How To Play Dungeon In HoMM: Olden Era

Published May 15, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT Ryan Thompson-Bamsey has been an Editor at TheGamer since 2021. He has specialized in RPGs, grand strategy games, and visual novels, reviewing major releases in franchises from Square Enix, Larian Studios, and Paradox Interactive. Ryan has served multiple times on the jury for the Indie Cup awards, and has mentored many emerging writers in the games industry. He has covered some of the biggest releases of recent years, including leading the site's coverage of Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon's Dogma 2, and plenty of other massive RPGs. The Dungeon is one of the strongest faction in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. Governed by the Triumvirate of Alvar — an underground pact of dark elves, minotaurs, medusae, and dragons — the faction's defining feature is tactical flexibility: every unit in the roster can switch between two attack types, giving Dungeon more in-battle adaptability than any other town. The result is a faction that delivers consistent power at every stage of the game — a credible ranged core in the early weeks, strong frontline options in the mid-game, and Black Dragons as a late-game finisher that most factions simply cannot match. It suits players who want options in battle and a clear power curve to build toward. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is currently in Early Access. Balance patches may shift the faction's power curve between updates. Overall Strategy Tips Dungeon plays an aggressive tempo game built around sustained map control. The early game establishes a ranged core that clears efficiently (Onyx Dancers are very good); the mid-game adds frontline depth and secondary ranged units as buildings come online; the late game pivots to Black Dragons as the win condition. Every decision — building order, resource routing, fight selection — should be evaluated against whichever stage of that arc you are currently in. Ore and Gems are both essential resources to prioritise, but at different points. Ore gates several mid-tier dwellings and is the first bottleneck to address; Gems become critical for high-tier buildings and the Dragon dwelling later. Claim Ore outposts first, then pivot to Gems once the mid-game building path is secure. On maps with poor Gem distribution, the Dragon timeline will slip — plan around this rather than ignoring it. Mixed-faction armies suffer Morale penalties. Keep Dungeon units on your primary hero and resist the temptation to supplement stacks with neutral creatures unless you have no alternative. A Morale penalty really hurts Dungeon armies specifically. Dungeon's early army is strong but not invulnerable. Avoid fights that will deplete key stacks before reinforcement is possible — there is no fast recovery mechanism, and thinned stacks clear the map noticeably slower. Related Heroes Of Might And Magic: Olden Era - Spell Tier List There are tons of spells to wrap your head around in HoMM: Olden Era - here's our tier list to help you pick the best ones! First Week Strategy Dungeon has one of the lowest Gold requirements for Week 1 building, but it demands several rare resources early. The optimal Day 1 building is the Amphitheater — the base Onyx Dancer dwelling, which begins generating weekly unit growth immediately. Day 1: Build the Amphitheater. Recruit all available units. Day 2: Upgrade the Byzantine Palace to Tier 2 for increased Gold and Law Point income. Day 3: Upgrade the Byzantine Palace to Tier 3. Expensive but critical — the income compounds across the remainder of the game. Day 4: Build the Labyrinth (Minotaur dwelling) to unlock your primary frontline unit. Day 5 (flexible): Build the Bank if Gold is stable, the Marketplace if Crystals or Gems are short, or the Mage Guild if your hero needs spells to clear safely. The goal entering Week 2 is to have the Byzantine Palace fully upgraded, both core dwellings active, and enough rare resources banked to push the mid-game building path — particularly the Amphitheater upgrade, which upgrades the Onyx Dancer and is the key milestone for the ranged composition to reach its full potential. Crystal is a common Week 1 choke point. If resources are short, prioritise the Marketplace on Day 5 over the Bank. Army Composition Tips Dungeon's roster covers every role — ranged damage, melee frontline, control, and a late-game finisher — and the full composition is stronger than any one unit in isolation. The dual attack type system means almost every stack has options in combat, which rewards players who read the battlefield and switch attack modes accordingly rather than defaulting to one approach every fight. Onyx Dancers / Aureate Dancers are the faction's best early ranged unit and the most efficient damage dealer available before mid-tier buildings come online. Upgrading to Aureate Dancers via the Amphitheater's upgrade provides a significant Initiative gain, letting the army act before most opponents in the opening round. Invest in them early, but not to the exclusion of the rest of the roster. Minotaurs are the primary frontline unit and more important than their damage output suggests. Without a credible melee screen, ranged stacks absorb retaliatory hits they cannot sustain. Minotaurs hold space, draw aggression, and free ranged units to deal full damage from behind — recruit enough to maintain that function throughout the mid-game. Toxic Troglodytes (the ranged upgrade path) are worth maintaining as a secondary stack. Their long-range attack avoids triggering retaliatory strikes, keeping them alive longer than their fragile stats might suggest. The melee Troglodyte upgrade path is not worth the investment — in melee, they compete for space with Minotaurs and lose badly on durability. Infiltrators are the faction's most fragile unit and should not be prioritised over the core roster. A small stack is cheap enough to use for clearing minor neutrals, but Gold that could go to Minotaurs or Medusae should not be diverted here. Medusae become a great addition once mid-tier buildings are operational. They provide ranged control alongside the Dancer core, and are particularly effective as the composition deepens in the mid-game. They are not a replacement for earlier ranged investment, though, just a complement. Black Dragons are the late-game payoff. While expensive, a stack of Black Dragons alongside upgraded ranged units is one of the strongest late-game configurations available across all six factions. Securing Mercury outposts in the mid-game is what determines how quickly this comes online. Single Hero Tips Dungeon is well-suited to Single Hero mode. The faction's ranged core clears efficiently without needing a second hero to soften targets, and the dual attack type system gives the primary hero more tactical flexibility in difficult fights than most factions can manage alone. The main constraint is resource routing. Without a secondary hero capturing nearby mines and creature huts, Crystal and Mercury collection depends entirely on the primary hero's pathing. Plan movement around resource nodes as well as neutrals — missing a Crystal mine in Week 1 delays the mid-game building path noticeably. Avoid over-committing to fights far from town in the first two weeks. In Single Hero mode, there is no recovery option if core stacks take heavy losses. If running Motley, her Twilight spell can neutralise the most dangerous enemy ranged threats turn one — use it proactively rather than reactively to keep fights clean. Spells And Magic Priority Dungeon supports both Warlock and Warlord primaries, and the right choice depends on your hero pick and map conditions rather than a blanket preference. If running a Warlock, Nightshade Magic is the priority school. It contains Dungeon's strongest disruption and debuff options, and school-specialist heroes like Lodos lock the opposing hero out of Nightshade entirely while your own spells improve. Establish Magic Observatory visits early to track available spell constellations — the Observatory is particularly valuable for Warlock builds where the spell school defines the hero's power curve. If running a Warlord primary such as Stinger, magic is a secondary concern. Prioritise combat skills and army-synergising passives over spell investment. A Mage Guild is worth building for utility spells — movement, scouting, and defensive options — but do not divert skill selections toward Magic on a Might hero unless the subclass path specifically supports it. Alchemical Dust, used for spell upgrades, is a finite resource. Spend it on spells you are actively casting rather than speculative upgrades. On a Warlock primary, Nightshade spell upgrades are the priority target once the Dust supply allows. Next Heroes Of Might And Magic: Olden Era - Necropolis Strategy Guide Become a skeleton-producing machine with the Necropolis faction in HoMM: Olden Era!