Towns

3:17 Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has nine towns, the game's factions: the Castle, Rampart and Tower on the good side, the Inferno, Necropolis and Dungeon on the evil side, and the Stronghold and Fortress, which are neutral, all eight in the 1999 game, The Restoration of Erathia, plus the Conflux, a town of elementals added by the Armageddon's Blade expansion the same year. Each town has its own seven creatures, each with an upgrade, its own two hero classes ("one that specializes in might and one that specializes in magic", in the words of the official strategy guide, p.28), its own buildings and its own Grail structure. The fan-made, unofficial Horn of the Abyss adds three more towns, Cove, Factory and Bulwark, which are not part of the official game. The clip is from the Remake's gameplay overview, whose narrator calls towns "where the strength of factions lies" and counts "nine unique faction towns".

Quick facts

Sources: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp.3, 28, 100-111; Armageddon's Blade manual, pp.4, 13; Horn of the Abyss.

All nine towns

The table follows the official guide for the eight towns of 1999 and the Armageddon's Blade manual for the Conflux. "Native terrain" is where the town's creatures fight best: on it they get +1 attack, defense and speed (Prima, pp.165-166).

Three notes on the table. The alignments of the eight 1999 towns follow the sides they take in the campaigns. The guide's own text muddles the Inferno's classes, calling the Heretic the might hero, while its tables give the Demoniac might statistics (2/2/1/1) and every Heretic Wisdom; the table above follows the statistics (Prima, pp.40-45). And the Conflux's native terrain, alignment and Grail building are not in the readable text of its manual, so they are left out here. Every creature of every town is on Creatures, and every hero on Heroes.

The towns one by one

Castle

The human town of Catherine Ironfist's Erathia, which the guide calls "one of the more balanced towns". Pikemen, Archers, Griffins, Swordsmen, Monks, Cavaliers and Angels; "increased damage attack ability is the defining feature of Castle armies", and its Archangel is "one of the best units in the game" (Prima, pp.112, 130). Its Mage Guild stops at level IV, and it is one of three towns with a Shipyard in the 1999 game.

Rampart

The elven forest town of AvLee: Centaurs, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Pegasi, Dendroids, Unicorns and Green Dragons. Its Gold Dragon is immune to all spells, and the town is "stunningly dependent on a ready supply of Crystal" (pp.117, 148).

Tower

The wizards' town of Bracada: Gremlins, Gargoyles, Golems, Mages, Genies, Nagas and Giants. The guide calls it "the game's most expensive town" and, for its Library and Wall of Knowledge, "the best spellcaster support center the game has to offer"; fully upgraded it has three shooters, "more than any other town" (pp.119, 156).

Inferno

The demon town of Eeofol: Imps, Gogs, Hell Hounds, Demons, Pit Fiends, Efreet and Devils. Its Castle Gate teleports heroes between Infernos, its Pit Lords raise slain stacks as Demons, and its Devils and the Castle's Angels do 150% damage to each other (pp.115, 129, 141).

Necropolis

The undead town of Deyja: Skeletons, Walking Dead, Wights, Vampires, Liches, Black Knights and Bone Dragons. Both of its hero classes start with Necromancy, which raises enemies killed in battle as Skeletons, and the town's Necromancy Amplifier and Skeleton Transformer feed it; "The Necropolis is all about supporting the Necromancer and Death Knight Hero classes" (p.116).

Dungeon

The underground town of the Overlords of Nighon: Troglodytes, Harpies, Beholders, Medusas, Minotaurs, Manticores and Red Dragons. "The Dungeon is an expensive town to complete and requires a heroic quantity of sulfur"; the guide finds it slow to start but suited to longer games, producing "strong armies" and serving as a great support center for spellcasters, with the Warlock its pick for the best spellcaster (pp.60, 113).

Stronghold

The barbarian town of Krewlod: Goblins, Wolf Riders, Orcs, Ogres, Rocs, Cyclopes and Behemoths. It is "very good at supporting might-oriented Heroes and poor at supporting magic-oriented ones", its Mage Guild stops at level III, and the guide calls it best suited to short games and the best choice "when you'll face combat early on" (pp.5, 118).

Fortress

The swamp town: Gnolls, Lizardmen, Serpent Flies, Basilisks, Gorgons, Wyverns and Hydras. "The Fortress is a real bargain," says the guide, the cheapest town in gold to build, easy to defend, but lacking "upper-end punch"; its Mage Guild also stops at level III (p.114). The Shadow of Death strengthened its Lizardmen and Serpent Flies (SoD manual, p.24).

Conflux

The town of the elementals, added by Armageddon's Blade: "Composed primarily of elemental creatures, the Conflux also offers home to the Sprites and the elusive Phoenix," and its strength is "their emphasis on creatures of mid-range power". It has a Magic University where visiting heroes can learn the four schools of magic, and its Firebirds grow two a week (AB manual, pp.13, 17).

