FFA Guides

[Becko0]

Basic Human Guide

Humans have 2 very distinct strengths:
1- the first is their ability to addapt: they do not posses an overwhelmingly powerfull strategy such as necrowagon or chippo, yet they posses increadible versatility. Human armies can addapt to whatever their oponnets can challenge them with.
2- Mass teleport: If you get an archmage and level him up until you aquire his ultimate you will be rewarded with an increadibly mobile army. You can easilly cross across the entire map in a matter of seconds. This is amazingly useful in large maps such as Twilight Ruins, where u can control the map completely. Furthermore in ffa games you are likely to be teames upon (doesnt have to be intentional chat teaming, can also be through scouting, weakers always unite against the strong)

Advice and Psicology:
Avoid conflict at the start of games as much as possible, creeps will run out quick (look at rule 7) and if you dont creep quick enough youll have lower level heros. Do not hero harass, this is not useful (i mean at the start of games) and will only get you more trouble. PLayers who get hero rushed tend to change their focus from winning the game to just making you loose, same goes for early attacks. Unless you have a strong tier 2 and feel its time to take players out, specially neighbours who continue to hastle your main or expansions.

Try to aviod attention as much as possible, if players realize you are the strongest they will (either naturally through scouting, or intentionally through chat) team you. Even if you win a battle try to minimize your success, if you lost 2 priests let the other players know how strong your attacker is. You have to be careful here, if you overdo it can have negative consequences.

When u defeat your first opponent be ready to have your strategy become public for the rest. It is a common practice that those who are defeated cry out: Player 1: player 2 is real strong, he has gryph, knights tanks.

Many good solo players are use to controlling the entire map. Many solo games come down to either you controlling the map or the other guy controlling the map (same is true for team games). Many solo players try to apply the same tactics to FFA games and end up losing almost every game.

It's very difficult to “control” 3 players (you might be able to do it if you are a top player and you are smurfing but that will only get you a few games).

FFAs are about understanding what you CAN control, and learning how to deal with multiple players at once

Useful general rules:
1) Scout all players before selecting a target. Picking the right target to attack is perhaps the most important part of winning the game. Picking the right target will always be better than randomly attacking whoever you bump into. Generally look for the stronger players, or those who are gathering the most resources (even look for the other players who actively scout the map). Scouting will also let you know what units to build in order to kill your target. I tend to scout the entire map every few minutes, the player who represents your largest threat will change from time to time

2) Look for players who are likely to attack you. This might be because they don’t do their own scouting. They might be new to FFAs and they do not understand rule #1. This means once the player sees you, they will focus on you until one of you is dead. Take care of players who target you directly and try to stay away from “aggravating” more players. Sometimes you need to weigh one player who is targeting you vs. another player who has 6 gold mines and is kicking ass (rule #1). Sometimes, you should ignore the player attacking you and go for the stronger guy. Guessing how players will attack you will help you decide on what your next move should be.

3) Watch your upkeep. In solo, it’s a good idea to go to into high upkeep and win due to the number of units. Be very careful in FFA’s with high upkeep. While going to 100 units and killing all the other players tends to work on the low end of the FFA ladder, it doesn’t work vs good FFA players. If you stay in high upkeep you will run out of gold. FFA games can last an hour or longer, and you need to plan on having resources for the length of the game. Usually if a player stays in high upkeep and if they lose their army and expansion they will not come back from the game. Spending time at 80 food + multiple expansions will give you more gold, which will give you more options during those times where you get attacked by multiple players at the same time (it happens to us all, so its just a matter of being ready for it). Go to 100 food when you need to, but the second you find yourself just standing around, kill off your own units and drop to 80

4) Always have a TP scroll handy, buy a few of them. This allows you to react easier. If you get attacked by player 3 player while you are attacking player 2 a TP scroll can help you fight both armies. TP will scrolls allow you to port around a large map and defend if you need to. (U should get some even if you have an archmage, remember that mass teleport can disrupted by hex, sleep...)

