers and death knights, although they won't but as useful as the above. For the land attack strategies, I'll divide up the island into five sections. The sections are easy for you to identify on the map, because walls separate them. So let's begin: Bottom Section of the Island: This is the first part of the island the bridge is connected to. Nothing too exciting in this part, a barracks (destroyed by your Juggernauts already), towers and a few farms are all the buildings you'll find. There are also about 5 or so Paladins in the area. Since your juggernauts already destroyed all the towers on the coast (if they didn't, tell them to do so now!), there are only two towers in this area. I prefer to use a catapult to destroy them from a distance. If Paladins come at your catapult, just use your ogre-magi and trolls to take them out before they get to catapult. Don't worry if the cannons hurt your ogre-magi and trolls, catapults are more expensive and take a longer time to build. Once you destroy the two cannon towers in this section, kill the remaining Paladins. I prefer to lure them towards your troops with the catapult, and then kill them with your ogre-magi & trolls. Destroy the two guard towers guarding the entrance to the central section of the island (same strategy as before), and destroy all buildings in this bottom section. If troops from other sections come and try to pick a fight, your ogres should be table to teach them a lesson. Right (East) Section of the Island: We're skipping the center section for now, mainly because you want to get that Gryphon Aviary out of the way, to minimize Gryphon attacks. If you've destroyed the towers on the coast, there should be only one guard tower in this area. That tower will be an easy razing if you use the catapult. There may also be a Paladin or two in this place, and some Gryphons guarding the Aviary. Kill the Gryphons with trolls and/or dragons and Paladins with ogre-magi. Destroy the Gryphon Aviary and Barracks here... you're done with the right section. Central Section of the Island: There should be NO towers in this area. They should have been destroyed by the Juggernauts. But there might be a lot of units crowded around the castle (or maybe not). If there is, I'd prefer Sappers to blow them up (remember to save first! Incase you mess up). Death Knights are also good with Whirlwind and Death and Decay, but remember to give them Unholy armor, because Paladins can take em out very easily with Exorcism. Destroy all the other Paladins with your troops (bloodlust first) and all the buildings. Now destroy the two towers guarding the entrance to the Left Section and the two towers guarding the entrance to the top section. You know what to use. Left Section of the Island: Again, all the towers in this area should have been destroyed. Really, there should be almost nothing here except a few farms, maybe a barracks, and maybe even some human units. This is a very easy section. Top Section of the Island: This place contains the mage tower, and naturally, Mages. Again, there should be no towers, since you're juggernauts destroyed all towers on the coast. The few Paladins and mages are all that's left defending the remainder of Dalaran. Send all your troops in and kill anything that walks. Proceed to destroy the buildings, and you should win. If not, you probably missed a submarine or two, an oil platform, or a farm you didn't see. Destroy them and you've completed the mission. ------------------------- 14. The Fall of Lordaeron ------------------------- Story: Only the shining capital of Lordaeron stands in the way of the orc's conquest of the human nations. You know what to do... Objectives: Destroy all that you behold in the name of the Horde! Strategy: Personally, I think this is easier than the last level. But I must warn you; it is very easy to get defeated in this level. Human land troops will constantly pound your main base in the west. I'm not talking about sending a few Level 1 Footmen and an archer. I'm talking about Knights/Paladins, Ballistas... the big guns. They seem to never attack your other base in the east with land troops. Soon, the land attacks will get fewer and fewer, as Lordaeron begins to send out Gryphons to pound your men. There will also be a few sea attacks, but you can handle them. When the game begins, immediately tell one of your peons in the base to the west to build a barracks. Tell one peon on the east to build a farm and another on the east to build a Great Hall. Land troops will never attack your base on the east, so you don't have to build a barracks there yet. In your western settlement, position your troops in the