History Characters / WarcraftIAndIIUnits

** Both Elves and Trolls are only known as Elves and Trolls, starting with ''VideoGame/Warcraft IIIReignOfChaos'', they were called High Elves and Forest Trolls respectively.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The Dwarves riding the Gryphons are an entirely different breed than the Ironforge Dwarves. These dwarves are feral nature lovers that come from Northeron and are actually good friends of elves, distrusting humans and Ironforge Dwarves. Most artwork at the time depicts Northeron Dwarves as much slimmer and taller compared to the other dwarves, though still smaller than humans. This disposition was apparently changed in ''Warcraft III'' as the Gryphon Rider rep in that game is from the Aerie Peaks, is very jovial and act like goods friends of the alliance player commander much like the Dwarven Mortar Teams and Gyrocopter/Flying Machine pilots.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The Dwarves riding the Gryphons are an entirely different breed than the Ironforge Dwarves. These dwarves are feral nature lovers that come from Northeron and are actually good friends of elves, distrusting humans and Ironforge Dwarves. Most artwork at the time depicts Northeron Dwarves as much slimmer and taller compared to the other dwarves, though still smaller than humans.

** They can only build near other structures and along preplaced roads. ''Warcraft II'' eliminated roads and allowed workers to build on any buildable ground, and in ''Warcraft III'' it's only the Undead who need to build on their blighted ground, but heroes can work around that with a common item that blights the ground.

* PutOnABus: Both units are gone after the original game, with the Cleric never appearing again. ''Warcraft II'' explains the surviving Clerics were deemed ill-suited for combat, so they instead taught their ways to a select few Knights, creating the Paladins. [[BusCrash The Necrolytes were killed]] and their energy was used as fuel for the Death Knights. In ''III'', their effective successors are Priests and Necromancers respectively while Paladins and Death Knights were reimagined as hero units.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unlike later Blizzard RTS games, they are [[NonActionGuy unable to attack]], and can only flee. Construction sites are also immediately generated upon command, which creates physical obstacles that have the structure's maximum hit points.

* SiegeEngines: Their range isn't any longer than the basic range units, but they make up for it with much greater damage.

** Unholy Armor only blocks damage to a target. Polymorph completely bypasses this invulnerability as the game doesn't recognize the transformation as subject to the invulnerability. Thus, a Death Knight with Unholy Armor can only evade Polymorph by hiding in a Transport.

* NotCompletelyUseless: Death Coil is normally rendered obsolete by Death and Decay but for sniping priority targets, Death Coil works as inferior alternative to Polymorph. By using a particular quirk of the control group system, it can be quickly multi-cast by 2 or more DKs to increase its sniping potential. However, it works best against isolated targets to ensure they receive full damage.

* AchillesHeel: A paladin with full mana can [[OneHitKO one-hit kill a Death Knight]] with a [[TurnUndead single Exorcism]].

* DropTheHammer: Knights and Paladins wield huge war hammers.

* MagicKnight: Upgrading to a Paladin or an Ogre Mage allows the units to use spells whilst still being very good at melee combat, though it does nothing for their non-mana stats beyond a minor improvement to their sight range.

* NonActionGuy: The Eye of Kilrog created by the Ogre Magi is the fastest unit in the game by a wide margin, but it can't attack.

* NoBodyLeftBehind: Since they explode no matter the way they die, they leave no corpses. As such, Death Knights cannot bring them back as skeleton units.

* NonActionGuy: Neither of them can attack, but they are the fastest units in the game next to the Eye of Kilrog and can see submerged units, making them useful for spotting turtles and submarines.

* DropTheHammer: Gryphon Riders attack by throwing their magic [[ThunderHammer Stormhammers]] at enemies.

* ThunderHammer: The dwarfs riding the gryphons use Stormhammers, hammers with electrical powers that trigger when thrown.

The only summonable unit capable of combat, Skeletons can only be created by a Death Knight's unit [[AnimateDead Raise Dead]] spell and act as summoned CannonFodder. Additionally several maps in the campaign include Skeletons that are present on the map without having to be summoned, acting similar to the NPC units in the first game.

** The heroes in ''Beyond The Dark Portal'' on the other-hand, are significantly stronger than their units they are based off of. Most notably Danath, Grom, and Kargath are much stronger than a Knight/Ogre, unlike the Footman/Grunt unit they're based off of.

* {{Invisibility}}: The Mage can make units invisible, including himself. This makes for a dangerous combination, since it allows him to easily get into a position to kill enemy [[WorkerUnit workers]] with Blizzard.

** The Death Knights' Raise Dead spell will turn any corpse into a generic Orc skeleton, even if the corpse was a human, elf, troll or ogre.

* RankScalesWithAsskicking: