I'm becoming more of a fan of temple siege every day, and I'd like to hear some of the strategies you guys have come up with during play, as a way to try to improve my own game. I'm sure other people would be interested in this as well, so go ahead and post your strategies. Micro and macro strategies are fine, but I'd prefer macro strategies.

Thanks,
George Dubya

Moose's Chart of Counters
FaZ's General Tips
rockz' Thoughts on HP Upgs and Warp Grabbing
Lt.Church's Assassin Build
Kevin's Phantom Build
UnholyUrine's Archer & New Heroes
Moose's Mutant
stickynote's Light Mage
ClansAreForGays Pre-MT3 Advice
xYoshix's Volt Build
Kevin's Assassin Tips
FaZ's Mech Build

Key: Basically the more noticeable it is, the more value I see in it. Feel free to make suggestions for things that should stick out (not your own )

Post has been edited 12 time(s), last time on Feb 24 2009, 3:49 am by George W Bush.

Just find your own way to play different units? I dunno.
Stop by at Clan xTs@useast and you could like talk to Ts players?

Thanks for uh.. that wonderful post. I want to consolidate a list of strategies into this thread.

Really really really depends on which hero you pick. If you want any specific help with a certain hero (re: M3), I can tell you what most players do with the hero that's proven to be effective as well as more obscure strategies that I've also seen work, but I'm not going to write a 12 Hero post that's half-obsolete with the new version.

Some general mistakes that I see newbs make very frequently:
- Overupgrading HP. This may be because they don't know what their spells do, or for other reasons. At first it doesn't seem like a big mistake, but you really lose power in spawnkilling and definitely in finishing in PvP when you do this. I generally don't start getting HP upgrades until after I have 150 experience or so, obviously depending on my character. Warrior is really the only character where I agree with fast HP upgrades, and even then I'll get 70 minerals, 100 mana, and Spell 2 before I upgrade HP.

- Playing too cautious. Yes, it's very good to not die, but when you're running to heal every other wave of spawns, you're going to fall behind in experience pretty damned quickly, and that often decides the game.

- Useless armor upgrades. You only need armor equal to or slightly less than the amount of damage a spawn can do. Anything more is useless, except in rare cases (versus lurker bomber, marine, mana summoner, etc.).

- Communication is crucial. If you bring someone down to 50 hp but have to heal, tell your teammates right away, and give the minimap a ping. I can't count how many times I've run right by an unaware opponent while I have single-digit HP.

- Always watch the HP of as many people as you can. Yours is obviously priority, but it helps immensely to know how damaged your enemies are, and even helps to know if your allies are near death too.

- Night ganking. At night, if you know someone's staying in the same place, punish them for it. Have a teammate keep him occupied in front, and sneak in from behind for a stun or damage move. 2v1's are usually easy wins if you have a stunner. Conversely, always be on the move at night and be wary of attacks coming from behind.

- Don't Exp until the warp gates are all taken by one team or the other. Summoner and LM have some leeway in this because they're pretty useless in most matchups, but on the whole you want to be fighting over the gates until they're all captured. Exp'ing as spawns run by is encouraged, but it should not be your main focus.

- Ask for help. If you're new to a class, ask the basic strategy for it. Hydra L1 spam, HP+Damage Marine, Vulture micro Mech, mana Volt, L1+Minerals+Mana Summoner, stun Assassin, etc.

assassin's l4 is ridiculously powerful if you can get it by the 2nd or 3rd night. It's enough to OHKO just about anyone.

losing the spawns isn't that bad of a thing at the start. obviously you want to put up some sort of a fight, but if you don't capture the spawns, you have 6 places to get kills rather than 3. Obviously the three by your base are more preferable, but you also have the advantage of being able to heal much faster, and setup ambushes much easier.

for upgrading HP, by far the best ones to upgrade are slow units (dark mage, light mage) or ones with very little hp (mech, light mage again, ling).

Now, FaZ-. when you say don't exp until the warp gates, I tend to disagree a bit. Let's say it's bat vs rine. There's no way the rine can effectively kill the bat, and can just run away easily. in this instance, it's probably a good idea for the bat to just stall and exp at the same time. However, obviously when nobody is near, you should be capturing, not killing.

If it's 1v1 rine vs bat, just quit and remake.

