Today we journey into the strange realm of tower rushes denied and the fierce battle of revenge that ensues. This report is a tribute to all anti-tower-rushers out there and may it serve as an example to anyone caught in such a situation. The players? FearTheFrog (as BarnacleBoy) and FearTheToad (as MermaidMan) square off against the two would-be cheesers, khmer and lllillli, as they are forced to opt for more traditional methods (i.e. normal units) *gasp*. Yes, hold the applause, this is FearTheFrog report #3 presented for your amusement, and hopefully many many comments so feel free to be a comment whore.
The map was randomly decided as Gnoll Wood, as seen on the right. Locations 1 and 2 are where MermaidMan and BarnacleBoy begin, respectively. Locations 3 and 4 are where lllillli and khmer begin, respectively.
Some uneventful builds begin in which only one event is worth mentioning- lllillli sends two peons to scout, one south and one east. The eastward-bound peon runs smack into a herd of gnolls and the faint echoes of his death cry still echo in my mind today, "ug thug." The other scout found that his friend had not died in vain, however, as he accomplished what the two had set out to do and located MermaidMan just south of him. It is at this point in the replay (1 minute, 42 seconds) that I realize lllillli has yet to build anything but peons and a lumber mill... which can mean only one thing... the dreaded patch-awaiting orc towers (yes thats right enjoy it while you still can, orc lovers.) khmer sees this and rushes his newly spawned Demonhunter as support in case they are spotted setting up their gay towers.
The first tower completes. A second peon shows up, and two more towers are started. At this time a Blademaster appears for MermaidMan just as the Demonhunter arrives on scene. The Blademaster creates a mirror image, which the Demonhunter quickly targets with a Mana Burn, while hacking away at the real BM. The Demonhunter ends up killing the Blademaster, but is severely weakened and has to return home to heal up, having very few health left. BarnacleBoy, seeing the action, signals the map over the towers in case MermaidMan wasn't watching the mini-map and quickly uses his Scroll of Town Portal for his Archmage and three friendly footmen. The footmen charge the towers, and the Archmage does what Archmages do best- Water Elemental. Yes, a first is summoned, and soon after a second. This defending force tears into the two still-building towers while taking heavy damage from the one completed tower. One footman dies valianty and one yet-completed tower falls; it is an even trade given the situation. It is too early yet for MermaidMan to have grunts yet using his build for fast blood, and uses what is available: 3 peons, to attack the towers.
Four things happen at once now: another footman dies, bringing the count to one, a second tower completes, and the water elementals immediately target the peon, killing it in seconds right as one of elementals' timers runs out. Lastly, the Blademaster reappears into the mix and with his help the two remaining towers fall. GL HF GG NO RE? No, not a chance, theres plenty of action to be had.
A lone footman takes out his frustrations on a nearby sheep.
BarnacleBoy anticipates more fowl play and has started building two more barracks. MermaidMan has not been idle either, and has two barracks waiting but not enough food to support any grunts. lllillli has just started building his Altar of Storms and a barracks of his own, and khmer was the busiest with 4 moon wells, two Ancients of War, and a Hunter's Hall.
khmer gathers his now 7 huntresses and his Demonhunter and goes to creep the gold mine outside of lllillli's main. BarnacleBoy and MermaidMan finish creeping the Goblin Merchant with their Archmage, Blademaster, 2 grunts, and 2 footmen outside of MermaidMan's main and head for the same gold mine. Hunts = imbalance? In this match-up, yes, the NE hunts force the Humans and Orcs to fall back to the safety of the orc encampment as to not lose all their troops. They are pursued until khmer realizes they weren't retreating... they were regrouping, adding a fresh footman and three more grunts to their ranks. He thought better of this now and turned to flee for the time being.
Remember those two extra barracks BarnacleBoy was building? Well they completed just as his magnificant castle finished upgrading and the only feasable counter to tier 1 hunts is to invest in tier 3 knights. Yes the tier 3 knight with tier 3 health upgrade and tier 3 armor of 6 (at 0 upgrades) is the only way humans have of countering massed tier 1 hunts without getting costly spell casters that will most likely get focus-fired and slaughtered before doing any good. After all, as we learned in StarCraft days, why micro when you can macro something that requires little or no micro? Get knights, and micro the Archmage. Something just doesn't seem right in that logic but sadly it works... and keep in mind this has NOTHING to do with 1v1, obviously you need spellcasters in such a matchup but here in 2v2 or 3v3 world most rules no longer apply. Mwa hah ha! -A long story short, knights began production.
Time to update the enemy. khmer wastes no time in teching to dryads and their wonderfully CONVENIENT auto-cast dispel magic (contributing to the lack of NE micro) while lllillli gets a Farseer (finally) and gathers grunts until hitting medium upkeep. Luckily for BarnacleBoy knights don't have to have spells on them to be effective against hunts- keeping the odds pretty even. Their ability to slow units, however, with their poisoned spears is the largest factor in any future battles.
