Olden Era Hive Guide — Summon Swarm, Hivemind, Hornet Tempo, Heroes, Build Order and Laws

Hive is the faction that wants the fight over before the opponent's plan starts. The game's description:

"Bent on conquering Jadame, Beelzebub's Order of the Fly is a faction driven by swift and aggressive tactics. Their strength lies in the single‑minded determination of their ranks, exploiting the diversity of their opponents to strike with precision and speed."

Three mechanics make that true. Speed: the Stinger is the only creature below tier 6 with Speed 10, and the Waurms teleport. Hivemind: every upgraded Hive creature gets +1 Attack or +1 Defense for each other kind of Hive creature in the army, so a full roster of eight lines is a buffed roster. Summon Swarm: the hero's own ability lays eggs that hatch into Fire Larvae, which exist to explode. Hive opened this season with the best Classic win rate of any faction while sitting only fifth in picks — the signature of a faction strong players pick on purpose.

This guide covers the current build (game build 26428102, 4 November 2026: the 0.82.06 update of 29 October, which re-priced every Hive creature and dwelling, halved the Fire Larvae's explosions, turned the Volcanic Scorpion into a support stack and rewrote every Elite law, and the two hotfixes after it, which put the Resource Riches laws back to their old prices). Numbers are the game's, from the Hive faction page; the sources are listed at the end. Hive's standing today is on the tier list and the Classic faction stats.

The faction skill: Summon Swarm

Summon Swarm is a battle ability rather than a passive: the hero lays a clutch of eggs on the battlefield, and it hatches into Fire Larvae, the roster's eighth creature. The data in this build still leaves the skill's own text blank (its template describes eggs laid once per round that hatch at the start of the next), but its perks and the Larva's abilities describe it exactly:

• The Fire Larva has 20 HP, 4 damage and Unstable Concoction: "Upon death, this creature explodes dealing [ 10 × (hero’s Level – 1) ] Magic Damage to all adjacent creatures." Its actives are Blow Up (self-destruct for 15 × (hero's Level – 1)) and Fiery Embrace, which "Jumps onto a target within two hexes and self‑destructs" for the same. The 0.82.06 update halved the active explosion from 30 and cut the death explosion from 15 to 10, raised the Larva's HP from 16 to 20, and gave it Castes: "Gains a bonus depending on its hero’s class: • If in the army of a Might hero, deals +50% Damage with basic attacks. • If in the army of a Magic hero, deals +50% Damage when exploding." The damage scales with the hero's level, not the stack's size — and now with the hero's class: a Herald's Larvae are the bombs, an Enforcer's are a biting stack.
• Thy Children (Advanced perk): "+1 Fire Larvae spawned for every hero level." Hive Power, Advanced too since 0.82.06 and rewritten: "Reduces the cost of the “Premature Emergence” ability by –1" — Premature Emergence being the hero's own ability that "Immediately hatches the target clutch of eggs". Warmth of the Nest: Hive creatures deal +10% and take –10% damage on native terrain.
• Hardened Shells (Expert): "The clutch of eggs can withstand +1 hit(s)" — the eggs can be killed before they hatch, and this is the answer. Hive Flame: the Larvae last one round longer. Ravage, moved up to Expert by the patch: "Fire Larvae deal +1 Damage."

Patch #11 (July 2026) refocused the skill on the explosions, and since then it has needed Focus Charges, good timing and a proper setup to work; 0.82.06 halved the explosions and made the hero's class decide what the Larvae are for. Under a Herald, Castes puts the +50% back on the blast: the eggs are a Focus ability, land them where the enemy must stand, and Blow Up the Larvae next to the stack you want dead. Under an Enforcer, hatch them to block and bite. The three Hive Offsprings laws: +50% damage on death, then a provoke that since the patch lasts only "until the end of the round in which they were summoned", then they attack twice.

Hivemind

Every Hive upgrade carries one of two passives. The main upgrades carry Hivemind: Nest Protector — "At the start of battle, for each other unique Hive creature in the army, this creature's Defense increases by 1. Upon death, this creature generates 2 Focus Point(s)." The alternative upgrades carry Hivemind: Vanguard — the same count as Attack, and 2 Focus Points "whenever this creature kills an enemy". With all seven lines fielded that is +6 to every upgraded stack, which is why Hive does not leave a line at home the way Grove or Temple might, and why mixing neutral creatures in costs more here than the Morale penalty.

