Olden Era Grove Guide — Focus, Elemental Spirits, Heroes, Build Order and Laws

Grove is the faction of a few strong stacks instead of many weak ones, and the game says so in its description:

"Each of the Murmurwoods' elemental spirits is a unique powerhouse, supported by equally strong — and expensive — rangers and druids."

Four of the seven lines are Embodiments — spirits of Earth, Water, Air and Fire — that leave no corpse, shrug off their own element's spells and, once a battle, Awaken into a faster, tougher version of themselves. The other three are the rangers and druids: a shooter at tier 1, a flyer at tier 2 that drinks the enemy hero's mana, and a Long Reach caster at tier 5. The Faun and the Hoplet are the dearest tier‑1 and tier‑2 creatures in the game, so Grove lives on its economy and on winning fights without losses.

This guide covers the current build (game build 26428102, 4 November 2026: the 0.82.06 update of 29 October, which Unfrozen say gave Grove "the biggest adjustments compared to other factions": new abilities on most upgrades, a point of growth on Fauns and Hoplets, and new dwelling and law prices, and the two hotfixes after it, which put the Resource Riches laws back to their old prices). Numbers are the game's, from the Grove faction page; the sources are listed at the end. Grove's live standing is on the tier list and the faction stats.

The faction skill: Murmuring, and what Focus is

Murmuring is the shortest faction skill in the game: "Generates 1 Focus Charge(s) at the start of every battle." Advanced makes it 2, Expert 3.

That matters because Grove's creature abilities run on Focus. Creatures generate Focus Points during a fight (the Mist Qilin's Cloud Nine makes 2 a round — it was the Thunder Qilin's before 0.82.06; the Dawn Hoplet's Morning Dew makes a Charge outright), the points fill Focus Charges up to a limit, and the Charges are spent on abilities — every Awaken, the Herbomancer's Swarm of Bees and Shroomsong, the Energy Phoenix's Supernova, and since this patch even the Fauns' Outsider Eradication. Starting every battle with three Charges means Grove can Awaken its best stack on round one while other factions are still saving up. The Sanctuary law cuts the Charge cost of the four spirits' abilities by one; the Focus law adds a Charge a round. (Elite Mancers used to cut the Herbomancers' costs too; since 0.82.06 it does something else, below.)

The perks: at Advanced, Life Essence ("Focus Charge limit increases by 1") for armies that generate a lot, or Child of the Woods (+20 maximum mana) for Druids. At Expert, Strong Connection — "every Focus Charge spent by friendly creatures or the hero increases all hero attributes by 2 until the end of the round" — turns every Awaken into a hero buff; Just One More Time cuts a round from every spell cooldown per Charge spent, for the Druid who casts Chain Lightning.

The roster, tier by tier

Prices are for the base creature. The 0.82.06 update raised the Faun and the Naiad, cut the Hoplet, Herbomancer, Qilin and Phoenix, and left the Iriyad alone.

Tier 1: Faun

A 125-gold shooter at growth 14 — still the most expensive tier‑1 in the game and the only one that shoots from day one; 0.82.06 added a point of growth, a point of Defense (now 4) and ten gold to the price. Parry means its counterattack lands first, and the whole line now has an active, Outsider Eradication: "Performs an attack, which deals +30% Damage." It costs a Focus Charge, which makes the Faun stack a Focus spender from the first fight. The Faun Archer gains Sharpshooter ("Ranged attacks deal full Ranged Damage at any range"), which is the whole point: Grove clears week 1 from a distance. The Faun Warrior (Attack and Defense 6, 4–6 damage, Initiative 6) is the melee alternative and keeps Nature's Fury — "Deals +2 Damage and increases Speed by 2 until the end of the round" — beside the new active. Archer, every time; the Elite Fauns law now adds growth and a second counterattack rather than melee damage, which is the Warrior's case if you want one.

Tier 2: Hoplet

Flying, 18 HP, 4–6 damage (the top end was 8 before 0.82.06, and the price fell from 185 to 170 gold), and Leeching Hop: "Takes [ 2 + 1 per 6 units in the stack ] mana from enemy hero. The mana is transferred to this creature's hero (if present)." Against a caster that is a spell denied and a spell gained. The Dawn Hoplet (Initiative 8) gives up the leech for Morning Dew, a free Focus Charge once a battle, Swift Strike ("Enemies do not counterattack") and, new this patch, Whirlwind Strike — "Deals Damage to all adjacent enemies"; its Attack came down from 9 to 6 to pay for it. The Dusk Hoplet (Attack and Defense 8, Speed 7) keeps the leech and adds Bloom (+2 Spell Power for the round) and Magic Core (+1 Spell Power to the hero when it dies). The Elite Hoplets law makes them always deal maximum damage.

