Human Hero: Archmage

Human Hero

ARCHMAGE

Primary stat: Intelligence
"This had better be worth it!" Antonidas and his Kirin Tor followers of Archmagi are certainly the backbone of almost every Human game. The AM (Archmage) is the best Intelligence hero for humans or even perhaps the entire game. No matter which ability you choose - Blizzard or Summon Water Elemental, you are sure to cause a healthy amount of devastation in your wake. The Archmage can restore mana to his entire army and fellow heroes. Upon reaching level 6, humans will suddenly have access to complete map control with Mass Teleport. If you are thinking of playing the Human race and don't want to play around with the Archmage's awesome power -- think again.

Abilities (Hotkey):



Blizzard (B):
Rank 1: 6 ice waves, 30 damage each.
Rank 2: 8 ice waves, 40 damage each.
Rank 3: 10 ice waves, 50 damage each.

Blizzard is one of the strongest AoE spell in Warcraft 3. Unfortunately, the ability will damage both enemy and allied units. Proper positioning of the spell will cause max damage. Some problems with Blizzard include that it can be interrupted with a stun / silence, the enemy can run out of it's radius, and it hurts your own units should they run under the falling ice. This spell is recommended for more advanced players to get at level 1. A common strategy is to get Summon Water Elemental at levels 1 and 3, but at level 5 the AM gets a Tome of Retraining from the item shop and gets rank 3 Blizzard instead of Rank 3 Summon Water Elemental. Rank 3 Blizzard can destroy an army on it's own. It's insane.




Summon Water Elemental (W):
Rank 1: 525 hit points
Rank 2: 675 hit points, hits harder than rank 1
Rank 3: 900 hit points, hits harder than rank 2

Water Elementals are great for early creeping and harassing enemy workers. They have a lot of hit points and have pretty decent DPS. This spell is the preferred choice to a level 1 Archmage. Something to note for the spell: you can have up to three elementals up at once! The spell does have a 20 second cooldown between each time you can summon an elemental, but after 40 seconds you can have three elementals ready for battle. The elementals last for 60 seconds, so by the time the third one is out, the first elemental has 20 seconds left (assuming you used the spell immediately after each cooldown). This spell is used by the pros, including champion Human player Sky.




Brilliance Aura:
Rank 1: 0.75 mana per sec. to all nearby units
Rank 2: 1.50 mana per sec. to all nearby units
Rank 3: 2.25 mana per sec. to all nearby units

Brilliance Aura is the standard 'other ability' that a player gets for his Archmage. You choose either Blizzard or Summon Water Elemental. Then in between rank-ups for the one you choose, you get Brilliance Aura at level 2, 4, and 7. Humans have extremely powerful spellcasters in their arsenal: the Sorceress, the Priest, and the Spell Breaker. All can run out of mana very quickly when using their abilities over and over. With Brilliance Aura, you can use their spells as much as you want without worry! Brilliance Aura is a must for any smart Human player with an Archmage.




Mass Teleport (T) (Ultimate):
Teleports 24 of the player's nearby units, including the Archmage, to a friendly ground unit or structure.

Ah, yes. The sheer ownage of Mass Teleport is one for any Warcraft fan to behold. As you might have learned from RTS strategy, map presence is a crucial part of winning games. You simply can't be everywhere at once. Well, with Mass Teleport, you can! Tip: the Sorceress spell Invisibility does not get canceled when Mass Teleport is used on an invisible unit. You can cast Invisibility on a footman, run him into the middle of the enemy base, and Mass Teleport your army of Steam Tanks right on top of that Tree of Eternity/Fortress/Black Citadel/Castle and win the game. It has a very short cooldown for an ultimate: 20 seconds! You can literally pop around the map as you please. This spell will definitely turn over the game to you if you manage your Archmage all the way to level 6 to get it.

Happy reading!

*Video* For a look on how to use a Tome of Retraining, Summon Water Elemental and Blizzard very effectively, check out this match between Sky and Infi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku8ZaSPpWSw

-Kibble