How To Play Human
The Most In Depth Guide on the Human Race
Written by GoDMatiK

 

I've been playing Human for quite some time now, and I've noticed that most of the guides on how to play Human, such as Apex-x's human guide, barely even scratch the surface of how to truly master the race (no offense to apex that guide is great). So, I've taken it on myself to write a COMPLETE guide on how to truly master the race of Human in War Craft III. Keep in mind that this guide is geared towards people that know nothing about Human, so don't be offended when I go over the most basic things that most good players know about (example - how to creep the temple). I will be doing this in installments since I will be going into great detail for each race matchup. I will also talk about build orders, creeping tricks, building placement, and micro essential to Human. Please feel free to constructively criticize me in any way, just please no flames. So, please enjoy and I hope you learn a lot.

TABLE OF CONTENTS -

Chapter I - Build Orders
Chapter II - Building Placement / Scouting
Chapter III - Creeping / Micro Tricks
Chapter IV - Human vs Night Elf
Chapter V - Human vs Orc
Chapter VI - Human vs Human
Chapter VII - Human vs Undead
Chapter VIII - Closing Remarks / Special Thanks

I will start off by telling you about myself. I am GoDMatiK@Azeroth, I am no one, I am referred to as newbie and low lvl, and I beat the top ladder players in custom games. I have achieved as high as level 27 with my Human on Kalimdor, but alas I recently moved and now I am stuck with an erased Asia account and nothing but a 56k modem. I will be happy to 1v1 anyone for practice, as I'm going to need a lot of it for my return to ladder when I get broadband again in June/July. So, please do not judge me until you have seen me play :)

Note - throughout most of this guide I will talk about strategies and such things as they would work on the map Lost Temple, keep in mind that this is the most commonly played map, but these strategies and tricks can be put to use on ALL maps, it's just up to you to figure out how ;)

Chapter I - Build Orders

There are MANY different kinds of build orders you can use as human, from double rax with MK for footmen trap, to powerbuilding an altar for a 4 peasant early expansion. Each one has its one use and it is really a matter of preference in which one you use, not superiority. Anyway, here are a few of the many build orders you can use.

Build Order #1 - Basic Hero first build

Replay of this Build Order

5 Peasants at start - 4 on gold 1 builds altar
First peasant out of hall builds barracks - players like Nit2 place the rax at the top of their main ramp
1 gold peasant builds farm 3 on gold 0 on lumber
#2 peasant out of hall on lumber 3 on gold 1 on lumber
#3 peasant out of hall on gold 4 on gold 1 on lumber
as lumber peasant returns with second load of wood use him to build a farm 4 on gold 0 on lumber
peasants #4 and #5 out of hall on lumber as first farm, altar, and rax finish each goes on lumber 4 on gold 6 on lumber
when barracks is finished que 2 footmen

From this point you can decide to do one of two things -
#1 - Tech to tier 2 after 2 footmen and start creeping, beginning with gnolls at entrance to temple and going around (different depending on map)
#2 - make 4 more peasants as gold allows and fast expand at your natural using militia, 2 footmen, and water elemental.


Build Order #2 - Barracks first for MK support

Replay of this Build Order

5 Peasants at start - 4 on gold 1 builds barracks - most players also start an altar then take peasant off to build barracks, this will make peasants work faster on gold if placed correctly
#1 peasant out of hall on lumber 4 on gold 1 on lumber
#2 peasant out of hall builds altar 4 on gold 1 on lumber
#3 peasant out of hall builds farm, lumber peasant returns load for total of 40 lumber and builds farm as well 4 on gold 0 on lumber
#4 peasant out of hall on lumber 4 on gold 1 on lumber
use peasant that is building barracks to scout once barracks is finished, first footmen out of barracks will scout in the opposite direction. Build a third farm with the peasant building the second farm once his job is completed, send all other peasants back to lumber when their work is done 4 on gold 3 on lumber 1 building farm 1 scouting (try not to lose this one)
once the third farm is completed you will have enough resources to either build a second barracks or tech to tier 2, this choice is yours.

Many players chose Mountain King as their first hero because you will have 4 footmen when he arrives, this makes it easier to creep due to the fact that the MK has no summon spell.

Also against Night Elf players you can chose to build a lumber mill instead of teching to tier 2 or building a barracks, then you can send MK/footmen/3 militia to their main to build guard towers.

