BEST USE 4 EVERY ITEM! (almost) Warcraft 3 Direct Strike Guide

[@PicaPinguin]

🔴 Which Items you like the most? 🔴More Direct Strike Guides👉 kzbin.info/aero/PL1n6dh2IhuU3i-s4MS46dIDqeAjiD4Puv

[@Matt-ln7lb]

A bit of math on the items: - Flat Health (Khadgar's gem): Best up to ~900-1275HP - note that Giant Strength is 2/3 the HP and +0.5 regen; the breakpoint is similarly around 2/3 before armor or evasion becomes better from a purely defensive standpoint - even on strength heroes, gem is often better than belt if all that's really needed is for the hero to survive longer, especially in the early game. - +5 Armor (Ring +5): Best when above ~900hp with ~4 armor, or ~1000hp with 6, etc... ~+45 hp per point of armor to the breakpoint. - Talisman of Evasion: Best at 12+ armor/~1275hp (factoring regen, probably more like 1200hp) - Ring of Regeneration: Requires ~56.25s to match with Khadgar's, disregarding that it costs ~half as much. If your hero is taking damage and living for longer than that consistently, then it is worth it; factoring cost, it'd be closer to 28s. Definitely at its best on Warden level 5+, Pally, or Blademaster (all 3 can drop aggro with their abilities to survive for a relatively long time) and some ranged heroes that will get attacked (eg: draw aggro from flying units) without dying. - For Amulet vs Braciers - it basically just comes down to how frequently spells are being tossed at the hero and how much magic damage they're taking. Bracers is better than flat HP when spell damage the hero is taking starts to exceed ~700 (which is unlikely unless there are multiple Farseer/MK/DK/Pally). Amulet is better if blocking 1 spell every 15s is better than blocking 33% spell damage, so is usually better until there are multiple farseers tossing firebolts or something; it is, of course, also very good vs dark ranger, as it will block drain and prevent healing. Mana Items - Pendant of Mana vs Sobi mask: Sobi mask is usually between 0.8 and ~2 regen, so it can take a very long time to beat out Sobi Mask. Warden, for Example, has only 2.2 mana regen at level 10, and 0.81 at level 1, making Sobi Mask between ~0.6 and ~1.65 regen without other bonuses from additional intelligence, so a Warden needs to survive for more than a full wave (~120s) before Sobi Mask will match the value of a Pendant of Mana, even at level 10. Frankly, Pendant will usually be better even on Warden, as you generally want it to die before your wave spawns anyway. If the choice is between the two, I'd always go for pendant of Mana. If going for regen, you might as well shell out for the Aura, which is a flat +3 - it'll have only a little bit worse cost efficiency than Sobi mask, but also helps your allies and casters. - Robe of the Magi gives 150 mana and 0.5 regen, so purely for mana, it becomes better than Pendant after ~100s of the hero staying alive, or ~300s if you're factoring cost, as it costs 50% more than the other two items. Agility is 0.3 armor and 2% attack speed per point - compared to Ring +5 (225) and Gloves of Haste (140), Boots +10 (+3 armor, +20% AS) would be worth ~320 gold, so it's a little bit over-costed on any non-agility hero, though the same can be said for Intelligence (~150 compared to pendant/sobi)/Strength (~180 compared to khadgar's/regen), but it can be worth the value on agility heroes IF they are surviving long enough to make use of it (more of that value is in the attack speed). The biggest problem for agility is that the stats don't really work together and are dependent on other stats, making it only useful much later into the game - armor and attack speed are completely different categories of effects, and you'd often only really care about one of the two, and they scale off of HP and damage, so are much more dependent on hero level and other items when compared to Str and Int, which give HP + regen or mana + regen, which sort of compound on themselves by giving the base stats and regen that other percentage-based items (Armor, Evasion, and regen) scale off of. *Note that mixed stat items are priced in line with their single stat counterparts valued at ~35 for Agi, 25 for strength, and 15* for Int (*+10 int is 180, so it's valued a little lower for the combined stat items). 300 for +5 Str/Agi, 250 for +5 Agi/Int, 200 for +5 Str/Int, and 225 for +3 all - probably the only one worth touching is Str+Int for a strength hero that also could use a little bit of mana. For an Agi/Int hero, you're better off buying Khadgar's + boots/robe than the mixed items. On Orbs: - Orb of Venom's DoT is 21 DPS. It's actually more extra dps than Orb of Corruption until there's at least ~100-180 DPS being pumped into the target (depending on armor - Orb is ~14-24% bonus damage - ~14% being in the extreme case of vs heroes with ~20 armor. Vs units with armor upgrades, it'll usually be around 20%), and it's cheaper. If you're looking for a strong anti-air orb for damage, especially if the hero switches targets a lot due to frequent ability casts (eg: Pally/DK/Warden, any hero with very short cd abilities), Orb of Venom can be a good choice. - Orb of Corruption: -5 armor caps out at a ~32% damage amp and will usually be closer to 25-28%. For 300 gold, I think you're actually generally better off NOT buying this unless the hero has particularly high AA damage on its own or you're up against MGs. That is a lot, but often units are overkilling quite a lot anyway due to projectiles, and except vs MGs or a stacked melee hero (especially TC) after the rest of the army is dead, units generally aren't all focusing the same target. If you're looking to boost army DPS, buying Trueshot, Command or even Endurance aura will very likely contribute more for the cost. That ~20-30% extra damage will often require something like 5 other units attacking the same target as the hero to net better value than the cheaper Orb of Venom. - Orb of fire: It's cheap, and, sometimes, that 90% heal reduction is actually as good or better than the -5 armor of orb of corruption, if there's a pally spamming heals on a stacked tank hero, for example. - Orb of Slow: Basically only good vs t3 chim/wyrm rush or a stacked pit lord or something. Few heroes really deal enough damage On Auras: One thing you didn't mention there was movement speed. The reason Unholy Aura and Endurance are very good is that the extra movement speed makes you more likely to stack with the ally before you, as you reach them a bit faster. 7% attack speed, 10% damage, or 1.5 armor are pretty similar value to an upgrade in the late game, so for ~100-200 more, they *can* be more value than a +3 upgrade if the hero is stacking a lot. Pipe is a bit of a funny one, because it can be almost as good of value for the hero that buys it as Sobi Mask, so the aura effect is sort of just a bonus. If you have multiple heroes or lots of casters to benefit from the mana, it's a pretty easy one to justify.

