At some point in the game the time will come to invade an enemy town. Sometimes players will quit when they know they can't win or when they lose their army. Other players will only quit when their town is severely damaged or destroyed. In larger team games it becomes even more important to attack towns and often you will need to clear up to 6 towns (6 vs. 6) before winning or even more if it's an FFA game (11 enemy towns!).

Town Defender Advantages
Be aware of what may happen when you invade an enemy town. Once you know about the possible problems and issues you can better protect your army from complete defeat at the enemy's hands.

The defender of a town has an advantage if they have a comparable army and can also use their town defenses. Often what happens is a player goes into a town thinking that their army is as good or better but then don't count on the town defenses such as (Militia) and/or superior control.

Defenders Can Repair Their Town While It's Under Attack
If you try to destroy buildings the enemy sometimes just repair them as they are being attacked until you are kicked out of their town. Many games are lost because players go into a town thinking they are going to win and then lose. They then no longer have an army to defend their town and can't handle a counter attack. This can't always be avoided (unless you're an elite player) but you can work to reduce the number of failed attacks through experience.

New Units Continue To Join The Defense
The town defender can train new units and have them join the battle throughout the battle. The attacking player on the other hand has to stream them from their base which is further away.

Defenders Can Build Additional Tower Defenses
The Defender can begin building Towers even before you show up to attack their town because they see you coming. This can allow them to have enough defenses in place to take you on before you get there. Also sometimes defenders are able to build towers in their town during the battle. If they can protect them, or the attacker doesn't destroy them, the towers can sometimes shift the course of the battle in the defender's favor.

Allied Players Can Teleport In To Save the Town
You may go into an enemy town with a clear advantage but not count on enemy players teleporting in to save it. You should always figure that up to all of the enemy teammates might show up to defend the town. Do as much damage as you can and be ready to run the second you see the incoming Town Portal graphic.

Player-built Shops
These can provide Healing Potions, Mana Potions, and more during battle.

Don't Fight Uphill onto Higher Terrain
Don't fight at the bottom of the hill with ranged units. They will miss the units on higher ground. Either push up the hill, or leave, whichever is smarter.

[ Click to Enlarge - 161 KB ] The Humans retreat back into their base. If the Night Elves press the attack the Militia can quickly surround them.

Repair Buildings While You're Under Attack
Try to repair buildings while they are being attacked so that you can survive longer and possibly save the buildings.

[ Click to Enlarge - 190 KB ] Wisps fight to repair the Moon Wells during a battle.	[ Click to Enlarge - 183 KB ] Wisps fight to repair an Altar before it goes down. The defending player is trying to revive their Hero.

Cancel Doomed Buildings Under Attack
If you can't prevent a building under construction from being destroyed, cancel the building. Otherwise you will lose resources when the enemy destroys the building.

More Tips for Town Defenders

All
-Build a few Towers. The enemy almost always spends time focusing on them first. This can buy you some time to defend your base. Learn more about Towers.

Humans
-Use Militia. But don't get drawn out away from your Town. Go back to work if the enemy runs away.
-Have at least 1 Arcane Tower. This usually causes an enemy to run when their Hero is hit.
-If you know you're going to be attacked, get the building defense upgrades at the Lumber Mill. Build more towers too.
-Try to Wall in some towers with buildings.
-Use rows of farms as a wall to make it harder to get in your town.
-If anyone tries to attack your Peasants on gold, run them away or in circles around your Town Hall until you can protect them or force the enemy to leave.
-Repair things that are under attack! Run the Peasants away if the enemy targets them.

Orcs
-Hop in the Burrows! If the enemy is doing a hit-and-run attack, go Back to Work immediately.
-If the Burrows are attacked, repair them! Pop Peons in and out of the Burrows as they are attacked to save them and to repair the Burrows
-Build the Burrows in such a way that they can cover your base. They also need to be next to the Gold Mine so the Peons can quickly get inside and near the Lumber Peons also.
-You might want to build at least One Watch Tower. The enemy will typically attack it first giving you time to get back to your base or whatever.
-Research Reinforced Defense and Spiked Barricades if you know the enemy is coming to your town.