Otherwise, if you have a losing matchup like that you just want to stall until you can get a teammate to help, doesn't require dying or capping. And if I'm the firebat and I'm working my ass off stalling, and my teammates start to exp after they do whatever with their gates, they're going to hear me complain.

well if you want heres my basic dark arts assassin build, though i often mold it to whatever situations are going on.

first civi on money, two attack one armor; save civis until you can get l2, get one mana(this is very dependant on who youre fighting, if you need more than one stun go for three/four), save for l3, get 2 in mana(if you only put one previously), then get spell4. Spam mana until you have around 200 max, get some points of hp then continue on mana, a cap of 300 is sufficient you can now get as much hp as you like.

This whole time you should be absolutely making sure you have enough damage to always one hit kill spawn or youre doomed to lvl badly at night, the reason youre immediately flying up the skill ladder is to get as quick decapitation as possible, the sooner the more likely you can shank someones head off in one smooth cleave. the 200 first cap is to allow sneaking into enemy encampments and suprise yiff kill enemies who think theyre safe camping in there, especially summoner . Dont forget to use it out of enemy sight or the hallu puffs are BIG give aways.

You want your armor to usually be around half of the enemies total damage, until youre ready to one hit the next spawn level, this leaves you extra time to either assim and make your team happy or make sure you dont miss out on a night cycle of leveling, defense isnt as important for the assassin as half the time you wont be hit and the other half youll be one hitting; aside from marines everything up to hydras can be microed around to barely hit you.

Also as some final tips remember, at night attack reissuing is important, meaning [A] click, right click repeat otherwise your idjit badly AI'd assassin is going to run after a zergling and waste your time; and dont forget assassin is all about timing, timing for crippling, timing for decapitation, timing for good escapes, dont escape too soon as itll leave your opponent ample health to stay and level instead of retreating to heal, and obviously dont escape too late or youre bone. remember that m3 has the one second cast delay and 1.5 doesnt.

sorry for the lack of grammar, i just woke up. I hope people see why i dont consider assassin bottom tier, infact in my opinion hes one of the best fighters; though decapitate does get a lame damage increase per upgrade, its basically the same as archers l1(all attacks, l4 much more so due to more spawn) gains per point...

Thanks for all the input guys. FaZ's was particularly helpful, but with that now I need more specific strategies like Lt.Church's.

pfft I never have a plan lol....I wing it and adapt to the situation to the settings,heros, and how much ups I have. Im not gunna spoil my tacts but you should try to understand what you can do with each up and what units you can kill and how much hp you will take away once you hit someone or how many hits it takes to get them to -600 hp

But mostly wing it and I win constantly

Here is what I do for one of my fav characters- VOLT!

The first thing I do is to put two civs into money. This makes me able to one hit ko spawns for easier exp(spashing). The next thing I do is to put in two civs to mana to be able to use spell 1 four times. I save up 3 civs for spell 2. Then I put five civs into mana to get max 200 mana- you can easily kill people now. I then get spell 3 and spell 4. Whatever happens after depends on who I'm facing. It goes to either mana/hp.

I always make sure I can one hit ko the current spawn except for marines and up. When I can one hit ko lings, I get shields according to the current spawn, so that, when player killing, I don't have to worry about the spawn surrounding me. I always make sure that I farm where the spawns meet, so I can get double exp.

When killing people who can't manual me or kill me well(like rine and medic), I can spam spell 1 or 2. If I try to kill someone who can easily kill me (like archer and mech), I use an awesome combo of spell 1, then 3, then spell 4. Spell 1 stuns a short time and bides time for spell 3, then spell 3 stuns for a few seconds. Those few seconds are enough for spell 4 to do the killing

Hi.. First of all. Thanks for liking my map. Mr. President.
Second, I highly recommend you don't post this at the "map showcase" section as it's for SHOWCASING maps... not talking about them..
I guess this'd work better at the "UMS Theory and Ideas" or "Null" section..

IP or Moose.. feel free to move them there. nvm.

Now as for Strategies.. since you've brought this up, I feel that I need to give some strategies for noobs and the new heroes too ..

So noobs.. here're some strategies to help your team as much as possible.
1. Pick High HP/Strength/Non-spell dependent Heroes, such as Warrior, Marine, Firebat, and Archer OR pick Summoner.
- These heroes are very straightforward, and even tho other heroes may have specific counters to them, they are usually harder to kill if you're careful enough. Conversely, they also don't PvP as well as other heroes (with the exception of Summoner).. but since you're a noob, no one'll expect that of you.

