Cost: 1200 Hit Points: 60 Damage: 5-9 Armor: 0 Sight: 9 Speed: 8 Range: 2 Magic: 255 max (85 starting)

Once students of the Conjurers of Azeroth, this new order of Mages have been forced to discover untapped magical forces to command in their war against the ruthless Orcs. Although masters of their arts, the Conjurers who fell during the First War were unprepared for the rigors of warfare. Determined to avoid a similar fate, the Mages have undertaken a regimen equally demanding on body and soul, thus dedicating themselves to the command of more aggressive and destructive magiks. Whether in their sanctum at the Violet Citadel in Dalaran or on the many battlefields of Lordaeron, the Mages are resolute in their efforts to defend the people.

Mages are arguably the most powerful units in Warcraft II. They can be unstoppable when properly controlled. One thing you do not want the enemy to do is get a lot of Mages. Mages can be tricky to control. In newbie hands they are almost useless but when they are controlled by advanced players, they are deadly. If you play Humans, Mages should always be your goal besides killing the enemy. Here is the main Human plan: More More More Mages

Cost: Free
Mana: 100
Range: 10

Magiks involving the cardinal elements of the universe are favorites of the Mages. The Fireball is launched from the palms of the Mage and streaks like a comet blazing across the battlefield - slamming its fiery bulk into whatever stands in its path.

Launches a Fireball in one direction for approximately 8 spaces that has the ability to hit land, sea and air targets in the path. The damage across that line varies but in some tests the average was about 34 damage. Units in the path of the Fireball received greater or less than 34. The tip of the Fireball does the least amount of damage as units hit with it was usually less than 10 hit points.

Fireball is very similar similar to the Dragons and Gryphon attack. Quite often, Mages can make much better use of their mana than cast Fireball such as Blizzards, Slow, Invisibility and Polymorph. You can, however use Fireballs to attack Flying Machines when combined with Slow to prevent the Flying Machine from getting away.

Slow

Cost: 500
Mana: 50
Range: 10
Time to Upgrade: 100 Time Units.

The Mages of Lordaeron have been able to create a spell that hinders both movement and reflex. By warping the very patterns of time that surround his target, Slow enables the caster to bring an enemy's offensive to a crawl. Time cannot be held in check by even the mightiest of Mages, however, so the effects of this temporal shift cease as the power of the spell wanes.

Slow can be cast on any unit. The effect is movement speed and attack speed are cut in half.

Slow is cheap (500 Gold) and fast to research. Often this is the second spell you want to research, after Blizzard.

Slow is great for cutting those Bloodlusted Ogres down to size, making them only 1.5 times a Paladin, evening them more when combined with Healing. Slow is great against Dragons, especially Bloodlusted/Hasted. Slow is also good for turning the tide of battles in a situation where Blizzard would be difficult to safely cast.

Unlike Haste, which only speeds up Dragon attacks, Slow does change the speed of a unit attacking. Slow slows down any unit attack by half.

[ Click to Enlarge - 68 KB ] A Mage slows down a group of Hasted Bloodlusted Dragons cutting their number of attacks and speed in half.

Perhaps the most fearsome of the Mage spells, Polymorph alters the physical form of its target. This metamorphosis changes man to beast, forever warping both mind and body. This sorcery wholly transforms the victim into a creature of the wolds, thus losing their reasoning - making commands for direction or battle impossible.

This turns any living creature into the critter for that map type such as Pig for Wasteland, Seal for Snow, Sheep for Forest, Boar for Swamp. Although the unit hasn't been killed it has been in effect killed as it cannot be turned back into the previous unit or commanded in anyway.

Polymorph is good for instantly taking out units, especially costly and dangerous units. The primary use for Polymorph is for hit and run attacks against enemy Mages, Death Knights, and Gryphons.

Polymorph is really helpful on defense, especially on water maps. When the enemy lands you can quickly Polymorph the most dangerous enemy units right after they unload from the Transport.

Make a Mage with at least 200 Mana Invisible, sneak up to an enemy Mage or Dragon and Polymorph it. If it is sea, do the pop out of the Transport Polymorph then run.

Often you can cast Polymorph before the enemy even notices it, there is no warning to enemy players that their units have been Polymorphs. Against inattentive players you might be able to Polymorph quite a few units using hit and run attacks before they catch on..

[ Click to Enlarge - 35 KB ] Invisible Mage sneaks up into view of enemy Mage.	[ Click to Enlarge - 35 KB ] Invisible Mage Polymorphs enemy Mage.

Gleaned from sacred tomes rescued from the debris of Northsire Abbey, this spell grants the ability to cloud the perceptions of others to that they cannot perceive the physical existence of the caster's target. The individual that is rendered Invisible may not perform any tasks such as attacking, harvesting or spell casting. Should the individual interact with his environment in any fashion more aggressive than simple movement, the Invisibility will be dispelled and their personage shall be revealed.

For each cast of Invisibility one unit is made invisible. This can be cast on your units, teammates units, and even enemy units although that is not very wise. The unit cannot be seen by anyone else except yourself and your teammates. The unit remains invisible until the duration runs out or the unit attacks or casts any spells which will instantly reveal it.

