Footmen Frenzy Compendium
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Updates[]

08/11/09[]

  • Added Updates section
  • Added section 1Aii. Armor and Attack Types
  • Added parts 4B and 4C, Siege Tank and Scepter of Destruction respectively
  • Added Chapter 5: Counters

Preface[]

Hello Reader. My name is tak08810, and I go by the battle.net name "zO_o-FalcoN" and previously “DopeBoyFresh123” on US East. I am a member of Clan ZoLo and an avid player of Footmen Frenzy. Awhile ago, I noticed that there is no real guide for people hoping to get better at Footmen Frenzy. Thus, I have decided to make this guide with the help of various other Frenzy aficionados. This guide is quite lengthy, and is not only meant for beginners but also for anyone who might want to see if there is something they didn’t know about Frenzy. This is also a work of progress, so keep checking back to see what I have updated.

Getting Started with Footmen Frenzy[]

The Basics ( NOTE: EVERYTHING HERE IS AN OPINION AND NOT FACT)[]

Footmen Frenzy - This link will give you much valuable information on the basics

Footmen Frenzy is a Free-For-All game played between four teams consisting of three players each. These teams are placed in each of the four corners of the map, which is a square. Each player has a base, which is arranged in a right-triangle like formation. While the game can be played in any format from 1v1 to 3v3v3v3, a full house is almost always preferred. That is the way the map is meant to play, and games often experience at least one or two leavers making a full house preferred if a meaningful and fun game is meant to be played.

Everyone starts off with 2000 gold. What you should do with this 2000 gold, and what 99.9% of players do, is to buy a hero. Heroes all cost 1900 gold with the exception of two heroes, the Death Sheep and the Avalanche. They can be purchased from the Tavern which you will be looking at as soon as the game begins. Additionally, they are located on the left side of the map in the blocked off area between Team 1 and Team 4. In Tavern 3, the last slot is a question mark with a tooltip that describes it as “Random Hero”. This will allow the game to pick a hero at random for you, with the added bonus of a Ring of Courage. This Ring of Courage gives you +1 to each attribute, and cannot be sold for any gold. The ring’s main purpose, in fact, is to show other players you had the courage to random and risk getting a hero you have no experience with. In addition, randoming gives you a very small chance of getting the two secret heroes in the game, Bill K and the Protoss Starship. Note that if you random, you can also use the -Repick command and the -swap command. To repick, just type “-repick” without the quotation marks in the chat box. You can repick one time and it will replace your current hero with another random hero. You can only repick a hero if you have full health. Also, unlike in the popular 5.4 versions you do not have to drop your items in order to save them; if you repack with the items on you, you will receive a new hero with the same items, if you drop the items, you will receive a new hero with no items in his inventory. The –swap command allows you to swap heroes with an ally hero. Both commands are only available for the first 3 minutes.

If you are a beginner, I highly advise you NOT to random. I also advise against picking the Death Sheep or the Avalanche. The Death Sheep, while very powerful in the hands of a very skilled player, is equally bad in the hands of a beginner. He is incredibly fragile and slow, so that even one footmen can take him down at ease in the beginning. The Avalanche, while strong and hard to take down, moves very slowly so will probably be boring to play. Also, he carries an increased bounty of about 450 gold on his head, so if you die your allies will be extra pissed. In the following section, I will give a list of good heroes to pick for beginners, and the basics of how to play them.

Two Paths[]

In Footmen Frenzy, you earn gold not from harvesting as in ladder, but by killing units and heroes. You gain exp through this way as well. There are then two main paths you can take: 1. You can choose to tech which means upgrading your tier to get more powerful units and upgrading your units to increase their damage, their health, and also to give them special, racial-specific abilities such as increased movement/attack speed (undead), critical strike (orc), evasion (human), and increased range (night elf). 2. You can choose to make your hero very powerful by both getting items and buying tomes of power. On very rare occasions, you may see people that choose to spend their money on different purposes such as massing buyable units known as “creeps”, or getting an extra hero or even several more! These are strategies that can only be pulled off by very skilled players if ever, and even then they will almost never be done by anyone playing seriously.

Each path has it’s advantages and disadvantages. If you tech, you will be able to get stronger units which will be able to hopefully stand up to other players’ armies and heroes. In addition, your base becomes both harder to kill and gains the ability to do greater damage to attackers. However, a strong hero might be able to take out all your units, rendering you helpless. Your own hero will also be more vulnerable to nukes and other units. In addition, if the game descends to “hero wars” you will be helpless since your own hero isn’t equipped at all.

If you choose to ‘stack” your hero, which means getting him a lot of items to make him very powerful, this means your hero might be able to solo armies. He will likely be able to “farm” very well, which means he can kill a bunch of units to make him a lot of money and give him a great exp gain. Also, if he is a hero killer like Jaood or Blade, he will pretty much dominate any other hero that isn’t as well equipped as he is. However, the downfall is that you will leave your base very vulnerable to attack. Since your units are weak, another hero or army can come in and kill them easily allowing them to gain a great deal of exp and gold. Furthermore, your base can be easily killed by a steam tank or simply by a bunch of upgraded units focusing on your base.

Overall, I believe sticking to one path completely while totally ignoring the other is usually a recipe for disaster. It is better to use a mixture of both options, with different heroes leaning towards one path over the other. In general, AOE intel heroes like Archmage, Bloodmage, Lich, Naga, Halp, GoblinWarfare, Masda, and Metal.Bark only need a few items to boost their hp/defense and can then devote all their resources to teching. On the other hand, heroes like Blademaster, Jaood, and Demon Hunter should focus mainly on making their heroes as possible both item wise and level wise by using tomes as needed. The items to get for each hero will be further explained in the section “Items”.

NOTE: A general rule you should follow is one of the two bases on the side should always tech. To further explain, notice that of the three players on each team, one of them further away from the center and closer to the shop then the other bases. This is the hardest base to kill since the other two bases and bases’ units act almost as a shield for this middle base. On team 1, this base belongs to Player 1, on Team 2 to player 4, on Team 3 to player 7, and on team 4 to Player 10. Thus, if you are one of these players you will be safer not teching since your base will be harder to take out. In general, this middle base should not tech if it can be avoided. If you notice, whenever a team is attacked the units from the two other bases rush in first. If the middle base has teched and the other bases have not, this means the non-teching bases’ units become cannon fodder while the teched units are trapped. If those units are melee, it’s even worse since they will be taken out by enemy ranged units without even the chance to fight back. Thus remember: The middle base should never tech and instead focus on either getting items or giving money to an ally.

Armor and Attack types[]

Footmen Frenzy employs attack types and armor types wholly different from the ones in normal Warcraft 3. Instead of Piercing, Siege, Magic, Normal, and Chaos attack types we have Normal, Night Elf, Orc, Human, Undead, and Hero damage. Instead of Heavy, Normal, Light, and Unarmored we have Normal, Night Elf, Orc, Human, Undead, and Hero attack types. Fortified armor is present in Footmen Frenzy as in normal Warcraft 3. Here is a list of charts displaying each attack type and what % damage they will do to each type of armor. Credits go to Fuk.u a.k.a. Mind.fuku and Kid.Bear.

Different Attack Types and Their Damage % to Different Armor Types
Attack Type % Dmg to NE % Dmg to Orc % Dmg to UD % Dmg to HU % Dmg to Normal % Dmg to Fortified
Hero 100 100 100 100 100 50
Spell 100 100 100 100 100 100
Human 150 100 75 100 100 35
Orc 75 100 150 100 100 35
Undead 100 75 100 150 100 35
Night Elf 100 150 100 75 100 35


With the release of 6.5, the system has been revamped and is somewhat strange regarding damage to Hero armor. Basically, amongst the techs any melee units do 100% damage. The ranged units do a percentage of damage based on their range; the higher the maximum range of their attack the lower % damage they do to heroes. Also note that Normal damage still does 100% damage to them, and all Spells do 75% damage to heroes. Thus, if your Death Coil says it does 1000 damage, it really only does 750 to heroes. This is why a lot of Cattlebruisers fail with their ultimate. Below is a specific list of the damage ranged units do to Heroes, thanks to Roaaaarrrr.

