Human Guide

[Myth]

Heroes:

Archmage: Most useful starting hero of all. Main reasons are his summons and his brilliance aura, which greatly increases mana regeneration for those mana-needy humans. Blizzard can be picked too, although people usually retrain their water elementals to this when those become useless. His ultimate is a game winner. Your army suddenly becomes very mobile, which is more important in this game than many people think.

Mountain King: Most feared second hero of all. Has the highest single target nuke in the game, coupled with a 3 second stun (on heroes). Besides this he has thunderclap, a pointblank aoe spell which, coupled with his toughness, is a killer for any tier1. His bash can be usefull but is usually not taken since he has enough mana for both storm bolt and thunderclap with the Archmage's brilliance aura. His ultimate, although not really a game winner imo, makes him much much harder to kill, especially because of the magic immunity.

Paladin: This hero is overrated by some people, and underrated by others. I myself think he's one of the best combat heroes once he reaches higher levels, but it's hard to get him there. His main ability is holy light, healing friendly units and damaging undead ones. His second ability is the divine shield, making him invulnerable for some time, which is very effective as the enemy cannot focus on him, while he heals other heroes. His 3rd skill, devotion aura, adds to the armor of the whole human army, and is usually taken at lvl 4. His ultimate is a very good one, especially if you have knights, since it instantly resurrects 6 dead units.

Bloodmage: This hero got buffed bigtime in 1.17, and it was needed too as he wasn't really useable. The first skill that comes to mind is flamestrike, a high damage aoe spell which takes a second or two to ignite. His strongest skill in my opinion is the mana siphon. Not only can you take many away from their units and heroes, since 1.17 you can also give it to your own heroes. Banish is usefull for rendering strong units useless in battle, slowing down heroes, saving your own heroes, and last but not least, increase the magic damage dealt to them by 66%. His ultimate summons a very powerful flying phoenix which starts at full hp but loses hitpoints over time. After he dies he becomes an egg which the enemy player will have to kill, or the phoenix will rise again at full hitpoints


Units:

Peasant: Worker unit for the humans, this guy is useful in other situations as well. He can be turned into militia to either creep or defend the base. He's pretty weak however and a prime target for any harassing heroes.

Footman: Usefull unit early on, although he has no primary strengths. He does get quite effective against piercing damage once the defend upgrade is researched.

Rifleman: Basic tier 1 ranged unit, these guys get pretty effective in masses. Although strong vs casters and air, and even against melee when combined with slow, they tend to die fast against aoe spells and melee units that do not die in a single volley. *cough* ghouls *cough*

Sorceress: Loved by friendlies, hated by enemies. Her slow spell is quite possibly the strongest initiate spell in the game, and indeed many humans don't bother upgrading her. Invisibility is quite nice as a hero saver, and polymorph is quite good against heavy units, although most races have dispel by the time you have polymorph.

Priest: Another powerful initiate caster with his heal, but unlike the sorceress people actually do bother to train this guy, for his aoe dispel at adept, and inner fire at master upgrade.

Spellbreaker: Human's most powerful anti-caster unit, this guy can steal enemy buffs and debuffs and change ownership of them. After being upgraded he can also take control over enemy summons and wards. His attack is relatively weak, although it does have feedback. This makes him more powerful against heroes and units with mana. Overall this is one of the strongest tier2 units, along with the dryad. He does not last long against tier3 melee however.

Flying Machine: Extremely cheap, fast building, fast moving, but also very fragile air unit. Good as scouts and to fight against mass air, but you really really need the flak upgrade.

Mortar team: Being the only non-mechanical siege unit has it's pro's, like being able to get healed by priests and paladin, but also it's con's, like being good nuking targets. Most enemy players will try to focus on these guys, as they have an insane damage output when not handled with.

Siege tank: Great base killer and, with the rocket upgrade, also good against mass air. Bad part is that they require tier 3 and not only build, but also move pretty slow. This is one of the more situational units for humans.

