Rival Nations Rival Nations is a custom map for Warcraft III in which there are three teams of three , pitted against each other in a free - for - all Aeon of Strife format . Each player begins the game with one hero of their choosing , and battles computer controlled armies until becoming powerful enough to destroy the opposing teams ' Castle . The biggest difference between Rival Nations and other AoS styled maps is that in Rival Nations you are able to purchase and control more than one hero . This leads to increased strategy and micro requirements in order to be victorious . Started in the summer of 2002 , it was developed by MicrosoftXP until June 2004 . The last version released by MicrosoftXP was x2 . 0b for . After a few months AwaKening took over development . The map was renamed to ' Rival Nations Reborn ' and is currently at version 1 . 03d as of 2007 - 03 - 13 . Features . Rival Nations pioneered a number of features now seen frequently in custom maps . Unfortunately there are so many features , that the learning curve of the map is quite steep and does not lend itself well to new players versus more experienced ones . This is perhaps the greatest flaw of the map and the biggest reason why it has gone down considerably in popularity . Heroes . Rival Nations primary focus is heroes and hero to hero combat . There are other strategic options that can be explored , such as town and troop upgrades , as well as non - hero mercenaries , however ultimately Multiple Heroes . Racial Combinations . If a player gets the 4 primary heroes from the same race , they would get additional benefits for themselves and their team . If a player gets five heroes and they include the four primary heroes plus a neutral hero of the same race , further additional benefits are rewarded . The benefits included a general town bonus and a powerful magic item . The bonus later came to include a racial shop that would be created in the player ' s base which contained useful and powerful items . Human . The Human Alliance enhances the army by training a random specialty unit at each barracks . Possible units include Sorceress , Priest , Spell Breaker , Dragonhawk Rider and Gryphon Rider . Specialty Item : Magic Forged Gauntlets These magical gauntlets grants their owner inceased Armor , Movement Speed , Strength , Intelligence , and Agility . They also grant the ability to cast Inner Fire and can be used to summon aid . Summons : Blood Elf Lieutenants Powerful lieutenants from Prince Kael ' s Blood Elf army . Experts at destroying spellcasters . Secret Hero . The Lich was for a long time nothing more than a myth to many players , very few knew it even existed and fewer knew how to actually get it . This was done in the interests of balance , as the Lich ' s ultimate ability was Death and Decay , which is by far the best building killing spell in the game , and it would have caused many complications to allow this spell to be available at the start of the game . Thus , in order to acquire the Lich , one first had to have the other two available Undead Heroes : the Death Knight and the Dreadlord . Once these two were acquired , if another hero was purchased , a message would appear that said ' Can you find the secret hero ? ' The trick then was to simply wait approximately 60 seconds for the Lich to spawn .