Banshee

[e][h] Banshee

Unit Information

Built From:

Temple of the Damned

Cost:

 155  30  28  2

Hotkey:

B

Hit Points:

285 (365)

HP Regeneration:

2 on Blight

Armor:

0 (0)

Race:

Undead

Classification:

• undead

Sleeps:

no

Formation Rank:

2

Sight:

1400 / 800

Acquisition Range:

700

Level:

2

Mana:

200 (400)

Initial Mana:

75 (150)

Mana Regeneration:

0.67 (1.31)

Selection Priorty:

7

Movement

Speed:

270

Turn Rate:

0.6

Move Type:

hover

Collision Size:

16

Cargo Size:

1

Icon

Combat

Damage:

9 - 14

Range:

600

Weapon Type:

missile

Cooldown:

1.5

Targets:

• ground
• structure
• debris
• air
• item
• ward

Banshees were once beautiful female Night Elves who were brutally murdered by demons during the fall of Kalimdor. Their restless spirits were left to wander the world for many ages in silent, tortured lamentation. Over the years they became jealous of the living and seeded a deep hatred for all life. Yet when the Lich King, Ner'zhul, became aware of them, he gathered them together and promised them vengeance upon the living. Ner'zhul gave them terrible voices so that the living would finally hear their timeless anguish. Thus, the Banshees have pledged themselves to the Undead cause and serve as valuable warriors in the Scourge. The spectral Banshees can fly and are fond of hammering their enemies with tortured blasts of sonic force. Their unnerving, unholy screams can be heard from miles away.

Supporting caster. Can initially cast Curse, which causes enemy units to occasionally miss in combat. Can also learn Anti-magic Shell and Possession. Attacks land and air units.

Banshees are the lesser-known Undead spellcaster. Many Undead players choose to focus on Necromancers but Banshees are also useful to the Undead. The most powerful and scary ability of Banshee's is the Possession spell. Banshees can gain control of units like Knights, Abominations, Tauren, or even powerful spellcasters such as Shaman or Sorceresses. Imagine how cool it is to take over a Human Sorceress then instantly use it to Slow enemy troops. You could also take over an enemy Shaman and Bloodlust your troops. Banshees can also support troops with their Curse ability. They can help protect Heroes with Anti-Magic Shell.

Spells & Abilities

Curse
	Cast Type : Autocast  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : Unit Target Curses a target enemy unit, causing it to have a 33% chance to miss on an attack.
Cast Requirements : 40 1 s  Range:  700 Targets Allowed : Air, Ground, Enemy, Organic, Neutral Duration : 120 (60) s Miss Chance : 33% Hotkey : C

Notes

If you want to use banshees primarily for casting anti-magic shell, consider turning off auto-cast for curse to conserve mana for anti-magic shell instead.

Anti-magic Shell
	Cast Type : Active  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : Unit Target Creates a barrier that stops 300 points of spell or magic damage from affecting a target unit.
Cast Requirements : 75  Range:  500 Targets Allowed : Air, Ground, Friend, Self Duration : 90 s Damage Absorbed : 420 Upgrade required : Banshee Adept Training Notes : The shell takes damage, before it is modified by armor rating or armor types. Hotkey : N

Notes

This spell absorbs the first 420 points of spell or magic damage dealt to the target, but does not grant magic immunity. Note that spells absorbed by AMS can still deal secondary effects, such as stun, paralysis, or mana drain.

This spell is most helpful when cast on Heroes to protect them from other enemy Heroes or spellcasters. You can also cast on normal units or spellcasters to protect them.

Possession
	Cast Type : Channel  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : Unit Target Stuns a target unit and the Banshee for 4 seconds, during which the Banshee takes extra damage from attacks. She then displaces the soul of the enemy, giving you permanent control of it, but destroying the caster's body. Possession cannot be used on flying units, Heroes, or creeps above level 5.
Cast Requirements : 250  Range:  350 Targets Allowed : Ground, Non-Hero, Enemy, Organic, Neutral Duration : 4.5 s Damage Bonus : 66% Upgrade required : Banshee Master Training Hotkey : O

Notes

The Banshee takes 166% damage while possessing a unit.

