Orc Guide

[Phreak]

Units and Heroes


Heroes
Farseer: Still one of the mainstays, you really can't go wrong with Farseer first. He can harass and creep, and maintains some effectiveness later on. Recommended skill build is Wolves/Chain until 6, then Earthquake and round off with Farsight. Careful though, he's pretty fragile

Blademaster: Gaining popularity pretty quickly, the Blademaster is best used first against Elf. Use him to harass creeping, steal items, and kill Wisps. Wind Walk and Critical Strike are the skills of choice, with his ultimate Bladestorm picked up as soon as possible. You can use him solo for some quick leveling, or grab a second hero to creep with while you continue to pester your opponent non-stop with this quick hero.

Tauren Chieftain: The most common second hero, and often used to creep with your army while your primary hero continues to harass. Shockwave/Endurance aura are your skills of choice usually, but War Stomp should not be overlooked if you are massing air vs Undead for example. Always get Endurance Aura though, since he does not have the manapool for two spells.

Shadow Hunter: The second hero of choice for Orc mirror and a popular hero versus Night Elf. Use Hex/Wards/Wards/Hex/Wards for your skills in this matchup. When used vs Elf, the same skill build is used to pick off Huntresses quickly.



Units:

Grunt: Can be used in every single match-up, Grunts have high durability and a pretty respectable damage output. You can't go wrong adding these into your army. Just remember to get Berserker Strength at tier 2. Otherwise, they're pretty poor units.

Head Hunter: Used very rarely because of their low durability and short range. However their damage output is pretty respectable and their cost and build time is low. This is the unit of choice against Hippogryph Riders and Dragonhawks.

Demolisher: While it's lost some popularity recently, it's still useful agaisnt Night Elves who have a lot of Unarmored ranged units (Read: Druids of the Talon en masse). If you do have these in your army and you reach tier 3, the Burning Oil upgrade makes these useful against units with Heavy and Medium armor as well.

Raider: These units have been popular for quite some time, but limit their number to about 3. Ensnare is an excellent skill for ganking units that are nowhere near their army, and also stops workers from repairing in the case of a base-race.

Wyvern: A unit that hasn't been used quite so much recently, they still have a high damage output and a lot of mobility. They are used vs Human and Undead most, but you will need good heroes to make them work. Their tier 3 upgrade is usefull, but not necessary.

Batrider: These are good anti-air units, but once the enemy gets 3 armor upgrades, these units become almost worthless. While great against light air, Chimaera, Gryphons, and Frost Wyrms will require Wyvern or another form of damage output. They are also great for taking out town halls with Liquid Fire.

Kodo Beast: These are most-used in Orc mirror because of the high cost of Orc units. Raiders with Ensnare will keep these units from eating, so be careful of them. Once armies get large, having one in your army simply for its aura effect is very useful.

Shaman: I do not recommend using these early on, just add them once the enemy summon heroes get much higher in level. I would never use them against Undead, and some people have found Bloodlust useful in Orc mirror, but this is one of your less-used units. They're useful vs Human for Lightning Shield and Purge, and good against Beastmaster summons, but hold off in favor of Raiders for a little while.

Witch Doctor: Probably the best caster for team games, the Witch Doctor wards are extremely useful in almost all situations. In solos though, the investment in the training is usually not worth it.

Spirit Walker: Underrated casters with some useful spells, you usually see them when countering Necrowagon. Spirit Link is strong, and can cause Spellbreakers to lose mana stealing it for what it's worth, but it also fuels Destroyers. Ultimately, not very useful outside of AoE dispel and the occasional use in Orc mirror.

Tauren: Used more in teams than in solo, Tauren are the best melee unit in the game from damage to durability. However they require tier 3 and their own structure and additionally cost a lot. But with the cover of your teammates, pulling out a lot of Tauren can turn many a game.

[Kage]

Strategies/Harassing with Heroes


Blademaster

There are a few methods of harassing with a Blademaster. The "Wind Walk
and Run" is the most effective, but it's not the only one.


Wind Walk Biatching: Have your Blademaster run into the enemy base, and immediately begin to attack their worker units. A number of things can happen from there.


Orc Burrows: If you're playing against someone who's new to the game, often their first reaction to harassing is to have all peons flee to the burrows. This, of course, is exactly what you want them to do. Once they've burrowed, run away from the base, Wind Walk, and return. Wait for him to send his peons back to work, and then continue to the assault. If the player brings his hero and other units to stop you, Wind Walk out of there. During the harass, you may Wind Walk from time to time to get that bonus damage and quickly kill of a worker. If you do this, pay close attention to you mana. Nothing like getting stuck in an orc base with no mana, and all the burrows firing on you, and a hero and some tier one units cornering you.