Night Elves
-Use Wisps to Detonate on any enemy unit with Mana. You should try for their Heroes but also use them if there is a pack of enemy Spellcasters within reach. Do not send the Wisps unless you can get to the enemy without losing them.
-Wisps can harvest Lumber anywhere on the map. It's great to hide them around and use them as scouts. That way you don't have to worry about the enemy killing all your Lumber Wisps. Also if your Town is destroyed, you'll still have Wisps around to rebuild (useful in team games).
-Use Wisps to repair buildings under attack.
-In Most Situations, do not uproot Ancients. Their armor will become heavy armor which makes them easier to kill.
-If the enemy is building towers or something near your base you can uproot some of your buildings while at the same time commanding several Wisps to repair the Ancient. Then root the Ancient once it's in range of the enemy building or units.
-Make sure your Moon Well's are turned on to auto cast. It makes a Night Elf player look very stupid if their Moon Wells are full at the end of the battle because no one turned them on (and no one right-clicked on them to use them manually).
-If you know the enemy is coming, research Nature's Blessing for the increased Ancient armor.
-If the enemy attacks the Tree of Life or the Entangled Gold Mine, pop the Wisps out of the Entangled Gold Mine and use them to repair. If you want to repair the Entangled Gold Mine you will need to hit R for repair rather than right-clicking or it will just put them back in the mine (rookie mistake).

Undead
-If you know the enemy is coming upgrade Ziggurats to towers.
-If the enemy is leaving, cancel the upgrading Ziggurats.
-Build buildings around the Haunted Gold Mine so that enemies can't easily reach them.
-Build at least one Nerubian Tower right next to the Haunted Gold Mine. Some players build more Ziggurats to build a wall around their Acolytes on Gold. This can sometimes cause the enemy to say it's not worth it and they will leave.
-Use the Death Knight to heal damaged units with Death Coil.
-If the enemy is able to reach the Acolytes on Gold, have them run in circles around the town until the enemy leaves.
-Take Acolytes off Gold and use them to repair. Build additional Acolytes to repair.
-Take any Ghouls that are harvesting Lumber and have them help out.

Invading enemy towns can be challenging. But with some tips and experience you can become better and better at it.

Attack Expansions First
Usually you want to attack an expansion town first. These often have no defenses or very little defenses and can be killed very quickly. Also the expansion towns typically have a first level Town Hall while the main base might have a tier 3 Town Hall (Castle). Learn more about Expansion Towns.

Learn To Run!
Knowing when to run is a very important skill in Warcraft III. You should always be prepared to run when attacking an enemy Town. Sometimes you run because the enemy is Teleporting back to their Town to defend it. Sometimes you run because an ally is coming to save the town you are attacking. Sometimes you run because the attack isn't going as planned. Whatever the case, don't fight until the last unit. Leave and come back later with a better force. Whenever things aren't going your way, run away! =)

Size Up the Defenses
Scout the enemy Town and figure out what defenses they have. Compare your invading force to the defenses and determine whether you can defeat them. You should always invade with an overwhelming force if possible. Think D-Day.

Always Try to Fight Battles Away From Enemy Towns If Possible
Try to draw the enemy away from their town or trap them so that they can't just run back to their Town. That way you don't have to worry about town defenses. Then once you've won on the out side you can counter attack and invade when they have little defenses.

Don't be caught in Limbo where you're outside the enemy town but you're not going into the enemy town. Sometimes you run into a situation where the enemy is outside their town behind you and you're at the tip of their town. You then hang in the middle as the enemy is doing hit-and-run attacks at your rear. This can whittle you down. Either go in the town and attack or go somewhere else to attack. The enemy can pick away at your army if you remain indecisive and just stand around.

Hit-And-Run
Sometimes you just can't attack an enemy town because of the superior or equal enemy army. So what you do is buy a Town Portal Scroll. Run into an enemy town. Do some damage, and then teleport away once the enemy shows up to defend their base. Now buy another Town Portal Scroll. This strategy is almost required in FFA games.