Possession is one of the coolest Undead abilities. Possession can allow you to gain control of units that you are unable to use or train as an Undead player. Possession is also useful for turning the tide of a battle because the enemy loses a unit and you gain a unit. This places you far ahead in terms of unit match-ups. It is especially cool when you steal a useful enemy spellcaster such as a Human Priest, Sorceress, Orc Shaman, or Orc Witch Doctor and can now use their abilities to help your own troops. You can also steal the workers of other races and build up their tech tree. You can even take over enemy Creeps such as an Ogre-Mage with Bloodlust (note that while the item will still drop, you will not get the experience).

You can possess the worker units of other races and build up the tech tree. You cannot have more than 3 Heroes for all of the races you control. Once you have built 3 Heroes, additional Heroes cannot be built. You do not increase your Food Limit by controlling additional races. It is always 100. You can continue to Possess units over the 100 limit but you might not be able to revive a dead Hero if you are over the limit.

When Possessing troops pick the most important units to steal. Knights, Tauren, Priests, Sorceresses, Kodo Beasts, and so on are important units to grab. Spellcasters that can cast buffs or heal your units are especially useful.

Possession can be used to get free upgrades much like the Dark Archon's Mind Control in StarCraft. When you possess an enemy unit, all upgrades/ researches are automatically researched for you free of cost. You can possess different enemy Undead units to "steal" upgrades.

Unit Inventory (Undead)
	Cast Type : Passive Target Type : No Target Allows the unit to carry 2 items.
Item Capacity : 2 Notes : Items cannot be used by the unit and are dropped, if the unit dies.
Upgrade: Backpack (Undead)
Cost : 50 25  Research Time:  20 Researched at : Necropolis Requirements : Tomb of Relics

Upgrades

Banshee Adept Training

Increases Banshee's mana capacity, mana regeneration rate, hit points, and unlocks a new spell. Researched at : Temple of the Damned  Hotkey : A  Cost : 100 50  Research Time:  60 Mana Point Bonus : 100 Mana Reg. Bonus : 0.32 Hit Point Bonus : 40 Spell Learned : Anti-magic Shell

Banshee Master Training

Cost : 100 150  Research Time:  75 Requires : Black Citadel Mana Point Bonus : 200 Mana Reg. Bonus : 0.64 Hit Point Bonus : 80 Spell Learned : Possession

Version History

Balance Patch History
Version	Release	Balance Changes
1.35.0	2023-01-19	Banshee Anti-magic Shell can now receive the same summon magic damage inflicted by dispel, purge, and abolish magic. Banshee Anti-Magic Shell's spell damage barrier increased from 300 to 420 (increases the number of dispels to remove from 2 to 3).
1.18	2005-03-01	Banshee build time has been reduced to 28 seconds from 35 seconds.
1.17	2004-09-20	Banshee attack range increased to 600 from 500.
1.15	2004-05-10	Anti-magic Shell mana cost reduced to 75 from 100. The damage a Banshee takes while possessing a unit has been reduced to 225% from 300%. Possession damage multiplier reduced to 166% from 225%. Anti-magic Shell correctly allows self-targeting now.
1.14	2004-01-07	Anti-magic Shell cost reduced to 100 from 150, and hit points absorbed reduced to 300 from 350.
1.13	2003-12-16	Anti-magic Shell has been redesigned. The spell now absorbs the first 350 points of spell or magic damage dealt to the target, but does not grant magic immunity. Note that spells absorbed by AMS can still deal secondary effects, such as stun, paralysis, or mana drain. Also the mana cost of AMS has been re-balanced to 150. Possession has been reworked. It is now a channelled spell with a 4 1/2 second casting duration. During this time, the target is disabled and frozen into place, but is also invulnerable; and the Banshee takes triple damage from all attacks. Stunning or killing the Banshee that is casting Possession will cause the spell to abort. Additionally, the range of Possession has been increased to 350 from 200.
1.06	2003-06-03	Curse now causes a 33% chance to miss, up from 25%. Curse cost reduced to 40 mana from 50. Curse now lasts 2 minutes, up from 1 minute.
1.04	2002-11-04	Anti-magic Shell is once again dispellable. A summoned unit under a shell does not take damage from the dispel, but will lose the shell. Anti-magic Shell mana cost reduced to 50 from 75. Banshee acquisition range increased to 700 from 500, improving the frequency with which Curse is auto-cast. Possession now takes 1 second to cast, up from 0.

References

http://classic.battle.net/war3/undead/units/banshee.shtml