Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Hunter of Shadows

The next morning, in the shadowed woods of Ashenvale…

Mission Objectives
🇨🇴
 * Main Quest - The Chaos Well
 * Discover the source of power
 * Destroy the Satyrs guarding the pool

🇨🇴
 * Main Quest - Cenarius
 * Slay the so-called demigod, Cenarius

🇨🇴

Fortifications
Mission starts with Grom’s forces controlling the whole map. In a moment you will lose everything on the west bank of the river. Quickly grab peons that are chopping wood there and move them to your main base. You have 15000 lumber at the start of the mission. At best it requires only half of that amount to complete all quests so focus only on gold. Saved peons will come handy, especially if you are playing on Hard difficulty.

Top priority is to fortify the main base because Elves will shortly launch two simultaneous attacks from the retaken territory. You should have two peons building Watch Towers next to existing ones on each side of the base. Four to five peons should be mining gold. By the time first wave of Night Elf forces arrives 3-4 additional Watch Towers on both fronts should be already completed. Make sure not to block any entrances, you will need your troops moving back and forth picking up wounded enemies all over the place.

It’s important your peons won’t get hurt in the first attack, you will need them to quickly repair damaged towers and rebuild any of those lost. You may build a Grunt or two before the first attack but don’t go above Low Upkeep at this point to maximise gold income. Initial Grom’s army is big enough to successfully defend.

After first wave of Elves is defeated quickly rebuild fortifications and replace any units lost with Grunts. You may now build another Stronghold to gather resources from the second Gold Mine north of your base. Further attacks by the Elves will hit only one side at a time and generally will be smaller (though enemy will start bringing Ballistas at some point which will require additional attention).

With ~10 Watch Towers on each side and both Gold Mines running the base is secured and you can focus on two main quests.

The Chaos Well
Before waging war with Cenarius you need to discover the source of power in the area. You may now go above Low Upkeep and build mid-size army. Even on Hard you need not more than 12 units in your group including Grom to complete first quest. Heavily fortified base now only requires 3-4 Grunts to defend (mostly for finishing off Ballistas).

Take Grom and his army north of your base. You won’t need anti-air units. After dealing with a pack of wolfs you will stumble upon glowing runes. Clear the trees here with Catapult and continue going north. Kill Furbolgs next to Goblin Merchant and stock up on Scrolls of Healing. Hit the Furbolg camp next. You will find Anti-magic Potion along with Claws of Attack +9 off Furbolg Ursa Warrior. Follow the road and defeat Satyrs guarding the portal.

Road on the other side of the portal will lead to a pack of creeps with Satyr Pyromancer in charge. He will drop an Orb of Fire. Use Scrolls of Healing and Witch Doctors’ healing wards throughout your journey. Your army needs to be fresh before the final fight with the guardians of The Chaos Well.

Once source of power is discovered you are ready to take on Cenarius.

Slaying Cenarius
Cenarius comes out only after a full-scale attack is launched on Night Elfs. Blue base to the north west doesn’t produce flying units and thus is the perfect target. Completing The Chaos Well quest makes your troops very powerful. So powerful in fact that you won’t need any siege weapons or any melee units besides Chaos Grunts to defeat Night Elves.

Mass build Chaos Grunts. Your army should be supported by 2-3 Witch Doctors and a Kodo Beast. Defend against yet another Night Elf wave and counter attack Blue Base. The moment you enter the base use Witch Doctors to drop as many Healing Wards as possible spending all mana. Make sure Kodo is at the back. Deal with nearby towers and Moon Wells first. Even on Hard you probably not going to need reinforcements but just in case set production waypoints of your Barracks to Grom and continue producing additional Grunts during the attack.

As soon as Blue Base is destroyed Cenarius will show up. Ignore any minor threats that come from the other two bases. Surround demigod and kill him.

Treasures

 * Claws of Attack +9 off Furbolg Ursa Warrior north of your base.
 * Orb of Fire is dropped by the Satyr Pyromancer on the way to The Chaos Well.
 * Anti-magic Potion in Furbolg camp past the Goblin Merchant.