It is now the 10 minute mark.
Both BarnacleBoy and MermaidMan have agreed that a push on the night elf base would be wise seeing as lllillli has not had enough time to get bloodlust yet. Perhaps they could take out a few NE buildings and slow down his war machine. They venture out northward but khmer has sufficient warning from sentried owls overlooking the offensive force. The silence in which our four players were all settled is about to be broken by the sounds of battle...
The sound of horses stampeding across the terrain reaches the night elves' usually quiet domain. They watch the horizon as the pounding gets louder and sense that there are more than just horses approaching. The Archmage and his four horsemen supported by two footmen charge at top speed along with their ally, the Blademaster and his handful of grunts. The huntresses, prepared to defend, rush ahead and meet the challenge. They quickly retreat to behind their moonwells, however, attempting to use the moonwells' auto-cast function as their only means of static defense (moon wells, as well as being farms for the night elves, acts as a shield battery did for Protoss in StarCraft days in which they rejuvenate injured nearby units). A lone knight follows them and gets focus fired, but retreats when he realizes he is by himself. He does not have to go far, however, before a footman and another knight appear and the trio take on the Demonhunter by themselves. They trap him between his own huntresses and his altar, and hack away until he drops dead in a typical Demonhunter fashion. Is this the end for the night elves? If it were up to me, yes it would be. But no, lllillli's Farseer acts as the cavalry and appears from behind supported by 9 grunts.
For Aiur! I mean... for orcdom! Grunts aren't hard to miss, especially when you see 9 of them coming at you all at once. MermaidMan was paying attention, and managed to run out of harm's way before the grunts tore into his only supporting shaman. He runs past two knights that were savagely hacking at a moon well as if it were Courtney Love herself, and they turn to assist. MermaidMan swings around and with the help of the two knights faces the new challenge. Instead of running headlong into the superior numbers facing him, MermaidMan's Blademaster and his grunts ran around behind to encircle them. Once in position, MermaidMan used attack-move and allowed his shaman to cast bloodlust, evening out the odds a bit. About this time the battle between khmer's huntresses and BarnacleBoy's knights started to favor BarnacleBoy as two huntresses fell beneath the might of the four knights. Without any dryads out yet and no buffs to speak of the huntresses would soon crumble... and instead of letting that happen they retreated to the safety of lllillli's army, rejoining the fray. But wait! A dryad pops out... a knights dies... two of MermaidMan's grunts die...another knight dies... basically both attacking armies were reduced to carcasses in a matter of seconds. I hadn't noticed it until now but khmer had uprooted both his Ancients of War, which definately contributed to repulsing the attack. Left with no knights, the Archmage high-tailed it back to the safety of his castle. And after killing another huntress, the Blademaster ran as well.
After watching the replay I noticed something else. Killing the Demonhunter right away was a great benefit in that he gained no experience from any of the fighting that occured at his base... but upon ressurection he creeped his small gnolls and gained a Tome of Experience. ToE + NE = IMBALANCE. ToE should only be allowed for... me. Ahem. Sort of defeated the whole purpose of the raid.
lllillli and khmer now have the advantage again. It is through superior numbers, as everyone but BarnacleBoy managed to macro while fighting. Terminology 101: This means I suck at making new units while trying to micro through a battle. Can't be perfect. BarnacleBoy is researching his second armor upgrade for his knights (also has 2 in weapons) while making them as fast as a single mine will allow. The health research had also completed, giving each knight 950 beginning health points instead of 800. MermaidMan now has 4 shamans (bloodlust-armed) and five 1/1 grunts. lllillli has eight 1/1 grunts, but has not done any spell-teching, nor has the buildings to if he wanted. khmer is back to building hunts, and already has 4 dryads out. Luckily for team BB and MM he hit 50 control group and neglected to start another moonwell. Instead, he meets up with lllillli and creeps the gnolls at the goblin merchant just south of the 12 o'clock base. BB and MM had wanted to sneak up behind the NE base for another quick strike, but ended up finding the creeping party and decided to fight here instead. The idea was a good one...trapping the two armies in a creep patch and limiting their ability to move around. The only problem for the ambush party is that most of MermaidMan's forces were still lagging to catch up.
