Warcraft II Part #11 - Mission 11: Eh, Who Needs the Dead?

Part 11: Mission 11: Eh, Who Needs the Dead?

Episode 11: The Dead Rise as Quel'Thalas Falls or Eh, Who Needs the Dead?

: Doomhammer has been... weak in his judgements.

: Ooh, don' say whatcha tink ya gonna say, Blood-mon.

: Ahem. Address me with proper respect, peon.

: ...Chief.

: Excellent, continue.

: Ya not tinkin' about attackin' da human forces directly, are ya...?

: Oh, no, no. I'm not the fool that Necksmasher was. I will attack the pillars that support the human army. Without support, the Alliance will fall.

: So what? We attackin' da...?

: You should enjoy this, troll. Prepare the men, for we march on Quel'Thalas. Without Stratholme to lend support, we shall crush the elven nation once and for all.

: Chief...

: What? Not happy about the change in plans? Wanting to rebel?

: Na, Chief! I nevah been more happy ta help ya orcs! Lemme grab me scalpin' axe!

Days later...

: A fine base camp, Chief! I made sure we evaded da Ranger patrols. I'll send some o' me men out ta scout and we'll-

: Don't. I've already sent out some of my own. They should be reporting back shortly.

: Wha? Orcs!? Ya sent orcs ta scout out da elves!?

: Pfft. What's wrong with that?

Yeah, the map actually starts with an immediate attack on you. It isn't too hard to repel, but it's a nasty little trick if you're not on your toes.

: Da elves can hear dem comin' from a mile away!

: Goblins!

: Ugh, that ain't no fun ta look at directly.

: It's... kind of growing on me.

: Ahem. Wit' our cover blown, we bettah start lookin' into aerial reconnaissance.

: Okay, y'know, maybe it's the helmet talking, but Nigel was right; it's really weird you can say 'reconnaissance' but not 'with.'

: Racist.

: We got fortifications ova' here. Dat's strange.

: Oh, I had those put up when I sent out the scouts.

: We can do that!?

: Elves, elves, elves...

: Looks like da humans are ready to stand wit' da elves. Ugh. I can smell th' damn sapsuckers.

: Well, th' humans are diggin' in deep wit' da elves.

: Ah, the elves seek to stand against the mighty Chieftain Bloodgut?

: Fools.

As one would expect, there are a lot of elves in Quel'Thalas. The colors, however, differentiate how well equipped they are. Purple and teal are just basic elven archers, supposedly not belonging to the Rangers. Blue, however, are some distinctly amazing warriors that have a tendency to melt hit points away. See those ogres? Yeah, ELVES.

: Looks like da elves got enough gold ta spare. Someting we should take advantage of, ya?

: A lot o' gold.

: As much as I'd love to drop everything I'm doing and do what you want to do-

: -I'm kind of protecting the base here!

: If we can get these towers up quickly, I can focus on your more "domestic" affairs.

: Muuuuch better.

I have to include this to show the overwhelming forces at play here. This is a level 7 paladin. By now, we're just starting to look at stuff in the Blacksmith. Ugh, thankfully, one paladin will have trouble with two cannon towers.

He will still totally mess them up.

: Oh, ya. We're soooo safe, Chief.

: Just take some men and do that thing you were blathering about!

: My axe betta' taste elf flesh for all dis trouble.

Meanwhile, back at base...

: Now then, I believe Gul'dan's ritual involved these gronn bones. I think I may have the perfect thing to solidify my position in history...

The Temple of The Damned is the home to the death knights. The manual states that the temples were formed from the petrified carcasses of the race of giants that inhabited the Orcish homeworld. I like the idea of this continuity, deliberate or not. Just wish I could see more of it.

Also, the death knights apparently channel the Triforce for their powers. Seriously, it's the only rune there, and it's very much a Triforce.

: Most excellent. Now then... these scrolls provided by the Stormreavers should be helpful.

Raise Dead and Haste are all we really have access to (as well as Death Coil, which the death knights come with). Besides these, there are an additional three spells. If you've come from any modern RTS games, you may notice that it means the death knights can have six spells! I will rant more about this later.

: Undead. Haha, this should lend credence to their foolish prophecies.

: Prophecies, Chief?

: Ah, just something a captive wouldn't shut up about. Apparently some belief that Quel'Thalas will only fall when the dead return to life.

