Beginner's Guide

The best way to start Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is the in-game tutorial, then either Act 1 of the Campaign or a skirmish on Easy against a single AI, the difficulty new lobbies have defaulted to since Patch #3 (May 3, 2026). The game is in Early Access (v0.81.04 on Oct 21, 2026) and plays like the Heroes games before it: you grow a town, recruit creatures, lead them with heroes across an adventure map and fight turn-based battles on a hex grid. This guide covers what a new player needs first: modes and difficulty, the economy, heroes and their stats, Faction Laws, magic and battles, from Unfrozen's own devlogs and patch notes, with tips from creators' guides, chiefly Norovo's beginner's guide of May 4, 2026.

Quick facts

Pick a mode and a difficulty

Olden Era has three skirmish modes (see Game Modes). Classic is the full game with as many heroes as you can hire. Single Hero gives you one hero whose death loses the game; Unfrozen calls it "particularly suitable for first-timers as it is easier to manage a single hero" (Devlog #2, Sep 27, 2024). Arena skips the map entirely: you draft a hero and an army and fight one battle, which Unfrozen pitched as "a good starting point" for players new to the series (Devlog #5). See Arena.

Against the computer, start on Easy. After launch-week complaints Unfrozen weakened Easy until the AI "will now act very passively", and made Normal less aggressive (Patch #2, May 2, 2026); Moderate, added on May 13, sits between Normal and Hard for the step up. Difficulty and AI has every change.

Choose a faction

Each of the six factions has its own creatures, heroes, faction skill and Faction Laws, and your starting faction's laws stay with you "even if you conquer other towns or change your main hero" (Unfrozen, Aug 29, 2024). Three are familiar from earlier Heroes games (Temple, Necropolis, Dungeon) and three are new (Hive, Grove, Schism; Grove was announced as Sylvan). Mixing creatures of different factions in one army costs Morale, which a Necropolis law removes for the undead (Devlog #14). Best Faction compares them, and each faction has a guide.

The economy and your town

0:28 Your town is where creatures are recruited, from a tree of buildings that unlock dwellings and their upgrades, and its dwellings produce new creatures every week; mines, sawmills and quarries on the Adventure Map bring in the resources to build. Cheap supporting heroes are worth hiring in Classic: Unfrozen's own AI splits its heroes into "main(s)" who fight and "couriers" who collect troops and resources, "just like real players do" (Devlog #1). Two tools make moving armies easier than in Heroes 3: a Remote Foothold stores an army and artifacts that any other Foothold can hand out, and the "Assemble!" spell lets a hero trade with a distant hero as if they were adjacent (Devlog #2).

23:47 Norovo's advice on heroes: keep the main hero on the heavily guarded objectives while backup heroes collect unguarded resources, ferry reinforcements and scout; outside Single Hero, buying extra heroes early is "a very wise investment"; and move the main hero last each turn, after the others have scouted and collected. He also found that resources next to a hero cost no movement to pick up and that slow units "no longer slow down your hero", though Unfrozen's 2024 plan had kept Heroes 3's rule. Native terrain gives your faction's units +1 initiative and spares the hero its terrain penalty, but roads are faster still, so once your hero is strong, follow the road to the next zone.

19:22 Two town tips from the same guide: the higher fortification levels also add creature growth at the start of the week, so build them late in the week (a tier 7 unit with a growth of 1 needs the full 100% bonus to give an extra one), and economic buildings can wait for day one. Alchemical Dust, which replaces sulfur, pays for most dwelling upgrades, spell upgrades and some artifact upgrades and cannot be bought at the Marketplace; get it at an Alchemical Lab (equal gems, crystals and mercury), by scrapping unwanted artifacts and spell scrolls, or from a town's Alchemical Depot late in the game.

Heroes, stats and skills

0:22 Every level gives a hero a new skill or an upgrade of one, plus a point in one of four stats: Attack, Defense, Spellpower or Knowledge (Devlog #11, Jul 25, 2025). A hero starts with the faction skill and usually one more, which cannot be changed, and can hold 8 skills in all. Each skill has five subskills: at Advanced you pick one of the first three, at Expert one of the last two, and many subskills grow stronger with a specific second skill. Each class also has two optional subclasses, unlocked by taking certain skills and subskills; the level-up screen marks picks that count toward one. Experience comes from battles, some map sites and treasure chests.

Heroes are either Might or Magic, and each has a specialty that grows with its level. Heroes explains them, Skills lists the skills, and Best Heroes collects every hero the patches buffed or nerfed.

Faction Laws

0:54 Faction Laws are a tree of perks for your starting faction, and the main way Olden Era differs from earlier Heroes games. Fighting guards on the map earns Law points along with experience, by default at the same rate; capturing external dwellings and upgrading town halls add more (Devlog #14, Dec 5, 2025). Enough points give a Seal, which you spend on a law or save for a costlier one; laws come in tiers, and spending Seals opens the next tier. That is the reason to keep your main hero fighting: every guard you beat feeds both its level and your laws. See Faction Laws.

16:18 Because battles add Law points during a turn, Norovo checks his Seals at the end of the turn. He advises not rushing to spend them when nothing is gained at once, since the stronger laws cost more; taking Resource Riches, which gives the resources for a basic Mage Guild, in an emergency; and leaving laws that only raise creature growth until the last day of the week, as they act only on day one.

