r/warcraft3 • • 8h ago

Custom Games I made a Smash-inspired platform fighter in Warcraft III

557 Upvotes

Hey there! I've been building Smashcraft, a platform fighter that runs as a Warcraft III custom map. Pick a Warcraft hero (or Peon...), fight across floating stages and knock each other off the screen.

The combo game and tech chasing still need refinement, and animation quality can be inconsistent, but it's already quite playable and genuinely fun, so I'm feeling encouraged enough to share it.

  • 26 fighters (Illidan, Thrall, Jaina, the Lich King, Sylvanas, Tinker, a Murloc, a Kobold who won't give up his candle and more), each with tilts, smashes, aerials, grabs and throws, four specials, EX specials and an ultimate
  • 10 stages, 1–4 players, CPU opponents with different playstyles and five difficulty levels
  • Rollback netcode for Battle.net and LAN
  • Training mode with frame data, a Tutorial, a Classic mode and Lore Battles
  • Movement and combat modelled on Melee: DI, techs, wavedashes, ledge play

Download (free): https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/smashcraft.375492/ (you can also find the roster on this post)

Put the .w3x in your Warcraft III Maps folder, set Graphics to Classic, and host it as a custom game. Default keys are WASD, N attack, U special (n+u is ultimate, there's a ex hotkey), Q shield and O grab. There's also a hitbox-style layout option and a controller support guide in the Discord.

Discord for finding games and reporting bugs: https://discord.gg/JQGZs2UJR

It's early, so I'd love to hear what feels off. Pressing K in a match saves the last 10 seconds for bug reports.

Roster:

Hope you enjoy!


r/warcraft3 • • 8h ago

Reforged Warcraft 3’s Big Graphics Update Is Back—and Definitive Edition Looks Better Than Ever, With Improved Terrain and Animations

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156 Upvotes

I love the new updated graphics and everything that 3.0.1 brings. It's not perfect, but it shows that the Warcraft 3 team is taking player feedback seriously, and I think as long time fans we should be happy with such quick reaction times. The game is in good hands.

I covered everything there is to know about the new patch - from updated terrain, to portrait animations, unit scaling and more. Always open for feedback!


r/warcraft3 • • 8h ago

Resources I built a free tool that tells you why you lost your WC3 games

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71 Upvotes

I kept losing 1v1s on ladder without really knowing why, so I built a tool for it: Replay Altar. It’s free and open source, runs in the background, and after every 1v1 it tells you what went wrong, which fight decided the game, what your opponent was doing, and how you compare with ~200 recent pro games of your race. Over time it shows which mistakes keep coming back.

The advice comes from guides (Grubby, Warcraft 3 Gym, Liquipedia), but I only kept the rules that actually show up more in pro losses than pro wins.

It also saves every replay before LastReplay.w3g gets overwritten, and nothing leaves your PC. English and Brazilian Portuguese.

The installer isn’t signed yet, so Windows will warn you (“More info” → “Run anyway”).

github.com/bubunuh/replay-altar

Feedback very welcome, especially from higher-MMR players: does the advice make sense?


r/warcraft3 • • 2h ago

Feedback What actually made Green TD so good? I've been trying to work it out

8 Upvotes

A real question for the custom map crowd.

I lost a lot of nights to Green TD and the other TD maps with friends. I've been trying to pin down why they stuck when so many tower defence games since haven't. My list so far:

- One shared road. Your leak was everyone's problem, so you actually watched each other's sections.
- Builders with a personality. You picked a race and it changed how you thought, not just how the towers looked.
- The lobby. Half the fun was the chat, the blame and the last-second saves.
- Short enough to play again straight away.

What am I missing? And which TD maps did it better? I've seen Legion TD and Element TD come up a lot, but I'd love to hear the ones people don't usually mention.