How towns work

Towns are the heart of a kingdom: "your survival in the game depends on town possession", and a player who holds no town for seven days is out (Prima, p.105). Each town can raise one building a day (p.3). The rules below are the official guide's for The Restoration of Erathia and hold for every town.

Halls and income

7:07 Every town starts with a Village Hall and climbs to a Capitol; in the clip, from the HD Edition, a Castle's hall offers the Capitol, which "earns your kingdom 4000 gold per day" (Prima, p.106, Table 5-1):

3:38 A kingdom may have only one Capitol; the guide says to build it in the first town and protect that town, since "at 10,000 Gold a pop, you don't want to have to rebuild a Capitol" (p.106). Its fastest route, a Capitol on day 8, is on Town Build Order. The same choice opens the Remake's gameplay overview, where the narrator asks: "Will you rush to build a Capitol for extra gold supply? Invest in a new Mage Guilds level for game changing spells, or build a new dwelling to recruit before an enemy strikes your town."

Forts and creature dwellings

1:29 A Fort (5,000 gold, 20 wood, 20 ore) gives a town walls and is required before any creature dwelling. The Citadel adds a moat, an arrow tower and +50% creature growth. The clip, from the HD Edition, shows a Castle town's hall offering the Citadel. The Castle (the building, not the town) adds two arrow towers, stronger walls and +100% growth (Prima, pp.106, 109). Each town has seven dwellings, one per creature level, and each has an upgraded version. Creatures appear on day 1 of every week, unrecruited ones pile up, and upgrading a creature costs the difference between the two prices (pp.109-110). Special "horde" buildings add to one dwelling's growth, such as the Castle's Griffin Bastion or the Necropolis's Unearthed Graves.

Mage Guilds

A Mage Guild sells a Spell Book (500 gold) and teaches visiting heroes spells: 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 spells of levels 1 to 5 at levels I to V. The Stronghold and Fortress guilds stop at level III and the Castle's at IV; heroes without Wisdom gain nothing from level III up (pp.62, 107). The Tower's Library adds a spell to every level, and the Conflux's Magic University teaches schools of magic. More on Spells and Magic.

Markets, silos, taverns, blacksmiths

The Marketplace (500 gold, 5 wood) trades resources, at a loss; the Resource Silo (5,000 gold, 5 ore) adds a daily resource that tells what each town needs (Prima, pp.108-109; AB manual, p.13):

The Tavern (500 gold, 5 ore) hires heroes, two on offer each week, and holds the Thieves' Guild, whose report on rivals grows with the number of Taverns held (pp.9, 109). Shipyards (2,000 gold, 10 wood) can be built only in Castle, Necropolis and Fortress towns on a shore in the 1999 game (p.111), and in the Conflux (AB manual, p.13). The Tower and Dungeon can build Artifact Merchants, and the Stronghold a Freelancer's Guild where heroes can sell unwanted creatures (p.108).

The Grail and the Grail buildings

The Grail is a special artifact buried on maps that have Obelisks. Visiting Obelisks uncovers the Puzzle Map bit by bit; the Grail lies in the 3 x 3 square at the puzzle's center and "will never be located within nine tiles of the map's edge" (Prima, p.103). A hero carries it to one of the player's towns and builds that town's Grail structure from the hall, which uses the Grail up, so a scenario can have only one (p.111). Every Grail structure adds +50% creature growth in its town and 5,000 gold a day, plus its own effect (p.111, Table 5-8):

The guide's advice: build it in a town that is "very defensible" and one of your main creature producers, and weigh which special effect helps most (p.111). The Adventure Map page covers Obelisks and the Puzzle Map.

Alignment, morale and mixing towns

Mixing creatures from different towns costs morale. The guide's table (Prima, p.13, Table 2-2):

Special cases: an all-undead army has 0 morale, undead mixed with living creatures give -1, an enemy Bone Dragon gives -1, and undead and elementals always have 0 morale themselves. Morale +1 to +3 gives a 4.2%, 8.3% or 12.5% chance of an extra action; negative morale the same chance of freezing (p.165). The guide's advice to Knights, to build armies "from only one or two town types", holds for every might hero (p.46).

Good, evil and neutral alignment matters in a few places. In The Shadow of Death, special terrains such as Holy Ground and Evil Fog raise or lower the morale of good and evil troops, and the Angelic Alliance, a combination artifact, lets Rampart, Tower, Fortress, Stronghold and Castle creatures fight together without a morale penalty (SoD manual, pp.17, 26-27; Combination Artifacts). In the 1999 campaigns, the good campaigns follow Catherine Ironfist, the two evil campaigns her enemies (Nighon, Eeofol and Deyja), and a neutral campaign the mercenaries profiting from the war (Prima, p.287; Campaigns).

Which town is best?

