Schism Guide

Schism wins in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era by snowballing: its faction skill Abyssal Communion adds temporary creatures to every battle at a level that rises with each victory and falls every day, so a Schism player keeps one main hero fighting daily, while its laws drain the enemy's mana and multiply its summons. Unfrozen put it plainly when it revealed the faction: "Schism can become very powerful the longer the game goes. The more units you have, the more units you will get extra in every battle" (Devlog #13). No creator guide to Schism is on Vi.ki's list yet, so this guide is built only from Unfrozen's devlogs, its faction reveal video and patch notes as of Oct 21, 2026, and says where the official text stops. For the faction itself see Schism; for the basics, the Beginner's Guide.

Quick facts

Strengths and weaknesses

Schism's strength is the faction skill. Every battle the army is bigger than the one you hired, the bonus grows with the army, and spells and abilities that summon get more out of its laws. Its tools are about denial: Unfrozen describes the laws as "taking tools away from their enemies by draining their mana" (Devlog #14), and units such as the Mistress of Chains make enemy spells dearer.

2:40 The reveal video's ability cards (Aug 29, 2025) show where the "unavoidable damage" comes from: much of it is Pure Damage. Gaze of the Abyss deals a little to a target and its neighbors and slows them, Icy Spikes and Icy Breath add an extra attack of Pure Damage, and Black Ice Shard fires a shard that deals a massive amount of it to one target.

2:59 The reveal's ability cards show the "ability control" side: Handcuffs stops a target using active abilities for 2 rounds, Hourglass blocks the enemy hero's active abilities until the end of the round, Flog Idle Mind deals Pure Damage for each Focus Charge available, Command: Fear moves an enemy up to 4 hexes, Frozen Pages stops the enemy hero using the spellbook, and Disgorge Storm deals Pure Damage to all enemies and slows them for 2 rounds. Against a spellcasting hero, those last tools are the point of the faction.

Its weakness, in Unfrozen's own reading of its statistics, is the long Classic game against other players. After Patch #8 tried to strengthen Schism "in Classic mode", the next day's hotfix reverted part of it because it hit Single Hero mode too hard, and Unfrozen added that in Classic "Schism's position is already quite weak" (Patch #9). A month later it wrote that Schism "still performs under expectations in Classic Mode while remaining dominant in Single Hero Mode" (Patch #11). A likely reason follows from how the skill works: in Single Hero mode the one hero fights every day and every bonus lands on one army; in Classic the bonus is split across heroes and decays on the days a hero does not fight.

How Abyssal Communion shapes your play

Each hero has their own Communion level, which "will decrease every day, but can be increased (up to a certain limit) with each fight you win", so "you will have to make strategic decisions on which one of them takes the fights" (Devlog #13). The practical rules follow from that text:

• Give the fights to one main hero. A secondary hero who picks up a guarded mine builds a level that decays while the main army waits.
• Fight every day you can. The level drops daily, so a day spent walking costs strength in the next battle.
• Bigger armies get more. The temporary creatures are a percentage of the army (2.5% per level since Patch #11), so the bonus grows as the army does, which is why Unfrozen calls Schism a late-game faction.
• The extra units vanish after the battle and cannot be passed to another hero, so they never raise growth or garrisons.

Since Patch #11 (Jul 6, 2026), Communion also counts creatures of other factions in a Schism hero's army, so a neutral stack or a captured town's units are no longer dead weight for the skill. The same patch cut the maximum level from 4/5/6 to 3/4/5, and trimmed the subskills Call of the Void (mana restored per Communion level, from 3 to 2) and Celestial Abyss (extra temporary creatures per level, from 1% to 0.5%). See Skills.

First week and the town

Unfrozen's notes say little about an opening, so this section only gives what they do say. The tier 1 dwelling, the Lesser Summoning Rite, became 500 gold dearer in Patch #8, while the Cultist Spire (tier 2) became 250 gold cheaper in Patch #9. Patch #11 made the House of Chains (tier 5) 1,000 gold cheaper and the Bloated Mansion (tier 6) 1,500 gold cheaper, each for 5 more Mercury, and the Eerie Summoning Rite (tier 7) 2,500 gold dearer but 5 Mercury cheaper: Schism leans on Mercury for its upper tiers. The special building Involuntary Summons needs the Great Library in the Oct 15, 2026 beta, instead of Mage Guild III on the live branch (Patch #9, beta notes).

Which upgrades

Each Schism tier has a base unit and two alternative upgrades. What the official notes say about each line:

Beta abilities come from the Oct 15, 2026 notes. The beta's two new passives point to one idea: the Votary and the Mat'ha now speed up the summoning lines (Ra'Shoth, Grand Shoth and Abyssal Envoy), so on the beta branch an army built around Summoning Rite has a clear supporting pick at tiers 2 and 3. Unfrozen has not published a recommended upgrade for any tier.

2:16 The reveal video's "Summoning Rite" cards (Aug 29, 2025) show how the summoning lines work: once per battle the Ferocious Ra'Shoth, Unspeakable Shoth or Abyssal Executor summons a stack of its own kind on a friendly corpse's hex, with a portion of the dead stack's total health and no more units than the casting stack, and the summoned creatures are permanent, staying in the army after the battle. Since Patch #13 (Aug 20, 2026) it can no longer raise more creatures than the dead stack had at the start of the battle.

