Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne/Misconceptions

Chapter Introduction
After being waylaid by the undead, and assisted by the night elves Prince Kael'thas arrives at the ruined city of Dalaran. There he meets up with the commander of the shattered Alliance forces, Lord Garithos. He is tasked with repairing the city's magical observatories, in order to detect any approaching threats.

Mission Objectives

 * Main Quest - Repair the observatories
 * Repair the three observatories.


 * Optional Quest - Hidden Caches
 * Retrieve the four hidden caches.

Strategy
Moving through Dalaran is pretty straightforward. Spellbreakers are immune to Kael's flamestrike, footmen and priests are not however. Banish will increase the damage of flamestrike by 66%, but using the combination is very mana intensive and banish will not last long on higher level enemies so use it on the next strongest enemy instead if faced with a particularly strong enemy leader. Spellbreakers can also assume control of summoned units, this includes skeleton warriors and mages created by necromancers. Try to conserve as many units as possible however for defending your base later, this of course is less of a concern in fights with a resurrection rune as a reward (see treasures).

Base building
Before thinking about sailing to the northern gold mine to avoid attacks by the undead be aware they possess air barges and can still harass your settlement. It's best to setup at the closest mine (12,500 gold available) so the walls of the second observatory, mana well, well treeline and shore can be utilized in your defensive line. Even on hard difficulty the undead always pass by the mana well, and will rarely (if ever) attack a mining or timber expansion elsewhere.

Clearing out the trolls to the north, northwest and placing your lumber mill south of the merchant between the three copses of trees is ideal. It's also possible to place it near Dalaran, but once the undead are gone the need for an abundance of resources drops considerably.

The simplest defense is a good offense, so don't spend too much time or resources on towers and instead just repair the observatory to get early warning of incoming attacks and camp Kael and company at the mana well while researching upgrades. When ready train an attack force and wipe out the undead base to have free reign of the map and zero pressure.

Treasures
Kael can use his flamestrike ability to destroy trees, which will come in handy for locating treasures.

Dalaran (east, southeast, south)

 * Maul of Strength/Mana Rune, murlocs through the trees northeast of Kael's starting position.
 * Robe of the Magi +6, destroy the lone tree along the shore then kill the albatross that appears while it is over land.
 * Scroll of the Beast, a crate immediately west of the starting position.
 * Rune of Mana, fel stalker group encountered shortly after the first observatory.
 * Cache, located northwest of the mana well. Contains a tiny castle, rune of lesser healing, 200 gold and 250 lumber.
 * Manual of Health, rogue guarding the first mana well.
 * Tome of Intelligence/Resurrection Rune, demons southeast of the first mana well.
 * Bundle of Lumber (250), behind a destructible building southeast of the path leading out of the city.
 * Rune of Mana, in a crate west of the above bundle.
 * Tome of Strength, bandits just outside the city and northwest of the above rune.
 * Cache/Rune of Mana, bandits south of the above tome. Contains a tiny barracks, tiny altar of kings and 200 gold.
 * Lion's Ring, bandits south and a bit west from the starting position of the transport ships.
 * Claws of Attack +3/Resurrection Rune/Healing Rune, moss covered golem behind trees west of above bandits, along the shore.

Ogre Islands (southwest)

 * Potion of Mana/Rune of Mana, located west of the the moss covered golem on a different island. Rune is located in a barrel beside a tent.
 * Scroll of Healing, from the next group of ogres on this island chain.
 * Scroll of Protection/Rune of Mana, from the third group.
 * Riflemen (2), in cages between the third and final groups of ogres.
 * Cache/Rune of Rebirth/Tome of Agility, from the ogre chieftain and tents in the final group. Rebirth brings a creep back to life under your control. The cache contains a periapt of vitality, tome of intelligence and scroll of healing.
 * The chieftain has bash and endurance aura. You can opt for the ogre mage (bloodlust) by killing the chieftain and mauler then retreating until the skeletons disappear, then use the rune with the ogre mage skeleton.

Central Island (middle, west)

 * Rune of Healing/Mana, troll chieftain guarding the goblin merchant.

Gnoll Island (north, northwest)

 * Potion of Mana, the gnolls on the eastern tip of the island.
 * Rune of Healing, the gnoll warlord guarding the northern gold mine.
 * Small Bundle of Lumber (150), gnoll huts west of the above warlord, right outside the final observatory.
 * Rune of Healing, group of gnolls southeast from last observatory.
 * Ivory Tower (2), group of barrels south of the last observatory.
 * Cache/Rune of Resurrection, southwest end of the island behind a tree wall and is guarded by golems that drop the rune. It contains a scroll of healing, healing wards and a ring of protection +1.

Suggested items for Kael (Utilitarian)
This results in an additional 9 attack, 90 mana, .3 mana/sec regeneration and 150 HP. Being able to buff the strike force's damage by 25% and heal them in the next mission far outweighs the very minor benefits of the other permanent items (25 HP, .05 HP/sec regeneration, 1.3 armor, 2% attack speed). Save the wards and scrolls for wiping out the two large, non-quest related undead bases as soon as possible in the following mission.


 * Robe of the Magi +6
 * Claws of Attack +3
 * Periapt of Vitality
 * Healing Wards (unused)
 * Scroll of the Beast x2

Points of Interest

 * Mana Well, south of Kael's starting position.
 * Mana Well, south of central observatory.
 * Goblin Merchant, north of central gold mine.
 * Scroll of the Beast, Scroll of Protection, Potion of Invisibility, Scroll of Town Portal, Scroll of Healing and Potion of Lesser Invulnerability.
 * Goblin Shipyard, west of the above merchant.
 * Transport ships only.
 * Arcane Vault, built by the player.
 * Scroll of Regeneration, Potion of Healing, Potion of Mana, Scroll of Town Portal and Ivory Tower.