  • All NE tiers and skeletal mages - 75%
  • Spell Breakers - 80 %
  • Rifles and Fiends - 85 %

Items[]

While items aren’t as essential to Frenzy as they are in DoTa, knowing which items to purchase and which not to purchase for your specific hero can grant you a great advantage over someone not privy to such information. For a list of the stores and the items in each store, visit this link: http://frenzy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Items

Item DON’Ts[]

To start off with, I’m gonna list some big DON’Ts of getting items. Much more important than getting the right items is not wasting a lot of gold on an item that is absolutely worthless for your hero. Without further ado:

DON’T get Immolation Cloak on any heroes OTHER than the following: Mountain King, Fox, Tauren Chieften, Crypt Lord, and Avalanche. What these heroes all have in common is that they are tank heroes which means they can be surrounded, take a lot of damage, and still survive. Moreover, all of those heroes but Avalanche have a skill that slows or stun units around them, ensuring they will take further damage from the Immolation Cloak. Avalanche gets it anyway cause that is his only money maker early game. A big mistake beginners make is getting Immolation Cloak on EVERY hero. Tinker, Warden, Panda, Pitlord, Blademaster, Paladin, and Jaood are common mistakes. Tinker, Warden, and Panda are hit and run heroes that run into a base, cast their spells, and run out often. They aren’t supposed to be surrounded for long periods. Cloak doesn’t work on images, so a Blade using cloak makes it easier to identify himself. In addition, while you are invisible the cloak takes no effect so that means there is no point in getting it for Blademaster or Jaood. When Paladin is in divine shield mode, units naturally run AWAY from him so it will be very hard to get cloak to take effect. As for Pitlord, I’m guessing you’re smart enough to not even consider cloak if you’re going the support way with max howl/rain of fire/doom. Even if you are intending for your pit to be a tanker, he is going to be doing the vast majority of his damage with cleave, and a cloak would just be a waste. Overall, just remember that Cloak costs 1400 gold, which is equal to about 60 footmen kills. Before getting it, ask yourself, “Am I really gonna be able to kill 60 more footmen with this cloak?” If you want armor, there are much cheaper and better alternatives such as Medallions of Glim and Rings of Protection.

DON’T get Claws of Ultimate Devestation (+100 damage) on any heroes OTHER than Demon Hunter (at least level 11), Fox (Only if there is a Jaood on the team), Jaood, Blademaster, and Pit Lord. These heroes can actually fully benefit from claw and make back the insane cost. I have seen people get ultimate claws on Lich’s and Archmage’s which makes me just want to cry. Those heroes attack far too slowly and are far too fragile to benefit from the Ultimate Claws AT ALL. Some heroes such as Naga and Cattlebruiser might tempt you, but it is simply not worth the humongous gold cost. Also please don’t’ get it for Assassin; her damage is already high enough with Dragon Orb.

DON’T EVER get Totems. 1200 gold for +10 to agility and +5 damage? Fucking waste. You’re better off getting claws.

DON’T EVER get Firehand Gauntlets: These things suck, period. I’ve never seen anyone get these other than complete beginners. To be honest me and a lot of other people agree Roaaaarrrr needs to remove the damn thing or buff them a lot.

DON’T get agility items for a Jaood or for a hero that will be bloodlusted such as Fox, Pit, or Demon Hunter. The attack speed is basically maxed when level 6 bloodlust is casted on the hero. Get claws.

DON’T get agility items for an Avalanche. Sorry, even if you have four axes and are experiencing the effects of both level 6 bloodlust AND level 6 endurance aura, you will still be attacking very slowly. He was specifically designed not to attack quickly under ANY circumstances.
Realize the following items DON’T work with Blade or Assasin’s mirror images: Claws, Claws of Ultimate Destruction, the aura from Chimes, the cleave item, cloak, any orbs, Periapt, ring of protection, ring of regeneration, and many others. The only items that DO work with images are those that grant benefits to the Blademaster’s natural attributes. These include Crowns, Boots of Quelthalas, and Cursed Axes.

DON’T get Cursed Axes on any heroes other then Demon Hunter, Blademaster, Pit Lord, and Lava Lord. To be honest, if you are a beginner it’s probably smarter to not get these items at all since they are very expansive and drain your mana as well as hp pretty quickly. If you are not experienced you will find yourself worse off instead of better off.

DON’T get Mana Precepts on an Intel hero. You should have plenty of mana since you are a mana hero, you don’t need a bigger pool. If you are having mana problems get a Sobi Mask. Since your natural mana regeneration will be quite high Sobi Mask will help your regeneration become even higher.

DON’T get Sobi Mask on a hero with low Intelligence. Those heroes include Tauren Chieften, Mountain King, and Fox amongst many other strength heroes. If you need mana, get Pendants or Medallions of Glim. Since your mana regeneration rate will be quite low due to low intelligence points, a percentage increase in mana regeneration will not be very useful. A few strength heroes, notably Dreadlord and Falcon, actually have decently high intelligence and can still benefit from Sobi Mask.
DON’T get any orbs on the following heroes: Lavalord, Hato-Up, Assassin, Naga, Priestess of the Moon. Orbs do not work with Incinerate, Frost Arrows, Dragon Orb, or Fire Arrows. Therefore getting an orb while using those skills is a complete waste.
DON’T get more than one of these items on the same hero: Spell Shield, Bracers, Chimes, Berserker’s Mask or Cloak of Immolation. These items do not stack so getting more than one is a complete waste.

Item DO’s[]

Now that we have the DON’Ts of items out of the way, let’s talk about Item DO’s.

DO ALWAYS HAVE A TP!!! FIRST RULE OF FOOTMEN FRENZY. First off, this ain’t ladder where it might be better to let a level 1 Hero die then to tp him/her out; it is NEVER better to let a hero die when you could’ve TPed him. TP cost 250, a hero kill is about 225 gold + exp. For a more detailed description of this point look for the section titled, “3b. TP Usage”

DO get Bark’s Nikes on every hero except the following: TheBigGame, DinoDin, Death Knight, Jaood, Sheep, and Avalanche. You should never get Bark’s Nikes on those heroes since the first three have auras that greatly improve their move speed already. Jaood with bloodlust moves plenty fast, and Sheep plus Avalanche will still move too slowly with Bark’s Nikes. You might wonder why I would ask you to buy Nikes for Blademaster, when he has windwalk; that is because in Frenzy windwalk does not increase your move speed a great deal. As a result, you may have trouble catching up to heroes or running away from danger. Nikes also might not be needed on heroes with the Blink ability such as Warden, Edge, and Ravage but it is debatable. Bark’s Nikes are indispensible items which will help you run away from danger or catch up to fleeing units/heroes, not to mention they are pretty cheap (350 gold). Of course even though they combo very well with almost every hero except the ones mentioned above it is up to you to get them or not , sometimes you feel like you can't survive without them other times they just cost you a slot. Getting them for slow heroes like MK/Keldyn helps alot but they aren't a must get item for other heroes.

DO leave at least one slot for a mana or HP potion. In fact, most of the time I highly suggest leaving two slots for both. HP Potions and Mana potions are great and cheap items that allow you to stay in battle longer, cast an extra few spells to get you that hero kill or more unit kills, and even to survive. The only heroes that you can probably break this rule on are Blademaster and Jaood, since it might be more important for them to have extra claws or such. Even then, I personally leave a slot for a potion for my Jaood and Blademaster.
DO drop your +mana items, such as Medallion of Glim, Robe of the Magic, or Precept of Mana before using mana potions. Obviously, DON’T do this if there is an enemy hero near you who will steal your items and beware of invisible heroes/slaves. To explain why you should do this, picture the following situation: You have about 180 mana out of a total of 800. If you use your mana potion now, you will have 580 mana out of a total of 800. You drop your Medallion of Glim and your Precept, you now have about 100 mana out of 500. Use your mana potion, then pick up your items, and you will have 800 mana out of a total of 800. However, it is sometimes better to just use your potion and waste a bit of mana then to risk getting your items stolen or wasting your time.

Basic Item List for each Hero[]

This is a list of all the heroes and a very basic guide for what items to get with them besides the items I have listed in the “Item’s Do” section (thus I don’t mentioned Bark’s Nikes, TP scroll, or potions since I imagine you already know to get them). Note that this list is not gospel; not everyone follows these item builds even amongst those players that are very skilled. However, I can guarantee you that if you follow this list no one will think you are getting useless items or a complete idiot. Also note: Unless otherwise stated when I name an item I mean to get ONE of them. So for example for Archmage I want you to get ONE Ring of Protection and ONE Belt of Strength. And yes I know a lot of these do overlap, that’s why they are very basic guides.