Militia: Rushing a Human base can be a bit more difficult than rushing an Orc base. The only thing stoppin your blademaster from choppin the peasants would be the irritating Arcane tower, however that can be dealt with quite easily if hit in the start (as he would have to waste resources repairing etc) On top of that, you'll probably end up killing a few of his workers. It's usually a good idea to harass a little, Wind Walk out of there, and then return. Don't worry about losing your hero in the process; when you take into consideration the damage you've done to his gold stockpile, you come out ahead in the game.

Undead: Undead is great to harass with the BM. All the acolytes can do is run away like pansies. Unless there's some Spirit or Nerubian Towers, or they're teching and they get a Halls of the Dead quickly, you're free to go Acolyte Hunting. One thing to watch for is the Undead Heroes
and the Ghouls. They can easily corner you by the gold mine the point where
you can't escape; if that happens, your hero's basically dead (windwalking out will help but focus with tower and coil can be gg). Remember that you can Wind Walk for bonus damage, but don't do it too much. It's usually best to just Wind Walk the hell out of there as soon as you meet resistance.

Wisps: By far the most effective and fun harassing to do in the Game. All you do is load up go and hit whatever wisp is a little away from the moonwell. A good base build will prevent you from hitting any wisps (like hiding inside the 2 tree formation thingy..) however such a building placement would leave moonwells to be hit with, once the wisps come to repair them slash them. If you find that none of that happening, then go and hit the heros or steal items with last shot kills and/or take out the low hp archers instead.


Mirror Image Creeping: Least used unless your planning to do the creeping more than the attacking, in which case its better to get a Far seer. However if you insist on using him and his Image, then set up image and hit creeps then use blademaster to diss the damage. When you cast image the previous image is lost and a new one is got (at level 1).


Critical Strike: Players will often choose Critical Strike as the second ability for the Blademaster, since it makes him a more efficient creeper. However, this can also make him an effective harasser. But good players generally go for the windwalk for the extra bonus damage which is a good compliment to the ww.This doesn't mean Critical Strike is the worst ability for harassing. If you can creep quickly enough and reach level 2 with the Blademaster, having Critical Strike and Wind Walk at the same time can lead to very good results.


Harassing NE: Harassing a NE base is difficult. You can't hinder their gold income, and you can't take out their hero or supporting units due to the Moon Well. The best course of action is usually to just Wind Walk strike the lumber harvesting wisps and dispatch as many as you can before met with resistance. Once a hero unit and some archers are firing your way, it's best to just Wind Walk your ass out.



Far Seer

The Far Seer, is one of the best heros of the orc game. Feral Spirit and Chain Lightning are both great harassing abilities, but if the player takes a defensive stance and burrows or calls arms, you're in trouble. While not as capable as the Blademaster, the Far Seer can still harass effectively. He outdoes the Blademaster in creeping, however, and Chain at higher levels can own the little hp units.


Feral Spirit Harassing: Harassing with the Feral Spirits can be effective or completely useless. They're not very strong, and if the player takes advantage of basic base defenses, the wolves will drop pretty quickly especially with the mass XP that the wolves give when they die. It's best to focus the attacks of both the wolves and the Seer on one worker unit. Always seperate your wolves when hittin an NE base because one deto can take out level 1 wolves in a jiffy.

[Kage]

Build Orders

The orc build order is of 2 types generally.


Two Grunt tech:

This is by far one of the most used Build orders of the game.

i) You start with one peon out of the starting 5 on altar, the other 4 on gold.
ii) First one out builds burrow.
iii) second one out builds a barrack
iv) Third one out goes on to the Gold mine (making a total of 5 on Gold).
v) From then on take about 6 to Wood. to ensure a good economy supply.
Always use this Tech if your on a small map, coz your liable to be rushed if you dont have any units.


Fast Tech:

This BO works good if your going to hit WindRiders or Fast tech to Tier 3 (not done mostly..). Where the Build order is almost same as above, But instead of getting a Barrack up you just put 7 peons on Wood, 5 on gold and take Hero out to harass. On hitting Tier 2 get the 2 Beastiaries or whatever your strategy is from here onwards..


Fast Tech (with Late Barracks):

Exactly same as above, upon Teching once you hit 50 Lumber, build a barracks, and then the next 40 lumber build a burrow. Keep pumping Grunts as you can afford them.

[Communication]

Items:


Healing Salve - The best source of healing for Orc early on and most likely throughout the game. Take advantage of these as much as possible, excellent for creeping and harassing.

Clarity Potion - Heals mana over time, good when you just finished a battle or during a harass.

Speed Scroll - One of the best items in the game, great for moving through the meat units and hitting the back. Also useful for surrounds, catching up to units, microing units that would otherwise die. ONLY 50 GOLD!

