Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/Dissension

Prologue
Early the next morning at Arthas' new base camp ...

An emissary arrived and told the Captain in charge (Arthas being away) to return to Lordaeron with the entire expedition. The Captain reluctantly obeyed. The emissary told them that there were Undead forces between them and their ships, so the workers started cutting through the woods to reach the shore.

When Arthas returned, he saw that his men were not at their posts, and discovered that they were about to go home. That would prevent Arthas from destroying Mal'Ganis. He and Muradin Bronzebeard went to destroy the ships ...

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and slayed every undead in their way. He hired mercenaries to reinforce him.

Finally, the last of the ships were destroyed and his men were finally finished chopping through the woods.

The men were shocked of Arthas when they saw him destroying the ships. Arthas lied and blamed the mercenaries who fought for him.

Arthas and his men killed the mercenaries and returned to their base and returned back to their posts.

Chapter Introduction
This scenario is actually quite easy, at least on normal difficulty, spoiler alert primarily due to an item that you find about halfway through. The scenario may feel unsatisfying; there is a very good chance that you will not be satisfied with your first attempt.

Since you are on a timer, you will feel that you cannot use a deliberate approach, and cannot properly plan the strategy. The first point turns out to be incorrect, but the second point is correct, because your plan will turn out to be wrong about halfway through.

One option of playing this scenario is just to charge forward as fast as possible, putting the maximum combat power that you can into action at all times. This will work, but you will need very good micromanagement skills. Another option is to explore as much as possible. This should also work. This guide recommends something like the second option, but is focused on maximizing every possible advantage while keeping on schedule.

Mission Objectives

 * Main Quest - Burn the Boats
 * Destroy the five ships
 * The timer must not reach 0:00

Strategy
You start the mission with Arthas, Muradin, and two Mortar Teams. You have an income, although you do not control any workers. Follow the path west and you'll encounter six Ghouls. Kill them. That's easy, but learn how to use Muradin's major offensive spells.

Continue to two more Ghouls, a Crypt Fiend, a Necromancer, and a Spirit Tower. Note that in this chapter, Necromancers have Necromancer Master Training, making them a priority to kill. Use Arthas and Muradin to kill them quickly, since the Necromancers may Cripple your Mortar Teams, making the time limit harder to beat. Actually, this is more of an annoyance than a serious practical problem, because there will be enough situations where your front-line troops are engaged and the artillery has time to catch up. Mortar Teams should not be used like assault guns; the disadvantages of using them in direct combat substantially outweigh the advantages. Use Muradin's Storm Bolt against the Necromancer, and target the artillery on the Spirit Tower, and then play it by ear. The Necromancer drops a Potion of Mana. Continue along until you reach a Mercenary Camp where you can hire Ice Trolls, Ice Troll Priests, and Ogre Warriors.

Here you need to make some major decisions. Some troops are available immediately, and more will become available later, and you will get more resources as well. However, you definitely can't afford to leave one of your Heroes here, and you can't afford to come running back, so whatever you buy right now has to be the best choice. You won't get a second chance, and you don't have complete information on which to base your decision. What you do know is that you have limited resources, and in particular, a limited amount of food. It is generally a good idea to avoid paying upkeep.

You most definitely want to hire the two Priests. It seems to be a good idea to hire all three missile troops, because you don't really have that function at present, and it is always useful. However, you have really excellent melee troops, so there is no real point in spending any of your resources on melee chaff, i.e. DO NOT hire the Ogres. You are now at 16 food.

Continue on until the road forks.

At this point, you have no real idea whether you can afford to divert from the main mission, but we claim that you do. Take the side road and continue west at the second fork. You don't need to send your entire force, and if you do, you will have a serious traffic jam on the narrow path. However, if you leave the slow units (the artillery) behind, they are liable to shoot at something and get overrun while your front-line troops are away having fun. If you have weak micromanagement skills, don't go down the side path.

At the end of the side path, there's two Skeleton Archers and a Skeletal Marksman. The Marksman drops a Goblin Night Scope, which is basically useless. Return to where the road forked. Note that you can park your artillery on the cliff and bombard the enemies below, but this is more amusing than necessary.

