Direct Strike

Download

You can find the latest version of the Direct Strike map on Hive Workshop.

Last Released

2025-02-16

6.2.3

W3Champions

Remember, you don't need to manually download the map if you're going to play on W3Champions. The W3Champions client will download it for you automatically. See the Introduction page for more information.

Patch Notes

Patch v6.2.3 — Released 2025-02-16

Changes

feature

New Observer UI

We have added a new UI for observers that allows you to see high-level information about each player, including the player's units, current tier, number of mines, and more.

buff

Gryphon Rider

Cost reduced from 260g to 250g.

buff

Wind Rider

Envenomed Spear's poison damage increased from 8/s to 12/s.
Envenomed Spear poison duration changed from 10s to 8s on units, and from 1s to 2s on heroes.

system

Unit XP

Flying Machine XP awarded increased from 25 to 40.
Obsidian Statue XP awarded increased from 40 to 60.
Dragonhawk Rider XP awarded decreased from 115 to 85.
Siege Engine XP awarded increased from 40 to 115.

system

Tooltips

Ghoul's Ghoul Frenzy tooltip now shows the right amount of attack speed bonus.
Tauren's Pulverize tooltip now shows the amount of AOE damage.
Gryphon Rider's Storm Hammer tooltip now shows the amount of attack spill distance bonus.

bug

Mac Crash

Fixed issue with a critter that was causing crashes.

Patch v6.2.2a — Released 2025-02-08

Fixes

bug

Bear Form

Removed the Bear Form toggle from the Ability AI menu due to an exploit.

Patch v6.2.2 — Released 2025-01-30

Fixes

bug

Mac Crash

Fixed an issue where Mac users would crash by just looking at the Undead Hippogryph Rider skin. It has been replaced by a Corrupted hippo rider skin instead.

bug

Wind Walk

Fixed various scenarios where the Blademaster and Panda would fail to find a valid target when using Wind Walk, which caused them to ignore enemies and run to the enemy Fortress.

Patch v6.2.1 — Released 2025-01-24

General

system

UI Consistency

The UI is now the same across all selected races (w3c does not restrict race selection like bnet does).
The UI no longer shows lumber and food resources.

nerf

Orb of Venom

Orb of Venom cost increased from 250g to 275g, DPS reduced from 23 to 21.

buff

Orb of Fire Rework

Increases attack by 7, and allows the hero to use ranged attacks against air units. Units that die within 3 seconds of being hit by the hero explode on death, leaving no corpse and dealing 20 spell damage to nearby units.

buff

Hero Cost

Hero Builder cost changed from 500g for all heroes to: 500/450/400 gold cost for 1st, 2nd and 3rd hero.

Fixes

bug

AFK Unit Loss

Fixed a bug where player 1 would lose all units in the staging area when someone was flagged as AFK.

Patch v6.2 — Released 2025-01-20

General

feature

Spirit Towers

Added neutral Spirit Towers in the middle for better visualization of which team is controlling middle, and will change color to either Red or Blue depending on the team that have the mid bonus.

feature

Ding

Added a "Ding!" sound effect for the team that is taking control of mid, the sound will be heard exactly at the time spirit towers change color.

system

Icons

Added a saken icon "SakenStare" (last page, dedicated to future new FREE icons)

system

Win Bonus

Changed the win bonus earned from +$25 to +$30 ($TONK$)

feature

Bear Toggle

Added a toggle for druid of claw allowing players to decide their form.

system

Map

Removed the Purple Field in the middle that used to cause a weird line of sight.

system

Critter Colors

Adjusted the the color of few critters.