Potion of Healing - Heals health. Learn the hotkey for this, if you can do it fast enough when your hero is low HP and being focused, it can save your game. Also great vs. UD hero nuke.

Potion of Mana - Heals mana, stick one on your TC if you find yourself with extra gold lying around.

Town of Scroll Portal - Try to keep one on you at all time in case something bad happens. Teleports you to your base.

Orb of Lightning - Second best Orb in the game, potentially purges units. Great on Blademaster or TC if you need extra Anti-Air. Costs a lot.

Mini Town Hall - Makes a town hall really fast.. don't really suggest using it unless you have a lot of gold lying around. Very situational item, best used when you need to expand really, really fast.

[Kage]

Blademaster/Mass Raiders and Batriders strat

This strategy involves the use of raiders and bats to completely demolish the enemy’s buildings wile using towers and a blademaster to defend your base and creep jack the opponent. This strategy is the one popularised by the infamous nc.dude.

Build Order
Start with the standard orc build
--4 peons to gold
--1 peon to alter, rally to wood
--6th peon to burrow, rally to wood
--7th peon to gold
--8th peon builds barracks, then rally to wood
--9-12th peons all to wood
--Summon the Blademaster on completion of the Altar
--When you have 40 wood build another burrow
--Get grunts, preferably around 2 first
--Hit the stronghold upgrade one resources allow
--Get the Voodoo Lounge up
--Build another burrow
--Build a tower
--Build 2 bestiaries upon reaching tier 2
--Add 2 more peons to wood
--Build more towers and burrows when necessary
--Research pillage (for that wonderful extra gold when hitting enemy buildings)
--Tech to fortress(try to do before you build towers so its fast)


Harassing/Creepjacking Tips with Blademaster

Once your BladeMaster is out. You should have scouted the enemy's position by now. To do this, you should use the peon that comes out of the Townhall just before the Altar is complete hence giving you sufficient time for scouting. IF the map is a large one like Gnoll wood then i'd suggest using the peon as well as sending the Blademaster in the opposite direction of the peon-scout so as to quickly locate your enemy. Alternatively, a grunt could be used to scout, but be aware that the creeps/pathing might result in losing the grunt which is a definite nono. Use the grunts and the Blademaster to hit the opponent and delay his income of resources as much as possible (detailed in the Harassing with BM Section). Using Grunts not only aids your harass, but also makes the opponent presume your goin for mass grunts along with blademaster. On reaching tier 2 build the beastiaries and start pumping raiders and bats (around 4 or 5 raiders and 2 or 3 bats, and get ensnare).

Once your raiders and bats are done, use them to hit the enemy’s key buildings. This would be buildings such as the Barracks (of all races)/ Caster production buildings and the Shop (which drops very easily.). Do not hit the main Townhall as that would be difficult to take out, Ensnare any repairing workers. Destroy any towers if possible (if they are surrounded by buildings or inaccessible, just let the raiders take damage as they have resistance to pierce.) nce your enemy TPs in, run away, you should’ve successfully destroyed at least one building and wasted their TP. Keep pumping raiders and bats after you started the tech to tier 3. Your Blademaster should be creeping with the Grunts (yes this strat involves a lot of micromanagement).

At tier 3 get the awesome Liquid Fire upgrade for the bats. Then take your whole army consisting of the hero/grunts/grunts/raiders and bats to hit his townhall. Use a speedscroll to furthur increase attack speed. If you have a decent number of units, you can destroy it before he TPs in. If you almost killed it and he just TP’d in, then keep attacking and tell your BM to TP out, hopefully if you timed right you would’ve destroyed it by the time you TP’d out. If you destroyed the hall before he TPs in wreck havoc in his base. Scout with a bat for a possible expo and get that too if you can. A good thing to do would be to use the bats to attack the expo while the raiders clean up his main base, as bats with Liquid Fire prevent repairing of the buildings. Build a tauren totem if you want one and get the fortified armor upgrade for towers.

This strategy involves good usage of micro and smart decisions and is an alternative to the mass Air Strategy involving the same build order (barring building raiders)..


Blademaster/Mass Air strat

Involves the use of Wind Riders and Batriders with a quick tech to tier 3 with the Venom/Liquid Fire upgrades. The build order followed would be the same as detailed above, with the exception of you skipping raiders and going wind riders instead. Setting up an Expo away from your opponent is a good way to ensure your resource supply.

Alternatively, the Barracks can be skipped totally and a shop built early along with a warmill.

