f. Chapter six: Where Wyverns Dare (ROCWO6)

Starting Out: As soon as the mission begins, grab the Earthquake spell for Thrall (he should be level 6). I highly recommend making Cairne your main hero from here on out; his melee abilities are fantastic. If you prefer Thrall, that's fine too, just funnel the best items and upgrades to him. Always give intelligence tomes to Thrall, though.

Base Building & Defense: Train 7 more Peons. Assign 2 to gold, 4 to lumber, and use one to start building Watch Towers immediately. Place these towers slightly south of the path leading north from your base, a bit to the left of the existing tower. While building, use your heroes to take out the Thunder Lizards to the left for some extra gold and to prevent them from attacking your base. Some Footmen will attack soon, so use Cairne's War Stomp and Shockwave, along with Thrall's Chain Lightning, to deal with them. Build about 10 more towers for a solid defense and get the Spiked Barricades upgrade, followed by the second rank. Keep Thrall and Cairne in front of the towers during attacks; they can handle most threats. Have your Witch Doctor plant a Sentry Ward further up the path, where it inclines slightly, for early warning. If Harpies attack your Witch Doctor after a cut-scene, run him back and use Thrall to draw their aggro. You don't *need* to kill them yet, but it helps.

Upgrades & Optional Quest 1: Once your towers are mostly built, start on ranged weapons and armor upgrades, and the War Drums upgrade from the Beastiary. This mission is a good candidate for 'zerging' due to the cliffside base. Build an Altar of Kings, upgrade it to a Fortress, and get the final rank of Spiked Barricades. Build a Beastiary. Use Thrall to take out the Harpies northwest of your base between attacks; Rank 2 Chain Lightning makes short work of them. Prioritize lesser Harpies, then the level 6 ones. Grab the Pendant of Mana and give it to Thrall.

Pushing Out & Optional Quest 2: With your defense solid, save your game! Grab all your units and head out of your base, taking the first left and following the path southwest (south of where you killed the Harpies). Train a couple of Grunts to deal with Mortar Teams. Kill the Quilboars and Trolls along this path; grab the Health Stone from the second group and continue north. Don't worry too much about losing units here. Kill the next group of Quilboars to the north and take the Periapt of Vitality. Head back to base to ensure ranged/armor upgrades are still running and grab the last rank of barricades if you haven't already.

Hero Leveling & Abilities: By now, Thrall and Cairne should be leveled up or close. Get the last rank of Chain Lightning for Thrall and Cairne's final Shockwave (it deals a massive 200 damage in a cone).

Harpy Encounters: Continue up the path and to the right. You'll encounter more Harpies. If Thrall has a mana potion, he'll be fine; otherwise, conserve mana. 3-4 Chain Lightnings should defeat them. Grab the Scroll of Protection, then head up the path to the left. The next Harpy group is weaker; 2 Chain Lightnings should suffice. Watch out for sleep effects. Heal up and regenerate mana for Thrall, then take out the final Harpy group. Defeat the lesser ones first, saving the level 5s for last.

Final Upgrades & Wyvern Training: While waiting for mana, check your upgrades: ensure you're getting the final ranks of ranged and armor, and grab Pillage. After defeating the Harpies, the optional objective is complete, and you can now train Wyverns from the Beastiary. This will be your main attack force, along with one Kodo Beast. Mass Wyverns until you hit the food cap. Train Poisoned Spears from the Beastiary and start production. You should have plenty of gold, so upkeep isn't a major concern. Build a War Mill closer to the forest to boost lumber harvesting if needed. Keep your Wyverns back from the front lines and let your base defense handle incoming attacks.

Optional Quest 3 & Final Assault Prep: Once you reach high upkeep, ensure you have around 2000 gold, then pull Peons off gold to train the rest of your Wyverns and the Kodo Beast. You should aim for about 18 Wyverns and your Kodo. Group your heroes and Kodo Beast into group 1, and Wyverns into groups 2 and 3. Send a hero west of your base to the Defiled Fountain for another optional quest. Then, send your heroes north up the path past the gold mine and take the right fork. Kill the Centaurs, then head right to find the Khan and more Centaurs. After defeating them, grab a group of 12 Wyverns...