north near the guard tower. That is where the bad guys usually come from, although don't be surprised if they come from some where else. Immediately build up your land defense in the west. Knights after knights will attack you, and soon they'll become Paladins. Your land defense should consist mainly of Grunts... and Ogres when you get an Ogre Mound. After a while, Gryphon Riders will start coming to attack your two bases. Build up two nice Berserk teams on each island; make sure they have regeneration. Be sure to start building up your armada of Juggernauts, and some dragons too. Once you've explored the land, you'll see that there are a bunch of Azeroth troops on the eastern island. Sooner or later, your peons will meet them, and it'll get bloody. I prefer to send 3 to 4 dragons there to toast the troops. The only units that can hurt your dragons are four Level 1 Elven Archers. They can be taken down easily by dragons. Destroy the remaining humans and human towers on that island, so your orcs won't be in danger. Once your armada is complete (6 to 8 juggernauts and a flying machine), send them out to terrorize the pathetic human ships out to sea. Once they are gone, begin ravaging the coast of Lordaeron. By now, I shouldn't have to tell you what to attack first... I've said it like a million times. They Lordaeron Coast is not as heavily defended as the Dalaran Coast (is it me or did they not spend a lot of time on Lordaeron?), so your ships will make it out just fine. Once you've shut down all the human sea forces, and destroyed all you can with the juggernauts, you have basically won. Send three or so transports full of ogres, death knights, berserks (damn Gryphons), catapults, and a single peon to Lordaeron. Use the peon to build a barracks, Temple of the Damned, and a Gnomish Inventor if you're planning to use sappers. Kill the Azeroth troops near the coast (they are all non-upgraded Level 1 humans, very easy to kill), and go for the city. Destroy the towers with catapults or sappers... heck, you can use anything you want. Death Knights prove very useful with their "Death and Decay" and "Whirlwind" to destroy buildings and towers. The mages may give you some problems with polymorph, but they are easily defeated. Once you've destroyed the majority of Lordaeron, you can send over a bunch of peons over to get the RIDICULOUS amount of gold from the Lordaeron gold mine (when I got there, there was about 170,000 gold in the mine!). Getting that extra gold will improve your score. Heck, while you're at it, why not get more oil from the numerous oil patches in this level. IMO, the orc ending is cooler and more funny than the human ending... ======== 6. Units ======== Because most of Human and orc units have the exact same properties, I'll just put one description for both of them. Yeah, it's not a good way to make my FAQ/Walkthrough bigger, but whatcha gonna do 'bout it? ---------- Land Units ---------- Peasant/Peon HP: 30 Armor: 0 Damage: 1-5 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 10 Build at: Town Hall Requires: Town Hall These are your basic workhorses, although they can't do crap in battle, they are necessary to every town. They are the only units that can harvest gold and lumber, and build structures. Very important, and you should have lots of them. But do not use them for battle, unless you're facing other peasants/peons. Footman/Grunt HP: 60 Armor: 2 Damage: 2-9 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 10 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks They are your basic fighting unit. Good at the beginning of the game when you can't build anything else. The Knights/Ogres replaces them though, since they are better than the Footman/Grunt in every way. But these guys are still good cheap fighters to use for general attacking. Elven Archer/Troll Axethrower HP: 40 Armor: 0 Damage: 3-9 Range: 4 Sight: 5 Speed: 10 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks, Lumber Mill These guys can attack enemies from a distance, but personally I wouldn't go for them, since they can get killed really easily. Their damage and speed is similar to the Footman/Grunt, and they have a bit better sight. But their HP and Armor are horrible. If you want to use them, try to get them out of harm's way, and use them to attack on the side. It's also good to place them behind objects such as walls or other units. These guys can also attack Dragons/Gryphons, but you'll need to put them into a group for them to be effective. Elven Ranger/Troll Berserk (Upgraded Elven Archer/Troll Axethrower) HP: 50 Armor: 0 Damage: 3-9 Range: 4 Sight: 6 Speed: 10 