This game originally has 6 factions (haven, inferno, necropolis, sylvan, dungeon, academy), buying that called DLC (they are not DLC) you get +2 factions (fortress and stronghold). I would recommend buy HOMM V Tribes of the east directly if you are not interested in campaigning. It has all 8 factions, but campaigning is different from an original. It is good to know what is your faction strength. Haven is balanced troops, light magic (Good buffs) and powerful Angels (Last troops of haven). Inferno strength is that they can have hordes of troops by using their copy-paste ability called Gating.
Same is with necropolis. They have the ability - necromancy. What it does it raises fallen troops in battle. Percent depends on ability level (from 20% to 50%). Sylvans, in my opinion, have powerful archers. It has avenger ability too. What it does you can choose one creature and you mostly do more critical damage too it, at first having to kill 2 whole populations of that creature.
The dungeon has a low number- powerful troops thing. Very good mages too. Academy has good summoning magic, and a thing called artificial. What it does is you can craft and place artifacts on your troops. This ability is a bit OP if used right. Fortress- runelord ability which is OP. And finally, stronghold is a very aggressive faction with very different magic which only they can use, in a change of not using any other magic - blood magic.

This game has 4 difficulties: easy, normal, hard and heroic. In my opinion, the best is hard. It is not too hard not to easy - like normal. Easy and normal difficulties are way too easy for normal player. Maybe good for those who play this game first time 1-3 game.Heroic too hard even for an experienced player. Best to choose if you want to have fun is hard

This is a turn-based strategy game. You need to think with your head and strategize if you want to win. But there are some good things to know how to overplay your opponents.
1. Economy first, army second.
A lot of players buys structures for troops recruiting, but later in game, they just can't buy those troops because of lack of gold. You should build town halls and capital as fast as you can, then the army, magic and all other buildings. Remember to capture mines, sawmills and etc. too.
2. Don't be scared to attack and fight.
I saw a lot of players which was just too scared to attack, capture structures, fight and lose a bit army (or a lot). The whole game just sits at them castles until they finally be defeated by someone. This gamestyle is not effective and boring. Fight as much as you can and don't be scared if the game says that enemy is challenging or something like this (deadly is just for really experienced players). Know how strong enemies you can defeat and fight for your glory and power
3. Don't underrate magic.
Magic, abilities, artifacts are game changers. This game called Heroes of Might and Magic for a reason. A lot of players just use might and no magic. And lose against magic users. Magic in good hands can be very powerful. Might+Magic= unstoppable force

Ubisoft shut down servers so there is no easy way to play online, but you can still do it by using Hamachi or Game Ranger. You can find a lot of guides on the internet how to use them.
(I might later add a video guide here too)

Early game
Archers (is your bread and butter so get them and upgrade them ASAP. I mostly left peasent at castle to make gold becouse they die very easely and they much better at making gold then fighting. Also get footman (squire) and split them to 2 stacks and make them give extra defense to others troops, mostly archers.(By making them stay close to other troop, shield ally ability). Build 1 magic guild some gold making structures, capture nearly wood and ore resourse making stations. You good to go to mid game

Mid game
Get capitol ,griffins and mages. Use mages to boost your troops, not to attack (unlless you need to). Capture all nearby resource generatiors and defeat as much monsters as you can. Get all castle defense buildings, which adds etc. towers,traps and also boost your troops generation. Get cavalery, upgrade griffins and mages. Continue fighting, getting resourses and level.

Late game
Get angels and upgrade them, get magic guild level 5 and change peasent to archers or mages to paladins.Its time to fight against other factions.

Early game
Get imps, demons(upgrade them) and at the end of the week hell hounds. Try to fight against meele units mostly, becouse you can have a lot of casualities when fighting against ranged. Get gold making structures, magic guild lv1.

Mid game
Get capital as soon as you can, get succubus, hell chargers and upgrade every unit you have. Capture some resource generatiors, if you can get pit fiends, they are very strong against low tear hordes. If you look good on resources get some magic guild upgrades and devils.

