Techtree Contest #19 - Warcraft Commanders

[Kyrbi0]

Little WIP here. Units are almost done, with their roles and abilities, now it's time for heroes.

View attachment 538808

yoooooooooooo Trolls mah boi!

Can't wait to hear all about them. ^_^

 

[MogulKahn]

yo, that troll ballista looks amazing ♥

Yea, we need it!

 

[Vinz]

 

[FlameofChange]

Quick reload free tree destruction is very strong for my taste.
Heavy air armor is also quite broken, since it no longer receive x2 from piercing attacks.
If this unit is not at least 7 food I eat my helmet.

... wait I don't have a helmet.

"That's for test purposes"
No, let me sperg my way through this forum !

 

[Vinz]

Ah, pretty old vid, more of a mechanic showcase than anything. It has light armor now.
Tree damage from attacks has also been reduced significantly since. It's mostly aesthetic at this point.
And the dive ability has a 40s CD outside test mode.

 

[Wazzz]

Very nice to see so many active participants in another Techtree Contest, a lot of great ideas going on (some greater than others, of course). With such lively participation long before the end of July, maybe we'll finally have a contest that doesn't require a month's extension? I suppose time will tell, we'll know for certain by about November, I'm sure

View attachment 538878


View attachment 538891

Wow I love this Vale Guardian's design, the rolling boulder is such a nice touch for an air-to-ground attack - although did the angling go a bit off for the Blue Vale Guardian when it came from the side? Either way, it looks like an interesting concept, certainly an unexpected approach for a Warcraft 3 unit

 

[Vinz]

The boulder rolls in the direction of the primary target, which is why it rolled behind the Vale Guardian when the centaur ran behind it.

 

[Superfrycook]

Frostbite Passive for Jaina co-op:

 

[FlameofChange]

New WiP with a bunch of new content. The minimal version is almost finished. There would remain some extra abilities, juice, better UX, the three secondary elements and their features. Don't hesitate to read the design document.
☼ The balance is much better, but exploiting poor AI becomes boring
☼ The two next heroes are done
☼ Added two units : Salavamander and Fire Giant
☼ Added Ember Points, generated by Heat canals and by picking up heat remains ; each point increases slightly the attack speed of all faction units and buildings
☼ Added a global action bar (or works like an action bar) accessible with F4 ; giving abilities costing ember points
☼ Added Ignition to Wisps

Fixes
► No detection yet unit wise The Flare ability in the action bar is cheap enough to be used so
► Lesser Reignite and Combustion have the same order id (inner fire) ; so right clicking it in the same group also touches the other one Changed the base ability for Combustion from inner fire to bloodlust
► No sound when gold is nearly empty Added event sounds
► Quest log still show only 4 lines at a time Fixed
► I suspect one music doesn't want to be played, so the playlist might have a blank from time to time Changed the frequency of all musics to 44.1kHz to be extra sure
► Meteor shower is bugged, it doesn't throw a unit (WHYYYY) and it may make a unit disappear indefinitely Fixed

Known issues
► Orb is still placeholder and can be bought tier 1
► Starting construction may kill another nearby wisp instead. In most case it's just the same equivalent consequence, but keep an eye on it
► There could be a bit of blight remaining on rare case when finishing a building
► You don't see how many wisps are working on the mine
► May mine from an occupied goldmine by another player, or undead/night elf if yoinked before
► You can target enemies with Reignite
► [NEW] Seismic Toss can trap the thrown unit in water, trees and cliffs
► [NEW] Reign of terror does not reset correctly the height of the Fallen God the first time when finished
► [NEW] The attack button of the Fallen God disappears when its Reign of Terror finishes
► [NEW] You can farm ember points by damaging a unit in your base manually and letting heat canals cast their heat remains
► [NEW] Reality rift is disabled until done completely
► [NEW] You can stack Tunnels on top of each others
► [NEW] Music playlist is not random
► [NEW] Wisps don't seem to drop when the main building is destroyed
► [NEW] Crust grinder SFX doesn't seems to be removed when killed

 

[Wazzz]

Frostbite Passive for Jaina co-op:

I'm a little confused, what is the Frostbite passive?

 

[Superfrycook]

I'm a little confused, what is the Frostbite passive?

Slows movement and attack speed.

 

[Riki]

Doing some testing and I decided to post an early in-game WIP

 

[Kyrbi0]

Heck yeah, nice update

☼ Added two units : Salavamander and Fire Giant

Good adds, though again I think "Salavamander" is a little too cute/silly. "Salamander" is all you really need here.

 

[Wazzz]

Slows movement and attack speed.

Oh very nice, is that a triggered ability?

 

[Superfrycook]

Oh very nice, is that a triggered ability?

Yes

 

[GhostThruster]

finally managed to finish off the design of my heroes... man 31 July is approaching fast

Spoiler: naive puppe-- ***Champions*** of Gul'dan!

Hero	Description	Abilities
Black Chieftain	Warrior Hero, effective at leading ruthless attacks against enemy forces. Fight initiator. Has abilities orientated at either dealing damage or increasing damage output of allies. Lore: I imagine this guy to be a clan chieftain that Gul'dan has groomed to be a frontline puppet, akin to Blackhand.	Hellish Slam: deals damage in a line with a burn after-effect. Warcry: increases the attack and speed of nearby allies Incursion Aura: increases attack rate, also adds bonus damage vs buildings Blood Haze: gains bonus HP, attack power, and a super-Vampiric mini-aura
Ogre Sorceror	Mystical Hero, exceptional at unleashing destructive magic. Whether you play him as a nuker or more of a support role, he excels at inflicting damage. Lore: clearly inspired by Cho'gall, this guy is a fellow disciple of Gul'dan with a particular lust for void magic.	Shadow Beam: instantly drains life from a foe and transfers it to the weakest ally nearby. Bloodbath: sacrifices a unit to deal AoE damage around it, based on its HP. Enfeeble: reduces attack and armor in a target area. Twilight's Hammer: calls down waves of void-infused thunder. Basically a point-target Starfall, but punchier.
Assassin	Cunning Hero, adept at eliminating enemy units with stealth and trickery. Like a Blademaster, but hotter. This Winter Soldier quote inspired me: "Infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, and you'd never see them coming." Lore: she's Garona, but I'm pretending Gul'dan has his own Black Widow-esque organisation for which she is one of many graduates.	Backstab: teleports behind a ground unit and deals immense damage to it. Shadowstep: creates a puff of smoke at a target location and blinks inside it. Fights better while inside the smoke. Deception: goes invisible while spawning an illusion. Insurrection: disables a target building, deals damage to it, and spawns Insurgents around it to harass foes.
Deathstrider	Mystical Hero, proficient at disrupting enemy armies. Has abilities that encumber, distract, and disempower enemies. Lore: look, I'm not innovator of the year. He's Teron Gorefiend, but there's already a "Death Knight" in Wc3... so Deathstriders are elite lieutenants who excel in death magic, or something.	Whirlwind: summons a controllable mini-Tornado that slows foes and drains their HP. Spectral Ward: a Pocket Factory that spawns ranged specters. Touch of Darkness: passive, attacks steal mana Black Sabbath: summons swaths of ghosts in a target area that heal allies (or encumber foes) they fly into.

 

[Kyrbi0]

finally managed to finish off the design of my heroes... man 31 July is approaching fast

Spoiler: naive puppe-- ***Champions*** of Gul'dan!

Hero	Description	Abilities
Black Chieftain View attachment 539942	Warrior Hero, effective at leading ruthless attacks against enemy forces. Fight initiator. Has abilities orientated at either dealing damage or increasing damage output of allies. Lore: I imagine this guy to be a clan chieftain that Gul'dan has groomed to be a frontline puppet, akin to Blackhand.	View attachment 539946 Hellish Slam: deals damage in a line with a burn after-effect. View attachment 539948 Warcry: increases the attack and speed of nearby allies View attachment 539949 Incursion Aura: increases attack rate, also adds bonus damage vs buildings View attachment 539965 Blood Haze: gains bonus HP, attack power, and a super-Vampiric mini-aura
Ogre Sorceror View attachment 539943	Mystical Hero, exceptional at unleashing destructive magic. Whether you play him as a nuker or more of a support role, he excels at inflicting damage. Lore: clearly inspired by Cho'gall, this guy is a fellow disciple of Gul'dan with a particular lust for void magic.	View attachment 539951 Shadow Beam: instantly drains life from a foe and transfers it to the weakest ally nearby. View attachment 539955 Bloodbath: sacrifices a unit to deal AoE damage around it, based on its HP. View attachment 539953 Enfeeble: reduces attack and armor in a target area. View attachment 539954 Twilight's Hammer: calls down waves of void-infused thunder. Basically a point-target Starfall, but punchier.
Assassin View attachment 539944	Cunning Hero, adept at eliminating enemy units with stealth and trickery. Like a Blademaster, but hotter. This Winter Soldier quote inspired me: "Infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, and you'd never see them coming." Lore: she's Garona, but I'm pretending Gul'dan has his own Black Widow-esque organisation for which she is one of many graduates.	View attachment 539956 Backstab: teleports behind a ground unit and deals immense damage to it. View attachment 539957 Shadowstep: creates a puff of smoke at a target location and blinks inside it. Fights better while inside the smoke. View attachment 539958 Deception: goes invisible while spawning an illusion. View attachment 539964 Insurrection: disables a target building, deals damage to it, and spawns Insurgents around it to harass foes.
Deathstrider View attachment 539945	Mystical Hero, proficient at disrupting enemy armies. Has abilities that encumber, distract, and disempower enemies. Lore: look, I'm not innovator of the year. He's Teron Gorefiend, but there's already a "Death Knight" in Wc3... so Deathstriders are elite lieutenants who excel in death magic, or something.	View attachment 539960 Whirlwind: summons a controllable mini-Tornado that slows foes and drains their HP. View attachment 539961 Spectral Ward: a Pocket Factory that spawns ranged specters. View attachment 539962 Touch of Darkness: passive, attacks steal mana View attachment 539959 Black Sabbath: summons swaths of ghosts in a target area that heal allies (or encumber foes) they fly into.