Tier 3: Vine Iriyad

The Earth spirit: 40 HP and Defense 12 at tier 3 (45 and 11 before 0.82.06, with Attack cut from 6 to 4), Area Strike, and Awaken: Earth — "This creature gains 2 Speed and Initiative, 10 HP, and unlimited counterattacks. Once per battle; lasts until the end of battle." It is slow (Initiative 3, Speed 3) and dear for its stats, but it is the stack the enemy has to walk through. The Fungal Iriyad has Living Cover — "Adjacent friendly creatures always take minimal Damage" — Unrelenting Stone (its Attack becomes extra Defense, since this patch "until the end of the next round") and leaves a stone obstacle when it dies; park the Faun Archers beside it. The Crystal Iriyad (Speed 5) kills a unit from every stack that attacks it in melee (Crystal Thorns, up to tier 5) and can taunt everything within two hexes (Earthshatter), which now also holds until the end of the next round.

Tier 4: Naiad

The Water spirit: a teleporting shooter (Blink) with 50 HP now (40 before 0.82.06) and Speed 4, whose Awaken: Water adds "the ability to perform Ranged attacks even if there is an adjacent enemy". The patch pulled the two upgrades apart. The Vernal Naiad is the attacker — Attack 16 in the files (20 in the patch notes; the site shows the files), 12–15 damage — with Rivulet Retreat, a 4‑hex blink out of trouble, and a new Whirlpool: "Targets a hex. Pulls all the stacks on up to two hexes away in every direction towards the target if possible" — a Fireball set up by a tier‑4. The Brumal Naiad is the controller — Defense 18, Initiative 7 — with Icy Veins ("Attacks prevent the target from restoring HP by any means until the end of the round"), Ice Vise (Confuses the target: −2 Speed and Initiative for three rounds, the job the old Whirlpool did) and Hypothermia: "Enemy hero's Attack, Defense, Spell Power and Knowledge are reduced by 2 until the end of round." Against Necropolis's Vampires and Liches, the Brumal Naiad's anti-heal is the matchup; against neutrals, the Vernal's damage and escape save stacks.

Tier 5: Herbomancer

The druid, 600 gold now instead of 640: Long Reach, Mushroom Magic (your hero's spells cost 1 less mana), Shroomsong (spend every Focus Charge to restore 4 mana each, once a battle) and Swarm of Bees, a stacking damage-over-time. The 0.82.06 update split the upgrades by job. The Sporemancer (a flat 18 damage, Initiative 7, Speed 6) is the damage one: its bees became Bees Invasion, which "Deals [ 16 + 4 × amount of units ] Damage to all enemy creatures adjacent to the target hex" and keeps biting every turn for three rounds, and its Mushroom Magic cuts spell costs by 3. It lost Protective Roots. The Murmurmancer gained them — "Target friendly creature becomes immune to Magic Damage. Duration: 1 round(s)." — beside Power of Murmurs ("Increases the level of the hero's battle spells by 1"), Echoes of the Murmurwoods ("Allows the hero to use the Spellbook again this round") and a Shroomsong worth 6 mana a Charge; it is now the slow one (Initiative 5, Speed 4). With a Druid casting Chain Lightning, the Murmurmancer is a second cast at a higher level every round and the immunity bubble; with a Warden, the Sporemancer's area bees are the damage the Long Reach stack was always meant to deal. Elder Tss'kish starts with them.

Tier 6: Qilin

The Air spirit: 120 HP (130 before 0.82.06), 24–29 damage, Attack and Defense 23, immune to lightning spells and to movement restriction (Lightning Fast), and Awaken: Air grants Swift Strike. The patch cut the price to 1,100 gold (1,700 for either upgrade), took away the line's 2 Luck, and swapped the two upgrades' passives. The Thunder Qilin (30–35 damage, Initiative 10, Speed 8) now has Scintillating Scales — "Enemy creatures adjacent to this creature take +30% Magic Damage" — beside Ball Lightning (blink anywhere in range and deal a full attack, "[ 30–35 × amount of units ]", as Magic Damage to everything adjacent to where it lands) and Thunderstrike (Defense into Attack): Fireball and Chain Lightning hit harder on whatever stands next to it. The Mist Qilin (Initiative 9, down from 13) is the Focus and control upgrade: Cloud Nine (2 Focus Points a round from round two), Mist Form — it "never takes more than 1 Damage per hit until the end of the round", in place of the old −35% — Forest Haze ("Target enemy creature is prevented from using Ranged attacks" for a round) and Opportunity Attack, a standing Overwatch on anything that walks or flies away from it. Thunder is still the stack that kills; Mist is the one that feeds the Awakens and shuts a shooter down.