5) Put a few towers at your expansions / main. Building towers tends to be associated with new player who ONLY build towers. This doesn’t mean towers are bad, just learn where they can help. In Solo its better to have map control which means you should spend money on units instead of static base defenses. Towers will do two things for ya in FFA games, first they will buy you a some time. Time helps in cases where you have to fight multiple players at once, or when you need to fight a 100 food army when you only have an 80 food army. Second, towers kind of work as a “stay away from here, private property” sign. Most FFA players (at least not the top players), will go find another target after seeing your towers and they will leave your expansion alone. Most players don’t want to deal with the hassle of making siege, so they run off and find another player to attack. If players are killing each other instead of you, you will win more games.

6) It’s important to adapt. One of the most useful items in FFA games is the tome of retraining, for some reason very few players ever buy this item. Human players who go AM first can switch from water elementals to Blizzard around level 5. You can even switch back and forth based on the army you need to fight. water elementals are great for creeping and against players who go all air (or hunts), but blizzard is generally a much better spell later in the game when you are dealing with 100 food armies

7) Creep aggressively, but stay out of sight. Creeps tend to run out pretty quickly in FFAs, so get what you can quickly. Sometimes its better to stay away from the center as there will be 3 or 4 armies all trying to creep jack each other. If you spend time getting the creeps around the edges you should end up with MORE creeps than the other players. Sometimes you just need to watch how each map is creeped by players

Now into more specific human ffa:

Heros

Archmage:
The archmage is a very versatile hero who will be a great addition to your army. When this guy gets to level 6 he has one of the best ultimates. There are 2 main options when using the archmage; blizzard or water elemental. Blizzard is by far a more usefull late game skill, yet you can choose to go WE at the start and then retrain to blizzard.
Skills:
blizz/aura/blizz/aura/aura/masstp/we/we/we

Mountain King
One of the best melee heros for FFA, he can be a true beast if permitted to level up. Once he reaches level 8 he is truly unstopable, even more if aided by a palladin. If you get this jaugernaught with an archmage then its best to go bolt and clap.
Skills:
clap/bolt/bolt/clap/blot/avatar/clap/bash/bash/bash

Paladin
This is a must get hero in ffa, he is in charge of keeping all other alive. He is a great support hero, and is often acquired as a third hero. His aura is nice, but not really that useful.
Skills:
Light/shield/light/shield/light/ultimate/shield/aura/aura/aura
Reasoning: Hes there to heal and remain alive, not for his aura.

Blood Mage
He is rarely seen in ffa, as his skills are not that useful. However flamestrike is good versus casters, and banish can be the nightmare of an undead. He is hardly ever chosen as first, he can be seen more often as a second or third hero. Fenix is real good.
Skills:
FS/SM/FS/SM/FS/fenix/SM/banish/banish/banish unless there is an undead in which case change either flame strike or syphon mana for banish.

Beastmaster
This guy isnt really ffa material in my opinion, but I have used a couple of times and he can be relatively effective. yet i wouldnt change neither paladin, mk, nor archmage for him, but some players pick him. The bear at lvl 3 is real strong, and has bash and blink, plus the invisible hawk does amazing scouting.
Skills:
bear/hawk/bear/hawk/bear/ultimate/hawk/quillbeast/quillbeast/quillbeast
Reasoning: I dont really think that quillbeasts are ffa material.

Pandaren Brewmaster
An amazing tavern hero, he can turn complete armies useless. He is specially good versus clustered units such as gargs, hyppos ...
The panda is one amazing hero, and if u combine him with your archmage he will almost have unlimited mana. Plus the ultimate keeps him from dying and has a very decent damage output
Skills:
Haze/BoF/Haze/BoF/Haze/ultimate/drunken brawler till lvl 10

Dark Ranger
Seeing how she is an undead she doesnt blend that well with other human heros, how ever her spells are extremely useful. Silence is always very powerful and charm is great to get over 100 food armies. The only problem is that the pally cant heal her, so she can die pretty quick if focused. Always get her invulnerability pot.
Skills:
Arrow/Silence/Silence/Arrow/Silence/charm/lifedrain till lvl 10

Naga Sea Witch
This is really not a ffa hero, I never use her, and find her abilities and possible adittions to a Human ffa army very limited. I would say that she should not be used in ffa.