I mean they're basically perfect, as I would expect from you. Very straightforward, nothing crazy, clearly-designed. At least half of your icons are good, and nearly all the names.

Highly approve of the "generalizing hero classes out of named legendary characters" conceit; Not!Blackhand, Not!Cho'Gall, Not!Garona & Not!Teron is basically exactly what I'd expect to see, and still makes perfect sense.

My few notes:

((Black Chieftain))
- Don't love this name (he's not even black ), but "Chieftain" is a no brainer. Except maybe if that's too singular, maybe e.g. "Warlord"?
(Hellish Slam)

• great ability. Don't love this name either, but then again it's hard to think of better alternatives ("Fiery Slam"? ). Effect is similar to BoF but hey.
• icon is meh (too 'soft' IMO)

(Warcry)

• perfect. "increases the attack"... damage/power? "...and speed"... movement/attack?
• good icon

(Incursion Aura)

• lovely
• interesting icon, don't hate it; modified? I recognize the runes in the back I think...

(Blood Haze)

• great ability but again the name; good but this one is a bit underwhelming for an Ultimate. "Berserkergang"? "Bloodrage"? "Brutality"? "Bloodthirst"? "Savage Heritage"? "Barbarity"? "Demonic Ichor" (retheme it as a Metamorphosis-esque receipt of demonic power/imbuement)
• good icon

((Ogre Sorceror))
- perfect, no notes
(Shadow Beam)

• fascinating. I'm not sure where the 'beam' fits in; does it come from the enemy to the ally ('beaming' the HP over to them?), or from the hero to either the target or the ally (& if one, (how) is the other acknowledged visually?)
• meh icon.

(Bloodbath)

• excellent name. great ability. synergizes with Shadow Beam, perfect icon
• cool

(Enfeeble)

• great. Maybe strong (I've found there are few AoE debuffs among heroes?).
• Also again, "reduces attack..." damage/power? speed?
• OK icon (WoW-fathered in).

(Twilight's Hammer)

• cool name. not sure what 'punchier' means in this context, but a point-target Starfall (... Monsoon?) is just fine.
• Icon is somewhere between "perfect" and "meh".

((Assassin))

• again, perfect. maybe a touch simple for a hero (I'd call a unit "Assassin" without blinking). But it's hard to think of good alternatives ("Manslayer"? "Executioner"? "Insurgent"? "Murderess"? "Slayer"? "Bounty Hunter"?)
• this lady better have one of her proper names be [[Massacre Girl]], I swear!

(Backstab)

• perfect, no notes.
• Icon WoW-fathered in, a bit complex but...

(Shadowstep)

• very cool idea... but that name & icon have me totally confused. I don't see how it's a shadow-step much beyond the blink? Why not just "Smoke Bomb"? Or make the smoke bomb into a "shadow realm/walk through shadows" thing instead so it fits?
• "fights better"? how?
• two positional/teleporting abilities??
• Icon WoW-fathered in (not one of my favorites though)

(Deception)

• perfect, no notes.
• meh icon, hard one to find for

(Insurrection)
- a fascinating take on an Assassin Ultimate... there have been many good ideas bandied about, but I think yours is very intriguing. Obviously also a cool ability (though maybe a little useless if you're not fighting in the enemy base/expo... but then again as we've discussed, there are a number of "useless"/limited-in-context Ultimates so ). Icon is a bit busy/complex.

And the best for last!

((Deathstrider))

• DEATH KNIGHT
• DEATH KNIGHTTTTTT
• BABY IT'S THE DEATH KNIGHT HE'S BACK & DEADER THAN EVER
• Gotta say, I love the moxy of you just witnessing years of debate about "what to name Wc2 DKs in Wc3", largely from yours-truly, just to plop down "Deathstrider ". I mean... it kinda works. I don't love it. But I have literally struggled with this for years so I have no advice
• OK so am I the only one that's gonna point out that you've literally given this guy 3 summoning abilities, yet that doesn't show up anywhere in his description/tooltip? I mean listen I think it's more or less the right way to implement a Wc2-style DK into Wc3 as a Hero, but it seems like it should 'show up' somewhere (if it was intentional).

(Whirlwind)

• I'm sad this isn't the Ultimate. but then again, it's solid & useful & unique.
• good icon... but C'MON MAN, the OG "call to shadows" is right there! With the purple swirly skull tornado on it! Plz.

(Spectral Ward)

• Lovely, love a mass-spawner. Ranged ghosts instead of melee bots is cute. I'm confused why he has a 'ward'; just making it a big animated gravestone or summat seems more straightforward.
• where'd you get that icon? I can't decide if I like it or not but it's at least very interesting.

(Touch of Darkness)

• the OG is back. perfect reference, great name, solid/synergistic ability, synergizes with the rest. Great OG icon as well.
• It could maybe be juiced up a tiny bit? Like, 'restoring X mana if you kill something with ToD', in addition to the ~~life~~mana-steal?

(Black Sabbath)

• alright FINE, you win xD. The name is so strange to see, and yet it's hard to argue against it. Heck, early Blizzard was a bunch of metalheads with computers & degrees, so if anything this might be the perfect fit. Still might be a bit tongue-in-cheek.
• not sure about the mechanism for summoning, nor "encumbering" (??), nor "fly into". But it's a neat-sounding ability. Is this what Wc2 Death Knights were about?

 

[Astaroth Zion]

Greetings to all! I'm so glad we have great entries so far in the contest.

I’m building a custom faction centered around High Tinkerer Gelbin Mekkatorque, leader of Gnomeregan. Known for his ingenuity, inventions, and leadership during the darkest days of the gnomes, Gelbin leads a tech-heavy faction that emphasizes unparalleled mechanical mastery, battlefield adaptability, and inventive engineering.

Spoiler: 1. Faction Identity: "Ingenuity in Every Bolt and Blast!"

The gnomes may be smaller and physically weaker than other races (with lower base HP, LOS, and combat stats for unmounted units), but that has never stopped them.

What they lack in brute strength, they more than compensate for in engineering genius, tactical adaptability, and raw invention. Why run a marathon when you can ride a Mechano-Strider all the way?

Mekkatorque’s forces are built on flexibility and calculated escalation. As the High Tinker, he commands an entire research and command network, but due to logistical constraints, only select branches can be activated per battle. Choosing the right specialized commanders and technological branches is critical to success.

Faction themes include:

• Dynamic Energy Network: Nearly every advanced unit and structure requires Energy to function, creating deep strategic planning around power generation and field delivery.
  
• Adaptive Specialization Paths: On each of the first main Town Hall upgrades (Tier 2 and Tier 3), you must select between two mutually exclusive tech branches, fundamentally shaping the army’s playstyle and unlocking unique tiered synergies. These choices are permanent per playthrough.
  
• Mechano-Striders: Most basic gnome units, including workers, can upgrade by riding Mechano-Striders, significantly boosting their stats, speed, and battlefield viability. Unmounting is also possible.
  
• Modular Arsenal & Hero Scaling: Mekkatorque starts at max level but not max power. He is initially constrained to your base, and his abilities evolve and transform depending on your selected tech paths and your faction's progression.
  
• Friendly Fire: Beware where you aim, especially those ultra-high arch artillery shots. Contrary to popular belief arcane bombs, missiles, land mines, and high-explosive artillery rounds do not distinguish between friend and foe.
  
• High Replay Value: Each combination of specialized commanders unlocks a unique ultimate unit, ranging from fragile experimental tech to full-scale capital war machines, significantly enhancing replay value.