Balance Changes

buff

T3 Cost

Changed the cost of all T3 mains from 450g to 400g

buff

Ability Priority

These abilities will now prioritize mostly heroes rather than casting it on units: Firelord's Soul Burn, Warden's Shadow Strike, Demon Hunter's Mana Burn.

buff

Archer

Archers cost decreased from 170g to 160g.

nerf

Hippogryph

Hippogryphs cost increased from 65g to 75g.

buff

Hippogryph

Hippogryphs base damage increased by 1 (from 18-20 to 19-21).
Hippogryphs HP increased from 147 to 150.

buff

Sorceress

Sorceress’s Slow ability: Attack speed slow increased from 25% to 33%.

buff

Dreadlord

Reverted MP and aura nerf on Dreadlord from the last patch.

nerf

Dreadlord

Increased Infernal CD from 80s to 120s (ulting every wave and an half).

buff

Blademaster

Blademaster's Bladestorm AoE increased from 200 to 350.

nerf

Ghoul

Ghoul's base minimum damage reduced by 2 (from 14-16 to 12-16).
Ghoul's base attack CD increased from 0.85 to 0.88

buff

Ghoul

Ghoul Frenzy attack speed bonus increased from 30% to 35%.

buff

Death Knight

Death Pact CD reduced from 6s to 5s at all levels.

Fixes

bug

Beast Master

Fixed Beastmaster's Summon Bear A.I: will summon bear when he wants to attack (instead of when he is attacked).

bug

Tornado

Fixed Archmage and Naga Sea Witch's Tornado going backwards or acting weird.

bug

Panda

Fixed Panda running around just to cast breath of fire.

bug

Mortar Team

Fixed Mortar Team not using Flare.

bug

Witch Doctor

Fixed Witch Doctors going AFK when they place Stasis Trap.
Witch Doctors now place Stasis Trap in front of them instead of behind.

bug

Banshee

Fixed Banshees sometimes ignoring Tier 1 units when they are Possessing.

bug

Shaman

Fixed Shaman’s Lightning Shield spell damage type from Normal to Magic (no does not deal more damage to Heavy armor, now will follow the same rule as Magic types when is interacting versus immunities and such).

bug

Windwalk

Fixed both WindWalk abilities for Blademaster and Storm (Panda Ult) where they would run to the other side until they die.

bug

Tooltip

Fixed Animal War Training cost showing 150g instead of 125g
Fixed Orb of Venom's tooltip.
Fix Mountain Giant's Resistant Skin tooltip.
Fixed all caster's tooltips (now shows the right amount of HP and MP gain)

bug

Tinker

Tinker now places Factory in front of him.

bug

Demon Hunter

Fixed Demon Hunter’s Ult duration (now will last 25s instead of 12s)

bug

Necromancer

Necromancers will no longer cast Unholy Frenzy on targets that already have it.
Necromancers’s Unholy Frenzy will now mostly priorities T3 units instead if “random” units around them.

bug

Skins

Fixed Bandit and Hammer skin of Knights that had missing BLP (their shield is no longer white)

Patch v6.1.4a Hotfix — Released 2024-12-23

Changes

system

Balance Folder

Reverted the _balance file imports...

Patch v6.1.4 — Released 2024-12-23

Balance

buff

Knights

Sundering Blades increased from 15% to 25%
+2 bonus damage for knights

buff

Animal War Training

Animal War Training HP bonus from 30 to 40, cost from 150g to 125g

nerf

Dark Ranger

Black Arrow MP increased from 6 to 8
Life Drain MP increased from 75 to 95
Charm MP increased from 40 to 65
Charm cooldown is now 9 seconds

nerf

Dreadlord

DL Vamp Aura reduced from 20/35/50% to 15/30/45%
DL Inferno MP cost increased from 175 to 200

nerf

Alchemist

Acid Bomb MP cost increased from 75 to 85
Healing Spray MP cost increased from 75 to 90

W3C Only

feature

Auto End

The game will automatically end if someone leaves within 3 minutes of the game.

Fixes

system

Balance Folder

Imported all old files from the game's _balance folder into the map itself. Blizzard deleted this folder on 2.0.1.22490, which caused balance values to be off (a bug that also affects nearly every custom maps ever created so have fun with that).

system

Various AI fixes.

