Quick note before we start: this is a buy-once game. No battle pass, no premium currency, no locked factions. Whatever faction you pick, you're getting the full thing.
If you're new and not sure where to start — pick Haven. It's not flashy, but it's the most forgiving faction in the game. The units do what you expect them to do, the build order makes intuitive sense, and the early game doesn't punish you as hard for small mistakes.
Here's what I'd tell someone sitting down with Haven for the first time.
The three units you'll rely on
Crossbowmen are your main damage source early on. They're ranged, they hit consistently, and when positioned well they can clear neutral camps without taking a scratch. Most of your early fights revolve around keeping them safe and letting them work.
Paladins go in front. They're there to absorb hits, not deal damage. Their job is to stand between your Crossbowmen and anything that wants to kill them. They're tough enough to do it, and tough enough that most neutral stacks will waste attacks on them while your backline fires freely.
Cavalry is the flexible piece. High movement speed means they can reposition mid-fight — use them to bait retaliation swings from slow enemies, or to reach the enemy's backline when they've left their own ranged units exposed. They're not your primary damage, but they control how the fight plays out.
Building order
There's no need to overthink this. The goal in the first few days is stable income, then troops, then upgrades — in that order.
Economy first: Start with the Town Hall, then get a Sawmill and a Mine running. Gold and wood are the two resources that bottleneck almost everything else early, and the sooner those buildings are producing, the smoother the rest of the week goes.
Then troops and magic: Once income is stable, build the Barracks and a Mage Guild. The Barracks lets you recruit in volume. The Mage Guild at even Level 1 unlocks spells that can swing fights — don't skip it.
Then upgrades: Castle and Training Grounds come after. They raise your unit tier cap and strengthen your town defenses, which matters more in Week 2 and beyond than in the opening days.
How to fight early neutrals
Scale up gradually. Start with the camps right outside your town — the ones guarded by basic units like Crossbowmen-equivalent neutrals or wolves. Work up to goblin camps after that. Don't jump straight into anything that makes you uncertain.
Formation every fight: Paladins up front in a line, Crossbowmen placed behind them. Cavalry on the sides or held back until you see an opening.
Priority target: whoever on the enemy side is doing ranged damage. Kill them first. Enemy ranged units will chew through your Crossbowmen if left alone, and your Paladins can't protect against something shooting over them.
Use your Cavalry to bait. Slow enemies — anything with low initiative — will waste their retaliation swing on a Cavalry unit you deliberately moved into range. That means your Crossbowmen get another turn of free shots before anything attacks them.
One last thing: turn off auto-battle. The AI makes bad decisions with Haven's toolkit specifically. Manual control isn't hard once you know the three units, and you'll lose far fewer troops.
Get the economy going in the first two or three days, keep your Crossbowmen alive, and don't pick fights you're not ready for. Haven rewards patience more than aggression in the early game — once you've got a full stack of each unit type and a couple of Mage Guild spells, that's when you start pushing out.