[Kage]

Base Defense and Layout

A decent base layout for an orc player can sometimes totally defeat the purpose of towers.Orcs have some of the best base defense considering the 4 races.It is very useful to prevent early game harass. This is thanks to the use of burrows. Burrows deal 25 damage, and (with 4 peons) have a very fast attack speed, making them very, very dangerous. Good placement of the burrows is a very important thing an orc player should keep in mind. Since they have medium armour they can die really fast if placed on the outside of the townhall. Therefore it is ideal to always place burrows in the following locations.

i) Near Gold mines and lumber harvesters for harassing defense (to quickly burrow the worker units )
ii) Behind other buildings within range of the burrows so as to attack units.
ii) blocking passages in your base (allowing for one entry one exit routes so as to prevent a sizeable potion of the enemy army to enter into the main townhall).

Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3


--Orcs also have two very useful upgrades for defense called the Spiked Barricades and Fortified defense. Fortified defense should be researched as soon as tier3 is hit as it provides those initially weak burrows and towres a much need boost.

--Spiked Barricades are best used against melee attackers where damage is dealt to melee units that hit the buildings, this is a must get upgrade for races that generally go melee in the beginning. On level two and three upgrades it returns 6 and 9 damage respectively regardless of armour, it may not sound much, but 9 damage per attack per every unit (melee) around it until the building is destroyed. So 5 grunts attack a burrow with lvl 1 upgrade means that roughly 114 damage returned to each grunt before burrow is destroyed. Add in 4 peons doing 25 damage a second, by the time the burrow is destroyed all grunts are down 100 health at the least (applies to footmen too).

--If that isn’t enough, orc towers are the best towers to mass. They are quick building, have an extremely fast attack speed (.6 cooldown time), do decent damage, return damage to melee attackers and are relatively cheap compared to Human Guard Towers and Night Elf Ancient Protector. And of course who doesn't love the Offensive Orc towering that is a common strat against Night Elf units?

--When building an orc base you must utilize the burrows and create choke points everywhere. Simply plug the hole with 3-5 grunts, have two burrows supporting them and any early rush is easily fended off.

-- Try to place the higher armoured/HP buildings on the outside to prevent quick fall. The Shop (Voodoo Lounge) always falls the fastest and is hence recommended to be placed at the backside of the base. Whereas a tauren totem or a Barrack/Beastiary are encouraged to be put on the outer part of the base.

[Kage]

Orc vs Orc


Farseer/ Shadow Hunter/ Grunts/ Raiders/ Kodo Beasts:

One of the most useful heros in the Orc mirror is by far the Shadow Hunter. The reason is that his spells are all useful in an Orc mirror.
-- Healing Wave to heal low hp units.
-- Hex to trap/prevent units from escapin and allowing for easy focus fire as the unit cannot hit you back.
-- Ward (you get free towers for so little mana, you shouldn't be complaining).

--Get an early barracks since every single grunt does matter a lot in the early game of an orc mirror. The player who builds a late barracks tend to lose out to early pressure.

When to use what spell combo?

- Healing wave + ward for grunt + kodo
(since ward's piercing is good against kodo's armour)

- healing wave + hex for grunt + raider
(since ward's piercing is weak against raider's armour)

- ward + hex is for mass grunts
(since hex can help you to stop retreating units and wards are good)

- A lot of the pros use hex + wards. Perhaps the logic behind this is that these 2 skills are cheap (mana) yet effective. The Shadow Hunter is almost always able to cast serpent wards since they cost only 35 mana.

Grunts + Grunts > Grunts + Raiders > Grunts + Kodo > Grunts + Grunts

(that is if the raiders ensnare the kodobeasts to prevent them from devouring)

1) 4 peons to goldmine
2) 1 peon to build altar
3) 6th peon to build orc burrow
4) 7th peon to goldmine
5) 8th peon to build barracks
6) 9th-12th peons to harvest lumber
7) Build an orc burrow with 40 lumber
8) Train 2 grunts
9) Tech to tier 2
10) Build a beastiary and a warmill (you can choose not to if you are getting raiders but a warmill is needed to get demolishers and build defensive towers in case you get towered)
11) Summon a Shadow Hunter

I feel that you should always play defensively, and creep. This is because level 3 is very important for both your heroes, where you get level 2 wolves and level 2 wards. If both of you play defensively and creep, you should try to get a creepjack after your farseer reaches level 3. Scrolls of healing and protection are also very important (like the night elf mirror).

When you have a good advantage, you have two options to make the best use out of it. The first is to finish off your opponent. Send 3 peons to start towering outside your opponent's base. Do not build it too close or else your opponent would be able to destroy them. Try to do this when your opponent is creeping elsewhere, so that your towers go up without interference. Start getting demolishers so that you can hit his buildings while hiding behind the towers. You should also train kodo beasts instead of raiders, since you can devour and run behind the towers. If you are getting towered, start building defensive towers and get demolishers too. Use them to attack the towers or the opponent's demolishers. Do remember to repair them. The other way is to get an expansion and research upgrades/buy expensive items like scrolls with the additional gold. You might want to research pillage and use hit and run tactics on your opponent's base to get a little bit of resources and waste his gold (use a scroll of speed to run more quickly when he TPs home). As long as you have the hero advantage and the item advantage (scrolls), you should most probably win.