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks, Lumber Mill, Stronghold/Keep Upgrade at: Lumber Mill These are upgraded Archers/Axethrower. They have improved stats, but can still be taken down pretty quickly. They can learn new skills to improve their Range and Sight. Rangers also get a skill that makes them hurt a lot more, while Berserks get a skill that allows them to slowly heal themselves. Ballista/Catapult HP: 110 Armor: 0 Damage: 25-80 Range: 8 Sight: 9 Speed: 10 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks, Lumber Mill, Blacksmith These are heavy "tanks" (although tanks are much more armored than these guys). Their power and range can allow them to take down stationary enemy units, towers, and buildings effectively. But you'll need troops protecting this, since it can not attack anything close to it. It's low defense and low speed ensures that it cannot escape if close-range attackers come at it. It's not good for attacking things that move, because of its slow fire rate and inaccuracy. Also good for protecting your coastline from ships (but will get destroyed pretty easily if the ships fire back). Knight/Ogre HP: 90 Armor: 4 Damage: 2-12 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 13 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks, Blacksmith, Stables Your ideal fighting unit, like the footman/grunt, except they are better in every way. These should be your standard land-attacking unit. Good HP, Armor, Damage, and Speed make them good for any situation. Upgrade them at the blacksmith and Church/Altar of Storms for more fun. Paladin/Ogre-Mage (Upgraded Knight/Ogre) HP: 90 Armor: 4 Damage: 2-12 Range: 1 Sight: 5 Speed: 13 Magic: 255 Build at: Barracks Requires: Barracks, Blacksmith, Stables, Church/Altar of Storms Upgrade at: Church/Altar of Storms These are Knights/Ogres with better sight and magic powers. They can perform three various spells, the most notable are Healing and Bloodlust. Healing is the Paladin's most important power, and allows him to heal any organic unit. Bloodlust however, is the Ogre-Magi's tool of destruction and allows him to make another unit have bloodlust. If another unit has bloodlust, that unit can do about twice as much damage while attacking... believe me, that is good. Other than the magic spells and better sight, they are just basically Knights and Ogres. Dwarven Demolition Squad/Goblin Sappers HP: 40 Armor: 0 Damage: 1-6 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 11 Build at: Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist Requires: Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist These guys are strategic bombers, good for destroying enemy targets to make it easier for you other guys. One of these blowing up can destroy a tower, and just about any land unit. Two of these can destroy almost any building, except of course the Castle/Fortress. But when they do use their explosives to cause great destruction, they themselves will die. And their low defense and HP makes them unable to take a lot of hits, so they will probably not be able to penetrate deep into enemy territory to destroy a target. Don't put them in large groups (1 or 2 in a group is enough), and definitely not with your other attackers. Mage/Death Knight HP: 60 Armor: 0 Damage: 5-9 Range (Mage): 2 Range (Death Knight): 3 Sight: 9 Speed: 8 Magic: 255 Build at: Mage Tower/Temple of the Damned Requires: Mage Tower/Temple of the Damned Magic boys that are horribly weak and slow, but can do numerous powerful spells (look in my spells section). Their spells vary, but both a pretty powerful ones, which can enable you to make up really cool strategies. Good for many uses, but not for regular fighting. --------- Sea Units --------- Oil Tanker HP: 90 Armor: 0 Damage: 0 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 10 Build at: Shipyard Requires: Shipyard These are kinda like the peasants/peons of the sea. They can build oil platforms on oil patches, and get oil (they are the only unit that can do that). Defenseless, so they'll need protection like your peasants/peons. Elven Destroyer/Troll Destroyer HP: 100 Armor: 10 Damage: 2-35 Range: 4 Sight: 8 Speed: 10 Build at: Shipyard Requires: Shipyard These are you basic sea attackers. They are good when you have nothing better to make, but battleships/juggernauts are MUCH better. Can attack airborne units, unlike any other ship, which is a pro. Transport HP: 150 Armor: 0 Damage: 0 Range: 1 Sight: 4 Speed: 10 Build at: Shipyard Requires: Shipyard, Foundry These are ships that can transport your troops across the sea. But be sure to protect them, since they can't attack and can get destroyed easily. Battleship/Juggernaut