[@NortenNox]

ty! very good comment

[@PicaPinguin]

interesting analyse - thx man

[@ericshun3331]

just commenting on orb of corruption, you didnt factor in the bonus dmg other units are getting from attacking the same target. It a very powerful item, not to be ignored if you are vs a high hp/armor hero such as demon hunter

[@PicaPinguin]

@@ericshun3331 good point i guess it is kinda hard to calculate this thou cause depends on units i guess we can say in general ORB is better vs BIG units like MG then ghouls

[@Matt-ln7lb]

@@ericshun3331 I did actually. Consider this: You can buy Orb of Corruption for ~+20-25% damage to your hero's target for 300, or you can buy command aura for +7-10% damage to your entire army for 500. Which is better? How much of your army is attacking the same thing as the hero? How many attacks are landing after the hero hits that target? Etc... It might be as high as ~20% of your army focusing the same target as the hero, in which case, it's only a ~4-6% increase in overall army DPS (significantly worse than any attack upgrade), and that's assuming the hero is hitting its target first every time, which it probably is not, and even that much of the army focusing the same target as the hero is a lot; it might only be 10% or so. At that point, you're basically better off just buying command, endurance, or Trueshot, which affect the entire army, even factoring their higher cost. Of course, sometimes it'll also be quite a bit more than that, and orb of corruption can be very good vs tanks/MGs/tauren/Wyrms/chims/tanky melee heroes, especially when they're in small numbers 25% of 50% of your army is a 12.5% boost in damage, which is obviously very good, but such situations are fairly rare. Vs MGs in particular, much of your army will be taunted to focus them, and the flat damage reduction is applied after armor, so reducing armor has an even greater proportional effect on damage. Maybe vs a stacked melee hero as well, but vs most other things, it's actually just okay, since damage is likely to be split. It's certainly not much higher priority than Auras in the general sense, if at all. Or you can buy venom orb, which is a bit cheaper at 250 and gives a straight +21 dps(+~105-126 over the duration if the hero switches targets) that ignores armor - which is better in the case of your hero being the only anti-air or something. I like it quite a bit on tanky melee heroes, for example. A stacked tanky hero can kill a LOT of chims/wyrms on their own, and venom is the best orb for that.

[@Khantia]

The combination of Endurance + Unholy auras is not to be underestimated. It makes your army reach the front line much faster, which helps you to stack with your ally. If your team is at the enemy core, you usually get no more than 1 hit in (of few units) before the enemy spawns and diverts your attention. But with these auras, you take down huge chunk of its HP down (and often end the game), as you reach a lot sooner and a lot more units get a chance to attack it, some more than once. I also like Unholy on Warden, as it's kind a like Ring of Regeneration, but helps everyone, and not just the hero :P

[@PicaPinguin]

if u like it - go play it but i wouldnt buy an ford for 1 Million if i can get a ferrari for it - you know the auras are fine but not for the cost they have imo

[@Khantia]

@@PicaPinguin actually, this is a better game ender than anything else.. Had a game where we were conveniently beating the enemy at every wave, and we were reaching their core, but we just couldn't get any hits in before the next enemy spawned. So I just bought these 2 auras and next wave we won the game. And the reverse is also true. I've had a bad early game composition, so we were losing. I finally start stabilizing, and we have a chance to turn things around, but the enemy has bought these auras and arrives at our core much earlier than I can spawn, and they win right then and there. I mean... yeah, a TC + DK heroes may be better as they cost a bit less than the auras, and they provide more. And if they get to level 3 or 5, their auras are actually better. But what are the chances of getting these 2 heroes and how many waves will you need to level them? And if your main hero is "safe" like warden or something ranged, then it's actually better to have them on your main, as they are less likely to die.