Alchemist: Medallion of Glim, the extra armor and mana is good.

Archmage: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength. Archmage needs these items to survive hero killers.

Assassin: 2-3 Boots of Quelthelas. In addition, this is one of the few heroes with which you can get three to four crowns on and not have it be a total waste. NOTE: Claws are a waste since her dragon orb adds plenty of damage already, you want to increase attack speed.

Avalanche: Speed scroll and Beast scroll early game. Then Infernal Cloak and maybe Usain Bolt’s Socks. Use Beast Scroll early on so you will do about 800 damage which allows you to instant kill even full hp intel heroes such as Archmages.

Beastmaster: Medallion of Glim or Precept of Mana for mana.

Blademaster: Boots of Speed, Frost Orb or Maul (never Static Orb) and the rest claws. Don’t get chimes, they’re a waste since images and critical strike don’t work with them. Frost Orb is good to slow heroes down so they can’t escape, while Maul increases your damage output. Static Orb doesn’t work well since without bloodlust your chances of purging your target is too low. Boots of Quelthelas aren’t as effective as Claws. Apparently this has been mathematically proven. ALSO: Using Potions of Invulnerability with your bladestorm (active Bladestorm FIRST, then use Potion) is highly effective and impossible to counter.

Bloodmage: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers.

Cattlebruiser: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good. If both items aren’t in stock get a Robe of the Magi.

Countermage: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers.

Crypt Lord: Medallion of Glim or Precept of Mana for mana if you are maxing Impale and Beetles. Maybe Immolation Cloak.

Dark Ranger: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Don’t get + damage items; she doesn’t need them.

Death Knight: Medallion of Glim, the extra armor and mana is good.

Death Sheep: Probably get 2-3 belts and leave one spot for spell shield depending on whether you randomed or picked. As you make money, sell the belts for Armor of the God and a Periaple of Vitality. If you have an extra slot still, perhaps get an Usain Bolt’s Socks or save that slot for TP. NOTE THAT THIS IS THE ONE HERO THAT CONSISTENTLY DEFIES ALL OF THE DO’S I LISTED; ITEM SLOTS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS TOO VALUABLE ON DEATH SHEEP TO WASTE ON POTIONS, BOOTS, OR TP.

Demon Hunter: This is one that EVERYONE gets wrong. Berserker’s Mask first, then get Medallions of Glim and Belts of Strength. When you start seeing a lot of tier 2 units or higher, sell the Berseker’s Mask. Also perhaps trade in a Belt of Strength for an Armor of the Gods. When you are level 16, try to get a Claw of Ultimate Destruction ASAP. I tell you this build because early game, Demon Hunter is doing 90% of his damage through immolation. Thus, you want to increase your survivability as much as possible so you can just stand there while units whack at you and die. However, when you get level 3 Metamorphosis, you can venture into base killing and you need a Claw of Ultimate Devastation to do this. In addition, your splash damage will benefit greatly from this as well. Afterwards, if there are a lot of disablers get Cursed Axes of Slaying and Invuln potions. Activated Metamorphosis, then the invuln potion, and rape.

Dino Din: None really. Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Dino Din is support and used along with a strong tech so IMO +dmg items and orbs are fail on this hero.

Dreadlord: Medallion of Glim or Precept of Mana for mana.

Edge: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. A somewhat effective build on Edge is Orb of Static + 2 Claws of Attack. Then you can venture into hero killing.

Falcon: Medallion of Glim or Precept of Mana for mana.

Farseer: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers.

Firelord: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe 2-3 Boots of Quelthelas to work along with incinerate.

Fox: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good. Maybe a Cloak of Immolation.

Gamera: Medallion of Glim, the extra armor and mana is good.

Goblin Tinker: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

Goblin Warfare: DEFINITELY Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers; this is the weakest hero in the game after Sheep. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate. Invuln potion as well so you can hold off to get an extra casting of Mine Barrier or Assault Choppers during your ultimate which may help you farm a great deal more.

Halpmeh: At least one Belt of Strength, maybe a few. Maybe Bracers and Spell Shield to help you surive nukes in Etheral.

Jaood: Maul of Corruption or Static Orb, Chimes, and then Claws of Attack. Maybe eventually a Claw of Ultimate Devestation. Maul of Corruption is better against skilled players with Orb of Static is better against not so good players who might not carry TPs.

Keeper of the Grove: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate.

Keldyn: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

Levia: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good.

Lich: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate.

Mountain King: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good. Maybe a Cloak of Immolation.

Masda: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration

Metal.Bark: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers.

NFa: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

Naga Sea Witch: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate. +Damage items on this hero are fail because she is more support and AoE than a “Use-My-Normal-Attack-To-Kill-Heroes” like Jaood or Blade. Yes Frost Arrows are nice but instead of just adding +100 dmg to yourself how about teching so you have a bunch of skellies doing 70 damage each attacking the slowed hero at the same time?

Paladin: Nothing really, maybe a Medallion of Glim or Precept of Mana for extra mana? I see some people go Frost Orb on this hero, I don’t really see the point since he’s melee first off so you have to run up to the hero to hit him, and then you shouldn’t max Divine Shield so you won’t even be invulnerable for most of the time and able to run up to heroes surrounded by units and whack them.

Panderan Brewmaster: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good.

Pit Lord: Ok, if you play him the Support/AoE way and don’t max Cleave, just get a Medallion of Glim and/or Precept of Mana. If you are playing him the tanker way with maxed Cleave get Claws of Attack first and then save for Claws of Ultimate Destruction and maybe one or more Cursed Axes of Slaying. Note that you can use an invuln potion and then whack away at groups of units causing great destruction at no risk to yourself, provided you tp out as soon as the potion wears off.

Priestess of the Moon: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate. +Damage items on this hero are fail because she is support. Yes with some items, Trueshot Aura, and Fire Arrow you might be doing 500 damage with each hit, but if you tech you’ll probably have a bunch of Druids or Dryads doing 100+ damage each all benefiting from trueshot. Besides why would you ever max out Fire Arrows when those Owls are so fucking good now?

Protoss Warship – Fuck this hero. You probably will never get it. If you do just quit because I am not going to explain this hero in this guide.

Random Digit: Similar to Demon Hunter, early on get the Berserker’s Mask. Then, get at least one Medallion of Glim and one Belt of Strength, perhaps more as needed. No +damage items on this hero though obviously.

Ravage: Medallion of Glim cuz The extra armor and mana is good and pretty much needed for Ravage to survive and lvl up. Getting a belt isn't a bad idea since Ravage is a very annoying hero that can shutdown an entire team or imba heroes if used propably so a skilled Ravage player is a pain in the ass for the enemy team , having a belt might help alot against nukers when enemy heroes start focusing you (you can't mana burn 9 heroes at once you know) . I see some people get claws and Orb on this hero which I think is fail, since he is more a disabler then a hero killer first off. Second, again if you tech and ensnare the hero you can have a bunch of upgraded units attacking him instead of just you by yourself hitting him. Even if you will be doing +100 damage more then you normally do, the first scenario is more likely to lead to the hero’s death or him tping out. Also why would you get orb when one of your spells already traps the hero??

Roaaaarrrr: Maybe Medallion of Glim? The extra armor and mana is good. I haven’t seen it, but I imagine someone might have the bright idea to get + damage items on this hero due to Command Aura and Roar…Once again you’re support , slow and better off roaring a bunch of upgraded units instead of just yourself, no matter how good your items are.

Shadow Hunter: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Also you NEED a sobi mask on this hero. You should be spamming Healing Wave and Wards as much as possible, as well as hexing as needed, and that is a lot of mana! Get Sobi Mask to increase your already high mana regen rate since even though you’re an Agility hero, you have high intelligence.

Strongest Man Ever: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good. If you’re going to play him the warrior way to take advantage of his splash damage, get some claws of attack.

Tauren Chieftain: Needs a lot of extra mana so Medallion of Glim AND a Precept of Mana should be good. Maybe a Cloak of Immolation.

