I was inspired by Terenas Menethil's post about a Dark horde guide to give my take on how to start blue since i'm tired of noob blues ruining pub games. plus this gave me something to do during quarantine so here ya go
“Glory to the Scourge!”
First 1-2 mins
-use throne to summon anub arak ( Take impale and his aura but anub should be level 10 before 12 mins anyway)
-use summon skeletons and frost nova from throne on the sholazar basin cp
-gather all forces into your starting boats and send them to tol barad (no need to make any more units for tol barad and remember to hit the lever)
-with your large starting gold make 8 gargs and your final 2 elites and send them to the nexus with another FT skeleton summon
-The rest of starting gold should be used on starting lumber operations WITH GHOULS!!!!
(personally i like mine to be right where anub spawns and in storm peaks. Be considerate of grey and leave him all lumber near Gundrak and howling fjord)
4-10 mins
-So far you should have 8 cps and anubs army should be coming back from tol barad. Once they land send them straight to azjol nerub instance and creep all of it. This is where you get majority of your exp so try and be fast but thorough above all else
-Use the gargs and elites from the nexus with anub to aim nadox very fast giving you control of all other units inside
-Once under your control create all of the aquir sentinels and have them join the creeping force so it goes faster
-continue through azjol killing all creeps including the faceless near yogg saron
-Once you exit out of the storm peaks kill the creeps there and the ones north of gundrak and continue your creeping circle back to the start of where anub first spawned
-Remove your gargoyles from your control groups and send them to the ranger corps island to the right of northrend. You can put your FT skeletons on boats to attack the island with the gargs.
-Saphirron is directly south of the FT near wyrmrest temple creep that and you should be lvl 9 then purchase the nerubian sorcery research to get anub to level 10 (if he's still lvl 8 after killing saph there is tuskar to the left of anubs spawn that should get you there and trolls further to the left that shouldn't have been creeped yet)
-You should have 12 cps. 8 from northrend which you should always have. 2 from tol barad, and 2 from the elven islands. If the alliance tries to take the islands from you don't worry you can always put your skeletons on boats to take the islands back. If the alliance bother to waste their resources on them it just benefits you since the skeletons cost nothing
10-20 mins
-Throughout the first 10 mins you will have ridiculous amounts of gold and lumber and you can use it depending on how you plan to attack the alliance
-You should be upgrading regardless into mainly defense upgrades, ranged attack, and hp bonuses for your troops. By around 10-12 mins you should have full hp bonuses and 4/4 ups or higher if you do not create a large navy. Don’t bother with melee dmg and magic dmg until your 6/6 in ranged and defense (this is where the first minute lumber operations come into play)
Now the most important part of blues game The Plague.
The most common mistake I see blues do is Plague when they aren't ready. Never ever listen to a legion team when they ask you to plague unless your ready or the game will be over without it. You should be doing civil war at the 20 min mark anyway. The Legion team is not your friends. The plague should be used to cause chaos and make your landing in EK easier not getting the alliance off the legions back.
There is 3 options for landing with plague and yes you must LAND somewhere with boats the deathgate will take to long for anywhere your going and has many bridges along the way and places to stall you
(I usually don't plague till after 15-20mins but that's just preference and can depend on the game and how fast you creep)
Kul tiras/hydromancers school (should only be done if legion is doing well and 4-5 alliance is camping north for plague) This strategy can be done very early since it's not the most important spot for alliance to protect but it could net you 2 large cps and stop dg from making hydros plus really only Dalaran and Silvermoon can contest you since they are only ones with teleports. The real goal for this strat is the hydros school. If the alliance overwhelms after you kill it no need to stick around just get in boats and drop somewhere else. Hitting after Gilneas will cripple dalarans economy or just go straight to capitol since teleports are on cooldown
Capitol ( DO NOT DO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE IF 2-3 ALLIANCE ARE THERE AND GENERATORS ARE ALL OVER CAPITOL) Personally I hate going to capital its the most obvious attack and I think its suicide against any smart alliance team since the choke is very strong and generators can stall you out till you get overwhelmed by more alliance members joining the fight. With that said capitol is also one of the most important locations for the whole alliance so its a very high risk high reward option that can give you a lot of objective resources and the crown of lordaeron the best item in the game. This strategy shouldn't be thrown to the side though, if an alliance isn't going to prepare it then it can turn into an easy way to break the alliance
Windrunner spire (MUST SACRIFICE EARLY UPGRADES FOR NAVY GET AT LEAST 10 TOTAL BATTLESHIPS TO DO THIS)
This is the best strategy in my opinion because no alliance is ever going to be camping Quel Thalas and your superior navy and air will make short work of the Spire. It also makes you unable to be flanked which is usually what destroys an early game scourge going for cap. Killing spire may not seem like much but it makes halduron unrevivable and makes rangers unable to create elites ever. (this may have been changed with the new silvermoon path for rangers don’t know though) This can also be a way to get the sunwell early if you can get both spire and the runestones. You can grab deatholme for grey giving him a demi and gold. Most importantly you can lure sylvanas out of the south letting you get a chance to have her join you. Lastly if your about to land spire and realize that the alliance are waiting for you can fake the spire attack and land in stratholme to knock off another objective and save your army.
