The Great Portal The Great Portal was the final battle of the Second War . Following the Alliance ' s victory at Blackrock Spire , the remaining Orcish forces retreated to the areas surrounding the Dark Portal . Under the command of Uther Lightbringer , the Alliance forces wiped out the surviving members of the Burning Blade clan and then battled the forces of the Dragonmaw clan and Black Tooth Grin clan , charged with protecting the Dark Portal , which was guarded by a cadre of Blackrock clan Death Knights and daemon s . Briefing . " The Orcs have been driven from the Northlands as the hulking remains of Blackrock Spire lay silent amongst the freed lands of Azeroth . " " The battered remains of the once mighty Horde have rallied to protect their last bastion of hope - the Great Portal . " " With Lord Lothar dead , you have been given the duty of leading the forces of Lordaeron to ultimate victory over the Horde - a victory that lies with the destruction of the Great Portal itself . . . " Background . Before Milan ' s forces could make the final assault on the Great Portal , they needed to find flat ground to build a village on . Predictably , there were strong defenses at the closest available land , so the first task was to clear the way for a landing with their few warships . Knights , footmen , and archers were loaded onto transports and soon followed westward , for they would need to build quickly . A single destroyer swept past the shoreline to the west to draw out catapults , then all three regrouped to attack single targets and retreat . This they repeated until all but one tower remained on the shoreline ; however , the destroyers had been sunk , and the battleship was taking on much water when they decided to make a landing . Knights and footmen hit the north beach first and engaged the waiting ogres , and as soon as there was room , the archers came next to take out the tower , and soon the area was secure enough to fetch the remaining units . While building a hall near the mine , their archers were lined up to bring down marauding dragons , and their two mages stayed safely behind to launch fireballs at the beasts as well . With this in mind , their next building priorities were farms , a barracks , and a lumber mill to train more archers . These would ensure the dragons were no longer a problem once they had a small army of them . The mine was quickly running out of resources , so they would soon need to claim another in the ogre village close by to the north . To clear the way , their growing number of archers were lined up behind farms and better - armored soldiers , and a single knight rode forth to bring the ogres into their arrow trap . Spies reported that three more dragons far to the east were watching for smoke on the horizon , so they ordered their troops not to level the foul orcish structures until they were fully prepared to greet them . A second hall went up near the new mine to speed the collection of the great wealth within . This would ensure their survival skills against the next enemy village to the east , for soon they could afford to call on the skills of elite elven rangers to train their existing archers in the ways of deadly accuracy . With these at their disposal , they began destroying the rest of the Horde structures and easily defeated the dragons that came too late . It was not long before they had two more barracks , a blacksmith , and a stable to add more muscle to their forces . The muscle came in the form of many knights and two ballistae , all with the best weapons and armor they could make for them . Several rangers and the mages were left behind for defense , while a stalwart army marched eastward to begin clearing out the orcs once more . Milan ' s commander ordered them to stand their ground just outside in standard formation of knights first , rangers behind , and ballistae in the rear . Their greatest danger was the death knights that cast horrible plagues in their midst , so their forces were spread out to minimize their damage , and several knights were kept moving to ride them down on sight . Once the defenders were mostly gone , demolition began once again while they hunted down any remaining enemies hiding nearby . With a third mine and hall to collect gold , they then built four gryphon aviaries to claim the skies for themselves . Once they had a flight of eight in the air , these were sent out to wreak havoc on all the enemy ships in the waters surrounding the central island . In the meantime , a gnomish inventor supplied fearless dwarves with explosives to bomb a path through the narrow line of mountains north of the third mine . This was done to place a shipyard much closer to a supply of oil , and with the accompanying foundry and refinery , they could then produce transports for the assault on the island . Their growing mob of gryphon riders then concentrated on drawing the defending dragons and demons away from their guard towers . Meanwhile , transports were loaded with knights and ballistae to do most of the demolition and slaughter on the island while the gryphons kept the skies clear . Workers were brought to set up a second shipyard on the inner ring of water , and by then the fate of the Orcish Horde was sealed . The glorious destruction of the Portal was followed with weeks of celebration . Victory for the Alliance . " Quiet settles over the Black Morass with the blackened , burning remains of the cursed Portal serving as a solemn reminder of the evil that once stood here . After the long and savage battle , you stand victorious over the tattered remnants of the once mighty Orcish Hordes . Those Orcs that survived the conflict have fled to the northeast in hopes of escaping your vengeance . You allow them their reprieve , knowing that the power of the Horde has been forever broken and that the lands of Azeroth belong to its native sons and daughters once again . "