On certain maps players may use this build and get Arch Mage as first hero. The extra footmen will help them take on more powerful creeps earlier in the game. Example - the natural expo or shops on Duskwood.

Build Order #3 - Fast Hero

Replay of this Build Order - Creep Option
Replay of this Build Order - Expand Option

5 Peasants at start - 2 on gold 2 builds altar 1 builds farm
#1 peasant out of hall on gold
#2 peasant out of hall on lumber at this time take a peasant out of gold and have him whack your farm 8 or 9 times, this way farm and altar finish at exact same time. As altar and farm finish send 2 peasants on lumber and 1 on gold 4 on gold 3 on lumber.
At this point you have 73-75 lumber, watch the two peasants that finished the altar carefully and send them back once they have the 5-7 lumber needed to build a barracks
#3 peasant out of hall builds barracks.
Lumber peasant builds farm when resources are available 4 on gold 2 on lumber

If you wish to creep instead of early expand, use the #4 peasant out of main to help build barracks, finish with 4 peasants on gold and 6 on lumber and begin creeping.

If you wish to early expand, use only 1 peasant to build barracks and make 4 extra peasants in your main. Once your Arch Mage is completed turn 4 peasants into militia and use them to clear your expansion.

I love using this build to early expand because you can expand AND you start creeping the normal creeps only a little later then you normally would.

These are not all the build orders out there, there are millions of variations, but I feel these are the most basic and the most viable of them all. I didn't come up with any of these build orders so don't credit me.

Chapter II - Building Placement / Scouting

Scouting and building placement are important aspects of the game no matter WHAT race your playing, but here I will give certain tips to both of the above categories.

The use of farms - Many players build farms far away from their main/expo so that they can see enemy units ahead of time, or catch them when they are taking on a creep group. People have started referring to this as farm scouting, I dislike the term, but I haven't really thought of anything better myself. This is quite easy to do and VERY useful. I start with my second farm. Using build order #3, as I return the 2 peasants early for enough lumber to build a barracks, I send one walking down my main ramp, this way once I get 20 lumber I can build a farm EXTREMELY far away from my main ramp, that way I can see whatever is coming from that direction ahead of time. Example -

Smart players know that the way to beat a good human player is to deprive them of their resources. To stop harass is to see it before it arrives, so I always build a farm away from my expansion as shown here -

It is also a good idea to send one of your lumber peasants to scout the enemy, once you find him and you return to peasant form, it's not a bad idea to build a farm by his main, that way you can tell what direction he may be going in next. Example -

 

Night Elf players often send two wisps out to scout early, that way they can build an expansion on the ramp of a natural other then their own in an attempt to trick you into thinking they have no expanded. This can be stopped easily by scouting these areas with peasants and/or building farms at the top of the ramps. Example -

So, why does farm scouting work you ask? Well if a player stopped to destroy each farm he passed he would only serve in slowing himself down. This allows you to react faster to what his next move might be. If you noticed him destroying a farm by the ogre camp, you could immediately move in that direction to try to catch him while he's taking down the creep group. It is difficult for a player to take on a creep group AND you at the same time, this may for him to TP out possibly leaving unfinished creeps behind or a great item. If a player DOES destroy one of your farms immediately start to build a new on in your main once he begins to attack it. Since Human units are weak in comparison to the units of the other races, you need to win by getting an advantage over your opponent, and farm scouting is one way to do this.

 

Where to place your buildings - Building placement is important to winning, most of this is learned from experience. You don't want to cramp your buildings in too close because this could trap your army if the need to TP arises. You also want to choke off certain parts of your town to hinder your enemy. Here are several examples of how I place buildings in my main -

When building an expansion place it close to the trees, that way when you make lumber peasants there they will harvest more quickly. Example -

Don't be afraid to make buildings at your expansion. You may need to do this if you lost several lumber peasants in your main to a harass attack. Example -

 

As I said before most of this is learned through experience, and also personal style.

Chapter III - Creeping / Micro Tricks -

This chapter may be a little out of context if you haven't read the entire guide, but this chapter will tell you how I deal with harass or creep groups to minimize losses.