2. Do not camp at Cannons and play Turtle. Go out and help your team as much as possible.
- Simply your PRESENCE at the battlefield will make other players wary. Even if you don't even know how to use the spells yet, others will be "O SHi- He may fire the burning arrows at me, I better leave".. Don't let your foes be too confident.

3. Help the team, rather than go by yourself.
- Start assim'ing (building assimilators) as that gives ur team money.. Start Assissting heroes.. especially ones that are of the support class (or if you got a support class hero) such as Dark Mage.. Light Mage.. Psion.. Volt.. maybe Lurker.. etc. etc. .. If you go by urself, and you get raped.. tough luck, and your team's morale drops like a ton of rocks.

Generally, I've set up the game to have tons of twists and turns. For example, the third level spawn is Marines. Other than the fact that its killscore is lower than zealots, I've set it up so that if your foes are just running over the spawns since they're melee, you have the choice to upgrade the spawns to marines, and give ur foes a much harder time. Unfortunately, if the enemy is able to survive/u don't support the spawns and use it to ur advantage to control the map.. then you feed them, and they'll ultimately win... One Move CAN decide the game. that's How I set this up.. =D

Anyway .. let's go for the Archer build first.. as it's my favorite unit/hero..

- The Archer.. As its Niche said.. is the most Versatile Hero.
>>It has a nice, offensive spell 1.
>>It has a defensive spell 2
>>It can summon units using spell 3 to farm/group damage
>>It has an uber-building-killing offensive spell 4... (possibly better than the lurker)
>>It is fast, making it ez to evade/escape

Of course.. its weakness is its not so impressive damage and below average HP. But seriously, when you factor in what you could do with the hero, it is a force to be reckoned with.

First. Upgrade your damage/armor. You would need a steady experience intake to be effective. Although its spell 1 is good at PvP, it is not the greatest, so what I use it for is for defense/evasion. I do not get mana/spell ups until I feel that my attack/armor/hp is adequate to face the oncoming spawns (which for me would be 6 armor, and about 5 attack, and 1 hp up.. hp doesn't need to be too high (unless you got foes that can paralyze), as hydra can move quickly)..

Next, it really depends from now on, as this hero is so versatile. If the foes are very aggressive at PvP, you may want to put weapon ups/mana into your spell 1. This is extremely helpful if your foes paralyzes, as you may use this spell to debunk them XD.
If, however, your foes have control over the map/you want control over the map/your foes aren't as aggressive, you should get your spell 2 and start farming. Especially in v1.5, where you get 2 drones per spell 2. It stops low HP heroes, and you can build nydus canals back to your own base (be careful not to spread ur creep everywhere, or else there'd be no space to build spawning temples). I don't know why i've never seen Nydus canals being built... they're very useful if you build them at your Outposts, so they'll be guarded by the cannons.

Now, at this point, you have many choices. Whether you upgrade ur spell 1's damage, or save up and upgrade zerg carapace/missile weapons for spell 3 really depends on the situation.
Definately, if your enemies are going for spawns/cannons/temple killing strategy, you should save up and get L3. It is strong and can farm, and can PvP. What most people miss out on it's L3 is that, no, you don't have to focus your upgrades solely on it to get any results.. Use L3 and L1 together, and it'll even bring down the Warrior easily.
Furthermore, once you have L3, it is only a matter of time till you can start sieging the temple. Gather enough hydras, and start attacking pylons and force ur opponents into defensive. since you have L3, you're probably lacking a little compared to a pure L1 archer, so do NOT focus on PvP.. instead, you can leave 2-3 hydras at certain places to support ur allies as they escape/chase down dying foes.

Don't forget L2, L2 with L3 also creates some stiff defense. Use it for Nydus Canals and general map control...

If you went for a Pure L1 archer, then that's straightforward. Get enough mana, lots of upgrades, and SOME HP!! If you go for pure L1, you need HP, as other spells can just rape you as fast. Sure, you can still fire L1 while paralyzed, but beware of Dark Mage, Medic, Phantom, and Psion! Their spells can nullify yours, and you'll become helpless.

This is why you must react to what your foe does. Archer is weak if you built it the wrong way against certain heroes. But even if you feel countered by everyone, your spells ensure that you can be a nuisance and take control of the map with L2 and gain quick exp with L3.. and be hard to kill with L1..