Knight: Highly armored tier 3 units, these guys can have the highest possible armor of all units in the game. Although they don't really have any abilities, their speed makes up for most of it.

Dragonhawk: Relatively weak combat air unit, but makes up for it with his 2 abilities. His main ability is a heavy air killer: Aerial shackle, rendering both the hawk and the enemy unit useless, but the enemy unit takes damage. His other ability is a cloud which disables enemy towers, which is also quite useful and makes this a good harassing air unit.

Gryphon rider: The ultimate flying unit for the humans, this guy has a strong magic attack and an upgrade which makes him do splash damage. Very lethal for heavy ground units, and very hard to take out when massed.

[Myth]

Common (and some less common) human tactics:

Fast expand: This tactic was insanely popular (and equally imbalanced) in Reign of Chaos, and although Blizzard has nerfed it quite a bit, it's still used alot. Features an early footman/militia/archmage rush to the nearest expansion and put up a town hall ASAP. Since peasants can no longer turn into militia at a non-first town hall, towers are often added. Enemy players often try to kill as many workers as they can by harassing, and the amount of success they have in this can greatly influence the outcome of the game.

Tower rush: Like with the fast expand, this tactic features a footman/militia/archmage rush. Except that it's not at the nearest expansion, but at the enemies main! This tactic is most commonly used against night elves, as they don't really have a strong ranged base defense early on that doesn't die quickly. Just get an early lumber and keep those guard towers coming.

Rifle/caster: Without a doubt today's most popular tactic, this is a typical 'tier 2 strat'. Usually includes about 3 sorceress, 3 priests (although that may differ per matchup), and as many riflemen as possible. Heroes are the Archmage and the Mountain King.
The strength of this tactic lies in great focus fire ability of mass riflemen, coupled with the mountain king's storm bolt. Thunderclap and slow keep the enemy away from the riflemen, while priests and some decent micromanagement keep them alive.

Tier 2 rush: Mostly used on tavern maps, this strategy makes use of the amount of units humans can produce early on, coupled with 2 summon heroes. Usually these are the Archmage and a Firelord or Beastmaster. Timing is very important here, as you don't want to give the enemy the time to counter your summons. On maps where powerful items are easily creeped, or mercenaries can be hired (like Twisted Meadows), this tactic is more powerful.

Mass caster: This one was very strong in Reign of Chaos, just like the Fast Expand. Since then casters have become more of army supporters than stand alone units. However, with the addition of spellbreakers (which fall under the category 'casters') that provide a meat shield, this tactic has become popular again. Although the first hero is almost always the Archmage, the second hero is not always the Mountain King. Instead, the Bloodmage is often chosen, since slowed units and heroes are much more vulnerable to flamestrike and mana siphon.

Mass air: Usually this strategy comes forth from the 'Fast expand' that was described earlier, since this one requires quite a bit money and a weak mid-game. It can be mass dragon hawks which, although weaker, are also cheaper so more easily replaced, or mass gryphons which have an insane damage output but are also more expensive.
Usually a mix is made between the two, as dragonhawks can deal with things that gryphons cannot deal with (dryads, towers), and vice versa (high hp heavy armor).

Caster/knight/air: Although not too many people know about this one, i have seen it become more and more popular lately. Most commonly used by the french player 4K.ToD, this strategy does not have lots of units in it. Instead the human chooses to go for a faster tier3, to look for ways to preserve his own units. This includes getting the Paladin as a third hero, getting a staff of sanctuary, and priests with inner fire. This allows him to get the more powerful, but also more expensive tier3 units without the need of an expansion.

Invis mortar: Rarely seen, but quite funny to execute, and very frustrating for your opponent. Mortar teams have a very high damage output, and since they are non-mechanical they can be turned invisible by sorceresses. The focus with this tactic does not lie in killing the enemies' army, but his buildings. He will be quite surprised when he doesn't even have time to teleport to his main townhall, as it will be destroyed in only a few seconds. An Archmage with blizzard ensures that no workers can repair it. No second hero is added since the human will want to get his Archmage's ultimate ASAP.