For context, I've been making my own browser TD around this, so I'm asking for a reason. I'm more interested in what you remember than in plugging it here. Happy to share it in the comments if anyone wants a look.


r/warcraft3 • • 35m ago

Feedback I built a free Warcraft 3 companion app for ladder, learning and casting

• Upvotes

Over the past months, I've been actively helping Warcraft 3 Gym (https://warcraft-gym.com) by rebuilding their website and adding few features like creep routes and build orders.

Working on W3 Gym got me thinking about other ways I could contribute to the WC3 community, and that eventually led me to build W3 Companion: a free desktop app that runs alongside the game on your own PC.

Here's what it can do:

Build order overlay: keep your build floating over the game, with an in-game clock and hotkeys to step through it. Make your own, or import one from a replay or a W3Champions match or a gym build order link (https://warcraft-gym.com/learn/builds)

Opponent scouting: when a 1v1 starts, see your opponent's recent form, win rates by race and map, your head-to-head, and the heroes they usually open with. Works on the W3Champions ladder, plus bnet ladder through an opt-in community network.

Post-game report: understand what cost you the game and what you did well, with the numbers behind each point, tips you can act on, hero timings, and how your army value grew through the game, check were the fights happen and what creep camp have been clear.

Profile and progress: track your stats, get a Power Level rating across both ladders, and unlock achievements as you play. (https://w3-companion.vercel.app/achievements)

Casting and OBS overlays: a live observer HUD with presets for casters and streamers, fully on customization and optional hotkeys for each individual overlay panel.

A few other details:

* Free to use, and it updates itself.

* Planning to release it as open source as soon i clean up a bit the code and the contribution rules.

* Your replays and builds stay on your PC.

* Respects fog of war and never shows you anything the game hides (no access to memory while casting either).

Download: https://w3-companion.vercel.app

I'm building this solo as a fan project, independently of Blizzard. I'd love to hear what you think, whether it's feedback on the current features, bugs you've hit, or ideas for what to build next.


r/warcraft3 • • 8h ago

Feedback The DE units and map are starting to look better but man, the portaits still look so much worse than Classic

7 Upvotes

Some look better than others ofc, but look at the Blademaster or Grunt for example. They just look completely different and missing their edge


r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Meme I need to share my love for Garithos such a good written character shame what happened to him. If he would become the King no bad writing would ever happen

316 Upvotes

r/warcraft3 • • 5h ago

Art The March of the MickCraft Footmen - Warcraft 3 Cinematic Intro

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3 Upvotes

I made this cinematic to test the new water and lighting effects introduced in Warcraft 3 Patch 3.0. I also decided that it can serve as a good intro for my channel on certain videos. I'm far from a pro when it comes to the new features but I hope this inspires others to create awesome things!


r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Art Cosplayed Lich king with my friend as Jaina at Blizzcon this year.

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1.0k Upvotes

Lich king : Sameertikkamasala

Jaina : Tsarina Cosplay


r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Campaigns RoC & tFT Frigates are a damn scam!

40 Upvotes

Playing through the Broken Isles and saw the Goblin Shipyards have frigates that are describe as 'good at taking down air units' So here I think "Oh! Maybe I can park these ships by the spot those damn air units keep attacking my base from!"

These fuckers shoot so slow they I didn't think they were actually attacking at first. These things are freaking dogwater bro!


r/warcraft3 • • 10h ago

Bug / Crash Report Black Screen on Launch (2026)

2 Upvotes

Hello. I searched and found that this has been an issue in the past for some people, but trying the solutions posted on those older posts did not avail me. Like the title says, when I launch my game I get a black screen with nothing loading further.
I have tried:

Setting WCIII to run in compatibility mode (was recommended to do Vista SP2)
Setting BlizzardBrowser to run in compatibility mode
Changing the game to be in windowed mode on launch (which worked, but did not fix the problem).
Using alt+enter to change the game to be in windowed mode on launch
Toggling compatibility mode on/off then launching
Using scan+repair tool on the bnet launcher

Was wondering if anyone else had any ideas? My game was working fine after the patch the other day. I haven't augmented any files or settings on my computer like driver updates or anything like that so I am stumped on what to try.


r/warcraft3 • • 14h ago

Forsaken Kingdom Forsaken Mission Siege Hard WTF?!