Spoiler: 2. Core Game Mechanics

The Gnomergan faction introduces several unique mechanics:

• Dynamic Energy Network (Gnomish Power Grid):
  • Nearly all units and many buildings require "Energy" to function, acting as a crucial third resource beyond Gold and Lumber.
  • Energy is primarily generated by Power Nodes through the conversion of Wood and later Gold. Only Power Nodes actively receiving resources (as drop-off points) generate energy; others act purely as relays within the network.
  • The strategic placement of Power Nodes creates a contiguous Energy Grid. For any Power Node to access and contribute to the faction's Global Energy Storage Capacity, it must be within range of a "Powered" Node that is connected to your Town Hall. Nodes outside this chain will consume their internal energy until powered down.
  • Units possess internal energy storage but will suffer debilitating debuffs and eventually shut down if their power reserves are depleted.
  • Global Energy Storage Capacity: Your entire faction has an overarching energy limit, which is primarily improved through Battery Technology research (e.g., at the Workshop) and Town Hall upgrades. Building more Power Nodes won't increase this global maximum; they primarily serve as physical containers for your current stored energy and as relay points.
  • UI Feedback: Players will see their average energy production vs. consumption per minute, along with a clear net positive/negative result, enabling precise economic management.
• Mechano-Striders & Mobile Energy:
  
  • Basic Gnome units (Workers, Soldiers, Shooters) are fragile and cost-effective (approximately 15% cheaper, 1 food, and 25% reduced stats in HP, Speed, and LOS compared to other factions' basic units).
    
  • Their true strength comes from mounting Mechano-Striders, which provide significant HP, speed, armor, and increased energy capacity.
  • Unmounted Mechano-Striders can actively "Refuel allies" using an ability similar to a Night Elf Moon Well: single-target, autocastable, short cooldown (0.5s-1s), transferring 25 energy per use. This makes them vital mobile energy support on the front lines, crucial for sustaining energy-hungry units like the Arcane Cannon.
• Technological Specialization:
  
  • Upon upgrading your Town Center to Tier 2, you must choose between two mutually exclusive Tier 2 Heroes: Artillerist (T2A) or Power Fist (T2B).
    
    • Artillerist Commander: Focuses on demolition units, black powder weaponry, and long-range siege technology.
      
    • Power Fist Commander: Delivers stunning tech and powerful close-range burst damage upgrades to regular army tropps and some vehicles.
  • Similarly, at Tier 3, you choose between Heavy Machine Specialist (T3C) or Arcane Archmage (T3D).
    • Heavy Machine Specialist: Unlocks massive weapons platforms and heavy upgrades for mechanical units.
    • Arcane Archmage: Imbues gnomish tech with arcane energy, disrupting enemy magic and amplifying allied firepower.
  • These choices are permanent for the playthrough and fundamentally alter your faction, unlocking unique units, upgrades, and most notably, changing High Tinkerer Gelbin Mekkatorque's core abilities to synergize with your chosen path. This significantly enhances replay value.
    
  • Each Commander combination unlocks a unique Ultimate Unit, offering 4 distinct endgame paths per playthrough — significantly enhancing replay value.
    
    Spoiler: Unique combinations possible

    • T2A (Artillerist) + T3C (Heavy Machine Specialist) = Prototype Siege Tank: (Tough, high HP/armor, short-range battering ram, gains extra attacks from mounted infantry, features "ablative armor" for a short-duration temporary Max HP buff that cannot be healed back).
    • T2A (Artillerist) + T3D (Arcane Archmage) = Arcane Cannon: (Fragile, experimental, high energy consumption, ultra long range unit).
    • T2B (Power Fist) + T3C (Heavy Machine Specialist) = Flying Fortress: (Only 1 active at a time, tough, high HP/armor, features T3_Energy Disruptor Field for sustained enemy energy harassment).
    • T2B (Power Fist) + T3D (Arcane Archmage) = Deployable Power Tower: (Only 1 active at a time, fragile, experimental).

Spoiler: 3. High Tinkerer Gelbin Mekkatorque

Mekkatorque is your central, evolving commander. He starts at max level but not max power, initially constrained to your base. His abilities evolve and transform depending on your selected tech paths and your faction's progression.

• Deploy Mekkatorque: Instead of a traditional hero unit, Mekkatorque is "released" from your Command Center to join the battle for a short time.
  • Tier 1: Shorter duration in the field, with a 5-minute cooldown. He starts on cooldown to match vanilla first hero training timming.
    
  • Tier 2-3 (Late Game): The hard duration limit is removed. Instead, his presence incurs an initial "extra energy cost" for a few minutes, followed by an ever-increasing energy drain on your faction's global energy pool. This escalating cost eventually forces Mekkatorque to automatically return to base when your faction's total energy reaches a critically low energy threshold (e.g., <20% of total faction energy capacity).
• Skills Locked by Tech Level: Half of Mekkatorque's skills are locked until Tier 2, and his ultimate ability is locked until Tier 3.
  
• Example Skill: Prototype Turret (Active – Deployable Ward): Summons a mechanical turret near Mekkatorque. Its function depends entirely on the chosen Tier 2 and Tier 3 commanders.
  • Tier 1 Base: Deploys a basic Gatling Turret, dealing single-target ranged damage.
    
  • Tier 2: Artillerist → Turret becomes a Cannon Turret with small AoE splash.
    
    • + Tier 3: Heavy Machine Specialist → Double-Barrel Cannon Turret: large AoE, higher DPS.
    • + Tier 3: Arcane Archmage → Arcane Imbued Cannon Turret: small AoE damage plus an arcane debuff on impact.
  • Tier 2: Power Fist → Turret becomes a Laser Turret, increasing damage the longer it stays on the same target.
    • + Tier 3: Heavy Machine Specialist → Laser Turret becomes a Tesla Tower with chain lightning attacks, applying a stacking slow debuff and increased damage over time on the main target.
    • + Tier 3: Arcane Archmage → Arcane Imbued Laser Turret: arcane-enhanced laser turret applying a stacking vulnerability debuff.

Spoiler: 4. Other heroes

They operate with the normal vanilla mechanics of being summoned at level 1 and being revivable at the Altar. Out of the 4 specialization heroes, I present wips for 2 of them:

Tier 2A) Artillerist Hero The Artillerist is a master of "heavy use of explosives, black powder, and demolition potential," excelling at area denial and supporting ranged armies.

• Skill 1: Artillery Shots (Active Channeling, Area Target)
  
  • Shoots several random shots in an area, dealing damage (friendly fire applies). This ability is boosted by the Vigilance Tower skill, and further improved by selecting either the T3C Heavy Machine Specialist or T3D Arcane Archmage specialization.
    
  • T3D Arcane Munition: If T3D Arcane Archmage is chosen, enemies hit by shots suffer mana burn; allied units caught in friendly fire consume energy (approximately 5% of their max energy) but receive a buff.
• Skill 2: Vigilance Tower (Active, Creates Structure)
  • Creates a temporary tower. The Artillerist climbs it, gaining massive LOS and a small casting range improvement for his skills. The tower can be canceled by hero earlier if needed. Penalty: The tower and Artillerist are revealed to all enemy forces while the skill is active.
• Skill 3: Weakness Detected (Passive Aura)
  • Nearby ranged allied units gain a low chance to bash and score a critical hit) against mechanical unit types and buildings. The aura's Area of Effect (AOE) is increased if Vigilance Tower is active.
• Ulti Skill: Incendiary Ammunition (Active, Self/Global Buff)
  
  • For a short duration, all allied gnome units and buildings with ranged attacks gain extra fire damage and deal a small AOE. Each attack also creates small fire puddles that damage units over time. This ultimate can also significantly increase the friendly fire potential or AoE of affected attacks, transforming your ranged army into a high-risk, high-reward zone control force.

Tier 3D) Arcane Archmage Hero The Arcane Archmage focuses on "imbueing weapons with arcane potency, and countering/hindering enemy magic use."

• Skill 1: Arcane Barrage (Active, Single Target)
  • Marks a target and over a few seconds send several volleys of arcane missiles to it, while this spell is on effect the hero can move freely and cast other spells. Crucially, when activated, all allied units with arcane missile or similar attacks (e.g., Arcane Mages, Arcane Towers, Arcane Cannon, Gnome T1 Shooter, Dragoons with Arcane Shot) will automatically focus their attacks and cast their own Arcane Missiles on the Archmage's target while the ability is active.
• Skill 2: Counter Spell Ward (Active, Single Target, Autocast)
  • Targets an enemy hero; counters their next spell cast (they spend the mana, spells goes on CD, but it takes no effect). Can be autocast. Its primary function is to simply counter a spell; no additional debuffs are applied unless future balance requires it.
• Skill 3: Arcane Vulnerability (Passive Aura)
  
  • Hero attacks/spells and nearby allied arcane-imbued attacks apply a stacking debuff that increases magic damage taken (max 10/14/18 stacks). This synergizes powerfully with Arcane Barrage for rapid stacking. Stacks are reduced one by one over time.
• Ulti Skill: Portal to City (Active, Creates Portal)
  
  • From Archmage's current position create a portal to your main city for about 20 seconds. Units can travel once in any direction, taking a little time to do so. This provides vital logistical support for bringing reinforcements or sending units (like empty Striders) back to base for recharging.

 

[GhostThruster]

unit roster update #2 - Tier 2 units done!

Spoiler: Warlock Coven - T2 Spellcaster Production

Twisted disciples of Gul'dan gather at Warlock Covens to refine their demonological powers.