The Expansion - When expanding on Lost Temple place a Water Elemental at the top of your natural ramp. Use you Arch Mage to run down and attack the Troll Priest. Run back to the top of the ramp and wait for the creeps. The Troll Priest will stay behind and heal himself while the 2 Berserkers and the Trapper follow you to attack. Once they are at the bottom of the ramp engage them with whatever forces you have, this will typically be 4 militia and a water elemental for me. Since the creeps target summon units they will attack your elemental until it is dead. Because you are at higher ground, the trolls have a chance to miss with their attack, making your water elemental last longer and preserving your militia. Once you get your timing correct your militia will arrive at the top of the ramp just as the Arch Mage comes back with trolls following them, this timing is imperative, since if you Call To Arms too soon, they will return to peasant form before killing the troll priest back at the mine. On maps without a ramp just move the water elemental out in front, that way creeps will engage it before militia. On certain maps such as Gnoll Wood, more the one elemental is needed. You will learn to early expo on all maps with practice and experience.

Creeping The Temple - The first creeps you will encounter at the entrance to the temple will be a lvl 3 Gnoll and 2 lvl 1 Gnoll poachers. At the time you will have 1 or 2 footmen and your hero. As Archmage I like to sit my footmen at the entrance and make an elemental. I then run right up to one of the Gnoll Poachers and attack. This way the lvl 3 Gnoll will target my hero, and the 2 lvl 1 gnolls will attack the water elemental. Once this group is cleared you can move on to a set of trolls in the inner temple with your Arch Mage, 2 Footmen, and an elemental with 1/2 life.

To clear the trolls attack with you 2 footmen and water elemental. They will immediately target the elemental with 1/2 HP, immediately make a second elemental, this way when the first one dies, the trolls will target the new one instead of your footmen. During this whole process you should continue making footmen and rallying them to your hero. Once you clear this group your elemental will have barely any life left, destroy it with your footmen, this way a hero wandering by wont snag it for some easy experience. With this group cleared you can move on to the second group in the middle of the temple consisting of a lvl 5 ogre, a lvl 3 gnoll, and a lvl 1 gnoll poacher. Make an elemental and kill them in the following order - lvl 1 gnoll poacher, lvl 3 gnoll brute, lvl 5 ogre. As you finish the lvl 3 gnoll, the ogre will usually destroy your elemental and begin targeting footmen. Since you are low lvl it is generally a bad idea to waste mana making another elemental to take down 1 creep. To minimize losses, let the ogre hit a footmen once or twice then retreat him so he will change his target. Some Night Elf and Orc players creep the troll sets faster then you can, if this happens just clear the two sets with ogres and move on.

 

Creeping the Shops - After I clear the center I like to move on to one of the shops (preferably the closest one to enemy main). By this time you should have 4-5 footmen and your hero. If you just ran in and engaged the creep group at the shop you would lose 3 or 4 footmen, however if you lure out the trolls you can clear the shop without taking a single loss. To do this place your footmen far away from the shop with a water elemental, be sure to Hold Position on them. Next, run in with your Arch Mage and attack the golem, as soon as your fireball leaves your staff run back to your footmen. The golem will stop you with his boulder stun attack, however only the trolls will follow you and he will stay behind, once the stun wears off retreat a little further then engage the 3 trolls. It takes practice to get the distance just right, and its twice as difficult at night as it is during the day. If you engage the trolls too close to the golem, he will run in to help them and you will end up losing a lot more units then you bargained for. Always remember to hold position on your footmen, if you didn't and they see your Arch Mage getting attacked they will run in and attack the creeps, and usually draw the attention of the golem. Once the trolls are dead move on to the golem, sending the elemental in first to draw his fire. Keep in mind that this trick works on ALL level 6 golems, not just on Lost Temple.

Luring the creeps

Creeping the Goblin Labs - No matter what way you creep this group your footmen are going to be damaged heavily. If you follow the creeping order you should arrive at the camp by dawn of the second day. At this time you should have 2 Arcane Sanctums up, each making a Priest. Rally the Priests to your hero and head for the camp closest to you main, this way the Priests will heal your footmen when they are done killing the creeps. The camp itself consists of 2 level 3 ogre warriors, 1 level 5 ogre magi with blood lust, and 1 level 7 ogre lord. To take on this group position your footmen far away from the creeps with a water elemental in front of them. Next, run up and attack the level 3 ogre in the front with your Arch Mage. As you run away the magi will bloodlust one of the ogres and stay behind. Next surround and kill the level 7 ogre lord then finish off the level 3 warriors, this will yield a good item and good experience. It's up to you if you want to kill the level 5 magi, most players will just leave him behind and move on to the next group.