During early battles, try to kill the feral spirits since they give lots of xp in this patch. Of course, this will be at the expense of your farseer's health, so I suggest you get a voodoo lounge right after you tech so that you can heal up.

Fighting casters: Grunt raider kodo is definitely no match for tauren casters. You should either rush (with demolishers if he has towers or get casters too and expand).

--You should never use windriders, since orc has the best anti-air against low hitpoint air units. Using them would mean that you are plain stupid or brave or gosu (if you do have skill in using them after all).

-- As for map specifications, just creep with the same old creeping patterns, hang around the goblin merchant especially on Gnoll Wood to buy scrolls since there are 4 of them.



Other Alternatives

Blademaster/ Shadow Hunter / Tauren Chieftain / shamans / witch doctors / taurens/ spirit walkers:

Certain players are not used against fighting tauren casters. Also, controlling only one hero throughout the early stages of the game is even easier than DoTA. If your opponent tries to launch an early attack on you with demolishers, you can try to purge and hex and windwalk the Farseer to force a teleport. If he loses his hero but continues the invasion, then I suppose you should take down the demolishers (after all how many can he get?)

1) 4 peons to goldmine
2) 1 peon to build altar
3) 6th peon to build orc burrow
4) 7th peon to goldmine
5) 8th peon to build warmill
6) 9th-12th peons to harvest lumber
7) Build a voodoo lounge
7) Tech to tier 2
8) Build a watchtower and a burrow, followed by another tower and burrow
9) When your blademaster is out, buy 1 healing salve, 2 clarity potions and a scroll of speed
10) Run towards your opponent's base and prepare for a fight (windwalk to weaken the Farseer, then kill the Farseer with a scroll of speed if you have no more mana for windwalk).
11) At tier 2, build 2 spirit lodges and summon a Shadow Hunter (with healing wave + hex).
12) Tech to tier 3 for a Tauren Chieftain (War Stomp + Endurance, since Shockwave is ineffective on grunts) and taurens
13) Start training adept shamans and witch doctors. Start creeping and place a sentry ward at every location you creep, thus spamming the map with sentry wards. This is as good as a maphack (the best form of scouting in the whole of warcraft).
14) Get an orb of lightning for your Blademaster, to assist against any air menace (get a beastiary for bats if your opponent tries to get windriders and a kodo beast for the command aura). You can also get one for your Tauren Chieftain too.
15) Research the master upgrades for all the casters. When you have master walkers, you will never lose a tauren again.
16) During battle, autocast bloodlust, cast 3 statis traps and 3 healing wards (2 in front and 1 behind). Cast wand of lightning shield on the Blademaster and start attempting to slay the Farseer with windwalk + hex + warstomp. Cast spirit link on the heroes too. GG!


Beastmaster/Firelord with grunts + raiders:

The beastmaster is the good old anti-orc hero. Just use him with the skills quilbeast + hawk or bear + hawk and defeat your enemy with your powerful summons. Basically since you force the enemy to go casters and reduce the hp of his army, you use the mass summons strat against him, Goin summoned units to force the easily killable casters.

[Kage]

Orc Vs Human

Far Seer / Tauren Chieftain / Grunts / Shamans / Spiritwalkers or Demos (if needed).

-- Maps for this matchup
i) Lost Temple
ii) 2 rivers
iii)Turtle Rock

--This is a matchup that was viewed as in the Orc's Favour for a long time in 1.17 however with the buff on the Arcane tower it is quite balanced in my opinion. The standard human army will always go Archmage/ Mountain King/ Rifles and Casters to slow and focus fire grunts. Hence the main strategy would be take out the annoying slow and also to use the Deadly Chain Wave combo to polish off the lower hp units of the Human Army.

-- Another push that is done on tavern maps is the infamous Archmage/Beastmaster/ Mass casters skipping rifles Strategy, which is also quite effective but can be taken out in the following manner.

-- Tier 1 is where orc dominates with wolves and grunt harass, note to win you must end the game before the human reaches tier 3 and also to prevent fast expansion or deal as much as damage while that is set.

-- Always get adept shamans for the deadly Lightning shield that can wreak havoc when put on the TC or grunts. Good positioning is a must and purging of the heavy hp water elementals will ensure good experience bonus for the heros. Add in demos if the caster army is rather large (which you should prevent with early game harass).