Unit	Icon	Description	Abilities
Necrolyte (2 food)		Primary spellcaster; warlocks-in-training of mostly Stormreaver stock. Adept at using necromantic and storm magic to encumber enemies.	Spite: autocast, target ally reflects back a % of damage received, and will spawn a Specter when killed. (Adept) Rune of Eradication: summons a floating Rune that detonates after X seconds and dispels in its vicinity. (Master) Conjure Storm: causes enemies in the target area to have a high miss chance. Enemy air units also take damage over time from lightning.
Ogre Warlock (3 food)		Offensive spellcaster; ogres with cult-like devotion to Gul'dan. Its spells instil ferocity and ruthlessness within your ranks. At T3, this unit becomes the de-facto Magic damage-dealer (a la Chimaera, Gryphon, Frost Wyrm) that the race otherwise lacks.	Bloodthirst: autocast, target ally gains extra attack rate and lifesteal. (Adept) Firebrand: target ally gains speed and Immolation effect, but also loses some HP temporarily. (Master) Mark of Chaos: marks this unit for death after X seconds, but gives it a devastating magical attack.
Familiar (2 food)		Flying warlock companion. Has an anti-air melee attack, but only truly dominates the skies with support from spellcasters.	Soul Bond: increases mana regen of a target spellcaster. Can be used actively, but will also automatically bond with valid unbonded allies nearby. (T3) Magic Ferocity: gains extra attack when Soul Bonded.

Spoiler: Siegeworks - T2 Ranged and Siege Support

The orcish engineers who comprise a Siegeworks are not necessarily the most devout of Gul'dan's acolytes, but share in his love of cruelty and domination.

Unit	Icon	Description	Upgrades
Arbalist (3 food)		Cruel crossbow wielder with a slow, but high-damage attack. The only ground unit with Piercing damage.	Hook Bolt: fires a hook-attached chain into the target unit, slowing it down and even completely immobilizing it if the target is weak.
Fel Onager (4 food, mechanical)		Long-range siege weaponry that can also employ Slaves from your slave stock. Its upgrades unlock anti-magic capabilities.	Cursed Artillery: attacks deal area-of-effect Feedback-esque damage. (T3) Runic Woodwork: grants extra HP and spell immunity.

only my T3 production building to go... one final effort is all that remains! (spoiler: it gets demon-y)

 

[FlameofChange]

Fourth WiP. The minimal version is completed. It could be perfectly a safe entry for the contest as it is more stable. Don't hesitate to read the design document.
☼ The pace got better by removing the extra duration for single upgrades
☼ Nerfed a bunch of things, especially the Fallen God which filled its role too efficiently
☼ Reality Rift in the Action bar (F4) ; working like a Titan in Age of Mythologies
☼ The harvested goldmine gets a different skin
☼ There's some bugs and exploits which I really cannot circumvent due to the complexity of Warcraft 3. Please don't steal another player goldmine with your hub because that is not intended !
☼ Obsidian Shard Armor added (tier 3 artifact)
☼ Some new icons
☼ Buildings radiate an orange glow

Fixes
► Orb is still placeholder and can be bought tier 1 Added the custom magma orb
► May mine from an occupied goldmine by another player, or undead/night elf if yoinked before Partially fixed, see bellow
► Seismic Toss can trap the thrown unit in water, trees and cliffs Fixed. This ability will throw the target just before the first obstacle
► Wisps don't seem to drop when the main building is destroyed Reworked the gold gather. This may no longer happen
► I suspect one music doesn't want to be played, so the playlist might have a blank from time to time Changed the frequency of all musics to 44.1kHz to be extra sure
► Crust grinder SFX doesn't seems to be removed when killed Fixed. It was when a Crust Grinder gets devoured, its VFX stay on place

Known issues
► Starting construction may kill another nearby wisp instead. In most case it's just the same equivalent consequence, but keep an eye on it
► There could be a bit of blight remaining on rare case when finishing a building
► You don't see how many wisps are working on the mine
► You can target enemies with Reignite
► Reign of terror does not reset correctly the height of the Fallen God the first time when finished
► The attack button of the Fallen God disappears when its Reign of Terror finishes
► You can farm ember points by damaging a unit in your base manually and letting heat canals cast their heat remains
► You can stack Tunnels on top of each others
► Music playlist is not random
► Entropy Stone, Additional Vents and Plasma Field icons placeholders
► Some units are mentioned in upgrades, but they come from the planned secondary elements
► Goblin Shredder might attempt to deposit lumber to a wisp
► [NEW] A goldmine can be harvested by multiple Hubs (aka main building) at the same time in some cases
► [NEW] Avatar of Ragnaros needed a Fireorb like ability to deal AoE damage around the target, so its damage is reduced by 25 while the orb add 25 AoE damage

Planned next
Within my abilities and remaining time
► Add the 3 secondary elements with their respective content
► Make Fire Giants receive extra damage from Feedback based abilities
► Edit the skins to replace yellow plating by red-orange magma-like texture ; and golden wings by magma wings
► Replace the placeholder icons
► Make gold and lumber gathering fancier
► Make heat remain pickup more precise
► Custom sounds for building
► Custom voicelines for events
► Design special items for each secondary elements
► Custom icon for the Fallen God (right now it's a green vanilla Hydra)
► Add hero glow to heroes

There might be stuff I forgot. Don't take literally what I'm saying.

 

[Superfrycook]

Jaina's Co-Op Units:
T1 Units:

• Artificer - Basic worker unit, can summon and repair structures, harvest lumber and gold from Arcane Gold Mine.
• Footman - Basic versatile unit, can learn the Defend ability.
• Musketeer - Highly skilled sharpshooter, excel at taking down air units.

T2 Units:

• Hydromancer - Essential caster, can cast Water Chain, Crushing Wave, and Frost Armor.
• Trickster - Versatile caster, can cast Silence, Ray of Disruption, and Polymorph.
• Archer Priestess - Advanced ranged support unit, can cast Cold Arrows, Healing Erudition, and Focused Shot.
• Siege Tank - Heavily armored vehicle, effective at destroying buildings. Can be upgraded with the Spread Shot ability.
• Tidal Gunship - Fast moving flying machine. Excellent at scouting alone but powerful in numbers, and effective against air units. Can learn the Kraken Round upgrade.

T3 Units:

• Knight - Powerful mounted warrior with Critical Strike.
• Gryphon Corsair - Powerful flying creature, mounted by a Dwarven hammer-thrower. Can learn Animal War Training, and the Naval Hammers ability.
• Valkyrie - Powerful flying creature, mounted by a Kul Tiran Archer. Can learn Animal War Training, Maritime Marksmanship, and the Multishot ability.

T1 Buildings:

• Arcane Nexus - Primary structure, trains Artificers and receives gathered resources. Upgrades to Spire and then Citadel.
• Arcane Generator - Provides food and restores mana to casters.
• Barracks - Primary troop training structure, Trains Marines, Sea Marksmen, and Sea Knights.
• Altar of Archmagi - Summons and revives heroes.
• Craftsman's Guild - Serves as a drop-off point for lumber and contains upgrades for weapons, armor, and arcane mastery.
• Scout Tower - Basic defensive structure, has no attack but upgrades to any towers, depending on the Tiers.
• Guard Tower - Basic defensive structure, fires arrows at ground and air units.
• Arcane Tower - Basic defensive structure, fires arcane bolts that damages and drains mana per each hit.
• Trade House - Creates a shop for purchased items, also generates resources.

T2 Buildings:

• Arcane Sanctum - Trains Hydromancers, Tricksters, and Archer Priestesses.
• Workshop - Produces Siege Tanks and Tidal Gunships.
• Fire Tower - Advanced structure, fires a jet of flames.
• Boulder Tower - Fires massive boulders dealing splash damage.

T3 Buildings:

• Gryphon Aviary - Trains Gryphon Corsairs and Valkyries.
• Cold Tower - Advanced structure, damages and slows down enemies.

Unique Passive:
- Frostbite - Jaina, Hydromancer, and Cold Tower Attacks slows movement and attack speed.

Unique Tech:

• Kraken Rounds - Tidal Gunships deal area damage.
• Mana Resonance Orb - Archer Priestesses grants the Healing Erudition ability.
• Focused Shot - Archer Priestess attacks have a chance to stun an enemy unit.
• Spread Shot - Siege Tanks deal area damage against air units.
• Naval Hammers - Gryphon Corsair attacks bounces to any enemy.
• Seaside Devotion - HP Bonus to Footmen, Musketeers, and Knights.
• Maritime Marksmanship - Gains additional damage and range to Musketeers, Archer Priestesses, and Valkyries.
• Multishot - Valkyrie attacks fire up to three enemy units.

 

[Marchombre]

Well, I won't have much time to really work on this project, so my entry might never come to completion (especially when it will come to polishing things), but here is the first WIP with design philosophy.
Many things aren't done, so I'll not go in details about units and spells yet.

The Silver Hand Faction

Identity

Core Mechanic

Heroes

Buildings

Commander: Uther. Paladin, warrior, fervent believer of the Light.
Themes: Heavily armored units, light-centered spells with heal and shields. Mainly humans and High Elves.
Gameplay: Gameplay will reflect the two principles of the Silver Hand.

