How do I counter this human strat?

[Jooky]

I've faced this strategy, and I'm not sure how to beat it as NE.

HU goes 2 rax and masses quite a few footies and then rifle/foot mix while harassing my wisps with blizzard. Archers don't cut it against 5-6 footies, and by the time I get hunts he has a couple rifles out. If I tech, he just rushes my base and kills my AOWs. But if I stay at tier 1 and mass units, I'm at a disadvantage against 2 rax foots/rifles/blizzard. If I survive to tier 2, he gets a AOE hero(usually bloodmage but sometimes pitlord) and bum rushes my base with a couple casters, which is gg.

I have problems even when I manage an AM kill during early game harass. His sheer number of tier1 just overwhelms me. What do I do in this situation?

I normally get this strat played against me on TM, if that matters.

[Pool_shark]

I would be very focused on slowing down his unit production early game. A DH and archers might not fight well vs. Foots and an AM like you stated, however I know miltia can't take a DH and archers constantly harassing him.

I haven't played vs. this strat in awhile, it is pretty hard to counter and I would probably lose to it now because I haven't practiced against it in a long time. However I believe constant harassing and slowing his unit production while you tech or mass or put up a tower or something to protect you is the key.

Look for good jacks early game, keep the AM's mana as low as possible and detonate wisps on the AM/Elementals when he hits you with mass units.

[Frozgard]

Do you lose whisps when he uses blizzard?

[Pool_shark]

Yes, good point there too Froz. If you're playing human who is blizzard harassing maybe you shouldn't be wisp blocking or anything so you can move your wisps much faster. If it is really troublesome I suggest maybe hotkeying your lumber wisps to 3 and moving them immediately or moving them much more spaced apart. The hotkey number 3 may vary, that is just the number I would have them on because meat is 1 ranged/caster is 2 and air/anticasters/important units are 3. That is just how I run my hotkeys. Also you can change it later in the game if you wish.

[QueenOfhearts]

Try hunts first then over to archers u will have risk of tower though..

[Chob0]

like someone said before, hunts are much better against footies, try to position your base so the archmage has to get into your base to use blizzard, and trap him in. If you see dual rax, go for ballista push, try to leach all the AM's mana, etc.

[Solidus]

put your wisps near moonwells, if u see him running in to blizz, simply heal them as you move them. Get your dh to mana burn him. Also remember to spread your wisps out abit, dont keep them all together, thats like easy kills for him. make him work for his unit kills, spread em out.

[Chob0]

if the archmage keeps doing this, your moonwells will run out of mana very very fast, but it's still effective. try to micro them behind your gold mine, if possible.

[x)o(x]

hunts are a must, footies can go defend and just slaughter your archers.
after hunts if u see aoe just go mass dryads and make your way to mgs, you will probably win.
dr with silence and skellies is a good 2nd option.

edit : always go for their rifles first, these have an attack bonus on both hunts and dryads.

[GlaiVe_MasTeR]

This sounds pretty tough...do you have a replay of it? If so, please post and I'll want to watch it.

Like someone pointed out before, you can't let him slow down your economy, so you'll have to try to keep pressure on him. Blizzard costs a lot of mana, and if you do a good job of harassing him at the start, he can't harass your wisps very well. If you build your base right, he will have a hard time killing your archers with his footmen when they are behind buildings and picking them off one by one. And like another person pointed out, hunts may sound good in this situation, but only if you can mass them since the start of the game, and massing hunts vs. human is very risky. If you try putting in hunts after already getting a few archers, they will get crushed easily by riflemen since your hunts will be forced to tank for the archers you have. It will leave you vulnerable to tower rushing, and will also slow your tech.

So just keep pressure on him, stick with your archers, and try to keep him on the defensive early game, that's all I can say.

[Kal-El]

What hero are you using first? I think a Panda can work wonders and build extra moonwells. Keep your units near your trees so when his footies try and attack them your trees can help you out.

[Chob0]

Demon Hunter is actually better for mana burn, but Drunken Haze could help you pick off footies. Try to block wisps from attackers, and away from the front of your base. I have a SS of how to place wisps, i'll show it to you in a second.

[vb.]

harass is the key, mabe buy DH boots and that TP thing for just ur hero

[Chob0]

those aren't available until night time, and till then the human player would've already started harrassing + producing lots of footies

[water-walker]

demon hunter with immolation, and a BoS, could really do some damage to him. Mkae sure to use ur moon wells,m and the dh with the bos to ur advantage. At tier 2 going for dotts may not be terrible with magic damage, or Mountain giants, pick up a panda, and not a naga, and kick the shit outta him.