Spellbringers 1.05 - Classic RTS with divine powers!

WHAT IS SPELLBRINGERS?


Spellbringers is a total conversion mod for Warcraft III Reforged, completely changing the game into a classic real-time strategy game that is full of surprises. It boasts all new units, many custom models, and completely asymmetric factions. There are no heroes in Spellbringers, however, each faction can construct a unique Spellbringer, a mighty structure that casts powerful global spells. Economy, base-building, large-scale management, and small-scale skirmishes are all essential to Spellbringers gameplay, and the Spellbringers themselves lend a special twist to each of these mechanics. Spellbringers has been in development for over 3 years in its current iteration and is now ready for public beta. Join our Discord server to get access to the game and play now!

The inhabitants of the Spellbringers universe are ruled by several gods, each the embodiment of their individual aspect. These gods grant mighty powers to their followers through the use of their Spellbringer structures. Each Spellbringer is a conduit that channels magical energies from the godly realms, allowing mere mortals to direct them and cast powerful, global spells.

For more information, you can watch this short video for an introduction to Spellbringers gameplay.

FACTIONS


Spellbringers currently features 3 unique factions, with a fourth planned for post-release development.

ORDER

The Order faction worships Valantor, the god of order. Valantor's followers consist primarily of humans and celestial beings such as valkyries and angels. Additionally, these humans can construct mighty machines of war such as the devastating ballistae and looming airships. The Order faction prefers to approach problems through superior strength and brute-force tactics. It is also the easiest faction for beginners, while still offering a challenge for veteran players to master.

For a brief introduction to the Order faction, watch this short video.

NATURE

The Nature faction worships Shaela, the goddess of life and nature. Her followers consist of elves, treefolk called Dendroids, faefolk, and various wild beasts. This is a deadly faction that requires guile and finesse to master. It is a challenging race for beginners, but once initiated players will find themselves enjoying the unique base mechanics and tactical gameplay.

For a brief introduction to the Nature faction, watch this short video.

DEATH

The Death faction worships Ket, lord of the underworld and ruler of the dead. His followers are radical cultists, crazy scientists, and undead monstrosities. The Death faction can raise a horde of zombies to overwhelm opponents in a battle of attrition, or can choose to slink around the shadows using deadly vampires and vengeful spirits. This faction can be easy to approach but difficult to master.

For a brief introduction to the Death faction, watch this short video.

ROADMAP


Open Beta - Finished

Spellbringers is currently in open beta, meaning it is fully available to the public to play, but is currently still under development. The game is fully playable and all three factions are fleshed out. However, at this stage your feedback is vital to the continued development of Spellbringers. We want you to enjoy the game, play with us, and give us your feedback about bugs, balance, and fun. Sending us your replays is also incredibly valuable. Those who join us during this stage will have a distinct advantage in the upcoming tournament, as they will have more time to master the game. Once we are satisfied with the state of the game, we will enter full release.

Full Release - Success!

Full Release simply means that the game is stable and fun. Development on Spellbringers will still continue throughout release, with balance changes likely and the addition of a completely new faction.

Head-to-head Tournament - Finished

A beginners tournament is now open for registration! Click here to see details and register! The tournament will be broadcast live on twitch!
Prize pool is currently $500.00!

Congratulations to @Deolrin and @Wareditor, our first and second place winners!

Single-Player Campaign​

Once the factions are all completed, a single-player campaign is planned. This campaign will delve into the world of Spellbringers and focus on the rivalries between the various gods and goddesses and the mortals who get caught in the crossfire. The campaign will likely be released in stages, with each faction having their own campaign series.

RESOURCES


  • Join our Discord community to chat with us, arrange games, upload replays, or provide feedback.
  • Visit the Tournament Page to view details about the Beginner's Tournament and register!
  • Check out our YouTube channel for helpful build order guides, VoDs with commentary, and more.
  • Feel free to send a message to Bawbz at the wonderful Hive Workshop for questions or feedback.

Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you soon!

VERSION HISTORY

Version 1.0 - Released 11/12/2022
New units, spells, and visuals! Tons of changes since beta 0.9999, it's almost a new game!

Version 1.01 - Released 12/5/2022
Order
-----------------------------------
- Fixed a typo in the Siege Spears upgrade tooltip.
- Slightly increased the visual scale of Valkyries.

Nature
-----------------------------------
- Fixed a bug that could prevent Tail Whip from working.

Death
-----------------------------------
- Fixed a typo in the Phylacteries upgrade tooltip
- Specified that Zombie Plague only affects land units in its tooltip.