• Early-mid game: protect the weaks.
  The Silver Hand will be very defensive faction at first, capable of building a strong base, absorb much damage and heal themselves to endure.
• Late Game: Vanquish the evil of world.
  In late game, the Silver Hand will make good use of its powerful units and miracles to take the upper hand and cleanse the world of its evil.

Strengths:

• Powerful central hero
• Defensive capacity & unit durability
• Bonuses against the undead
• Very powerful lategame.

Weaknesses:

• Offensive capacity in early-mid game
• Heroes strength grouped in one single unit which leaves the faction very vulnerable when is goes down
• Not many ranged units, so vulnerable against air units when leaving the base

The Silver Hand has two types of workers:

• Peasants.
  Can collect gold and lumbers.
  Can build the military buildings of the Silver Hand.
  
  
• Cantors.
  Can collect gold, lumbers and pray to gain faith.
  Can summon the religious buildings of the Church of Light.

The Silver Hand faction has a third ressource: faith.
Faith is generated when cantors pray next to a place of prayer.
Faith have a maximum amount stored, increased by place of prayers.

Faith will be used to enhanced units abilities or perform miracles.

Miracles are powerful spells that need a lot of time and/or faith to be casted and can be limited in number of uses in one game.

The Silver Hand faction will only have Uther as a hero. It cannot recruits others, even in Taverns.

Uther will evolve the first time a chapel is upgraded into a church and again when a church is upgraded to a cathedral.
Each evolution will unlock new spells or new effects on existing spells.

Being a Paladin, Uther will have spell in the same spirit of the human's paladin: heal and protect its allies, but in his own ways.

This is only a draft, as not all units and upgrades have been planned and/or done.

T1 buildings:

Spoiler: T1 List

• Chapel.
  Built by peasants and cantors.
  Main building.
  Trains peasants and cantors and received gathered gold and lumbers.
  Upgrades to Church then Cathedral.
  
  
• Farm.
  Built by peasants.
  Provides Food.
  Upgrades to War Mill, which provides an aura that slow attack and movement speed of nearby enemies.
  
  
• Barracks.
  Built by peasants.
  Trains melee units: Footman, Hammer Warrior, Knight.
  Research Defend and Enchanted Hammer.
  
  
• Lumber Mill.
  Built by peasants.
  Receives gathered lumber.
  Contains upgrades and unlocks buildings.
  
  
• Forge.
  Built by peasants.
  Contains upgrades and unlocks buildings.
  
  
• Scout Tower.
  Built by peasants.
  Basic defensive structure giving vision on the map.
  Upgrades to 3 different types of towers that can attack: Guard Tower (single target), Cannon tower (AoE attack) and Light Tower (heals nearby allies on attack).
  
  
• Walls.
  Built by peasants.
  Basic defensive structure that block path.
  Upgrades to Towered wall, that can shoot enemies, especially good against short-ranged air units.
  
  
• Lodge.
  Summoned by cantors.
  Provides food.
  Upgrades to Monument (place of prayer).
  
  
• Altar of the Light.
  Summoned by cantors.
  Can summon and revive Uther.
  Place of prayer.
  
  
• Reliquary.
  Summoned by cantors.
  Place of prayer.
  Shop where you can buy items.

T2 buildings:

Spoiler: T2 List

• Archery range.
  Built by peasants.
  Trains ranged units: Archer.
  
  
• Workshop.
  Built by peasants.
  Produces Siege Ram.
  Contains upgrades for siege rams and walls.
  
  
• Abbey.
  Summoned by cantors.
  Trains casters from the Church of Light.
  Contains upgrades for Light wielders.

T3 buildings:

Spoiler: T3 List

• Aviary.
  Built by peasants.
  Trains air units.

 

[Riki]

This will be my last WIP. I've already finished the entire faction's techtree, all I have left to do is finish working on:

Spoiler: Final WIP

Arthas Menethil

Powerful warrior Hero, exceptional on melee fights and leading undead armies. Frostmourne's Hunger (Innate passive): Arthas's attacks have a chance to generate Soul Essence (extra chance against Heroes). Dreadstrike: Powerful melee strike that deals damage, steals life and generates Soul Essence when used against wounded units. Eternal Agony: Channels on the target location to create a blight area that deals damage per second to enemies. March of the Scourge (Passive): Gives nearby undead units a chance to deal bonus damage when fighting over blight. Phantom Steed: Summons Arthas's undead horse, Invincible, to the battlefield. Invincible quickly makes its way towards Arthas, dealing damage to enemies it hits. When the horse reaches Arthas, he will mount and gain movement speed and bonus hit points for the duration.

Soul Essence: A third resource mechanic for Arthas's Scourge. It is an abstract representation of the souls consumed and trapped by Frostmourne. Soul Essence is obtained through various means, such as Arthas's attacks and spells, and certain abilities or upgrades for units. Soul Essence plays an essential part in the development of Arthas as a Hero and can also enhance his attacks and abilities. Be careful, however, as you will lose half of your current Soul Essence each time Arthas dies.

 

[Spellbound]

So, in the interest of allowing this contest to have more fleshed out results, we have decided to extend the deadline by 2 weeks and a few days, placing the new deadline at the 16th of August, 2025.

 

[Panda]

finally managed to finish off the design of my heroes... man 31 July is approaching fast

Spoiler: naive puppe-- ***Champions*** of Gul'dan!

Hero	Description	Abilities
Black Chieftain View attachment 539942	Warrior Hero, effective at leading ruthless attacks against enemy forces. Fight initiator. Has abilities orientated at either dealing damage or increasing damage output of allies. Lore: I imagine this guy to be a clan chieftain that Gul'dan has groomed to be a frontline puppet, akin to Blackhand.	View attachment 539946 Hellish Slam: deals damage in a line with a burn after-effect. View attachment 539948 Warcry: increases the attack and speed of nearby allies View attachment 539949 Incursion Aura: increases attack rate, also adds bonus damage vs buildings View attachment 539965 Blood Haze: gains bonus HP, attack power, and a super-Vampiric mini-aura
Ogre Sorceror View attachment 539943	Mystical Hero, exceptional at unleashing destructive magic. Whether you play him as a nuker or more of a support role, he excels at inflicting damage. Lore: clearly inspired by Cho'gall, this guy is a fellow disciple of Gul'dan with a particular lust for void magic.	View attachment 539951 Shadow Beam: instantly drains life from a foe and transfers it to the weakest ally nearby. View attachment 539955 Bloodbath: sacrifices a unit to deal AoE damage around it, based on its HP. View attachment 539953 Enfeeble: reduces attack and armor in a target area. View attachment 539954 Twilight's Hammer: calls down waves of void-infused thunder. Basically a point-target Starfall, but punchier.
Assassin View attachment 539944	Cunning Hero, adept at eliminating enemy units with stealth and trickery. Like a Blademaster, but hotter. This Winter Soldier quote inspired me: "Infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, and you'd never see them coming." Lore: she's Garona, but I'm pretending Gul'dan has his own Black Widow-esque organisation for which she is one of many graduates.	View attachment 539956 Backstab: teleports behind a ground unit and deals immense damage to it. View attachment 539957 Shadowstep: creates a puff of smoke at a target location and blinks inside it. Fights better while inside the smoke. View attachment 539958 Deception: goes invisible while spawning an illusion. View attachment 539964 Insurrection: disables a target building, deals damage to it, and spawns Insurgents around it to harass foes.
Deathstrider View attachment 539945	Mystical Hero, proficient at disrupting enemy armies. Has abilities that encumber, distract, and disempower enemies. Lore: look, I'm not innovator of the year. He's Teron Gorefiend, but there's already a "Death Knight" in Wc3... so Deathstriders are elite lieutenants who excel in death magic, or something.	View attachment 539960 Whirlwind: summons a controllable mini-Tornado that slows foes and drains their HP. View attachment 539961 Spectral Ward: a Pocket Factory that spawns ranged specters. View attachment 539962 Touch of Darkness: passive, attacks steal mana View attachment 539959 Black Sabbath: summons swaths of ghosts in a target area that heal allies (or encumber foes) they fly into.

Nice to see some of my icons being used! Nice concept here.

 

[GhostThruster]

final unit roster update, and possibly the last WIP before release!

Spoiler: Dark Portal - T3 unit production

As Gul'dan furthers his mastery of the Fel, he is able to open rifts into the Twisting Nether and summon forth lesser demons to do his bidding

Unit	Icon	Description	Abilities
Terrorfiend (5 food)		Formidable demon, effective at terrorizing spellcasters. Has Resistant Skin and Medium armor, trading defense against other melee attackers for better resistance to magic.	Inhale Magic: instant-cast Devour Magic, sucking up nearby buffs and giving the Terrorfiend HP per unit. Mana Frenzy (upgrade): passive, temporarily grants bonus damage and Chaos attack type when hit by a spell.
Fel Serpent (4 food)		Flying demonic serpent. Native Wind Serpents of Draenor twisted by Fel energies. Has Piercing damage rather than a Magic attack.	Fel Breath (upgrade): passive, attacks reduce armor and apply burn damage over time.

 

[MyPad]

Roughly 2 months after my previous WIP (I took a break for a long while), I present some of the new units I've created for this contest.

