posted 05-03-03 08:09 PM CT (US)
The Human Alliance Blood Mage. Many of the stoic high elves, reeling from the loss of their ancient homeland, Quel'Thalas, have given in to their hatred and despair and embraced the dark side of their magical natures. Calling themselves 'blood elves' - these cold hearted refugees seek to expand their remaining magical powers at any cost - even if it means courting the infernal powers of the Burning Legion! Though still loyal to the Alliance, the blood elves' passions will lead them not only to the highest pinnacles of power, but to the darkest depths of madness. Abilties: Flame Strike: Designed with a five-second delay this spell has a devastating area of effect. The spell, however, can be disrupted if the caster is killed within the five-second window. Few lower levels units within the area of the flame strike will survive. The Orcish Shadow Hunter These reclusive, wily jungle trolls are considered to be the highest authority within their respective warbands. They are masters of voodoo magics who can use their spirit-powers to both heal their allies and place curses upon their hapless enemies. Donning their ceremonial rush'kah masks -- that channel the spirits of their dark gods -- the Shadow Hunters walk the line between darkness and light in hopes of salvaging the future for their savage brethren. Abilities: Serpent Ward: All witch doctor spells are wards, Pardo said, so the Shadow Hunter was given a ward to tie him to the witch doctor-style of play. When cast, this creates a small serpent head that spits small fire attacks. These are easy to kill with physical attacks (although they are immune to spells), so they are not spells to be cast in the midst of a melee. "Think of them as flimsy towers," Pardo said. The cool down period is short and the cost is relatively cheap, so several can be cast and combined in an impressive support role. The Undead Crypt Lord These ancient, evil behemoths were once the mighty kings of the subterranean spider kingdom of Azjol-Nerub. Though the Nerubians fell before the wrath of the Lich King during the fabled War of the Spider, the insidious Crypt Lords were swayed over to the Lich King's ranks and granted considerable power and the immortality of undeath. Now the giant, thundering beasts serve as the Lich King's mightiest warriors and the guardians of the Scourge's holdings in Northrend. Abilities: Impale: The Crypt Lord is a horned beetle and those horns have an impressive attack. When impale is activated, the Crypt Lord shoots out those horns and strikes an opponent, drags the unit in, then throws it up in the air like a rag doll. When it lands, it is stunned. Pardo's demonstration against a poor footman was pretty impressive. Locust Swarm: When this ultimate ability is activated, a swarm of locusts fly out from under the carapace of the Crypt Lord. Any damage done by the locusts transfers health to the Crypt Lord. The Night Elf Warden The mysterious wardens serve as the night elves' special police force in Kalimdor. Set apart from the militant Sentinels, wardens are usually employed as jailors, assassins, and bounty hunters. When loosed upon escaped criminals, wardens employ a number of supernatural powers that enable them to recapture their prey and mete out the night elves' justice. Wardens have a line of sight teleport ability called "blink," which they can use to outmaneuver even the quickest of foes. Abilties: Blink: This is a minor teleport spell that allows the Warden to jump short distances. It is particularly useful to jump across obstacles or to do surprise hit-and-run attacks. The Human Alliance 'Blood Elf' Spell Breaker The cunning blood elf spell breakers have mastered the arts of spellcraft to such a degree that they have become immune to the effects of even the most powerful magics. Coupled with their fierce combat skills, their spell immunity makes them implacable foes when facing magic-wielding enemies. However, the spell breakers' most astonishing ability is to actually steal their enemies' beneficial enchantments and grant them to their own comrades. This uncanny ability has turned the tide of more than one battle in the blood elves' favor. The Night Elf Mountain Giant These monstrous creatures, crafted by the Titans when the world was young, are composed of living stone and stout flora. Benevolent and solitary by nature, the mountain giants have awakened to find that the tranquil world they once helped to shape has become a hectic battlefield of fire and sorrow. Now the mountain giants have pledged their courage and strength to the night elves cause -- and stand ready to banish the last remnants of the Burning Legion from the world. This screenshot shows a human built shop (they are unique to each race) and a blood mage. This screenshot shows a new orc unit, the troll batrider. This screenshot shows an undead crypt lord and a human blood mage and some of the units that the crypt lord can summon (the scarab things) This screenshot shows some things, i honestly don't know what they are aswell as a bloodmage and some spell breakers. This is a very interesting screenshot. The description that goes with it is: Players can now purchase boats at the Goblin Shipyard. A Human raiding party has unloaded from a transport. A Night Elf Warden is also shown selected. The Warden is carrying 3 of the new items available in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. A close up of the Night Elf Warden and some new items are seeable in her inventory. A blood mage and some footmen enage some heavilly armoured skeletons. A sea giant behometh. A new creep. A human shop called an Arcane vault which seems to be selling some new items. The Night Elf shop called the Den of Wonders. Some new creps in the form of some giant turtles. Recruiting neutral hereos. There seems to be that panada bloke and someone else for hire. Also, normal units can use shops aswell now. This screenie shows the handicap feature which give stuff a percentage of their normal hitpoints. Build quees for buildings. Another human shop. Notice it has alot more items than that other one did. Well, i'm done for the time being. This thread will be update as i find out more info. [This message has been edited by Eothain (edited 05-04-2003 @ 07:42 PM).]