Laws to take

4:04 Unfrozen's Devlog #5 video puts it the same way: Schism's laws "focus largely on taking tools away from their enemies by draining their mana or summoning additional creatures in combat". Two laws show what Schism's tree is for, as Unfrozen's Devlog #14 image shows them: Frostbite makes enemy heroes lose mana every round of battle, and Call of the Deep makes the spells of Schism heroes and the abilities of Schism creatures summon 25% more units (Devlog #14). Call of the Deep's maximum level rose from 2 to 3 in Patch #11, which also reshaped the rest of the tree:

• Depths of Mind: daily morning mana restoration, now three levels of 5/10/15% at 2 Seals each.
• Planar Explorers: Astrology Points doubled to 500/1,000/1,500, at 3 Seals a level, a fast route to global spells.
• The Abyss Stares Back: moved down from law tier 5 to 4, cost 4.
• The World is Ours: law tier 5 again since Patch #9, cost raised from 3 to 6.
• Survival Conditions: moved down from law tier 4 to 3.
• Cold Touch and Ice Storms: dearer (4/4 and 5).
• Unfrozen Strength I to VII: one level each.
• Elite laws: Elite Abyssal Envoys (Speed and Initiative, cut from 3 to 2), and in the beta Elite Cultists (+5 health), Elite Aga'Shoth Riders (+2 damage) and Elite Concubi (Attack and Defense raised from 4 to 6) (beta notes).

In the beta, Resource Riches I to III cost 2/3/4 Seals for every faction. How Seals and law tiers work is on Faction Laws.

Heroes to pick

Every Schism hero mixes Might and Magic, so since Patch #8 each starts with a spell and the starting armies no longer depend on class; since Patch #11 Might heroes start with 1 Defense and 2 Knowledge. What the notes say about individual heroes:

0:45 The reveal of Aug 29, 2025 sorted its heroes into two classes on their cards, Riftspeakers (Icequeen Hel'Ghat, The Eye Collective, Tölketh, Sister Keiri) and Oathkeepers (Mara Mat'ha, Martyr Tho, The Iron Master, Walkhia). Unfrozen has published no ranking of Schism heroes; see Best Heroes for the creators' views across factions.

Spells and late game

Unfrozen's notes do not tie Schism to one school of magic, and its heroes' starting spells come from all four. Two things in the notes matter for a late-game Schism army: summoning spells feed Call of the Deep, and a Communion level kept high on a large army multiplies the bonus. Against Schism, the Oct 15, 2026 beta adds a counter for everyone: the Insight subskill "Understanding the Ephemeral" makes the hero and friendly creatures deal 50% more damage to summoned creatures (beta notes). See Magic and Spells.

What changed in patches and the beta

• Patch #8 (Jun 1, 2026): starting spells for every hero; Ra'Shoth Initiative up; The World is Ours to law tier 3.
• Patch #9 (Jun 2, 2026): partial revert for Single Hero mode: Initiative and Speed down on tiers 1, 2 and 7; Glance of the Abyss weaker; The World is Ours back to tier 5.
• Patch #11 (Jul 6, 2026): Communion counts all units, at lower values; law costs and tiers retuned.
• Patch #13 (Aug 20, 2026): Ferocious Ra'Shoth Attack and Defense down, Initiative up; Summoning Rite capped.
• Beta (Oct 15 and Oct 21, 2026): stat gains on most lines; Rift Conductor, Raid, Seduction and Flog Idle Mind; the Unstoppable elite class's stat bonus from 10 to 8. Not on the main branch; release date to be announced. See Balance Update Beta.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Schism in Olden Era? Keep one main hero fighting and winning every day so Abyssal Communion stays high, because the level falls daily and each hero has their own. Take the laws that drain enemy mana and add summons, and let the army grow into the late game.

What is the best Schism law in Olden Era? Unfrozen has not ranked them. Its own examples are Frostbite, which drains enemy heroes' mana each round, and Call of the Deep, which makes Schism spells and abilities summon 25% more units.

Who is the best Schism hero in Olden Era? Unfrozen publishes no hero ranking. Its notes show Blackhorn as the magic damage specialist and Changeling Urgo, Ra'Davok and Sister Keiri as spell specialists, all buffed in Patch #8.

Is Schism good in Single Hero mode? Yes, by Unfrozen's account: it called Schism "dominant in Single Hero Mode" and weaker in Classic on Jul 6, 2026, and toned it down twice in June and July.

Does Abyssal Communion work with units from other factions? Yes, since Patch #11 on Jul 6, 2026; before that it counted only Schism units.

Sources

• Schism Faction - Teaser trailer, Unfrozen, Aug 21, 2025
• Devlog #13: On Schism and Their Eldritch Powers, Unfrozen, Aug 29, 2025
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era - Schism Faction Official Full Reveal, Unfrozen Official, Aug 29, 2025 (video)
• Devlog #14: Gameplay Mechanics pt. 3: Faction Laws, Unfrozen, Dec 5, 2025
• Devlog #5 : Faction Laws in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era!, Unfrozen Official, Dec 5, 2025 (video)
• Patch #8: Skills Rework, Balance Pass & Exploit Fixes, Unfrozen, Jun 1, 2026
• Patch #9: Hotfix & Balance Adjustments, Unfrozen, Jun 2, 2026
• Patch #11: Necromancy Update, UI Tweaks and Balance Changes, Unfrozen, Jul 6, 2026
• Patch #13: The Mysterious Island, Unfrozen, Aug 20, 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 on Steam, Steam store page, read Oct 21, 2026