Pit Lord
This hero has a very large collision size and is easilly surrounded, however he has powerful skills. Howl is always great, and rain of fire really deals heavy aoe damage. Splash damage i would say leave for last. Just like the darkranger being an undead has its counters, as the paladin will not heal him.
Skills:
Howl/RoF/Howl/RoF/Howl/Doom/RoF/Splash...

Firelord
Just like the Naga this guy is never seen in FFA, his uses are very limited from start to end. You can use him if you feel you are being pushed at the start and need lots of summons, otherwise he isnt great.

Goblin Tinker
The tinker is not often seen in FFA, but some players pick him up because of his ultimate which allows the to kill buildings easilly. His other skills arent very useful against 100 food armies. He is also used to try to eliminate nearby oponents early.
Skills:
PF/CR/PF/CR/PF/ultimate/CR/Engeneering

Alchemist
This guy can be real powerful when used properly, chemical rage and acid bombs are great, and the aoe heal is relatively useful. His ultimate is a great in small maps with not sufficient gold.
Skills:
Chemical/Bomb/Chemical/Bomb/Chemical/ultimate/bomb/healing spray...

Note: Didnt have time to get into strategies and counters, ill try to post that soon enough

[Becko0]

Most common Hero Combinations (Human)

Archmage/Mountain King/Paladin

This is a very common hero combination for human, it is the most used strategy. Hero order can change, with Mountain King second or third. These 3 heros have amazing synergy, and provide one of the most solid FFA combinations. The archmage is your mana supply, the Mountain King is your main tank and the paladin keeps the alive. This combination gives you ground control, with MKs clap and blizzard, it gives you mobility (AMs ultimate) and a strong possibility to face higher level heros.

Mountain King/Paladin/Blood Mage

This combination of heros is often used when they are multiple undeads in a game. It has good synergy and an amazing nuke against the scourge. Banish combined with Bolt+Light will easilly kill any undead hero. Syphon Mana keeps adding mana to your heros, however casters will have more trouble with mana regeneration. Furthermore this combination does not posses the mobility that the archmage provides.

Archmage/Blood Mage/Paladin

This combination uses extreme AOE damage, with Flame Strike from the Blood Mage and blizzard from the Archmage. It relies mostly on slowing enemy units to make the aoe more effective. Its main problem is that it lacks the security the Mountain King gives when dealing with orc ground armies and leaves tha paladin as a loner front line hero. You would sacrifice brute strength in order to gain mass damage. This combination is often seen in mirror matches.

Archmage/Beast Master/Paladin

The beast master is sometimes used as a second hero, his powerful summons and high HP make him a decent hero. This is often seen trying to kill neighbours in a tier 2 push. The beastmasters summons get exponentially stronger, and the bear and hawk at level 3 are great additions to your army. He has good synergy with human heros, and the brilliance aura almost gives him unlimmited summons.

Mountain King/Pandaren Brewmaster/Paladin

A severe tanking combination which can deal with ground armies amazingly well. The Panda is a great addition to the human army, and if this strategy is allowed to get high level heros, it get very difficult to counter. The only real problem is the mana supply, without the AM or BM your heros mana regeneration will be a problem.

These are the most common human hero combinations, some people keep similar combinations but switch hero orders or 1 hero for a tavern hero. Generally speaking humans dont use many tavern heros because their natural heros have amazing synergy. I would say that the best combination is the archmage/mountain king/paladin strategy.

Units

Footmen

Footmen are of very little use in late game FFAs, however you should get some 4 or 5 of these to creep the map early on. After uve creeped kill them off, never feed the enemy experience by suiciding your footmen into his base or army

Rifflemen

A relatively useful unit at early and mid game. You can use these guys to help you creep or to attempt a tier 2 rifflemen caster push on your oponents. I would not recomend them at late game due to their low HP and damage output.

Knights

If you are getting swamped on the ground this is the best meatshield humans have. How ever being a heavy armor unit they will die very quick to magic attacks (chimeras, frost wyrms, gryphons). They are more useful in mirror matches.

