If you’re jumping into Nordhold for the first time, expect to get steamrolled by mobs, outposts, and your own bad decisions. That’s part of the fun. But if you want your next run to last longer than five waves, here’s what you should actually be focusing on.

Don't Be Afraid to Eat Early Damage

The first wave only spawns one enemy. You can tank it.
Instead of wasting gold on weak early towers, use that money to build your Gold Mine and start your economy.
Your first few life points are disposable. Your economy is not.

Get the Trading Post... and the Right Hero

The Trading Post becomes useful at Wave 5. It gives passive gold, which is huge.
But don’t buy ship upgrades until you unlock your hero and select the one with -40% trading ship cost.
Then immediately buy a few levels. Early passive gold = long-term survival.

Honor Spending: What to Buy First

Your first honor purchase should be the Runestone Tower. It shreds barriers and is just plain strong.
After that, grab Shield Wall (more HP buffer) and Twist of Fate (more banner options = better builds).
Avoid flashy upgrades early—stick with the ones that help your income or defense scaling.

How to Handle Oracle Bonuses

You’ll start seeing Oracle bonuses around Wave 4. These only last five waves.
Some are fantastic. Others are actual traps.
Get Second Sight or Destiny’s Mulligan to reroll bad prophecies.
You can view your current prophecy buff in the top-left of the screen.

Prioritize the Right Outposts

Don’t default to the “General” outpost—it’s overpriced.
Specialized outposts (woodcutter, mason, etc.) are way more cost-efficient early on.
If you find the Burden Cart relic (half off outpost cost), build them ASAP and skip prefabrication.
You won’t get access to Supply Depot until a bit later—don’t panic if you can’t build outposts immediately.

When to Build the Quarry (and When Not To)

Yes, towers use stone. But early economy upgrades don’t.
Don’t build the Quarry too early. Wait until your gold and wood income are rolling.
Once your economy is stable, scale up stone fast to prep for more towers.

Don’t Overcommit to Workers Early

Every new worker costs more wheat than the last.
Instead of spamming workers, build the Tavern for a +30% productivity boost to existing ones.
Later, unlock Procreative Power to reduce wheat costs before adding more workers.

Sacrificing: Use as a Last Resort

The sacrificial altar sounds cool, but don’t use it until things get desperate.
Only sack workers if you’re about to lose. Or unless you're running an all-outpost meme build. (You’ll know when.)

Learn to Use the Focus System

Each tower can be set to focus different enemy types: lowest health, barrier carriers, regenerators, etc.
Early towers should target most health.
Last-line towers should focus least health or nearest to village.
Shadow Towers? Use random to spread the debuff around.

Research and Feast Warnings Are Built-In

Don’t stress about forgetting your Feast or University research.
If you try to start a wave without activating them, the game warns you.
It’s a nice little panic button for when your brain’s full of tower math.

Group Your Auto-Upgrades

You can set auto-upgrade paths for towers by creating custom groups.
Example: All volcano mortars = fire rate → crit chance → armor pierce.
Just hit H to apply that upgrade path across every tower of that type. It’s magic.

Late-Game Specializations to Watch For

Once unlocked, you can specialize buildings like the Lumberjack or Quarry.
But specialization costs go up fast: 200 → 500 → 2,000 → 10,000.
Prioritize resource buildings first, especially wood—it’s used everywhere.

Final Blurb

Nordhold is a game of patience, planning, and knowing when to let a few goblins through so you can afford another gold mine. Focus on your economy first, upgrade smart, and don’t fall in love with your towers—they’re expensive, and they will disappoint you.

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