Version 1.02 - Released 12/7/2022
- Attempted to fix a possible desync.

Version 1.03 - Released 12/31/2022
General
--------------------
- Fixed a bug that truncated the Game Time display.
- Airship Defenders and Ghost Ships now correctly honor armor and deal Normal-type damage.

Maps
--------------------
- Changed the layout of Golden Valley.

Order
---------------------
Spellbringer
- New model
- Gavel of Judgment effect delay reduced from 1.7 to 1.6 seconds.

Enforcer
- Turn rate reduced from 3 to 0.5
- Build time increased from 25 to 26 seconds.

Cleric
- Blinding Flash duration increased from 10 to 12 seconds.

Falconer and Falcon Tower
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Falcon from dying when the Falconer dies.
- Falcon damage reduced from 18 to 16.

Ballista
- Movement speed increased from 250 to 300.
- Turn rate reduced from 0.4 to 0.15
- The Ballista is now stationary when turning.
- Area of effect Full/Medium/Small radius increased from 25/50/125 to 50/75/150.
- Area of effect Full/Medium/Small damage rate increased from 100%/30%/10% to 100%/50%/25%.

Angel Knight
- Rain of Fire mana cost reduces from 100 to 90.

Nature
---------------------
Spellbringer
- Cloud of Mist no longer grants spell damage immunity.
- Reduced the click radius of the T-Rex.

Green Dragon
- Hit points increased from 375 to 400.

Elven Phalanx
- Glaive bounce can no longer hit the same unit more than once.

Giant Toad
- Damage reduced from 17 to 16.

Faerie Dragon
- Whirlwind duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds.
- Whirlwind mana cost increased from 85 to 100.

Enchantress
- Leech Seed can now target summoned units such as the Flesh Golem.

Blight Widow
- Silkwrap cast range increased from 300 to 600.

Death
---------------------
General
- Now starts the game with 100 gold, up from 50.

Blight Factory
- Build time increased from 15 to 17 seconds.

Blight Vessel
- Transport pickup/drop time reduced from 1 to 0.5 seconds.
- No longer honors the move/attack army Spellbringer commands.

Graveyard
- Graveyard cost increased from 150/30 to 200/30.
- Hit points increased from 500 to 600.

Hoodling
- Thousand Needles duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
- Thousand Needles damage increase threshold reduced from 12 hits to 6. (Now every 6th hoodling attack increases damage by 1, down from every 12th attack.)
- Added visual effect that indicates when the Thousand Needles damage bonus increases on a unit.

Flesh Golem
- Now has Shroud (Can't be targeted by certain spells, e.g. Toad Slurp)

Blood Mistress
- Dominate no longer works on mechanical units.

Version 1.04 - Released 1/28/2023
Maps
------------------------------
New map: Aqueducts (4 player)
New map: Dillema (2 Player)
Retired map: Arena
Dueling Peaks
- Added some ramps.
Golden Valley
- Reworked some of the expansions.
Fighting Spirit
- Removed some of the unbuildable tiles.

AI
------------------------------
- Fixed multiple AI issues.
- The Order AI now executes one of several strategies at random.

Order
------------------------------
Spellbringer
- Gavel of Judgment now silences affected units in addition to slowing movement speed and attack rate.
- Avatar of Command's Taunt ability can now target an area, but no longer taunts twice.
- Avatar of Command's Taunt ability cooldown reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.
- Archangel of Life hit points increased from 200 to 250.

Falconer
- Tracker's poison can now kill.

Falcon Tower
- New model

Enforcer
- Added a larger clickbox.

Ballista
- Can no longer damage trees.

Angel Knight
- Banish mana cost reduced from 80 to 70.

Nature
------------------------------
Spellbringer
- Entwine duration reduced from 45 to 40 seconds.

Hold
- New model

Sprite
- Now has higher tab-group priority.

Enchantress
- Leech Seed upgrade cost increased from 150/150 to 200/200.

Blight Widow
- Can no longer damage trees.
- Now has a new missile and Spider Toxin visual effect.

Archer
- Damage reduced from 16 to 15.

Ranger
- Damage reduced from 18 to 17.
- Fixed a bug that reduced the Ranger's attack range by 100.

Death
------------------------------
Black Obelisk/Death Obelisk/Shock Obelisk
- Reduced the size of the clickbox.