The Big Game: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Spell Shield to potentially save you from disablers during your ultimate. +Damage items on this hero are fail because she is more support and AoE than a “Use-My-Normal-Attack-To-Kill-Heroes” like Jaood or Blade. Yes Frost Arrows are nice but instead of just adding +100 dmg to yourself how about teching so you have a bunch of skellies doing 70 damage each attacking the slowed hero at the same time?

Warden: You can play her the safe way, which is Medallion of Glim + Belt of Strength for increased mana, armor, and hit points. However, a way that is pretty effective but very expansive is getting as many crowns as possible. Once you get four crowns or so, you become basically invincible. The downside is that you have spent all your money on items and are easily based.

Sharon: Maybe Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Medallion of Glim or/and Pendant of Mana for increased Mana.

Tortured Soul: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

Holy Guardian: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

Curser: Ring of Protection and Belt of Strength to survive hero killers. Maybe a Sobi Mask for increased regeneration.

The First Fight[]

In Frenzy, the first fight is very important. A disastrous first battle for your team will not always result in a loss, but it often will and even in the best case you will face a difficult uphill battle for a long time.

Common Mistakes in the First Fight[]

I am going to list some common mistakes people do and what you should do instead.

1. Getting killed early on. This should NEVER happen unless there is some freak case such as if an opposing team has three Avalanches and are perfectly coordinated. People die in or before the first battle for many reasons. Sometimes, they will get their hero surrounded and trapped before the first fight. This should just not happen: Only go to the middle if you need mana, and be extra wary. If you see a bunch of enemy footmen heading ANYWHERE near you, run away. Good players will make it look like their units are heading to a place away from you, then suddenly change direction and trap you. Be extra careful of any heroes that can stun or disable with spells such as Sleep or Entangle. If you do get surrounded, TP right away, there’s no point in standing there and waiting until the last possible moment before you TP. Another reason people die early on because of hero killers. Keep track of your hp, and realize the damage that other heroes can do to you. An Avalanche (the big, slow moving Mountain Giant look-a-like), for example, is gonna do around 400 damage to you with one hit. He can blink too, so if you see an Avalanche and you are below 400 hp, just run and use a healing salve. If he chases you to your base, run to your shop area and hold position when you are as close to the shops as you can physically get. Also, Frost nova/Cold Strike does about 131 damage, so you shouldn’t let your hp get close to that period. Run away and heal yourself if your hp gets to 200 or lower. Finally, some people during the first fight are just dumb and run into a bunch of units, take a lot of damage, and before they know it are dead. You should always keep your hero behind the line of battling footmen even if you are a melee hero. If you have a Clap spell or something similar, periodically run up and use it, then run back. The exceptions to this rule are Avalanche, Demon Hunter, and RandomDigit for pretty obvious reasons. If you’re an Avalanche feel free to blink around killing heroes but keep an eye on your hp and try to save blinks for escape; use speed scroll to catch up to heroes. If you’re a Demon Hunter or RandomDigit try to avoid getting surrounded at least for your first few levels and instead try to burn footmen adjacent to you or such.

2. Not sending all their units. Don’t let your units sit by your base and decay…Every 15 seconds or so go back to your base and send the units that have spawned straight into the battle. If you don’t do this but an enemy team does, you will be pushed back, lose control of the middle, and lose out on valuable mana regeneration. IMPOTANT: ALWAYS USE ATTACK MOVE WHEN SENDING FOOTMEN, AND NEVER RIGHT CLICK. Attack move means using the “Attack” command to move instead of using right click. Using right click will make your units go to their destination heedless of enemy forces, meaning your enemy can take potshots at your troops as they move or trap them. If you use normal hotkeys, just press “A” once, and your cursor button should change into a target. Then, click on the destination. You should notice red arrows mark the point instead of green ones as when you right click.

3. Not positioning their footmen correctly. This is a bit hard to explain, but you want to make it so each of your footmen is doing as much damage as possible. Microing each footmen one by one is hardly necessary, and possibly detrimental to your overall game play, but do try to position them. Don’t let a group of footmen get surrounded by enemy footies; if you see a “U” formation or circle formation of enemy troops forming around your footmen, move them back. Also, if you see footmen going too deep into enemy territory, move them back. If you see a few footmen fighting a large group of enemies, send them back to rejoin the rest of their comrades.

4. Not positioning their heroes correctly. Before I became really experienced at this game, I’d notice sometimes after the first battle, my allies would be a full level ahead of me. I had not died, nor had I stayed in the base any longer than they had. Why had they leveled more? Because they had positioned their heroes in the perfect spot to get as much exp from unit kills as possible. This is hard to explain on paper, so a good idea is to watch some Tournament replays of skilled players such as Incinerate, Kid.Panda, and Kid.Bear and watch how they position their heroes in the first fight. Usually, you want to place yourself so you are in the middle of the action in a way, but behind the footmen fighting. This way, you get full exp in comparison to if you are all the way on the left, which will cause you to not gain the exp from units being killed all the way on the right. Once you are in this position, use the “hold position” command. Only move from this position to escape attacks or to cast spells.

5. Losing a lot of units to Sheepfall. When you hear the sound of Sheeps falling, quickly find the Sheep and take stock of the situation. Ask yourself, is the Sheepfall damaging my troops? Can I disable the Sheep? Can I kill it? Even if the Sheep isn’t affecting your troops, you want to kill it or at least disable it if possible. A good sheepfall puts a team at a great early advantage, so it is to your benefit to stop the Sheep. If you’re Jaood or Blademaster, use Windwalk to bypass any masses of footmen and kill the Sheep. If you can’t kill/disable the Sheep and your units are taking damage, pull them back to the point where they won’t take damage anymore, even if it is all the way to your base. Wait until it’s over before sending the footmen back again.

6. Also a very big mistake that I have seen in many replays of tournys / inhouses (somthing that happens alot and said pro players fall for it) is leaving a certain team unattacked or atleast not farming a certain team just cuz they aren't "dangerous" or "pros" , some players focus on other dangerous teams and leave one team free to farm and run without any damage , by doing this you don't just give that team enough gold to upgrade their tech or get powerfull items but you also give them free XP , how would you deal with an enemy hero 5 levels ahead of you? those games usually end by that team winning easily while you were working your ass farming and countering , noobs like JJ have the nerve to say that "the only reason you've won cuz we focused t2" like it's a pro thing. Never leave a team without attacking it , focusing is good to finish dangerous teams fast but ignoring other teams resaults losing the game. How many times have you played a game and you thought your team was owning but wait .. "team 2 has tier 5 wtf when did they get that!!!" (That's exactly what happened at one of the tourneys where everyone ignored team 1 who were fucked early but managed to get tier 5 late and win the game even though they weren't the best team because of everyone ignoring them thinking they couldn't do any damage) or at one of the Inhouses when 2 teams focused each other (but in a pro way lol) thats what happens when you focus and ignore.

What to do in the Beginning[]

So the game starts, you pick your hero, what do you do now? See if you need mana or not. If one of your skills is an aura OTHER then Brilliance Aura, put a skill point in that first so you won’t have to risk going into the middle for mana. Otherwise, bring your hero to the middle to gain exp. Be wary of hero killers and being surrounded. A few heroes might try to harass you (Jaood, Blademaster, heroes that will use spells like Mana Burn or Forked Lightning), so just run from them while trying to stay within the range of mana regen and keeping an eye on your hit points. As soon as you have enough mana, go back to your base. Don’t go out again until the first fight, there’s no point really.

Also, politely introduce yourself and ask to share unit control at the beginning of the game (To do this click F11, and click the box that says “Share Units”). If they ask why, explain that if you are trapped by allied units you can just move them instead of wasting time yelling at them in chat. Besides this, you can send in units for them even if they themselves are too lazy to do so or heal youself when your ally isn't noticing your need of HP. If they refuse, or don’t respond, don’t press the issue. Never flame or curse at your allies no matter what; it never solves anything. Also I play many games without shared control and still do fine, so it is not the most important thing to share control.

Keep your units in your base until the first fight. If you send them out, you risk getting individual units killed. NEVER, EVER, SEND INTO A BASE. This is a quick path to ruining a game and being flamed. The first fight ALWAYS takes place in the middle. Even if your ally sends all his units and his hero into a base, don’t follow and just lament the fact you are with a retarded teammate. Sometimes enemy heroes will come in and snipe at your troops; don’t let them bait your footmen into following. The same goes for enemy teams that will bring footmen into your base, and at the last moment run them back in a sort of feint.

