The Heroes of Dune update forDune: Spice Warsbrings famous characters from the books and lore into the battle for Arrakis. From the canonical warriors of the Atreides and Harkonnens to minor characters given greater roles in the game, each faction has two powerful Heroes to lead their forces in deadly raids and last stands.
Once you reach ten thousand Hegemony, you can select one of the two Heroes available to your faction. Each has different strengths and skills, and the choice can be a tough one. If you aren’t sure who to recruit, use this list to pick the best.
14Ilesa Ecaz
Thorny Rose
Ilesa may be a ruthless and crafty warrior, but she leans heavily into House Ecaz’s tendency to dare other factions to mess with them, rather than taking a more active role. Like many Ecazi units, sheexcels when fighting on home ground; troops within her aura get adamage boost for every Masterpiece in adjacent regions.
Ilesa grants extra Manpower when a Masterpiece is completed, which is nice but not game-changing. Her most impactful power, though, is also the hardest to actually use. If she’s killed or fakes her death using herSaving Graceskill while in Ecazi territory, the faction that defeated herloses fifty Landsraad Standing.
13C’Tair Pilru
Dissident Tinkerer
C’Tair is a national icon to the Ixians after leading a rebellion against the Tleilaxu. He is useful if your strategy revolves around making heavy use of Suboids or Mercenaries, since hegains Stealthwhen near friendly biological units. He alsoprovides one unit type with an extra Armory slot, helping you specialize your forces.
C’Tair’s first attack of a battle inside House Vernius territory isalways a one-hit kill; this is great combined with his Stealth capabilities, but can be a bit of a one-trick pony if there isn’t a worthwhile target.
12Iakin Nefud
Survival Of The Fittest
Baron Harkonnen’s flint-hearted captain thinks nothing of sending his troops to their deaths, and will gladly sacrifice as many of them as necessary to save his own skin. Nefud can getup to twenty stacks of Bloodthirstywhen units die near him, friend or foe, turning him into a whirlwind of destruction. He can also use his active skill tokill a nearby Trooperand heal himself, getting double damage on his next attack.
Assuming that Nefud has any troops left, he allows Harkonnen units in the same region to getfaster attack speedfor every friendly Operation currently in play there.
11Bannerjee
Relentless Raider
Bannerjee is the muscle for the Smugglers' outfit, but like the rest of his faction he prefers to avoid a fair fight if possible. Along with the two Scavengers that spawn next to him, he’s best usedpillaging border settlementsfor a steady stream of extra income. His troopsfully replenish their Supply after a raid, letting them continue on to their next target as long as nobody intervenes.
Bannerjee and his soldierscan heal at any Underworld Headquarters, letting them stay in the field without having to march all the way back to Sietch Tuek. Try to maintain a Truce with at least one faction so that you have safe havens across the map while you loot the holdings of the rest.
10Duncan Idaho
Loyalty Beyond Death
Duncan works well alongside Atreides troops, gainingstacks of Heroismfor each bonus granted by friendly units. Those nearest him get adamage boost as well.However, true to the books, Duncan Idaho’s finest hour is when it’s him against the world.
By activatingDuncan’s Last Stand, you’re able to give him boosts to his attack speed, defense, and movement speed at the cost of losing the ability to control him until the battle ends. In a fun nod to the later novels, hegains an extra abilityduring this effect if he has previously died and been resurrected as a ghola.
9Whitmore Bludd
Legendary Swordmaster
Whitmore embodies the knightly ideals of House Ecaz’s elite soldiers, letting you create a small group of exceptionally powerful Fencers or Knights. He allows you tonominate a second Champion, and also counts as a Champion himself. All three getadditional maximum health from their killsfor as long as Whitmore is alive.
Once you recruit Whitmore, it’s a good idea tosend him out hunting enemies as often as you may.In clutch situations, he can activateFrightful Champion, getting a huge buff to his Power and Armor but losing Trophies and their associated benefits.
8Chani Kynes
Ultimate Ambusher
If the Fremen player in your game counts Chani among their ranks, your soldiers are never, ever safe. She allows Stealth units - particularly Infiltrators - tomove faster and without attracting sandworms, getting themselves into the perfect position to strike.
When the time comes, Chani can activateAmbush, giving Stealth unitsdouble damage while undetectedfor the next two days. Enemies who aren’t carefully checking for hidden units could find an entire strike force wiped out in the blink of an eye.
7Nuwa Cenva
Mother Of Machines
Taking House Vernius on the offensive can be a tricky proposition, but with Nuwa at the helm your chances improve significantly. While she’s alive, she gives atwenty-percent boost to recruitment speedfor drone units, making it much easier to stay in the fight.
Keep one or two high-level Fight-Engineers around so that your replacement drones are always in top shape.
Nuwa’s aura grants extraArmor and speedto mechanical units, as long as they have a connection to the Nodal Network. Best of all, herRepair Platformis an enhanced version of the one used by Engineers, which can save costly healing and replacement after the battle.
6Wensicia Corrino
Tiger Princess
Wensicia offers a neat swarm strategy that’s outside of House Corrino’s usual tactics; if your opponent isn’t expecting her,she can overwhelm them with numbers. This is thanks to her ability totrain an extra unit at a timeas long as one of the units in training is a Conscript, combined with thebuffs that she offers Conscripts within her aura.
Concript Swordsmen and Riflemen offer buffs to other units of the same type, further enhancing Wensicia’s squad.
Wensicia’s skill,Unexpected Reinforcements, lets herimmediately spend Manpower to heal nearby Conscriptsno matter how far they are from friendly territory. If that weren’t enough, she also has adeadly Easter Eggfor fans of the third novel,Children of Dune- twoLaza Tigersthat aren’t in her description but nevertheless appear in battle to fight for her.
5Otheym
Canonically, Otheym becomes important to the story after the period where the game takes place, joining Muad’Dib’s Fedaykin commandos and later foiling an insidious plot within the palace. He appears in Spice Wars as a young man, but his leadership can make a squad of Fedaykin the scariest thing an opponent sees.
Otheym gives amassive damage boostto nearby units that haveno units of the same type within his aura. This can be a bit tricky to use, but is helpful if you’ve picked up some Mercenaries or have a single Infiltrator as part of your army. His real strength is in his active skill, Coordinated Strikes.
Up to eight units within his auradeal twenty percent more damage and take twenty percent less damage for two days. If those eight units are all Fedaykin - already pound-for-pound the most powerful unit in the game - it will take nothing short of an orbital strike to stop them.