Lost Soul
- Haunted unit icons now are highlighted in red when group selection is active.
- Fixed a bug where a lost soul could get permanently removed from the game if the target of a haunt died before the haunt concluded.

Immolator
- Missile speed reduced from 1200 to 800.
- Now has the Flare ability, which throws a flare at the target point, granting vision in a small area and revealing invisible units for 15 seconds.

Vampire Lord
- Cost changed from 155/25 to 160/20.
- Coffin Slumber now heals 5% hit points per second, up from 2.5%.
- The Vampire Lord will now automatically exit his coffin when at full HP.
- Now leaves behind a "corpse" upon death.

Wraith
- Eclipse invisibility fade time reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds.

Ghost Ship
- Rowdy Crew now targets an area on the ground when cast instead of simply spawning the unit below the ghost ship.
- Ghost Ship mana regeneration rate reduced from 5 to 3.33 per second (20 seconds to full -> 30 seconds to full)

Version 1.05 - Released 2/10/2023
General
-------------------------------------
- Autofire abilities like Barrage and Bombard now correctly damage spell-immune targets.
- All Spellbringers now start with 200 mana, down from 250.

Maps
-------------------------------------
- New 2-player map: Dragon's Teeth

Order
-------------------------------------
Spellbringer
- Gavel of Judgment
- No longer targets a point on the ground. Instead, it is now attached to a target friendly or enemy unit until the hammer hits the ground.
- Avatar of Command
- Hit points increased from 600 to 650.
- Archangel of Life
- No longer responds to Spellbringer attack/move army commands.

Cleric
- Now gains +1 damage per level of Blessed Weapons.

Steam Roller
- New unit trained at the War Factory.
- Costs 200/0/4.
- Highly mobile and durable ground transport with 10 transport slots.

Ballista
- Repair time reduced from 35 to 30 seconds.

Valkyrie
- Build time reduced from 40 to 38 seconds.
- Lumber cost reduced from 60 to 50.

Angel Knight
- Initial mana amount increased from 100 to 125.

Nature
-------------------------------------
Spellbringer
- Grasping Vines
- Fixed a bug where Grasping Vines could sometimes be charged to the caster without taking effect.
- Beast Within
- Increased the cooldown of Tail Whip from 8 to 10.

Sapling
- The Elder/Ancient Treeherds upgrade now increases Sapling hit points by 8 per level.

Dendroid Warrior
- Now has a new death animation and leaves behind a corpse.

Green Dragon
- Hit points reduced from 400 to 380.

Death
-------------------------------------
Opening
- Death starting gold reverted to 50, down from 100.
- Death now starts with 3 Lost Souls, down from 4.
- Blight Factory cost reduced from 100 to 50.
- Blight Factory build time reduced from 17 to 12 seconds.
- Blight Factories now harvest 1 wood every 2.2 seconds, down from 1 every 1.1 seconds.
- Blight Factories now return resources at 5 wood, down from 10 wood.
- Blight Factory hit points reduced from 175 to 100.
- Graveyard cost reduced from 150/30 to 100/30.

Spellbringer
- Brink of Death
- Now heals and deals damage over 1.5 seconds instead of instantly.
- Animate Dead
- Duration reduced from 45 to 40 seconds.
- Blight Wave mana cost increased from 100 to 200.
- Blight Wave cooldown increased from 8 to 15.
- Unholy Crown
- Improved the Death Knight's attack so he no longer fails to fire his projectile when chasing units.
- Obliterate cooldown increased from 6 to 12 seconds.
- Obliterate missile speed reduced from 1200 to 800.

Shepherd of Rot
- Putrid Bloat's initial explosion damage is now reduced by armor.

Vampire
- Damage changed from 21 damage every 1.45 seconds to 16 damage every 1.65 seconds.
- Hit points reduced from 180 to 120.
- Cost reduced from 160/20/3 to 120/10/2.
- Build time reduced from 25 to 20 seconds.
- Harvested Souls no longer persist beyond death.
- Damage per soul changed from 1 to 5% of base damage.
- Hit points per soul reduced from 8 to 5.
- Maximum soul count increased from 10 to 20.
- Souls are now harvested when any nearby unit dies in combat, including allied units.

- Vampiric Speed speed bonus decreased from 75 to 50.
- Blood Thirst now grants 20% life steal, down from 30%.
- Blood Thirst upgrade cost reduced from 150/150 to 100/100.
- Removed the 10% attack speed bonus during an eclipse.

