Bat riders Volatile Concoction is meant to be used when they are about to die. The key thing is it does full damage no mater the current health of the bat rider. Using it at full health is a waste but using it when they are at 50 odd health and 1-2 hits from death with no chance of survival lets them deal 600 AoE damage for free instead of 1-2 usual low damage attacks.
Yeah right, try microing the wounded one during the big fight among the other 5 bat riders. Also keep in mind they have less hp than a footman and even less armor. Also they do 140 AOE damage, 600 damage only to the primary target.
Trolls are not as weak as you may think. They might be glass cannons but you have grunts and other beefy units to soak the damage while they do the pain.
Still not that spectacular there are plenty of ways to damage them even if mele backup is present.
You are missing the single most powerful AA option Orcs have which makes me even doubt how much you played them. The "Wolf Rider" with the ensnare upgrade is a real game changer. You see their ensnare drags down air units turning them into ground units and immobilizing them. This means that from having basic range options only you suddenly have the ability to use all your army as anti-air turning the battle completely in your favour. It also adds a huge cost to retreat for your enemies and any troops left ensnared will be killed in a retreat. Since ensnare is not magical it even works on dragons if I recall.
Oh yeah i kinda forgot about their existance. Today i tried to cheese my way against the AI turtling off untill i managed to leach all of the goldmines and than attack them with a horde of demolishers, because i had previously tried assaulting the computer (2 FFA undead isane AIs) but the hawks/bats were no match for the gargoyle/wyrms nor the gazilion ziggarats and that pesky black citadel. So yeah the game ended a draw because my mines were drained, i had 71 gold in total and only one surviving peon. Didnt bother with Reiders because they are quite shait in my opinion. Ensnare is kidna good but they are mele seige units squishier than grunts. I get that well, they are raiders but the only thing they are good is an unprotected mine.
You also have the Orc Farseer as a hero option to anti-air. Chain lightning can deal some nasty damage to the low health air. Additionally being ranged means that he has an innate ability to attack air.
I dont know, in my opinion he is the worst horde hero. Shock wave is just as good and an orb fixes the AA problem.
The Voodoo Witchdoctor is also another good choice with serpent wards and innate anti-air capability.
Yeah...I forgot about this guy...well you see... Im a main the alliance.
Undead for air and human for anti-air.
No hate pl0x
Are they? flying machines wreck gargoyles because of their numbers and splash damage. Wyrms get snared by Dragonhawks and killed.... The only possible counter might be the Destroyers...but eh just zerg em with more helicopters.
Try going with Gryphons for a raid and you're dead meat.
Best raid is invisible knight into enemy base and mass teleporting archmage with a squad of seige engines and knights.
Also, use combinations of units.
Shaman Bloodlust, throw in an endurance aura and you have a wind rider on speed.
Bloodlust doesnt work on demolishers. Also the orcs have shit tier spells, most of them are useless or underpowered.
EDIT:::
Headhunter
-Much cheaper than air units so easier to spam and you get them at tier 1;
-Pierce attack means it is effective against air units armor;
-Upgrade is very good;
Wind Riders
-You get them at tier 2 (in current patch), already an advantage against enemy air;
-They attack with pierce damage and are very fast so they do counter heavy enemy air units which they can outnumber;
-They are not supposed to counter Anti Air units likes Hippogrifs and Gargoyles obviously;
At tier 2 there are already helicopters,dragonhawks,gargoyls and hypogriffin/hypoarchers. Theres no outnumbering heavy units for them, they will still get shrekt by Wyrm/Dragons.
But dwarven riflemen are way better. NE Archers are also spamable and cheap. Upgrade is meh, makes them even more squishy.
-Edit: Ruin Night Elf players day by throwing nets at Channeling heroes, Net interrupts any channeling so you have a counter for Starfall.
Kek that is soo overpowered, goodbye stardust,healing rain,
big bad voodoo, death N decay,mass teleport, earthquake
Conclusion: Orcs do not lack at all AA power, but their ground power is better and more obvious. They do require an actual effort to counter air units which is why it seems harder than the effortless undead AA.
They have many combinations possible like Endurance Aura + Blood Lust + Scroll Of Speed.
their AG is awful, and having a sonic army isnt a good thing.
Undead
They have two tactics either for ground based army web or the air superiority with gargoyles. Both are very easy to use and don't need micromanagement just attack focusing.
Undead air on the other hand I find lacking. Gargoyles in my opinion are not that good unless you want to invest in them but I prefer ground army more (they nerfed Crypt Fiends harshly ><). Frost Wyrm is too damn slow and expensive.
Human have Dragonhawks which I admit are are great AA units but they need management in greater numbers. Though humans do have some other probably underused choices like Gyrocopter massive AoE but undesirable damage and Siege Engine AA rockets but both seem to be aimed at destroying masses of light air units and not that effective to air units people will more likely spam.
As for air power well I find Griffins to be jack of all trades. Faster, cheaper than other Heavy air units but don't lack magical attack or AoE splash. Combine them with Dragonhawks and they are serious threat.
Not really why not just get Seige Engines which are essentially towers on wheels for the job? Or shit the sky with flying machines that are cheaper than dirt? Polymorph and lasso fugs big units. Human master race.
Night Elf Chimeras are honestly my favorite air to ground air unit. Insane damage, not that bad speed either and great range against buildings. Only lack air attack which is where archers and hippogrifs come.
>lategame
>expensive
>high upkeep
>slow movement and production speed
>defenceless against air
>ugly
>purple
nah m8