HP: 150 Armor: 15 Damage: 50-130 Range: 6 Sight: 8 Speed: 6 Build at: Shipyard Requires: Shipyard, Foundry These are like the Knights/Ogres of the sea, you're armada should consist mainly of these. They are extremely powerful (it takes them about 2 to 3 hits to destroy a cannon tower), and hard to take out. Plus they have a great range. Their speed is poor, but that's ok. The only problem is that Gryphons/Dragons will eat 'em up like him, so protect these hulking fortresses with Destroyers or your Gryphons/Dragons. Gnomish Submarine/Sea Turtle HP: 60 Armor: 0 Damage: 10-50 Range: 4 Sight: 5 Speed: 7 Build at: Shipyard Requires: Shipyard, Gnomish Inventor These guys... don't use them. Yeah, they can't be seen or hit (well actually they can, see *) if there are no towers or flying things around, but that can be countered really easily. When they are seen, they are destroyed so easily. I wouldn't waste my time with these... battleships/juggernauts are much more reliable in their destruction. * Credit goes to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jschneid/war2/commands.html You can attack a submarine/sea turtle if you use the "Attack Ground" command, and attack where you think the submarine/sea turtle is. Even though you won't be able to see it, your cannons will still shoot at the water where the submarine/sea turtle is located, and you can damage and destroy it. Cool huh? --------- Air Units --------- Gnomish Flying Machine/Goblin Zeppelin HP: 150 Armor: 2 Damage: 0 Range: 1 Sight: 9 Speed: 17 Build at: Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist Requires: Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist These are very good Recon units to scout the land, because that's what they are made for. They can also good for identifying Submarines/Sea Turtles, and should be welcomed in every naval force. Don't build too much of these though, because once you have seen the whole map and have one of these with each group of ships, they are pretty much useless. Gryphon Rider/Dragon HP: 100 Armor: 5 Damage: 8-16 Range: 4 Sight: 6 Speed: 14 Build at: Gryphon Aviary/Dragon Roost Requires: Gryphon Aviary/Dragon Roost They are very powerful attackers, and being airborne makes them vulnerable to only a few units (Archers/Axethrowers, Rangers/Berserks, Mages/Death Knights, Elven Destroyers/Troll Destroyers, Guard Towers, other airborne units that can attack). Make sure those units are minimized, because they can be taken out pretty quickly. Also don't put them in large groups, because they fire fireballs (similar to the Mage's Fireball Spell, except it is much smaller), and those fireballs can hit each other. =============== 7. Magic Spells =============== ------- Paladin ------- Holy Vision: This will allow you to see the portion of the map you select. Very useful, and makes the Flying Machine obsolete. Heal: This is the Paladin's best spell. Although you probably wouldn't have time to heal during battle (you'd be too busy ordering your units to attack certain things and such), healing after or before battles is a great idea. Keep in mind that the Paladin can not heal ships and other machines. Remember to heal often. Exorcism: This'll take a lot of damage off of the Undead and Death Knights... but usually you won't find many death knights charging at you, and Undeads could be taken care of by regular troops easily. I'd rather save my magic for healing, but that's just me. --------- Ogre-Mage --------- Eye of Kilrogg: This spell will create one Eye of Kilrogg, which is an eye with really low sight, but it travels really fast. It is used to scout the land, but it runs out of health after a while. Personally I think Holy Vision is better, since it's quick and easy. Bloodlust: Oh yeah! This is the ultimate spell. It makes your units do TWICE as much damage as they are supposed to do! Use this before battle and you'll totally dominate, unless maybe they're also using Bloodlust. This is the Ogre- Mage's best spell. Runes: Runes sets up a semi-invisible land mine, which will explode when anything goes over it. It's good to protect the city, although you must remember that you'll also get hurt from the runes. ---- Mage ---- Lightning: This is the Mage's attack, yeah, nothing too special about it. The Mage discharges lightning from his... no not the wand... his hand. Fireball: The fireball is ok... it doesn't do much damage, and the opponent will probably send troops to slay your mage after you launch a fireball at em. If your mage is alone, he's as good as dead. But if you have a large force, and want to get the enemy's attention, a fireball may be a good way to go (then again, blizzard