2 Upvotes

J'ai récemment fini ROC et TFT en difficile. Hier, j'ai enfin lancé Forsaken Kingdom en difficile et je viens de me heurter à un mur incompréhensible.

La fameuse mission de siège d'Andorhal, je parle de la deuxième partie, je ne comprends tout simplement pas.

Je comprends que je peux acheter des tours à Uther, mais pourquoi se donner cette peine ? Je ne peux améliorer que quatre tours car je n'ai pas de bois.

Et les vagues d'ennemis sont tout simplement ridiculement difficiles, je les ai dès le début avec 7-10 nécromanciens qui spamment des squelettes, que suis-je censé faire ?

Edit : J'ai enfin réussi en rushant les tours des le début sans même prendre la premiere ensuite jeu du chat et de la souris


r/warcraft3 • • 9h ago

Forsaken Kingdom Forsaken Survival Question

1 Upvotes

I've easily wasted over a half a day on this nightmare of a minigame and I just can't figure out how people were having an easy time with it?

Did one of the patches change something? I've tried all the characters and I can't get through the 3rd boss, even in the level 40s with so many items. I can't find anything that does VAMP or anything better than regen healing.

What's the trick? he leaps and just crushes me even with the 1400/1450 or whatever health cap of the item that adds health when youkill enemies.


r/warcraft3 • • 15h ago

Drama Exposing a drop-hack exploit: Game froze while I was completely ahead.

2 Upvotes

A malicious player used third-party cheat software when he realized he was about to lose.
Check the link below.

https://youtu.be/GK3ViYVeeiI


r/warcraft3 • • 13h ago

Bug / Crash Report [Forsaken Kingdom Bug] Ghoul quest item gets stuck in Garek's inventory after completing the quest

0 Upvotes

I'm playing Warcraft III: Reforged — Forsaken Kingdom and encountered a weird bug during the side quest involving the three intelligent ghouls.

Here's what happened:

  1. I picked up two of the ghouls with Anya.
  2. I picked up the third ghoul with Garek.
  3. I completed the quest and turned in all three ghouls.
  4. The ghoul carried by Garek remained in his inventory even after the quest was completed.

The item cannot be dropped, and moving to another location doesn't fix the issue. The quest itself is completed, but Garek is permanently stuck carrying a ghoul that he has no use for.

Has anyone else encountered this bug? Is there any way to remove the item without reloading an earlier save?

Another day, another Forsaken Kingdom bug. 💀


r/warcraft3 • • 14h ago

Technical Help Can't open game - stuck at lion gate

1 Upvotes

TL;DR: Warcraft III launches to a black screen through Battle.net on Windows 11, but Legacy TFT 1.29 works fine. I’ve tried reinstalling, clean booting, disabling antivirus, testing another account/network, and extensive troubleshooting without success. No such thing happened in other Blizzard games.

After three days, Blizzard support simply redirected me to the forums. Any ideas?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi everyone,

I’m having a problem launching Warcraft III through the Battle.net launcher. I have a valid Warcraft III license/key, but I don’t own a separate copy of Warcraft III: Reforged.

Whenever I launch the game, I get a completely black screen. There is no mouse cursor, no music, and no sound. The game never reaches the main menu.