Finally, the L4 isn't necessary unless your foes are hardcore turtlers and you need to get past their defense/you're being runned over by large groups of high hp spawns/your team's being driven down by low/moderate HP foes, and that one of you can paralyze, and you feel that your teamwork is good enough. L4 scares away people and kills buildings/spawns. for PvP, it may only work the first time, when people are unaware that you have the L4. But when it is pulled off, it is satisfying indeed.

Overall, you don't need to mana-whore the Archer too much, which saves you room for other upgrades. However, it is definately one of the more Weapon Upgrades dependent hero, so make sure to assim!

Anyway, that's why i like archer, because this hero has plenty of counters depending on the situation.

SO.. for tha new heroes

PHANTOM
1. It is made to be a PvP hero. It's L2 is very strong against small units (LM, Mutant, etc). So, use it as a PvP hero.
2. Its Hallus are good for several things, but it is most prominent in soaking up NPC damage. The other things could be - walling heroes, deceiving heroes to use their spells, deceiving heroes as to where you really are during the night, and etc. However, you can easily spot which one's real, so beware. And DON'T WALL YOURSELF IN ><"
3. L3 is awesome at controlling heroes. One strategy is to move them into your cannons. It is also helpful in holding them down while you just shoot the hell outta them.
4. L4 is when you are desperate at killing a hard to kill player.
- Remember to decieve heroes with the hallu's, cause it works smtimes and it's fun, and get enough mana to constantly pump out hallus. This is good for keeping the real phantom safe against spells and spawns.
- get some HP. this increases hallu's hp too (every 4 hp upgrade increases hallu hp % by 5.. subject to change so that each hp upgrade helps.. )

PSION
- This char is OP at the moment. It's L2 will probably get a 10 sec cooldown, and its HP will decrease. The Void will probably decrease mana more slowly
1. This is definately a support hero. With teamwork, Psion's spells are very useful.
2. Create a Void as far into the enemies' area as possible, even if it means getting hit by cannons/spawns a few times, and then walking back to the safe area. It will deter spell-dependent heroes.
3. Use L2 with teamates for assaulting cannons early game.
4. L3 will devastate any spawns. Especially with the Void Shifter
5. Your Void shifter (l4) don't only cloak, but it also centers the void under it. So once you create a void and it is centered in your arbiter, move it around. It'd be good to move it close to an enemy to drain their mana, but far enough so that they can't damage the arbiter.
It can also be used to support allies close to you: Move the void under them and cast L2/L3.
- This hero is especially good against big units (Mech, Volt, Lurker) as its damage isn't halved anymore. You must be cautious with small, high damage units like Hydra, Zergling, Warrior, etc.
- Use Void to effectively deter spell-dependent classes like Dark Mage and Light mage. They'll hate you for sure .

EARTH DEMON
- The Observer will probably have 120 hp or just be invincible.
- Spells are still subject to change... As I found that I wasn't able to nail the type of hero I wanted lurker to be.
- Tremble Earth will probably become 2 seconds (instead of 3) of trembling..
1. Its first spell may seem weak, but there're ways to make it strong. If you use it right next to smone, it is an instant stun.. used a few times, it continually stuns.. (which probably needs to be changed lol)
2. you will probably be solitude most of the time with lurker, as it is a ez farmer, and it deals splash damage, so no allies would want to be next to you. In this case...
2. Spread traps EVERYWHERE.. Behind you, in front of you.. everywhere. During the day, You must unburrow to run, and mines are invisible at day. If you're caught in a pinch, at least you could run across the mines and stop them from killing you.
3. The lurker itself is considerably fast. So it all depends on when you unburrow to run. Time well.
4. It's L2 is a special spell. During night, it can be used to pursuit running heroes. It can also be used to run away (but at night, u can just burrow and hide). During the day you can also use it to run away.
5. Don't spend all ur money onto upgrades, as it's only +3 for a reason. Although it is very independent early-game, it needs teamwork late game, as its L3, L4. spells tends to be team orientated
6. Tremble earth helps your team catch dying foes. USE IT!!! It is annoying, and confuses your foes. Although people may hate you for spamming it, spamming it is fun. However, it won't help you. Use it rarely, and suprise your foes as they're fleeing. Use it only when you're in a pinch/your teamate's in a pinch/your foes are being chased.
7. Earth Demon's L4 is one of those Be all and End all spells... Get it only if you feel the situation is necessary.. This is during the time when your foes are just spamming buildings... That'll teach them!
- earth demon will probably face sm major changes so there really isn't much i can say about it...
- Use night to your advantage. Use it to cause havoc into heroes, as you can easily hide/escape with l2. Use the day to feed, as your splash damage will make sure melee units do very little damage to you.