Pala/rifle: Another uncommon tactic, this one is mostly used against undead players, by humans who got frustrated about their Archmage being nuked into oblivion. Starting out with the paladin requires alot of money spent into mana and clarity potions as you have no brilliance aura. However, being able to heal faster than the enemy usually ensures that you get more kills than him, evening out the economy. As a second hero a Mountain King can be added for more nuking more, and a meat shield for the riflemen. If the human can get an expansion up, he can try adding some serious nuking power with banish and gryphons.

Mass tanks: Ok, so i haven't seen this used yet since the expansion came out, but i just thought i'd add it. Mass tanks are very powerful when your enemy doesn't know it's coming. So the trick to this one is hiding your workshops, and somehow make your enemy not find out what you're doing. If you succeed in this, and can get 8 or more tanks out without being noticed (the hardest part), you actually have a chance of winning.

Mass gyrocopter: Although they are named Flying machines since the expansion came out, many people still call them gyrocopters. For this strategy to be effective you need a fast expansion, lots of towers, and lots of wood. Gyrocopters are among the fastest units in the game (only equalled by hippogryphs), and with the bomb upgrade they can hit and run bases quite effectively in masses. The enemy cannot counter with air as it stands no chance against gyrocopters. As with the tower rush, this strategy is most effective against Night elf.

[Myth]

Items:

These are the human items, coming from the Arcane Vault :

Scroll of regeneration : In my opinion the best item in the shop, this one is perfect for human. With no tier 1 healing, and lots of low hp units, this can get your whole army back to full health while you're on your way to the next spot to creep.

Mechanical critter : Kind of a underused item you could say, it creates a fake critter, of which you have vision, although it's short ranged. The critter is just as slow as normal critters (which is pretty slow), and tends to have trouble staying in one place when you put it on hold position. The good part is that the enemy will not automatically attack it when his units pass by.

Lesser clarity potion : Although Brilliance Aura ensures a good amount of mana regeneration, you will often find your most mana-needy heroes without it. When you know you're going to need it soon, the clarity potion comes in handy. Much cheaper than a mana potion, it's better when you're out of combat.

Potion of healing : Pretty self-explanitory, this potion heals your hero. Good to put on heroes which you know will take a beating, especially against Undead.

Potion of mana : This potion gives an instant mana boost, which can be very good as it may ensure a hero kill, which is worth alot more than the cost of the potion. When a Mountain King reaches higher lvls, many humans give him this, since his spells will become higher damage dealers than the rest of your army.

Scroll of town portal : Not much explanation needed here either. Although quite expensive, it is always good to have at least one of these with you, in case your army gets trapped in a nasty situation and you don't want to lose it. Keep in mind that you can aim your town portal around your town hall, to either get a better defensive position, or surprise your enemy and portal on top of him.

Ivory tower : Often used in tier 2 tower pushes or a tier2 expansion, this item puts up a tower almost instantly. As building it with peasants takes longer, and actually lets the peasant do something else, this item can come in quite handy.

Orb of fire : Probably the least used of all the orbs (each race has one), it gives the bearing hero a splash attack, and an aerial attack incase it's a melee hero. Not very useful on human heroes, as their melee heroes depend more on the spells they cast than on the melee damage they deal. Can be used as an emergency solution against air however.

Staff of sanctuary : In my opinion the second best item in the human shop. Instantly lets the hero that carries it teleport another hero or a unit to the highest level town hall (or closest if there are equals), after which it heals the unit. The downside however, is that the unit is stunned while healing. This can be frustrating if the enemy is near your town hall and keeps hitting on it, faster than the healing. Don't forget to switch the staff to another hero after you use it, since it removes the cooldown on it.

[Myth]

Strategies:


Human vs Orc : Orcs have always been a bit weak against casters, as they have no real anti-caster unit, and no magic immune unit either. Humans can use this to their advantage with sorceresses. Also they tend to be weak against air when not given time to mass batriders. Orcs generally play 3 different strategies against human:

Farseer, TC, shaman, grunt
Farseer, SH/Naga, wyverns
Farseer, TC, grunt, raider, catapult

Note that orcs can always mix it up a bit, for example raiders and shamans, catapults and raiders, wyverns and raiders. Same goes for the heroes.

