Turn-Based Strategy
Olden Era Guide
The complete strategy wiki for all 6 factions — Temple, Necropolis, Grove, Hive, Schism, and Dungeon. Hero builds, tier lists, combat tactics, and beginner routes for Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era.
Turn-Based Strategy
The complete strategy wiki for all 6 factions — Temple, Necropolis, Grove, Hive, Schism, and Dungeon. Hero builds, tier lists, combat tactics, and beginner routes for Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era.
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era takes players back to the origins of the beloved strategy series. Set generations before the events of the classic HoMM titles, the game unfolds on the mysterious continent of Jadame — a land of ancient magic, warring factions, and untold secrets. You take on the role of a faction leader, building towns, recruiting armies, and exploring a rich world map filled with treasure, creatures, and rival heroes.
What sets Olden Era apart from previous entries is its depth of strategic choice. Each of the 6 factions plays dramatically differently — from Temple's buff-centric armies to Necropolis's undead swarms, from Hive's aggressive rush tactics to Schism's eldritch summoning. The new Focus Points system adds a layer of tactical decision-making: heroes generate FP each turn that can be spent on powerful abilities, creating moments of critical impact in every battle.
This portal condenses the sub-site wiki into the tables and field notes that actually change your opening decisions. The full faction pages, hero rosters, skill breakdowns, and patch analysis live on the sub-site, where each system gets a proper deep dive instead of a summary paragraph.
New campaigns usually break because players try to optimize everything at once: one hero is scouting too little, the main army clears too slowly, the town build order drifts, and week two economy never catches up. The stable opening is narrower than that. Pick a forgiving faction, use one hero to keep tempo, add a support hero only when it protects movement, and convert early map control into creature growth instead of into comfortable but low-impact town buildings.
Temple is still the safest first faction because its roster gives you usable answers in both early creeping and mid-map fights. If you want a faster tempo faction, move to Grove only after you understand neutral fight discipline.
Your main hero should spend more time clearing, flagging, and collecting than visiting town. Secondary heroes exist to keep that movement alive, not to look productive on paper.
Ask which next dwelling, spell, or creature stack changes your map fights the most. That answer is usually better than building generally useful comfort structures too early.
Olden Era features 6 unique factions, each with its own governing body, playstyle philosophy, and unit roster. Tiers below follow the sub-site faction tier list.
| Faction | Tier | Playstyle | Key Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Necropolis | S | Undead attrition. Armies resurrect after battles, with heavy debuff, curse, and life-drain pressure. | Skeleton, Wight, Vampire, Lich, Dread Knight |
| Temple | A | Well-rounded with the best buff synergy in the game — units gain extra benefits from every positive effect. | Swordsman, Crossbowman, Cavalry, Lightweaver, Angel |
| Grove | A | Spellcaster-focused elemental faction with the strongest casting heroes and powerful activated creature abilities. | Faun, Ranger, Druid, Treant, Phoenix |
| Dungeon | A | Versatile dark elves with dual-attack mechanics — every unit can switch damage types to adapt to any enemy. | Assassin, Dark Elf, Minotaur, Medusa, Black Dragon |
| Hive | B | Aggressive melee rush with the highest initiative and speed, plus hivemind bonuses for same-type stacks. | Drone, Soldier Ant, Dragonfly Rider, Mantis, Queen Ant |
| Schism | B | Control faction that denies enemy spells and abilities while summoning ever-growing eldritch hordes. | Cultist, Abomination, Deep One, Kraken Spawn, Eldritch Horror |
| Faction | Tier | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Necropolis | S | Necromancy provides unmatched snowball potential. Undead armies grow with every battle, making Necropolis the strongest late-game faction. |
| Temple | A | Best buff synergy in the game. Balanced roster with no hard counters. Lord Edgar is arguably the best Might hero. |
| Grove | A | Superior spellcasting and unique elemental creatures. Halon with Chain Lightning can solo-carry battles. |
| Dungeon | A | Dual attack types provide unmatched versatility. Black Dragons are the strongest tier 7 unit, and Malakar is an S-tier hero. |
| Hive | B | Excellent early game rush but falls off late. Limited ranged options and fragile units hold them back. |
| Schism | B | Highest skill ceiling. Devastating in the right hands but too slow for competitive play. Vori Sage is S-tier. |
Pick Temple first. Its well-rounded roster and buff synergy make it the ideal learning faction — start with Lord Edgar or Ister for a smooth early game.
Build resource-generating structures early. Gold is the lifeblood of your army, and heroes with Economy or Recruitment skills dramatically accelerate growth.
Scout aggressively. Dedicate one hero to scouting with Logistics and Scouting skills — finding resources and enemy positions early is a decisive advantage.
Learn Focus Points. Save FP for critical moments; a well-timed hero ability can turn a losing battle into a victory.
Units act in order of their Initiative stat — higher initiative acts first each round, and Hive units consistently act first. High morale gives units a chance to act twice, which is why Temple excels at morale manipulation while undead Necropolis stacks ignore morale entirely. Counter-attacks only trigger once per round unless a unit has a special ability, so baiting counters with cheap units before committing heavy hitters is one of the cheapest wins available to a new player.
Terrain matters too. Each faction has a preferred native terrain that grants combat bonuses: Temple on Grasslands, Necropolis on Wasteland, Grove in Forest, Hive in Desert, Schism on Water, and Dungeon Underground. Magic resistance is equally uneven — Dungeon has high magic resist, Necropolis is weak to Light and Holy damage, and Temple is strong against Dark and Shadow.
The complete Olden Era wiki — all six factions, the full hero roster, skill trees, combat mechanics, economy routing, and patch analysis — lives on the sub-site with tables and step-by-step walkthroughs.
GameGuideHub is a network of data-first game wikis. The Olden Era hub tracks the Early Access build on Jadame and is organized around opening routes, faction identity, and combat mechanics rather than patch-note churn.
Every guide here is checked against in-game behavior before publishing. If a page saves you a week-two collapse, you can support the project on UniFans — link in the footer.
Updated: July 2026
Focus: faction identity, hero tempo, Focus Points
Sub-site: oldenera.gguidehub.com