world of warcraft invasion

At some point in the game the time will come to invade an enemy town. Sometimes players will quit when they know they can't win or when they lose their army. Other players will only quit when their town is severely damaged or destroyed. In larger team games it becomes even more important to attack towns and often you will need to clear up to 6 towns (6 vs. 6) before winning or even more if it's an FFA game (11 enemy towns!).

Town Defender Advantages
Be aware of what may happen when you invade an enemy town. Once you know about the possible problems and issues you can better protect your army from complete defeat at the enemy's hands. The defender of a town has an advantage if they have a comparable army and can also use their town defenses. Often what happens is a player goes into a town thinking that their army is as good or better but then don't count on the town defenses such as (Militia) and/or superior control.

Defenders Can Repair Their Town While It's Under Attack
If you try to destroy buildings the enemy sometimes just repair them as they are being attacked until you are kicked out of their town. Many games are lost because players go into a town thinking they are going to win and then lose. They then no longer have an army to defend their town and can't handle a counter attack. This can't always be avoided (unless you're an elite player) but you can work to reduce the number of failed attacks through experience.

New Units Continue To Join The Defense
The town defender can train new units and have them join the battle throughout the battle. The attacking player on the other hand has to stream them from their base which is further away.

Defenders Can Build Additional Tower Defenses
The Defender can begin building Towers even before you show up to attack their town because they see you coming. This can allow them to have enough defenses in place to take you on before you get there. Also sometimes defenders are able to build towers in their town during the battle. If they can protect them, or the attacker doesn't destroy them, the towers can sometimes shift the course of the battle in the defender's favor.

Allied Players Can Teleport In To Save the Town
You may go into an enemy town with a clear advantage but not count on enemy players teleporting in to save it. You should always figure that up to all of the enemy teammates might show up to defend the town. Do as much damage as you can and be ready to run the second you see the incoming Town Portal graphic.

Player-built Shops
These can provide Healing Potions, Mana Potions, and more during battle.

Don't Fight Uphill onto Higher Terrain
Don't fight at the bottom of the hill with ranged units. They will miss the units on higher ground. Either push up the hill, or leave, whichever is smarter.

Retreat Into Your Town
If you are near your town and/or are unsure if your army can beat their army, retreat back into your town. That allows you to have benefit of your town's defenses to help out in the battle. Try to bait the enemy into fighting in your town. When attacking the enemy, try not to fight in their town whenever possible as well unless you know your army can take it. Try to fight them in open areas or bait them out of their town. Sometimes you can draw them out of their town using Siege Weapons.

Cancel Doomed Buildings Under Attack
If you can't prevent a building under construction from being destroyed, cancel the building. Otherwise you will lose resources when the enemy destroys the building.

More Tips for Town Defenders All
-Build a few Towers. The enemy almost always spends time focusing on them first. This can buy you some time to defend your base. Learn more about Towers .

Humans
-Use Militia. But don't get drawn out away from your Town. Go back to work if the enemy runs away.
-Have at least 1 Arcane Tower. This usually causes an enemy to run when their Hero is hit.
-If you know you're going to be attacked, get the building defense upgrades at the Lumber Mill. Build more towers too.
-Try to Wall in some towers with buildings.
-Use rows of farms as a wall to make it harder to get in your town.
-If anyone tries to attack your Peasants on gold, run them away or in circles around your Town Hall until you can protect them or force the enemy to leave.
-Repair things that are under attack! Run the Peasants away if the enemy targets them.

Orcs
-Hop in the Burrows! If the enemy is doing a hit-and-run attack, go Back to Work immediately.
-If the Burrows are attacked, repair them! Pop Peons in and out of the Burrows as they are attacked to save them and to repair the Burrows
-Build the Burrows in such a way that they can cover your base. They also need to be next to the Gold Mine so the Peons can quickly get inside and near the Lumber Peons also.
-You might want to build at least One Watch Tower. The enemy will typically attack it first giving you time to get back to your base or whatever.
-Research Reinforced Defense and Spiked Barricades if you know the enemy is coming to your town.

Night Elves
-Use Wisps to Detonate on any enemy unit with Mana. You should try for their Heroes but also use them if there is a pack of enemy Spellcasters within reach. Do not send the Wisps unless you can get to the enemy without losing them.
-Wisps can harvest Lumber anywhere on the map. It's great to hide them around and use them as scouts. That way you don't have to worry about the enemy killing all your Lumber Wisps. Also if your Town is destroyed, you'll still have Wisps around to rebuild (useful in team games).
-Use Wisps to repair buildings under attack.
-In Most Situations, do not uproot Ancients. Their armor will become heavy armor which makes them easier to kill.
-If the enemy is building towers or something near your base you can uproot some of your buildings while at the same time commanding several Wisps to repair the Ancient. Then root the Ancient once it's in range of the enemy building or units.
-Make sure your Moon Well's are turned on to auto cast. It makes a Night Elf player look very stupid if their Moon Wells are full at the end of the battle because no one turned them on (and no one right-clicked on them to use them manually).
-If you know the enemy is coming, research Nature's Blessing for the increased Ancient armor.
-If the enemy attacks the Tree of Life or the Entangled Gold Mine, pop the Wisps out of the Entangled Gold Mine and use them to repair. If you want to repair the Entangled Gold Mine you will need to hit R for repair rather than right-clicking or it will just put them back in the mine (rookie mistake).

