Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Hints

Mission 14: The Great Portal

• Mission Objectives:
  
  - Destroy the Great Portal
  
  Finally, after all of this work you stand one mission away from conquering Warcraft 2!  Be warned, however, this level is fast and furious.  Just getting started can be full of problems, and you will most likely need to save and load your game numerous times before you get it right.  You really only need to destroy the Great Portal, but you get a MUCH better score if you destroy everything.
  
  To start things off, move 6 Knights into one Transport, 6 Footmen in another, and 4 Archers with 2 Ballistas into the last one.  Move these ships along with your 2 Destroyers and Battleship slowly west.  SAVE YOUR GAME!  It gets really tricky right now.  With your Battleship and Destoyers, attack the top tower.  While the Cannon Towers are occupied, unload the Transport with the 6 Knights.  Use these Knights to kill the Catapult and Ogres.  It really helps if you move your Knights a bit north, out of Cannon Tower range.  Unload your Footmen if you need them.  Taking this beach will be very costly.  When the top Cannon Tower is destroyed, attack the middle one.  If you don't see anymore Ogres or Catapults, use your Knights to assist in the destruction of the middle Cannon Tower.  When the middle Tower is destroyed, have any remaining Knights run north out of range of the third Tower.  Unload your 2 Ballistas at the very north point of the beach.  They will be out of Cannon Tower range, and the third Tower will
  
  easily fall.
  
  Move all of your units onto the beach, and set a defensive line.  If you've made it this far, save your game again.
  
  Slowly take a Knight (or Footman, but Knights work better) north into the unexplored territory.  As soon as you spot an Ogre, retreat to your defensive line and have the Ogre cut down in a folly of arrows and smashed to bits with war-hammers!  Continue to do this until you have cleared the area of Ogres. Once the enemy is gone, destroy the buildings, but DO NOT destroy the Ogre Mound next to the north mine, and DO NOT destroy the Ogre Mound directly south of the north mine, above the tree line.  Destroying any one of these will trigger 3 Dragons to come, and it's very hard to defend yourself against them right now.  Build a Town Hall as close to the north mine as you can.  The south mine barely has any gold in it, and it is not worth a Town Hall yet.  Yes, there is mud all around the mine, and your Town Hall will be sort of far away, but it is worth it.  Make a Lumber Mill and Barracks, and construct as many farms as you can.  Destroy all of your ships, as they are using up the food that you desperately need.
  
  Dragons should be attacking by now.  Construct Guard Towers (GUARD, not Cannon) and place them around the perimeter of your town.  One Guard Tower can usually kill a Dragon.  Dragons will attack relentlessly.  Only build Archers, and once you upgrade the arrows it will be much easier to keep the Dragons at bay.  When you feel you are ready to take on 3 Dragons at once, destroy the Ogre Mounds, and within seconds the Dragons will be upon you.
  
  By now a new problem should be arising.  Death Knights will come and cast Death Coil and Whirlwinds on you.  3 Death Knights will run back and forth from their base to your base, and whenever they see one of your units they will either Death Coil it or Whirlwind it.  If they see one of your buildings they will use Death and Decay.  The only way to defend against these Death Knights is to use one member of your defender as a "decoy." Have this decoy stand out in front, away from the rest of your units.  The Death Knight will cast Death Coil on it, most likely killing it.  But it is better to lose one unit then to lose a group of them.  Do this until you have a fairly good defense, then attack the Death Knights in numbers.  Group 9 Archers or Knights together and charge the Death Knight.  It will use Death Coil then run, but your units can chase it down and kill it.  If you can hold out long enough to where you have made a Castle, then simply use Exorcism.
  
  Luckily, the Dragons should be giving you a break right about now.  Your mine has probably run out, so build a new Town Hall next to the south mine.  When that is gone, use Demolition Squads and blast your way north through the rocks.  There is a big mine there that will keep you going.  Upgrade everything as fast as you possibly can.  Get Mages, and research Polymorph.  Make at least 6 Mages, because Polymorph will be a great help in your fight.  Go east with your Mages, and Polymorph the defenders of the Black Tooth Grin Clan base (black).  Polymorph won't work on the Catapult, so lure it away, then ambush it with Knights.  When the front lines of the black base are down, send 9 fully upgraded Paladins in to finish the base off.  Be prepared for a good fight though.  There are still a few Ogre-Mages and Troll Axethrowers.  When the black base is completely destroyed, build a Town Hall next to their mine. This mine should hold you over until you beat the level.
  
  Dragons will be attacking like crazy now.  Construct 3 Gryphon Aviaries, and continuously pump out Gryphons.  Some people forget about the Heal spell.  Yes, you can heal Gryphons, and you are going to have to if you want to beat the level.  When you have at least 9 Gryphons, attack the left side of the DragonMaw base (white).  This side doesn't have any Guard Towers, which will soon be a nuisance.  Kill the Dragons, then attack the Dragon Roost.  Once destroyed, Dragons will come at you twice as slowly!  :-)  Okay, retreat your Gryphons and heal them with your Paladins.  Replace killed Gryphons, and attack the right side.  This time there are Guard Towers.  Lure the Dragons away, the kill them.  Next go in and destroy the Guard Towers that can harm you as you attack the Dragon Roost.  I think there are 3 that you must destroy now.  The fourth is too far away.  Peons will try and repair the Dragon Roost, but if you attack a couple of farms they will be busy fixing those, so you can easily destroy the Dragon Ro
  ost.
  
  With your remaining Gryphons, attack the ships that are stationed around the map.  There are only 4 Troll Destroyers.  Go for these first, because they are the only ships that can attack air units.  Next destroy the Juggernauts.  There are a few Turtles in the water, so be on watch for those.  Make a shipyard near the southwest oil well, and make a few oil tankers.  Make a refinery and a foundry, then make 2 Transports.  Load these Transports up with Paladins and a Ballista, and take it up to the mud bank.  Unload it and attack any remaining white units.  Shuttle a few Peasants over and build a Barracks and a Shipyard on the inner water ring.  Build 2 Transports with the new Shipyard. With the Barracks make 12 fully upgraded Archers (or should I say Rangers) and load them into the new Transports.
  
  With 2 Mages, cast Invisibility on the 2 Transports and bring them around to the center island.  Beach the Transports out of sight range of the Death Knights (they can see invisible things) and unload them both.  The Archers should immediately fire at the Demons, and quickly kill them.  The Death Knights will cast Whirlwind on your Archers, so move them out of the way.  Kill the Demons first, then attack the Death Knights.  Once the Death Knights run out of magic power they will run away, and not attack your units.  When the enemy units are dead, attack the Temple of the Damned, and finally the Great Portal! Congratulations, you've beaten Warcraft 2!!!!
  
  Note: You COULD just go directly for the Great Portal in the very beginning, but only wimps do that.  You won't get nearly enough points, and you've come so far! Don't you want the last level to be a fierce fight to the finish, not just a stroll down the block?!?  If you'd rather take the easy way out, just send a couple of Gryphons over, kill the Demons, Death Knights, then the Great Portal.
  
  The Orc ending sequence is much better than the Human one, but still, this one's pretty cool....
  

• Up One Level