) 4 peons to goldmine
2) 1 peon to build altar
3) 6th peon to build orc burrow
4) 7th peon to goldmine
5) 8th peon to build barracks
6) 9th-12th peons to harvest lumber
7) Build an orc burrow with 40 lumber
8) Tech on 180 lumber.
9) While teching, set up a shop and another burrow.
10) hitting Tier 2 get a TC, adept shamans, either powercreep tc to level 3 while constantly harassing with farseer (watch out for bolt stun surround so buy a staff of teleportation when harassing)


Far Seer / Tauren Chieftain / mass Air

--This is a strategy that was popularised of late by constantly harassing the Human player and preventing the Blacksmith as well as the expansion to go up. This would then allow you to put up dual beastiaries for wyverns and after about 5-6 wyverns are got, you can hit the peasants and the stop economy, thus almost ending the game there.

-- maps for this
i) Gnoll Wood
ii) Twisted Meadows
iii) Possibly Lost temple.

[Kage]

Orc Vs Undead

FarSeer/ Tauren Chieftain / Grunt / raider /Windrider

When it comes to this matchup, The undead can go 2 ways.

a) Death Knight/Lich Fiends to Aboms/Destroyers
b) Death Knight/Dreadlord/ Ghouls/Gargs/Destroyers.

-- Always note that you have to hit the Undead early before their heros level up and they reach researched tier 3 units. If that happens, you might as well quit or have Grubby's micro to be able to snag a win.

Either way the only real way to beat Orc as undead would be to get those terrible destroyers. I would suggest you download 2 of Uruk's Audio Commentaries, where he has detailed how to deal with either of the options that the undead uses. Banshees are more popular this patch with the reduced build time on them, but die in a single hit (well almost) so you wont see any undeads going that. For the silly Mass necrowagon strat, just get 3 walkers and your fine with 600 mana on each of them.


1) 4 peons to goldmine, 1 peon to build altar
2) 6th peon to build orc burrow
3) 7th peon to goldmine
4) 8th - 12th peons to harvest lumber
5) Tech when you have 190 lumber
6) Build a barracks when you have 50 lumber
7) Build a burrow when you have 40 lumber
8) Build a voodoo lounge
9) Creep and send the nearly dead wolf to a goldmine to scout
11) At tier 2, summon a Tauren Chieftain and build a beastiary (2 if he goes ghouls)
12) Start training grunts and raiders.

Undead that go Ghouls/Gargs strat

--Orc's best chance is to go windriders, since they deal quite a lot of damage. You still need about 4-5 grunts though, since they have a lot more hp than windriders. A couple of raiders would be very useful to ensnare fiends (which any sensible undead would switch to). You should make sure you take out the statues in the battle , coz they are very help ful to the undead units. So priority wise.

--Statues > Fiends > rest of the army. The Death Knight is always a good target with the reduced armour but watch out for pots and scrolls on the undead.

--If the Undead go Aboms, you WILL need Kodos to devour and also walkers for the awesome spirit link. Don't stick to grunts/heros alone to beat their tier3.

-- Always activate scroll of protection and scroll of speed at the start of the battle. Ensnare as per the equation 2 tips above and hit out as many chain wave combos as you can. Then ensnare the fiends and try to focus fire on them with everything you have. Devour the aboms from the army and rinse repeat.

-- Towering is a good option by setting towers on outside at night. Fiends will beat the tower push, but ghouls/gargs would find it very difficult.


Undead that go fiends

Grunt raider combo is your best bet, with forcing the undead player to switch away from the slow fiends to ghouls with frenzy or aboms, in which case you switch back to mass air (riders+bats). This is a game of counters. So it would be good to get an army of mass grunts and some raiders for ensnare (once again, if there is no ensnare, the undead can micro his fiends away and you will lose out in the long run).

-- Constantly make use of scrolls

-- Keep creeping and creeping and creeping and level up the TC's wave or Stomp (either work very well against fiends).

--Set up your own expansion when you are at 50/50 (this is the only reason Orc Ud matchup is biased towards orc, enabling you to set up your expo really quick.)

--Destroyers beat most of what orc has to throw at them, so the best way to beat them, is to make sure there arent' any destroyers, this is not always possible with the good undead base defence, hence its imperative that you get 2 beastiaries with mass air and 2 bats for every unupgraded destroyer. otherwise research attack and hit different destros with concotion so as to effectively make use of the splash damage. Watch out for orbed destros as they just shamlessly walk all over the horde.

Mass Summons Strat

--This would be Crypt Lord/Tinker strat with mass summons, skip the second beastiary and go Spirit Lodge with adept walkers for taking out those pesky beetles. The most important thing is to set up your expo.

[Kage]

Orc vs Night Elf

A NightElf player has many options that they can throw at you and early scouting is a must to find out what strat they use. Generally its broken down like this..

i) DH / Archers/ Beastmaster/ Talons
ii) Beastmaster/Firelord/Dryads/Talons/Hunts

Basically its either the massing hunts or no massing hunts strat. Of late the Orcs have 2 strats open to them and the more popular one is definitely the Blademaster strat.