is better). Flame Shield: This is a cool move. If the opponent's troops are in groups, giving one or two guys in the group flame shield will weaken the group by a lot, and probably break up the group. You can also give flame shield to units that usually aren't in groups, like ballistas (good protection) and demo squads, for them to do their thing better. Slow: Makes the unit slower and makes them slower at attacking... useful for slowing down any general unit so they'll take longer between attacks. Also useful to slow down demo squads/sappers when they are trying to bomb your target and death knights/mages who are trying/will try to escape after performing their magic on your men. Invisibility: Very useful for sneak attacks, etc. Remember that it will not work on the Demo Squads/Sappers. Blizzard: Creates a blizzard that'll damage and destroy buildings, units, etc. Good for destruction, although a mage will have keep on feeding magic to the blizzard, meaning that mage will be vulnerable to attack. You can also make multiple blizzards in one area with more than one mage, meaning more destruction. Polymorph: This is a cool spell. It turns any organism (that includes Gryphon riders and Dragons) into a critter. Critters as you know, are neutral, very weak, and cannot attack. The problem with this is that it uses up a lot of magic. ------------ Death Knight ------------ Touch of Darkness: This is the death knights' main attack. It's a ranged attack, which means you can attack flyers and stuff. Death Coil: Only works on living organisms (and I don't think it works on other mages/death knights). It's pretty powerful, and gives health to the "one so enchanted", which is usually the death knights themselves. Haste: This makes a unit faster, even if that unit was very fast already. Good for making Demo Squads/Sappers fast so they can bomb targets with more ease. Also good for slow things and what not. Unholy Armor: This takes off half of a unit's health, but makes them invincible for a short while. When I say short while, I MEAN short while. But it's just enough for a fellow death knight to do a complete "Death and Decay" on the enemy turf. Death and Decay: This is basically the Mage's blizzard... although it's pretty cool and sinister sounding. Whirlwind: This creates a small whirlwind, which can do a lot of damage, but travels aimlessly. Good for destroying buildings, and wrecking havoc in a crowded area, and whatever you can think of to make this deadly. Raise Dead: This makes decomposing bodies turn into the Undead (Skeletons). Although the Skeletons are pretty weak (what do you get when you cross a peasant with a footman?), and can be killed really easily with Exorcism, they can be fun to use and help you in battle. But these guys die after a while, so use them to the max while you can. ============ 8. Buildings ============ Farm/Pig Farm: These feed your units, and are very important in any society. You'll need to constantly build these as your city grows. Town Hall/Great Hall: This is an important building. Peasants/Peons can bring lumber and gold to "cash in", and you can build more Peasants/Peons in a Town Hall/Great Hall. Build these near gold mines (although you can't build them too close), to obtain gold more quickly. Barracks: This is where most of your land combat units are build, and is important in every city. Don't be afraid to build more than one of these, especially if you have another settlement going on in another location. You can only build footmen/grunts with barracks, but if you have certain buildings, you can build more units. Lumber Mill: The Elven Lumber Mill and Troll Lumber Mill enables you to get 125 lumber each time your peasant/peon bring in lumber. These mills can also serve as a place to bring in lumber, so you can build these in areas far from your town hall for peasants out there to quickly bring in lumber. It also lets you build Elven Archers/Troll Axethrowers, and is a place for upgrading the Archers/Axethrowers. It's also one of the requirements for building a ballista/catapult. Blacksmith: This is a requirement for ballistas/catapults and knights/ogres. It is also a place to upgrade your close-combat units and ballistas/catapults. Watch Tower: These are pretty much useless, but they do warn you of enemies if they are approaching the city. Upgrade these into guard or cannon towers. Guard Tower: These can fire arrows at enemies, which is useful. They are weaker than cannon towers however, but can shoot at flying units. Cannon Tower: These shoot powerful cannons, similar to the Destroyers. But they can not shot at flying units. Plus, like all towers, they