My PC specifications

  • OS: Windows 11
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
  • RAM: 32 GB

In past few days I tried so far:

  1. Tried windowed mode and skipping the intro movie using War3Preferences.txt.
  2. Ran Battle.net as administrator.
  3. Checked compatibility settings for Warcraft III.exe and BlizzardBrowser.exe.
  4. Reset local BlizzardBrowser data.
  5. Tried the launch arguments -graphicsapi Direct3D11 -log -windowmode windowed.
  6. Tested Control Flow Guard (CFG) overrides for Warcraft III.exe. No improvement. Added the game to Malwarebytes exclusions and temporarily disabled Malwarebytes.
  7. Temporarily disabled McAfee protection and firewall, then completely uninstalled McAfee and rebooted. The mfesec filter is now gone, but the issue persists.
  8. Tested a mobile hotspot instead of my home network. Changed DNS settings, including Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and automatic DNS. No improvement.
  9. Changed the game region to Americas and the language to English (US). No improvement.
  10. Performed a clean boot by disabling non-Microsoft services and startup applications.
  11. Completely reinstalled Warcraft III. Tested the game from a newly created Windows administrator account.
  12. Checked Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer but found no relevant errors.
  13. Checked Windows Firewall outbound rules. No blocking rules for Warcraft III, Battle.net, or BlizzardBrowser were found.
  14. Used Process Monitor to investigate file access. It showed ACCESS DENIED when BlizzardBrowser attempted to write CEF and debug logs, and a SHARING VIOLATION involving a Battle.net shared-memory file. However, my account has full control over the CEF log file and folder, and test files can be created successfully. The referenced debug log and NVIDIA cache file were not present when checked. Examined BlizzardBrowser logs. The Browser log shows startUrl: “about” followed by loading completion, but no subsequent navigation to the game interface. The corresponding CEF log is empty (0 bytes). Checked running processes. Three BlizzardBrowser.exe processes are present, including a GPU process with --gl-use-gpu-with-luid=61580. No useful GPU crash messages were found.
  15. Warcraft III: Legacy TFT 1.29 works flawlessly.

I have been waiting for 3 days to get ticket response where I wrote all of that. The response I got is this:

Kuwuolupu

Greetings, …, o/ This is Game Master Kuwuolupu, but feel free to call me Kuwu! Thank you so much for waiting, your patience means a lot to us. We’ve been receiving a lot of tickets lately, which has made replies take a little longer than usual. Wow, you have already tried so many great troubleshooting steps. I truly appreciate how much effort you put into getting your Warcraft III running. Since you already went through all the deep tech steps, our technical support forums are a fantastic place to look next. We have so many awesome players and tech experts there who love helping out with specific setups like yours. You can find them right here: Technical Support - Warcraft III: Reforged Forums If you need anything else, I’m just a whisper away. Stay legendary, GM Kuwuolupu✧˚ · .Hi everyone,
I’m having a problem launching Warcraft III through the Battle.net launcher. I have a valid Warcraft III license/key, but I don’t own a separate copy of Warcraft III: Reforged.
Whenever I launch the game, I get a completely black screen. There is no mouse cursor, no music, and no sound. The game never reaches the main menu.
My PC specifications


r/warcraft3 • • 6h ago

Melee / Ladder W3Champions is punishing me with "early leave" despite me not having a hero out when Orc hero is in my base, W3C is completely useless to new players

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0 Upvotes

r/warcraft3 • • 2d ago

General Discussion Warcraft III Is the Most Influential Game Ever Made

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614 Upvotes

r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Reforged I had forgotten how bad the Reforged cutscenes were.

12 Upvotes

So due to WoW forever and the new expansion I decided to download WC3 again and decided to play through the campaign once again since it had been so long.

I decided to play with the Reforged graphics and cutscenes giving them another chance and I did like the look of some of the models. I remember I didn't like the Reforged cutscenes since they initially promised the were going to be completely redone with cinematic camera angles and everything, but aside from a few changes they remained the same.

But holy shit, the cutscenes in reforged is an objective downgrade. Everything is shot from a flat static camera angle showing only the models and bottom text, while everyone is slowly just strolling everywhere when they walk.

