EPTSo I was considering posting this video for a while but didn't because I was unsure enough people would be able to follow it well enough to truly realize how much is going on and the greatness of each clip..
I have some time now so it occurred to me to make a long post explaining everything that goes on in each clip. This is a pretty great highlight, there are often multiple great plays in each clip so make sure you keep paying attention.
Without further adieu, the video followed by the explanations..
Note: Some people think it's gay that you can just TP out instead of dying, it should be mentioned that TPing is very costly, TP's cost 350 gold.
00:32 - Blademaster vs Archmage
This clip is mostly luck based, the Blademaster(green guy with sword) has a skill called windwalk which makes you invisible, able to walk through units as well as gives you extra damage on your next attack. He also has a skill called critical strike which does twice, three times or four times as much damage on 15% of his attacks.
In this clip he does many consecutive criticals as well as using WW to take down the Archmage despite being very low life.
One thing he does well in the video is move in between attacks to take as little damage as possible from the melee units(footmen)... Not the hardest thing to do but as you can see when the BM runs away it was VERY necessary. The other skill shown in this clip is that the Orc player was behind in this game and knew he needed to get lucky in order to pull it out. Not the best clip but entertaining none the less.
00:49 - Demon Hunter vs Blademaster in Night Elf Base
This clip shows both the BM and the DH moving while attacking. The DH does a great job of taking as little damage as possible from the grunts. After killing the BM the DH knows he won't make it away from the grunts because the Orc player used a speed scroll right before he died so that his grunts would catch the DH. The Orc player knows the Elf player must have been very fast when doing this so couldn't choose the location of his TP(You can TP to a certain radius around your TownHall or if you double click the TP itself it send you to just under your TownHall).
Because the Orc player knows the Elf player had to do this in haste he knew exactly where the DH would go so he ran his grunts there to try to get the kill but the DH was just barely in range of the moon well to the left of the TreeOfLife so he was able to heal for just barely enough to not die.
1:09 - Good Archer Micro
1:20 - Orc Base
Orc uses peon to block one path but it looks like the DH will make it out anyways, Orc player uses a spell(Serpent Ward from Rhasta) to block his exit at last second.
1:37 - Items Are Good, Evasion Is Good
Orc player is getting chased down but uses an invulnerability potion and a scroll of healing to turn the tables. DH has a skill called evasion that gives 10/20/30% to dodge attacks, DH get's multiple dodges at the perfect time to allow him to get out of the ensnare net which allows the Beastmaster to use a staff of preservation on him and save him. Again not very skill intensive but in proleague games these kinds of things should be entertaining to an RTS fan.
1:55 - Lich Surrounding With Illusions
Elf Player controlling DH uses two items to get the Lich surrounded by himself, he uses a Wand of the Wind to cyclone the lich up in the air, and then very quickly using the wand of illusion up on his one hero to get a 4-point surround. The Lich tries to use a Staff of Teleportation(TP's just that hero to any allied unit but you can be attacked while Porting)
But the Elf Player cyclones him again and forces the TP.
2:16 - Staff of Preservation and Death Coil
Elf uses Staff of preservation on his Panda while a lethal Death Coil is in the air and coming for him. The Coil travels across the map, Panda sees it in time and uses a TP which negates the Coil.
2:37 - Lightning fast Staff of Preservation to save Archer from Shockwave
2:40 - Wisp surround out of nowhere to force TP
2:53 - Footman Block followed by farm block to kill Archmage
3:12 - Elf players hides all his units to trap Dark Knight and force TP
3:33 - The DK and the healthy wisp
Full life DK walks innocently into Elf base only to be entangled(kept in place for a bit) and surrounded by 2 archers a KOTG and a wisp. The DK can kill a wisp with 1 coil and 1 attack but Elf player is constantly healing the Wisp with the Moon Well.
3:52 - Roar, Shockwave
DH has to TP to save himself and Orc throws a perfectly timed Shockwave to get the kill before the DH can buy a potion from the shop directly underneath him and heal.
4:09 - I really like this song lol.. and some ghouls do some stuff
Ok this guy creeps this expansion with nothing more than a few ghouls without losing anything WHILE fighting a battle. Just take a look at the HP on those ghouls. Human player can tell the UD has his attention divided and this matchup it is very common to do this kind of thing so he sends a footman to the UD base and snags two kills.
5:15 - Night elf rapes a BM with some fast wisp work and a Staff of Preservation
5:27 - The Longest Forked Lightning any Naga has thrown ever
The Red NE does some Zeppelin(Dropship) Harassment and when leaving he drops both heroes to take some shots at the Yellow players Zeppelin but Yellows Naga throws The longest Forked Lightning any Naga has thrown ever to Kill both heroes.
It should be noted that the fact that both of Reds heroes where so low they died to this is indicative of good Zeppelin micro. Also notice as the Zeppelin flying away it teeters to the left and right, clearly drunken with dispair for his fallen brethren.
5:47 - ShockWave knows no bounds
Some nice micro from Elf player to cancel the tier 2 buildings of the Orc player, followed by a brilliant Shockwave to snag the DH kill.
6:08 - Knight gets staffed and still dies
6:15 - DK uses Dust of Appearance so he can see the invisible BM but the BM hides INSIDE of the giant Turtle so the Undead player can't attack him.
6:29 - AM matrix dodges a shockwave
6:39 - DotTs are good
Elf players get mass Druids of the Talon vs Orc 90% of the time, a good counter is the TC's shockwave, in this clip the Elf player does a perfect shockwave dodge by turning all of his DotT's into bird form at the exact time he needs to.
7:04 - BM gets Coil/Nova/Forked for instant kill before he can TP
7:16 - Panda!
Panda has Breath of Fire which is great for taking out buildings(towers). After he does some of that in the Undead base he Staffs to a wisp, and then uses his ultimate to save himself AND surround the Lich.
Hopefully even if you don't like WC(I actually don't like it that much even though I play like 20 games a day) you can still appreciate some of the cool things that happens in it.