Tier 7: Phoenix

200 HP, 45–65 damage, Attack 31 (28 before 0.82.06), Initiative 14 and Speed 8 — the fastest tier‑7 in the game — with Sweeping Strike and immunity to Fireball, Firewall and Armageddon, for 2,800 gold and a Crystal, 100 gold less than before. The Flaming Phoenix (4,700 gold + 2 Crystals) has 300 HP, Attack 35, Initiative 16, Speed 10, Heatwave (dispels all negatives from friends and all positives from enemies), Immortal — when the stack dies, "[ 1 + 50% of the original units in the stack ] units are revived" at the start of the next round, once per battle — and, new this patch, Flaming Agony: "Upon death, this creature burns in a fire vortex, dealing [ 55 × amount of units ] Magic Damage to all adjacent creatures." All adjacent creatures, friends included, so keep the Herbomancers off it. The Energy Phoenix (250 HP, Defense 34 down from 39, Attack 31 in the files and 30 in the notes) has Eternal Flame (restores 25% of lost HP every turn, reviving) and Supernova, a two-hex burn. Flaming is the standard: a stack that comes back is a stack the enemy has to kill twice, and now it burns everything around it on the way down.

Heroes worth drafting

The might class is the Warden (Attack 2, Defense 1, Spell Power 2, Knowledge 2), the magic class the Druid (Attack 1, Defense 2, Spell Power 2, Knowledge 2). Grove's Wardens are unusual: they start with Spell Power 2, and the faction's best-known might hero is a spell specialist. Every Grove hero's starting army grew with the growth change in 0.82.06: Wardens open with 11–16 Fauns and 7–10 Hoplets, Druids with 9–13 and 6–9, both beside a stack of Iriyads.

Starts with Masterful Fireball — "this version of the spell hits a bigger area" — and Murmuring already at Advanced, with no second skill to dilute the level-ups. Fireball deals [50 + 10 × Spell Power] to everything in the area, and his effective Spell Power rises by 1 every two levels when he casts it. The consensus Grove pick, because an area spell on turn one is how Grove's expensive stacks avoid taking damage at all.

Starts with 3–4 Herbomancers beside 9–13 Fauns, and Oldest Known Tree grows and buffs Herbomancers: +1 growth, +1 Speed and Initiative, +20% HP, and +1 Attack and Defense every five levels (every three before 0.82.06). Thaumaturgy lets him cast twice a round from two schools, and the Murmurmancer's Echoes makes it three. The caster Grove.

Masterful Chain Lightning, which "loses half as much Damage when jumping between targets". Chain Lightning is [100 + 20 × Spell Power] on the first target and jumps; a top-tier pick for it, though the spell needs timing — cast it when the enemy has bunched to reach your Iriyad screen, or when a Vernal Naiad's Whirlpool has bunched them for you.

Shooter: +10% basic-attack damage, more every four levels, and extra Ranged damage. Three of Grove's lines shoot; he makes all of them hit harder.

Charming Shine: +1 Crystal a day, another every five levels, and double Crystals on the map. Grove's dwellings need 17 Crystals in week 1 and the Pyre 10 more; on a map with no Crystal cave she is the Phoenix.

Wandering Musician: from round two, "+2 Focus Point(s), plus another +1 for every 3 hero level(s)" each round, and the enemy loses the same. The Focus engine for an army of Awakens. Since 0.82.06 his second skill is Battle Magic instead of Sorcery, which for a Druid is a fair trade — see the skills section.

Three stacks of 9–13 Fauns and Faunsong (Faun growth +1, +1 Speed and Initiative, +20% HP, and +1 Attack and Defense every five levels). The cheapest Grove clearing start.

Her Avatar is immune to Magic Damage, and it is a free stack to take the neutrals' first charge instead of a 220-gold Iriyad.

