Olden Era Subclasses Guide: How to Unlock Them (And When Not To)
How subclasses work in Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. Unlock requirements, the skill upgrade path, the four skill categories, and why you shouldn't force it.
Subclasses are one of Olden Era’s coolest hero systems and also one of its biggest traps. The cool part: unlock the right combination of skills and your hero transforms into a specialized version of their class with a real identity. The trap: the game decides which skills it offers you, the odds on some of them are brutal, and players burn entire games trying to force a subclass that the dice were never going to let them build.
Let me walk you through how it actually works, and more importantly, when to stop chasing it. This is for the current Early Access build (launched April 30, 2026).
How You Unlock a Subclass
The rule is simple to state: a subclass unlocks when you raise 5 specific secondary skills to Expert level. Hit Expert on the right five and the subclass triggers.
The catch is buried in two words: specific and Expert. You don’t get to pick five skills you like. Each subclass demands a particular set, and you have to push all five of them all the way up the skill ladder. That’s a lot of your hero’s limited skill slots committed to one goal.
To understand why that’s hard, you need to understand how skills level up.
The Skill Upgrade Path: Basic to Advanced to Expert
Every secondary skill in Olden Era climbs through three stages, and each stage forces a choice:
- Basic is the entry level. You just have the skill.
- Advanced is where it gets interesting. Upgrading from Basic to Advanced makes you choose 1 of 3 sub-skills, each bending the skill in a different direction.
- Expert is the top. Going from Advanced to Expert makes you choose 1 of 2 stronger options.
Remember how heroes level up: each level gives you a random stat point plus a choice of 3, where the choices are either a brand-new skill or an upgrade to one you already have. That means even getting offered the upgrade you want isn’t guaranteed. You’re at the mercy of what the level-up roll puts in front of you.
The Roll Problem (This Is the Important Part)
Here’s the warning that’ll save you a wasted campaign. Some of the specific sub-skills a subclass requires have terrible roll odds. I’m talking about cases where a needed Basic-tier option in the Nightshade Magic line shows up at something like a 2% chance.
Sit with that for a second. If a subclass needs a particular sub-skill and the game offers it to you 2% of the time, you might level your hero a dozen times and never see it. You can’t grind your way around it. You can’t pay to force it. The roll is the roll.
So here’s my hard advice: do not force a subclass. Go in with a loose intention, sure. If your rolls flow toward a subclass naturally, great, lean into it and enjoy the payoff. But if the dice aren’t cooperating by mid-game, let it go. A hero with five strong skills you actually got offered beats a hero who refused to build anything because they were holding out for a 2% sub-skill that never came.
The players who struggle with subclasses are the ones treating them like a checklist to complete. The players who do well treat them like a bonus that sometimes lines up. Be the second kind.
The Four Skill Categories
To pick your five targets sensibly, you need to know the lay of the land. Olden Era sorts secondary skills into four buckets:
Might
The martial side. Offense, Defense, Leadership, Luck, Resistance, Tactics, Battlecraft, Siegecraft, Recruitment, and Combat (which is exclusive to might-focused heroes). These shape how your army fights and how tough it is.
Magic
The spellcaster’s toolkit. Battle Magic, Sorcery, Summon Avatar, Wisdom, Daylight Magic, Nightshade Magic, Arcane Magic, Primal Magic, and Thaumaturgy (exclusive to magic-focused heroes). These govern your spells, your mana efficiency, and access to the five schools of magic.
General
The utility line that any hero appreciates: Diplomacy, Logistics, Scouting, Insight, and Economy. Less flashy, often quietly game-winning. Logistics for map speed and Economy for income earn their keep all game.
Faction
Skills tied to your specific faction’s identity, reinforcing what that faction does best.
A subclass usually wants its five required skills drawn from a coherent theme, which is why might heroes and magic heroes chase different subclasses. Knowing the categories helps you read, early on, whether the subclass you want is even plausible given the skills your hero is being offered.
My Honest Recommendation
Treat subclasses as a stretch goal, not a plan. Build the best hero you can with the skills the game actually hands you, prioritize getting your most useful skills to Expert for their own sake, and if a subclass falls into your lap because the rolls aligned, celebrate. Pushing every skill toward Expert is good practice anyway, because Expert-tier skills are genuinely powerful on their own merits.
What you must not do is sabotage a hero by hoarding skill slots for a subclass requirement that has a 2% chance of ever appearing. The game is full of strong builds that aren’t subclasses. Chase the build that’s working, not the one the dice keep denying you.