Late game
Get as much spellpower as you can, destruction magic is best to use. Also is good to have some initiative artifacts and morale. Focus around gating, fast attack and destruction area damage spells and you should be good.

Early game
Get pixies and upgrade them to sprites. Split them to bunch of stacks and build pixie generation boosting building. Now use wasp swarm on low tear units and tottaly destroy them. As Sylvan you will need a lot of wood, soo focus on getting it. Get archers and upgrade them, make half of them lv2( for low tear creatures) and other half lv3 (for high tear creatures).

Mid game
Change sprites to lv3 and make them in 1 stack. Get magic guild, druids and upgrade them. Hey, you forget about capitol ;). At this point you might strugle to get wood, but dont worry, at late game this shoudnt be a problem anymore. Split druids (no matter lv1,2 or 3) to 2 stacks. If you good on resources get unicorns, and upgrade magic guild a bit. Also it will be very good to get dragons.Dont get trents yet.

Late game
Get use of Avengers guild, get trents, upgrade magic guild to max. Low tear is mostly for damage and high tear is good for defense. Try to force opponent to attack trents and destroy them with your powerfull (lv3 I prefer) archers.Also get as much defense as you can, some damage is also good. Destruction spells is alright, but there is some better choses (luck,morale or logistics for big maps).

Early game
Get as much gremlins as you can, upgrade them, if you dont have tavern build it and get that one hero which have bunch of gremlins and combine them with yours. If you have over 50 gremlins you should easely destroy meele creatures. Dont attack ranged, becouse you can get a lot of casualities and might need to wait 1 week to refill army. Get magic guild lv1, but dont use destruction magic too much, wizards not very good at it.Get golems and gargoyles and you should be fine.

Mid game
Hoorray, now you can get mages, upgrade them to lv2 and your life will be much easer. Upgrade every unit you have, build cheap structures and dont forget about gold making ones. Split mages to 2-3 stack and drop some fireballs on bad guys.Get djinns, they will quckly come to enemy, kill bunch of them, but they never return. They good at offense, but its something wrong with theyr health and defense.Treasure cave is also top pick. Magic guild till lv3 will be allright. Summoning is top pick for wizards, dark and light is ok and i dont recomend getting destruction.

Late game
Raksaha rani... what a amazing troop, but to star getting it will cost you a lot, soo get titans first.
Its sometimes happens, that you upgrade every unit, including titans and still dont have raksaha.
Get fort and magic guild lv5. Start getting resources for expensive library and raksaha generatior.
Vampirism is amazing on raksaha, remeber to use your artificall ability, drop attack artifacts on mages and their fireballs is amazing for hordes in uno place. Defense artiffact is good on gorgoyles and golems, attack with them and make gremlins heal them. Djinns is just for buffing or cursing stuff. Raksaha should take whatever you want. For titan I mostly drop more damage artifacts.Summoning magic is good for pheonix and droping some defense on him makes amazing troop. Academy is harder one to start, but on very late game they can do a lot of good.

Early game
Get scouts and upgrade them to lv3, claim wood and ore generatiors, get blood maidens and upgrade them, build others cheap buildings and magic guild if you can (magic is what makes dungeon strong). With some magic and stalkers with blood furies you should easely take others resources generators.

Mid game
Get hidras, hall of intrigue, dark riders and upgrade them, capitol as fast as you can, upgrade your magic guild and if you have enough resources palace of shadows. Get all other cheap buildings.
Fight, level up and capture structures and you should be good.

Late game
Right now you should have magic guild lv5, expert destruction magic, luck will be very good. Get all building which left. Change stalkers to assasins. Enemy might be shown as challenging or hard, but dont worry, game dont counts your op magic. Drop some destruction magic on your enemy and try that your troops stay alive as long as you can. If you think that magic might be too weak, here is example - if you drop good destruction spell (with a strong warlock) on lets say tear 2 unit, it can take more than 400 units with one hit. Beautifull numbers, dont you think soo?