Wraith
- Cost changed from 130/40 to 140/30.
- Essence Drain upgrade cost reduced from 150/150 to 125/125.
- New ability: Possession
- Causes the Wraith to inhabit the body of a friendly ground unit, granting that unit its hit points. Lasts until the possessed unit dies, at which point the Wraith's body will return.
- Requires research at the manor.
- Research costs 200/200 and requires an Altar of Darkness.

Immolator
- Movement speed reduced from 350 to 300.
- Hit points reduced from 115 to 100.

Graveyard
- Pathing changed to prevent walling with this structure.

Blight Vessel
- Removed from the game.

Phantom Carriage
- New aerial transport unit trained from the Dread Spire. Costs 100/100/3 and takes 40 seconds to build.

Spellbringers Credits
------------------------------------

DEVELOPMENT
------------------------------------
Design, object editing, triggering, and terraining
- Bawbz

Testing Team
- Usyless
- GGTheMachine
- Islandsnake
- doom_sheep

ASSETS
------------------------------------
UI SCRIPTS
Hide Min Damage - Tasyen

UNIT ICONS
Airship Transport: BTNHumanZeppeline - General Frank
Angel Knight: BTNAngelKnight - General Frank
Archangel of Life: BTNAngelio - JollyD
Archery Post: ???
Avatar of Command: BTNJudgmentPaladin - Murlocologist
Ballista: BTNBallista - General Frank
Blight Factory: BTNPlagueSpreader2 - infrenus
Blight Vessel: BTNBlightVessel - General Frank
Blood Mistress: BTNBloodMistress - General Frank
Celestial Beacon: BTNCelestialBeacon - General Frank
Celestial Gateway: BTNCelestialGateway - General Frank
Church: BTNChurch - General Frank
Citadel: BTNCitadel - General Frank
Cleric: BTNCleric - General Frank
Conservatory: BTNConservatory - General Frank
Crusader: BTNKnightOfKome - General Frank
Death Knight: BTNDeathKnightTeron - Artork312
Death Obelisk: BTNObelisk_Red - General Frank
Dread Spire: BTNGargoyleSpire - Blizzard Entertainment
Elven Looter: BTNMageHuntress - Deolrin
Elven Ranger: BTNBloodElfPhoenixArcher - General Frank
Eye of Ket: BTNEldritchCovenant - General Frank
Falconer: BTNFalconer - General Frank
Giant Toad: BTNToad - General Frank
Hall of Elites: BTNNightElfGraveyard - Unknown102
Haven: BTNHaven - General Frank
Hoodling: BTNUndeadArcher - AndrewOverload519
Immolator: BTNUndeadFireMage - -Grendel
Lich: BTNPowerLich - HappyTauren
Manor: BTNForsakenKeep - Ujimasa Hojo
Mad Scientist: BTNMadScientist - General Frank
Rowdy Crew: BTNRowdyCrew - General Frank
Shaela's Chosen: BTNEternitysCrown - General Frank
Shock Obelisk: BTNObelisk_Green - General Frank
Valantor's Mirror: BTNAltarOfStarlight - Vinz, Spellbound
Valkyrie: BTNValkyrie - General Frank
Vile Laboratory: BTNDreadLaboratory - General Frank
Wraith: BTNWraith - General Frank

ABILITY ICONS
Absorb Essence: BTNDarkTrinity - 4eNNightmare
Acid Breath: BTNNoxiousCloud - KILLCIDE, Mr.Goblin
Beast Within: BTNDragonEyeUpdate02 - ~Nightmare
Blight Armor: BTNHauntingAura - The Panda
Bounty: BTNRoast - UgoUgo
Canopy Cover: BTNTreantNatureSign - JollyD
Cleave: BTNLethalTwist - Sun gate
Cloud Cover: BTNTranquilLight - Elenai
Coffin Slumber: BTNDeathCoffin - Darkfang
Death Beam: BTNPyramid - Mc !
Devouring Swarm: BTNCarrionSwarm - -Berz-, edited by Bawbz
Entwine: BTNPoisonousVines - The Panda
Essence Drain: BTNEssenceDrain - Blizzard Entertainment
Giant's Stride: BTNStrengthOfNature - BLazeKraze
Judgment: BTNHammerCrush - zbc
Leech Seed: BTNNatureSeed - BLazeKraze
Loot: BTNSackOGold - KelThuzad
Obliterate: BTNDeathBomb - PrinceYaser
Rain of Fire: BTNSpell_Shadow_RainOfFire - Blizzard Entertainment
Soul Harvest: BTNConsumeSouls - PrinceYaser
Stag's Blessing: BTNMightyAnglers - pick-a-chew
Tail Whip: BTNNagaRoyalGuardWarStomp - Sin'dorei300
Thorns Armor: BTNExpandingThorns - D.ee
Thousand Needles: BTNPhantomArrows - NO-Bloody-Name