Lastly just a few a tips
-Remember your true strength lies after civil war, you can 1v1 anyone and 1v2 most others, but before that respect who your fighting since without civil war you're nowhere near as powerful
-Civil War gives an extra level to all your active heros so get saph and putress the minute you research it for extra levels on them too
-you have a shit ton of gold don't be scared to use it on items like teleports and staff of silence also mana pots are a must
-purge on your elites is your best tool for hero aim space them out with all your other spells like impale and saphs slow and frost breath to make sure nothing can runaway
-meat wagons with the splinter upgrades do stupid amounts of aoe dmg to backlines always have the max amount and aim it at the casters
- The FT has amazing abilities and can sometimes force an early alliance rush out of northrend alone. Nova and skeletons on cd if anyones in northrend
-Never get the frost wyrm upgrade they are good enough as they are and not worth losing your aqir sentinels
-forgot to mention for putress go into healing spray and his ghoul summon and for saph get his cold breath and aoe slow
-get the nerubian upgrade that can only be researched from azjol nerub I always forget about it myself
-Blue domintes in air, aoe, and survivablility its not a bad idea to just rush any caster races backline with you wyrms plus impale meat wagons can finish the rest
-you may find yourself with too much food after plague and civil war just detonate all aboms and nerubian guards that you arent using since they are 2 food a piece
And here is my control groups post civil war but it's all preference
“Glory to the Scourge!”
First 1-2 mins
-use throne to summon anub arak ( Take impale and his aura but anub should be level 10 before 12 mins anyway)
-use summon skeletons and frost nova from throne on the sholazar basin cp
-gather all forces into your starting boats and send them to tol barad (no need to make any more units for tol barad and remember to hit the lever)
-with your large starting gold make 8 gargs and your final 2 elites and send them to the nexus with another FT skeleton summon
-The rest of starting gold should be used on starting lumber operations WITH GHOULS!!!!
(personally i like mine to be right where anub spawns and in storm peaks. Be considerate of grey and leave him all lumber near Gundrak and howling fjord)
4-10 mins
-So far you should have 8 cps and anubs army should be coming back from tol barad. Once they land send them straight to azjol nerub instance and creep all of it. This is where you get majority of your exp so try and be fast but thorough above all else
-Use the gargs and elites from the nexus with anub to aim nadox very fast giving you control of all other units inside
-Once under your control create all of the aquir sentinels and have them join the creeping force so it goes faster
-continue through azjol killing all creeps including the faceless near yogg saron
-Once you exit out of the storm peaks kill the creeps there and the ones north of gundrak and continue your creeping circle back to the start of where anub first spawned
-Remove your gargoyles from your control groups and send them to the ranger corps island to the right of northrend. You can put your FT skeletons on boats to attack the island with the gargs.
-Saphirron is directly south of the FT near wyrmrest temple creep that and you should be lvl 9 then purchase the nerubian sorcery research to get anub to level 10 (if he's still lvl 8 after killing saph there is tuskar to the left of anubs spawn that should get you there and trolls further to the left that shouldn't have been creeped yet)
-You should have 12 cps. 8 from northrend which you should always have. 2 from tol barad, and 2 from the elven islands. If the alliance tries to take the islands from you don't worry you can always put your skeletons on boats to take the islands back. If the alliance bother to waste their resources on them it just benefits you since the skeletons cost nothing
10-20 mins
-Throughout the first 10 mins you will have ridiculous amounts of gold and lumber and you can use it depending on how you plan to attack the alliance
-You should be upgrading regardless into mainly defense upgrades, ranged attack, and hp bonuses for your troops. By around 10-12 mins you should have full hp bonuses and 4/4 ups or higher if you do not create a large navy. Don’t bother with melee dmg and magic dmg until your 6/6 in ranged and defense (this is where the first minute lumber operations come into play)
Now the most important part of blues game The Plague.