Spoiler: Unit Models

The Jaeger, surrounded by 2 Timberfellers on both sides.

Unit	Description	Abilities
Jaeger (55 food)	A hulking behemoth of a unit with a very slow movement speed, but insanely fast attack. Deals chaos damage to ground units and attacks air units with Piercing attacks to boot. Has 1950 health, 2 Large Armor, and 19.50 HP/sec regeneration.	The Jaeger possesses 3 unique abilities, 2 of which help the Jaeger kill enemy units. Shockwave Much wider, longer, and faster than the regular shockwave, this deals 150 damage to ground units in a line. Sonic Shock Slams the ground, delivering a powerful sonic boom that damages and disorients air units for 180 damage. Every time a flying enemy unit attacks the Jaeger, the skill's remaining cooldown is reduced by 0.5. Jaeger Reborn Transforms the Jaeger into the ultimate predator (in the form of prey), greatly increasing its base movement speed while lowering its max health and damage, and sacrificing its ability to attack air units. This is a one-time use ability that requires the Jaeger to secure 25 enemy kills before use.
Jaeger - Reborn (48 food)	Now taking the form of a rabid beast, the Jaeger now hunts its prey with impunity, making multiple copies of itself to further debilitate its victims. Starts at Tier 3. Tier 3 - 1350 HP Tier 2 - 400 HP, 12 Food Tier 1 - 80 HP, 2 Food	(Tier 3 Exclusive) Divided We Stand Creates 3 copies of the Jaeger that deal 100% damage, but receive 500% damage. (Tier 2 and below) Evasion Evades enemy attacks 30% (Tier 2) / 90% (Tier 1) of the time. (Tier 2 and above) Spawn Lesser Jaeger Spawns lower tier versions of the reborn Jaeger upon the original's death. Tier 3 -> Tier 2: 3 entities Tier 2 -> Tier 1: 4 entities
Timberfeller (2 food)	The faction's resident siege unit and secondary lumber harvester and drop-off point, all in one. The Warchief demands a great deal of lumber after all. Has 650 HP, 5 Large armor, and 0.25 HP/sec regeneration.	The Timberfeller can not only attack the ground, it can also do the following: Gather Gathers lumber from trees. Timber Health Converts 50 lumber into 100 health.

 

[Riki]

I'm almost done with my entry, so if all goes well and I don't find any super game-breaking bugs (I hope not lol) I might release my entry this coming weekend.

 

[Superfrycook]

Same here, need to double check the triggers before posting.

 

[FlameofChange]

Fifth WiP. The content has been finished with the 3 full secondary elements, although it doesn't mean my job has ended. There's still some backdoors left to fix withing my reach, and the different secondary elements have wacky balance. Take this version as a fresh faction removed from the mold. I have to polish the feedback signs, juice, interface and reinforce the synergy with the 4 other factions. I suspect the metal aspect to be quite strong. The Trapper-Shredder was very fun to make, invented by my brother like 20 years ago but only now being playable in Warcraft 3 ! Don't hesitate to read the design document.
☼ Awakener food cost increased from 3 to 4 due to the high impact of its abilities and the potential Harbinger upgrade ; compensated with a bit faster spell reload time. Its DPS also has been reduced a bit
☼ Crust Grinder DPS reduced to keep it in the 4 food
☼ The 3 secondary element added with their special techs, effects and units
☼ Nerfed a lot the Cinderling : less DPS, less HP, less HP regen, and increased stacking HP regen reduction when using Fuel Transfer
☼ I suspect the Sky Aspect to be the weakest of the 3, but that would need further testing
☼ Loading screen description added
☼ Nerfed Greater Embers : instead of adding +1 level of heat remains, it increases the heal by 10% and the surplus healing is converted into attack speed duration

Fixes
► You can stack Tunnels on top of each others Fixed
► Tectonic Rift does not add 2 more projectiles to Geyser Fixed
► Lava Plume added the wrong buff, making it permanent against enemies Fixed
► Low/empty goldmine sound desyncs Fixed

Known issues
► Starting construction may kill another nearby wisp instead. In most case it's just the same equivalent consequence, but keep an eye on it
► There could be a bit of blight remaining on rare case when finishing a building
► You don't see how many wisps are working on the mine
► You can target enemies with Reignite
► Reign of terror does not reset correctly the height of the Fallen God the first time when finished
► The attack button of the Fallen God disappears when its Reign of Terror starts/finishes
► You can farm ember points by damaging a unit in your base manually and letting heat canals cast their heat remains
► Music playlist is not random
► Additional Vents icon placeholder
► Goblin Shredder might attempt to deposit lumber to a wisp
► A goldmine can be harvested by multiple Hubs (aka main building) at the same time in some cases
► Avatar of Ragnaros needed a Fireorb like ability to deal AoE damage around the target, so its damage is reduced by 25 while the orb add 25 AoE damage
► [NEW] Exoarmor make the attack disappear from the UI, as well as sometimes putting the wrong scale ; it comes from Warcraft 3
► [NEW] The Multiboard may not show for other than Player 1
► [NEW] Reverted Quest log UI back to default to avoid desync issues
► [NEW] Solar Winds may also take effect at night instead of just during day

Planned next
Within my abilities and remaining time
► Add the 3 secondary elements with their respective content
► Make Fire Giants receive extra damage from Feedback based abilities
► Edit the skins to replace yellow plating by red-orange magma-like texture ; and golden wings by magma wings Needs some tweaks
► Replace the placeholder icons
► Make gold and lumber gathering fancier
► Make heat remain pickup more precise
► Custom sounds for building
► Custom voicelines for events
► Design special items for each secondary elements
► Custom icon for the Fallen God (right now it's a green vanilla Hydra)
► Add hero glow to heroes

Next version will be a proper resource post on the hive.

 

[Riki]

[TC19] Arthas's Scourge

 

[stein123]

Contestants	Progress	Commander	Entries
@MyPad	WIP1 | WIP2	Grommash Hellscream	n/a
@PROXY	WIP1 | WIP2 | WIP3	[Chromie or something, he not telling]	n/a
@Footman16	WIP1 | WIP2	Katrana Prestor	n/a
@FlameofChange	WIP1 | WIP2 | WIP3 | WIP4	Ragnaros	n/a
@GhostThruster	WIP1 | WIP2 | WIP3 | WIP4 | WIP5	Gul'dan	n/a
@Adiniz / Imemi	WIP1 | WIP2	Grom Hellscream	n/a
@Rheiko	WIP1 | WIP2	Zul'jin	n/a
@matyko	WIP1 | WIP2	Sapphiron	n/a
@Riki	WIP1 | WIP 2 | WIP3 | WIP4 | WIP5 | WIP6 | WIP7	Arthas Menethil (Death Knight)	n/a
@Galendor an'Kreil	WIP1 | WIP2	Hakkar the Soulflayer	n/a
@Vinz	WIP1 | WIP2	Tyrande Whisperwind	n/a
@Superfrycook	WIP1 | WIP2	Jaina Proudmoore	n/a
@Astaroth Zion	WIP1 | WIP2	Gelbin Mekkatorque	n/a
@Marchombre	WIP1 | WIP2	Uther the Lightbringer	n/a

Time to update this

 

[Superfrycook]

To make the co-op commander like in SC2 Co-Op, if you build an Altar of the Archmagi, pick only one prestige and see:
P0: Archmage of the Kirin Tor - No advantages or disadvantages.
P1: Coastal Defense Maiden - Advantage: Guard, Arcane, Boulder, Fire, and Cold towers gain 25% bonus HP, armor, and attack damage. Disadvantage: Scout Towers costs 30% more.
P2: Arcane Elementalist - Advantage: Hydromancers, Tricksters, and Archer Priestesses starts with 125 mana. Disadvantage: Kul Tiras units decrease 20% base attack damage.
P3: Daughter of the Seas - Jaina's attributes gain 25 agility, strength, and intelligence and gains the Magic Rain ability. Disadvantage: Water Elemental is disabled.

 

[Malmgrev]

Due to time constraints I need to pull out of the competition. Good luck everyone!

 

[Marchombre]

WIP number #2, mainly a teaser.

I have my buildings set completed.
My units are all listed, but some still need their abilities to be done (like Uther, but it isn't like he was the focus of that faction, right ? Right ? ) and some placeholder icons / texts need replacement.

Here are some sneak peeks of a nice base



PS: I'll soon need to find some volunteers to beta test the balance of all of that. I haven't played a normal game of war3 for a looooong time, so I'm not the best for testing, even against bot
Should post the WIP map soon, or at least I hope so.

 

[MyPad]

Uploading a WIP of the map here. Now, the faction is 65% complete and the next WIP will focus on the following:

• Upgrades - Actually meant to delay the power spike of the faction. A lot more focus was given to the unit mechanics before this was considered.
• Bugs that need attention:
  • A random crash that may or may not be related to the Timberfeller.
    • Testing a possible way to cause lumber gatherers to ignore Timberfeller as a drop-off point for lumber by intercepting the order, disabling the drop-off point ability and issuing the same order (with the trigger turned off in the meantime) until the lumber gatherers are directed towards a lumber mill.
  • Mass Bloodlust causing units (especially workers) that morph due to bloodlust to forget their current orders, which harms the playing experience as players are forced to reissue the command to harvest resources for each idle worker.
    