FarSeer/Tauren Chieftain (or Shadow Hunter) / Grunt / Raider strat

--Of late the Farseer is almost never used due to the heavy experience given out by the wolves and the quick death suffered by the Farseer. and if a Night Elf can set up expos your almost as good as dead. This strat involves the heavy use of harass and hitting the Elf early using the Orc's high hp tier 1 units (namely grunts) and constantly harassing during the day, retreating at night and attacking again. A best (cheesy maybe) strat i usually employ is a Tower rush with 3 peons and dual barracks for Grunts/Demos. The Gruntapult in other words. However a skilled NE will tear that apart as demos are really slow, so switching to raiders with a single beastiary and towering would seem wise. Never tower at night and right into the ne base where the NE can make use of imbalanced moonwells and ancients to destroy the rush.

--Towering is advised for all hero combos except the beastmaster who can take it down pretty quickly.

-- In that case get more grunts and a Tauren Chieftain against an archer + dott army and get demolishers and a Shadow Hunter against a hunt + dryad army. 1 barrack + 1 beastiary is better than 2 barracks because you can get a kodo beast for command aura and the raider's ensnare is exceptionally good for surrounding weak heroes like the Warden and the Keeper.

-- The Shadow Hunter works best against massing hunt ne players as well those that stick to unarmoured, with wards as level 2 resembling towers in damage, you are going to dish out a lot of damage to those units. Add in a good mix of Grunts + Raiders + Demolishers and you should be well on your way to beating the towers.

-- Always take hex first if your not rushing the NE as the SH's first skill which is very good to take out hunts and other unarmoured in the beginning as well as heros to prevent harass.

Build Order is the same as before

1) 4 peons to goldmine, 1 peon to build altar
2) 6th peon to build orc burrow
3) 7th peon to goldmine
4) 8th peon to build barracks
5) 9th - 12th peons to harvest lumber
6) Build an orc burrow when you have 40 lumber
7) Tech when you have 190 lumber
8) While teching, get a Voodoo Lounge, another orc burrow and a Warmill (if you are getting demolishers)
9) At tier 2, get a Tauren Chieftain/Shadow Hunter and build a beastiary

--The elf has the upperhand through out from Tier 2 (imo) so the best way to really beat elf is to stick to Grunt/Raider/Demo combo with hero spells and Scrolls to keep your army alive. Forget teching to Tier 3 for casters as by then, the Elf's army would be double yours and with the summon heros, you'll hardly stand a chance.

Ciara Troll Rush Strat

On maps such as Twisted Meadows and Gnoll Wood, i have seen a very successful strat of MYM]Ciara wherein you creep the camps after getting your second hero and buy troll berserkers. These mercenaries really do a lot of damage and will be well protected behind the powerful meat of the grunts. Add in demos and tower to ensure you have an upperhand throughout the attack period.

-- For Mass summons its better off to get shamans instead of raiders. If you use the Tauren Chieftain with a wand of lightning shield properly, you should have no problem destroying archers with shockwave and chain lightning. Get more of them if the 2nd hero is a firelord. Your first priority should be to purge the hawks, followed by the lava spawns. If you do have spare mana, then purge the quilbeasts. If he is getting a lot of talons together with mass summons, then I suggest getting spirit walkers to disenchant everything.

-- Another strat recently used by DayFly was the mass Grunt/Walker strat which i have seen him use to a lot of effectiveness with upgrades on armour makin it very very tough to take out the Orc units. However, this requires very very precise timing and is not advisable for a beginner to the race.

Build Order for Towering the Elf

1) 4 peons to goldmine, 1 peon to build altar
2) 6th peon to build orc burrow
3) 7th peon to goldmine
4) 8th peon to build barracks
5) 9th - 12th peons to harvest lumber
6) Build an orc burrow when you have 40 lumber
7) Build a Warmill and another burrow
8) Send 3 peons to your opponent's base and start building towers while you beat the crap out of his archers or moonwells.

Blademaster Strat

--Detailed in the sections above, where instead of Farseer you go Blademaster for early harass on wisps and also to creepjack the opponent before the talon abuse.