The first week

Grove's resource is Crystals, and the first week is the most Crystal-hungry of any faction: the Hop Patch needs 2, the Menhir Circle 3, the Blooming Pond 4, the Shroomwood Shack 3 and the Thunder Lair 5 — 17 Crystals. The Pyre needs 10 more and every Phoenix one. Grove and Hive are the factions most sensitive to map luck, because Crystal Caves are hard to find and capture, which is why the route below builds the Marketplace early — one Crystal trades for 8 Wood, 8 Ore or 2,000 gold. It opens with the upgrade nearly every Grove player makes first:

Why the Faun Archers come first. Fauns are Grove's week‑1 army and they already shoot, but only the Faun Archer deals full damage at any range: upgrading the stack before the first fight is what lets Grove clear from a distance without losses. Every dwelling upgrade costs Alchemical Dust as well as gold, and the map gives little of it — 8 to 12 a pile, 20 to 40 from an Alchemical Storage once a week — so the upgrades go in this order:

• Fauns to Faun Archers (Faun Huts II, 10 Dust), on day 1. Faun Warriors are the later-game alternative for a melee build; Archers carry week 1.
• Hoplets (Hop Patch II: 2,250 gold, 5 Wood, 2 Crystals, 20 Dust), with the next 20 Dust: Dusk Hoplets for a magic hero, Dawn Hoplets for a might hero.
• Iriyads (Menhir Circle II: 1,500 gold, 5 Ore, 3 Crystals, 30 Dust), in week 2: Fungal for the Living Cover screen.

The route is cheap in gold — 0.82.06 added 500 gold each to Faun Huts II and the Blooming Pond and left the rest of it alone — but it leaves Grove Palace III and the Thunder Lair (5,500 gold, 5 Wood, 5 Ore, 5 Crystals, for Qilins) to days 8 and 9, once the Crystals are secured. Capture the Crystal cave the day you find it, before any other mine.

On the map: Faun Archers behind Iriyads, Hoplets on the enemy hero's mana. Grove is the most accessible faction, because ranged units at several tiers mean early fights cost fewer troops; the price is that a fast melee rush can break its ranged-heavy formation, so the Iriyads and their Living Cover are not optional. Fight in your own zone where you can: the Veiled by the Trees law gives +1, +2 then +3 Attack and Defense "when battling in the area you control".

Laws, in priority order

Full text on the laws page. Grove's growth laws are cheap at the top level — Elite Fauns, Hoplets, Iriyads, Naiads, Mancers, Qilins and Phoenixes each cost 3, then 2, then 1 Seal — so a Grove army that stays on one plan gets its elite laws maxed sooner than anyone else's. The 0.82.06 update re-priced Resource Riches to 2/3/4 (back to 1/2/3 since the 0.82.08 hotfix), Forest Magic to 3/3, Focus to 2 and Live roots to 5, halved Veiled by the Trees, and rewrote Elite Fauns, Elite Mancers and Elite Qilins.

From the start (0 points).

• Tax Collectors (3): 500 gold a day in one level — Grove's is a single purchase where others' come in two or three.
• Elite Fauns (3/2/1): "Faun growth in your cities increases by 2", then +4, then +6, and at every level the Fauns counterattack twice, "once before the enemy's attack and once after" — Parry and then a normal counter. More Archers every week, and the Warrior's reason to exist.
• Elite Hoplets (3/2/1): growth and "they always deal maximum Damage".
• Knowledge is Power (2/2/2): +1, +2, +3 Knowledge for a Druid.
• Resource Riches I (1): 2,500 gold, 5 Wood and 5 Ore once — on day 1 it is the Menhir Circle a day early.

At 5 points.

• Mining: Crystals (2/2): 1 then 2 Crystals a day — on most maps the second law Grove takes.
• Clear Sky (1): 250 Astrology Points a day, cheap, for Second Wind.
• Veiled by the Trees (2/2/2), above — +1, +2, +3 Attack and Defense since 0.82.06, half what it was.
• Elite Iriyads (3/2/1): +5, +10, +15 HP.
• Folk Heroes (4): heroes cost 40% less, Classic only.
• Nature's Wildness (2/2) for a Luck build.

At 15 points.

• Elite Naiads (3/2/1): "They gain 1 Speed and Initiative", to 3 — the slow shooters stop being slow.
• Nature's Resolve (3): negative effects last one round less.
• Forest Magic (3/3, down from 4/4): every Mage Guild level unlocks +1 then +2 spells in the Observatory, for Druids.
• Save the Forests (2/2) if Wood is short.
• Woodland Resistance (4): "Enemies can't see detailed information about your armies" — a PvP law that denies the opponent's planning.
• Resource Riches II (2): 5,000 gold, 10 Wood and 10 Ore once.

At 30 points.

• Elite Mancers (3/2/1): Herbomancer growth +1, +2, +3 and, rewritten in 0.82.06, "Using their abilities does not end their turn" — Bees Invasion and then a Long Reach attack in the same turn, or Echoes and then an attack.
• Elite Qilins (3/2/1): "They gain 3 Attack and Defense", then 6, then 9, instead of the old +3/+6/+9 damage.
• Natural Serenity (4): all the hero's battle spell cooldowns −1 round.
• Fertile Ground (4/4): external dwellings +100% then +200% growth, for templates where you hold dwellings.
• Luck of the Fittest (2/2/2) for the Luck build.
• Live roots (5, down from 6): "Enemy heroes can't flee or surrender."