If you are indeed a beginner, wait until an ally sends before you send. Simply send by either double clicking / control + clicking on your footmen, or clicking and dragging footmen and then attack moving them to the center. Pay attention to the points I have made in the previous section, and position both your footmen and Hero as well as possible.

You should spam spells as much as possible. Once the cooldown ends use your spell as fast as possible but also in a strategical way. Use AoE spells on weak units to get some easy kills. If you have a spell like Flamestrike, Rain of Fire, or Blizzard, look for two enemy teams fighting each other with low HP and cast the spell on them. If you are a nuker like Cattlebruiser or Deathknight, don’t focus on heroes yet, look for low hp units and hit them. Know that 100 damage isn’t a lot and that a footmen has to be at lower than 1/5 his total hp in order to die from Death Coil/Death Strike. If you have a disabling spell such as Hex or Firebolt, use it when heroes cast a channeling spell such as Blizzard to make them waste cooldown and mana.

Ask your allies to pool you so you can get Scrouge Bone Chimes from the weapons shop (Not a must get item). This 450 gold item grants you and your allies 15% Vamp aura which while not much, gives you an advantage over enemy troops. Even if your team is planning on using a ranged tech, get this item; you can always just sell it later. Obviously, if there is a Dreadlord on your team don’t get this item.

Know that sometimes, no matter what, you will lose control of the middle and be forced back even if you do everything right. This might be because of a superior enemy hero combo, such as if you have Priestess, Keeper, and Cattlebruiser while they have duel Liches and a Dreadlord. Also, if the enemy team creeps and no one on your team creeps (creeping is something a beginner should not try until he is confident enough with his unit and hero use. I will explain it in a later section) , you will probably be pushed back. Or maybe your allies are just horrible and don’t properly send in units. Do not get discouraged and use this as a learning experience. Try to figure out why you lost control of the middle, and if you can prevent it from happening next time. This just means that you've lost one battle , wait for more units , while waiting spam your spells at enemy teams who are propably fighting each other now , by the time you and your allies have enough units to send again you could have benefited from low hp enemy units and manage successfully to push back again . Losing a battle isn't losing the war.

Micro[]

Micro basics[]

Micromanagemnent is described be Wikipedia as “small, detailed gameplay elements that must be manually addressed by the player.” There is much debate in the Frenzy community about how much micro is really needed. Some people, like Bejol, would laugh at even using the words “micro” and “Frenzy” in the same sentence, while others like me believe that at least having decent micro puts you ahead of 90% of frenzy players out there. However, there can be no argument that ladder requires way more micro than Frenzy ever does or will.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=10971927335&sid=3000 – This is a guide written for ladder on both micro and macro, the second of which we need not be concerned with since there is no need to harvest resources or build buildings in frenzy. Although many of the points regarding micro are useless in frenzy, there are many points that are still pertinent. I will highlight some of them:

-“SICK UNITS - Your opponent will [sometimes] have units that have less hp than others …I call these sick units. Seek to get rid of these first. Be careful not to chase them though as you will suffer more damage than you should.”

-“HERO TARGETING is both risky and necessary. There will be times when the quickest way to victory in a battle will be to target your opponents hero. This is risky due to the fact that heros can survive longer than regular units, they have spells to help them, and your opponent will be focusing on keeping them alive. When targeting a hero click on the hero to make sure their items will not allow them to out live your units. In targeting a hero your units will take a lot of damage on the norm... if the hero's items allow it to live for a long time while being attacked your units will dwindle to nothing and the battle will be lost for you. *Don't target a hero unless you can kill them.* If your opponents hero is occupied, many times you will be able to surround the hero to avoid it running away to expedite the kill. In these occasions use a move command instead of the attack command. Also when attacking heros do not use your offensive spells preemptively... instead wait until their are low on hp to use them. If you use chain lightning on a hero with 500 hp they will heal as soon as your use it... but if you wait till they are down to 200 hp and use it they'll be caught off guard and will die soon after.”

“- FORMATION: if encountering an opponent with AOE (area of effect spells) or an opponent that is benefiting from holding you at bay with one wave of units while pounding you with their ranged units rush headlong into his units. examples of opponents would be huntresses holding you while archers focus fire your units to nothingness or grunts holding you back while zerkers pick you apart. By rushing headlong into their lines you are taking that advantage away from them... this also creates a sort of confusion that will work to your advantage as they are probably not use to controlling units when mixed with other units.” [Of course the unit variety in footmen frenzy is not much, but you can still be held back by one player’s grunts while another’s archers fire at you and an Archmage blizzards you from behind those arches]

-“ HAZARD CONTROL - As your units become damaged pull them back to avoid getting hit... then bring them back into battle as your opponents units have now targeted your other units with more hp.”

-“ UNIT SAVED IS A UNIT SAVED - Don't be afraid to let the unit go back to your base... better to be down one unit in battle than to be down one unit in game.”

-“KILLING YOUR OWN UNITS - there are occasions when it is preferable to kill your own units than to have your opponent kill them... this is most usually the case before making a retreat.” [Don’t be afraid to deny heroes as well. If an allied hero is surrounded and has no TP, go ahead and blizzard on top of that hero in hopes of taking down enemy units as well as your own ally depriving the enemy of gold and exp. You can suicide yourself in the same way as well]

-“Focus-fire: The ideal targets are the ones that are nearby / close / in front and weakened by the attack-moved troops. Usually I assign two targets per focus-fire by using shift. If your opponent pulls back the focused unit, be sure to switch targets quickly.” (This is explained later in the guide, but I’ll state it here to be concise. You don’t really want to use focus fire with melee units, since they will take time to surround the unit and attack it. And in fact a lot of times not all of them will be able to reach the unit. Focus fire should only be done with ranged units.

-“Dancing / retreating: dancing is retreating a unit a short distance but keeping it in the battle so that enemies on attack-move will break attack lock. When you dance units, don't use shift. If it's a melee unit, it'll use it's AI to re-engage as if it were on attack-move anyways. If it's a ranged unit, you should use your entire control group to re-focus on a target. This is because using shift and telling your danced unit to reacquire a certain target takes up "micro time" which could be used instead to dance away another unit or two. “

-“Retreating is pulling a unit out of the battle completely and sending it home. In general, you want to dance units if you think they will continue to survive but retreat units if you think they would die otherwise. If your opponent relies mainly on attack-move, you'll use dancing most of the time. If he likes to focus a unit to death (and keep running after it) then retreating is the best option. If he does a mix of these then you just need to do a mix as well. Retreating units denies enemies of exp and also makes your army considerably stronger if you manage to heal safely after the battle. In general you will want to regroup your healthy units so that when you select the group again you won't pull the damaged units back into the fight. Certain situations make this very difficult (ex: tc shockwave on foots) in which case you should rely on click-dragging the healthy units on-screen and regrouping in that manner (instead of using the selection box).”

“-Blocking - Blocking is probably the easiest of all these maneuvers. Basically what you are doing is blocking the path of an enemy unit by constantly blocking it's path at about a 45 degree angle. Move your unit in from the left or the right and constantly stay in front of their unit by changing direction. “ [If a hero is running away from your ranged units focus firing him, if possible block him with your own hero in this manner to force him to TP]

-IMPORTANT NOTE: Like I said, this isn’t ladder, so don’t focus too much on micro. A lot of times, instead of concentrating on individual units it’s better to concentrate on groups as a whole: For example, keeping an eye out for flanks and moving you units away from them, moving a group of units out of Blizzard or Flamestrike, moving a group of outnumbered footmen away from getting trapped by enemy forces. Even most skilled players spend most of the game just using attack move and running away as needed, instead of “dancing” or “focus firing”. BTW, attack move means using the “Attack” command to move instead of using right click. Using right click will make your units go to their destination heedless of enemy forces, meaning your enemy can take potshots at your troops as they move or trap them. If you use normal hotkeys, just press “A” once, and your cursor button should change into a target. Then, click on the destination. You should notice red arrows mark the point instead of green ones as when you right click. In addition, it is more important to use your hero to its full capacity than to focus on saving single units or such.