0:38 The official guide does not rank the towns, and fan rankings are opinions. Quick Save's video ranks the nine towns of the Complete edition by its own mix of unit strength, building costs, looks "and how often I choose to be them": from last to first, Fortress, Inferno, Stronghold, Conflux, Tower, Dungeon, Rampart, Castle and, its favorite "by far", Necropolis. Its advice for choosing a starting town (Prima, p.5) is to "consider choosing the town native to the terrain near your starting position", since creatures fight better there; it adds that "some town types, like the Tower and Necropolis, are difficult to build when resources are scarce. Others, like the Stronghold, are the best choice when you'll face combat early on. For most scenarios, however, it's fine if you simply pick the town best suited to your style of play."

Its town chapter compares them by cost and game length (pp.112-119):

For heroes, the guide picks the Barbarian (Stronghold) as the best low-level general, the Overlord (Dungeon) as the best high-level general, the Warlock (Dungeon) as the best spellcaster, the Battle Mage (Stronghold) as the most balanced, and the Beastmaster (Fortress) as the best level 1 garrison commander (p.60). The rest of its strategy is on Strategy Guide and Beginner's Guide.

The fan-made towns

Horn of the Abyss, a fan-made, unofficial add-on by the volunteer HotA Crew, adds three towns that are not in the official game (h3hota.com):

• Cove, a neutral pirate and sea-creature town native to swamp, in the first release of Dec 31, 2011 (CD-Action, Sep 3, 2026).
• Factory, a neutral town native to Wasteland with two level 7 creatures, in version 1.7.0 of Dec 31, 2023.
• Bulwark, the twelfth town, of Snow Elves, Kobolds, Yeti and Jotunns, in version 1.8.0 of Dec 31, 2025.

Horn of the Abyss installs over the Complete edition or The Shadow of Death, not over the 2015 HD Edition (h3hota.com). Its towns are on Horn of the Abyss Towns.

Towns in the Remake

4:06 The Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake, coming in 2027, covers the original game and both expansions, and Ubisoft says "from day one, players will have access to all factions"; its roadmap of Oct 7, 2026 includes a faction and art track, and Ubisoft has "begun refining several creature models" after feedback (Ubisoft on Steam). Ubisoft has not said the Remake will include the fan-made towns: its brand director for the series told GRYOnline.pl (Sep 9, 2026) that Ubisoft talks with the Horn of the Abyss creators regularly, without confirming any such content. In the Remake's gameplay overview, "towns feel more epic than ever": the town screen shows the available troops at a glance, and a new Wishlist system plans the next building.

Frequently asked questions

How many towns are in Heroes 3? Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has nine towns: eight in the 1999 game (Castle, Rampart, Tower, Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, Stronghold, Fortress) and the Conflux from Armageddon's Blade. The fan-made Horn of the Abyss adds Cove, Factory and Bulwark.

What is the best town in Heroes 3? The official Heroes 3 strategy guide does not rank the towns; it advises picking the town native to the terrain near your start, warns that the Tower and Necropolis are hard to build when resources are scarce, and recommends the Stronghold when you will face combat early.

Which town is best for beginners in Heroes 3? The official Heroes 3 strategy guide names no beginner town; it calls the Castle "one of the more balanced towns" and the Fortress "a real bargain", and says that for most scenarios "it's fine if you simply pick the town best suited to your style of play."

What is the Capitol in Heroes 3? The Capitol is the highest town hall in Heroes 3: it costs 10,000 gold, needs a City Hall and a Castle, gives 4,000 gold a day, and a kingdom may have only one.

How do you get the Grail in Heroes 3? In Heroes 3 you visit Obelisks to uncover the Puzzle Map, dig at the spot it shows (the Grail is never within nine tiles of the map's edge), then bring the Grail to one of your towns to build its Grail structure, which gives +50% creature growth, 5,000 gold a day and a town-specific bonus.

What happens if you lose all your towns in Heroes 3? In Heroes 3 a player who holds no town for seven days in a row is out of the game, according to the official strategy guide.

Can you mix creatures from different towns in Heroes 3? Yes, but in Heroes 3 each extra town in an army lowers morale: one town gives +1, two give 0, and seven give -5, and undead mixed with living creatures give -1.

Sources

• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, Prima Publishing, 1999, pp.3, 5, 9, 13, 28, 40-46, 60, 62, 100-119, 129-130, 141, 148, 156, 165-166, 287
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade manual, The 3DO Company, 1999, pp.4, 13, 17
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death user manual, The 3DO Company, 2000, pp.17, 24, 26-27
• Horn of the Abyss, HotA Crew, read Oct 21, 2026
• Horn of the Abyss downloads, HotA Crew, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: najnowsze informacje, CD-Action, Sep 3, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake news, Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026 and Oct 7, 2026
• Zapytaliśmy twórców Heroes III Remake, GRYOnline.pl, Sep 9, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake - Gameplay Overview Trailer, Ubisoft, Aug 26, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Ranking the Town Factions, Quick Save, Jun 7, 2018 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition - 4K GAMEPLAY, SergiuHellDragoonHQ, Apr 20, 2017 (video)