Warcraft II units

Warcraft II units are composed of three main types: ground, air and naval units. They are all trained at different buildings and are fairly similar on either the Alliance or Horde faction.

The units are essentially quite balanced - the only real differences can be found in the abilities used by Paladins / Ogre-Magi and Mages / Death Knights. It is often argued that the Ogre-Magi have better spells than Paladins (the Bloodlust spell used on a large number of Ogre-Magi is very devastating, and makes people easily favor the Horde, especially if they favor rush tactics) while Mages are better than Death Knights (the Polymorph spell is extremely effective if used correctly), though some disagree on one count or both. The other non-cosmetic difference is that Elven Rangers can learn the Marksmanship ability (so that they deal more damage) whereas their counterparts, Troll Berserkers, can acquire Regeneration (which slowly heals their wounds).

These tables show the internal Basic and Piercing Damage values used in the Warcraft II Map Editor. When an attack is made, the game randomly decides whether it will deal half or full damage. The target's Armor is then subtracted from the (half or full) Basic value, with a minimum result of zero; the (half or full) Piercing value is then added to the result to get the target's HP loss from the attack. The Low and High attack values shown in a unit's infobox within the game are calculated using the above formula, with the Low value assuming a half damage attack against a target Armor of 15, and the High value a full damage attack against no Armor.

Detailed strategies for these units are still available the official Warcraft II website.

Special Units

 * The Eye of Kilrogg and Skeleton are units summoned by Horde spellcasters. The Daemon cannot be summoned, but only appears as an NPC enemy in certain single-player missions and scenarios. Critters are non-controllable units that serve mostly as map decorations, but can have spells cast on them or get in someone's way.
 * Attack Peasants and Attack Peons are another type of special, non-buildable unit that can only be placed using third-party map editors. They have the same stats as Peasants/Peons. See the articles on Peasants and Peons for more information.

Trivia

 * Even though they cannot be built, hero units are given build times and costs in the game files. These are all identical to the heroes' base units, with three exceptions: Cho'gall has a build time of 100 seconds (+11%) and costs 1100 gold (+38%) and 50 lumber (-50%), while both Anduin Lothar and Uther Lightbringer have a build time of 100 seconds (+11%) and cost 900 gold (+13%) and 100 lumber (Normal).