Olden Era Best Heroes: The Standout Starting Picks for Each Faction

The hero you start with decides what your first ten turns look like in Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. A great starting specialization can hand you an army that punches way above your gold, or skip an entire faction’s slow build phase. This is a rundown of the standout starting heroes by faction, based on community consensus in the current Early Access build. Where the community hasn’t settled on a clear pick, I’ll say so rather than invent a name. EA shifts, so take the strong picks as today’s favorites, not permanent law.

Dungeon: Motley

Motley is widely called the single best starting hero in the game, and the reason is her opening army. She starts with a force made up entirely of Onyx Dancers, the Dungeon faction’s standout unit. That’s an absurd head start, an army that’s already strong on day one instead of something you have to build toward.

There’s one wrinkle you have to handle. Motley begins with an Attack stat of 0. Since hero Attack stacks onto your units’ damage, that’s a real hole early on. The fix is easy: boost her Attack at a Pauper Knight Order building as soon as you can reach one. Do that and you’ve got an elite army with the stats to back it, very early. Plenty of writers point to a Twilight-style specialization on Dungeon heroes for locking down enemy ranged units too, so the faction is rich in strong openers, but Motley is the headline pick.

Temple: Zenith

Temple has a slow early build by reputation, and Zenith is the hero who lets you skip it. Zenith starts you with a strong army from day one, built around the faction’s Lightweaver units, so instead of grinding through Temple’s buildup you come out swinging. If you like Temple’s righteous, buff-heavy identity but hate the slow opening, Zenith is the answer. He’s the standard recommendation for players who want Temple’s strengths without its patience tax.

Hive: Zoran the Self-Founded

Zoran is the Hive pick that shows up everywhere, and for good reason. His opening force, built around multiple Waurms plus a Corpse Eater unit, is close to unkillable in the early game. The Corpse Eater heals off corpses on the battlefield, so as bodies pile up your army keeps topping itself off. Combine that sustain with Hive’s swarm aggression and Zoran snowballs fights that should be close. He’s a poster child for how Hive wants to play: get in, trade hard, heal off the dead, and never stop.

Grove: Gorel Spearhead and the Fireball Line

Grove’s standout early pick from the community is Gorel Spearhead, flagged as a strong early-game hero for the faction. Grove also has heroes built around spell specializations, with Faelor noted for a powerful Fireball-focused build whose area and effective spell power grow as the hero levels. Grove is an expensive ranged-and-elemental faction, so a hero that either stabilizes the early game or amplifies your spell damage fits the army’s whole identity. If you’re set on Grove, Gorel for the early game and Faelor for a spell-leaning plan are the names the community keeps returning to.

Necropolis: Lean Into Necromancy

Necropolis hero picks orbit the faction’s engine, Necromancy. The community keeps pointing at a few names:

Heroes with an Advanced Necromancy head start, like Funerella, let you compound your undead army faster from the opening, which matters a lot for a faction that wins by outlasting.
Onkos is highlighted for a Skeleton specialization, supporting the unit most Necropolis players scale first and giving you the cleanest path to the standard skeleton-snowball plan.
A Might-class option like Tarius offers the same Advanced Necromancy head start as Funerella, though as a Might hero his ceiling sits a bit lower than a dedicated Magic specialist.

The through-line is simple: for Necropolis, the best hero is the one that accelerates Necromancy or your core Skeleton scaling, because that’s how the faction’s slow attrition snowball gets going sooner.

Schism: Still Settling

Here’s where I’ll be straight with you. For Schism, the community preference isn’t locked in the same way it is for Dungeon or Hive. The faction’s whole power comes from Abyssal Communion, the win-streak mechanic, more than from any single hero’s starting army, so the “best hero” conversation is fuzzier and still moving in the current Early Access build. Rather than hand you a name I can’t stand behind, I’ll say plainly: as of this build, the community’s preferred Schism hero is still in flux. Pick a hero whose specialization supports relentless, chain-the-wins aggression, and check the official wiki and recent community discussion for the latest favorite before you commit.

How to Read These Picks

A few principles that apply across every faction:

Starting army beats starting stats. A hero who hands you an elite opening force, like Motley or Zoran, is usually worth more than one with slightly better base stats, because that army carries your early game.
Match the hero to the faction’s plan. Zenith skips Temple’s slow build, Necromancy heroes speed up Necropolis’s snowball, Corpse Eater openers feed Hive’s aggression. The best hero is the one that pushes your faction’s natural gameplan harder.
Patch the obvious hole. Motley’s 0 Attack is fixable at a Pauper Knight Order. If a great starting hero has one glaring weakness, your first job is to plug it.

Quick Reference

Dungeon: Motley. All-Onyx-Dancer opening. Fix her 0 Attack at a Pauper Knight Order fast.
Temple: Zenith. Strong day-one army built around Lightweavers, skips the slow build.
Hive: Zoran the Self-Founded. Waurms plus Corpse Eater, near-unkillable early.
Grove: Gorel Spearhead early, Faelor for a Fireball spell build.
Necropolis: Necromancy-acceleration heroes like Funerella, Onkos (Skeletons), or Tarius.
Schism: Community pick still settling. Favor aggression-supporting specializations; check the wiki.

This all reflects the current Early Access build, and Hooded Horse keeps tuning heroes and specializations. The best hero today can shift with a patch. Treat these as current favorites, not guarantees, and check the official wiki at wiki.hoodedhorse.com for live hero details before you build around one.