The most common mistake I see blues do is Plague when they aren't ready. Never ever listen to a legion team when they ask you to plague unless your ready or the game will be over without it. You should be doing civil war at the 20 min mark anyway. The Legion team is not your friends. The plague should be used to cause chaos and make your landing in EK easier not getting the alliance off the legions back.
There is 3 options for landing with plague and yes you must LAND somewhere with boats the deathgate will take to long for anywhere your going and has many bridges along the way and places to stall you
(I usually don't plague till after 15-20mins but that's just preference and can depend on the game and how fast you creep)
Kul tiras/hydromancers school (should only be done if legion is doing well and 4-5 alliance is camping north for plague) This strategy can be done very early since it's not the most important spot for alliance to protect but it could net you 2 large cps and stop dg from making hydros plus really only Dalaran and Silvermoon can contest you since they are only ones with teleports. The real goal for this strat is the hydros school. If the alliance overwhelms after you kill it no need to stick around just get in boats and drop somewhere else. Hitting after Gilneas will cripple dalarans economy or just go straight to capitol since teleports are on cooldown
Capitol ( DO NOT DO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE IF 2-3 ALLIANCE ARE THERE AND GENERATORS ARE ALL OVER CAPITOL) Personally I hate going to capital its the most obvious attack and I think its suicide against any smart alliance team since the choke is very strong and generators can stall you out till you get overwhelmed by more alliance members joining the fight. With that said capitol is also one of the most important locations for the whole alliance so its a very high risk high reward option that can give you a lot of objective resources and the crown of lordaeron the best item in the game. This strategy shouldn't be thrown to the side though, if an alliance isn't going to prepare it then it can turn into an easy way to break the alliance
Windrunner spire (MUST SACRIFICE EARLY UPGRADES FOR NAVY GET AT LEAST 10 TOTAL BATTLESHIPS TO DO THIS)
This is the best strategy in my opinion because no alliance is ever going to be camping Quel Thalas and your superior navy and air will make short work of the Spire. It also makes you unable to be flanked which is usually what destroys an early game scourge going for cap. Killing spire may not seem like much but it makes halduron unrevivable and makes rangers unable to create elites ever. (this may have been changed with the new silvermoon path for rangers don’t know though) This can also be a way to get the sunwell early if you can get both spire and the runestones. You can grab deatholme for grey giving him a demi and gold. Most importantly you can lure sylvanas out of the south letting you get a chance to have her join you. Lastly if your about to land spire and realize that the alliance are waiting for you can fake the spire attack and land in stratholme to knock off another objective and save your army.
Lastly just a few a tips
-Remember your true strength lies after civil war, you can 1v1 anyone and 1v2 most others, but before that respect who your fighting since without civil war you're nowhere near as powerful
-Civil War gives an extra level to all your active heros so get saph and putress the minute you research it for extra levels on them too
-you have a shit ton of gold don't be scared to use it on items like teleports and staff of silence also mana pots are a must
-purge on your elites is your best tool for hero aim space them out with all your other spells like impale and saphs slow and frost breath to make sure nothing can runaway
-meat wagons with the splinter upgrades do stupid amounts of aoe dmg to backlines always have the max amount and aim it at the casters
- The FT has amazing abilities and can sometimes force an early alliance rush out of northrend alone. Nova and skeletons on cd if anyones in northrend
-Never get the frost wyrm upgrade they are good enough as they are and not worth losing your aqir sentinels
-forgot to mention for putress go into healing spray and his ghoul summon and for saph get his cold breath and aoe slow
-get the nerubian upgrade that can only be researched from azjol nerub I always forget about it myself
-Blue domintes in air, aoe, and survivablility its not a bad idea to just rush any caster races backline with you wyrms plus impale meat wagons can finish the rest
-you may find yourself with too much food after plague and civil war just detonate all aboms and nerubian guards that you arent using since they are 2 food a piece
And here is my control groups post civil war but it's all preference
1.All ground heros and elites plus any frontline that can fit in the remaining slots
2. Saph, frost wyrms and gargs
3. Aqir sentinels
4. Nerubian sorcs
5. Meat wagons and obsidian statues
6. Starting crypt fiends if they are still alive
9. FT
0. Azjol barracks
You can throw in some vrykul casters or crypt fiends but personally i'm just too lazy
0. Azjol barracks
You can throw in some vrykul casters or crypt fiends but personally i'm just too lazy