Magic

There are four schools of magic, Daylight, Nightshade, Primal and Arcane. Any hero can learn spells of tiers I and II, while tiers III to V need the matching school skill (Devlog #10, Jun 13, 2025). The spellbook is free, and once a day a Mage Guild can research a missing spell for resources, so a town's guild slowly fills with every spell up to its tier. Map spells such as movement and teleport spells come from Astrology Points that towns produce. See Magic and Spells.

Battles

0:35 Battles are turn-based on a hex grid. Creatures and heroes have active abilities paid for with Focus, a shared resource built up by attacking, taking damage, certain spells and each new round (Devlog #9). Ranged units never run out of shots, and their penalty grows with distance. Splitting off one-unit stacks to absorb counterattacks and shield your shooters is supported with its own controls. A battle whose result is clear can be finished at once, and auto-combat can be switched on and off (Community Feedback #4). The formation you set in the tactics phase is remembered per hero for ordinary fights against neutrals since Patch #10 (Jun 18, 2026). See Combat.

3:14 Norovo's first battle tip is "use one stacks": Ctrl+click splits off a single creature, which can block the way to your shooters, waste an enemy's attack or soak up a counterattack, and earns Focus points of its own. Ranged units gain 1 Focus point per attack, melee units 2, and any unit 1 when attacked; 6 points make a charge, and 3 charges can be banked. At the start of a battle, consider waiting: the highest-initiative unit on the field, if it waits, acts last in this round and first in the next, two moves in a row.

Useful settings and keys

• Norovo's hotkeys: Shift+click halves a stack, Alt highlights objects you can interact with on the map, O opens the Observatory and B the spellbook, Tab goes to the next hero or town, right-clicking a creature in town recruits it, and W waits and D defends in battle.
• E ends the turn; Enter no longer does (Unfrozen, Oct 24, 2025).
• Shift+U hides the interface, and Esc cancels a selected spell in battle.
• F1 files a bug report with your save attached.
• Readability options (background desaturation, outlines, highlight colors, fog of war style) are in the settings, and hotkeys can be rebound (Community Feedback #4).
• Necromancy is on by default for Necromancer heroes since Patch #7 (May 21, 2026).

Frequently asked questions

How do I start playing Olden Era? Play the in-game tutorial, then Act 1 of the Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era campaign or a skirmish on Easy against one AI. Easy is the default in new lobbies.

What is the best mode for beginners in Olden Era? Unfrozen recommends Single Hero to first-timers because one hero is easier to manage, and calls the short Arena a good starting point for players new to the series.

What difficulty should I play Olden Era on? Start on Easy, which Unfrozen made "very passive" on May 2, 2026, then move to Normal and Moderate, the level added on May 13, 2026 between Normal and Hard.

How do Faction Laws work for beginners? In Olden Era, fighting guards earns Law points along with experience; enough points give a Seal to spend on a law of your starting faction. Keep your main hero fighting to unlock them faster.

How many skills can a hero have in Olden Era? Eight, including the starting skills. Each skill has five subskills, of which you choose one at Advanced and one at Expert.

Do I need to play Heroes 3 before Olden Era? No. Olden Era is a prequel with its own tutorial, and Unfrozen designed modes such as Single Hero and Arena with newcomers in mind; Heroes 3 players will recognize most of the rules. See https://heroes3.vi.ki/ for that game.

Is Olden Era hard? It can be at first: Gameliner's review called the difficulty "definitely an issue" at launch. Unfrozen has since weakened Easy and Normal and added the Moderate level.

Sources

• Heroes of Might And Magic: Olden Era - Launch Trailer | Fantasy Turn-Based Strategy, Hooded Horse, Apr 30, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era - Early Access Launch Trailer!, Unfrozen Official, Apr 30, 2026 (video)
• Designing a Heroes Game, Unfrozen on Steam, Aug 29, 2024
• Devlog #1: Everything Everywhere All At Once: Game Modes, Unfrozen on Steam, Sep 13, 2024
• Devlog #2: Game Modes pt.1: Classic and Single-Hero, Unfrozen on Steam, Sep 27, 2024
• Devlog #5: Game Modes pt.2: Arena, Unfrozen on Steam, Nov 22, 2024
• Devlog #9: The Binding Roots of Murmurwoods, Unfrozen on Steam, Apr 11, 2025
• Devlog #10: Game Mechanics pt. 1: Magic, Unfrozen on Steam, Jun 13, 2025
• Devlog #11: Game Mechanics pt. 2: Skills and Subclasses, Unfrozen on Steam, Jul 25, 2025
• Demo Update #2: End Turn Hotkey Fix, Unfrozen on Steam, Oct 24, 2025
• Devlog #14: Gameplay Mechanics pt. 3: Faction Laws, Unfrozen on Steam, Dec 5, 2025
• HoMM: Olden Era | Community Feedback #4: UI, QoL and Others!, Unfrozen on Steam, Mar 6, 2026
• Patch #2: Difficulty adjustments and Bug Fixes, Unfrozen on Steam, May 2, 2026
• Patch #3: Bug fixes and Network stability improvements, Unfrozen on Steam, May 3, 2026
• Patch #7: Removing Abuses and Improving Campaign, Unfrozen on Steam, May 21, 2026
• Patch #10: Tactics Phase Formation Saving & Bug Fixes, Unfrozen on Steam, Jun 18, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era critic reviews, Metacritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Beginners Guide! Tips You Need to Know, Norovo, May 4, 2026 (video)