That's all I have for now..
thanks..
.. i'm tired..
~Unholy

Alternative to Unholy's Archer:

- Put your first civ into minerals. Get one attack upgrade (a hit less vs broodlings), rest into muta upgrades.
- Put civs into mana until you have a ton.
- Spam L1 when anything comes near you.

It works very well if you can micro, if you have a teammate that can stun you have a huge damage capacity with mutalisks.

Yeah, sorry about posting in the wrong place. My mindset was that CAFG posted in showcase, but that doesn't really make sense for this thread

@UU: thanks for the really long post, I'm about to read it

My Phantom Strat:

- At the start, get 4/5 attack upg ASAP. This 1 hits broods.
- After that, slowly reach 6 armor
- Get L2 and mass attack.
- Grinding is easy. Go where spawn can't reach you OR let hallus take damage.
- Night is easy kill time. With a stunner/l3, you can easily kill
- At night, cloak to avoid hits, ex. warrior's l2 can be avoided.
- Late game is up to you because L3 seems a bit useless unless you use it right, and L4 is too mana intensive.
- L1: Mass L1 and run into top gate to tank hits. Kil the broods with the real.
- L1: Mass L1 again and try to trap people.
- L2: L2 is powerful, but its hard to master because you need to select him and then attack.
- L2: Use L2 on heroes, it drains their HP quickly and they won't notice.
- L2: L2 invinces. Very short, but it does it. Use this as a tool, but don't rely on it too much.
- L3: Use it when you're running, quickly build it and stall them.
- L3: YOU CANNOT COMBO WITH L3.
- L4: Unlike L2, L4 auto attacks. Useful for raping masses of spawns.
- L4: If you're going to PK with it, have no other distractions (ex. building, spawn) around.
- Don't be afraid to attack heroes normally without spells. Attack is like, +5.
- This all does not apply to large units, of course. VS Armored, you need teamwork.
- VS Battle Tanks: Let hallus take hit and L2 them.
- VS Summoner: Micro, let hallus take damage, and use L2 to take temporary invince when you're trapped.
- REMEMBER: You can always cloak!!

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Feb 23 2009, 1:50 am by l)ark_ssj9kevin.

More than you'll remember about:
MUTANT
(very far from being anywhere near complete)

Overview
The Mutant is personally my favorite class to play. The Mutant starts out horribly weak. His first level spell is useless until the first night. In the end game, however, the tables turn and the Mutant wields terrifying power. The key is to survive and gain enough XP until then.
For example, fighting Warrior or Marine first thing in the game gives the Mutant no chance. Give both heroes 200 or 300 XP and the playing field is even, if not tipped in the Mutant's favor.
Playing Mutant well requires great awareness of the overall picture of the game and micromanagement. Mutant must use his mobility to his advantage to save his teammates and gank enemy heroes running back to heal. Mutant's mobility and micromanagement is both extremely delicate and extremely rewarding.


L1 - Night Vision
This is your only spell when the game starts. It does nothing during the day. Don't cast it during the day. When it turns Night, you can use it to gain vision of the map. It's easy to use it excessively, but remember you need mana for your damage spells! Don't try to sustain Night Vision for extended periods of time until you have 200+ mana, and even then make sure you have a reserve of Mana for Lurkers or L2 if you need it. Night Vision isn't very useful if you don't have the mana to lurker that enemy hero running back to heal.
You must use the vision granted by night vision wisely. Remember the other players cannot see what you see. The first thing I usually do is find the other enemy heroes and check their HP. The next thing is to ping them and tell my allies where they are. Night Vision has many purposes. You can find the safest path to run back to heal. You can guide your allies along the safest path to heal. You can set up ambushes. You can gank enemy heroes running back to the heal. (good combo with L3) I warned you that Mutant involved a lot of running around.