Where was I? The three knights engage first, taking the brunt of dryad fire. Two grunts 180'd and the Blademaster arrived. *a scroll of protection was used* by team lllillli/khmer. Archmage elementals started to pop up out of thin air ( I love it when they do that) and shamans started casting bloodlust- which was quickly abolished by those cunning dryads. The creep forces died off quickly and the party was able to turn its full attention to its flank, where they were being attacked from. Chain lightning immediately tore at the knights, using the water elemental as a conductor (sneaky orcs). The Demonhunter ran up and crotch-blasted the Archmage for a massive 200 mana (ouch) then began swinging his panda-blade around menacingly. MermaidMan's forces caught up, focusing on the Demonhunter. Two knights died, but one showed up to replace them. The Blademaster busied himself taking the dryads out one-by-one, and two huntresses chased him around throwing their ninja-star-glaive-a-ma-bobs. At least that is what they should have been called. khmer's Demonhunter got smart and mana burned one of the two Blademasters (the mirror image) killing it. He then took a swing at the real Blademaster, reducing him to 12 health. 12!
The Blademaster ducked behind his shamans, and khmer must not have been watching because the Demonhunter started targetting the shamans instead, allowing the Blademaster to turn back and apply his critical strike as it is used best. The knights' numbers are reduced to 1, and the last is quickly surrounded. In a move a sheer imbalance the Demonhunter crotch-blasts the last Blademaster, killing him and virtually ending the attack in one move. The winners? Clearly the night elf and his orc comrades. I contribute this to imbalance, of course. Auto-cast dispel and mana burn and HUNTRESSES?? With that said, the four remaining shamans retreat with the Archmage to the safety of the orc encampment.
it is now the 15 minute mark.
Hero update: Demonhunter lvl 4; Farseer lvl 4; Archmage lvl 3; Blademaster lvl 3, reviving
in the aftermath of the largest battle yet, each player has become very active. khmer with the only standing army runs forth to protect the newly budding expansion of his partner, just outside of the 9 o'clock main. Maybe he believes making the expansion before making more troops will allow him to manufacture them faster once it is up to speed, but your guess is as good as mine. BarnacleBoy has agreed to pump knights ASAP to get an army back, and is doing so 2 at a time. Lastly, MermaidMan is researching berserker aspect (HEY too bad headhunters couldn't evolve into burrowing, spine throwing lurkers, they'd at least be useful then- make it part of the expansion please) which gives them additional health and can deal more damage, preparing them for mid/late game.
BarnacleBoy creeps his closest gold mine, and (northeast of his main between 3 and 6 o'clock) while khmer and lllillli creep out the fountain of mana that sits just south of the center of the map. I remember MermaidMan say he would check for an expansion since he had no local creeps to kill, and stumbled upon the undefended orc expo that was halfway to completion. It was destroyed in seconds, and lllillli lost the gold. Not one to waste any time, lllillli brings in a fresh peon and starts a watch tower first instead.
Yes, after creeping the fountain of mana khmer and lllillli head east to check for a human expansion. After all, containment = GG. This only applies when the expansion actually exists, however, and in this case it does not. They instead find a formidable force of 5 knights an elemental and the Archmage running at them, and decide to engage. 2 dryads were out in front... and fell quickly to the knights. The Archmage ran to the center of the coming battle, and used his scroll of protection- getting EVERY unit on his side, including MermaidMan's orc brigade. The dryads made sure to dispel that scroll, but in doing so used up much of their valuable mana. Bloodlust was cast by the 4 support shamans, and the dryads could not compete with brilliance aura.
One knight fell at the hands of the Demonhunter. No sooner had he caught his breath had the Demonhunter found himself face to face with the Blademaster, bloodlust ripping through his veins and fury haunting his eyes. The battle is short-lived and the weakened Demonhunter falls victim to critical strike. khmer dances his army behind lllillli's and rejoins the fight. His huntresses are no match for the berserker grunts and heavy knight infantry and fall quickly. The Archmage hits level 5, and the knights focus on each dryad one at a time. lllillli's Farseer is 1 kill away from level 5, but has to retreat with his single remaining grunt for lack of an army. The winners? For the first time this match, MM and BB!
Advantage: MM and BB. Can they keep it? Both stop at the fountain of mana thinking it is a fountain of health (stupid stupid stupid) but this does give the shamans a chance to refill their mana stores. khmer realized his had 193487 gold saved up (1800 to be exact) and pumps hunts/dryads. lllillli starts a second watch tower and a town hall at his expansion. BarnacleBoy completed construction on an arcane sanctum, two priests are started, and their rally point is set to the Archmage. He heads northeast, checking for a possible elven expansion at the nearby goldmine.
MermaidMan starts a few more grunts and checks east to see if lllillli has re-expanded. Sure enough, there stands the Farseer, and one completed watch tower. The Farseer casts chain lightning and immediately hits his level 5 as the bolt strikes an already-weak grunt. BarnacleBoy heads northwest to hopefully intercept any reinforcements that khmer might have in mind. The gesture is worthwhile- 2 huntresses and 4 dryads were en route. The Archmage hastily uses another scroll of protection he had purchased in the short lull, but the night elf troops turn tail and the scroll is essentially wasted. The knights circle wide and come into the expansion from behind. The timing couldn't be better; the Blademaster has only 108 health left, and all his infantry were killed off in the assault. Chain lightning dances around the knights, and the watch towers (now numbering 2 with another being built) finish off 2 of the knights. At 300 health the Farseer uses his potion of invulnerability and the knights focus on the towers. Another two knights die as ANOTHER chain lightning hits them (turns out the Farseer also had a potion of restoration, allowing him virtually unlimited lightning during this battle). A tower falls and the potion of invulnerability wears off. The two water elementals and single knight focus on him. He dies at the exact moment the last knight dies, and the Archmage deems now a good time to run away.
