Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos - Orc Chapter 5: The Hunter of Shadows
By Daniel D'Agostino, 2010-09-07
This is a pictorial walkthrough for Chapter 5 of the Orc Campaign in Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos. In this scenario you command Grom Hellscream and his forces from the Warsong clan against the Night Elf demigod Cenarius.
Cenarius is obviously pissed off because, in the previous scenario, Grom tore down a good section of Ashenvale forest using peons and goblin shredders. So he has decided to teach the orcs a lesson.
As soon as you begin the scenario, you are already under attack. This is the classical under-siege scenario where you start with three or four expansion bases, lose them to enemy forces, end up with only one main base, and have to recapture them. Similar scenarios are also present in Starcraft: Brood War and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.
There is nothing you can do to stop the oncoming forces from destroying your three outer bases, but you can save around three peons by moving them to your main base. Also, you should begin creating several units (especially ranged ones that can attack chimaerae) because as soon as your outer bases fall, the southeast base becomes the main target.
When the outer bases are destroyed, Cenarius appears and regrows the forest. Enemy bases replace your outer bases.
Cenarius then commands his warriors to basically rip your heart out. The Night Elf assault forces will attack you, and are not easy to hold off, so you will lose a decent amount of your defenders and also some outer watch towers and orc burrows.
Once the attack is thwarted, a witch doctor informs you about a nearby power source that you should investigate.
At this point attacking the Night Elves is futile. When they are in danger, Cenarius will come to their aid, and his divine armour makes it impossible for you to kill him with your current forces. So your goals are to first defend yourself against Night Elf attacks, and then go and find this power source.
Start building defences. Bolster your defending forces, and build watch towers along the southwest and northwest entrances to your base. Once the towers are ready, build a great hall near the gold mine to the north, for when your gold resources run out.
Also, it is a good idea to place sentry wards near the enemy bases. That way you can monitor their movements. For example in this case I caught a group of Night Elves heading for my northwest entrance, so I sent Grom to rip them apart with Bladestorm before they could even approach my defenders.
When your defences are strong enough, send Grom north of your base with a light backup force. Kill the wolves and go on until you reach the trees blocking your path.
Here you have the option of using peons or catapults to get rid of the trees. Since I don't like to be wasteful of resources, I opted for peons. In this case you might like to call in your gold miners to speed up the process. However, keep an escort with them, as furbolgs will attack as soon as you make an opening in the trees.
Basically, you now have to fight your way through to the Chaos Well. Along the way are furbolgs, skeletons and satyrs, as well as a goblin merchant, a fountain of healing and a way gate.
Kill the satyrs by the Chaos Well to complete the first main quest. You may want to heal up (using the nearby fountain and/or witch doctors) and maybe bolster your party before you attack, as it is not an easy battle for a handful of units, but Grom's abilities help a lot.
So as the story goes, Grom and his followers drink Mannoroth's blood from the Chaos Well. Thus they are seduced to the Dark Side of the Force, or rather, they become wild and destructive (i.e. chaos orcs) as the story says they were in Warcraft 2 because they were similarly corrupted on Draenor.
Now all your Orc units have become Chaos Orcs, meaning they do full damage to all armour types (including Cenarius' divine armour), and the Orc Shaman becomes a Chaos Orc Warlock with different spells. Great, just what we needed to kill Cenarius, right?
Now you can begin by attacking the southwestern Night Elves. If you're still producing units then Grom can combine Wind Walk, Bladestorm and another Wind Walk as an effective hit-and-run routine to cut down defences in anticipation of your main attack with a small army.
When you see Cenarius coming, run! He's still very powerful, and you want to catch him alone when you have your whole army. Once he's gone, go back and raze what remains of the base.
Now you can start attacking the blue base. The green base is dangerously close to Cenarius' hideout (centre west) so leave it alone.
At this point my gold mine collapsed. When this happens, obviously, use the gold mine on the north side of your base.
Just past the blue base I found this odd circle of mushrooms, beside the waterfall. It doesn't seem to do anything.
Keep attacking the blue base. The screenshot above right shows Cenarius using Tranquility. Apparently he has all the same powers as a Keeper of the Grove - he's only got the class of a demigod.
This is Cenarius' hideout.
At any time when Cenarius comes in aid of his falling bases, you can engage him once you gather all your forces. In this case I chose to do it after destroying the second base, but you can do it while attacking any base. Just remember it is hard to kill him, so the less Night Elves there are to help him, the better. Gather round him and cut him down.
Once you have killed him, Mannoroth appears and hires Grom.