Standard rifle/caster can work vs these strategies, although you need to improvise a bit to counter them effectively. If they go wyverns, you will obviously need more riflemen than casters, as casters die very fast and deal almost no damage against wyverns. Priests aren't as effective as the wyverns will mostly focus fire each unit. You might want to skip casters completely and go for dragonhawks instead. This forces the orc to get batriders which will reduce his number of wyverns, giving your riflemen a much easier time.

Another tactic that quite some humans use here is mass casters with 2 summon heroes. The big amount of magic damage coming from your casters can easily overcome grunts, and wyverns die fast to the summons. Watch out for catapults!
Most humans get an Arcane tower at the start to counter the harass, otherwise the orc can keep sending wolves to rip up some peasants.
Depending on the map, you can opt for a fast expansion. Orcs can generally harass very well, so this is a risky option.
Make sure you don't allow the Tauren Chieftain to reach higher levels than your Mountain King, or you could be in trouble.
If the Orc gets shamans, you might want to consider retraining your Archmage to give him blizzard, as your water elementals only give free experience. Don't buy the tome too early however, make sure you have scouted him. Blizzard is not very effective against wyverns, and ensnare from raiders cancels the spell.

Lately Orcs have been using the Blademaster more, so i'll add a little bit about this. You definately need an Arcane tower in your main base to keep a BM from harassing you, but as you also need it against a Farseer, you will probably always get it against Orcs anyway. Always get a Mountain King second against the BM, as he is best at killing him. Try not to allow him to kill too many units, because a high level BM is very dangerous. Slow and storm bolt, with a dusk of appearance are the main counters against him. A Beastmaster's hawk can be usefull to detect him but i don't think it helps alot in battle, as you really need to stun him or slow him down in order to kill it.

Gryphons are effective against Orcs, but don't mass too much air. This will make his batriders more effective and leave you vulnerable on the ground. Instead, get only a few gryphons and add dragonhawks if he tries to counter with wyverns. As ground add some knights to hold the line while the gryphons deal the damage.



Human vs Night elf : Night elf has the strongest harassing abilities, and Human is the weakest race against hit and run. So that is usually what this matchup is about. Night elves will generally try to kill as many units , and steal as much experience as they can while building up an army that counters yours (bears).

I could name all possible heroes/strategies that Night elves can take here, but the list would be very long so i won't. Night elves are the most flexible race of all, so you will have to improvise alot. Instead i will talk about possible human strategies.

A fast expand is possible, but he will undoubtly harass with hunts. Huntress beat up footmen, militia, are very fast and they can hide. This makes them perfect harassers against early game human. Coupled with a Demon Hunter with immolation you will have a hard time getting your town hall up. If you do get it up, make sure you put up at least 2 towers to keep him from harassing.

Tower rushes can work too, but are generally beaten off by archers. By sending an early scout you can find out if he is close to you, something you will want if you are going to tower him. Try not to fight inside his base, yet still try to keep the archers of your towers. When the first tower comes up, and your footmen and hero are still alive, you have probably won the game.

Many Night elves go bears against Human, so if you're not planning on either of the previous strategies, you should prepare to counter them. My favourite tactic is to hit and run him myself when i just reached tier2. He will probably try to get up 2 Ancients of Lore, which are your main targets. Make sure you buy a tp everytime you go for a run into his base. While delaying him, you should be getting some casters, and at least 1-2 spellbreakers. As a 2nd hero, you can add either the Bloodmage or the Mountain King. When he finally does get his Lores up, attack him in full force, preferrably with towers too. Use the spellbreakers to steal any rejuvenation he might cast on his heroes.

Knights and gryphons can also be used to fight off the bears, however he can counter this by adding more dryads. In turn you can get mortars, although this requires quite some buildings, so you will need to make sure you have a better income than his. Overall i think this is the most interesting matchup.