Spell Breakers

Possibly the best unit the Human army has. This is a must get unit for almost any type of game. It is esential if there are orcs in the game. Use them to steal healing wards, stasis traps, blood lust, fairie fire and if used with a gyrocpoter you can steal sentry wards.

Priests

Required for on the go healing and dispel, Innerfire is also a good spell which has a psicological effect on opponents. It is a must have unit.

Sorcerer

A very useful spellcaster, slow is of great use, invisibility helps scouting and mass teleporting and polimorph is great on any tier 3 units. Specially undeads who have a very mediocre dispel.

Gyrocopter (Flying Machines)

They are the fastest unit in the game (only matched by hippos) and have a vast sight range. They are the best scouts. They are also a very good counter to mass air, as a couple of groups with flak cannons will decimate all air.

Mortar Teams

The most mobile ranged siege unit. Once upgraded with shards theyre damage output is insane. Always use them against dryads or casters. Also flare is a very useful skill.

Siege Engine (Tanks)

Perhaps the most hated human unit in the game. They are the only fortified armour units with siege damage that makes them excelent at destroying enemy towns. They are also great Anti Air, theyre best against light air such as gargs, but they also deal severe damage to heavy air. The thing to remeber when using them is to position them correctly so that they fire multiple rockets and not just 1.

Dragon Hawks

A very fragile air unit with a limited damage output, however its their skills that make them usefull. Great against mass heavy air, such as mass frost wyrms due to air shackels. Also good if your oponent if trying a necrowagon with a single frost wyrm to slow units down. The other good skills is cloud which allows you to destroy towers without being attacked, good against mass towers (which can be common in ffa)

Gryphons

The highest damage output in the human army is done by these fellows. They are great against heavy melee such as taurens or abominations. Very useful unit.



Basic Human Army Mix

Your basic human army mix for under 80 food should consist of:
1- 3 heros
2- 5 gryphons
3- 2 spell breakers
4- 2 sorcerers
5- 2 priests
6- 4 tanks
This army will be your basic under 80 food army, (you must consider that 3 expansions=15food and shreder=4) you can change the munbers a bit this is just a guide.

How to deal with Undeads

Undeads have several weakneses that need to be exploited, the first is that their dispel is mediocre at its best, so in a mid game push use sorcerers and abuse slow. Late game use polimorph on them.
The power of the undead comes from the death knight so nuke him as much as possible. Also undeads love to nuke the archmage into oblivion, so always try to keep an invulnerability potion on him.

Counter to Necrowagon

For necrowagon use griffs, mortars, priests and a high level MK/Pally combo. Without the high mk your front lines will break and you’ll be in trouble. When going against this strat take advantage of all choke points. Don’t fight in the open against it, try to focus the mortars on the necros and micro the gryphs to get the wagons, note that if there are fiends present be careful not to get webbed. Also healing scrolls are usel here.

Mass Gargs

This is very simple really, use slow on the gargs and let some 7 tanks ripe them apart easilly. You could also use gyros, but they are more vulnerable against gargs+healing scrolls.

Frost Wyrms and Crypt fiends

Use spell breakers+tanks+casters+rifflemen
Polimorph as many frosts as possible and use blizzard and clap to deal with the fiends.
NB: Always avoid getting ur gryphons webbed as they will die quickly


Dealing with Orcs

Orcs have the strongest ground armies in the game, but they all posses good anti air. Your strongest ally here will be the spell breaker, this guys just owns all orc casters, and gryphons to take down heavy meele.

Tauren+casters+zerkers

Use spell breakers, gryphons, sorcerers with slow, priests and mortars. Once again make good use of choke points, use slow with clap and blizzard. Focus your mortars on his shamans and witch doctors, use gryphons to kill spirit walkers first and then the taurens. If you are too far behind in hero levels defeating this strat is nearly impossible.

Tauren+casters+bats

There are 2 main choises here, you can either go with an army exactly as describe above and attempt to micro your gryphons away from the bats (and also use healing scrolls) or attempt a full ground army. Once again try to polimorph taurens if he has no dispel.

Dealing with Night Elves

We all know that NEs will almost always go for chippo (a mix of chimeras and hyppogrifs) but they have their weakneses. Fist of all their heros are wimps, the POTM, KOTG will simply be owned by Bolt and focus. Never focus on a Metamorphed Demon Hunter, use Bolt to cancel chaneling spells such as starfall or tranquility.

