All Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era Factions and the best to choose

The six Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era Factions each have their own heroes and units to choose from, and whichever standard game mode you go for, picking the right Faction is an important choice. Each Faction has seven creature types to deploy and 18 heroes to choose from, though, so knowing which Faction to go for can be a little overwhelming.

I've been playing HoMM Olden Era, and have had a go at each of the six factions to find out which is best, and not only can I tell you which Faction I recommend below, but also which Hero to choose as well. You shouldn't always follow the herd though, and it's worth given them each a try yourself, so I've also detailed the other five Heroes Olden Era factions, too.

Best HoMM Olden Era Faction

The best Heroes Olden Era Faction is Dungeon. Since they thrive in versatility, every one of the Dungeon's units has two types of attack. However, the reason Dungeon are such a great faction mainly comes down to one single unit: The Onyx Dancers. These ranged attackers are seriously good starter units, and their only downside is low Initiative. However, put most of your Gold into recruiting Dancers, and then train them into Aureate Dancers once you've built the Amphitheatre II, their Initiative drastically increases, and you'll have an army with incredibly efficient damage capabilities.

Once you get going a bit further and build out your city, you'll also be able to recruit Black and Ashen Dragons. Pair stacks of Dragons with the ranged abilities of the Dancers (and maybe a few Medusae for good measure), and you'll be near unstoppable.

Best HoMM Olden Era Heroes

The best HoMM Olden Era Hero to choose is Dungeon's Motley, since her starting army is entirely made up of Onyx Dancers. Do beware that Motley starts with an Attack stat of 0, though, so you should try and boost this at a Pauper Knight Order building as soon as possible. That's really easy to do though, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Since ranged attackers are incredibly valuable given their ability to attack straight away, Motley has another benefit - her Twilight spell. Twilight targets one enemy and prevents them from using ranged attacks for one round, which can handily delay an enemy army while you and your Dancers get the first hits in. Of course, make sure the enemy is a ranged attacker before using it. Whenever using spells, though, be sure to make sure you've got plenty of Heroes Olden Era mana.

In a Classic Game, you'll be able to recruit additional heroes from the city center, but your picks are still based on luck when drawing just two Heroes to choose from. That's why it's still important to make sure your starting Hero is a good pick. From there, here are some other worthy Heroes to look out for:

• Typhona - Dungeon
• Faleor - Grove
• Zoran - Hive
• Onkos - Necropolis
• Mag - Necropolis
• The Eye Collective - Schism
• Zenith - Temple

All Heroes Olden Era Factions, ranked

There are six Factions in Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era. They are:

Dungeon

I've already gone into a bit of detail with the Dungeon faction so far, but it's also worth mentioning that Infiltrators and Troglodytes are very squishy units, so shouldn't ever be prioritized over Dancers. However, they are cheaper, so it's good to get a sizeable stack or two of each when you can afford it. I'd recommend Toxic Troglodytes, which lack decent defense, but you can use their long-range attack to prevent enemies hitting back.

Temple

There are a lot of ranged attackers in the Temple's army, making them a very good Faction pick. As I've discussed when talking about Dungeon, having ranged abilities makes a serious difference at the start of battles, so Temple is a decent pick. That said, their ranged attackers still aren't as good as those Aureate Dancers, even when upgraded.

Zenith is a decent Hero pick for Temple, since she brings Lightweavers into battle with her from day one. While you won't be able to upgrade Lightweavers for a while (or recruit more), again making them subpar to Dancers, they are significantly better than Crossbowmen, Temple's basic ranged unit. Since you can't recruit Lightweavers for a while, be sure to support them with Guards Captains, Marksmen, and Guardian Griffins for a solid early-game army.

Hive

This certainly isn't a top pick for anyone with a fear of bugs, but if you're free of Entomophobia, the Hive is probably my second favorite Olden Era faction. That statement comes with a caveat of picking Zoran, The Self-Founded as your Hero.

Zoran doesn't start with any base units, and instead only begins the game with two Waurms. However, if you go straight to the city and recruit some Parasite and Locust stacks to back them up, these Waurms are incredibly valuable members of the team, despite the fact that you won't be able to upgrade them for a while. The reason is their Corpse Eater ability, which allows them to devour any corpse by moving to the same hex as a fallen friend or foe, in turn increasing their HP. This, combined with the Waurms decent HP, especially against minor enemies, makes them near impossible to defeat.

Schism

Battles with and against the Schism Faction can be quite exhausting, since a lot of their unique power comes from the ability to resurrect stacks in place of their dead, so battles can go on a little longer than usual. While basic Ra'Shoth units have this ability, so do Grand Shoths (and even the Envoys, but you won't get those until much later on). It can also only be used once per battle, so using it on Grand Shoths instead of Ra'Shoths is much more worthwhile. That leads me to my Schism Hero pick, The Eye Collective, which starts you off with a stack of Ra'Shoth and two Stacks of up to three Grand Shoths. They go down easier than, say, The Hive's Waurms, but the ability to add a new stack to each battle is a good one.

Grove

While I don't rate the Grove Faction as highly as I do Dungeon, it's not a terrible choice. Your starting units aren't particularly powerful, but they are fairly hardy, so you can do quite well if you've got enough of them to weather the storm of enemy attacks. Iriyads aren't really worth the money, so focus on multiple stacks of Fauns (both types, since Warriors are stronger and Archers have ranged attacks) and Dawn Hoplets, until you can recruit some Brumal Naiads, which, for their cost, are also better value than Herbomancers.

As for your choice of Hero, I'd strongly recommend Faleor thanks to his Masterful Fireball starting spell.

Necropolis

The Necropolis Faction is incredibly cool aesthetically speaking, but it doesn't hold up as well as some others on the battlefield. None of their main starting units have ranged attacks, which makes things incredibly slow - and dangerous when up against ranged enemies. If you do want to give them a go, my Hero recommendation would be Onkos or Mag.

While Skeletons are pretty weak, their starting stacks are fairly big, and sometimes quantity can keep your army from defeat. Onkos starts with only skeletons, and his abilities make them stronger. As long as you upgrade them to Skeleton Warriors as soon as possible, you could stand a decent chance with Onkos.

Onkos' flaw is that he has no starting magic, which is where Mag comes in as a great alternative. His incredible starting spell, Impending Fate, deals damage to all enemy creatures, but he also starts with a stack of Wights, who are incredibly weak.

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