SC2Mapster

A defensive siege map. Like many of the other (10? 20? more?) Helm's Deep maps, it follows the same basic guidelines for objectives. The defenders (Rohan, the Elves, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli) have to hold out long enough for the Riders of Rohan to arrive with Gandalf, or kill the two commanders of the Uruk-Hai (Saruman and Ugluk). Saruman's forces (Saruman, Ugluk, and Lugdush) must destroy the fortress before the Riders come (50 minutes).

My version was derived from the Helm's Deep-Annatar maps from Starcraft 1, at least in balance and unit stats, but some major changes were made. For one, the layout was completely redesigned in an attempt to more realistically portray the fortress itself. The Elves have three heroes (as opposed to 2 in the Annatar variations), and some heroes were changed completely. Most heroes now have one to three abilities to use, varying from a simple Flaming Arrow to the devastation of Aragorn's Breakthrough or the general defensive power of Theoden's Fortify.

The map is designed to be played with a full eight players, but it is doable with as few as four, for after the first four players, the other slots are simply heroes. The hero-only players (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Lugdush) can level, and their heros all have a Great Strike ability. This devastating attack wipes out all regular soldiers in a sizable area around the hero and fully heal the hero, but be careful, as it will also slaughter allies. The ability also has a very long cooldown time, so use it sparingly.

I hope everyone who plays the map enjoys it! If you see a bug, or if you think something is wrong with the balance in the map, feel free to message me, preferably online inside Starcraft 2 (username Palamani, friend code 360). If the bug you've reported is present, I'll try to fix it, and if any suggestions about changes in the map itself make sense, I will integrate them when I can.