• Improvement on the Custom UI System.
  • Handle the dynamic display of techtree icons for each given faction.
  • Test if the system is safe to use in multiplayer.
  • Reintroduce a Replay detection system to hide the Faction Selection UI in replays.

Meanwhile, I've adjusted the hitpoints of the reborn Jaeger (Tier 2 and Tier 1) to make them easier to burst down with AOE spells.

• Jaeger - Reborn (Tier 2) hitpoints decreased from 400 to 300.
• Jaeger - Reborn (Tier 1) hitpoints decreased from 80 to 50.
• Timberfeller - Food cost increased from 2 to 3.

 

[GhostThruster]

Fully inspired by Riki's wonderful post, here's my entry in the maps section:

Tanaris - Gul'dan THW TC19

More detailed info in the map description I've done enough to call this an adequate v1.00, but since the deadline has been extended, will be making smaller improvements here and there as I can. In the mean time, will be trying out some others. Would love any feedback thrown my way!

 

[Footman16]

Seeing these entry posts I could've sworn I'd made one, but it seems I completely hallucinated it; I even remember making the banner image and everything lol.

 

[Superfrycook]

Final Update for Jaina Co-Op; Basic units and two buildings from Lordaeron instead of Kul Tiras. That's why I want it diverse.

 

[ToaNoah]

Greetings fellow Warcraft 3 enthusiasts!​

May I present to you my first WIP for the Techtree contest: The Primals!

Hailing from Draenor before the cataclysm the shattered that world, the Primals were a collection of Ancients, Treants, Botani, and other forest creatures that lived to spread their life giving essence to all corners of the world and to all of Draenor's denizens, even if it meant twisting them into terrible half-plant monstrosities. Led by powerful Genesaur, the Botani were a race of plant-men that fought alongside Ancients and other creatures. The Botani make up the backbone of the Primal's forces while Ancients provide most of the structures.

The Primals rely heavily on summoned allies. Most summoned units are created from trees. Spellcasters and heroes alike focus on creating trees and summoning allies from them. The Botani are also skilled at creating Infested from corpses, creating even more summons to swarm enemies. The Primals use their overwhelming numbers to crush the opposition.

Here is a quick outline of the race:

Primals Co-op units (Phylarch the Evergreen)​

​

T1 Units:​

Botani Soldier: Basic melee unit
Botani Archer: Basic ranged unit, can learn Marksmanship and Improved Bows
Botani Vanguard: Medium melee unit, can learn Spawn Podling, which spawns a Podling after death

T2 Units:​

Botani Druid: Basic spellcaster with Infest, Disenchant, and Rejuvenation. Infest is just like Parasite, except it spawns an Infested when the affected unit dies
Botani Mystic: Spellcaster with Nature’s Blessing, Grow Feral Lasher and Cultivate. Nature’s Blessing increases a target unit’s HP regen by 200% for 10 seconds. Grow Feral Lasher turns a tree into a Tentacle like Lasher that attacks nearby enemies. Cultivate turns a corpse into a tree
Treant Earthshaper: Spellcaster with Abolish Magic, Grow Tree, and Nature’s Fury. Grow Tree is exactly what it sounds like, you grow a tree at a point. Nature’s Fury is like Bloodlust but only effects Ancients

T3 Units​

Mandragora: Powerful siege unit. Can learn Spawn Mandragoras, which causes 2 lesser Mandragoras to spawn upon death
Infested Flyer: Light flying unit. Can only attack air units
Gnarled: Powerful melee units, can Root and Eat Tree. Gnarled must be summoned at the Birthing Pool
Genesaur: Extremely powerful melee unit with Eat Tree, Entangling Roots, Force of Nature, and Cleaving Attack. Can only be summoned at the Birthing Pool

T1 Buildings​

Tree of Life: Basic worker producing structure. Produces Botani Workers. Botani Workers harvest gold and lumber normally
Ancient of War: Produces Botani Soldiers, Botani Archers, and Botani Vanguard. Contains the upgrades for the above units
Botani Hut: Food producing structure
Lumber Camp: Provides attack/armor upgrades and serves as a lumber gathering building
Ancient of Wonders: Item shop
Altar of Ancients: Produces Heroes

T2 Buildings​

Dark Ancient: Produces Botani Druids, Botani Mystics, and Treant Earthshapers. Contains the upgrades for these units

T3 Buildings​

Ancient of Lore: Produces Mandragoras and Infested Flyers
Birthing Pool: Turns nearby corpses into mana, which can be used to summon Genesaurs and Gnarled

​

Special Units​

Infested: Infested are weak cannon-fodder units created by Botani Druid’s Infest ability, and Lord of the Everbloom’s Infest Corpse.
Podling: Podlings are weak units that can spawn from a Botani Vanguard’s death after researching Podlings
Feral Lashers: Created by Botani Mystic’s Feral Lasher and the Bloom Guardian’s Grow Feral Lasher abilities. Feral Lashers are like tentacles, so they are wards, but are made from trees
Razor Lasher: Lashers are ward units created by Lord of the Everbloom, exactly like Serpent Wards
Vampiric Lasher: These lashers slow enemy units and deal DoT. Created by Lord of the Everbloom’s Grow Vampiric Lasher ability
Treants: Treants are summoned by Force of Nature.

Heroes​

Lord of the Everbloom: Melee hero skilled at summoning allies to battle.​

Has Infest Corpse: Raises a corpse as an Infested. Max 5
Grow Vampiric Lasher: Turns a tree into a Vampiric Lasher which slows and damages nearby enemy units
Razor Lasher: Summons a Razor Lasher ward to attack nearby enemies.
Grow Roots: Lays down Roots on the ground. Roots cast Entangling roots on nearby enemies, can grow trees, and can Spread Roots, growing another Roots unit

Forest Warden: Ranged hero and a good all around choice.​

Rejuvenation: Heals a unit over 5 seconds
Awaken Ancient: Turns a tree into a lesser Ancient
Spores: Like Cloud, but disrupts melee attacks only
Infest: Take control of a target enemy unit

Overlord of the Primals: Powerful melee hero with nature spells​

Cultivate: Grows trees from a corpse
Font of Life: Creates a pocket factory type-unit that spawns units
Colossal Blow: AoE damage and brief slow
Nature’s Blessing: Tranquility but lasts 10 seconds and heals 50 HP per second

Bloom Guardian: Powerful melee hero that can summon allies​

Grow Feral Lashers: Force of Nature but summons Feral Lashers from trees
Summon Mandragora: Calls a Mandragora to battle
Thorns Aura: Enemy units that attack friendly units take damage
Mass Entangle: Casts Entangling Roots over an area

Keeper of Deeproot: Powerful Melee hero and good all around choice​

Entangling Roots: Stops a unit from moving and deals DoT
Force of Nature: Summons Treants from trees
Recycle: Sacrifices an Ancient to restore health to nearby friendly units
Regrowth: Regrows trees in an area

Primals Items​

Fertilizer: Creates 3 corpses for use by the Botani army. Cooldown 100 seconds, has 2 charges
Ancient Growth Sap: Immediately completes construction of a target ancient. Has 2 charges, 60 second cooldown
Nature Orb: Adds +5 attack and creates and Infested from an affected unit's corpse


Now for some pictures




Video coming soon!

I've attached a copy of map (I hope) that should let you play around with the Primals! There are still somethings I'd like to implement, like making Gnarled become neutral when switching to tree mode to prevent auto-attack. And I am sure there are some bugs I haven't caught yet as well.

Thoughts? Critiques? Comments?

I look forward to them below!

 

[MogulKahn]

Greetings fellow Warcraft 3 enthusiasts!​

May I present to you my first WIP for the Techtree contest: The Primals!

View attachment 544526

Hailing from Draenor before the cataclysm the shattered that world, the Primals were a collection of Ancients, Treants, Botani, and other forest creatures that lived to spread their life giving essence to all corners of the world and to all of Draenor's denizens, even if it meant twisting them into terrible half-plant monstrosities. Led by powerful Genesaur, the Botani were a race of plant-men that fought alongside Ancients and other creatures. The Botani make up the backbone of the Primal's forces while Ancients provide most of the structures.

The Primals rely heavily on summoned allies. Most summoned units are created from trees. Spellcasters and heroes alike focus on creating trees and summoning allies from them. The Botani are also skilled at creating Infested from corpses, creating even more summons to swarm enemies. The Primals use their overwhelming numbers to crush the opposition.