Human vs Undead : In my opinion the most balanced matchup beside the mirror match (I try to refrain myself from calling imbalances). Every undead will undoubtedly get tier3 as it is pretty much their only way to beat humans. The most common tactics for undead are:

Mass destroyers
Mass ghouls with a few destroyers
Mass abominations with a few destroyers
Mass fiends to destroyers/abom

As you can see the undead pretty much always adds destroyers, which are without a doubt the most dangerous units for Humans. As for Undead heroes, you will mostly see Death Knight/Lich with possible a Crypt Lord as a third. Also possible is the Dreadlord when he wants to fast expand (most common on Lost Temple as a counter to the Human fast expand).

Allowing the Undead to reach a solid tier3 army without punishing him for it means you will probably lose the game. You can punish him by harassing/pushing his base to pick off as many units as you can, or his acolytes while he is teching. Another, and this is the most common, is getting an expansion as soon as your Mountain King comes out. As the undead is still at tier 2, your water elementals and MK will be capable of taking out the ghouls. Make sure you stay near your expand so that he can't kill your workers. When it is up, add at least 2 towers with a masonry upgrade to be able to withstand the tier3 attack that undoubtedly comes. Use the time in between to level up your MK to make him more dangerous and tougher, and to make sure he doesn't expand himself.

As far as army choices are concerned, rifle/caster is strong until he gets too many abom/destroyers. In this case you will have to outmass him, and try to kill his heroes. Make sure you have enough healscrolls if he has impale/nova, and teleport out as soon as you run out of healscrolls. Do not underestimate the power of his heroes, they can decimate whole armies at higher levels.

You can also mass air, but only do so if you have at least 1 expansion up, otherwise you will not be able to fund it. Getting a Paladin as a third hero is good as well.

One thing to note is that you must always have a Scroll of town portal with you in this matchup. Not only will you lose alot of units if you're forced to run, but alot of Undead also tend to make raids on your main base or expansion. If you see him coming into your base and you know you can take him with your army teleport in as soon as possible to reduce the amount of peasants/buildings lost. If an Undead does this alot he is probably trying to get your attention away from an expansion he is trying to get up.

If the Undead goes fiends, do not get riflemen early on. Instead get 2 Arcane Sanctums and mass breakers with a few sorceresses behind it, along with defend footmen. As soon as you are sure your army is stronger than his, you have time to put up an expansion. He will probably counter you with tier 3 now, so add riflemen and possibly some knights.



Human vs Human : As with most mirror matches, this one requires a completely different approach than playing against the other races. The spellbreaker is probably the most influencial unit in this matchup, as he counters casters and tier1. As a result, many mirror matches end up with mass spellbreakers and 2 heroes. Mostly used strategies are:

Mass spellbreaker/priest
Knight/priest/mortar
Mass air/knights

Knights, dragonhawks and mortars are the only units in the Human army that can effectively counter spellbreakers, although you need more than 1 goldmine to fund for enough to really become an effective counter. The problem is that you will be weaker at tier2, so that the players going mass spellbreaker can get an expansion. Most people start out with spellbreakers for this reason, and then slowly add in the counter to the other players' breakers.

One way of skipping spellbreakers is getting lots of footmen while making an expansion, and then towering up. If you get attacked defend with lots of militia. This way you can cross the gap and get an advantage once you have enough knights/mortars. Make sure you get the shells upgrade for the mortars so you deal lots of damage to the breakers. The right move for the players getting spellbreakers is to switch to air at this point, to be able to kill the knights fasters. The game is probably a race for the other persons expansion right now, as they become more and more valuable. The air can be countered by mass flying machines, and if the air is gone they can be used as harassers and scouts.