L2 - Fury Swipes
This is quite the possibly the most powerful damage L2. A few upgrades can push the damage this spell does into the four-digit range. However, this destructive power is also very difficult to use accurately. First and foremost, be next to your opponent when using the spell. The upper-left is the ideal casting position for maximum effect. (unless circumstance somehow allows you to be ON TOP of your target, which is extremely rare.)

If your teammates have stunning spells or you are facing melee-class opponents, an L2-based build is a good choice. Casting it while engaging in melee combat can result in you eating your opponent alive. If you are basing your game around the Mutant's L2, use the spawning pool in the upper right to upgrade Zergling Attack Speed (Adrenal Glands) and Zergling Movement Speed (Metabolic Boost) in that order.

L2 is also good for base killing, as buildings are stationary targets. You may want to buy some melee upgrades in the mid/late-game for base killing.


L3 - Hyper Claw
The infamous "Lurker Bomb". If you do an L3 build, focus your upgrades on Missile Attacks. It usually doesn't pay to split your upgrades into both spells. Get as much mana as possible. Run alongside enemy heroes and drop some lurkers on them. Weave in and out and do hit and runs. Gank enemy heroes as they run to heal. It won't do as much damage as a perfectly aimed L2, but it's much easier to use and much more difficult to dodge.

In the late game, use it to take out buildings and the Temple. Run around the Temple in circles while building up mana. Your opponents may not be able to catch you without stun, leading to your indefinite survival and gradual destruction of the enemy temple.


L4 - Chaos Mutation
An underused L4 that does not see play as often as it should. You're usually better off going for L4 as an offshoot of an L2-based build because you'll have the melee upgrades to make your L4 deadly.
If you're about to die, you can use it to turn into a meat shield and get out of almost any situation alive.
If you're fighting a Melee character and you're both about to die, L4 can turn the fight into a kill for you at the last moment.
If you have a teammate with paralyze, any stunned enemy hero you go L4 next to is in for a lot of pain. Though L2 would probably suffice. (maybe you're both caught in Maelstrom or something)
Keep in mind this is a transformation spell. You'll be immune to paralyzing and mana-draining spells.
While L2 and L3 are good at killing cannons and pylons, L4 ensures you will take no damage doing it.


Opening
Put your starting civilian into minerals. This is a standard opening for just about every class, but especially important for Mutant's opening. Three weapon upgrades is important because you three-hit Broodlings. Unless you are doing an L2 or L2/L4 upgrade pattern, three upgrades is sufficent until Zerglings come. Mutant has the second lowest HP, so armor is crucial to staying safely stay among spawns for extended periods of time. Mutant is fast, yes, but you can't afford to waste too much time (or oppurtunities) running back and forth between spawns and the heal.

If you have two civilians in a 2v2, starting off with 3/3 upgrades is a good idea. You may also wish to put the extra civilian into purchasing L2. It is usually better for your teammate(s) to be responsible for assimilator construction in the early game if you are doing any.


Early-Game
If you can find yourself a path that other heroes are not planning to capture the Warp Gate on, do so. If you want to, you can use your speed and agility to capture-block for your teammates. Direct one-on-one conflict is not Mutant's specialty in the early-game. The key to surviving early game conflict as Mutant is simple: minimal direct conflict. Especially don't double or triple team at the start. While you are not completely defenseless or dangerous, remember to choose your battles wisely.

Focus your levels on getting your second spell and mana upgrades. If you are going for an L3 build, buy that right away after you get 80 mana. Otherwise, put your next civilian into mana so you can save up for two casts of L2.


Mid-Game
Start feeding. You may even want to prioritize feeding over capturing Warp Gates. The more time you can feed for an advantage undisturbed, the better. Smart opponents will work as hard as possible to deny you XP, even sometimes at the cost of their own XP to avoid facing a Mutant over a large XP gap. If they chase you off one path, move to another. And another. And another. You have the speed. Persistence is key.

Night Vision is an incredible spell. Watching the entire overall game is critical. Park yourself between an enemy captured outpost and the main base and level there. You might be able to claim spoils running back to heal after fighting your teammates, Assimilator hunt, etc.

Keep leveling up your mana. Mana is key to the Mutant's destructive spell power. Once you have 200+ mana, it may pay to buy a level of HP every other two or three levels, especially if you've slipped up and lost one or two lives.
When the Zerglings come, hopefully you have made enough cash for 10 armor so the upgraded spawns don't damage you. Getting six melee attack upgrades can be helpful as you'll kill the Zerglings in 3 hits. (or Broodlings in two) If you're going Missile Attack for an L3 build, that's all the melee upgrades you need for now.
In the mid-game, you may want to consider investing in a Probe and Assimilators. That choice will, of course, vary with each particular game.