-IMPORTANT NOTE TWO: If you haven’t done so already, I highly suggest that you go to the menu using F10, click on “Options”, then click on “Gameplay”, and then click the box to the left on “Always show Health Bars”. What this does is make it so during your entire game it looks as if you are holding the “Alt” key. Health bars of all units in your vision are always on display. At first this might be disconcerting, but after a few days you’ll marvel at how you ever played without it. This will help with your micro a great deal. In addition, it helps you find those low hp heroes to nuke and groups of red health units to use aoe skills on to guarantee you kills.

PLAYING AS A TEAM

Team games are about teaming up, letting your teammates fight the rest of the enemy team. Make plans to gather your forces together and attack certain targets. Often troop coordination and attack is a decisive factor in team games. If you're not going to be using all of your collective units to attack the same enemy, coordinate your separate attacks on the separate enemies so they are unable to provide reinforcements to each other. Do not let your troops get separated. Share Unit control and make sure that the large army is kept together. If you separate your forces, the enemy players may use their combined forces to pick you both off one at a time. Separating your forces can cause you to lose the game.

Hotkeys and Special Commands[]

http://classic.battle.net/war3/basics/specialcommands.shtml. This is a great link that shows you the basics of hotkeying and special commands. These instructions, although mainly for ladder, are useful for basically all types of custom games as well. For example, even in tower defense games knowing to use waypoints is very useful.

Hotkeying unit groups is essential if you're gonna do anything more than play hero wars. In the first fight, there is no real reason to hotkey footmen I find. It is better to just cltr+click them and send them in or click and drag footmen. Then, just pay attention to general formation and pull back footmen or send footmen as needed using click and drag.

Hotkeying your base and the ring of power where you get upgrades is a great idea. Personally, I hotkey them both as "0". This way, in a middle of a fight, I can upgrade as necessary or tier up as necessary, saving time and being more efficient.

Everyone hotkeys in different ways. For example, I might do something group 1 as my main hero + units (or maybe just units if it's melee or something), group 2 as creeps, group 3 as units (or slave or wisps), group 4 as a second attack group, etc etc. Generally, you don't wanna go too far or else your fingers will have trouble reaching. In fact, it's probably a bad idea for me to hotkey my base and circle of power as "0" when I could probably use "6" or "7". However, that is my personal habit and so far I hae had no reason to break it. Just the fact you will be using hotkeys will 99.9% of the time make you vastly better than someone that doesn't.

When fighting, using the "shift" key can be very useful for saving units. Click on red hp units and send them back to your base. Then, while holding "shift", click on them to remove them from your current selection group. Then make this new, current selection group without the injured units into a new hotkey group.

Surrounding[]

Long story short, the way to surround with ranged units is to use the "move" button and clicking on a hero several time with the "move" command. If you are using normal hotkeys, you can do this by clicking "M" on your keyboard and then clicking on the hero, and doing this several times rapidly. Once the hero is surrounded, you have to right click on the enemy hero or your units will not attack. Here is a link that explains: http://www.ehow.com/video_2296234_surround-in-warcraft.html. I'm aware for melee units you can just send half your units ahead of the hero and half behind then right click on the hero, but that is not as reliable as using the move command. AFAIK, most pros use the method I and the link have described. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUgXnkCqI5E - That is a link to the infamous Sweet's (one of the best UD players today) double hero surround against Moon (one of the best players period). If you look, you can tell he's using the "move" command since there is a pause after the ghouls surround the heroes before they actually attack

Like in ladder, it is simply dumb to surround some heroes whether you are melee or range. Examples include any decently leveled Tauren Chieften, Mountain King, Random_Digit, Demon Hunter, Fox, and Panda. They will probably kill all of your troops and then run away. Metal.Bark is debatable since although she has Clap she also normally has a very low HP so you could probably kill her will strong enough units before she gets more than one Clap off. Of course if she has stacked items it a different situation

Be sure to peek at the hero's inventory before hand to make sure he doesn't have an invis potion. If he does, then grab a dust quickly to counter his invis potion. I've had the frustrating occurrence several times of surrounding a hero and then having it disappear on me.

EDIT: Incinerate brought up a good point. Check the hero's inventory and mana before hand. For example, a MK with no mana, no hp/mana items, and no cloak should probably be surrounded if possible as long as he is incapable of buying pots from the archvault.

General Strategy and How to Win[]

General Tips[]

TP Usage[]

You should ALWAYS have a TP. The only exception is if for some reason you did something dumb and were forced to tp in the first fight or before that (If you got surrounded before the mass) In both situations you should beware of enemy heroes especially stunners and never risk going mid without support. It's more important to spend gold on creeps at that point than another TP, and in the first fight your chances of dying are pretty small as long as you don't do anything retarded. Even then, get a TP ASAP. If you can't afford one, ask your allies for money to get a TP. Good players will NEVER turn you down unless no one has any gold themselves.

At the same time, don't think having a TP gives you an excuse to act retarded. It's doesn't guarantee you won't die, and 250 gold is a decent chunk of money. Don't go on farm runs, make 200 gold, and then be forced to TP. Don't run into the middle of a bunch of units. Don't get close to a team with two stunners, or a team with some awesome nuke combo like Edge/CB/Lich. Always keep in mind that 250 gold might change the game , good players are the ones who help the most and die the least.

When you need to TP in a hurry, it is best to double click on your TP. This automatically TP's you back to your own base. If you need to TP to the store area, you need to click on the part of the center base that is closest to the TP. That means if Player 1 is dead and you're on Team 1, you cannot TP to the store. Same if you are on Team 2 and player 4 is dead, team 3 and player 7 is dead, etc.

Siege Tank[]

The dreaded Siege Tank is something that should actually be a staple of most games for an decent player at Footmen Frenzy. Yes, you heard me correctly, if you are a decent player you should be using this item is a good portion of your game. This item not only lets you take out an out-of-control hero who has spend thousands on item and thus is still at tier 1, but also is a great end game item when used during a full scale assault.

First off, get out any ideas in your head that state using the Siege Tank is “cheap”, “dishonorable”, or for “noobs”. Any player with decent knowledge of the game will know about a dozen ways to counter Siege Tank, most of them quite easy to do (I list them in my counters section so go there if you wanna see). In addition, Siege Tank is expansive and takes a while to be available (Initial Stock time is 1000 seconds and Restock is 450 seconds). To best use Siege Tank, you want about 5 attack upgrades and to use it with conjunction with the Roaaaarrrr Scroll. That’s a lot of money you have to spend, probably over 5000. A Jaood with the money and time can have Claws of Ultimate Destruction, a Maul, and Chimes. So honestly, Siege Tank isn’t imbalanced at all.

It is, however, an extremely useful tool. Siege Tank is available from the Personal Shop where it ca nbe bought as a one charge summonable item named “Tank Token”. It costs 900 gold to buy and lasts 40 seconds. Siege Tank does “Normal” damage, which is the Frenzy equivalent of “Chaos” damage. That means it does 100% damage to Buildings. Without any upgrades or the Roar Scroll, Siege Tank isn’t much to be feared. It is after you get some upgrades and a Roar Scroll that the Tank becomes an issue; it’ll be doing over 500 damage with each hit. Even at tier 4 where bases have 10000 HP, twenty hits of a tank will reduce the base to rubble.

Another way to make the Siege Tank far more effective, is to use Jaood’s bloodlust on the tank. With level 6 bloodlust, some attack upgrades, and Roaaaarrrr Scroll even a Tier 5 base will be destroyed in seconds if the Tank survives for that long. I’ve taken out an entire base of Tier 4 bases using this trick. This, I admit, is considered cheap even amongst long-time players simply because you are given very little time to react. If you have anything below Tier 4 you need to respond within seconds or you will die. With the new item in the game, the Wand that dispels all buffs, this should be easier to do.

Now, how do you actually use Siege Tank? While first off, like the Tanks in the normal game it can only attack buildings and has a very short range. Thus, you want to drop it off right next to the base if possible, and then watch it auto-select the building and start attacking. In a crowded base, this maybe be difficult. Therefore, you want to clear out the base before hand, perhaps by using a Scepter of Destruction. Also, always know that to take out the middle player is far more difficult than taking out the other two players; so consider tanking one of those players first and THEN going after the middle player.