Attacking Towers
If the enemy has a LOT of towers it's best to use Siege Units. If the enemy only has a few towers then regular units against Towers can work fine (less so against Spirit Towers with Fortified Armor) because the towers have Heavy armor.

Bring Siege Weapons
Whenever possible, bring Siege Weapons. This isn't usually possible early in the game. Siege Weapons do increased damage to buildings which will allow you to more quickly defeat an enemy town. Learn more about Siege Units.

[ Click to Enlarge - 169 KB ] An Orc and Human team siege an Undead base. The army is placed on Hold Position defending the Catapults. The Undead player is using a Meat Wagon to defend his town and is using Acolytes to repair his towers.

Destroy a Town from Long Range
If you have long range Siege Weapons you can destroy an enemy Town while not taking damage from their defensive towers. But the problem is protecting those Siege Units. Repair them if they are mechanical and place your army around them on Hold Position. The enemy will typically send a unit out and attack to try to make your army run into their defenses. That's why you use Hold Position so the units won't fall for this trick.

Quick and Dirty Attacks
If you only have a very short time to attack an enemy town before running

Orcs: Kill their Burrows
Humans: Kill their Peasants
Night Elves: Kill their Entangled Gold Mine (not Tree of Life). The Tree of Life will then have to re-entangle the Gold Mine which will take a long time. Or kill some Wisps on Lumber.
Undead: Kill their Haunted Gold Mine or Acolytes

Ultimate Sneaky Attacks
Bring Goblin Zeppelin(s) with Siege Weapons. Unload, kill their Town Hall, and then run. You can also use Goblin Sappers instead to sneak up on an enemy Town Hall via land.

Use An Archmage with Mass Teleport to Teleport in some Siege Engines or Mortar Teams, then leave after the Town Hall is destroyed.

Building Destruction Order
Usually it depends on how much time you have or the number of enemy players. If you only have a little time, destroy the Town Hall. If you have a little more time, destroy the Town Hall, Altar, then go on to the next town. Rather than sitting there and eliminating every building, just kill the important ones then go on to the next town. If the enemy team focuses on complete destruction you can kill several Town Halls and Altars (which is almost killing the town), while they are on a single target.

Buildings that are good to focus on are Player-built Shops, Farms, Altars, and Town Halls. If you destroy Farms they might not be able to produce additional troops. If you destroy their Altar they cannot resurrect their Hero. If you destroy their Town Hall they can no longer return Gold (Humans, Orcs, Night Elves). When attacking Undead players focus on their Haunted Gold Mines and Acolytes.

If you see someone trying to revive their Hero at their altar (look for animation on the altar), then destroy it first to prevent their Hero from coming back. Now you might think because you're winning that you might want their Hero to come back so you can kill it for experience or laughs. But against good players, they might be able to escape or use a Town Portal to get away and then you have to deal with their annoying Hero again later in the game. In team games it is sometimes possible for an enemy Hero to survive and combine and help with their surviving teammates to affect the outcome of the game. When a person only has one unit to control rather than multiple units and a town, they do much better. So the enemy Hero can become even more deadly than it was before with such intense micro (control) by the enemy player.

Target Player-built Shops
Player-built shops have low hit points and are easy to destroy. They also are dangerous as they can allow enemy Heroes to buy healing potions or other useful things to use against you.

Because an enemy often attacks a Player-Built shop first, build one! This can buy you some time to get to your town to defend it or whatever.

[ Click to Enlarge - 157 KB ] Ghostridah attacks Tray's shop while Tray makes a funny comment. =)

Destroy the Town Hall
Destroying all of the workers mining Gold and harvesting Lumber is a severe blow, but the opponent can just train more. However, when you get rid of the Town Hall, they can no longer build any more workers in that location until they have rebuilt their Town Hall. It's especially damaging if you destroy a high level town hall which will prevent them from building high level buildings and troops. Often in team games players destroy the Town Hall, Altar, and move on to the next town. The Town Hall Kill is often the "killing blow" to the enemy. Some players will just leave if you kill their Town Hall. Also if they had a Tier 3 Town Hall such as a Castle they will have to upgrade two times to be able to build the Tier 3 units again.