Late Game
Now you can start going after enemy heroes by yourself if you have to. Save up your mana and hit them with everything you've got. Run alongside them, chase them and hit them with spells continuously. If you're watching the overall picture on the map, you may be able to gank off enemy heroes running back to the Temple for a heal.

Go ahead and kill the cannons if you think you can start killing the Temple. If you're killing the Temple, kill the cannons near it and keep up your micro.


vs. Light Mage
In the opening or very early-game, you might be able to kill off the Light Mage before he has enough mana to sustain near-constant Light Barriers. You must make absolutely sure that Light Mage can not trap you by casting Light Barrier, or it's curtains for you and your low HP. Aside from Summoner, Light Mage is pretty much the only class Mutant can engage in one-on-one combat with at the start and come out on top.
In the middle-late game, Light Mage should have sufficent mana upgrades to maintain his L1 longer than you can survive. Lurkers are the key to beating this. Practice your timing to be able to hit the Light Mage during the cooldown period on his L1. With proper micro and timing, you can kill him fairly easily. You will need to upgrade HP to survive skirmishes with the Light Mage as the game progresses. 20% HP won't cut it once Light Mage's Reavers are in play.
L4 sounds good in theory vs. a Light Mage. I haven't thought to try it until I wrote this, but it should be effective. One of us usually dies before this point. (usually the Light Mage )
Burrowing for ambushes is effective against the Light Mage at night. Be warned that if he sees you going into the ground, you will be a target of Psionic Storm. Not a good defensive move.


vs. Warrior
I consider Warrior to be a Mutant counter and use Warrior to counter Mutant myself.
Warrior outclasses Mutant in melee and HP. Perhaps even worse is that he has the speed to keep up with you too. His L1 essentially negates the base damage of your attack and L2. His L2 can easily surround and kill you with your fragile HP. His L3 stuns you and makes that even easier to do. If he has L4, run away, you won't really damage him. You can damage him with your L4, but it probably isn't worth it.
Don't give up hope though. Warrior traps himself when he casts L2 as well. This is your chance to spring an attack spell of your own on him. If you've dodge or are doing and L3 build, use that. If you're trapped or doing an L2/4 build, use that. Warrior has to be next to you to attack you, so you can probably ward him or kill him if you have sufficent mana. You might also want some HP upgrades to keep your fragile self alive. If your mana is low, it is generally a better idea to avoid fighting the Warrior.
Remember that Warrior's L3 can be countered with L4 because it is immune to paralysis.
Burrowing for defense/ambushes is effective against the Warrior at night. In the early game, anyway. Keep in mind that later on he will probably have L3, which will force your out of the ground if you're hit with it.
In summary, if you're fighting Warrior as Mutant, good luck.

vs. Summoner
The Mutant is an excellent class for facing Summoner and I usually play Mutant to fight the Summoner. The key to facing Summoner is to deny him experience and keep him down. Mutant has the speed and abilities to do this. An L3 build is reccomended. L2 and L4 will doubtlessly defeat his summoned Zerglings, but many of them will get a chance to run. You cannot afford to have that happen constantly and L3 deals with that problem quite nicely. Keep hunting lings and feeding until you have L3.
Remember to use Night Vision to go after Summoner's zerglings at night. As with fighting Summoner in general, you may with to stack your spawns on to two paths to deny him feed on one path completely. Since you can't fight on multiple lanes but Summoner can handle all three, eliminating one evens the playing field.
Keep hunting Summoner's lings, keep the Summoner's XP down, and always have enough mana and spellpower to defend yourself from him massing and you're in for a smooth ride.

Post has been edited 8 time(s), last time on Feb 22 2009, 5:18 pm by Theodore Roosevelt.

My Pre-MT3 tips:

In 2v2, unless you are summoner/mutant, send both of your civs to minerals, and buy a probe. With that probe you can: immediately make an assim which will pay for itself in no time, and you can capture the unoccupied lane with it. If they are dm/

In 3v3, still buy it unless you are summoner/mutant/volt/LM/medic/assasin, and maybe archer.

In 3v3, do not buy a probe if sum1 already has 1.

