HoMM Olden Era campaign walkthrough: every mission and route (2026 guide)

The campaign in Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era stops at Act I in Early Access: nine missions exist, but one run covers only seven. You go through Garner Hills, Into the Woods, Never-ending Conflict and Burning Hearts, then a two-mission Temple or Necropolis route, before the Alvar Diruil finale. One habit matters most: save before finishing Never-ending Conflict, because the choice between the two routes happens there.

This guide applies to version 0.82.06 of October 29, 2026, which changes the damage formula based on Attack and Defense and makes the AI noticeably stronger on the Global Map. Nearly all the difficulty advice quoted here predates that update, so enemy numbers and attack timing may have moved. This is not a play report: it cross-checks patch notes, three guides and player reports, which are labelled as such. Mission names come from the English patch notes.

Campaign mission order

The table uses the names from the Steam patch notes. The right-hand column gives the trap reported most often.

The middle of that order is unclear. VGTimes puts Never-ending Conflict third, while Commonsense Gamer puts Burning Hearts there. On Steam, one player says they started the Grove mission first, which suggests the order depends on the path taken across the campaign map. Both guides agree on the key point: the Temple or Necropolis branch is decided around Never-ending Conflict, and you see one chain per run.

On saves, Patch #8 added a Restart button and fixed artifact slots locked between missions. The September 30, 2026 update gives each campaign run its own save category. If you play on an old save, several October 29 fixes do not apply to a game saved inside a mission.

Garner Hills: the tutorial with no recruiting

Gunnar crosses the map with no town or recruiting, and building bonuses last only for this mission. Units marked with an exclamation point join you for free. Switch stance each round according to the stack’s job: attack, defense or magic.

Three things deserve your attention on this map.

• The bridge. Repairing it costs 30 wood.
• The rider. Beat the insects to receive the Last Coin artifact, then show it to the rider to pass without a fight. The October 29 notes fix an endless dialogue at this spot.
• The Ariadne’s Mercy achievement. You must finish with at least one Minotaur alive, so save often.

On higher difficulty, players split Minotaurs into stacks of 1 and rotate wounded units. Morale swings hard in this tutorial, and a restart is nothing unusual.

Into the Woods: red crystals and a collapsing path

This mission gives you the first castle, with buildings locked at the start. Recruiting from outside dwellings unlocks construction options. You beat the Grove hero, then three armies guarding the roots.

What matters here is holding on to your red crystals, because they pay for two optional bonuses. Infernal Hydras cost 30 crystals, behind the orange portal at the bottom of the map. The five Kittenhorn squads need 55, meaning 15 for the first and 10 for each of the others, according to Destructoid. Recruit the first squad before the burning castle. Clear the left half of the map before entering the enemy castle too, because the path collapses behind you. Lafiur joins when the mission ends.

Never-ending Conflict: catching up with the AI

Gunnar sets out alone again, with buildings capped at tier 3. Reinforcements therefore come mostly from outside dwellings, while an enemy hero attacks your town every one to two weeks. The goal: take all four towns, two per faction, then defeat every enemy hero. Some patch notes call this map Eternal Conflict.

This is the most cited difficulty spike. In a May 2026 Steam thread, a player on Easy tops out at 150 upgraded creatures against huge enemy stacks. Here are the answers offered by players and VGTimes.

• Take the second town early. It sits above the start on the Necropolis side and below it on the Temple side.
• Bait the AI. One player led the enemy army around while recruiting, then beat it in the open with about 950 units.
• Hold the walls. Another defends behind maxed walls, but the first player got only a costly win that way.
• Chase gold. One player suggests giving up Astrology and Law points to earn more gold per day.
• Fight manually. VGTimes says auto-battle wastes troops here.

The risk is that baiting works less well now that the AI spends resources better and flees lost fights. For achievements, Patience is a Virtue asks you to end a turn beside the Shard of Serenity, behind the purple portal, and collect it the next day. AcHiEvEmEnT!!! requires four battle wins, each with a different pixie scroll.

Burning Hearts: south first

On the Grove route you start with one town, Lafiur and Gunnar, and both must survive. The clearest advice comes from Steam: rush south to the dwellings and recruit as many Herbomancers as you can before exploring north. VGTimes backs this up, with the second Grove castle below the start and three Mushroom Huts to its left.

The Stargazer’s tower, about a day and a half away, asks four riddles and teaches Lafiur a summoning spell. VGTimes pairs Haste with Dove, Provocation with Knight, Doom with Dragon and Fury of Kshmilya with Kshmilya, names translated from Russian that you should check on screen. Since October 29, four correct answers reliably give a reward.

Next comes the central portal, then the druid in the left corner town once two enemy towns have fallen. A portal marked with a rhombus finally leads to the tree on the far right. If you play the Temple route, the pattern is mirrored, with two Grove towns to take before the druid.

Two achievements live here. It Fills You with Determination means chasing the warlock through two portals. Might over Right means refusing to help the Old Pilgrim, bottom left, then beating him before the main enemy faction.

Temple route: Saving the Knight and Renegade

In Saving the Knight, refuse to pledge to the Hive Waurm messenger for Once Tempted, Always Rebuked. For Something lingers, unfinished, accept the Troglodyte quest, keep one in the Remote Foothold and beat the Hydras before entering the portal. Valentina joins at the end. Patch #7 cleared critical bugs on this map, and the October 29 update gave the rightmost Twilight Bloom its artifact back.

In Renegade, amplifiers restore the fog of war. Destroy them by beating the undead guarding them to earn NecronomiNO!. Commonsense Gamer counts three, and promising Thant a favor spares you the first.

Necropolis route: Deal with a Vampire and Corruption

Facing the Dragonfly King’s herald, refuse the offer to earn A Fiery Negotiation in Deal with a Vampire. Lord Galthran then joins the party. A fix dated October 29 removed a blocker when placing a second hero at the dead knight’s new spawn.

In Corruption, four angel heroes serve a corrupted knight. Beat each one once to lift the barrier, then free the fifth angel for Guarding the Guardian. Valentina arrives at this point on this route.

Alvar Diruil: plan the evacuation before the fight

Commonsense Gamer puts the Dragonfly King’s attack at Month 1, Week 4, Day 7, which sets your deadline. Place your heroes in front of the villages before the final battle, since movement artifacts will not rescue a late start. One hero must stay behind: Destructoid recommends Gunnar, who saves the two bottom villages, and you evacuate the others yourself for Blessed be the Meek. A bug that let you attack the town with a remaining hero was fixed on October 29. Finishing this map unlocks the Act I achievement.

The Mirage is not a campaign mission

The search “olden era how to beat mirage” often sits next to the campaign, yet no mission guide lists it. According to players, you face a stronger version of your own hero, with the same units in larger numbers, the same artifacts and the same spells. Others tie it to the Grail, and the July 2026 notes do mention a battle for the Grail.

These threads date from October 2025 to January 2026, before Early Access. On paper, the most detailed method comes down to a few spells.

• One ranged stack. Twilight, cast on the first turn, stops the enemy stack from shooting.
• Healing and protection. Rewind Life restores losses, and Carapace absorbs one or two hits.
• Sleep. One player counts four turns, or about three spells before the first hit lands.
• Avoid this. The Temple’s Sacred Land law makes the enemy immune to negative effects, the same player says.

Going further

• All our Olden Era articles
• Our faction tier list
• Our Early Access review
• The roadmap and the acts to come