Chippo
There are 2 main ways to deal with chippo.
1- The easiest one ive seen is mass gyrocopters, upgrade this fast gyros with flak, and every single air unit will perish. Note: If he has a Panda breath of Fire will own your gyrocopters.
2- Use slow+tanks and polimorph to make chims useless. If he has dryads use the scroll of protection trick (you cast the scoll and the dryads will waste their mana abolishing it). Plus if you can get a few mortars they will rape drayds.

Nightelf Ground

This is what most FFA players really wonder, Do those really exist? The answer is yes, and some of them are very powerful.

1- Bear Dryads:
This particular strategy isnt to difficult to counter, with enough time and money. Get some breakers, mortars and gryphons. Use the mortars on the dryads, and the gryphs on the bears

2- Mountain Giant+archer+dott+dryad
This strategy is surprisingly tough. Not much beats down Mountain Giants so try to micro your way around them. If you an opening on any of the weak heros (Potm, Kotg) use it and bolt and focus this ases.

Tips:

If the Potm is doing starfall underneath her chims, u can often fail the storm bolt which alway equals trouble. If you suspect they're going to let it rip, use the page down key to get under the chippo mass

Also put a mechanical critter behind their tree of life, and mass tp with a few tanks and get his tree. This always pisses them off.

Try not fight inside an elfs base if their moonwells are full, or send your tanks first to rip through the wells.

Thats the basics for human ffa, use your strengths and exploit your enemies weakneses. Addapt as quickly as possible and attempt when possible to kill the resources of your opponent. Hope this has been useful

[Becko0]

Undead Hero Combo

Death Knight, Dreadlord, Lich: I think this is the best hero combo you can possibly get as it is versatile, provides good nuking and you can use in any map. Dreadlord and Lich can be the nightmare of clusters of low health troops and the fact that the Death Knight can Coil them makes this combo a tough one to beat. Hit and runs with Carrion Swarm and Frost Nova is VERY effective against chippos or mass Gargoyles.

Death Knight Pandaren Brewmaster Lich
Death Knight, Panda, Lich: Great versus mass light air, not so great versus heavy units. Great combo overall but not being able to heal the Panda and not having Infernal can be very bad. There WILL be times where you will wish for some Infernal action. Get some Potions of Invulnerability and Periapts for the Panda. Be sure to hit and run with area of effect as much as you can before engaging your opponent, as the Panda will just smash most light units.

Dread Lord Pandaren Brewmaster Lich
Dreadlord, Panda, Lich: Can anyone say mass AoE? There are only two big weakness to this combo. Both are weaknesses caused by the lack of the Death Knight: Speed and healing. Lich is basically a walking Tome of Experience, so keep him stacked with Periapts and Potions of Invulnerability (actually get those potions on all heroes if you can). Potions of Health and Scrolls of Healing are needed as well.

Common Armies and Counters

Undead vs Human

With necrowagon be very aware if your opponent uses Mortar Teams as they WILL smash your Necromancers very fast. Move them to the back or next to the Mortar Teams (that depends on the position you are in when you take on a battle) so that they can't hit you.

Archmage, Paladin, Mountain King - Casters, Riflemen and Siege Engines

This strat can give any Undead player a very hard time, as most Undead players don't know how to handle Siege Engines. The big thing here is heavy air, heavy melee and some Meat Wagons (a couple will do the trick). You can use Gargoyles, but Frost Wyrms can make Siege Engines stand still without taking much damage, and the melee would be against the Riflemen and casters. Add in some Destroyers (one or two at least) to Dispel Polymorph, Slow and Inner Fire. Watch out for hero nukes and it should be an easy ride. Scrolls is not a must, but will help. Nuke the Archmage when you get a chance. Necrowagon can smash most Humans too, but remember to aim the Wagons at the Priests and nuke them, too.

Archmage, Paladin, Mountain King - Gryphons, Dragonhawk Riders and Siege Engines.