Early game
Get skeleton archers and kill weakest nearby unit to rise more troops for you. Dont fight against ranged ones. Get some better army and get ore and wood generatiors. Rise more dead. And a bit more dead. Remember that you have rise dead spell. Get destruction or dark magic.

Mid game
Get vampires as fast as you can and upgrade them , now with they drain life, your raise dead reviving them up, all neutral creatures should get rekt. Get liches, capitol , upgrade magic guild, ghousts. Shrine of netherword will be good. Prise to get puppet master or frenzy spells. At this stage, if you strong enough you should start attacking, becouse lately you will start getting weaker than your opponent.

Late game
Ahh, this might be hard. I hope you have at leat one spell mentioned above, your should have big number, weak army thing. Drop some buffs on your troops, some puppet master or frenzy on opponent troops and save your skeleton archers. They die very easely, but do ok damage. Without your archers you have hard time. Get all troops and buildings which left. When you well strong enought attack, but it should be as fast as you can, becouse enemy will get stronger faster than you.

P.S. I'm not very good with this faction, so fell free to add some tips, if you know some.

Early game
Get defenders and upgrade them, dont fight against ranged units, becouse that will be hard. Get spearwielders. Early game is mostly hard for this faction, but if you manage to get wood and ore generations without bunch of casualities this is very good. Get magic guild lv1.

Mid game
This might be still hard, but you may now can get bear riders and upgrade them. They should help a lot. If you can, get rune priest and if you have spare resourses get brawlers. Upgrade them and with some runes lately you will have good run and kill the archers troop. Get runic shire if you dont have it yet and of course capitol. If you good on resources get dragons first and thanes later.

Late game
After hard start you should get strong. Focus on destruction magic, use dragons for damage taking, berserkers for archers killing. Dont forget about you runes, they are what makes this defensive faction good. Just remeber to play a bit more defensive with this faction then others and you should be good.

Early game
Get goblins and upgrade them that they lose their ability to betray you. Get centaurs (your amazing troop) and upgrade them. With army like that you should easely take out weak creatures. Get town hall. Goblins is cowards and weak but if you manage to get few hits with them, they can do bunch of damage and even with some good old blood, they become one of the strongest tear 1 units.

Mid game
Get warriors and upgrade, they are amazing unit with some blood. Get slayers first than shamans, becouse slayers just feels very strong and I dont really like shamans. There will be problem to get capitol becouse of slave market, soo you might get cyclops first and maybe even wayerns if you good on resourses. I would recomend getting expert war machines with all balista upgrades and expert attack. This faction is the most aggresive one.

Late game
If you dont have any warcries yet get some, they really good to rise some blood. Get capitol and upgrade all left units. Dont play defensive with them, attack and rush even if it looks like deathwish. You will be surprized how long they can survive with some blood. Getting leadership or luck also might look good, but attack and war machines should be prefered ones.

• Try to defend your archers (for most factions), they can do tons of damage.

• Gold is very important and hard to get in most maps, so build gold making buildings as fast as you can, also capture gold mines.

• Never ever forget about your special factions abilities, they shine at the end game.

• Magic is best at mid game, at late game might probably beat magic. Soo if you are strong at magic at mid game its time to attack.

• Try to get full set of artifacts, they boost stats a lot.

• If you get a chest and need to take 1000 gold or 500xp take gold, 1500 gold/1000xp is optional and 2000 gold/ 1500 xp you should take xp.

(Fell free to add your own tips and tricks on comment section)


More coming soon

For final words, I want to say that this is my first guide so don't hate it too much. Feel free to correct my mistakes and say your opinion in the comments. I'm not an English person so sorry for my bad London :)
And remember that this is a strategic game and a sharp mind is your best ally against all magical creatures and enemies in this adventure.