Fast-teching is almost entirely non-existant now, with the improvement of tier1, the increased cost of teching, and the decreased effectiveness of base defenses. The race that has gotten hit the hardest in this respect is likely NE, as the large nerfs to ancients render their early game quite vulnerable. Build orders, as such, are generally focussed more on tier 1 and 2 than on tier 3. Indeed, most games, should tier3 even appear, are over shortly after the first tier3 battle. This guide will detail some of the strategies on making effective build orders.

Vulnerability

The first thing you need to keep in mind while deciding on your build orders are your points of greatest vulnerability. In classic, tier1 was largely ignored, because most bases could survive a rush at tier1 with simply their hero and some base defenses. Now this is not the case. On small maps, teching is quite difficult to pull off. As such, you need to make sure that you can counter a tier-1 rush with your build order.

Generally what is required to do this is a small number of ground troops and an AoE hero or summoner hero. All build orders now require a tier-1 rax. Get this, and start pumping out troops, and tech whenever you can squeeze it in. Generally you can delay getting units and tech sooner, but you need the rax. You will be behind your opponent in terms of actual unit count, but hopefully the addition of a base defense structure or two will solve this issue.

Overall goal

If your goal later on in the game is to focus on tier3 units, you shouldn't spend very much time in tier2. However, this has been made highly risky, due to the vast improvements tier2 has gotten. As such, you should try to focus on maximizing your time in tier3.

Should you be aiming to get tier3 heavy units or casters, then you should stay in tier2 only long enough to get the necessary spellcaster support unit for your race, and then harrass the enemy while teching. This will buy you enough time to switch your army around safely. For UD , for example , ghouls, necros, and statues at tier2 teching to aboms to replace the ghouls at tier3 works very nicely.

Race you are facing

UD is particularly good at exploiting weaknesses in defense, while orc is not particularly good at it unless they focus on that goal. As such, tier2 is most necessary against a UD. If you are facing one, it is highly recommended that you aim to get mass dispel of some sort, as you can be sure to expect necros. When facing a human, what you can expect are footmen and priests, coupled with possibly a few sorcs. As such you will want AoE spells or anti-army casters.

UD has necros, Orc has lightning shield, NE has nothing really, and Human has slow. When facing an NE, the main army you would be facing at tier2 is composed of archers and support, or dryads and support. Keep him scouted - if he goes with archers, then do the same counter as you would for footmen. Dryads take a special approach - since they can't actually break your base alone, you'll need to aim to kill their supporting units. Mountain giants get torn apart by melee, DoTC get ripped by focusfire at this point, and hunts get decimated by ranged units.

When facing an orc, the main rush you'll get at tier2 will be composed of grunts, and possibly a few headhunters or catapaults. If he has catas, these should be your main focus. The grunts will be hard to kill, but base defense should be able to handle them.

Economy

One of the main problems with teching in FT is the drastically increased importance on wood. As such you will need increased amounts of workers on wood. However, gold is equally critical now. Teching will not succeed without a stable cash flow. Try to get an expansion set up immediately after a successful engagement. While you are setting it up, harrass him. ALWAYS include defensive structures at expos in small maps. In larger maps these become less useful, but in small maps you will still have time to fall back and guard the base.

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