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PART II:
The Magic of Azeroth

In advanced WarCraft II gameplay, whether you're taking on the computer or other players, spells make a world of difference. Spells are only vaguely documented in the game manual, but as Blizzard Entertainment's insider, we reveal all of the secrets of spells below.

WarCraft is set in a medieval fantasy world where brave warriors fight with swords, arrows and bows. Also at your disposal, however, are 18 spells, which give you access to advanced "weapon technologies." Some spells perform functions similar to those of land mine or area bombing features of other strategy games. Other spells lead to whole new strategic options, allowing you to make units temporarily invisible or invincible. WarCraft's 18 spells will be covered first by a discussion of the 9 spells of the paladins and mages of Azeroth, followed by a description of the 9 curses of the Horde's ogre-mages and death knights.

Availability of Spells

WarCraft has a few prerequisites for casting spells. First you need the proper spellcaster. On the Human side, that means paladins or mages ­ which won't be available to you until certain buildings are present. These buildings can only be constructed in the game's advanced stages ­ after you've already built a castle. Once you've put the proper structure in place, you can upgrade any knight to a paladin by clicking on the church and selecting the upgrade command; mages are trained in the mage tower.

There is no magic until you have either the mage tower (left) or church (center) or both. Either one requires a castle (right).

Each spellcaster comes with one spell ­ paladins have "Holy Vision" and mages get the "fireball." Mages also start out with "lightning", which is actually just a different name for their regular attack command. All spells beyond the initial one have to be researched in the church or mage tower, which costs time and money (gold, that is).

Similar to role-playing games, every WarCraft spell consumes a bit of magic energy or "mana." The mana battery is recharged by one unit for every 40 program cycles (about 1 second). After (a/the/its) battery runs out, a mage or paladin needs at least four minutes of regeneration to reach its maximum mana reserve of 255 units.

Using the cheat code "every little thing she does" you can activate all spells (of the respective scenario) and receive unlimited mana. Enter all cheat codes in the message window (hit Enter, type the code, then hit Enter again to confirm).

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