Warcraft 3 Heroes Tips, Tactics, & Strategies

Let me first start out by saying heros are necessary to win in a Skirmish, but dont have much power until lvl 5-10. Your hero wont do much unless he's supported no matter his level, always make sure your hero is supported by atleast 5 troops. Also, you want to make sure that the first thing you do is make a hero and a squad, and go LEVEL YOUR HERO UP! ..the higher your hero level, the better your chances are of winning, if you get attacked, you ALWAYS have the town portal scroll, which means you can be there nice and quick.

After you've learned how to get your heros up, then you need to learn how to utilize them Most effectively, which differs upon heros, some should lead the war charges, while others should stay back and defend, in this section i dive in and talk about each hero individually So read on, if your confused about heros, First i do Humans, then Orcs, then Undead, and finally, Night Elves
Human Heros
Paladin - Deffinately one of the better of the 3, with his healing abilities, and improved armor, and then ressurection, he can be a Very effective unit. Every one of his abilities is completely worth it, but id reccomend the Holy Light to start off with, as it makes a great starter-squad, healing your units is a great way to take out the npc's without loosing anyone and gain some levels, all 4 of his powers are equally worth getting, it all depends on what your looking for, But when you get all 3 powers realized, give him a squad of knights and your in business, have him heal the knights as they get damaged, one by one, if the enemy starts concentrating on you, use the Invulnerability, and continue to heal. Note that a paladins Holy Light can damage undead, but it heals twice as much when used on a Friendly unit, so id steer away from using it for damage.

Archmage - He's a nice unit, But in my opinion probably the worst of the 3 Heros, he has the Summon Water Elem, which is very useful, but.. its not going to help you an increadible ammount in a straight up fight, not as much as the paladins holy light, His Final ability is very useful for warping to other places, taking a squad home or somewhere to quickly defend, and for also attacking, march one squad in, and just as they get beat, teleport him and his squad in over it. His Blizzard ability is Very powerful, unfortunately, its very easy to dodge, and while blizzard is "in session" the Archmage cant do anything other then maintain the spell really, or it will shortly disperse itself, it only does half damage to buildings, so at its highest level, it only deals 250 damage after 10 waves to a building, which isnt that much.

Mountain King - This is your big "melee" fighter, I think he works best when combined with the Paladin so he can be healed. Thunder Clap is probably his best ability, dealing 70 damage to everyone around him and slowing them down at lvl 1. Storm Bolt is also effective for taking down a hurt, retreating foe, it deals 100 damage with every level, so its very strong for a single attack. His final ability, just makes him a badass, plain and simple.
Orc Heros
Blademaster - This character is a VERY effective fighter, he can be used as a Scout, a Fighter, and a Sniper. To use him as a Scout, cast wind walk and walk around invisable or cast mirror images of him and send them around to scout out, To use him as a fighter, give him a squad and let him lead, and just as the fight begins, have him cast Mirror image, this will confuse the enemy, and keep the enemy from attacking your main squad aswell. To use him as a "sniper" cast wind walk, and run into a town, then cast bladestorm to destroy the things mining, or small buildings, like farms or some such. He's anall-around champion.

Farseer - These guys are pretty effective also, they're Feral Spirit ability is very good for scouting, and for mid-combat, these wolfs are pretty strong, and help in combat, especially since you can summon another 2 pretty easily after the first 2 die. Chain Lightning is fairly effective, it doesnt deal a lot of damage, but it bounces, just make sure you have atleast 6 units around before casting it. They're other ability, Farsight, is very useful because its an effective scouting method, and spots invisable units, its one of the Orcs primary ways to do that, so make sure you use it effectively.

Tauren Warchief - He's also an effective unit, which makes deciding a hero to pick with the orcs a very tough job - Id say the Tauren is most effective in team games, due to that Aura he has, which makes attacking units almost twice as effective in combat. Shock Wave isnt that increadible, as the damage it deals isnt that great, and it usually misses a lot of units in the heat of combat. War Stomp is effective, march your Tauren right into the heat of combat, and stomp on them, for an effective tactic.
Undead Heros
Death Knight - The undeads fighting hero, its good at raising undead, stealing and giving life out. Death Coil damages living units, but heals undead, I should point out that it heals double what it damages, so its usually more effective as a healing spell, unless you dont have any units on your side to support, Death Pact is a great way to make your hero pretty much invulnerable aslong as he has a nearby unit to steal life from, never forget you can kill summoned units for life back, which is free, and very effective. They're Aura is also very good at speeding movement up, especially when making an assault.

Dread Lord - Another powerful undead unit, this guy is a favorite! Carrion Swarm is how to deal some damage to a lot of units at once, Sleep is a very powerful tool to put an enemy hero or power-unit out of commission. the vampire Aura is also a very effective tool in any type of fight, especially with other allies.

Lich - Another strong undead unit, his Frost Nova is good at injuring enemy grouped units during combat. His frost armor can be used on one of your stronger melee units to help him out a lot, its even more effective when used on a friendly hero. Its final, death and decay, is a VERY powerful spell, it can kill anything in its area of effect, it takes exactly 25 seconds to destroy anything, - ANYTHING - ..so keep the enemy in that area for 25 seconds and they're dead, also note that it can clear trees.
Night Elf Heros
Demon Hunter - This guy is a fucking requirement for the Night elves, lucky he's such a badass. He's the melee unit that keeps everyone away from the Night elves precious archers, and he does his job damn well. use Mana burn on enemy heros, it steals the mana, and they're life, all in one nice package. Immolation is also effective, Run the demon hunter in and keep the enemy as tied up as possible, this just deals extra damage. his other ability, Evasion, makes him a prime Melee unit, period. Not to mention metamorphosis.. Use it whenever possible during heavy Combat.

Keeper of the Grove - can be effective when paired with archers, use the entangle to keep archers safe and to stop heros, or melee units, and have the archers finish the poor sap off. Force of nature works well to summon Treants, which make nice additions to armies, also help with clearing forests and also as scouts! The Thorns Aura makes Archers a double-edged sword, it makes them twice as deadly because anyone attacking them dies even quicker, its a great way to keep the enemy away, or dead. His final spell is simple, just use it to heal units, though you might want to not use it during combat, as it can be disrupted.

Priestess of the Moon - Another effective unit, when all 3 are combined, they can be quite a force to behold, if utilized effectively. The trueshot aura helps Archers deal more damage and Scout is perfect for Scouting areas, Ontop of that, searing arrows helps damage aswell. Starfall is usefull, But a smart enemy will usually run away.