As far as heroes go, the Archmage first is always good ofcourse. Second up is usually the Firelord on tavern maps, as he can both summon and stay in the back (the frontlines are usually dominated by breakers so not a good place for heroes). The MK is possible as bolt + spellbreaker focus is quite lethal against heroes and priests. Your priests are usually focussed on first as they are the weakest, yet you can't really skip building them since you need the heal and dispel. As a third hero, the Paladin is probably the best. If the enemies' MK reaches high lvls you will really need him to save your heroes.

[Myth]

Maps:

Echo Isles : Very small and straightforward map. The creeps at the health fountain are tough but don't deal alot of damage, so they can be done very fast. The expansion is easily crept but to actually get an expansion there must be considered carefully, as it is very open. The rest of the creeps is mostly medium stuff.
Tower rushes can work here, especially against Night Elves, although they might expect it. Make good use of the fountain, and expand when you have an advantage. Be sure to add some towers; when everything is crept the other players will not have much to do except attack you.


The Two Rivers : Another small map with a few bridges to create choke points. The idea is the same as on Echo Isles, except that the expansions are much easier to defend, so doing a fast expand can be recommended.
Tower rushes are less effective here, as Night elves can put wisps near the bridges to see you coming.
Make good use of the bridges when the enemy is near, they can give you a great advantage against superior enemy armies. The item shop at the bottom right drops a good item, but make sure you know where the enemy is when you creep it, as a creepjack there really hurts.
If the enemy is blocking one of the bridges to defend his expansion, don't forget you can easily reach his expansion with a zeppeling, hired from one of the goblin labs.


Lost Temple : This is the classic Human map, and is usually picked by most Human players in tournaments. There are almost no poison creeps on this map, which are annoying for humans, and the expansion is easily crept and defended. You can spread farms across the map for better knowledge on the enemies' location, which is always an important thing. If you do not know if your enemy has crept his expansion, take a look at his items when you see his hero. If he has a wand of illusion/lightning shield or sentry wards, he has crept it.
The fountain in the middle of the map also has to be noted, as it is relatively easily crept thanks to the health fountain and gives good experience and items.


Turtle Rock : Although this map is listed as medium, it is actually pretty small. This is because a big part of the edges is actually water. Fast expansion is very hard to pull off here, as the goldmine creeps aren't exactly easy. A tier 2 expansion is very possible here, however, and is most effective against undead.
With close distances to enemy bases, harasses and tower rushes/pushes can work out very well, just make sure you get a foothold inside his base, so you won't be pushed to the smaller edge.
The item shops at the side are important to have done, as the ogre magi drops a permanent sentry ward that cannot be dispelled. If you have both of the sentry wards, and keep an eye in the middle you can control this map.


Twisted Meadows : A medium-sized map with lots of medium creepcamps. This map has 6 spots, the goblin labs and the mercenary camps, which are pretty good to creep early on with militia (used to be 8, but since 1.18 the item shop creeps have become stronger), so you can make use of this. The nearest expansion creeps are not very easy, and the place is not defended easily either, so a fast expansion might not be wise.
A tower rush can be pulled off here, although a tier2 push is stronger. This is because of the tavern in the centre (for a fast 2nd hero) and the mercenary camps (for some extra army power).
Almost never creeped are the dragons at the expansions of the island, but they should not be forgotten. When you see your enemy with a zeppelin, be sure to find out if he has anything there.

Gnoll Wood : The only big map in the solo ladder, and most Human players see this as their worst map. It has lots of poison creeps, and a fast expansion is pretty hard to pull off because every spot is very open to attacks.
Tower rushes are usually out of the question as the distances are so big, unless he spawns right next to you.
Another problem is that most human players want to pressure their opponent to keep them from creeping their heroes to high levels (like a TC or Undead tri-hero), but because of the amount of creeps and size of the map this is pretty hard.
The fountain in the middle is either mana or health. Make sure you find out which one it is early on so you can make use of this. If there's a mana fountain you can creep the drake with only your Archmage lvl 2, and about 4 footmen. If a Night elf makes archers you can expect him to show up in the middle at around the same time as you, so get a dusk of appearance from the shop when you suspect this.

[IC.Shadow]

General Human Tips for overall gameplay