Wisp (Warcraft III)

Wisps are ancient spirits of nature that inhabit the forestlands of Kalimdor. Legends say that Wisps are actually the disembodied spirits of the Night Elves themselves, but these rumors have yet to be proven. The Wisps act in unison with the Night Elves and serve to strengthen the demigod like trees known as the Ancients. Beckoned by the Night Elves, Wisps are capable of animating various trees and expanding themselves into rough-hewn structures of living wood and stone.

Information
Wisps do not have an attack so it is best to run away when attacked. While Wisps do not have an attack and may appear weak, they can kill the most powerful demon in large numbers when they Detonate.

Wisps gather gold similar to Acolytes; a gold mine must be entangled by a nearby Tree of Life (or any upgrade). This process is free, but wisps must wait longer compared to other races before they can start harvesting gold.

Wisps gather lumber in a unique manner; as night elves care for the environment, wisps simply sap the lumber from the tree without killing it. This gathers 5 lumber at a time, and wisps do not need to return to a nearby lumber drop-off point. This means a wisp can be placed anywhere on the map as long as a tree is nearby, allowing players to track enemies that are unaware of their presence. However, most Night Elf players tend to get a Goblin Shredder if possible, since games typically end early and the gold could be used for training units or researching upgrades.

Wisps build in a manner similar to Peons; from the inside, so they are safe from attacks while constructing buildings. However, when they build any Ancient (or Tree of Life), the Wisp is consumed in the creation of the said building. However, if the building is canceled, then the Wisp leaves unharmed.

enew (Autocast)

 * Repairs friendly Night Elf buildings, allied buildings, and friendly mechanical units.

ather

 * Mines gold from Entangled Gold Mines and harvests lumber from trees.

Create uilding

 * Brings up a list of the available buildings that you may choose to construct.

Wisps are consumed when creating Ancients (all of the trees) but not when creating a normal structure such as a Hunter's Hall, Moon Well, or Altar of Elders.

etonate

 * Destroys the Wisp, dispelling all magical buffs and draining 50 mana from each unit in an area around the Wisp. Deals 225 damage to summoned units.

Detonate is targeted on a location rather than an enemy unit so make sure you adjust where you want the Wisp to Detonate if the enemy moves after you target it. Detonate should only be used up close because attempting to use it from a distance will often result in the Wisp getting destroyed before it will do so.

Detonate is generally not useful in many cases, because of how weak the spell fairly is. It's only useful in early game when the enemy rushes your base. If they do so, Detonate any Wisps the enemy may target. Wisps give experience, and detonating them prevents them from gaining that experience. Detonate is fairly effective against most enemy Heroes because they will generally lack a means of mana regeneration, which could cause them trouble when they attempt to creep the map.

Don't detonate too many Wisps at once, because this will just destroy your gold as you attempt to train more Wisps to start collecting lumber again. Only use Detonate if the Wisp is about to be destroyed and you have no way of saving it.

Reign of Chaos differences
In Reign of Chaos, Wisps have a movement speed of 220.