Heroes

0:19 Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era has 18 playable heroes per faction in skirmish, "and that's just Skirmish heroes! Some of the Campaign heroes are separate" (FAQ: Part 2, Dec 6, 2024); with six Factions that is 108, the "over a hundred unique heroes" of the Steam store. Every hero has a class (Might or Magic, such as Knight or Cleric), a specialization that grows with level, and starting skills that can never be removed. Leveling works "except skills now have subskills to tune your build" (Unfrozen, Aug 29, 2024): each level brings a new skill or a better one plus a point of Attack, Defense, Spell Power or Knowledge, a hero holds up to 8 Skills, and taking the right ones unlocks one of the class's two elite classes. Both elite classes and specializations are due for reworks on the roadmap.

Quick facts

Leveling up

0:22 Heroes earn experience "by fighting, visiting certain adventure sites and picking up treasure chests" (Devlog #11, Jul 25, 2025). At each level a hero either improves a skill or learns a new one, and gains a bonus to one of four stats: Attack, Defense, Spell Power or Knowledge. Unfrozen calls the system a hybrid of Heroes 3's and Heroes 5's.

18:02 Every hero starts with the faction's own skill, Necromancy for Necropolis or Abyssal Communion for Schism, for instance, and "mostly" one more. "These starting skills cannot be changed by any means and are influenced by the heroes' specialisation": a specialist in a school of magic always starts with that school. A hero can learn 8 skills in total. Each skill has 5 subskills: at Advanced you choose 1 of the first 3, at Expert 1 of the last 2, and many subskills grow stronger with a particular second skill. The skills themselves are on Skills; how the laws of each faction add to heroes is on Faction Laws. Norovo's beginner's guide (May 4, 2026) advises against filling all eight slots with Basic skills in a rush: raising a skill to Advanced and Expert for its subskills often builds more momentum, and the level-up screen can be closed to check the available spells before choosing.

Classes and elite classes

Each faction's heroes divide into Might and Magic classes. The class names Unfrozen has shown include the Knight (Devlog #11), the Cleric, a Magic class, the Necromancer, and the Grove's Warden and Druid, the two classes that start with the faction skill Murmuring (Devlog #9). A hero's class can change in a patch: Patch #8 (Jun 1, 2026) made the Hive's Tavi a Magic hero and Pauper a Might hero, and gave every Schism hero a starting spell, since "all heroes of this faction are hybrids between Might and Magic".

Elite classes, which Devlog #11 calls subclasses, come from Heroes 7. They are optional: "Each hero class has access to 2 subclasses that require specific skills and subskills to be unlocked", and the game flags a level-up pick that counts toward one. Since Patch #8, holding Shift on an elite class tooltip shows the skills it needs. Elite classes named so far:

The beta figures are from the public beta of Oct 15, 2026, which lists the Dungeon and Schism elite classes among each faction's laws; they are not final. The roadmap's "Elite classes (also known as Subclass system) rework" is a Stage 2 item (Q4 2026) and had not shipped by Oct 21, 2026.

4:39 IGN's Early Access review (Apr 28, 2026) found elite classes hard to reach: new skills come from a random pool at each level and a hero gets only eight, so "it's possible that you'll never actually find the five needed"; the reviewer managed it about twice in 25 hours of play.

Specializations

3:10 A specialization is "a unique bonus specific to each hero", and it scales with level (FAQ: Part 2). Patch #8 sorted them into groups when it retuned them: spell specialists (1 extra Spell Power for their spell every 2 levels), diplomats, morale specialists, physical damage specialists and magic damage specialists. Some are single heroes: Lord Edgar of the Temple gives his creatures Attack and Defense from his own stats, Tarius and Funerella of the Necropolis add Necromancy power, Aeliniel of the Grove lengthens Firewall, and Tellaris the Betrayed's spell affects all friendly creatures since Patch #11. The beta of Oct 21, 2026 weakened Lord Edgar again, with "all creature specialists and experience specialists". A "major hero specialization rework" is in roadmap Stage 3. Turin's Necropolis guide (May 5, 2026) gives an example of the scaling: Onkos raises Skeleton growth in his towns by two, and under his command Skeletons gain speed, attack, initiative and health that grow with his level.

Heroes named in the patch notes

Unfrozen has published no hero list. These skirmish heroes are named, by faction, in Patch #8, Patch #11 and the beta:

Some are old acquaintances: Vesper, Ethric and Vatawna are redesigned characters of Heroes 2 and Might and Magic 6 (Devlog #15). Other heroes appear in notes or images without a faction, among them Leon Sticky-Fingers, Enatee, Ister, Typhona, Leira and The Minstrel. Which heroes play best is on Best Heroes.

Frequently asked questions

How many heroes are in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era? Olden Era has 18 skirmish heroes per faction, 108 across its six factions, plus campaign-only heroes (FAQ: Part 2).

What are subclasses in Olden Era? Subclasses, called elite classes in the game, are optional upgrades of a hero class: each Olden Era class has two, unlocked by learning specific skills and subskills, such as the Cleric's Grand Inquisitor and Ascendant.

How many skills can a hero learn in Olden Era? An Olden Era hero can hold 8 skills, including the starting ones, and picks 2 of each skill's 5 subskills on the way to Expert (Devlog #11).

Can heroes die in Olden Era? A hero who loses a battle is defeated, and in Single Hero mode, where you have one hero, that loses the game (Devlog #2). Olden Era also lets a hero flee "at a cost" (Steam store), unless facing the Grove, whose law stops enemy heroes from fleeing or surrendering.

Can you change a hero's starting skills in Olden Era? No. Olden Era's starting skills "cannot be changed by any means"; they follow the hero's specialization.

Are there new heroes coming to Olden Era? Unfrozen promises new heroes as regular content throughout Early Access, alongside creatures, artifacts and spells (roadmap), but has announced none by name as of Oct 21, 2026.

Sources

• Designing a Heroes Game, Unfrozen, Aug 29, 2024
• Devlog #2: Game Modes pt.1: Classic and Single-Hero, Unfrozen, Sep 27, 2024
• FAQ: Part 2, Unfrozen, Dec 6, 2024
• Devlog #9: The Binding Roots of Murmurwoods, Unfrozen, Apr 11, 2025
• Devlog #10: Game Mechanics pt. 1: Magic, Unfrozen, Jun 13, 2025
• Devlog #11: Game Mechanics pt. 2: Skills and Subclasses, Unfrozen, Jul 25, 2025
• Devlog #15: How and Why We Chose the Artstyle of Olden Era, Unfrozen, Apr 24, 2026
• Building the Future - HoMM: Olden Era's Early Access Roadmap is here!, Unfrozen, May 28, 2026
• Patch #8: Skills Rework, Balance Pass & Exploit Fixes, Unfrozen, Jun 1, 2026
• Patch #11: Necromancy Update, UI Tweaks and Balance Changes, Unfrozen, Jul 6, 2026
• BETA Patch: Balance Update - New Damage Formula, Smarter AI & New Creatures, Unfrozen, Oct 15, 2026
• BETA Patch: Balance Tweaks - Spells, Heroes & a New Artifact, Unfrozen, Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Steam store, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era - Necropolis Faction full reveal (Happy Halloween!), Unfrozen Official, Oct 31, 2024 (video)
• 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 Review, IGN, Apr 28, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Beginners Guide! Tips You Need to Know, Norovo, May 4, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era - Necropolis Faction Beginners Guide, Turin, May 5, 2026 (video)