If you learn these basic creeping strategies you can easily apply them to other maps, just remember to always be innovative and experiment a lot.

Dealing With Harassment - Smart players know that the way to kill a human player is to cripple their resources. They do this by harassing with heros, or in some cases units as well. There are several ways to harass a human and the human has several counters for it. Here I will explain how to deal with all known forms of harassment.

The Basics - One of the keys is to see the enemy before he arrives. A useful technique is to use farms as scouts as I outlined in Chapter II. Once you see the incoming force you can take actions to prevent loss of workers.

Towers - Many players think making towers will prevent harassment. Personally I feel Human Guard Towers are 100% worthless as static defense. Making a Guard Tower takes time, gold, and lumber, and generally it won't help much in the long run. In the end players will either destroy it with siege, or pull injured units back out of its range and ignore it while they kill your workers.

Militia - Not only are militia useful as static defense and scouting, but using Call To Arms will help save your workers as well. Rather then trying to fight the enemy force, simply turn your peasants to militia and run away. If you DO engage enemy forces with militia, be sure to send severely injured peasants back to work, this way the enemy will get WAY less experience from killing them. Be sure to set peasants at your expansion and peasants working lumber in your main on different hotkeys for easy use.

Harass During Expansion - Players quick to scout (mainly Night Elf and Orc) will catch you expanding early. They will come and try to stop your expansion before it is actually finished. This is when you are the weakest, but there are a few tricks you can use to minimize you losses. Foremost, take the peasant being attacked and run away from the hero in a straight line, this will make the hero hit it less often and make the peasant last longer. Once the peasant gets to low life send it to the gold mine, this will make the harassing hero chose a different target. If the enemy succeeds in killing 2 or 3 peasants, take 2 from your main to finish the building. Don't bother making more in your main because that will just slow down your tech, which is the enemies goal in the first place. It's a good idea to engage the harassing hero with your main force. Don't worry too much about the creeping your missing, since he's not creeping either.

Night Elf Harass - Night Elf is probably the most versatile race to use to harass a human player. They can use a Demon Hunter with Immolation to harass your expansion or workers, or they can use a Keeper Of The Grove to harass your workers with entangle or your footmen as they are trying to creep.

The Demon Hunter - The key to dealing with DH Immo harass is to turn your peasants into militia and run like hell. There is no way they can stand and fight with a Demon Hunter, so just let him chase your militia uselessly. If the DH comes to your expansion before it is finished building, use the tricks I outlined above to minimize peasant losses.

The Keeper Of The Grove - This hero is TRULY annoying. Using entangle to harass your peasants isn't too effective. However, no matter what you do, he will entangle 4 peasants before running back for mana. Just turn your lumber peasants into militia and chase him out. You should keep creeping the entire time. The Keeper is much more deadly when he disrupts your creeping. He will follow you around and try to entangle your footmen, making it extremely difficult to creep. If you notice the Night Elf has made a Keeper run to the nearest shop and buy a Wand Of Negation. If he does catch you while your creeping, run away from the creeps leaving your water elemental behind, this way the creeps wont chase you and do even more damage. As you are running to the shop, leave your footmen behind to chase the Keeper around. In order for the Keeper to actually KILL a footmen it has to hit it several times, chasing the keeper around will prevent this, once your footmen are free of the entangle just send them to the fountain to heal and continue creeping.

Orc Harass - Most Orc players feel that the ONLY way to beat a human player is with successful harass. This can be even more annoying then an elf player, since the Orc will come back over and over again, whereas the Night Elf may only make one run then begin to creep.

The Far Seer - Every good Orc player and his mother gets Far Seer as first hero. They will scout with wolves and find your expansion before it is completed. They will then come and harass with the Seer and the wolves. Use the tricks I mentioned to save your peasants as they are being attacked. Also send 2 or 3 footmen to chase the Far Seer, since he is a ranged hero he wont be able to attack you peasants when he is running from your footmen. Meanwhile use the rest of your force to deal with the low HP wolves.

The Blade Master - Players may also harass with the Blade Master midgame, since this hero is so powerful when it comes to melee damage, simply turn to militia and run away.