The roster, tier by tier

Prices are for the base creature, and the 0.82.06 update moved every one of them: Hornets down to 220 gold, Waurms down to 1,100, Hive Queens up to 2,300.

Tier 1: Parasite

85 gold, growth 22, 10 HP (7 before 0.82.06), and — unusual for a tier‑1 — Long Reach, so it attacks from two hexes without a shooter's penalty, with Topple the Strong! ("The higher the target’s tier, the more Damage this creature deals to it: +3% Damage per tier of difference"). The Warden Parasite (12 HP, Nest Protector) is the screen, and the patch gave it an active, Strike and Return — "This creature will return to its original position after attacking." — at the price of its Defense, down from 6 to 3; the Ravager Parasite (Attack 5, Initiative 6, Speed 5, Vanguard, and Topple the Strong! at +6% per tier) is the damage. Patch #13 moved Hive's power away from Parasites, and in PvP they are a cheap blocker: Wardens, in front of the Reavers, stepping in to hit and stepping back. For clearing the map in week 1, the faster Ravagers do more.

Tier 2: Locust

135 gold, 15 HP, Double Strike, and Harvest: "Jumps onto a chosen corpse within 3 hexes and devours it, gaining 2 Attack and Defense, 1 Speed and Initiative until the end of the battle." The Harvester Locust (Attack 7, Defense 6, Initiative 7, Speed 7, Vanguard) harvests from 6 hexes for +4; the Overgrown Locust (18 HP, Parry, Nest Protector) loses Harvest. The Harvester grows through a fight, and a fight with Fire Larvae in it leaves plenty of corpses.

Tier 3: Hornet

20 HP, Defense 9, 2–12 damage, Initiative 9, Speed 7, flying, and 220 gold since 0.82.06 (255 before) — the stack that reaches the enemy's shooters on round one, now with a damage roll that runs from almost nothing to 12. The patch swapped the two upgrades' characters. The Stinger (Speed 10, Initiative 9, Vanguard) is the reach, and has Piercing Sting: each attack kills one extra unit on top of its damage, on creatures up to tier 6. The Chanter (24 HP, Initiative 11, Speed 8, Nest Protector) acts first now instead of last, and its Whispers of Doubt — "Attacks cause the target to always deal minimal Damage. Duration: 2 round(s)." — is the answer to a stack whose own roll is as wide as the Hornets'. The Stinger is still the upgrade most ladder armies take, for the kills and the reach; the Chanter is no longer the afterthought. The Elite Hornets law (+2 growth, and since the patch +2 then +4 to the Hornets' minimum damage instead of Initiative) is still the first law Hive takes: it takes the bottom out of that 2–12 roll.

Tier 4: Scorpion

40 HP, Attack 13, Defense 15, 10–14 damage, and three Adaptation actives — "+20% Damage", "Takes –20% Damage" or "Gains 2 Speed" until the end of the round, each on a three-round cooldown. Patch #13 moved power toward Scorpions; 0.82.06 split the two upgrades into two jobs. The Volcanic Scorpion (50 HP in the files, 45 in the patch notes; Initiative 8, Speed 5, Nest Protector) is the support stack now: its actives became Hive Adaptation: Attack, Hive Adaptation: Defense and Hive Adaptation: Speed, which buff the whole army at half strength — "Increases Damage dealt by all friendly creatures by 10% until the end of the round", "Reduces Damage taken by all friendly creatures by 10%", "Increases Speed of all friendly creatures by 1". The Spelaean Scorpion (40 HP, 12–16 damage, Initiative 7, Speed 5, Morale 2, Luck 2, Vanguard, its own Adaptations at 30% and +3) is the fighter. Volcanic is the pick: a Hive army that takes 10% less in the round the Hornets dive is the whole plan made safer, and the Elite Scorpions law now shortens the cooldown.