Although the Tank can be perfectly effective on its own, especially against Tier 1’s and maybe 2’s, when you send your army in to focus fire the building the Tank becomes even more useful. You’ll usually find the other team running around in a panic, trying to figure out whether to handle the tank first or the army first, or how to do both at the same time. Meanwhile, the base is going to be going down very fast with all that damage. Of course, the risk here is that if you fail, you not only have wasted 1500 gold on Tank + Scroll, you probably have lost a lot of units and fed the other team a great deal. Don’t do this unless you are quite confident you can take out the other’s base.

Countering the Counters[]

So how do you manage to use Tank successfully against a good player who’s going to have a bunch of wisps in his base? Well, wisps are the most common counter against Tank and thus is also arguably the weakest, since many players now know how to keep wisps from ruining their tanking! The easiest way: Target the wisps. They are slow, noticeable, and weak units. A single AoE spell will kill many of them. Good spells to kill wisps: Carrion Swarm, Shockwave, War Stomp, Thunder Clap, Rain of Fire, Flamestrike, Blizzard, Forked Lightning, etc and the list goes on and on. Plus, know that certain spells prevent wisps from using their “Detonate” ability, noticeably Silence and Soul Burn. Another great spell that counters wisps is the Dino Din’s ultimate. Cast that, then cyclone/stun any wisps that you see. Also know that the Tank is quite hardy, having 1500 hp and fortified armor, so it will take more than just one or two detonates to kill it. However, only one detonate is needed to remove the Roar buff and/or Bloodlust. Plus, the armor upgrade affects Siege Tank too so maybe get some to increase its HP.

When Tank WON’T Work by Itself[]

Here is a list of situation where it’s just dumb to try to use Tank by itself. Try something else, or send in a bunch of units along with your tank as a distraction or to help it in its goal:

1. The Base is guarded by a large group of very powerful ranged units. If there are 40 skellies surrounding a base with level 9 attack upgrade and level 5 frenzy upgrade, your tank will die in ten seconds. Tank has a lot of HP and fortified armor, but it is not invincible.

2. There is a hero that can kill or disable the tank quickly: Examples include any ranged hero with a static orb, CB with his bash, a high level Blade/Jaood/Assassin that’s doing a lot of damage, etc. Of course, there is the chance the player is an idiot and is gonna be totally oblivious to the tank or just run around like a headless chicken without trying to kill it, but this chance is usually not worth taking on 1500 gold.

3. The player is very skilled and has many wisps, some of them protected. By protected I mean in Zeppelins. This is something I personally do a lot and it has saved me on many occasions. If you put wisps in a Zeppelin, you keep them from being harmed until they are needed. When you do need them, drop them right on top of the tank, then select wisps as they come out and detonated them. They should detonate instantly, and because it takes a while to deploy each unit, you a wisp should have been detonated by the time the next one comes down. That means that even if someone targets your wisps, it’s gonna be hard as they will have to get each wisp as it comes down from the Zeppelin.

Scepter of Destruction[]

Described as the big brother of the old Scepters of Shockwave from the older versions, this item can be a tremendous waste of money or something that helps you catch up when it seems you are hopelessly behind. This item unleashes a slow moving shockwave that does 800 damage. Note that this shockwave is much “fatter” than the Tauren Chieften’s shockwave. When aimed properly at a packed base, it is not difficult to at least make back the item’s cost and in some cases you will make much more! I have had many games where I am behind and then this is the item that helps me make a great comeback. A good shockwave will not only gain you your gold back but also allow you to gain one or more levels! At the same time, I have seen plenty of people completely waste this item, spending 1500 gold on it only to gain 500 gold or less on a few unit kills.

How do you use this? Well, the first thing to be aware of is its 3 second casting time. This means you have to stand there for three seconds while you cast the damn thing. During this time you can be killed or interrupted. HOWEVER, you can cast this item while using an Invulnerability Potion. Simply activate the potion BEFORE you get ready to cast, and then aim the shockwave. Also, note that if you click on a unit to aim, if the unit moves your aim changes as well. Therefore, it is much safer to aim on a point on the ground. The shockwave travels in a straight line, so try to picture where it will go to aim correctly.

Know what units will die instantly to shockwave: Footmen (obviously), all tier 1’s, all tier 2’s, and all tier 3’s but raiders. Of course, this is assuming that they have 0 armor upgrades. Check the units’ HP before you are about to use Scepter.

Scepter becomes first available at the 15 minute mark, and has a two minute restock time. Usually, this is what I do: I scout out each enemy base looking for a base with a load of units that can be killed instantly by Scepter. When I say a load I mean at least one base with units piled three rows deep. Scepter can reach two bases if aimed correctly, so if there are two bases with a lot of units I will try to get them both. Then, I get an Invuln Potion and the Scepter. Afterwards, I either use K-Rose’s Invisibility ability or an Invis potion to sneak into the base. As soon as I am in the base, I active Invuln Potion. Then I get in position, aim at a point on the ground in the direction I want it to go, and let loose. I try not to TP until all the units have died so I can get full exp, since once I am out of range I will share the exp equally with my allies. This sounds selfish but if you have idiot teammates or possible leavers, it is for the better.

COUNTERS[]

This a very important Chapter indeed, for many casual players of Frenzy often complain about so-and-so being imbalanced. In this section, we are going to talk about counters to certain heroes/situations that people often complain about. Without further ado:

How do I counter Jaood?[]

Probably the most common complaint amongst players in Footmen Frenzy revolves around the hero Jaood. To begin with, the best counters against Jaood are simply common sense and paying attention to your hero. Common sense means not going into the middle with 200 hp, dusting as much as possible, using TP as soon to escape Jaood .. etc. Note that regarding this last point, a persistent Jaood will come to your base and try to kill you still. Thus, as soon as you are attacked by Jaood quickly figure out if you can run away or you will have to TP. If you are even somewhat unsure you will be unable to run away, just TP right away to be safe. That way, the Jaood can’t simply windwalk into your base and one hit you. If you are suddenly at very low HP and need to TP, try to TP into the store section if possible. As for paying attention, that simply means noticing when Jaood is hitting you. There are many times when I see an ally getting hit by a Jaood for a good five seconds before he reacts. By that time it is far too late to escape.

Noticing when Jaood windwalks and figuring where he would strike next helps alot , of course you could be wrong and waste precious seconds of farming / supporting your allies but as they always say , better safe than sorry.

There are many items that help you counter Jaood. Foremost, there is the Dust of Apperance, available for free in the Archvault, which will allow you to see if a Jaood is lurking near you. Another item that can help alot is the Staff of Revocation. This item was designed specifically to counter Jaood, and it removes both Bloodlust and Haze. If a Jaood is getting out of control, get this item and remove his bloodlust whenever you can, even if he isn’t attacking your team. At only 100 gold per charge, this item is well worth it. Another useful item is the Entangling Roots item available. This will allow you to entangle the Jaood for a short time, keeping him from attacking. This is a good tool to allow you to save your ally or yourself. In addition, there is the expensive Storm of the Platelord, which has a 15% chance to Purge attackers. This Purge, of course, removes Jaood’s Bloodlust. Lastly, simply getting a Belt of Strength and a Ring of Protection will help you last longer against Jaood. If you are an Intel hero without these items, you are simply paper thin and asking to be killed by Jaood over and over.

Of course, Jaood isn’t just known for hero killing, but also for basekilling. Carrying a Staff of Revocation at all times is essential, since you can easily TP to the base under attack, and then remove the Bloodlust from either Jaood or Siege Tank. Note that the Staff of Revocation deals no damage to summons so you will still have to deal with a possibly full HP tank. Also, you should always have a Blank, and at least six wisps nearby in case of a Jaood basing attempt. Personally, I keep those in a Zeppelin so they can easily be moved around and dropped on top of the Tank/Jaood.

Finally, certain Heroes counter Jaood hard. Beastmaster and Dino Din have hawks which make it hard for Jaood to sneak around, and Dino Din can stun the Jaood as well. Priestess of course has her Owl Scouts which can also Mana Burn. Then there are the heroes with Thorns and Carapace which make it impossible for the Jaood to attack them without killing himself. Heroes that can banish such as Edge and Bloodmage can also stop Jaood in his tracks.