[Kage]

i) Orc vs Orc
ii) Orc vs Undead (fiends replay and ghouls replay)

[Kage]

Orc vs Elf
Orc vs Human

[Kage]

i) Orc on Elf Blademaster strat
ii) Orc on Human Blademaster

[Krossinc]

Echo Isles: Perhaps one of Orc’s strongest maps, the small nature of it makes it ideal for use of the Blademaster. The map has no creeps of significant difficulty and has a fountain on each side. The fountain contains three elemental creeps and one wizard. While the creeps are tough and can soak up the damage (especially next to the wells), they have a relatively low damage output. If you focus on the wizard, it can be crept as soon as your hero is spawned. When using Blademaster, remember that the fountain is almost always the first thing creeped so it is a very opportune time to harass an enemy’s creeping. The expansion is also weak and easily crept early game. There are only two expansions on this map and they are both quite susceptible to attack. For the most part it, Echo Isles is a quick playing map with most of the game involving harassment and attacking.
Recommended Hero(s) – Blademaster, Farseer

Two Rivers: Another small map with two main bridge chokepoints that really define action. When fighting near the bridge (which is common), be aware of troops that are unable to get across to fight. If needed, back up away from the bridge and fight at a position where all your troops can engage at the same time. Expansions are relatively close and easily crept. The top expansion is much more open than the one at the bottom and is easily discovered. At the red creep camps, a high level ogre drops very strong items that can often define this map. However, for the most part this is a high-action map that only goes to creeping when other options are exhausted.
Recommended Hero(s) – Farseer, Blademaster

Turtle Rock: One of Orc’s weaker maps due to the turtle creeps that line the middle expansions. This is the tavern Night Elf’s favorite map. It’s possible to harass on this map but harassing bases from across the map can often be a waste of time. Spawning close can add for a quick harass and a quick tower rush can settle this map quickly. If you do face a player that is power creeping, it’s not hard to guess what his next camp will be since most players follow the same creeping order of –
1.) Green Turtles outside of Main
2.) Orange Trolls/Ogres to the side of the base on the edge of the map.
3.) Item Shop (Trolls, Ogres, Ogre Magi)
If you’re creeping, that is usually the most beneficial order. From there you can begin your attack or continue by creeping one of the main expansions or middle turtles. Remember, this map is not that large overall and you are likely to run into your opponent often.
Recommended Hero(s)- Farseer

Twisted Meadows: This map offers an interesting choice of harassment or creeping. With it’s many creep camps it’s often hard to creep-jack your opponent. However, the two item shops, which recently become quite a bit tougher in the 1.18 patch, are prime targets for creepers looking to get a hold of a very strong item. Generally, you can creep the 2 lvl 3 gnolls and the lvl 5 gnoll with a Farseer and a grunt by luring the big gnoll away from the smaller creeps and allowing your wolves/grunt(s) to take care of the smaller gnolls while the Lvl 5 gnoll chases your Farseer. Tower rushes are easy to sneak in on this map with it’s two large base openings.
Recommended Hero(s) – Farseer

Lost Temple: When facing a Human or Night Elf on this map, you can be pretty comfortable in assuming that they’re going to attempt a fast expansion. The problem is, unless you spawn close to your enemy, their expansion may be up before you arrive to interrupt it. It is important to scout early and keep up a constant scout to prevent your enemy from expanding. Fast expanding in response also works very well. Harassing is very plausible and is must when facing a human enemy. The middle creeps are generally pretty easy since they’re next to a well – just focus down the smaller ones and the big ones will soon fall. The ogres by the goblin laboratories also drop very nice items.
Recommended Hero(s) – Farseer

Gnoll Wood: This map is the largest map on the solo ladder. It lacks the ability for efficient harassing when your opponent is across the map. While it is not recommended, this is one of the few maps that a TC first is viable due to lack of harassment. Generally it’s best to hit the item shops quickly and steal the item from the small creep (One on the right, Creeps point of view). The middle fountain can provide some good health/mana healing in a bind and it’s good to watch it during a non-mirror match since it is much easier for other races to creep it.
Recommended Hero(s) – Farseer


Miscellaneous Tips


- When researching a skill for a unit, always have at least one of the units first. For example, if you plan on getting raiders with ensnare, then it is best to produce one raider, then research ensnare. That way as soon as the spell is finished, it is ready for use as opposed to waiting for the unit to come out. This is also the same with Witch Doctors, Wyverns, Spirit Walkers, and Shaman. Don’t waste time!

- The Blademaster, while having a very high damage output, is generally weak. It’s often beneficial to add a periapt of vitality. While they are generally overpriced, they can sometimes be the key to saving your Blademaster. Include healing pots and a pot of invulnerability, and your Blademaster will be able to deal a lot of damage.

- Spiked Barricades, while often useless, is very effective at keeping an early melee rush from decimating your burrows. Every bit of damage helps when you have a chain lightning to add to them.

- Don’t forget to fortify your burrows and towers! While they may be strong early game with their quick attacking speed, late game they will suffer due to their frailty.

- Lightning Orb is highly effective on the Tauren Chieftain and Blademaster. Catching a few fleeing units can really define a game, especially if it’s something costly such as a Druid of the Claw

[IC.Shadow]

Mass Raiders with Farsight strategy.