Warlords Battlecry 2 Orc FAQ v. 1.6 By: dracula1498 Email: dracula1498@yahoo.com Table of contents 1. Version history 2. Introduction 3. Orc heroes 4. Units 5. Buildings 6. Tips and strategies 7. Race specific strategies 8. Copyright =============================================================================== 1. Version history v. 0.5 (January 5, 2004) work on this FAQ was started v. 1.0 (January 10, 2004) submitted the guide to Gamefaqs v. 1.5 (January 13, 2004) added race specific strategies fixed some language errors other smaller changes v. 1.6 (January 19, 2004) added some additional hero info added www.neoseeker.com as a website that can host this guide =============================================================================== 2. Introduction This guide is for playing the Orcs. Orcs in WB2 are fast and are decently strong, especially in the early game. They can poison and disease which can cripple enemy units and heroes. However, each race has its own bad points too. Orcs suffer by having a weak air defence, and they cannot repair their buildings. Please let me know if there are any errors or if you have anything to share that can make this guide better. Credit will be given. I can be reached at dracula1498@yahoo.com =============================================================================== 3. Orc heroes Orc heroes start with STR 6, DEX 5, INT 4 and CHA 5. They can only specialize as fighter, thief, assassin or shaman. I would suggest going with either fighter or assassin. I will discuss the specializations here in detail. I assume that you have played the game before. Orcs inherently get the hordemaster, orc lord and chanting abilities. Hordemaster: gives you a -25% cost to all orc units. I would suggest spending your first 5 ability points on this. Orc lord: gives you a +4 to your command skill. A higher command is always better, so spend points on this. Chanting: gives you a +5 to your casting skill in Chaos magic. If you plan on becoming a shaman, this ability is a must. Specializations available: Fighter (STR 7 DEX 6 INT 4 CHA 5) Primary stat - STR, CHA Secondary stat - DEX, INT Orc fighters get improved combat, training, command, as well as +15 to damage rolls. This makes them very good fighters, and with the right equipment, can slug it out with Minotaur barbs and even Daemon deathknights. What gives them an edge is their enhanced command and training skill. A higher command will mean more of your troops receive bonuses to their speed and combat. A high training will increase the exp points your troops start out with, giving them a slight edge in combat. The best specialization in my opinion. Assassin (STR 7 DEX 6 INT 4 CHA 5) Primary stat - DEX Secondary stat - INT Assassins will get a 16% chance to kill anything, even heroes and titans in one hit. This is a bonus to the decent damage that Orc heroes will deal. Either way, the enemy still dies. Compared to a dark elf assassin, orcs will usually kill stuff faster, as they have more strength. Thief (STR 6 DEX 7 INT 4 CHA 5) Primary stat - DEX Secondary stat - STR, INT, CHA Thief is not a good specialization for Orc heroes at all. Haggling is a decent skill though, and so is a permanent +2 income for gold. However, Orcs need stone more than gold. 3% assassination is just way too low. With low int, an Orc hero just cannot make full use of the +5 to the casting skill in Illusion magic. Shaman (STR 5 DEX 5 INT 6 CHA 6) Primary stat - INT Secondary stat - STR, CHA An Orc Shaman is great when high leveled. Wildfire and chaos plague are powerful spells. They even get a +5 casting skill to nature magic. With nature magic, you can heal yourself and can summon unicorns to help out your troops. The downside to a shaman is that the lower level chaos spells are not too useful. Which means that a low level shaman will pretty much suck. If you have the patience, this specialization will reap its benefits in the end. =============================================================================== 4. Units Take note that these are the base values. A high merchant or training will modify these. For cost, G stands for gold, S for stone, M for metal and C for crystal. For damage and armor, P stands for piercing, S for slashing, C for crushing, F for fire and M for magic. Kobold Cost - 25G Production time - 25 sec Building skill - 9 Combat - 1 Hits - 20 Speed - 8 Damage - 5S Armor - 1P 1S 3C 1F 1M View - 7 Special abilities - Causes poison The basic builder unit. Nothing special except that they cause poison. Goblin Cost - 30G Production time - 15 sec Combat - 2 Hits - 18 Speed - 14 Damage - 10C Armor - 2P 2S 2C 1F 1M View - 15 Special abilities - Causes disease Fast to produce, cheap, high speed and great view makes them ideal as scouts. Try to inflict disease on enemy heroes early in the game. Orc infantry Cost - 60M Production time - 35 sec Combat - 4 Hits - 60 Speed - 10 Damage - 15S Armor - 2P 3S 3C 2F 1M View - 3 Special abilities - Basic infantry unit. Decent hit points and damage. One of the best units to destroy towers. Upgrade them to be resistant to missiles with the No Pain! Ability and they will destroy towers, since most towers do missile damage. Basilisk Cost - 60G Production time - 40 sec Combat - 5 Hits - 70 Speed - 4 Damage - 20S Range - 6 Armor - 4P 4S 4C 4F 4M View - 7 Special abilities - Turns any unit it kills into 100 stone. The first unit that the Orcs can produce that can attack fliers. Good armor and special ability. Wolfrider Cost - 100M Production time - 60 sec Combat - 10 Hits - 120 Speed - 15 Damage - 20S Armor - 2P 3S 3C 2F 1M View - 7 Special abilities - Can be upgraded to cause disease Fast and rather strong. They die rather easily though compared to other