How do I counter Blademaster?[]

Much of what I said for Jaood applies here, except for the things that are meant to remove Bloodlust. Obviously, there is no item that removes Critical Strike. In order to counter Blademaster, you basically have to stop him early on. Once he gets to level 11, he starts getting good. Once he’s level 16, he is unstoppalbe unless you can base him. Luckily, low levels he is weak. Don’t feed him hero kills, and base him as soon as you can. Ignore any whines or pleas for mercy. A mid game Blademaster with bad items might seem hardly worth the effort, but you will be surprised later on when that Blade is suddenly level 18 with four cursed axes.

Also, I am going to teach you a trick I use to indentify the real Blademaster from the Images. Although you can observe which image does the most damage, this might be hard to tell. What I do is click on each image and look at mana regeneration. If the Blade and his images are near the middle, the real one will regenerate much faster than the others. Use this trick if you are a nuker or hero killer.

How do I counter Assassin / Other Stunner Hero (Mountain King, Dino Din, Roaaaarrrr)?[]

First off, get a Spell Shield. Although this does only block a spell every 120 seconds, it will save your life or keep you from using a TP. Like with those previous hero killers, using common sense and paying attention to your hero will reduce their effectiveness. If they, however, feed off of other players who are dumb, there isn’t much you can do. Assassin is pretty weak HP wise so you can try to target her with units. If she uses images, use the trick I described above for Blademaster’s images to identify the real one.

As I said with Jaood, simply getting a Belt of Strength and a Ring of Protection will help you last longer if you are a weak hero such as Archmage or Lich.

How do I counter [insert Hero’s name here] who has really strong items and cannot be killed?[]

There are plenty of scenarios like this: Warden with five crowns, Demon Hunter with Ultimate Claw, Blademaster with four Cursed Axes of Slaying, etc. While I admit high level heroes with these builds are almost impossible to kill, Footmen Frenzy is designed so that you don’t have to kill the player’s hero to defeat him. If the player has spent this much money on items, he almost definitely has a weak base. Therefore, you can either use Siege Tank on him (read about Siege Tank in section 3B), or use Rod of Envy. Rod of Envy puts a hero to an uninterruptable sleep for 2 minutes. Take advantage of this time to either farm his base, or kill him. I will admit, however, that if a player has a very strong hero AND a strong tech, you are probably screwed unless you have a much stronger tech or something.

How do I counter Avalanche?[]

This hero, in fact, is considered by most good players to be one of the worst heroes in the game. However, for beginners this hero might seem exceptionally overpowered. Again, and I’m well aware I am sounding like a broken record here, the key to countering Avalanche begins with using COMMON SENSE and PAYING ATTENTION to your hero. Ava does about 420 damage or so; if your hp goes below 450 salve yourself. Keep an eye on Avalanche for when he will blink or speed scroll. If he chases you into your base, go to the store to hide yourself, or use an invisibility potion/K-Rose. If you are in a situation where there are two or even three Avalanches on one team, going after you, get a Chunsang as soon as possible and Spirit Link yourself. Then get at least one belt and more if needed. Seeing two or three Avalanches can be quite depressing, but take comfort in knowing that this combo, like duel/tri CB, almost never succeeds since their focus is too narrow minded.

To deal with Avalanches with Immolation Cloaks that come in to feed, run all melee units away from the Ava. Put them as far away as possible, and have them hold position. Avalanche feeds by having masses of melee units run up to him and start whacking away, thus allowing Thorns and Spiked Carapace to take effect. Of course, the easy way to discourage Avalanche from camping to your base is to tech a ranged tier. This effectively shuts you down.

His Omnismack isn’t bad unless it is done against your hero and your hero is alone. In this case, TP as soon as possible because otherwise you WILL die. 10 Hits from an Ava is about 4500 damage. Also be very careful about using Golem against Avalanche since his omnismack will kill the Granite Golem quickly if it is by itself, and you will not be able to run away quickly enough.

Keep in mind that some strats like "triple Ava , scroll and base t1" JJ "TM" are almost impossible to counter.

How do I counter Bloodmage/Archmage?[]

The simplest counter is simply running your units away from the AoE spell as quickly as possible. This is easier with the Bloodmage, since you can see the green circle forming as well as the sound. With Blizzard, you will probably take the first few waves but if you move quickly enough, your units will not take much damage. Also, pressure those heroes early on since they are quite weak. What you can do is seen a few footmen to attack the hero and not stop until they are die. Although you are sacrificing your units, this will force the heroes to run back to their base and keep them from staying in the middle gaining exp, regenerating mana, and casting their skills. Shutting down those heroes early is the best counter since their skills get more powerfull late game.

How do I counter Cattlebruiser?[]

This is another hero that is the bane of many beginner players. A Cattlebruiser, with his powerful Cold Strike and Death Strike, seems to be able to take down heroes within seconds. Then factor in his bash, and you can have a hero that stunlocks any enemy as long as he has a couple of crowns. To a beginner player, this hero can seem impossible to beat.

In reality, Cattle is not a very good hero at all since he is not versatile and only good at one thing, hero killing. Even at this, it is arguable if he is the best. To counter Cattle, you have to first see if he is going the stunlock route or the typical route of maxing all his skills except Bash. In both cases, it is important to get some more HP on your hero so two nukes won’t kill him instantly. Get at least one belt if you are an intelligence hero, and get more if needed. You may even have to sacrifice item slots to be able to carry four Belts, but it is worth it if it means you won’t have to TP back all the time as soon as the Cattle starts nuking you. Another way to increase your HP indirectly is to get a Chunsang and use Sprit Link. In this case, keep the Chunsang in your base as if the Cattle sees it, one nuke might kill your creep instantly.

Two other useful items are Spell Shield and Bracers. Bracers are especially nice since not only do they grant increased magic resistance, they also grant twenty-five percent Evasion. This will help you a great deal when it comes to dealing with a Cattle that goes the stun-lock route.

A stun locking Cattle that is high level and has several crowns can be a serious pain. However, CB makes money quit slowly compared to many other heroes. He can only kill heroes, and is almost completely useless when it comes to killing units. Therefore, a CB with a bunch of crowns almost definitely has a very weak tech. Rod him, then farm off his units, and then kill him. Rod might not even be needed if you have a strong tech and he doesn’t have an ally that is a strong farmer; just send in all your units and watch him stand there helplessly trying to kill your units one by one. Even better, just stop the Cattle early on when he is still getting his first crowns. At that point, he is quite harmless since he has probably skipped getting Mana Precepts and similar items in favor of saving for Crowns, leaving him with a really low Mana pool. Target him frequently, and use the opportunity to farm with your own hero increasing your level and gold supply. This way, by the time CB finally gets powerful you have a very strong tech that can counter him.

A well played CB with the right hero combo, such as CB+Edge, CB+DK + Lich/Crypt Lord/Pitlord, can bealmost impossible to beat though. If you see a combo like the one I listed, it’s best to pick an Undead hero or a Pally and try to counter.

How do I counter Siege Tank?[]

Most common way: wisps. Be careful as you might need as much as six dispels to completely kill a tank. Only one dispel, however, is needed to remove the buffs of Roar or Bloodlust. Once the game is about twenty minutes in or so, you should get some wisps ready in case of tank, especially if you are a dominating hero with only a tier 1 base. Personally, I put my wisps in a Zeppelin, so they cannot be targeted by nukes nor will they be trapped by units while I am moving them towards the tank. Just unload them right on top of the tank, and order each wisp to dispel as they come down.

Another good counter: Orb of Static. Put this on a fast attacking ranged hero if you fear wisps will not work. Edge is a good candidate for this. Orb of Static has a pretty decent chance of doing a lot of damage to a summon, which Siege Tank is classified as. In addition, Purge slows its attack speed as well as move speed greatly, not to mention removes any buffs.

Certain heroes can counter tank as well. A high level Jaood or Blademaster with good items will probably be able to kill it in a fairly short time. A Cattlebruiser that has maxed bash and has crowns will be able to stun lock it. Tank is of course spell immune so other nukes will not work. Also a Ravage can charm a tank completely so the other team wasted 1500 gold on a tank+roar scroll to base you and then fail. --It isn't a bad idea, if you see somebody with a tank and you are Ravage to follow the hero and charm the tank while the base is at low hp so you get the base kill and the gold for the base kill.

Finally, although Tank is strong if you have a very strong ranged tech on your team with a lot of upgrades, station a good amount of those units around the more vulnerable bases. This way, focus fire on the tank will likely bring it down before it can do too much damage.

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