Tier 5: Reaver

45 HP, Attack 21 (18 before 0.82.06), Defense 12, 10–40 damage, Initiative 11, Speed 7, 740 gold — the swingiest unit in the game, with Apex Predator (+50% damage to higher-tier targets; to "targets of the same tier or higher" on both upgrades) and Rapid Assault, a melee attack that draws no counterattack. The patch also took away every Reaver's innate Morale (1, 3 and 2 before; 0 on all three now), so the extra turns come from Goldentongue, Leadership and the Elite Reavers law. The Menacing Reaver (Defense 12, down from 18; 20–40 damage; Initiative 12, Speed 8) lost Rapid Assault and no longer needs it: Swift Strike — "Enemies do not counterattack." — is a passive on every attack, beside Unholy Resilience ("Once per battle, this creature plainly refuses to die") and Terror (lower-tier enemies cannot attack it until the end of the round). The Maniacal Reaver (10–40 damage, Initiative 11, Speed 7) keeps Rapid Assault and has Murderous Glee ("Upon killing an enemy, this creature immediately gains an additional turn") and Beelzebub's Blessing (maximum Morale and Luck for the round). Maniacal Reavers clear neutrals in chains of kills; Menacing Reavers hit for the same top damage without ever taking a counter, and once refuse to die.

Tier 6: Waurms

120 HP, Attack and Defense 20, 20–24 damage, Speed 8, Luck 2, 1,100 gold, teleporting (Blink), Corpse Eater ("If destination hex contains a fallen corpse, it is devoured, restoring 100 HP. This can revive fallen units" — 120 before the patch) and Demonic Stench (−1 enemy Luck). The Devourer (24–28 damage, Initiative 8, Speed 10) keeps a 120‑HP Corpse Eater and adds Devour: an enemy stack under 30% of its original units (40% before 0.82.06) "is destroyed immediately". The Pyroboros (Speed 10, Initiative 7) is Hive's only real shooter — Ranged Attack with Area Strike, Duelist (no melee penalty) and Vanguard — and the reason the faction's weakness is having almost no ranged units until tier 6. It no longer eats corpses for HP: the patch replaced its Corpse Eater with Mana Eater, "restoring 6 temporary mana" to the hero for each corpse it lands on, which feeds a Herald's casting and does nothing for an Enforcer. Pyroboros for the shot, unless the army needs the heal more. Zoran starts with two Waurms, and Hive players who beeline for Waurms win maps before upgrading them.

Tier 7: Hive Queen

200 HP, Attack and Defense 30 (25 before 0.82.06), flat 60 damage, 2,300 gold and a Crystal, and Soul Assimilator: bonuses per faction in the enemy army — "Temple: +25% Attack • Necropolis: +25% Defense • Grove: +2 Luck and Morale • Dungeon: +10% Damage • Schism: +20% HP • Neutral: +2 Speed" (the patch notes say the Temple and Necropolis bonuses fell to 20%; the files still say 25%, and the site shows the files). Squash the Weak! adds +3% damage per tier the target is below her, Beelzebub's Agenda gives the hero +25% Magic Damage, and Contaminating Blast is a two-hex Magic Damage burst. The Hive Mother (275 HP, Initiative 13, Nest Protector; 3,800 gold and 2 Crystals) doubles the Blast, shares Blasphemous Adoration with the whole army and has Promise of Love (±4 Speed and Initiative on any target for three rounds). The Hive Huntress (250 HP, Speed 9, Initiative 9, Swift Strike, Vanguard) quadruples Adoration on herself; the patch cut her damage from 70 to the Queen's 60 and doubled her Squash the Weak! to +6% per tier. Mother for the army, Huntress for the duel.

Heroes worth drafting

The might class is the Enforcer (Attack 4 — the highest of any class — Defense 0, Spell Power 2, Knowledge 1), the magic class the Herald (Attack 1, Spell Power 4, Knowledge 2). All 18 are on the faction page. Since 0.82.06 the creature specialists among them add their +1 Attack and Defense every five hero levels, not every three.

Chessmaster: "In the Tactics Phase, he has +1 hex to the creature placement range. Creatures in his army gain 1 Initiative for every 6 hero level(s)." With Expert Tactics that is a five-line placement area plus one, so the Stingers start the fight already next to the enemy's shooters. The standard PvP blitz is built on him: Summon Swarm, Tactics, Logistics, Offense, Leadership, Luck, with Wisdom for Haste and Early Start.