Invisibility lasts the same amount of time for all units. Invisibility lasts the same amount of time whether or not your unit moves so it is in no way affected by moving around a lot vs sitting still.

[ Click to Enlarge - 61 KB ] An Invisible Mage takes a peek into the enemy Town.

Invisible Blizzard Attack on Enemy Gold Mining
The main use for invisibility is to allow Mage to sneak into enemy towns to cast Blizzards on Peons mining Gold. Another great use for Invisibility is the Invisible Double blizzard.

[ Click to Enlarge - 61 KB ] Invisible Mage locates enemy Town	[ Click to Enlarge - 63 KB ] Invisible Mage moves into a safe position using Trees as cover.

[ Click to Enlarge - 63 KB ] Invisible Mage targets the center of the Peons mining Gold	[ Click to Enlarge - 65 KB ] Mage let's loose a Blizzard slaughtering countless Peons mining putting a huge dent in the enemy's resource gathering.

The Computer Can See Invisible Units While Human Players Cannot
The computer can always see invisible units. But Human players like cannot.

Invisibility and Building Buildings
Invisible Peasant can build a building and remain Invisible after the buildings competition.

Invisible Transports
Use invisibility on a Transport. This is a major strategy on water maps when combined with Mage, hit and run Exorcism, or Demotion Team attacks. Invisible Transports can make the landing on the enemy shore so much safer as well as protecting the Transport from Destroyers.

Use Invisibility on Flying Machines to Scout Enemy Towns
When enemy players notice your Flying Machines over their expansion towns, often they quickly prepare for an attack. But if you send over an Invisible Flying Machine they will have never known that you had spotted and known about their town and will be less likely to be prepared for or expect an attack.

You can also cast Invisibility on Gryphons but because of their slower speed (14 vs 17) it is not recommended.

[ Click to Enlarge - 57 KB ] An Invisible Flying Machine spots an enemy Human Expansion Town.	[ Click to Enlarge - 70 KB ] An Invisible Gryphon scouts out the town.

Invisibility and Flame Shield
Make a unit Invisible then put a Flame Shield on it. Then they can walk near enemy units, buildings which will cause the Flame Shield to damage it. Because the unit is invisible only area effect attacks can work such as Blizzards, and Catapult attack ground.

Serving as both a weapon and a barrier, the Flame Shield is a binding of the chaotic force of fire to the aura of the chosen target. A twisting helix of fire that whirls about, the Flame Shield accompanies the one so enchanted wherever he may roam. Flame Shield will deliver damage to any grounded or air barrier that it comes into contact with.

Flame Shield is really a trick spell and last one that should be researched in the Mage spell book. This spell often is useful in rare situations and adds more to the atmosphere and humor of the Humans rather than greatly increasing their abilities and attack power.

You cannot cast Flame Shield on air units such as Flying Machines and Gryphons.

Because Flame Shield can damage air units, cast it on ground units then have them run underneath the enemy flying units. For example cast Slow on an enemy Dragon, then cast Flame Shield on a Paladin, then have the Paladin run under the Dragon. The Dragon will try to get away but the Paladin will be able to follow it until the Flame Shield does enough damage to kill it. This trick requires less mana than a full Blizzard or Polymorph although it is more difficult to perform.

Cast a Flaming Shield on Ballistas. If the enemy wants to attack them they will take Flame Shield Damage.

Cast a Flame Shield on tightly packed groups of enemy units. The Flame Shield will damage all of the units nearby. The enemy often will have a difficult time separating the Flame Shielded unit before the damage is done.

Cast a Flame Shield on several of your own units before attacking the enemy. If you use a surprise attack, and the enemy is slow to respond the Flame Shields can cause severe damage. If however the enemy is quick to respond they can run away until the Flame Shield wears off. When casting Flame Shields on your own units, cast it on one unit and keep all other units out of range of the Flame Shield.

Cast a Flame Shield on Peasants mining Gold. The Flame Shield will hit other Peasants walking to and from the Gold Mine.

You can cast a Flame Shield on groups of units that are unloading from a Transport. But Blizzard will most likely do more damage and should be used instead.

Cast a Flame Shield on a Transport and enemy units will be damaged as they unload and load from it.

Make a Oil Tanker or Transport invisible, cast Flame Shield on it, then move it next to enemy ships. The Flame Shield will damage any ship touching it and the enemy will not be able to attack the invisible unit except with attack ground and area effect spells such as Blizzard. The counter to this strategy is to use attack ground on the invisible unit.

[ Click to Enlarge - 35 KB ] Invisible Oil Tanker with a Flame Shield on it, moves up next to groups of Battleships and Destroyers damaging them.

Summoning torrential storms from the frozen Mountains of Northeron, this potent spell calls down a fierce tempest of ice to assault the enemies of the Mage with a flurry of cold blades. Blizzard can be cast over large portions of the battlefield, making it an extremely powerful spell when facing legions of Orcish troops.

For more information refer to Blizzard and Death & Decay.