It is now the 20 minute mark
Hero update: Demonhunter lvl 5; Farseer lvl 5, reviving; Archmage lvl 5, one kill from 6; Blademaster lvl 5
BarnacleBoy, in his deep wisdom, forgot to macro while fighting. This means I have zero troops aside from two zero-rank priests and a solitary knight in the making. MermaidMan faired better and has 4 grunts waiting. khmer is best off, seeing as he had no part in the last battle. He now controls 6 huntresses and 6 dryads.
khmer figures that any expansion is toast and goes off looking for one. He get sidetracked by some creeps near a goblin merchant in the 3 o'clock direction and engages. MM and BB. Know how important it is to prevent the orc expansion from getting completely online, and mount another attack. Three 3/2 knights and 2 priests accompany MermaidMan's 5 grunts, and 2 master shaman toward it. Running a little behind comes a life-saver... literally... a master witch doctor! He does not have enough mana for a healing ward and hides behind the knights in hopes of surviving long enough. khmer finishes with his creeps, grabs the scroll of the beast that is dropped, and teleports in.
khmer runs his troops back from the action, luring 2 knights and 2 water elementals from the pack. The Blademaster quickly turns into three when he activates his mirror image ability. The Farseer appears from behind and hurls a chain lightning at the priests, attempting to kill of any support magic. The ever-helpful healing ward finally comes into play, right in the middle of MermaidMan's grunts. Huntresses- scroll of the beast or not- have no chance against bloodlusted knights/grunts and a healing ward. Finally! A counter to the imbalance! The Demonhunter falls to the focus of 2 knights and 2 elementals. The town hall itself and the 5 peons mining it fall seconds later.
This time BarnacleBoy remembered to macro (sorta) and has 5 knights at the end of the battle. Both the Archmage and Blademaster are now level 6- this comes into play later (yes I will include the awesome power of bladestorm in this report). The two travel east to check for a night elf expansion, but find creeps instead. They decide its worthkilling them before moving onward to the night elf base. Normally the Blademaster would mirror image and send the images first to distract enemy fire. Instead, he rushed headlong into the group of 6 dryads, taking all the fire. After all, who cares about damage when you can BLADESTORM! Yes some say imbalance, and others say its counterable. I say for 7 seconds it does a hell of a lot of damage to anything under tier 3. However you view this amazing ultimate, it decimated the dryads. No... it did NOTHING to the dryads. So much for overpowered. See the 8 full moonwells were on autocast... and even though all but 2 of them were fully drained, all the dryads survived the bladestorm. See everything has a counter. The infantry of both attacking armies rushes in behind the Blademaster, only to see both Ancients of War and both Ancients of Lore standing and prepared to defend their little corner of the woods. This is how the night elves defend... they have plenty of static defense, for all those who complain they have nothing. Who needs towers when your friggen buildings do 45-55 damage. !@#$!. The dryads and huntresses are hunted down (ironic, eh?) giving the trees free shots at the troops. The Demonhunter appears fresh from his altar, and tries his best to help defend. 2 trees fall... then the Demonhunter... the night elf base slowly crumbled to the ground. But where is lllillli? The demise of his expansion left him with little gold, and what gold he did have he was investing in wyverns. Don't ask me why, he must not have realized his partner was dying. Both MM and BB expand for good measure. The game is all but over, and the cleaning up of lllillli's well-defended base (5 watch towers behind an equal number of orc burrows) was left for a lone catapult to chuck rocks at. And as such I leave you all with this quote- "This BR is over." Brings tears to my eyes. I'll have you all know this took 3 weeks to do and I am happy to quote Blarg so long as he continues to supply me with imbalance quotes (its hidden in one of the alt-text comments).
All in all, this was a very close match. The fighting went back and forth many times, and I continued to forget to build units while fighting. No one got an expansion up, and as we all know by now the primary gold mine only lasts 20 minutes if it is being mined by 5 units. Had khmer been able to fend off the last attack, we would have been left with no income and forced to expand. Most of all I learned that items play a major role in this game and if someone is using scrolls against you, you had best use them back to keep things even. All in a days work of WarCraft3, I suppose.
DISCLAIMER: all reference to imbalance is purely for fun, so piss off.
No association with 'The-Frog' Clan
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