Asterhold strategy guide

The economy

• Workers carry 10 at a time. A gold mine holds 5,000 gold; each tree gives 40 lumber.
• Your hall is where workers drop off what they gather, so build close to the mine and the forest.
• Every unit needs food. Your hall feeds 12, and each farm (or the matching building of your people) feeds about 8 more, up to a limit of 80.

Never stop training workers early on. More gatherers means more of everything else. And build a farm before you run out of food: a barracks that cannot train because you are out of food is wasted time.

A simple opening

1. Train workers continuously from the hall. Send most to gold and a few to lumber.
2. Build a farm, then a barracks.
3. Start training soldiers, and add farms as your food fills up.
4. Build the shrine (or your people’s altar) to call your hero.
5. Add a tower near your mine for protection, then expand your army.

Mission 1 of the campaign is a tutorial and walks you through these first minutes.

Armies: four roles

Every people has a worker, four soldiers and a hero. The soldiers always fill the same four roles:

• Fighter: the front line. Cheap and sturdy.
• Archer: damage from range. Keep fighters in front of them.
• Heavy: lots of health and armour to hold the line.
• Siege: wrecks buildings. Bring it for towers, walls and halls.

A balanced army of fighters in front, archers behind and a few siege units wins far more often than a single unit type.

The four peoples

• Kingdom of Asterhold: Militia, Rangers, Shieldguards (heavy armour) and Sappers, which deal triple damage to buildings. Their hero, the Warden, rallies the line with Banner of Valor (+30% damage and +20% speed nearby), calls down a Storm Volley and heals with Second Wind.
• Tuskborn Clans: Brutes, Spearthrowers, Ironbacks whose swings hit everything nearby, and Ram Crews that only attack buildings but hit them very hard. Chieftain Gorrak Ironjaw’s Blood Roar makes warriors attack about 40% faster; Earthsplitter damages and slows; Iron Hide halves the damage he takes.
• Sylvan Circle: Thornguards, Longbows with the longest reach of any archer, fast Elk Riders and Treants that tear buildings apart. Lady Sylwen roots enemies with Thornsnare, speeds allies with Swiftwind and heals with Bloom.
• Ashen Host: cheap Risen, Hexcasters whose bolts ignore armour, Gravehulks that soak up damage, and long-range Bonethrowers. The Ashlord raises skeletons, drains life to heal himself, and weakens enemies with Pall of Dread.

Heroes

Your hero gains experience in battle and learns a new spell at levels 2 and 3. If the hero falls, the shrine can call them back.

• Keep the hero with the army, not out in front of it.
• Save the healing spell for after a fight starts, when it heals the most.
• Aura spells (Banner of Valor, Blood Roar, Swiftwind) work best the moment your armies meet.

Winning battles

• Fight under your towers when defending; they add free damage.
• Focus fire on archers and siege units first; they are fragile.
• Pull wounded units back instead of losing them.
• Attack the economy. Raiding workers at a mine slows everything your opponent does.

Campaign, skirmish and online

The campaign has ten missions in three acts, from The Ford of Asterfall to The Ashen Throne, following Warden Aren Vale. Winning a mission unlocks the next, and in two missions you command the Tuskborn and the Sylvan Circle yourself.

Skirmish offers maps for 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 players against the computer at Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert. Online, create a room and share its 5-letter code, or use Quick Match.

Controls

• Phone: tap a unit, then tap the ground to move, an enemy to attack, or a mine or tree to gather. Drag to look around, pinch to zoom. Hero, Army and Idle select those units in one tap; Box lets you select several.
• Mouse: left-click to select, drag a box for a group, right-click to give orders.
• Keys: A attack, M move, S stop, H hold, B build, Q W E spells, F1 hero, F8 idle worker, Space for the latest alert, Ctrl + a number to save a group.

Updated 2 November 2026. Written by JPAM Studio, the makers of Asterhold.