Far Seer / Blade Master Combo - Some Orc players will send one hero to your main and expansion respectively to split harass. To stop this requires quite a bit of micro. To deal with the Blade Master turn your peasants to militia and run away as I described above. At the same time use your other peasants as militia to destroy the wolves. The Orc player will most likely focus fire one peasant at a time, so be sure to use the Back To Work command so he will get less experience. You will probably take a few losses, but the Far Seer isn't really good at harassing without his wolves.

Undead Harass - Undead harass only comes in one form - ghouls. Most often this doesn't come until mid-game, so you shouldn't have too much trouble stopping it. Usually Undead players will send their hero and 5-6 ghouls to your main to harass your gold peasants, then about 6 ghouls to your expansion to harass there as well. Seeing the ghouls before they reach your expansion is absolutely essential. If you don't notice them until they are already attacking, it will be almost impossible to turn your workers into militia and run away due to the blockage of having 6 ghouls in front of your Town Hall. Once you take care of your expansion I recommend using a Town Portal to save your main. Usually you can trap the Undead player enough to make him TP out to save his ghouls/hero.

Random Tricks / Essentials -

Tomes - As you creep with your Arch Mage, be sure to save all tomes for your Mountain King. Agilty, Strength, and Intelligence Tomes, as well as a Manual of Health will all be far more useful to your Mountain King then they would be to the Arch Mage. Some think the extra Intelligence would help an Intelligence based hero, but with Brilliance Aura your Mage will have all the mana it needs, and I dont feel the Arch Mage's damage is worth improving.

Invisibility - ALWAYS remember to use Invisibility to save your heros/important units!!! I can't stress enough how many games I've won just because of this skill.

Zepplins - These things are even better then invisibility, especially vs Undead. Since many strategies revolve around removing the enemies hero, you can easily counter this by picking him up with a Zepplin and dropping him safely behind your lines. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS buy a Zepplin against an Undead player.

Higher Ground - Always try to retreat to higher ground when engaging an enemy, and NEVER engage an enemy when he is on higher ground.

That Damn Dwarf - Keep in mind that the Mountain King is a tiny bastard, and not easily seen when in the midst of an enemy army. Against strategies such as mass DOTT, turn your MK invisible and place him in the middle of the DOTT. You can now Thunder Clap / Blizzard away. The Night Elf will have trouble using cyclone on the MK since he's so small and he blends in with everything else.

Hero Placement - Since human armies are typically made up of small melee units, its easy for a hero to get trapped behind where he is useless. Always try to keep your Mountain King out front where he is in Thunder Clap / Stormbolt range. I have lost games before to Undead players who mass ghouls simply because my MK got caught behind due to the poor pathing of this game. Also the front is a BAD place for your Arch Mage, especially if he is using Blizzard which he is required to stand still for.

Casters - There are a few things to keep in mind when using human casters. Typically I mostly get Priests, I put half auto casting inner fire, and half auto casting heal. Some people put dryads Abolish Magic skill on auto cast, so they will immediately abolish Inner Fire, wasting their mana that should be used Abolishing your summons. Usually, with the exception of Undead, I only get two Sorceresses and turn their slow on manual. This way you can manually slow heros and big units instead of wasting your mana automatically slowing something like a footmen.

Chapter IV - Human vs Night Elf -

Human vs Night Elf Replays -
GoDMatiK vs eTched Game 1
GoDMatiK vs eTched Game 2
GoDMatiK vs e9-Treant
GoDMatiK vs 4.2 (Push)

This is probably the most difficult matchup for Human. There are 3 basic strategies that high level NE players use to beat human. Here I will outline the strategies I personally use against these matchups. Please keep in mind that there are other viable strategies, however I personally feel these work the best.
The three main strategies used in high levels of Ne vs Hu are -

Mass Druid Of the Talon - This is purely annoying, the NE wins by constantly using Cyclone on your heros and important units.

Huntress/Dryad Push - This no-expo NE build is all about harassing and getting more units then you early in the game. They will constantly attack with Huntresses, Dryads, and a Ballista if needed.

Dryads/DotC - This build also relies on a degree of harassment, and using DotC to obliterate the weak human units. Usually if a Night Elf player survives more then 15 minutes using this build he will win.

