Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/Human units

Heroes
Heroes are a new element to Warcraft and are extremely powerful units. Up to three heroes can be recruited.

Paladin
The Paladin is a melee combatant but isn't as powerful as some other heroes, such as the Blademaster or the Demon Hunter. He is more akin to the Dreadlord in being a support hero with a melee attack. His spells make him a good choice for beginning players, who can use the Paladin's Holy Light ability to heal, and Devotion Aura to boost the armour of his units.

There are a few different ways to build your Paladin - some players choose to invest in Holy Light and Devotion Aura, then get Resurrection at Level 6. Others players go Holy Light and Divine Shield with a point or two in Devotion at higher levels. While you could go a mix of Divine Shield and Devotion Aura it's better to use Holy Light.

Holy Light is a spell that causes a holy beam of light to pierce the target. It can heal a single organic unit such as a footman, rifleman, or knight, but it cannot heal mechanical units like Gyrocopters. Holy Light can also be used as a weapon against undead opponents, damaging them for half the amount. Since the Paladin has a melee attack, Holy Light can allow him to strike aerial undead units such as Gargoyles and Frost Wyrms.

Divine Shield allows the Paladin to become completely invincible for an amount of time. In this state it cannot be targeted by enemies, so enemies typically will run away when Divine Shield is active. At higher levels, the spell lasts longer. It's also effective in allowing you to run your Paladin away from threats. When it wears off you can use an Invisibility Potion to get away. Divine Shield cannot be deactivated.

Devotion Aura boosts the armour of nearby units. Naturally, the more units around the Paladin, the better Devotion Aura is. Players often improve this along with Divine Shield of Holy Light.

Resurrection, when triggered, targets the corpses of dead allies and brings them back to life. Naturally, this skill is best used when there are at least six powerful, and recently slain allies nearby, such as Knights, Tauren, or Bears.

Archmage
The Archmage is a spellcasting hero, capable of creating destruction through carefully crafted spells. As a caster it is extremely vulnerable to attacks and should not be anywhere without escort. Under no circumstance should you allow the enemy to surround your Archmage.

Skill point spending tactics include Water Elementals combined with Brilliance Aura, or Blizzard combined with Brilliance Aura. So the standing question is: Water elementals, or Blizzard? Both have their strengths and weaknesses. In smaller games, or if you intend to use a lot of melee units, try to use Water Elementals instead - Blizzard has an annoying tendency to harm your own units as well as the enemy's. That said, Water Elementals can be easily dispelled by anti-spellcasting units like Dryads. Typically players use Water Elementals in 1 vs. 1 and 2 vs. 2 and use Blizzard in 3 vs. 3 and 4 vs. 4.

It typically isn't hard to kill an archmage, especially if you use an immobilizing spell like Entangling Roots or Ensnare. All that is required afterwards is to surround the Archmage and attack it normally.

Blizzard summons multiple waves of freezing icicles that damage everything in their area of effect. Higher levels increase the number of waves and the damage each wave does. Since Blizzard affects your units and the enemy's, try not to use it in a melee - try instead to cast it on the enemy's ranged support. Note that Blizzard must be maintained, and if the Archmage moves or is forced to stop casting Blizzard, you won't receive its full effects. Blizzard also