Take the main road south to encounter an oblong group of Undead enemies. In total there are six Ghouls, three Crypt Fiends, three Spirit Towers and a harmless Ziggurat. On hard, there are also two Necromancers, one on each end; it's recommended to kill them quickly. That sounds like a lot of stuff, and it is, so advance deliberately. Basically, use your artillery to take out the Towers from range and use your other troops to defend your artillery. Standard tactics apply. One of the Crypt Fiends drops a Ring of Regeneration. The first Ship is just beyond this group.

Continue along the path, and meet two Spiderlings and a Nerubian Warrior. The Warrior drops a Potion of Healing. Continue to a Spiderling, a Nerubian Webspinner, a Nerubian Seer and a Nerubian Queen. You could just rush this group and beat it, but you may lose some units, so a careful approach is recommended. (Losing even two units here is more humiliating than problematic, however.) On hard there's also a Nerubian Warrior and a Nerubian Spider Lord. Those additional units will pose a substantial threat, so you will need to be very careful. The Seer drops a Potion of Greater Mana, while the Queen drops Claws of Attack +12. The second Ship is just beyond this group.

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Continue on to another Mercenary Camp. Here you can hire Ice Troll Berserkers and Ogre Magi. Just beyond the Mercenary Camp there are a several pockets of hiding Murlocs. On easy and normal difficulties there are four Murloc Tiderunners, two Murloc Huntsmen and three Murloc Nightcrawlers. On hard difficulty there are four of each of the three types. On all difficulties, one of the Nightcrawlers drops a Mana Stone. Continue until the path to the next Ship is blocked by trees. If the Mortar Teams are still alive, have them attack the trees to clear a path. If they aren't, go up the ramp and to the north-east. You can hire Goblin Sappers at the Goblin Laboratory to Kaboom! the trees (and themselves) for you.

If time allows, go up the ramp to the Goblin Laboratory and break through the trees to the south-west. Beyond the trees resides a Frost Revenant that drops a Sobi Mask.

Once the path has been cleared of trees, destroy the third Ship.

Continue on to the north-east, but notice the narrow way that takes off to the north-west. Send either Arthas and Muradin to the Mercenary Camp there and hire Ice Troll Trappers, Ice Troll High Priests, and Ogre Maulers. Bring back your new mercenaries and continue north-east to two Blue Dragon Whelps and two Blue Drakes. The Trappers' Ensnare is useful here, as is the Trolls' ability to hit flying units. One of the Drakes drops a Potion of Greater Healing.

If time allows, destroy the trees east of the Drakes. Behind them is a Pandaren that drops a Pendant of Mana.

Continue on until you get a cinematic showcasing a gauntlet of eight Spirit Towers. A Goblin Merchant is nearby, conveniently selling Amulets of Recall. Have Arthas run the gauntlet with Divine Shield and use the Amulet to Recall everyone else. Alternatively, run everyone through the gauntlet at once, since the Spirit Towers won't be able to kill everyone. Another alternative, which is slower, is to use Muradin as bait and the Mortar Teams to destroy the Spirit Towers one by one. The Mortar Teams will miss quite a few shots when shooting uphill, but they can always target a Spirit Tower while it's firing at Muradin. Regardless, the fourth Ship is situated at the end of the gauntlet.

The path leading away from the gauntlet leads to three Graveyards, each guarded by two Necromancers. On hard, they're also guarded by two Skeleton Warriors each, but it's likely that the Necromancers will summon Skeleton Warriors on all difficulties. Beyond the Graveyards lies the final battle, four Ghouls, two Crypt Fiends, two Necromancers, three on hard, and two Abominations, three on hard. If you're pressed for time, rush past them and destroy the fifth and final Ship.

Treasures

 * The first Necromancer you encounter drops a Potion of Mana.
 * You can kill the Skeletal Marksman for a Goblin Night Scope.
 * A Crypt Fiend near the first Ship drops a Ring of Regeneration.
 * A Nerubian Warrior has a Potion of Healing.
 * The Nerubian Seer drops a Potion of Greater Mana.
 * Claws of Attack +12 can be found on the Nerubian Queen.
 * A Murloc Nightcrawler has a Mana Stone.
 * The Frost Revenant can be tracked down for a Sobi Mask.
 * A Blue Drake drops a Potion of Greater Healing.
 * You can find a Pendant of Mana in the possession of a Pandaren.
 * The Goblin Merchant sells Amulets of Recall, Potions of Healing, Potions of Mana and Scrolls of Healing.

Points of Interest

 * Getting close to the Goblin Laboratory causes a Farm to materialize next to your previous Farms, thereby increasing your food limit by six.