All these builds come with varying amounts of harassment and/or AoW. I generally follow the same plan for each of these strategies. I use Build Order #3 to early expo at my natural, I then start creeping in the described order, or dealing with harassment as necessary. Be sure to build farms in your main so you have TOTAL vision, you don't want the NE to sneak in an AoW. Once you expo is up, periodically send militia to scout the entrance, NE players often build AoW there and you want to catch them before they are finished if possible. Be sure to scout and deal with harassment as I described. With this build I get 7 footmen then research defend. When the upgrade to Tier 2 is 50% finished I build a Lumber mill and a Blacksmith in my main I first upgrade footmen armor, then send all my upgrades into Riflemen attack. Upgrade your wood capacity at mill if you are lumber poor. Once you hit Tier 2 build 2 Arcane Sanctums and a Workshop. Once Arcane's are finished make 2 Priests in one, and get Adept training in other. You should keep making units as you are creeping. By the time second night comes around (about 10 minutes into the game) you should be ready to attack with about 72 supply of units. My army generally consists of the following - Arch Mage, Mountain King, 6-7 Footmen, 4-5 Riflemen, 6 Priests, 1-2 Sorceresses, 2-3 Mortar Teams. You should have crept a Goblin Merchant, an Ogre Camp, then a second Goblin Merchant by this time. Get a few items at the Merchant and prepare for the attack. Generally, if the NE went Dryads/Dotc, he will only have just upgraded to DotC Mastery Training. At this point you should be able to win due to the fact that he will only have a few DotC. Be sure to manually slow the Demon Hunter, or toss him in the air if you were lucky enough to get a Wand of the Wind. Focus fire any uprooted trees with your Mortar Teams. You should be able to win through superior micro, just remember to STAY AWAY FROM UPROOTED TREES. This is generally how I beat mass DOTT or Dryads/DotC, but it is different when dealing with a push.

The Push - Since you will be under constant attack, your main objective is to hold them off long enough for them to completely drain their gold mine. Once you make the NE player TP or run away 2-3 times you have probably won. There are several thing to remember when dealing with a push.

1 - If it comes to the point where he has more units then you, let him take your expansion. As long as you were able to get more resources out of the expansion then you put in it was well worth it.

2 - As soon as you drive him off start creeping. After his first push you should go and clear the Merchant closest to you. Usually the second push is even stronger then the first, so you will need scrolls or protection and healing, as well as the level 6 item from the golem to force him out again. Once he runs away the second time head for a Mercenary Camp, he will probably be back in your expansion even before you finish killing the ogre lord, once you have killed the lord, if you got a good item, tp back to save your expansion. The third push is probably the hardest, due to the fact that there isn't a creep group close enough to clear before he returns. At this point the elf player is getting desperate, but he will probably have enough to take your expansion.

3 - MILITIA!!!!! Militia will win against a push, be sure to keep your militia hotkeyed and use them when he enters your main. If you can hold him off long enough you can get enough Riflemen / Casters to stop him. Once you have pushed him back for the last time, and you can tell that he is weakened, finish him off with a swift counter-attack.

4 - Sorceresses are more useful against a Huntress / Dryad Push then they are against the other two strategies. Since the NE player will be constantly returning to his Moonwells to heal his injured units, he will have little juice to add to his Dryads mana. Slow is the bane of Huntresses, between that, the Summon Items from the high level creeps, and the Water Elementals, he will have to chose what he wants to Abolish, and either way he is going to get hurt. Invisibility is also a lifesaver in this situation, since the NE will be doing everything he can to kill your Mountain King.

Keep these things in mind and you should be able to stop the Huntress / Dryad push.

Hero Skills -

Arch Mage -
Level 1 - Water Elemental
Level 2 - Brilliance Aura
Level 3 - Brilliance Aura
Level 4 - Water Elemental
Level 5 - Water Elemental
Level 6 - Mass Teleport

Mountain King -
Level 1 - Stormbolt
Level 2 - Thunder Clap
Level 3 - Stormbolt
Level 4 - Thunder Clap
Level 5 - Stormbolt
Level 6 - Avatar

These skills should be swapped at your discretion. If the NE happens to go Huntresses and Archers I would recommend putting more into Blizzard/Thunder Clap. The same goes for switching Thunder Clap with Bash if the NE were to just mass Dryads.

Chapter V - Human vs Orc

Human vs Orc Replays -
Soon to come!