UPGRADE ICONS
Celestial Plate: BTNHolyArmor - 8512590215848
Celestial Weapons: BTNHolyArrow - Darkfang
Divine Plate: BTNDivineArmor - PrinceYaser
Elder Faerie Dragons: BTNDreamCoil - 4eNNightmare
Lich Armor: BTNElvenRobe - PrinceYaser
Master Angel Knights: BTNDemonicSword - ~Nightmare
Nature's Protection: BTNTreantHeroAbility3 - Marcos DAB
Vampiric Speed: BTNDarkFlight - Darkfang

UNIT MODELS
Airship Defender: GilneasGunship - Mephestrial, edited by General Frank
Airship Transport: Human Airship - Bioautomaton, edited by General Frank
Angel Knight: Archangel - expresso, Tranquil
Archangel of Life: Archangel Arcana - RavenBlackbird
Archery Post: ArcheryPost - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by General Frank
Ballista: Ballista - General Frank
BlackObelisk/DeathObelisk/ShockObelisk - Blizzard, edited by General Frank
Blight Factory: Scourge Plague Spreader - infrenus, edited by General Frank
Blight Vessel: Scourge Plague Spreader - infrenus, edited by General Frank
Blood Mistress: High Illusionist - A.R., edited by General Frank
Celestial Beacon: Celestial Beacon - General Frank
Celestial Gateway: Celestial Gateway - General Frank
Church: WC2 Church - Ket
Citadel: LordaeronPalace - bakr, edited by General Frank
Cleric: Human Bishop - Tranquil
Couatl: Wind Viper - Explodobomb
Conservatory: DruidHut - Callahan
Crow: Crow - Vinz
Crusader: Arkain_KnightOfKomeNoRibbon - General Frank
Death Beam: PyramidRessurection - Callahan, edited by General Frank
Death Knight - WC2_DeathKnight - Mr.Goblin, Deolrin, Whitehorn, [email protected], edited by General Frank
Elven Looter: High Elf Mage Huntress - Deolrin
Elven Ranger: Blood Elf Phoenix Archer - General Frank
Enforcer: Plate Armor Knight - Gluma, edited by General Frank and Maximal
Evil Eye: EvilEye - General Frank
Expansion Marker: ExpansionMarker - Blizzard, edited by General Frank
Eye of Ket: Eldritch Covenant - Vinz
Faerie Dust Buff: FaerieDustBuff - Dubey
Falconer: Sorceror - tillinghast
Flesh Golem: MegaZombie - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by General Frank
Fleshless Zombie: SkellyZombie - General Frank
Gargoyle: ObsidianGargoyle - Blizzard Enterainment, edited by General Frank
Giant Toad: Toad - Freddyk, edited by GeneralFrank
Gold Mine: SBGoldMine - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by General Frank
Great Stag: GreatStag - Vinz
Green Dragon: FerSZ, edited by General Frank
Green Matron's Roost - Green Dragon Roost - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by General Frank
Hall of Elites: Night Elf Graveyard - Unknown102, edited by General Frank
Haven: Haven - General Frank
Hoodling: Forsaken Archer - AndrewOverload519
Immolator: UndeadFireMage - -Grendel, edited by General Frank
Lich: PowerLich - HappyTauren, edited by General Frank
Lost Soul: BansheeGhost - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by General Frank
Mad Scientist: MadScientist - General Frank
Manor: Town Hall Forsaken - Ujimasa Hojo, edited by General Frank
Necromancer: Arch-Acolyte - DeuceGorgon
Rowdy Crew: Black Corsair - WhiteDeath
Sapling: Ent - Blizzard, Edited by General Frank
Shaela's Chosen: Eternitys Crown - Vinz
Shepherd of Rot: Decay the Plague Bringer - Alpain, edited by General Frank
Spearman: Rostrodle Javaliner - Cavman, edited by General Frank
Spearman (Siege Spears): Rostrodle Javaliner - Cavman, edited by General Frank
Spirit Dwarf: Dwarf Worker - HerrDave
Sprite: Faerie - donut3.5, edited by doom_sheep
Swarm Bat: Carrion Bats - Vinz
Tyrannosaurus Rex: Red_Dragon_Rex - Hantoo, edited by General Frank
Valantor's Mirror: Altar of Starlight - Vinz, Spellbound
Valkyrie: Pegasus Rider - wojia10502, edited by General Frank
Vampire Lord: Vampyr - Dionesiist
Vampire Lord (Coffin Form): Stone Coffin - Remixer, edited by General Frank
Vampire Lord (Eclipse Wings): WingsOfTheNightmare - Usedwell
Vile Laboratory: Acherus - Mister_Haudrauf, edited by General Frank
Wraith: Nightmare - Callahan, edited by General Frank
Zombie: Zombie - Blizzard - Edited by General Frank