At 50 points.

• Sanctuary (5): "The abilities of your Vine Iriyads, Naiads, Qilins and Phoenixes cost –1 Focus Charge(s)" — every Awaken is cheaper.
• Focus (2, down from 3): "Each round of battle, you generate 1 Focus Charge(s)."
• Fairy Tale (5): Fauns, Hoplets and Herbomancers +2 Speed and Initiative.
• Elite Phoenixes (3/2/1): maximum damage +10, +15, +20.
• Resource Riches III (3): 7,500 gold, 15 Wood and 15 Ore once.

Skills and spells

Wardens: Offense, Defense, Tactics (the Iriyad screen has to be in place before the enemy's first move), Leadership, Luck — Grove has two Luck laws and the Infiltrator-like Hoplets want it. Druids: Primal Magic is the school — Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Armageddon (Phoenixes are immune to it) — then Sorcery (+20% Magic Damage, 25% and 30% at the higher ranks), Thaumaturgy and Battle Magic, which 0.82.06 turned into a trade: friendly creatures gain 20/30/40% of the hero's Spell Power and Knowledge as Attack and Defense "but decrease by 20% of the hero's Attack and Defense" (30% and 40% at the higher ranks) — a gain for a Druid, a loss for a Warden. The Herbomancer's Mushroom Magic and Hoplets' leech mean a Grove Druid rarely runs dry. The new First Aid — "After winning a battle, surviving friendly stacks revive 20% of the units lost during that battle", 30% and 40% at the higher ranks — is worth a slot on either class, because a Faun revived is 125 gold not spent, and Unfrozen's own reason for buffing Grove's start was that losing even a single unit early could "lead to extremely negative consequences".

Spells to buy: Haste and Blessing at level I for the Qilins; Fireball if the hero did not bring it; Carapace (Arcane) on the Phoenix before it charges; Early Start on the Naiads.

Fighting with Grove

Against neutrals. Iriyads in front, Archers and Naiads behind, Hoplets on the flank. Awaken the Iriyad before the first charge reaches it — unlimited counterattacks against a melee wave is most of the fight — and Awaken the Naiads when something gets adjacent to them. Spend the Fauns' Outsider Eradication on the stack that would otherwise reach the line. Never take a fight that costs a Qilin; at 1,100 gold and growth 2 it is a week of recruitment.

Against players. Grove wins when the fight starts at its range. Turn one: Fireball or Chain Lightning on the cluster, Awaken the Qilin and Ball Lightning into the enemy's shooters, Hoplets leech the enemy hero's mana before their first big cast; a Mist Qilin's Forest Haze silences their best shooter for the round and a Brumal Naiad's Hypothermia takes 2 off every stat of their hero. Heatwave from the Flaming Phoenix strips the enemy's Haste and Blessing the round after they cast them. Against Hive's hornets, Fungal Iriyad's Living Cover beside the Archers; against Necropolis, Brumal Naiads on the Vampires; against Temple, Heatwave the Angel's copied buffs.

Matchups. Grove's record against each faction, by template and rating bracket, is on the Classic faction stats and Single Hero faction stats.

Common mistakes

1. Building Grove Palace III before the Crystal supply is solved. Income is useless if the Thunder Lair cannot be built.
2. Leaving the Archers unscreened. One melee stack reaching them is the week's growth gone.
3. Saving Focus Charges. Murmuring gives three at the start of every fight; an Awaken on round one is worth more than three on round four.
4. Taking the Faun Warrior. Grove's edge is range; the Warrior gives it up for a melee unit that costs the same 170 gold as the Archer.
5. Buying Vine Iriyads as damage. They are the wall and the Living Cover; the damage is behind them.
6. Fighting outside your zone when you could fight inside it. Veiled by the Trees is up to +3 Attack and Defense for free.

Where this comes from

Numbers and ability text are from the game files for build 26428102 (4 November 2026, the 0.82.08 hotfix), as published in the game database and on the Grove page; Unfrozen's 0.82.06 patch notes supplied the reasoning behind the Grove changes and the Blooming Pond's dropped Mage Guild requirement, and where the notes and the files disagree this guide follows the files. The strategy draws on KeenGamer's faction tier list, week‑1 build-order and best-heroes guides (May 2026), GGGuides' faction guide, Games Horizon's guide to the best Grove upgrades, the Patch #13 notes, and the Steam community's Grove threads. Grove's standing is on the tier list, recomputed every day.

Related: Which faction should you play? · How the ranked ladder works · Glossary