Aragorn7
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Warcraft 3---Undead Secrets---Revised Edition
Updated by Aragorn7. Now covers TFT.
Stuff highlighted in green is important, SO READ IT!
Undead Basics
Let's start off with the most basic of UD units, the Acolyte. This dude here is your basic recouce gatherer, and most importantly, you builder. But let it be known, that although he sucks gold out of the Mine, he DOES NOT CHOP WOOD.
With that out of the way, let's head to our other recource gatherer. Namely, the Ghoul. Ever wonder why you start out with one of these babies? To chop wood of course! The Ghoul is good at chopping wood, infact, he's the best chopper in the whole early game, save that of the Wood Cutter you can buy at the Goblin Labratory. This guy hauls some serious butt with his lumber too. The reason why I say he's the best early chopper is this, he needs no upgrades for wood, and he automaticaly brings in +20 wood every time! That's max wood, with no upgrades like the other races.
Another point I'd like to press is the building managing of the UD. First off, the UD summon their buildings, and if your a SC player, you know a race that did the same thing. Second, if your short on money, pick a building your not using, and "un-summon" it to get, what, 50% of the money back? That's still a great deal on a used building!
Second point of the build managing. Your Ziggurats, or other words, your farms. These things aren't built JUST to feed your Undead Army, but to defend your Undead base! Yeah, just click one when you get a Graveyard built, and upgrade away!
Another little thing I forgot to mention: The Undead have a powerful defence system, the Town Center. Thru it's upgrades you'll get an additional snowblower for your defense.
The Blight is the final point of Undead Basics that I'll touch on. This is like the creep to the Zerg, meaning, you can only build on the blight, except of course the Necropolis and Haunted Gold Mine. But, the main reson why the blight is so important to the UD, is the fact that the Undead Legions only heal while standing, or flying over it. Use Sacrificial Skulls to make blight in the middle of a battle!
The Use Of Corpses
Corpses are what it's all about! A pivatol role in the UD society, the bodies of slain warriors can be used for quite a few perposes. One, and probobly the most important in the early game, is the fact that Ghouls can eat them to regain full health. But you have to upgrade them first at the Crypt for a measley 75 Gold! 75 gold for an invaluably great gift!
Number two use, the fact that Necromancers can use them to make a large army. Now don't get too excited, the army they raise is strong too a degree, but by all means, way too weak to just face the enemy in a full charge. Mainly used as a surprise army by most experianced players, Skeletons are a fast fix to a seamingly big problem. But be careful, skelis give great experiance to great warriors, so in the end, you may be only helping your opponent!
The body bag action doesn't stop there! Two more units that I know of can use corpses are the Meat Wagon, and the Death Knight.
The Meat Wagon is the Undead's siege weapon, and a damn good one at that! But it didn't get it's grizzly name for nothing! True to it's name, this baby actuelly hauls corpses for later use!
The Death Knight, a powerful hero for the Undead, can use the bodies of slain enemies and allies for use again! At level 6, the Death Knights Ultimate Ability, Animate Dead, is not neccacerily a gusu move, but can certainly turn the tide of battle. Don't worry about selecting units too resurrect either, the computer automaticaly selects the highest level bodies on the ground, so be assured that your mana will not be wasted!
Choosing a Hero
When you choose the Undead, you got the best, and the worst heros in the game! Look down for more info!
Why the Dread Lord is King
This baby is probobly your best choice against UD. He's good against races, or players, that like to mass weak units. He is best when used in combonation of Ghouls. His vampiric aura can do wonders.
Carrion Swarm is good for that small group of weak archers pummaling your Ghouls, and great for weakening heros!
Sleep is perfect for stopping that almost dead hero from running away, but watch out, it can be stopped, but is a great nusance for your opponent. It's also perfect for heros with mass kill Ultimates, like the Priestess of the Moon's Starfall, the Lich's Death and Decay, the Far Seer's Earthquake, and even the Arch Mages Blizzard!
The most important ability in my opinion, is the Vampiric Aura that's projected from the Dread Lord once it's selected. This Aura is definetly one of the best in the entire game, mainly for the great bonus your units, and allies get when around the Dread Lord. Every time a unit under the influence of this powerful aura hits an enemy, they get a percentage of the hit points off the enemy to heal themselves with!
Infernal, the Dread Lords Ultimate ability is totally kick ass! Push that button, and a giant Fire Golem hurls down from the sky to help you slay your foes!
Death Knights with Big Swords
The Death Knight is almost a REQUIREMENT. When playing against Random, NE, ORC, HU players you will almost always get him as a first hero. Against UD, you almost always get the Dreadlord as a first hero.
The Death Coil, as stated above, has the distinct ability to heal your army, and hurt anything else. If that ain't cool, I don't know what is! Always get this ability first.
Death Pact is best used if you plan on seeing some heavy action! This ability gives the Death Knight the choice of sacrificeing any unit to heal itself, and in a tight spot, is invaluable! Also, thanks to the skill of my buddy Rage Winterchill, don't forget to use it for Hero sniping! This works best in combonation with skeletons, because they are free summoned units that can heal 180 HP instantly.
Unholy Aura is the Death Knights answer is the to the Endurance Aura projected by the Orc hero, the Tauren Chieftain. It increases health regeneration, and movement speed! When combined with the Dread Lords Vampiric Aura, it makes for some killer Ghouls, Gargoyles, and well anything else, including allies!
Animate Dead is the Death Knights Ultimate ability. Sort of acting as a anti-Paladin, this spell makes his conversion complete! When you select this, you have the ability to raise 6 invulnerable units that have died.
Stayin Cool with the Lich
I'm not sure why the Lich is given a bad rap. This guy, in the skilled hands of a master, kicks serious enemy tushy!
Frost Nova is the most destructive base attack made by an Undead hero, and possibly, by a hero period! It not only does two types of damage, it also slows the units in the area of affect!
Frost Armor is an extremely powerful technique, that can be used to up the anti in your Undead armies! And plus, slows the attack speed of all who try to attack the person with the armor on!
Dark Ritual acts like the Death Knights Death Pact, but sent to a different source. Instead of killing a Ghoul for health, you get mana!
Death and Decay is the most powerful base killer out there, in the truth that it will destroy an entire base all at once! And if it's great on buildings, guess what it could do to enemy units!