: I tink ya misinterpretin', mon. Mo' like "when pigs fly" kinda ting.

: Like that's going to make these death knights any less devastating.

Death Coil is an underwhelming spell for an outrageous amount of mana. It essentially is an AoE lifesteal, which would totally be great if death knights could take more than two hits. You'll see that the death knight has zero armor, as much health as a grunt, and less speed! They tend to be a liability, but the lifesteal just doesn't help.

: Uh, Chief, da mine-

: No, no, no... I've been through this before. Just-

: Ugh, never mind. We have the mining base set up to the south, so we should be fine.

: Meanwhile, my test subjects have arrived.

: Yes, yes... that's it. Die for me, you little skin covered jewels.

: Hahaha! Success!

: Uh, Chief didn'tcha orcs used ta do dat durin' da First War?

: ...Shut up.

Uuuuuuuugh. Look at those stats. Look at them. With a measly 40 hp (10 more than peons), same damage as a grunt, no armor, and awful speed, the skeleton is pretty awful. The undead wouldn't be terrible if they got the bonuses of your weapon and armor upgrades, but they do not. They have gotten an increase to their duration alive before the spell expires and they explode, but it isn't enough to justify the mana to create them.

: They're... perfect!

: Dey look a lil' fragile, Chief.

: Nonsense! Quel'Thalas will fall before the blades of their fallen! Now let's go claim that gold deposit while I test out our new partners.

: Chief, dat was amazin'! Da skeletons may be quite da aid in dis war.

: Uhh... we just raised these. The first batch fell in the first moments of battle.

: Oh.

: Yeah, I'm thinking that the "prophecy" may have just been the mad ramblings of an aging elf. We'll just handle this with tactical thinking and strategy.

: Speakin' o' which... if we be here, Chief, who be watchin' da base?

: Pfft. I'm sure it's fine. They're just elves after all.

Two paladins can pretty much wander unhindered throughout a lightly guarded base. With the level of healing they can maintain while putting out such damage can be really frustrating. These two can take out these cannon towers with ease. Solution?

Goblins?

Goblins!

: Besides, I left some goblins in charge.

: Good news from da scouts, Chief.

: Seems dey took anotha' mine ta da south.

: Excellent. We shall need the extra income. I assume they've set-up a small command post?

: Uhh... da report says dey went to scout beyond da nearby river.

: Ah, fine, as long as- wait, river? I assume there was a bridge then?

: Well, ya, da report says dat.

: Guess they're dead then.

: What!? But-

: Let's just take a look, shall we?

: Yup, totally dead.

: Oh, mon. Dat's terrible...

: Yeah, they didn't do a very fine job of scouting at all. Now with a little magic...

: Yeah, that was all pretty useless.

: Chief, you hear dat yellin', mon?

: Ah, mon, we'll nevah reach 'im in time.

: Y'know, this gives me an idea.

The little lightning bolt buff means that the unit has a haste buff on it.

Haste is actually a fairly decent spell. I mean, it would be if I actually used it properly. Haste increases the movement speed of units and their attack animation (but not the attack speed; with one exception). However, not all units actually get the benefits of this buff. Well, only one unit, really: ogres. Yup, the one unit that I chose to demonstrate with actually recieves no bonus from Haste. At all. I'll talk more about Haste when I actually use it properly, perhaps.

: Victory.

: ...Da peon died, Chief.

: Let's just burn this place to the ground already.

: Dis not be lookin' real "tactical," Chief.

: Just you wait, tusk-mouth.

: Bring forth the explosives!

: Eh?

: Tactical. Genius. Let's see Vilefeast or Necksmasher do that.

: Vile-mon would just smash da ting heedless o' da consequences.

: Ugh. And Necksmasher?

: He'd send Vile at it, mon.

: If you're going to be such a negative Nancy, why don't you just go guard the base?

: ...negative Nan-? What?

: Besides, Chief. Like ya said, we got men dere ta guard it.

Paladins!

: I suppose you're right. Now let's handle these things my way. Men, charge!

: Dis... looks like Chief Necksmasha's way.

: I AM THE CHIEF.

: I... I...

: JUST CHARGE, DAMMIT!

: Dis don' feel good...

The skeletal hand image there is the mage Slow debuff. Unlike Haste, the spell affects both speed and attack speed. Our ogres there are... kinda useless now.