In this case I suggest to go Gargoyles as I don't think you should get Fiends unless you go necrowagon. If he has half a brain your Fiends will die very very fast. The key here is speed (this is where the Death Knight comes in), get in and kill the Gryphons (keep your Gargoyles alive by using Scrolls of Healing), kill the Dragonhawk Riders and then Stone Form and deal with the heroes by nuking. Add some melee if you want, but be aware that the Gryphons will hurt them badly. Necrowagon will work here too, but make sure you use the skellies as meat and keep your Fiends safe.

Bloodmage, Paladin and Mountain King with any of the combos above

Be very careful with your heroes, especially the Lich as he has few hitpoints. Sleep the Paladin and kill the Bloodmage, repeat with Mountain King and you should be fine.

Mass Tanks

Use Frost Wyrms in order to keep them still and get three or four Meat Wagons and aim at the Siege Engines, Death Coil the Frost Wyrms. You can use Stone Form Gargoyles to block passages against the Siege Engines, remember that always. Use hold position at choke points with Fiends as well. Infernal on the Siege Engines is good as chaos damage will smash them.

Tips versus Human

- Nuking the Archmage is a good choice when you don't seem to be winning a battle, just don't nuke him after he is already aware that your trying to take him down, as Paladin will only make you waste your time.
- Infernal drops in bundles of Riflemen and casters (or any ground army) can give you time to nuke their units and possibly even his entire army before he has time to tp.
- Humans can get expansions faster than anyone, so always scout.

Undead vs Night Elf

Demon Hunter, Keeper of the Grove and Priestess of the Moon - Chimaeras and Hippogryphs

Well, if this one catches you off guard, you're pretty much dead. So stay aware of Night Elves doing such a strategy and if possible kill them right away as they can easily nuke your Black Citadel, making it impossible to teleport. The key to beating this strategy is mass Gargoyles or necrowagon (CRIPPLE THE CHIMS!)

Be aware that good players might try to put the Chimaeras ahead as "meat" while the Hippogryphs rip up your Gargoyles. Be quick to notice this and retarget as fast as you can (same goes for Mountain Giants). It is better if instead of engaging the Night Elf, you hit and run with area of effect several times in order to weaken him. Then, when you see his forces are low, strike at full force.

Necrowagon can work, but as I said earlier you have got the problem that they can snipe the Necromancers too fast, so be careful and add some Fiends and micro your Necromancers and Meat Wagons, use the skellies as meat and you can kill most chippo Night Elves with this.

Demon Hunter, Pandaren Brewmaster, Priestess of the Moon - Chippo
Whenever there's a Panda it means massing Gargoyles will be a problem. Add a Panda youself, some Dispel, Sleep or all of it, but never fight a battle when your Drunken Hazed, NEVER! Hit and runs won't work so well here as it's more likely you will lose more than him.

Warden, Panda and Priestess of the Moon - Chippo or Hippo Riders with some Mountain Giants

I strongly suggest you don't get Gargoyles here as they will die very fast. Necrowagon is better, but he careful as he WILL try and nuke the Necromancers/Meat Wagons. If you do get Gargoyles, sleep the Panda as he will be more troublesome than the Warden. If you can, sleep both.

Ground Night Elf

"Hmm, do these exist?" you might be asking youself. Yes they do, and some of them are actually quite strong. I would suggest you stick with counter against ground Night Elf. When you see Mountain Giants, get Abominations, when you see Dryads, get Gargoyles/Meat Wagons (I wouldn't suggest Fiends unless he has a lot of Hippogryphs, as Gargoyles have more mobility), and I think you should be fine.

Tips versus Elf

- Never try to nuke a Demon Hunter in metamorphosis form, never use mass Gargoyles versus a Demon Hunter in metamorphosis form (if you want to, Sleep him, but never let him shoot at your Gargoyles cause metamorphosis damage is splash).
- Thorns Aura is what evens the fight of Hippogryphss versus Gargoyles, if you see an opening and you can snipe the Keeper of the Grove, do it and try to engage before he can get it back.
- Try to fight in their base only when Moon Wells are empty.
- When you see a Priestess of the Moon with an Anti-Magic Potion casting Starfall, you have three choices: Either you hit her with an Infernal, run as fast as you can outside of the Starfall range, or Dispel and Sleep her. Never fight in Starfall as even your magic invulnerable units will take damage.