cavalry. Upgrade their speed and they can be used to hunt down heroes. Ogre Cost - 100M 100S Production time - 60 sec Combat - 12 Hits - 180 Speed - 8 Damage - 30C Armor - 2P 2S 3C 4F 3M View - 7 Special abilities - Can attack fliers With decent hits, they can really soak up the damage. If you use them, be sure to upgrade them so that they deal more damage. Personally, I prefer using orc infantry. Troll Cost - 150S Production time - 70 sec Combat - 11 Hits - 150 Speed - 6 Damage - 20C Range - 6 Armor - 2P 2S 3C 0F 2M View - 11 Special abilities - Can throw sheep, fast regeneration Slow to produce but really strong in big numbers. They regenerate 2 hits a second. With sheep, they deal much more damage and cause splash damage too. Goblin shaman Cost - 200C Production time - 60 sec Combat - 10 Hits - 70 Speed - 12 Damage - 25M Range - 7 Armor - 2P 2S 2C 2F 4M View - 10 Special abilities - Casts lightning, berserker and light/darkness I love these guys. 200C to produce them should not be a problem, since Orcs do not have much use for crystal. They have good spells as well. Always change the time to nighttime, as all Orcs get a +2 to combat at night. Upgrade them to deal more damage. Giant Cost - 100M 150S Production time - 80 sec Combat - 16 Hits - 260 Speed - 10 Damage - 50C Armor - 4P 3S 3C 4F 3M View - 16 Special abilities - Converts buildings, causes fear, does splash damage, can attack fliers These guys can sure deal damage. Careful though as they are rather slow. I still prefer using orc infantry. Anyway, most of the time I would have finished a scenario even before a level 4 orchold. Gobshooter Cost - 300G 300M Production time - 100 sec Combat - 10 Hits - 80 Speed - 3 Damage - 35C Range - 16 Armor - 4P 4S 3C 1F 3M View - 10 Special abilities - Deals splash damage, chance of goblin surviving Long range, damage is a bit on the low side though. Gonrak Elfeater Cost - 1200G 1200M 1200S 1200C Production time - 600 sec Combat - 25 Hits - 820 Speed - 12 Damage - 100M Range - 10 Armor - 7P 7S 7C 6F 6M View - 7 Special abilities - Causes terror, turn units into 100 stone, ignores armor, explodes on death A large orc riding on a large basilisk. Does tons of damage. =============================================================================== 5. Buildings Orchold level 1 (army limit +5) Produces - Kobolds Upgrades - Orchold level 2 Orchold level 2 (army limit +5) Produces - Kobolds Upgrades - Orchold level 3 Orchold level 3 (army limit +5) Produces - Kobolds Upgrades - Orchold level 2, Ogrelord Ogrelord - allows you to produce ogres at the battleyard Orchold level 4 (army limit +5) Produces - Kobolds Upgrades - Orchold level 5 Orchold level 5 (army limit +10) Produces - Kobolds Upgrades - Giantlord Giantlord - allows you to produce giants at the battleyard Goblin tower (army limit +2) Damage - 20P, to air units only Range - 12 Speed - 2 Produces - Goblin, Gobshooter Upgrades - Eagle eye (1-3) Eagle eye - Improves your sight range by 2,3 and 4 respectively Battleyard (army limit +2) Produces - Orc infantry, ogre, giant, Gonrak Elfeater (requires level 5 orchold) Upgrades - No Pain!, Training, Cowards!, Thump! No Pain! - Makes your orc infantry resistant to missiles Training - Gives all units 10 xp when produced Cowards! - All units deal double damage to archers Thump - Ogres deal 10 more damage Hovel (army limit +3) Produces - None Upgrades - None Adds +3 to your army limit. Build lots of these. Beast pit (army limit +2) Produces - Basilisk, wolfrider Upgrades - Wolfpack (1-3), Rabies Wolfpack - Increases the speed of wolfriders by 1,2 and 4 respectively Rabies - Wolfriders now have the disease ability Prison (army limit +2) Produces - Troll Upgrades - Slavehorde Slavehorde - Summons 10 thrall with the cost of some G Shaman Hut (army limit +2) Produces - Goblin shaman Upgrades - Shaman Shaman - Goblin shamans now deal 10 more damage, allows you to build totems Totem (army limit +1) Damage - 50M, to air units only Range - 12 Produces - None Upgrades - None =============================================================================== 6. Tips and strategies Orcs are a very fast attacking race. They can overwhelm the enemy early on. As mentioned earlier, orc infantry are great for taking out enemy towers. After you get a level 2 orchold, you get to build hovels, which add +3 to your army limit. From this point, you can mass produce orc infantry and basilisks, wolfriders for more speed. Generally I try to win with just these units. Ogres and giants are too slow. Early game: With mass orc infantry, you can practically defeat every race except daemons and maybe fey. Against daemons, get basilisks ASAP. Daemons get imps that can fly and do magic damage. Orcs do not resist magic well. Always build more battleyards for more production, especially if you have the resources, which should not be a problem. Middle game: During the middle game, orc infantry are still good in large numbers. You might want some ogres and trolls for backup, just in case they meet flying troops. Always build more hovels and towers if you can afford it. Buildings must be defended, since orcs do not get to repair. Late game: The late game gives orcs much better air defense that they have been severely lacking for practically the whole game. Totems are good for defending against air units. They work much better in bigger numbers though, so build more of them, especially if you see dragons flying around. Goblin shamans are extremely helpful at this point. They cost only crystal, which you should have plenty of, since orcs don't use much crystal at all. They can change the time to nighttime, which gives all orc units a +2 to combat. Lightning is good for softening up the enemy. They die rather easily