A Complete Guide to Hero's Hour Skirmishes

A complete guide to all skirmish levels offered in Hero's Hour as of 8/4/2022.

Preface

Updated 8-4-2022. I've probably 1000+ hours in the Heroes of Might and Magic(HoMM) series, so when I saw the trailer to this game it immediately caught my attention. This game is obviously inspired by the classic HoMM series but relies on trends that run counter intuitive to what you might expect in a HoMM game. I hope to help those struggling with this mode with some actionable hints and tips.

General Hints and Tips

1. The most important difference in my mind between Hero's Hour(HH) and Hero's of Might and Magic(HoMM) is how unit tiers tend to scale inversely to general power. Specifically, in terms of raw attribute distribution, in HH, lower tier units tend to be more gold efficient than their higher tier counterparts. This is opposite to how HoMM generally worked(barring hero abilities/spells/items, 5k gold worth of Titans, a T7 unit, would wreck 5k gold worth of Gremlins, a T1 unit). In HoMM, it was expected that high tier units be more cost efficient due to the initial cost of developing a settlement to access them. In HH, 5k golds worth of skeletons will destroy 5k golds worth of Bonewyrms.
Examples from HH:
Notes:
-"Power" as a stat from what I can tell is an internal variable by which the AI calculates relative strength amongst armies, and may help them determine if/when they will attack on the campaign map, but has no direct influence during combat. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
-Bolded and Underlined values means better gold cost efficiency(not power efficiency) for the comparison
-Abilities not taken into account, generally skews calculations in favor of low tier units
-Non-gold costs not taken into account, generally skews calculations in favor of high tier units

Nature's Wrath Low Tier Unit:
Excavator: 2 power/38 health/6 damage/4 speed
Cost: 75g
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.027/.51/.08/.053

Nature's Wrath High Tier Unit:
Hollow Champion: 16 power/237 Health/20 damage/12 speed
Cost: 1555g
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.01/.15/.12/.008

Order Low Tier Unit:
Militia: 2 power/35 Health/6 damage/5 speed
Cost: 100g
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.02/.35/.06/.05

Order High Tier Unit:
Gryphon: 28 power/230 Health/19 damage/20 speed
Cost: 2900g, 1 Crystal
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.01/.08/.007/.007

Horde Low Tier Unit:
Goblin: 2 power/35 Health/4 damage/6 speed
Cost: 100g
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.02/.35/.04/.06

Horde High Tier Unit:
Cyclops: 26 power/231 Health/19 damage/10 speed
Cost: 2495g, 2 Mercury
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.01/.093/.008/.004

Tide Low Tier Unit:
Spawnling: 2 power/35 Health/5 damage/8 speed
Cost: 100g
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.02/.35/.05/.08

Tide High Tier Unit:
Vulcanwing: 26 power/154 Health/15 damage/17 speed
Cost: 2495g, 2 Sulfur
Gold Efficiency per stat:
.01/.062/.006/.007

I haven't played enough to definitively say that high tier units are generally bad, especially when commander-sourced spells come into play, as a large mass of low tier units will take much more damage from AoE direct damage spells during the campaign than a few high tier units, however neither the player nor AI have access to these spells during skirmish mode. All in all, what I'm trying to communicate is that the bulk of your army should be comprised of lower tier units just due to the sheer amount of stats they bring to the table.

2.High tier units can be useful if they give an aura or cast spells, especially if you have enough lower tier units to tank/get value from the aura. But you generally never need more than 1-2 of them. Standouts in the skirmish mode that can be used include the Shah, Wise, and Arbiter.

3. There's a handful of abilities that are overtuned/not correctly adjusted for their cost in terms of gold. I've found great success with flying(the execution from dropping units is surprisingly good and the dodging AI makes a mockery of melee), burning(as long as the battles last longer than 15 seconds/burning procs all resolve), and Leech Life(was OP in HoMM too).

4. In contrast, the stats that I find to be undertuned/not optimal in skirmish, are Ethereal, Immortal(Very good in campaign, but bad in skirmish, 30 seconds is just too long), Warding/Inert(access to spells limited in skirmish), Aquatic(You can guess why by now).

5. When fighting against enemy that are slow(specifically the zombies) and you have a ranged advantage, let the enemy come to you first by using the defend button in the bottom right. This allows your ranged units to get free damage while they move. Once their melee engages you, you can swap back to the attack option.