Undead vs Orc

Tauren Chieftain, Far Seer and Shadow Hunter - mass Berserkers plus casters and some Taurens

The key in defeating this is mass heavy air with Dispel, adding some heavy melee if needed to save heroes from Tauren. Dispel Spirit Link, Blood Lust, Stasis Traps and Healing Wards, DISPEL CONSTANTLY, and never never make the mistake of focus firing the Tauren Chieftain, as that is exactly what he wants. Aim directly at the bundle of Berserkers and nuke them with any area of effect at your disposal. The big strength in this army is the fact that they can spread the damage around and heal everybody fast (if you are on a map without Scroll of Healing, this is a big advantage for Undead) and if you see and opening, nuke the Shadow Hunter. Scrolls are very good here as you might be dealing with a lot of spread damage, Coil the Frost Wyrms if you see he is focusing on them and lead them to the back.

Same as above - Wind Riders, Bat Riders, casters

This is considerably harder. For this you will need some Destroyers and some heavy air, but also Gargoyles or Fiends are needed. I prefer Gargoyles, micro them so that the Batriders don't do full damage to everything (you can try and keep two groups separate). Get the Wind Riders first and then the rest of the army, leave heroes (especially the Tauren Chieftain) for last always, unless you get a good chance and a clear shot at the Shadow Hunter. Remember a level 5 wave of Frost Nova and Carrion Swarm can take out Batriders, so nuke them a bit before engaging and always have Scrolls with you, use them after (and during if you can) a wave of Bats to recover.

Mass Batriders and towers

Starve the S.O.B. and get Fiends, be sure to keep some Fiends in every expansion (three is a good number) with Burrows and some in your main (tower up on main) so you can surprise the Batriders. Nuke the Batriders whenever they get close to your heroes (even with Coil) and try to make sure he wastes his money. If he gets Tauren be sure to get some Banshees or Necromancers so you can add a bit more to the fight. Be aware that if he changes strategy, it can beat you pretty fast. This strategy will usually make you lose the game, but at least make sure you take down the Batrider masser with you.

Tips versus Orc

- As I said before, don't mass Gargoyles when you have an Orc beside you as he can pretty much just send the Batriders from far away and kill you stuff. If you do have Gargoyles and you see Batriders, be sure to Stone Form the Gargoyles before the Batriders can hit.
- The Shadow Hunter is one of your main targets in this army, if you see an opening go for him, aim everything you can at him. If he heals and you see you can't handle him, keep with the fight and retarget or tp out.
- Keep a Shade near you to remove those annoying Sentry Wards that will be all across the map.
- If you happen to find an Orc without the upgrades in Burrows and Towers, snipe all the Burrows you can and tp out (only engage if you are SURE that you will win). Recover and attack again, as he will probably not be able to recover properly.

Undead vs Undead

Death Knight, Dreadlord, Lich - Fiends, Frost Wyrms

Use mass Gargoyles to kill the Frost Wyrms fast and then try and nuke the Lich (sleeping the Death Knight will help) and the Fiends if you can. Add scroll as his nuking WILL hurt you bad.

Same as above - Gargoyles, Frost Wyrms or pure Gargoyles

You can mass Gargoyles, or you can necrowagon his base (always strike at base if you can, as he will be trapped). This can get ugly very fast if you don't know what you're doing, and he can kill your heroes very fast as well, so be careful. Scrolls are a must, every Scroll you can afford.

Necrowagon

Be VERY careful with this, spot it fast, and stall him as much as you can until you can get Destroyers. Nuke the Necromancers and the Meat Wagons, and Dispel everything you can.


Maps
Some maps require specific strategies, approachs or things you have to be aware of. I won't be getting into four-people maps as I thumb them all down, I hate small maps for FFA. It's always good to check if there is any spot vacant on the sides to see if you can get two or three expansions fast. Spots = primary starting locations.