In the original when everyone was running you felt a sense of urgency and momentum, but now everyone just strolls on slowly everywhere in every situation as if they were bored. In certain scenes this especially bad like when Uther runs up to the blademaster and hits him before realising it's a mirror image, now he just slowly walks up to him or when Thrall and his men is running through the barrens before meeting From now they all just slowly walking as if they were on a boring mountain hike instead of a horde on the move.

The lack of camera angles and lack of talking head boxes also takes a lot away from the cutscene where it is either excruciating boring or unintentionally funny. When Cairn comes to help Thrall in Stone Talon we initially cut to see him and his men approaching Thralls base, now he just slowly walks into frame after being just out of frame as if it were a bad theater play.

Rexxars opening with Mogrin is Aldo extremely bad and it's where I realized how much heavy lifting the talking head boxes did to immerse you in the scene, now their conversation is all shown from a flat camera angle with two nearly unmoving 3d models from asides from their mouths that you can barely see moving from a distance if you squint.

Asides from a few cool additions like Arthas stabbing Malganis, It all felt so flat, boring and soulless. As if the characters themselves were bored and didn't want to be there.

WC3 was already among my top favourite games, but this just made me appreciate the old cutscenes so much more with how much soul, life and atmosphere they managed to put into them despite having so little to work with.


r/warcraft3 • • 18h ago

Custom Games Custom Maps help

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1 Upvotes

Hey I'm trying to download custom maps (campaigns?) for Warcraft 3 Reforged. I visited Hive and found a solo map I really want to try, but I can't really figure out where it put it in my game folder. Every guide I've seen has said to put it in my "Maps" folder, but all the videos show a folder that looks very different from mine, as mine doesn't contain a Maps folder. I'm not great with this kind of thing so I've turned to Reddit to ask for help. Sorry if I'm being stupid and missed something obvious. Also happy to receive some recommendations for solo maps, I love solo games like X Hero Siege and RPGs :)


r/warcraft3 • • 2d ago

Drama Y'all were warned this time. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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156 Upvotes

r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Campaigns RoC & tFT Were the Classic campaigns always this hard?

8 Upvotes

Recently, I decided to replay the classic campaigns before starting a full playthrough of Forsaken Kingdom.

The last time I played through the campaigns was when I was around 12–14 years old, and I always played on Hard difficulty.

Even though the game wasn't exactly easy for me back then, it definitely wasn't THAT hard either. I remember going through both the RoC and TFT campaigns without too much trouble and genuinely enjoying them.

But now, 12 years later, I'm spending 1.5–2 hours on almost every mission, and it's actually pretty damn challenging. You can't just wing it and expect to win anymore.

I'm actually enjoying this, but it got me wondering: did Blizzard really make the game harder at some point?

I find it hard to believe that the campaigns were just as difficult back when I was a kid as they are now.

Compared to my 12-year-old self, I've gained a lot more gaming experience, especially when it comes to RTS games, micro, and understanding the economy.

So, what do you guys think? Did Blizzard actually make the classic campaigns harder, or am I just remembering them as being easier than they really were?


r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

WC2:RM Warcraft 2 Clans

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2 Upvotes

r/warcraft3 • • 2d ago

Campaigns RoC & tFT Forsaken kingdom reminded me why I loved this game and so I had to do it on hard.

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143 Upvotes

Right before today's patch, I managed to finish all the campaigns on Hard. I started from the first one after I've finished Forsaken Kingdom. (Had to go from the first one, coz for whatever reason all the progress I've made when Reforged released got deleted - was playing Invasion of Kalimdor when I got too tired to continue as I had really bad impression of Reforged - for me, he's Grom, not sure why they had to change it to Hellscream in every dialog.)

Anyway, wanted to give some general opinions on the campaigns and share some hopes for Definitive versions of these campaigns.

Let's start with Exodus of the Horde.