If you see battle tanks, you are always better off killing the building, than killing the actual tanks. If you are mech, leave the building, as they are ez exp for you.

Do not waste any of your night grinding, you should be ganking.

Volt's Lv2 is NOT invincible. use your units, and your spell units, to manually attack the volt. Archer Lv1 is especially good at this, you just have to a+click like a mad man. LM, well, you deserve to be fucked

If you have them scared to leave because you are trying to go for the kill so much, assim the whole map, even if only to force them to leave.

Build a pylon and cannon on top of the north base when you cap it, worth it.

Always have your strongest player grinding on the same lane as medic. You must deny her exp for as long as you can.

Exp is not a clear indicator of who's strongest or doing the best in the game. Summoner must have atleast a 100 exp gap to be competitive, and assasin/medic is just the opposite.

You can just spam right click for attacks. You aren't allied to the Volt or anything. Same goes for paralysis. A+Click is only necessary for manual through Dark Mage's L2.

I wouldn't say I'd be the best choice to write a guide for the light mage, but I like to play him, and I know some basics.

Intro
The light mage is a physically weak hero, but his spells are the scariest thing, especially when you see a shitload of dragoons come out of no where and begin to rape you in the ear.

Early Game
I usually put the starting civ into damage, and get 2 damage upgrades and 1 armor upgrade. However, you can also put one one point into mana instead. If you're doing 2v2, put 1 point into money and the other into mana.
When you pick your lane, unless you're against a bunch of n00bs, it's a good idea to have another player with you, since, early game, the light mage will get raped by just about any hero. Put a couple points into mana and damage, because you want to stay in your lane as long as possible, because the light mage moves really, really slow, so unless you have the warpgate (and even then) you will be lagging behind on the experience leaderboard. Always make sure you can use the light barrier, because with only 3 or 4 points of damage upgrades, it's still does a crap load of damage, and it makes you invincible. Try to get the reavers after you have acquired at least 100 mana, because you need to get your dragoons. For the light mage, you're going to want to get 5 armor, and 6 later to tank the broodlings, but mostly you will be using your L1 to farm. With the zerglings however, you need to get as much armor as they have damage.

Mid-Late Game
This, and late game, is when you can kill heroes with ease. Once you have reavers, you can kill some of the lower hp heroes. Try weakening the other hero with light barrier, and then drop the bad-ass reavers, since they have a crap load of range, and the scarabs will chase them. However, with the reavers, when you see that they are about to run, cast the reavers, because fast heroes, like the mutant and the warrior might get out of range. By now, you should have a good amount of mana, so use your light barriers to kill the creeps. Get your L3 once you have at least 140 mana, but keep putting lots of points into your mana and damage after you get it. You don't really need your L4, unless you have nothing better to do. Your L3 is your hero killer, because if you surround them with it, and you upgraded your damage a lot, even a 2 or 3 hits will kill a hero.

Ending the Game
I think this should be pretty self explanatory. With the light mage, you could easily end the game just by killing all the other team's heroes. However, if they're being really careful, have a buddy system going on, hugging the cannons, you'll probably want to kill their cannons with reavers. After their defenses are down, proceed to destroy their base with dragoons. Don't forget, you goal is to make their temple go KABOOM!, but just be careful of the other team's hero attacking you if they are staying close to their temple to continuously heal.

Important/Other Notes
-Don't die
-Get the probe if no one else will
-You are the finisher, so as long as someone can tank for you or someone is dumb enough to get close, kill that hero; you probably can.
-When running away, use light barrier; if the other hero is at low life, you will probably kill them.
-As I said before, I'm not the best light mage player, but this is how I play him.
-Don't be a loner. Work with your team. If you have been staying in one lane consistently, be prepared for a gank at night. Otherwise, go gank someone else because they think you're still in that lane.
-A slightly different opening that I have used once, but I have seen other people use that works is spend the first point on money, and rather than upgrade, buy a probe and build assimilators as soon as you can.
-I hope the use of color in this post will help ease the eyes, I know it certainly helps me!

Awesome. Thanks guys. Could anyone compile a straight up list of counters, for different versions?

just fyi, some kid named hausOfGaga is hosting a rigged(like, really) version of TS, that seems like MT, but he give p1(him) an extra 35 mins to start with, and at about 5 minutes into game it gives p1 400 minerals. And some other shit.