Bloodstone Mesa

Always scout to see if the spot to next to you clockwise if available, if it is, you can expand twice fast, and chances are people will not notice it until it is too late. As for the middle creeps, if there are too many people in mid, you can try to snipe the big creep, get the item and move on to the other creeps as most people will try and clear the whole creep camp.

Feralas

God, I cannot say how much I hate this map, this is usually a 4x4 map (bad one as well). Position has a HUGE importance on this map as you can get surrounded very easily. Try to take a spot with towers and secure two expos if you can. The Ogre creeps in main spots can be crept by air units as there are no Trappers or Troll Headhunters, so be sure that when your done with one creep, send your Gargoyles over the trees to get the other creep camp crept before you get there. Remember that trees are the only thing that keeps the base away from each other, so take down the trees (with Meat Wagons) and invade the other base if people are towering their entrance (remember this versus Batrider massers).

Monsoon

I have a personal issue with this map, I hate it as well, I've been Siege Engined one too many times in it. The top/bottom mid creeps are HUGE, never underestimate them but at least they reward you properly, either it is a Tome of Power, Mask of Death or Crown of Kings. Get yourself a spot with towers when you get the chance.

Mur'Gul Oasis

I don't suggest creeping the Hydras in mid without any way of healing (Gargoyle Stone Form may be considered one of them) as they splash the damage. Mid plays a great importance on this map so get yourself a mid expansion when you se the chance and tower it up.

Silverpine Forest

Be very careful with Orc on this map, as a Blademaster with enough +15 Claws of Attack can take your heroes out before you can think. To prevent this, get the Claws before him and put them on your Lich to ease nukes. When you are creeping mid, snipe the Ogre, get the item and proceed to the next creep camp as these creeps drop great items, including the famous +15 Claws (the spot creeps drop great items, so does the natural expansion).

Expand twice when you can, or when you have a spot free next to you. Abuse the Marketplace as much as you can, the items you should be looking for are those blue Periapts, Claws, Amulet of Spell Shield and some Scrolls of Restoration (use them wisely, they are VERY expensive). Always get a Shredder, they replace your five Ghouls and you can get two Shredders (it is still less supply than those five Ghouls. Only get two when you have a severe lumber problem or when you have a lot of gold and you want to end games fast, so you don't have to worry about lumber).

Stromguarde

This is usually an Night Elf/Orc map, as Batriders/Chimaeras over trees will hurt you a lot. Tower a spot when you can, and be careful with Orcs or Humans towering spots on this map (damn you Rice, your towers go up so fast!) Always get Shredders to replace your Ghouls, and use the Ghouls to creep. To creep middle you should first hit the Knight, he will activate Divine Shield, then when the Divine Shield is over, kill him fast as his chaos damage is very dangerous (it is usually better for you to be worried about taking over spots and creeping those Archmages than creeping mid though, as the items aren't as good as those on Silverpine.

The Crucible

I love this map. This is an air map, you don't want to get caught at a choke point with a ground army. Gargoyles can pretty much creep anything very fast (those Dragons should be your first targets when you have about six Gargoyles), take over a spot and tower it as fast as you can, and watch out for Orcs/Humans doing the same thing as their towers are a lot harder to kill. If you are facing mass Siege Engines be sure to block your entrance with ground units. Chimaeras/Batriders over trees are a ***** too, so be sure to pick up anyone doing this and starve them.

Thunder Lake

Well, weird map, hard to get across to the other side, but I guess it's better than some of the others. Creep as many of the creep camps in the mid as you can as they have some nice aura items drops.

Twilight Ruins

I love this map. The expansion spot is easily crept by three Ghouls and a hero (please don't hit the big guy as he will summon two more level one units, only hit him when hes the only one left). It is also pretty easy to get two or more expansions fast. The Goblin Merchant creeps can drop Tomes of Experience, so creep them first when you're creeping mid. The four skeletons in mid drop some good items, but try to creep the Tome of Experience guys first. The Marketplaces on this map aren't that good, but they still have some good aura items (Brillance aura for Undead).

Typhoon

I can't think of a more unbalanced map. The only shop is in the bottom right corner, the creeps at the naturals are VERY hard and don't drop items that good, so no need to creep them unless you don't have anything else to creep or you want an expo.

Source from www.wcreplays.com