I find this matchup to be the most boring simply because it is so easy. As everyone knows Orc has a huge problem with large amount of air. Is it wrong for me to exploit this problem? Maybe, but this strategy wins, and in my opinion Orc is overpowered when it comes to ground units. There is only ONE strategy that you will constantly see in Human vs Orc at high levels of play. In this strategy the Orc will usually harass and try to slow you down, then they will attack early with a few Taurens and a few of each caster. Usually this attack comes at second nightfall, I've noticed that Orc players will usually stasis one set of ogres to try to get a good item, then they will attack. By this time they will generally have 2-3 Tauren, 4 Master Shaman, and 4 Master Witch Doctors. If this happens and the Human player has a pure ground force, the game will be won by the Orc. However, in this chapter I will outline a specific build order that will give you 6-8 Gryphons by the time this attack comes.

The Build Order - I start off by building Altar, Barracks, Farm as Build Order #1 specifies. Once the barracks is finished I only make one footmen. I then early expand with an Arch Mage, 1 Footmen, and 4 Militia. Back in my main I have 5 Peasants on lumber and 4 on gold. Just as you reach the expo ramp you should have enough resources to Tech your main building to Tier 2. Do so immediately while your clearing your expansion. Once your natural is cleared you will have enough resources to build an expansion there. Do so, then que a second Footmen. Continue making Footmen and creeping as you normally would. If the Orc player decides to harass you deal with it as best you can. Since this build requires a large amount of lumber, I will put the peasants that build my expansion on lumber instead of gold. Shortly after you will reach Tier 2. Immediately start the Tech to Tier 3, when you have the resources build a Mountain King and a Lumber mill. Keep in mind that you are going to need 42 supply worth of farms when you reach Tier 3. Once Tier 3 is completed, build 2 Gryphon Aviaries, and a Paladin. If you want you can use 2 Peasants to build each Aviary, this is up to you. By now you should have a bank of about 2000-2500 gold. Once the Aviaries are completed start making Gryphons, once you have 6 Gryphons research the Storm Hammers upgrade in one building and continue to make Gryphons in the other.

The Attack - Some Orc players will realize what your doing, and they will decide to attack you before first nightfall. In this case they will probably come at your expansion with 1 Tauren and 2 of each caster. If this occurs DO NOT engage them. Just turn your Peasants to Militia and run back to your main. It will take time for the Orc player to destroy your expansion building, during this time just sit farm back behind your buildings and continue making Gryphons. Once the Orc is finished with your expansion he will attack your main, if you have under 6 Gryphons let him destroy your buildings. The Barracks will probably be his first choice since it is in the way. If he tries to enter the choke area behind your Barracks go ahead and attack him, you will easily defeat him since he will only be able to attack with part of his force due to the choked off areas. Once you have 6 Gryphons go ahead and attack him. By this time he will not be able to stop you. Use the Paladin to heal injured Gryphons, and the Arch Mage to Blizzard casters if you have the skill. At this point you have the game won, since there is nothing Orc can do to stop a large amount of Gryphon Riders.

Creeping - I like to change my creeping order a bit to piss off the Orc player. Since you now know that the Orc likes to creep a set of ogres before he attacks, I like to clear both sets early, starting with the one closest to his main. Often the Orc player will catch you in the act of creeping his ogres and just run away because of you 3 Heros and 6 Footmen. The only problem with doing this, is sometimes it will make the Orc player attack early, making it more difficult for you since you must sacrifice your expansion. However, this may be a good tradeoff since you may be depriving him of a game-winning item.

Hero Skills -

Arch Mage -
Level 1 - Water Elemental
Level 2 - Brilliance Aura
Level 3 - Blizzard
Level 4 - Brilliance Aura
Level 5 - Blizzard
Level 6 - Mass Teleport

Mountain King -
Level 1 - Stormbolt
Level 2 - Thunder Clap
Level 3 - Thunder Clap
Level 3 - Stormbolt
Level 5 - Thunder Clap
Level 6 - Avatar

Paladin -
Level 1 - Holy Light
Level 2 - Divine Shield
Level 3 - Holy Light
Level 4 - Divine Shield
Level 5 - Holy Light
Level 6 - Divine Shield

UPDATES - 5/27/03

Added Replays for each of the 3 build orders, including a replay showing the creep option, and expo option of build order #3
Added Information on saving Tomes in Random Tricks/Essentials section
Added 4 Human vs Night Elf games I played
Switched Human vs Undead and Human vs Human chapters around since I would rather write Human vs Human first