EFFECT MODELS
Acid Breath: ChemicalEmbers - ???
Animate Dead Buff: Soul Armor Crimson_opt - Vinz
Angel Knight Missile: General Frank
Avatar of Command Target: DivineEdict - Vinz
Ballista Missile: General Frank
Banish: Sacred Exile, Sacred Verdict - Vinz
Battle Standard: Battle Standard / Safeguard - Vinz
Blight Armor: Necromancer Defensive Buff - doom_sheep
Blinding Flash: Blind_Halo, BlindingFlashCream - Vinz
Bounty: fireworks_ok - 8uY_YoU
Cloud Cover / Spirit Dwarf Levitation: MistAura - Pyritie
Command Aura: KingstrideAura - Vinz
Death Beam Target: ConflagrateGreen - Vinz
Devouring Swarm: DevouringSwarmEffect - Vinz
Dominate: Bondage Purple - Vinz
Dust hit effect: Dust - doom_sheep
Eclipse Building Armor: Effect_ShieldBuff_Purple - Vinz
Entwine Spitter Plants: Venolia_squished - Callahan
Essence Drain: EssenceDrainCaster/EssenceDrainTarget - Vinz
Hold the Line: Blizzard Entertainment, edited by doom_sheep
Hyde Potion Missile / Buff: HidePotionMissile / HidePotionTarget - doom_sheep
It's Alive! gren bolt: MadScientist_MonsoonBoltTargetGreen - Blizzard Entertainment, edited by GeneralFrank
Judgment Hammer Effect: JudgmentNoHive - Vinz
Judgment Rune: Rune Yellow - Tranquil
Leech Seed: Seed Shot / Seed Inside / Seed Squirt - Vinz
Mad Scientist Missile: MadScientist_BoltImpactGreen - General Frank
Murder of Crows: MurderOfCrowsTarget - Vinz
Null Bomb: NullBomb / NullBombBirth - Vinz
Obliterate: DarknessBomb - nGy
Putrid Bloat Disease: PlagueCloudSmol - doom_sheep
Putrid Bloat Explosion: Plague Explosion - doom_sheep
Rain of Fire: Rain of Fire III - Vinz
Recall: Void Teleport Green - Vinz
Rend Flesh Target: Lacerate Soundless - Veronnis
Shepherd of Rot Missile: ShepherdOfRotMissile - doom_sheep
Slurp Devour: NewtRegen - Callahan
Soothe: Heal Green - Vinz
Soul Harvest Caster: Warp Dark (Target) - Thrikodius
Tail Whip: Fireblade2 - Callahan
Thorns Armor Buff: Nature Blessing - Vitchie08
Valkyrie Attack Lightning: SBL_BlueNewLightning - Spellbound
Zombie Plague: Omen / Dark Conversion - Vinz
Contents

Spellbringers: Aqueducts (Map)

Spellbringers: Dilemma (Map)

Spellbringers: Dragon's Teeth (Map)

Spellbringers: Duelling Peaks (Map)

Spellbringers: Fighting Spirit (Map)

Spellbringers: Golden Valley (Map)

Spellbringers: Great Divide (Map)

Spellbringers: Highlands (Map)

Spellbringers: Oasis Dunes (Map)

Spellbringers: Rival Districts (Map)

Spellbringers: Riverglade (Map)

Spellbringers: Sally Forth (Map)

Spellbringers: Shadowood (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
It's generally relying on basic Warcraft III melee mechanics. Of the three factions, Death seems to be most original overall. There is a missing DIBTN for Nature's Protection - level 2. Eclipse's icon is that of Spell Immunity. Some balance testing...
Level 9
Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Messages
62
In this project, I see the dynamics of SC2. And the idea of dividing races is like in WarHammer: Age of Sigmar.
The Magic Towers are very complementary to the main game. This is an absolute success.
I want to ask - are there any sub-factions planned?
I also PM you a couple of crazy ideas.
 