are destroyed pretty easily. Shipyard: This produces all the sea units. It is the most important water structure, and can produce tankers and other ships. It is also a place for tankers to bring in their oil to "cash in". Plus it doesn't require oil to build, unlike the Refinery and Foundry. Don't be afraid to build more than on of these in different sites. Foundry: This is the upgrading center for your ships. It also allows transports and battleships/juggernauts to be constructed, which are very important for your navy. As I mentioned, you could also upgrade your ships here, which is also important. Oil Refinery: These increase the amount of oil made from the oil your ships haul in into 125. It also lets tankers bring oil to it, and that's about all it can do. Keep/Stronghold: This is an upgrade for your Town Hall/Great Hall, and increases the amount of gold processed from the gold your peasants/peons bring in to 110. You only need to have one Keep/Stronghold to be able to get 110 gold each time. More importantly, it allows you to construct more buildings, and upgrade the Archer/Axethrower into the Ranger/Berserk at the lumber mill. It's also stronger than the Town Halls/Great Halls. Stables/Ogre Mound: Simply, these allow you to make knights/ogres at the barracks, provided that you have the Blacksmith. But that's no small thing. You need the Keep/Stronghold to build these. Gnomish Inventor/Goblin Alchemist These are places to construct the Gnomish Flying Machine/Goblin Zeppelin and the Demo Squad/Sappers. Both of the mentioned units are important. It also lets you create the submarine/sea turtle at the shipyard, which are not so important... Castle/Fortress: This is an upgraded Keep/Stronghold, able to process gold in such a manner that you'll get 120 gold each time peasant/peon brings gold to any of your gold processing places. You also get to build a lot more buildings (3 to be exact). Plus, Castles/Fortresses are very strong and hard to destroy. Church/Altar of Storms: These let you upgrade your Knights/Ogres into Paladins/Ogre-Magi, and let you use their magic spells. Very good... Mage Tower/Temple of the Damned: These, you build Mages/Death Knights there. You can also research their magic spells at these places. Useless if you're not building any Mages/Death Knights at all... but of course you are going to build Mages/Death Knights... right? Gryphon Aviary/Dragon Roost: These are places to build Gryphon Riders and Dragons, so these are useless if you're not planning to make Gryphon Rider and Dragons in the first place. ========= 9. Cheats ========= These cheats are from http://www.gamesages.com, although you can probably find them anywhere. To enter these, press "Enter" and type these words... exactly as it is. it is a good day to die - You are Invincible... plus do you a lot of damage when you attack. hatchet - You get to chop wood down really quickly glittering prizes - You get: 10000 Gold, 5000 Lumber, 5000 Oil valdez - You'll get 5000 Oil... nice spycob - Another "5000 Oil" Code deck me out - Upgrade everything (armor, swords, cannons, etc) every little thing she does - Gives all Mages/Death Knights' their spells tigerlily - Enables level warp. Press enter again and type the name of the Campaign and the level number to warp to that level instantly ("orc14" would warp to the Orc Campaign's 14th level). unite the clans - Skip this level noglues - Disable Runes make it so - Lets you build really fast there can be only one - Quick Ending showpath - Reveals map, not in multiplayer on screen - Reveals map, works with multiplayer ucla - Displays "Go Bruins" on screen day - Displays "fief" on screen netprof - Displays network performance fastdemo - Demo start faster... you pitiful worm - You lose instantly never a winner - When you win, the "Victory" box never appears, and you'll keep on playing like normal. allowsync - Allows you to surrender in multiplayer games title - Enable or disable cheat codes during multiplayer games ============== 10. Last Words ============== This FAQ is complete, so no more updates are on the way, unless I get "Beyond the Dark Portal". For the moment, visit my site at http://www.abz1986.u4l.com, for the latest version of this FAQ/Walkthrough and more Warcraft II stuff. If you have any questions, comments, or whatever, email me at abz1986@yahoo.com. ===================== 11. Legal Information ===================== This document is Copyright 2001 by abz1986. You may NOT change, steal, sell this work for profit, or distribute it with any commercial product. You MAY print this out and give it to your friends, but again, you may not change this in any shape or form.