[@PicaPinguin]

@@Khantia did u reposition your units more to front / back? cause this literally has the same outcome FOR FREE! their are simply cheaper more efficient ways to stack waves yes if you are playing lower mmr this might work but that doesnt mean this is the best solution imo! in some games buying auras might worth it but u can literally also ruine your game if you buy them in the wrong spot cause they sooo expensive for okay value watch the top ladder player play - you see 0 aura buyer their for a reason! i do agree that in some games its kinda hard stack waves - maybe i give it a try just to see if iam missing somethink so thx for try convincing me of this

[@hakerbow]

With unholy frenzy lasting 45 seconds and having a 10 second cooldown i like getting the doomhorn to just leave frenzy on. It allows each necromancer to have frenzy on 2-3 units when the battle starts, while not paying that much HP for that extra damage. It feels like it is more cost effective than just getting more necros at some point. But I don't know if this is a good idea.

[@PicaPinguin]

hey man, you never buy doomhorn for the hp regen! thats wasted money imo! toggling cost 0 gold and is way better! u also want a lot of skellies out & dont want waste all mana on frenzy!

[@BengaIaas]

My problem with Boots is that for a hero's autoattacks to become a significant source of damage, you usually need either Bloodlust or Frenzy, so the attackspeed gained from agility is not as important in the late game and the item is too expensive to get early. I like belts on melee heroes whose autoattacks matter, like Dreadlord and Mantle on spammy Int heroes like FS or Lich. Other than that, i might get Khadgar on a melee agi hero or ring of protection on a low armor str. Hero, and orbs and auras situationally

[@PicaPinguin]

finally someone who understands my videos :D thx man

[@Ranger_Danger2899]

Belt of giant strength is one of my favorite items to buy for the bulkiness and damage it does for strength heroes but i think Medallion of courage early on gives so much value with the additional mana + strength. Makes using chieftan first hero so much more manageable

[@PicaPinguin]

good point it gives TC an second shockwave right? thats reasonable but depends on heroes like on paladin belt is definetly way better cause he doesnt need more mana at all

[@sycariummoonshine7134]

You can but Both movement speed auras to stack. Its very costy but it _can_ used right end the game right there. Used wrong and you lose the game ofc.

[@Ronin3453]

What about the items that give varied stat bonuses? Like circlet, mask... etc.

[@PicaPinguin]

imo very bad

[@joshuaschlueter9494]

Any comments on how to counter warden? With blink spam, seems to OP

[@ericshun3331]

Stuns and silence

[@PicaPinguin]

Manadrain is also quiet good vs warden

[@hifive5067]

Great question ! You dont - the warden player would get ring of regeneration and sobi mask, this will get him to level 6 in no time. By the time you get to level 6, he will have a second hero, at level 4. This is the beauty of the game - the skill ceiling is tied to RNG, so no matter how good you are, if you get bad draft, you certainly lose.

[@SpaceWitch144]

I guess poison orb is bad, that it did not deserve to be mentioned)

[@PicaPinguin]

yes that is the case the items i didnt mentioned are giga bad imo atm

[@Seranuelian]

this is the most german accent to ever german

[@PicaPinguin]

indeed it is :D

[@duhsbo]

No, it's not even close. Haven't heard a single yah

[@tras3927]

I kind of disagree with the auras. They can give you huge power spikes in the early endgame. A third hero is most of the time better, but definitely not always. If my team is building up a stack I like to get auras earlier for example. On warden I would always buy armor aura over third armor upgrade only cost 100 more and she will stack often. And true shot is a plain DMG multiplier as well as attack speed, so it makes upgrades more valuable.

[@PicaPinguin]

hey man, what u consider the "early endgame"?

[@albertkaminski786]

Tras3927 is one of the grubbies, dont listen to that guy

[@tras3927]

@PicaPinguin I consider endgame when everybody has researched their tech innerfire drums... , has a few t3 unites and people start to go for their second hero. Basically the point in the game when the options become to get more of everything and ultis start to kick in. In this stage an aura if you have 2 heros can be more valuable then getting a frostwyrm for example especially if you know you will stack with your team.

[@ericshun3331]

Did you just say trueshot gives attack speed

[@PicaPinguin]

he said that trueshot & attack speed aura is very strong for more dmg