though so do protect them. Giants are strong but rather slow. Also, they tend to get stuck due to their huge size, so I don't really recommend using them. =============================================================================== 7. Race specific strategies Barbarians Early on in the game, their units should not be a problem to you. Many of their units have very poor armor. Take out their war dogs and their camps next. Their spears should not do much damage to you, since they are missile units. Their units produce rather quickly though so do not let down your assault. Send in orcs after orcs. Their heroes can be a real pain, especially if it is a fighter type. Other than that, you should be able to defeat them early on without much problems. Late game, they will have many upgrades and will become much more powerful, especially pegasi and reavers. Daemons Get basilisks ASAP. Failing that, build a couple more towers. Orcs have poor armor against magic, and they have really poor air defence early in the game. Imps can fly and do magic damage, which is very bad for your troops. What is worse is that most daemon units have good armor against magic, so don't expect your basilisks to hold out forever. However, a major weakness of daemons is that they need a ton of resources. They compensate for that by having very powerful troops. Convert every mine you see and attack them early on. Send in goblins to distract them from building more. The longer the game goes, the harder it is for you to win. Never let them get to a level 3 doomspire or more. Swarm them with everything you have and send in your hero as well. Daemon heroes are extremely powerful. Hopefully your hero should be able to match them. Dark elves They should not pose much of a problem to you. Elves in general have rather weak infantry. They start to get dangerous with dark riders and assassins. They have very powerful magic users as well. Just send in orc infantry early on, but be careful of their heroes. A magic type dark elf hero will cause lots of problems. Beware of large groups of ancient wisps as well. Dark dwarves Every unit they have besides firebombs are as slow as hell. Like daemons, they have strong units but are more dependent on gold than other resources. Stone golems are reasonably fast to produce and are rather strong. It will take them quite a while to get an army going because most of their siege weapons take up 4 army points. Wolfriders and orc infantry should be enough to defeat them. Target their hall of golems first, then destroy any siege weapons and golem you see. Dwarves Their units are tough and have good armor. Berserkers are very strong and deal lots of damage. Even your superior numbers might lose out to them sometimes. It is very important to destroy them early on. They should not be too much of a problem. Fey They will mostly try to outswarm you, since this the only way they can win. They have very fast units and are cheap and fast to produce as well. You can do the same thing as well. Produce hordes and hordes of goblins, with the occasional orc infantry. Most of their units are rather weak and should die quickly. Their towers only have 150 hp. Hold out their assaults and you should win without too many problems. High elves Their dragon knights are probably the best cavalry in the game. With unicorns and mystics they are very tough to beat. Take them out very early on or their upgraded troops will really destroy you. Luckily, most of their do not have many hit points. Humans A very balanced race with decent units. Pikemen remain useful throughout the game with their upgrades. They have very strong cavalry and generals. If you fail to destroy them early on, get lots of trolls and get griffins. Enough trolls do a very good job at stopping cavalry. Humans have very poor air defence even late in the game. Take out every archer and general you see and you will do fine. Minotaurs A decently fast and strong race. Minotaurs are strong early game and even stronger late game, with powerful upgrades. Try to cripple their resource production, especially metal. Without too many upgrades, they should not be that hard to defeat, though you should probably attack with your hero as well, and maybe kill their hero. Minotaur shamen and kings are very dangerous later on. Wolfriders will be very useful against them. Undead These resource suckers can really deal tons of damage. They are extremely powerful later in the game with enough resources. Convert every mine you see and defend them. Take them out as fast you can. Wights should not be too much of a problem. If they every get their keep to level three, you are in serious trouble. Slayer knights are strong enough to defeat almost everything you throw at them. If you fail to defeat them early on mass out on trolls, but beware of liches. Undead heroes are very strong as well, especially necromancers. Their units are much more powerful at night. If they ever get doom knights, your chances of winning will be very slim. Wood elves Their cavalry deals triple damage to all your troops and should be your top priority. The rest of their units should not pose too much of a problem. Orc infantry will destroy their archers. They should fall without too much of a problem. ============================================================================== 8. Copyright This FAQ is copyright c dracula1498 and is the property of the author. It may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without consent from the author. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Websites that may host this guide: www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com ===============================================================================