Now, here's the peril of the playing at a low level on bnet. You tend to either get somebody who can't play and you stomp them, or somebody on a smurf account who completely bowls you over. Sometimes it's in between and it's fairly even, like this game was, despite its relative shortness.

I like to think my micro skills are fairly decent, but my macro skills could definitely use some work. One problem me and my friends have been having with team games lately is that it seems like if we don't build a rush force and rush quickly, we get rushed and die. In some cases we die anyway, but it seems like whenever we don't rush we die.

After getting stomped on in a 4v4 and then a 3v3, my partners didn't want to play any more (one person went to sleep between games) I was left alone on Bnet feeling like I needed a win under my belt before I left. Since I was on my Night Elf name from the 3v3 I decided to stick with that one and go on a 1v1. After having my opponent immediately leave the game on startup (causing me to go up to level 3), I hit play again and got matched up with a Level 4 Night Elf by the name of Darr(Juggalo), on the map Moonglade.

Moonglade

Moonglade is a decently sized map, not really built for 1v1, but works fine for it. There are few real chokes, as basically the whole map is traversable (yes, even the water in the middle), only the trees bar your way. The exps are guarded by rather strong creeps, including Furbolg Elders with rejuvenate. (very annoying on early creeping, you WILL die without focus fire, I'm not kidding) I get blue in the upper right, he gets yellow just to my left. (marked by the blurry colored "X"s)

I start off with my "normal" NE build order. Well, Altar, Ancient of War, Hunter's Hall, Well, Well, Ancient of War. I choose a priestess as my first hero, as her trueshot aura essentially gives your huntresses a free weapon upgrade right from the start. My opponent does a similar build order, but opts for a Demon Hunter instead of a Priestess.

Now something very critical happens right here, and I accidently build an extra wisp, and get 7 on lumber instead of 6, but I don't notice right away. My first huntress pops out as my 2nd AoW is about 80% and my first weapon upgrade is being researched, with another huntress queued up. Right before my 5th huntress pops I notice I'm using one more supply than I "should" be, notice I have 7 wisps on lumber instead of 6, and make one of those wisps (critical point here) start an ancient protector just above my Tree of Life.

My 5th huntress pops and I decide to go creeping at the gold mine between us, not yet knowing my opponent is right next to me. I being to lay into the elder, getting him down to about 30% (even with his rejuvination going off) before yellow sneaks up behind me with his Demon Hunter and 4 huntresses, probably also not realizing I was right next to him.

It only takes me a few seconds to realize this will only end badly so I retreat back to my base, losing two weakened huntresses to the pursuing Furbolgs, without even getting one kill. I hit my moonwells to heal my remaining three huntresses and priestess as he begins to lay into me. I think my opponent chose Mana Burn as his first point, as he didn't seem to be Immolating, but he didn't burn my Priestess either so it could have been Evasion. Who knows? My AP is 50% completed at this point and I'm willing it to go faster. I have both of my AoWs started another huntress each.

Even using focus fire he manages to kill all three of my huntresses while only losing one, and he starts to attack my Priestess. She retreats to the two moon wells, which I immediately set on auto-cast, which keeps her alive long enough for the AP to finish, and almost immediately after two fresh huntress reinforcements come to my aid. The AP immediately begins chucking rocks at the intruders, splattering them quite handily.

He almost kills one of the huntresses before switching focus to the large rock-chucking tree, allowing me time to kill his Demon Hunter and two of the four huntresses before he retreats with the remaining two. I heal with the moon wells. My priestess leveled to 2 during the mess and I give her Searing Arrows, which causes her +10 bonus damage per shot, but uses 8 mana per shot. My first weapon upgrade has just finished and I start my first armor upgrade as I run at his base. I assumed he was right next to me considering how quickly he found me, and I was right. However, he has 5 huntresses now, his old 2 having been healed by his own moon wells. I retreat without engaging as two more huntresses finish. I uproot my AP to eat a tree, as it's at 497/550 hp, but then decide against it, as I want it chucking rocks if he decides to attack me again, and decide instead to pull a wisp off lumber duty to repair it. He has already revived his DH, but it's still only Level 1. My huntress force grows to 6 as my armor upgrade finishes and I begin a Tree of Ages. My huntresses are now 1/1 (effectively 2/1 with Trueshot), and my opponent currently has 5 1/1 huntresses, two building, and a half-finished Tree of Ages.

He heads for the same creep site we met at before with his Demon Hunter and 5 huntresses, right as I decide I want revenge, with my Level 2 Priestess and 6 huntresses. I see his huntresses engaging the creeps and think... "Revenge is a dish best served with cold steel."

He manages to finish off the Level 7 Furbolg Shaman and hit Level 2, but I slay one of his huntresses as he retreats back to his base. We have a shoot out right in front of his base, both of us using focus fire, but my (2)/1 huntresses gain the upper hand and my priestess levels to 3, I put another point into Trueshot Aura, making my huntresses 3/1. After I slay two huntresses I focus fire on his Demon Hunter and kill it AGAIN. I slay his last huntress with two of my own still alive as two reinforcements pop back home. 2 of his own huntresses show up for battle as my two arrive, making it 4 on 2. From this point the game was basically over for him, as I was able to keep reinforcements coming just as fast as he could, but my superior numbers and damage were enough to bowl him over. He uprooted one of his AoWs and tried to win himself a reprieve. His Demon Hunter revives AGAIN, kills two huntresses, tries to Mana Burn my Priestess but she only has 7 mana from using Searing Arrows so she takes minimal damage, he levels to 3, but then I kill it AGAIN, kill the uprooted AoW, and begin firing on the Altar, only stopping when a Huntress pops from his other AoW, which he keeps alive for quite a while with his Moon Wells before they run out of mana and she falls. I slay the altar mere seconds before his Demon Hunter would have revived yet again, not that it would have mattered at this point. My Huntresses 2nd weapon upgrade finishes (my Tree of Ages completed during the battle), making them 4/1.

My opponent concedes the game as I destroy his remaining AoW, and I'm now level 4 on my Night Elf name! (my highest so far)

Number of Times I killed his Hero: 3, almost 4, if it had revived again.

Lessons Learned: Ancient Protectors can save your ass in the early game.

Trueshot Aura gives your huntresses an edge (no pun intended), I highly suggest using it in a NE-NE matchup.