Banish: This spell turns a target ethereal. The target cannot be harmed by physical attacks and cannot attack except with spells. The spell lasts anywhere from 10- 30 seconds, depending on the level of the Blood Mage. Pardo said this spell can be cast on enemy or friendly units and can come in handy on a friendly hero that is wounded and trying to escape.
Mark of Fire: This spell transforms any friendly unit into a Phoenix. The Phoenix has increase fire attack capabilities and can do splash damage. However, after about a three-minute duration, the spell ends and the transformed unit dies in a pile of ashes.
Hex: This spell works like polymorph, but turns the target into a random critter. Pardo had a little fun turning a level 10 boss creep into a penguin a few times before beating it into oblivion. The spell lasts 10-30 seconds on most units, depending on the level of the caster. The spell can also be used on heroes and boss creeps, but the duration is much shorter.
Healing Wave: This is similar to chain lightning, except in reverse. It heals units in its path. It does not do as much healing as the paladin's holy light spell does on a single unit, but it is enough to keep most units in fighting shape.
Voodoo: This is an extremely powerful spell and it must be channeled, forcing the caster to stay still. When cast, Voodoo makes all units within a screen's distance invulnerable to attack. While this is good for the attacking army, it may be bad news for the Shadow Hunter. Since invulnerable units cannot be targeted by attackers, the Shadow Hunter becomes the only vulnerable unit on the screen. It is necessary to protect the Shadow Hunter with the invulnerable troops while the spell lasts.
Thorny Shield: Similar to spiked barracades that the Orcs have on their structures, the Crypt Lord uses this to deal damage to units it is in melee with. As they attack, they lose hit points. This is a passive ability that also increases the Crypt Lord's armor.
Fan of Knives: This is exactly what it implies. When cast, this spell shoots out a fan of knives (number based on level) to attack multiple opponents. Pardo demonstrated this spell against six Orcs (in conjunction with the blink spell) and the Orcs were dead after two deadly fan casts.
Shadow Strike: A particularly deadly attack that does a large amount of initial damage, but then continues to do damage as time progresses. In the demonstration, the first attack did 225 points of damage and 45 for a few successive rounds. Pardo said this attack is particularly effective on heroes trying to run from a battle. "Just blink over, cast the spell and blink back and watch him slowly die with no one around," he said with a slightly evil chuckle.
Spirit of Vengeance: This spell is the Warden's super spell and designed to be used when a battle is going badly. As night elf bodies begin to pile up, this spell can be cast to harness the spirits of the dead and combine them into a huge "spirit of vengeance." Pardo said it works like a resurrection spell and animate dead spell, but gives the spirit tremendous hit points and the ability to do massive damage. 
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
) and the X-Pack is pretty cool. It improves upon a lot of the crap points of WC3 by rasing the max pop to 100 and starting upkeep at 50, instead of 40. Though, the battles aren't really tactical. Whoever has the better hero wins. 