Patch v6.1.3a Hotfix — Released 2024-11-15

Changes

system

Savecode Security

Savecode backups are appended with random characters to prevent hacked maps from overwriting them.

Patch v6.1.3 Hotfix — Released 2024-11-09

Changes

bug

Blademaster

Fixed an issue where the Blademaster would switch target during Wind Walk, making him look confused

correction

Tooltip

Ghoul tooltip now shows the correct damage values

correction

Tooltip

The Berserker upgrade tooltip now displays the correct values

correction

Button

Changed the Tornado ability AI button's text from "Spiked Shell" to "Tornado"

Patch v6.1.2a Hotfix — Released 2024-11-08

Fixes

bug

Starting Gold

Starting gold is now 280 again.

Patch v6.1.2 Hotfix — Released 2024-11-08

Fixes

bug

Unit Abilities

Fixed a bug where units would not cast abilities

bug

Farseer

Fixed a bug where Farseer could cancel earthquakes when casting

bug

Panda

Fixed a bug where Panda did not use Drunken Haze

bug

Bears

Fixed a bug where Druid bears did not cast Rejuvenation

bug

Troll Regen

Fixed a bug that displayed troll regen in Mixed

bug

Shadow Hunter

Fixed a bug where SH placed a Ward behind him instead of in front

Patch v6.1.1 Hotfix — Released 2024-11-07

Fixes

bug

Game Freezes

Fixed game freezes

bug

Tinker

Fixed Tinker casts

bug

Farseer

Fixed Farseer casts

bug

Druid of the Talon

Fixed Druid of the Talon Crow Form

bug

Magic Casts

Possibly fixed a bug with castes for magic (priest, banshee, etc.)

Patch v6.1 — Released 2024-11-07

New Features, Additions & Changes

feature

Unit Range Visualization

Added a button that will show you the attack range of every unit

feature

Map & Critters

Changes to some parts of the map + new critters

feature

Middle Lane

It is now more accurate and its easier to tell who should receive the mid bonus gold

Bug Fixes

bug

Mixed mode Reroll

Fixed the bug that allowed you to build an unit before reroll

feature

Mixed mode Troll Regen

Troll regen used to show up even though its researched by default

AI & Toggle Changes

system

AI system

The entire AI system has been rewritten from the ground up. The general targeting and vanilla mechanics remain unchanged, this overhaul mainly affects reaction times of units.

system

Ability AI

With the new AI system toggles also become way more responsive.

bug

Units getting stuck

Some units used to get stuck after an ability cast, this should be resolved now.

system

Druid of the Claw

Upon researching the master upgrade druid will stay in bear form.

system

Spellsteal Toggle

Spellsteal can now be toggled.

system

Auto cast abilities

Can be now turned off mid battle.

bug

Mana Siphon

Can now be turned off.

Balance Changes Neutral

buff

Alchemist

Healing Spray now heals alchemist as well

buff

Beastmaster

All summons CD reduced from 25 to 25/23/20
Stampede cast range increased from 300 to 400
Stampede CD reduced from 180 to 160

buff

Firelord

Volcano CD reduced from 180s to 120s
Soul Burn MP cost reduced from 45 to 35

nerf

Firelord

Soul Burn CD Increased from 8 to 10
Soul Burn duration reduced from 6/7/8 to 5/6/7