Shooter: "+10% basic attack Damage, plus an additional 1% for every 4 hero level(s)", plus Ranged damage — on the Parasites' Long Reach and the Pyroboros. She starts with the standard three stacks and Favorable Wind, and the "Hornet Swarm" build (Summon Swarm, Offense, Logistics, Tactics, Leadership, Luck) is hers: Early Start, Haste and Blessing on the Hornets, round one.

Primal Weaving: Primal spells +1 level, another +1 every ten levels, and "Enemy hero cannot cast Primal spells." Starts with Fireball. The caster Hive: Chain Lightning across the enemy's line while the Hornets dash, and the enemy Druid or Warlock loses Fireball, Lightning Bolt and Armageddon. Under a Herald the Larvae's Castes bonus is on the explosion, so his eggs are the bombs they were before the patch.

Starts with two Waurms and nothing else; Waurmification grows and buffs them. Two Corpse-Eating teleporters on day 1 (100 HP a corpse now) clear fights nothing else at tier 1–3 can.

Masterful Haste: "This version of the spell affects all friendly creatures." Haste is +2 Speed; on the whole army on round one it is the blitz in one cast. A popular Hive opener on Exodus.

Three stacks of 3–5 Hornets and Stinging: Hornet growth +1, Hornets +1 Speed, +1 Initiative, +20% HP and +1 Attack and Defense every five levels, while enemy Hornets lose the same. Since 0.82.06 she starts with the new First Aid instead of Nightshade Magic — surviving stacks revive 20% of a won battle's losses at Basic rank — which on a start of nothing but 20‑HP Hornets is the difference between a week‑1 army and a week‑1 memory. The Hornet specialist.

Starts with 3–4 Reavers beside his Parasites; Reave Away grows and buffs Reavers.

Rousing Presence (+1 Morale, more trigger chance) on a faction whose damage is extra turns on Reavers and Hornets — and the Reavers' own Morale is 0 since the patch, so he is where it comes from.

+1 Crystal a day and double Crystals on the map — the fix for the faction's resource, below.

The first week

Hive's resource is Crystals: the Apex (Reavers) costs 5,500 gold, 10 Wood and 5 Crystals, the Burning Soul Burrows (Waurms) 6,000 gold, 10 Ore and 5 Crystals, the Tower of Love (Hive Queens) 12,500 gold, 5 Wood, 5 Ore and 15 Crystals, and every Queen costs one (an upgraded Queen two). Week 1 needs no Gems or Mercury at all, only Crystals — Hive and Grove are the two factions a missing Crystal cave hurts most, which is why the Marketplace is in the week below and Bathym exists. The 0.82.06 update re-priced every dwelling in the town (the Apex and the Ziggurat up, the Paper Nest and the Burrows down) and made the Paper Nest require both the Neglected Housing and the Carrion Lair, the two dwellings a standard starting town already has. It opens with the upgrade nearly every Hive player makes first:

Why the Parasites come first. Parasites attack from two hexes, and the upgrade is the cheapest in the town: upgraded, the biggest stack Hive has does real damage from behind the Hornets in the first fights, and the dwelling it opens lets the stack switch between its two forms in town. 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:

• Parasites (Neglected Housing II, 10 Dust), on day 1: Ravagers (Attack 5, Initiative 6, Speed 5) for the clearing week, switched to Wardens in town before a PvP fight to block in front of the Reavers.
• Hornets to Stingers (Paper Nest II: 1,500 gold, 5 Wood, 5 Crystals, 30 Dust; then 80 gold a Hornet), the moment 30 Dust is in hand: the upgrade the whole Hive plan rests on.
• Locusts to Harvesters (Carrion Lair II: 3,250 gold, 20 Dust), in week 2, with the Burning Soul Burrows (6,000 gold, 10 Ore, 5 Crystals) for Waurms.

The PvP version of the same week puts the law Resource Riches I and the Parasite upgrade on days 1–2, the Paper Nest and Elite Parasites on days 3–4, Elite Hornets and Mage Guild I, for Early Start and Haste, on days 5–7, and the Reaver and Scorpion dwellings in week 2, with the army ready for a decisive fight in week 3. Either way, the Mage Guild has to exist before the first PvP fight: Early Start (+3 Initiative) and Haste (+2 Speed) are what put the Hornets on the enemy's back row before anyone acts.