I always loved this campaign as it is a slow start and having all 5 missions together is a godsend. Hope that they keep all five and not just the two you can play with classic graphics. Here are some points about the campaign I would like them to chage.

  1. Unique model for Sen'Jin. I was sad that he did not get one in Reforged as I think he's deserving of a unique one as he's the leader of the Darkspears when they are pledged to the Horde.

  2. The colour of humans was changed to blue instead of dark green, I think they should revert this change as the humans are clearly Kul'Tiran patrols. Dark green is thus much more fitting.

As for the missions themselves I love them all and I hope that they keep the witch as a naga. (shame what they did to her in WoW, she could have been so much more)

The Scourge of Lordaeron

This campaign is perfect, the only thing I would love them to change is the map as it makes no sense with its town and village placements. New Stratholme is fine, they should keep it. Maybe add a zoo somewhere.

Path of the Damned

My favourite from the Reign. Hated it as a child but as time goes it grew on me and became my favourite. Here I want to appreciate Reforge for trying making High Elves different from Humans. I hope that Definitive goes even beyond that and gives them totally new skins for buildings. I hope that they keep the Silvermoon version from Reforged as it is fun to go through the city and destroy everthing and having that final showdown with Anastarian.

The Invasion of Kalimdor

Nothing to change here. Just make him Grom again and add catapult model pls.

Eternity's End
This one I don't like at all, it might be caused by the fact that I do not understand how to play Night Elves effectively. But jeez, this one was a slog for me and I liked it as a kid.

Once again, not much to change here just add Furion's model without the stag.

Also the last mission was the only one from Reign I had to restart (to my surprise as I expected the last Undead mission to be the worst) and as that one was a 45min counter, I checked some guide with mines and destroyed Archimond's base and went to gym and when I came back, I had it done. I do not know what the tactics here are but I found it much more difficult.

Terror of the Tides

Hate this one, having two Night Elven campaigns side by side is awful. These missions are also quite tough on hard. I would say that the whole Frozen Throne is much more difficult. Must say that that mission where you try to save Maiev with Furion and Tyrande is just awful. This one I had to restart many times just to make myself somewhat capable of withstanding the onslaught. I also probably encountered a bug here as during the Stormrage brothers mission, noone was attacking Tyrande so I had as much time as I needed to destroy their base.

Curse of the Blood Elves

Loved it as a child, was surprised how gimmicky this one was. Anyway had to watch a lot of guides here. Mission two is tough, Secret mission is even worse. Mission 5 I though would be the worst one, but you can invis Illidan and he closes the gates without the problem. Love this one for the lore, no changes needed. (Maybe the map of Outland could be updated as to match WoW)

Legacy of the Damned

This one is the most brutal one but I really like Undead and I find Garrithos great fun so loved this one. Did the cheese on the last mission with the Shades to block Illidan but the rest was doable without cheesing for me. Just don't make Detheroc fat. 😄

The Founding of Durotar

This one was so relaxing after that Undead campaign and I loved every second of it. I also found that they made a model for a cleric without Anchor of the Kul'Tiras. I think that they made a mistake and accidently have the one with the Anchor as the generic one and the generic one as the Kul'Tiran specialized cleric. Please fix that as having the ambassador with Kul'Tiran sigil is weird in Arthas's campaign.

Also why did they changed the siege? I really liked that you had to protect the other bases.

So what changes would you like to see in the definitive version of Warcraft 3's campaign?


r/warcraft3 • • 1d ago

Reforged Do you think Blizzard will add more races? Perhaps the promised 6 races from back in the day? Nagas, Goblins, Burning Legion...

23 Upvotes

Or something else? Clearly Forsaken was not part of the early development cycle, they made this DLC to test new grounds.

Perhaps if its well succeeded, we could see a new development cycle for Warcraft 3... and more races!

Not sure about Burning Legion or Goblions, which are some of the speculated ones I remember from back in the day, but the Naga would be amazing. They have so much stuff already!