Level 34
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
4,516
After having played a number of games and defending my title of being the greatest Death player of all time against @Deolrin, I can say without a doubt that this is indeed a map submission.

The factions are very well made and the unit design is very nice across the board. I am especially a fan of the implementation of units within a faction that are designed to provide balance against the more powerful units of other factions, creating an gameplay style where some units might not get used as much in specific match-ups, but there isn't a unit where there's no situations you would use it.

The Giant Toads are a unit, and for that reason, I'm giving this map a 6/5.
 
Level 48
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
8,433
Fantastic project with very interesting ideas and well thought-out balance and mechanics. Certainly feels closer to Brood War and Starcraft 2 than to Warcraft 3, in all the best ways. The Spellbringer mechanic - a powerful structure casting spells to aid the player's army - is well executed and certainly one of several highlights.
I'm going strong at ~10-15 games now with a consistent 0% winrate! Challengers beware!
(that said, do actually PM me if you'd like to play a match :thumbs_up:)
 
Level 19
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
1,398
Played some matches now and my favorite race has to be Death.
Grim Obelisks, Zombie Hordes and Plagues, Black Pyramid with death beam and a unique way of spawning units - all check!
 

Bawbz

Hosted Project: SB
Level 12
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
147
Played some matches now and my favorite race has to be Death.
Grim Obelisks, Zombie Hordes and Plagues, Black Pyramid with death beam and a unique way of spawning units - all check!
Glad to hear it!

Did you play against an opponent or the AI? If you played against an opponent, I'd love to watch the replays if you have them.
 
Level 19
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
1,398
Well we played pretty slow/low apm, however i managed to looter rush the undead guy quite often, 1 looter kills 1 necro (if off blight).
All in all i see the esport approach working well, but for me it's a bit too fast paced, like starcraft is meant to be ofc.
 
Level 20
Joined
Dec 24, 2019
Messages
382
Absolutely 5/5, any other punctuation would be almost an insult to something that has taken so much work and effort. All works like this deserve the highest score for me, even if there are small flaws and things that could be improved. But there are very few who invest so much time and effort in creating something original. I will continue to play it more throughout these weeks and surely I will comment again, but in advance I thank you for uploading original and quality content.

Regards.
 
Level 48
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
8,433
Absolutely 5/5, any other punctuation would be almost an insult to something that has taken so much work and effort. All works like this deserve the highest score for me, even if there are small flaws and things that could be improved. But there are very few who invest so much time and effort in creating something original. I will continue to play it more throughout these weeks and surely I will comment again, but in advance I thank you for uploading original and quality content.

Regards.
Hopefully that means we'll see you around on the Discord channel, yeah? :)
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 63
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
17,647
It's generally relying on basic Warcraft III melee mechanics. Of the three factions, Death seems to be most original overall.

There is a missing DIBTN for Nature's Protection - level 2.
Eclipse's icon is that of Spell Immunity.
Some balance testing would be required. Death seems to have a lot of movement speed boni (the vampire for instance from Unholy Aura and during the night).

A neatly Warcraft III melee modification that puts emphasis on troops as StarCraft/Warcraft II while relying on a static hero-like unit.

Approved.


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Level 5
Joined
Jul 15, 2022
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Happy to see another great altered melee map. However I do not understand the tenets of defining good map or approval of maps. I looked at every unit in this map and do not see anything that really changed the way RTS plays. For example, units either deals XX damages, or slows down enemies etc. Instead, why can't we have some ability to change unit to mechanical, undead etc (just an example). Yet reviewer still defined it as "original". I had fight with the reviewers before on my altered melee map and lost my hope. But now seeing this kind of map getting all 5 stars and on main page, I wonder is this something war3 players would really play again and again? Is the standards reviewers using really benefit the community? Of course I have bias because what I made, but when I open war3 I would still prefer play standard melee over this for everyday gameplay.

Anyways I still gave 5 star to it just for good will.
 
Factions:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spellbringers features three factions, Order, Nature, and Death, which are very reminiscient of the Magic: The Gathering colors White, Green, and Black, which I imagine were an inspiration since the creator is sporting a 🔥 Koth of the Hammer 🔥 avatar on Discord. Here's hoping we will see Blue and Red represented in the future as well.