On the map: Hornets dive the stack that is isolated, Parasites poke from two hexes, Locusts eat what dies. Hive's clearing is fast because the Hornets outrun everything; it is expensive because they have 20 HP. Take the fights that end in two rounds and leave the ones that do not — and since 0.82.06, take First Aid on the clearing hero when it is offered: a fifth of the Hornets a won fight cost come back.

Laws, in priority order

Full text on the laws page. Hive has a law nobody else has: Laws of the Hive (1 Seal, then 1): "Requirements for unlocking higher‑level Laws are reduced by 2", then by 4. For two Seals the 5-, 15-, 30- and 50-point tiers open at 1, 11, 26 and 46 points. The 0.82.06 update re-costed the rest of the table: Resource Riches went to 2/3/4 Seals (back to 1/2/3 since the 0.82.08 hotfix), Hive Integration and Hive Reception lost their third level and cost 3 a level, and every Elite creature law was rewritten.

From the start (0 points).

• Laws of the Hive (1/1), first, because it moves everything else forward.
• Resource Riches I (1): 2,500 gold, 5 Wood and 5 Ore on day 1 for the Paper Nest.
• Hive Integration (3/3): "Friendly Hive creatures gain 1 Attack", then 2 — two levels now, not three.
• Hive Reception (3/3): the same for Defense. The PvP build takes both as starting laws; the pair now buys +2 and +2 for the Seals that used to buy +3 and +3, and the text now says what it always did, Hive creatures only.
• Hive Offsprings I (3): Fire Larvae +50% damage on death.
• Focus Reserves (4): "+1 Focus Charge" at the start of every battle, which is a round earlier for the eggs.
• Mana Devour (2/2/2): spells cost –1, –2, then –3 mana, for Heralds.

At 5 points.

• Elite Hornets (3/2): "Hornet growth in your cities increases by 2. Their minimum Damage increases by 2", then 4. The Initiative it used to give is gone; what it does now is make the Hornets' 2–12 roll dependable, which on the stack that has to kill a shooter stack in one pass matters almost as much.
• Elite Locusts (3/2): +4 growth, +1 then +2 Speed.
• Elite Parasites (3/2): +4 growth and +1 then +2 maximum damage (HP before the patch).
• Tax Collectors (2/2/2): 250, 500, then 750 gold a day.
• Mining: Crystals (2/2): 1 then 2 Crystals a day, when the map has no cave.
• Hidden Desires (3): exact neutral numbers within three times your sight — a scouting law for the player who takes only the fights that end quickly.

At 15 points.

• Elite Scorpions (3/2): +2 growth, and "The cooldown of their abilities is reduced by 1 round(s)", then 2 — on a Volcanic Scorpion whose Hive Adaptations now buff the whole army, this is the law that lets it cast them far more often. It replaced the old Morale and Luck bonus.
• Elite Reavers (3/2): +1 growth, +1 Morale and +1 Luck, then +2 and +2 — the Reavers' own Morale is 0 since the patch, so this is where their extra turns come back.
• Elite Waurmos (3/2): +1 growth, +1 then +2 Initiative.
• Ancient Power (3): Primal spells +1 level, for Khariseth.
• Hive Offsprings II (4): "Summoned Fire Larvae provoke adjacent enemies to attack them over other units until the end of the round in which they were summoned" — the taunt that explodes, for one round now; the notes say the permanent provoke drew too many complaints once First Aid existed to do its job.
• Natural Selection (4): external dwellings in areas you control produce upgraded creatures, and since 0.82.06 you choose which upgrade when recruiting in town.
• Resource Riches II (2): 5,000 gold, 10 Wood and 10 Ore, once — most of the Burrows in one law.

At 30 points.

• Great Conquest (2/2/2): "When battling in the area you do not control, friendly creatures gain 1 Attack and Defense", then 2, then 3 — halved from 2/4/6 by the patch, but on every creature in the army again rather than Hive ones only. Still the mirror of Grove's home-ground law, for the faction that fights in the enemy's half.
• Elite Hive Queens (3/2): +1 growth and, rewritten, "They deal +3 Damage, gain 3 Attack and Defense, and 1 Speed and Initiative", then +6 Damage, +6 Attack and Defense and the same +1 — instead of the old damage and HP.
• Prosper and Flourish (4/4) on dwelling-rich templates.

