After playing the game nonstop for nearly a week, I have decided to write my opinion on the races so far. This is based on War3 Beta V1.03, and unit strength are subject to change.

Humans:
These guys functions the most similar to they did in War2, so most people were at home straight away. Consequently nobody did too bad with them. This however doesn't mean they're very strong.

Blizzard is a useful spell, but don't expect it to be the kill all like Psi Storm was in Starcraft. When fighting a melee player, don't expect it to do too much. Casting Blizzard on Grunts is about as effective as Psi Storm on Zealots, cast it on Knights is about as effective as Psi Storm on Ultralisks. Here the Ghouls rush through the Blizzard with only minor wounds. .

There is one major hindrance when playing humans. Because War3 has such a small supply and has upkeep, upgrades become even more important than they did in War2. Basically, you should start upgrading right away, so you can still stay on no upkeep and have a big enough force to take out the neutrals at the start, and avoid ever getting into high upkeep.

Now the problem with humans is that this really corners you into either going just melee or just missile, since Riflemen and Knights use different upgrades. Yet logically, Riflemen and Knights make a very good combination, with the 800hp Knight taking hits at the front and a line of riflemen shooting behind. Yet due to the upgrade issue, most players will use either pure riflemen, or pure footmen and knights. The former is easily countered by units such as Ghouls while the latter is very vulnerable to an attack from the air.

The heroes are good, though I personally don't like the archmage much unless you're going vs. Night Elves. Blizzard isn't too good now all the units have so much hit points and most engage in melee. Though it's still very damaging against missile units, only the Night Elves, smart players will go all out melee when they see that the enemy is a Blizzard maniac. This is much more easily done in Warcraft III in Starcraft given abilities such as net and web (to be explained later).

The Mountain is OK, but his ultimate is a little weak. While he does get a boost in hit points and damage, the spell stops drains mana very quickly and stops him from using Thunderbolt or Thunderclap. Most of the time, I'd actually prefer Thunderbolts, which allow you to knock out key spellcasters.

The Paladin is the best hero so far, but his Holy Bolt spelt isn't too useful when you're not going vs. undead. However Resurrection is excellent, and allows you to go through a battle with no losses. Devine Shield is a good spell against newbies, but once people realize that you can't be damaged for the duration of the spell, they tend to ignore the Paladin and target the rest of your units.

Orcs:
Now here's a race that I really enjoy, getting just Melee or missile units become viable options here so you don't have the problem I mentioned with the humans.

People who play orcs basically got two different strategies. The first is to get your basic grunts, and later Taurens and engage in a big melee Orc style. The second is many people seem to prefer if getting just Head Hunters. Head Hunters have more hit points than riflemen, and therefore stand a better chance against melee units. Meanwhile, if a Orc Players goes just melee, he cans till count air with the Raider (see below).

In either case, the Shaman is an awesome support unit. Once you research Bloodlust, he'll have it on autocast. Considering you don't control as many units in War3, the spell becomes really effective, especially on heroes.

The Far Seer makes a deadly combination with the melee orc build. Not only can he fire from behind a wall of grunts and provide air support, but he has one of the few area of effect damage spells that won't harm friendly troops.

Another cool thing about the Orcs is the Raider's net ability. It doesn't cost any mana and you can cast it about once every 10 seconds. What this means is that you don't need anti-air at all. Whenever you see an air unit, net him with the Raider and all your Grunts can take it out.

On the hero side, The Tauren and the Far Seer kick ass. The Blademaster is a little more doubtful. Tauren's become incredibly strong in the end, especially when their hp is effectively doubled with reincarnation. The Far Seer's chain lightning is great, since it damages more than one unit and can be cast into the midst of melee combat without fear out damaging your own units.

Undead:
Most people believe that the undead is the weakest, especially before they were toned up a little in V1.03. However in my opinion, it's just because they're so different that most people don't know how to play them effectively. Perhaps they are actually the strongest race right now.

First of all, Acolytes harvest gold only, and they summon buildings rather than build them. Most players tend to go hardcore on their peons, but with Undead, getting 6 is enough. 5 harvesting and 1 summoning. People often overlook this. Ghouls harvest lumber fast, and undead don't use much lumber. So having one Ghoul harvesting is usually enough.

Ghouls are like Zerglings, well kind off. They're the cheapest attacker, but once you get the 'ghoul frenzy' and upgrade them, they almost like cracklings. They also provide lots of bodies for raise dead spells. Speaking of which, Raise Dead is a little more useful now. Though Skeletons are weak as hell (120hp while a Ghoul has 200hp), you get two from a corpse (don't ask me how) for 75 mana. Necromancers autocasts the spell, so you can get a twelve of them in a battle easily just to confuse your opponent. And woohoo, you can actually upgrade Skeletons now. Where's in War2, your level one Skeleton is not even Cannon Fodder to a level 5 Grunt.

The Crypt Fiend has a web ability, which functions very similar to the Wolfriders net. Here the Crypt Fiend webs a Gryphon Rider, so that that Ghouls and Death Knight can rush in and finish the job. As Web can be cast every 10 seconds, you only need two Crypt fiends to provide all the anti-air protection you need.

The Undead heroes are quite cool, though the Lich seems to die too easily at the start. It's a mage hero, yet it's Frost Nova spell requires it to get very close to the enemy. The Dread Lord is better, and has a very nice and damaging area of effect spell. However it's ultimate, Dark Summoning is a little disappointing. In War 3, you usually keep all your units with your hero anyway, so the spell doesn't get used very often.

The Death Knight is my favorite, it is the warrior hero and yet has some of the best spells. The hero is physically as strong as a Paladin, and at gains one of the best Ultimate abilities, Raise Dead. This spell has a huge Radius (basically whole screen), and resurrects all the Dead units on that screen, your own and your enemy's and puts them into your control. The dead ain't raised as skeletons but as their former selves with full hit points. So after a big battle, you cast the spell and you get both your and the enemy's armies back. Though the raised units don't last forever, they last long enough for you storm the enemy base and destroy them utterly. Chib can attest to that when I stormed his based with twelve of his original rifleman.

Night Elves
Haven't played this race as much as I played the others, but Night Elves were definitely the strongest race before V1.03. Even after they've been toned down, archer's still deal a hefty punch. The Night Elf Huntress is also a very strong unit for how early it appears in the game.

Most players who use Night Elves, stick to Archers and Huntresses, and actually its very rare to see Night Elves get the higher tech units like Druids.

The Night Elves also has the best air, with the Hippogriff for anti air, the Hippogriff rider for all purpose air and the Chimera which is like a Warcraft 3 Guardian. Air however, is more easily countered in War3 due to the Net ability of the Wolf Rider and a similar Web ability of the Crypt Fiend.

The Night Elf heroes are a pretty cool bunch, though the Priestess of the moon is highly favored. Everyone loves its true shot aura, which makes archers extra deadly.

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