Undead
-If you know the enemy is coming upgrade Ziggurats to towers.
-If the enemy is leaving, cancel the upgrading Ziggurats.
-Build buildings around the Haunted Gold Mine so that enemies can't easily reach them.
-Build at least one Nerubian Tower right next to the Haunted Gold Mine. Some players build more Ziggurats to build a wall around their Acolytes on Gold. This can sometimes cause the enemy to say it's not worth it and they will leave.
-Use the Death Knight to heal damaged units with Death Coil.
-If the enemy is able to reach the Acolytes on Gold, have them run in circles around the town until the enemy leaves.
-Take Acolytes off Gold and use them to repair. Build additional Acolytes to repair.
-Take any Ghouls that are harvesting Lumber and have them help out.

Invading enemy towns can be challenging. But with some tips and experience you can become better and better at it.

Attack Expansions First
Usually you want to attack an expansion town first. These often have no defenses or very little defenses and can be killed very quickly. Also the expansion towns typically have a first level Town Hall while the main base might have a tier 3 Town Hall (Castle). Learn more about Expansion Towns .

Learn To Run!
Knowing when to run is a very important skill in Warcraft III. You should always be prepared to run when attacking an enemy Town. Sometimes you run because the enemy is Teleporting back to their Town to defend it. Sometimes you run because an ally is coming to save the town you are attacking. Sometimes you run because the attack isn't going as planned. Whatever the case, don't fight until the last unit. Leave and come back later with a better force. Whenever things aren't going your way, run away! =)

Size Up the Defenses
Scout the enemy Town and figure out what defenses they have. Compare your invading force to the defenses and determine whether you can defeat them. You should always invade with an overwhelming force if possible. Think D-Day.

Always Try to Fight Battles Away From Enemy Towns If Possible
Try to draw the enemy away from their town or trap them so that they can't just run back to their Town. That way you don't have to worry about town defenses. Then once you've won on the out side you can counter attack and invade when they have little defenses.

Don't be caught in Limbo where you're outside the enemy town but you're not going into the enemy town. Sometimes you run into a situation where the enemy is outside their town behind you and you're at the tip of their town. You then hang in the middle as the enemy is doing hit-and-run attacks at your rear. This can whittle you down. Either go in the town and attack or go somewhere else to attack. The enemy can pick away at your army if you remain indecisive and just stand around.

Hit-And-Run
Sometimes you just can't attack an enemy town because of the superior or equal enemy army. So what you do is buy a Town Portal Scroll. Run into an enemy town. Do some damage, and then teleport away once the enemy shows up to defend their base. Now buy another Town Portal Scroll. This strategy is almost required in FFA games.

Attacking Towers
If the enemy has a LOT of towers it's best to use Siege Units . If the enemy only has a few towers then regular units against Towers can work fine (less so against Spirit Towers with Fortified Armor) because the towers have Heavy armor.

Bring Siege Weapons
Whenever possible, bring Siege Weapons. This isn't usually possible early in the game. Siege Weapons do increased damage to buildings which will allow you to more quickly defeat an enemy town. Learn more about Siege Units .

Don't Let Enemy Workers Get Away!
Typically players will try to run their workers away if they know their town is going down in flames. They will then try to rebuild elsewhere or possibly hide. Whenever the workers start running, disengage your current target and prevent them from escaping. This is especially important in Tournament and FFA games.

Invading Orc Towns
-Go for the Burrows First. They are the easiest to kill and the most damaging for the enemy player. If you attack the buildings but ignore the Burrows, the Burrows can really damage your army.
-Kill as many Peons as you can
-Another choice target is the Voodoo Lounge since it will die very quickly and the enemy uses it a lot. Players often place these right outside their Town so you can sometimes kill it first really quickly.

Invading Human Towns
-Always count on Militia. Don't be surprised by them.
-If you have a limited amount of time, Focus on killing the Peasants first.
-If you have more time Kill the Arcane Towers first and then the Peasants. In team games different team members can be doing both at once.
-Kill any Peasants that are trying to build a building

Invading Undead Towns
-Undead Towns often have HEAVY defenses. You better go in there packing and with Siege Weapons if they have a lot of towers.
-Kill their Acolytes on their Gold Mine. They will then have to train 5 new Acolytes.

Invading Night Elf Towns
-Kill the Wisps
-Kill the Moon Wells so they can't use them for healing
-Stay out of range of the Ancients. Use ranged units to kill them from safety.

Finishing off an enemy Town
For games where you're clearly winning, make sure you destroy everything in the enemy's first town. While you are destroying the first town, start looking for their next one. If they are good, they will have one or more. Be sure to destroy every building in their main town, especially food buildings. Some people leave the food buildings that allow the enemy to continue to make units at their new Expansion Towns. If you destroy all of the food buildings, they will be forced to build more food buildings rather than advanced buildings, which will hinder them from getting back on their feet. In team games it's more important to kill a few important buildings such as the Town Hall, Altar, Burrows and then move on to the next enemy town. You can finish off the rest later.