The factions all feature wonderful, cohesive styles and elaborate, well-thought-out tech trees. Most units have a special ability or a unique tech that unlocks a special ability. Almost no unit is a simple Grunt. The Spellbringers look fantastic and their spells underline the great flavor of the factions. The use of a spitting spider as a siege weapon is very creative and works perfectly for the Nature faction.

Playing as the Nature faction, I have three things to gripe about:
1. Some of the buildings are hard to distinguish from another. The Haven and the Hall of Elites quickly disappear within the sea of other buildings and could benefit from an additional eye-catcher, maybe added via special effect to the building.
2. The Tyrannosaur, while awesome, breaks the flavor of the Nature faction, whose ground animal forces are otherwise exclusively comprised of woodland critters. I think a giant bear spirit would fit better and be equally awesome. The same could be said about the Sky Totem units, which feel like they're just a relic of the map being a derivative of a Warcraft game, instead of it making sense within the Spellbringers universe.
3. The transgender archer upgrade is a serious flavor fail.

Maps/Terrain:
⭐⭐⭐
The maps are a hybrid between Starcraft II maps and Warcraft III maps without the creeps. Small ramps lead to the player bases on all maps. I find the decision to use the Starcraft ramps questionable. Starcraft matchups are balanced around Protoss and Terran being able to wall off their base entrance, mainly to prevent Zerglings from running wild. I haven't seen that necessity in Spellbringers. In addition, walling off the ramp is really easy as a Terran with relocatable buildings and Supply Depots that can be lowered, whereas these features don't exist in Spellbringers.

The terrain quality is not on par with the rest of the content, but I may be biased because I don't think most Warcraft III melee map terrain looks that great. Since Spellbringers is advertised as a total conversion mod, I would like to see maps with beautiful terrain and custom trees and other doodads. If that means we get less maps overall, I am fine with it, because, to be honest, in a Starcraft-like RTS, the map geometry has a negligible impact on the gameplay and only the map size is important.

I also imagine a custom system where bonus damage/miss chance is based on terrain height instead of cliff level (similar to AoE2) is worth trying out, getting rid of most of the default cliffs in the process. Default cliffs are ugly (or rather the ramps) and have giant a collision size that interferes with the clunky unit pathing.

Balance:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It is apparent that a tremendous amount of thought and work has been put into the design of the factions and the balance of the units. Each unit has a place in the meta, but is not too powerful that it can't be countered. The Starcraft gameplay has been replicated perfectly. My only concern is the Order Enforcers, who hit like a truck, which is a bit weird for such a low tier unit. But since the tournament was won by a Nature player, it might be a case of "git gud". One issue I had with them, though, is that they're really hard to click and so I ended up running my archers repeatedly into them by accident while training against the A.I., where they were slaughtered in only a few hits.

Controls/UI:
⭐⭐
After playing a lot of Age of Empires II, it is a real shock how many quality of life features are missing in Warcraft III. No "Select all Barracks", no production queue, no "Select all idle workers", and an absurdly low selection limit. In a Warcraft III melee game, this is not such a large issue, because armies are small, macro is not very important, and the controls are more optimized towards microing your heroes. However, in an RTS map with large armies and more focus on macro, the lack of those quality of life features hurts a lot. There is the ability to command the entire army via the Spellbringer, but it is not enough to make the controls not cumbersome. I would like to see more quality of life features added via a custom UI.

Summary:

This leads me to my last criticism. I am harsh about these missing features, because the map is advertised as a total conversion mod. However, at the moment, I do not see how this is justified. Total conversion is mostly reserved for maps such as Embercraft or 8-Bit Raid that change almost every aspect of the game and UI, up until the point where the main game is often unrecognizable. Even if it is interpreted as it meaning that it totally changes the RTS gameplay, that is not really the case. The resource system as well as the weapon/armor type systems are mostly unchanged.

In many areas, I think Spellbringers should be more bold and do more of its own thing with the help of all the powerful tools we have available as map makers, building on the foundation of the awesome factions. Currently, I think it is somewhere between a very good altered melee map and an RTS mod.

Because it is advertised as a total conversion mod, I have to rate it as such and therefore give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) with an easy upgrade to 5/5 if more custom systems are added, such as quality of life features to help with the clunkiness of Warcraft III.
 
Last edited:
Level 34
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
4,516
Make it into a game guys! It'll be hard but make it its own game, RTS market kind of dead atm. Its a very cool project. I don't even know what kind of other teams/races you can make? Fire? War? Chaos? Really awesome
Tech faction, obviously. Or Snake.

Looking forward to seeing further developments in the new year, congrats on the clutch end of year update 😄
 
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