At 50 points.

• Infernal Rage (4/4): +1 then +2 damage to every friendly creature.
• No Compassion (3/3/3): Morale and Luck trigger chance +1%, +2%, +3% per point.
• Hive Offsprings III (5): the Larvae attack twice.
• Evolve, Adapt, Overcome (5/5): upgrades and upgraded recruits cost 10% then 20% less.
• Hive Magic (3/3/3): +10%, +20%, +30% Magic Damage for Heralds.
• Resource Riches III (3): 7,500 gold, 15 Wood and 15 Ore, once.

Skills and spells

Enforcers: Tactics first — placement is the blitz — then Offense (Battle Frenzy is +1 Attack per point of Morale since 0.82.06, down from +2), Logistics, Leadership, Luck, and Wisdom at Basic for Haste and Early Start without a magic school. 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 — belongs on any Hive hero clearing week 1 with Hornets; the patch notes name it as the reason the Larvae's permanent provoke could go. Heralds: Primal Magic (Fireball, Chain Lightning) with Thaumaturgy and Sorcery (+20%, +25%, +30% Magic Damage now; the top two ranks were 30% and 40%); Daylight Magic for Mila's army-wide Haste.

Spells to buy: Haste and Early Start before anything else; Blessing third; Chain Lightning for Khariseth at the Observatory.

Fighting with Hive

Against neutrals. Stingers dive the shooters, the Volcanic Scorpion opens with Hive Adaptation: Defense so the whole army takes 10% less while the neutrals close, Parasites poke, Locusts eat. Eggs where the neutrals will walk; under a Herald, Blow Up the Larvae beside the biggest stack, under an Enforcer let them bite. Two rounds, three at most.

Against players. Hive wins round one or it does not win. The sequence strong Hive players run: Tactics placement as far forward as the hero allows, Early Start on the Stingers, Haste on the army (or Mila's Masterful Haste), eggs between the lines, and the Stingers kill the enemy's shooters and casters before they act. Reavers finish what the Hornets wounded — the Menacing Reaver never takes a counter now; Devourers remove any stack under 30%. The weaknesses are known: Aegis and Ranged Defense passives blunt the opening, a fight that runs past round six belongs to Necropolis's and Schism's sustain, and a hero whose abilities are blocked in round one cannot lay the eggs. Strike fast, or avoid the fights you cannot close in three or four rounds.

Against Temple, dive the Marksmen before the Sun's Aegis is in place and ignore the Inquisitors (immune to the Larvae's Magic Damage); against Dungeon, Promise of Love on the Dancers takes 4 Initiative off them; against Necropolis, kill the Liches first — their revives are the long fight you cannot afford.

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

Common mistakes

1. Engaging before the setup is ready. Without Elite Hornets, Tactics and the Mage Guild, the tempo plan is a plan to lose 20-HP Hornets.
2. Letting a fight run long. Hive has no healer, no revive spell and one shooter; First Aid gives back a share of the losses after the fight, not during it, and by round six the other faction's sustain is winning.
3. Leaving a line at home. Hivemind pays +1 per unique Hive creature; a four-line army is a −3 army.
4. Mixing in neutral creatures. They cost Morale and they do not count for Hivemind.
5. Laying eggs where nothing will stand. The Larvae explode when they die; place the clutch on the enemy's path, not behind your own line — and with Hive Offsprings II the provoke lasts only the round they hatch, so hatch them the round the enemy arrives.
6. Ignoring Crystals until the Apex is due. The Apex and Paper Nest II each want 5 Crystals in week 1, the Burrows 5 more and the Tower of Love 15; the Marketplace, Bathym or Mining: Crystals has to make up what the map does not give.

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 Hive page; where Unfrozen's 0.82.06 patch notes and the files disagree (the Volcanic Scorpion's HP, the Hive Queen's Soul Assimilator), the files are what the site shows and what this guide quotes. The strategy draws on Paradrew's Hive PvP guide and "Hornet Swarm" build (May 2026), KeenGamer's week‑1 build-order, best-heroes and faction tier-list guides, allthings.how's Hive unit guide, the Patch #11 and #13 notes, Unfrozen's 0.82.06 patch notes, and the Steam community's Hive threads. Hive's standing is on the tier list, recomputed every day.

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