6. Spirited Fire is OP, quite possibly the strongest unit in the game at the moment. It doesn't make any sense to be flying and that tanky for such a low cost. Their normal auto attack damage is mediocre, but their passives(burning and explosion) allows them to be high damage dealers as well. I would either increase their gold cost by a good 30% or decrease their hit points by that amount. Use them when possible.

Step-by-Step Guide

Format: Skirmish Level - Unit(Number of units)

1 - Carver(10)
2 - Jellykiller(3), Blastmaster(2)
3 - Pyrebeast(7), Flame Stoker(1)
4 - Disciple(12), Tricrow(9)
5 - Spirited Fire(11)
6 - Stone Watcher(26)
7 - Disciple(18), Sneagle(7)
8 - Leech(24), Swamp Arrows(7)
9 - Voodoo(18), Equine Guard(8)
10 - Worm(30), Swamp Arrow(1)
11 - Blight Stinger(21)
12 - Automaton(30)
13 - Shah(1), Sand Devil(18)
14 - Spirited Fire(22)
15 - Bloodsucker(90)
16 - Spirit Serpent(1), Mutant Trogs(29)
17 - Goblin Guard(40), Gargoyle(10), Djinn(1)
Note: Relies a bit on Djinn Spellcasting RNG, specifically getting good buff coverage via the Fortune buff - may take a few tries.
18 - Deadeye(20), Forest Spirit(49)
19 - Automaton(12), Djinn(2)
Note: The most difficult mission currently IMO. Relies on Djinn Spellcasting RNG, - it has to be proc'd early and needs to have good coverage. It also relies on enemy Golden Buck Midas procs being low. Updated based on comment input. Let me know if anyone's found a more consistent way of beating this.
20 - Spirited Fire(31)
21 - Archer(24), Wildspeaker(5)
22 - Spirited Fire(39)
23 - Flame Stoker(34), Canine(18), Shah(1)
24 - Spirited Fire(56)
25 - Wise(2), Trogs(45)
Note: Relies a bit on Wise Spellcasting RNG, specifically getting good value from Evolve(Wise Spell) on Trogs. Might take a few tries.
26 - Hierophant(1), Carver(28), Lizarcher(17), Lizgennaire(13)
27 - Marksman(44), Swordsman(28)
28 - Harpooneer(15), Mutant Trogs(41)
29 - Bearguard(29), Seastars(58), Stingers(5), Seamare(1)
Note: Seastars need to get access to the enemy hillkeepers and deadeyes - good positioning generally should make this strategy consistent.
30 - Aspect of Shadow(4), Wildkind(20), Flamestoker(188), Voodoo(46)
Note: Actually pretty easy, as long as you have plenty of Flamestokers you can get away with any composition

Closing Statements

Thank you for reading. I will be looking to update this guide for at least a few more months and will likely post a campaign related guide sometime in the future. This is a very early draft with sub-6 hours worth of play time worth of experience behind it. Feedback is very welcome.

[Shucky]

This isnt valid anymore 03/08/24

[Werebuns]

Must have changed something then because all Goblin Guard ain't doing it now and all the other suggestions do not work for Skirmish 17.

[T-900]

@cmz.enu
I did 17 with all goblin guard.

[T-900]

28 and 29 seem to be beyond hard. Only two I can't complete.
This guide don't work for version 2.6.3
Can't get any those two to work.

Any suqqestions?

[Spewie]

I'm seeing a much different lineup...
EG #17 is "Alliance of the Frontier with:
21 Harpy
7 Ranger
6 Deadeye
25 Hillkeeper
And my choices for units are undead...

[cmz.neu]

Can't freaking do 17!!! They must have changed something in the updates because i'm short 4 units with every recommended composition here!
Also can't do 30 but extremely close with full spirited fires(fire elementals) ... btw idk what a "Flame Stoker" is but i don't have those(i have he expansion and everything)
It's so frustrating because I did all the other with max 5 tries on just a couple

[LegioNemesis]

For 19, use 0,22,33,0,2,1 start, sending the 2 sultans to mess with enemy blasters, could use goblin gunners instead so I wouldn't keep fearing dragon away but just go defensive when it runs away and back to offensive when it's coming back to attack

[Jack]

goblin *

[Jack]

17 can be done with 12 golem and 21 gremlin gunner, just make sure they are somewhat close together.

[Lucas_R]

outdated sadly but propably worked earlier