Here is a quick outline of the race:

Primals Co-op units (Phylarch the Evergreen)​

​

T1 Units:​

Botani Soldier: Basic melee unit
Botani Archer: Basic ranged unit, can learn Marksmanship and Improved Bows
Botani Vanguard: Medium melee unit, can learn Spawn Podling, which spawns a Podling after death

T2 Units:​

Botani Druid: Basic spellcaster with Infest, Disenchant, and Rejuvenation. Infest is just like Parasite, except it spawns an Infested when the affected unit dies
Botani Mystic: Spellcaster with Nature’s Blessing, Grow Feral Lasher and Cultivate. Nature’s Blessing increases a target unit’s HP regen by 200% for 10 seconds. Grow Feral Lasher turns a tree into a Tentacle like Lasher that attacks nearby enemies. Cultivate turns a corpse into a tree
Treant Earthshaper: Spellcaster with Abolish Magic, Grow Tree, and Nature’s Fury. Grow Tree is exactly what it sounds like, you grow a tree at a point. Nature’s Fury is like Bloodlust but only effects Ancients

T3 Units​

Mandragora: Powerful siege unit. Can learn Spawn Mandragoras, which causes 2 lesser Mandragoras to spawn upon death
Infested Flyer: Light flying unit. Can only attack air units
Gnarled: Powerful melee units, can Root and Eat Tree. Gnarled must be summoned at the Birthing Pool
Genesaur: Extremely powerful melee unit with Eat Tree, Entangling Roots, Force of Nature, and Cleaving Attack. Can only be summoned at the Birthing Pool

T1 Buildings​

Tree of Life: Basic worker producing structure. Produces Botani Workers. Botani Workers harvest gold and lumber normally
Ancient of War: Produces Botani Soldiers, Botani Archers, and Botani Vanguard. Contains the upgrades for the above units
Botani Hut: Food producing structure
Lumber Camp: Provides attack/armor upgrades and serves as a lumber gathering building
Ancient of Wonders: Item shop
Altar of Ancients: Produces Heroes

T2 Buildings​

Dark Ancient: Produces Botani Druids, Botani Mystics, and Treant Earthshapers. Contains the upgrades for these units

T3 Buildings​

Ancient of Lore: Produces Mandragoras and Infested Flyers
Birthing Pool: Turns nearby corpses into mana, which can be used to summon Genesaurs and Gnarled

​

Special Units​

Infested: Infested are weak cannon-fodder units created by Botani Druid’s Infest ability, and Lord of the Everbloom’s Infest Corpse.
Podling: Podlings are weak units that can spawn from a Botani Vanguard’s death after researching Podlings
Feral Lashers: Created by Botani Mystic’s Feral Lasher and the Bloom Guardian’s Grow Feral Lasher abilities. Feral Lashers are like tentacles, so they are wards, but are made from trees
Razor Lasher: Lashers are ward units created by Lord of the Everbloom, exactly like Serpent Wards
Vampiric Lasher: These lashers slow enemy units and deal DoT. Created by Lord of the Everbloom’s Grow Vampiric Lasher ability
Treants: Treants are summoned by Force of Nature.

Heroes​

Lord of the Everbloom: Melee hero skilled at summoning allies to battle.​

View attachment 544511
Has Infest Corpse: Raises a corpse as an Infested. Max 5
Grow Vampiric Lasher: Turns a tree into a Vampiric Lasher which slows and damages nearby enemy units
Razor Lasher: Summons a Razor Lasher ward to attack nearby enemies.
Grow Roots: Lays down Roots on the ground. Roots cast Entangling roots on nearby enemies, can grow trees, and can Spread Roots, growing another Roots unit

Forest Warden: Ranged hero and a good all around choice.​

View attachment 544508
Rejuvenation: Heals a unit over 5 seconds
Awaken Ancient: Turns a tree into a lesser Ancient
Spores: Like Cloud, but disrupts melee attacks only
Infest: Take control of a target enemy unit

Overlord of the Primals: Powerful melee hero with nature spells​

View attachment 544512
Cultivate: Grows trees from a corpse
Font of Life: Creates a pocket factory type-unit that spawns units
Colossal Blow: AoE damage and brief slow
Nature’s Blessing: Tranquility but lasts 10 seconds and heals 50 HP per second

Bloom Guardian: Powerful melee hero that can summon allies​

View attachment 544513
Grow Feral Lashers: Force of Nature but summons Feral Lashers from trees
Summon Mandragora: Calls a Mandragora to battle
Thorns Aura: Enemy units that attack friendly units take damage
Mass Entangle: Casts Entangling Roots over an area

Keeper of Deeproot: Powerful Melee hero and good all around choice​

View attachment 544514
Entangling Roots: Stops a unit from moving and deals DoT
Force of Nature: Summons Treants from trees
Recycle: Sacrifices an Ancient to restore health to nearby friendly units
Regrowth: Regrows trees in an area

Primals Items​

Fertilizer: Creates 3 corpses for use by the Botani army. Cooldown 100 seconds, has 2 charges
Ancient Growth Sap: Immediately completes construction of a target ancient. Has 2 charges, 60 second cooldown
Nature Orb: Adds +5 attack and creates and Infested from an affected unit's corpse


Now for some pictures

View attachment 544515View attachment 544517View attachment 544518View attachment 544519View attachment 544527


Video coming soon!

I've attached a copy of map (I hope) that should let you play around with the Primals! There are still somethings I'd like to implement, like making Gnarled become neutral when switching to tree mode to prevent auto-attack. And I am sure there are some bugs I haven't caught yet as well.

Thoughts? Critiques? Comments?

I look forward to them below!

You have an extra point from me just for the courage to go with something completely unique! You and that Gelbin guy! Great job!

 

[ToaNoah]

You have an extra point from me just for the courage to go with something completely unique! You and that Gelbin guy! Great job!

Hey thanks man! Spent alot of work on these guys over the past month

 

[ToaNoah]

Here is the link to the video I promised. You can see generally how the race works, and a few things that don't quite work yet. But that's what the WIP #2 is for!

 

[Superfrycook]

Tanaris - Jaina's Human Survivors [TC-19]

 

[Footman16]

<<Footman 16's Entry for TTC #19>>

 

[ToaNoah]

Click here for the entry!

 

[AMarkov]

Hey everyone! Wishing the best of luck to all participants — the concepts so far are awesome!

Just wanted to share a few rough thoughts. In my opinion, the rules are currently the biggest bottleneck when it comes to executing ideas effectively. If you ever host another contest, I think the standard altered melee format may not be the best fit. To really capture the feel of SC2 Commanders in a Warcraft 3 environment, we might need a custom rule set. Something like:

• "Shifted" racial balance — with bold strengths and noticeable weaknesses compared to the default factions
• One central hero — a commander-like figure that defines the playstyle
• A core race mechanic — whether it’s a custom ability panel (like Karax), free unit summons (like Stukov), hero forms (like Fenix), relic hunting (like Zeratul), or something else unique
• Thematic unit selection — ideally matching the lore and personality of the commander, at least partially

Optionally, I’d also suggest creating a simple co-op mission map designed for 2 players, with one difficulty level and balanced for default races. Something easy to make but effective. I believe this would make the contest more appealing, especially for newcomers to mapmaking.

 

[Wazzz]

Hey everyone! Wishing the best of luck to all participants — the concepts so far are awesome!

Just wanted to share a few rough thoughts. In my opinion, the rules are currently the biggest bottleneck when it comes to executing ideas effectively. If you ever host another contest, I think the standard altered melee format may not be the best fit. To really capture the feel of SC2 Commanders in a Warcraft 3 environment, we might need a custom rule set. Something like:

• "Shifted" racial balance — with bold strengths and noticeable weaknesses compared to the default factions
• One central hero — a commander-like figure that defines the playstyle
• A core race mechanic — whether it’s a custom ability panel (like Karax), free unit summons (like Stukov), hero forms (like Fenix), relic hunting (like Zeratul), or something else unique
• Thematic unit selection — ideally matching the lore and personality of the commander, at least partially

Optionally, I’d also suggest creating a simple co-op mission map designed for 2 players, with one difficulty level and balanced for default races. Something easy to make but effective. I believe this would make the contest more appealing, especially for newcomers to mapmaking.

Hey there
These are some really nice insights, I think it could be worth taking a look into rulesets that bottleneck contest entries less! Maybe it's something that the host could look into? If you're willing, maybe you could brainstorm further suggestions, get him to check it out and workshop a less restrictive contest format for future reference?

 

[AMarkov]

Hey there
These are some really nice insights, I think it could be worth taking a look into rulesets that bottleneck contest entries less! Maybe it's something that the host could look into? If you're willing, maybe you could brainstorm further suggestions, get him to check it out and workshop a less restrictive contest format for future reference?

It doesn’t sound too difficult, especially since I’ve been deeply into the idea of adapting co-op for Warcraft ever since the release of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void back in 2015. The key would be avoiding strict limitations and instead adjusting the judging criteria—where balance takes a backseat to "fun" and leaves more room for subjective gameplay experiences. It would also help to prepare some sort of engaging base map or concept so that even participants would enjoy testing their race in actual "combat."

Maybe it’s an idea worth pitching around spring or summer of 2026? Starting another co-op-themed contest right now might just feel like overload.

 

[Kyrbi0]

... The key would be avoiding strict limitations and instead adjusting the judging criteria—where balance takes a backseat to "fun" and leaves more room for subjective gameplay experiences. ...

You'll notice we already did that for this one; the Judging Criteria say nothing about Balance (except perhaps obliquely through "Gameplay"). ; )