Balance Changes Orc

nerf

Shadow Hunter

Healing Wave CD Increased from 9 to 10
Hex CD changed from 7 to 9/8/7
Hex duration on heroes reduced from 4/5/6 to 2/3/4
Hex MP cost Increased from 40 to 45
Serpent Ward CD Increased from 6s to 9s
Serpent Ward duration Increased from 20s to 25s

nerf

Farseer

Fire Bolt CD Increased from 8s to 10s
Fire Bolt MP cost Increased from 30 to 60
Chain Lightning MP cost Increased from 120 to 135
Chain Lightning CD Increased from 9s to 10s

buff

Wind Rider

HP increased by 25

nerf

Kodo

Default dmg bonus decreased from 10% to 5%

Balance Changes Human

buff

Mountain King

Storm Bolt CD reduced from 12s to 10s
Storm Bolt MP cost reduced from 60 to 50

buff

Bloodmage

Phoenix splash attack area Increased from 25/50/75 to 25/50/100
Phoenix DMG Increased from 61-75 to 66-80
Phoenix HP Increased from 750 to 800
Siphon Mana cast range from 600 to 650

nerf

Bloodmage

Banish CD Increased from 3.5/2.0/1.5 to 3
Banish duration on heroes reduced from 4/5/6 to 3/4/5
Banish MP cost reduced from 75/60/50 to 55/50/45

nerf

Paladin

Holy Light CD Increased from 3 to 6/5/4
Holy Light MP cost Increased from 25 to 35

buff

Sorceress

Invisibility cast range increased from 300 to 350
Invisibility MP cost reduced from 50 to 35
Slow MP cost reduced from 50 to 45

buff

Mortar Team

Fragment shard damage increased from 12-25 to 14-30

Balance Changes Night Elf

buff

Demon Hunter

Metamorphosis duration Increased from 15s to 25s
Mana Burn cast range Increased from 300 to 500
Mana Burn CD Increased from 5 to 8/7/6

buff

Keeper of the grove

Tranquility radius Increased from 900 to 1100
Entangling Roots DMG Increased from 15/15/25 to 20/25/30 per sec

buff

Warden

Blink CD changed from 10/10/4 to 8/6/4
Blink MP cost changed from 50/50/10 to 45/30/15
Shadow Strike cast time reduced from 3s to 2s
Shadow Strike CD increased from 4s to 6s
Shadow Strike MP cost reduced from 40 to 35

nerf

Warden

Vengeance CD Increased from 80s to 90s
Vengeance duration reduced from 60s to 50s
Vengeance HP reduced from 1600 to 1500

buff

Priestess of the moon

Base attack cooldown reduced from 1.56 to 1.49
Searing Arrow MP cost reduced from 8 to 6

nerf

Dryad

Abolish Magic cost increased from 50g to 75g
Slow Poison MS reduction reduced from 50% to 40%

buff

Glaive Thrower

Base attack cooldown reduced from 2.760 to 2.360
Splash AOE increased from 25/50/75 to 50/75/100

nerf

Glaive Thrower

Gold cost increased from 220g to 250g

Balance Changes Undead

nerf

Death Knight

Death Coil CD changed from 7/5/3 to 6
Death Coil MP cost from 30 to 35
Death Pact CD Increased from 4/4/4 to 6

nerf

Lich

Base attack cooldown increased from 1.240 to 1.540
Frost Armor CD changed from 5 to 7/6/5
Frost Nova MP cost increased from 125 to 145

buff

Lich

Frost Armor MP cost reduced from 30 to 15
Frost Armor duration Increased from 45 to 55
Frost Armor slow duration Increased from 3s to 5s

nerf

Crypt lord

Impale MP cost Increased from 100 to 125

buff

Crypt lord

Locust Swarm MP cost reduced from 150 to 90

nerf

Dreadlord

Sleep CD increased from 7 to 9
Carrion Swarm now has a max damage cap of 600 / 900 / 1300 per level

buff

Crypt Fiend

Projectile speed increased from 500 to 550

buff

Ghoul

Base DMG increased by 2 (from 12-14 to 14-16)

Balance Changes Items

nerf

Gem of True Seeing

Cost increased from 140g to 200g

nerf

Orb of Darkness

Summoned skeleton HP reduced from 225 to 175
Summoned skeleton duration reduced from 80s to 25s
Summoned skeleton attack cooldown increased from 1.00 to 1.10