Olden Era Best Units Tier List (Early Access)

Unit tier lists in Olden Era are a snapshot, not gospel. The game is in Early Access since April 30, 2026, Unfrozen is patching balance, and the community argues about rankings constantly. So treat this as orientation. I’ve leaned on community consensus where it’s clear and stayed vague where it isn’t, and I’ll point you to the in-game unit card or the official wiki for exact numbers rather than make up HP and damage figures.

One rule cuts across every faction and it’s the most useful thing in this guide: ranged units win the early game. Olden Era’s early fights are decided by who can deal damage before the enemy reaches them, and a strong ranged stack in the first couple of weeks is worth more than almost any melee unit of the same tier. Keep that lens on as you read.

The One Unit Everyone Agrees On

If there’s a consensus best unit in the current build, it’s the Onyx Dancer, the Dungeon’s Tier 3 ranged attacker. Community guides keep circling back to it as the most important early unit in the game. It’s a ranged creature with high weekly growth, which means you can field a real stack of them fast, and there’s even a Dungeon hero whose whole specialization is starting with a full army of them and scaling them up.

This is the textbook case of why ranged wins early. You get volume, you get range, you get damage before the enemy closes. That combination is why Dungeon sits at the top of faction rankings, and the Onyx Dancer is the reason.

High-Value Units by Faction

I’m going to describe roles and reputations here, not invent stats. For the actual numbers, check the unit card in game or the official wiki at wiki.hoodedhorse.com.

Dungeon has the deepest bench of standout units. Beyond the Onyx Dancer, the Hydra and the Cave Dragon are the big late-game payoffs at the top of the roster. The community note worth knowing: rushing Cave Dragons forces real sacrifices in your build, while going Hydra pairs naturally with picking up the Medusa along the way. Both are powerful top-tier creatures, they just ask different things of your town order. Combine a top-tier finisher with the best early ranged unit in the game and you can see why Dungeon is rated so highly.

Temple’s signature unit is the Angel at Tier 7, the classic high-end Heroes payoff: an expensive, powerful capstone that anchors a late army. Temple is also a strong beginner faction, so its roster is forgiving while still topping out with a premium unit.

Hive leans on its top end with the Waurms and the Hive Queen at Tiers 6 and 7. Hive plays differently from the others and lands a tier below the top factions in community rankings, but its upper-tier creatures are genuine threats when you reach them.

Necropolis is the faction where tier ratings lie to you, and you need to know why. Community players point out that Necropolis creature stats read about a tier lower than equivalent units elsewhere, but that’s by design: necromancy gives you such high growth and such an easy time replacing losses that raw stats undersell the faction. The Vampire and the Dread Knight are the units people single out, and Necropolis power is about sustainable numbers over time rather than any single stat line. Don’t write the faction off because a unit card looks weak.

Dungeon, Temple, Hive, Schism, Grove each have their own headline creatures too, and the pattern holds: the Tier 6 and Tier 7 units are your late-game win conditions, while the cheaper ranged units carry you there.

Why I’m Not Giving You Exact Numbers

A lot of tier lists online slap confident HP and damage figures on every unit. In Early Access, those numbers move between patches, and copying stale stats helps nobody. The two-path upgrade system makes it worse: most units have two upgraded versions with different stats, so a single number for “the upgraded unit” is already wrong.

So my honest advice is to read the unit card in game for anything you’re about to commit gold to. The card shows current stats, both upgrade paths, and abilities. That’s the real tier list, and it updates itself when the patch does.

How to Actually Use Tiers

A few principles that survive patches better than any specific ranking:

Prioritize ranged in the early game. Whatever faction you’re on, the ranged units are your first big spike. They clear neutrals with fewer losses and they win the races that decide week-one and week-two fights.

Don’t skip mid-tier units chasing the top. A Tier 7 creature you can’t afford to field in numbers loses to a full stack of well-chosen Tier 4 and 5 units. Strong armies are built across tiers, not stacked at the top.

Mind the local terrain bonus. Every creature gets +1 initiative on its home faction’s terrain. On your own ground, your units act sooner, which quietly raises the value of your whole roster in fights near home.

Respect the morale rule. A single-faction army gets +1 morale, and every extra faction you mix in costs you 1. A pile of “good units” from three factions can fight worse than a clean single-faction stack. Unit quality isn’t only about the unit.

Quick Takeaways

• Ranged units win the early game across every faction. This is the most reliable rule in the list.
• Onyx Dancer (Dungeon, ranged, Tier 3) is the most-cited best early unit in the current build.
• Top-end win conditions worth knowing: Dungeon’s Hydra and Cave Dragon, Temple’s Angel, Hive’s Waurms and Hive Queen, Necropolis’s Vampire and Dread Knight.
• Necropolis units read a tier weaker on paper but win through growth and easy replacement. Don’t judge them on stats alone.
• This is an Early Access snapshot. Check the in-game unit card or the official wiki for real numbers before committing gold.

The meta will shift, units will get tuned, and someone will publish a tier list next month that disagrees with this one. That’s fine. Build around ranged early power, learn which top-tier unit your faction wants, and read the cards, and you’ll field a strong army no matter where the patch notes land.