Also if you destroy all of their Town Halls their buildings will be revealed after a period of time.

[ Click to Enlarge - 261 KB ] IN-TillerMan finishes off an enemy Town Hall.

Attack Buildings Under Construction!
Buildings under construction take extra damage. So always aim for them first when you invade a town.

[ Click to Enlarge - 150 KB ] The Keeper aims for the enemy Night Elf Ancient Protector under construction (morph).	[ Click to Enlarge - 194 KB ] Night Elves destroy a Town Hall under construction. The Human player should cancel the construction of this Town Hall to get resources back before the resources are lost.

Use Area of Effect Spells Against Tightly Packed Buildings
For example, if you see a tightly packed group of farms, cast an "AOE" spell such as Blizzard, Flame Strike, or Rain of Fire.

Use Ultimate Abilities
Some Ultimate Hero abilities are very good at destroying towns such as Earthquake, Death & Decay, and Tornado. You can even use these abilities in hit-and-run attacks if you can't fight your way into the base with your army.

Rush Siege Units
Many Siege Units have a minimum fire range. If you get up close to them they won't be able to hit you. They will fire over your head and past you.

[ Click to Enlarge - 178 KB ] The Night Elves rush a Meat Wagon.

Target the Workers
When you invade, kill the workers. When you attack enemy offensive units, you're not really slowing the enemy down. They have created those units for the purpose of fighting and dying, but when you attack workers that can be used to mine Gold, harvest Lumber and build buildings, you are slowing down their economy. Whenever possible, run past the enemy defenses straight to the Peons mining and harvesting. Split your forces sending half to engage the enemy offensive units using the other half of them to sneak in and kill the workers. Although you will not win the battle against the enemy defending units, if you kill the enemy's workers it will be worth it. The enemy will either be forced to train more Peons, which will eat up their resources, or will forget to train more Peons to replace them which will put them further behind you.

Usually it's easiest to first attack the workers that are harvesting lumber. These are much easier to kill than the workers that are popping in and out of the Gold Mine as they mine Gold.

[ Click to Enlarge - 239 KB ] A Demon Hunter using Immolation and some Druids of the Claw attack the Peons trying to mine Gold.

Don't Let Enemy Workers Get Away!
Typically players will try to run their workers away if they know their town is going down in flames. They will then try to rebuild elsewhere or possibly hide. Whenever the workers start running, disengage your current target and prevent them from escaping. This is especially important in Tournament and FFA games.

Invading Orc Towns
-Go for the Burrows First. They are the easiest to kill and the most damaging for the enemy player. If you attack the buildings but ignore the Burrows, the Burrows can really damage your army.
-Kill as many Peons as you can
-Another choice target is the Voodoo Lounge since it will die very quickly and the enemy uses it a lot. Players often place these right outside their Town so you can sometimes kill it first really quickly.

Invading Human Towns
-Always count on Militia. Don't be surprised by them.
-If you have a limited amount of time, Focus on killing the Peasants first.
-If you have more time Kill the Arcane Towers first and then the Peasants. In team games different team members can be doing both at once.
-Kill any Peasants that are trying to build a building

Invading Undead Towns
-Undead Towns often have HEAVY defenses. You better go in there packing and with Siege Weapons if they have a lot of towers.
-Kill their Acolytes on their Gold Mine. They will then have to train 5 new Acolytes.

Invading Night Elf Towns
-Kill the Wisps
-Kill the Moon Wells so they can't use them for healing
-Stay out of range of the Ancients. Use ranged units to kill them from safety.

Finishing off an enemy Town
For games where you're clearly winning, make sure you destroy everything in the enemy's first town. While you are destroying the first town, start looking for their next one. If they are good, they will have one or more. Be sure to destroy every building in their main town, especially food buildings. Some people leave the food buildings that allow the enemy to continue to make units at their new Expansion Towns. If you destroy all of the food buildings, they will be forced to build more food buildings rather than advanced buildings, which will hinder them from getting back on their feet. In team games it's more important to kill a few important buildings such as the Town Hall, Altar, Burrows and then move on to the next enemy town. You can finish off the rest later.