House Harkonnen is used to being in charge, and their play style in Dune: Spice Wars is about showing everyone on Arrakis who's boss. Whether they're working their serfs to the bone in factories or terrorizing the locals to cow them into submission, the Harkonnens excel at throwing their weight around.

While they might seem like a purely militaristic faction at first - and their military is certainly a critical component of their overall strategy - House Harkonnen is actually an economic powerhouse. Played correctly, the Harkonnens can outproduce their rivals with ease... just so long as they can keep their labor force in line.

Updated on March 10, 2024 by Matt Arnold: The latest update changed the hearless Councilors available to House Harkonnen - read below to see how the Baron's strategy has changed.

House Harkonnen Traits

The key to House Harkonnen's strategy lies in their Oppression ability. By spending twenty Manpower, they can Oppress a Village they control, doubling its resource production for the next three days. However, once the effect ends, the Village will suffer a twenty-percent production penalty and have a chance to spawn rebels for the next ten days.

Mathematically, an Oppressed Village will only produce slightly more over the total thirteen-day period than it would have done if the ability hadn't been used. If rebels appear, you're likely to end up with a net loss. Oppression is best used when you need a specific resource right away, or if you're trying to exploit Rabban or Feyd-Rautha's skills (see below).

The drawback to the Harkonnens' labor practices is that their Villages always suffer a global production penalty of ten percent. This penalty can be offset by keeping each Village garrisoned with militia - each militia unit in a Harkonnen Village reduces the penalty by five percent. Hence, a Village with two or more militia will not suffer the penalty at all.

The Harkonnens think nothing of sacrificing their pawns - and everyone is a pawn. An Agent can be assigned to a specific Operation, reducing its cost and prep time, at the cost of the Agent's life.

Hegemony Bonuses

At five thousand Hegemony, the Harkonnens begin to gain fifty Intel every time they Pillage. If you don't think you can hold a Village, don't hesitate to take everything you can from it before you withdraw!

House Harkonnen also gains the ability to recruit captured Agents from defeated enemy units. Each time Harkonnen troops destroy a total of twenty non-mechanical units belonging to an enemy faction (not to Sietch raiders, rebels, or neutral Villages), there is a five percent chance that a new Agent will spawn with the Brainwashed trait. The enemies killed do not have to all be from the same faction.

Brainwashed Agents generate fewer resources than those who have always served the Baron, making them ideal sacrifices for reducing Operation time. Be sure to sacrifice them often, or your ranks will be filled with sub-par Agents as you rack up more combat victories.

At ten thousand Hegemony, the Harkonnens can assign and additional Agent to Arrakis, the Spacing Guild, CHOAM, and the Landsraad. They also have a small chance to keep an Operation after using it, letting them deploy it again immediately without spending time and Intel. This only happens if the Harkonnens sacrifice the Agent carrying out the mission, another reason to send your spies to their deaths.

House Harkonnen Councilors

House Harkonnen can select two of the four available Councilors at the start of each campaign. The Councilors you choose will affect your play style, so pick the ones that work best for your overall strategy.

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen

Feyd-Rautha is Baron Vladimir's presumed heir, and despite his young age he is already a political mastermind. If he is in your councl, he can apply Corruption to Landsraad Resolutions. If a Corrupted Resolution passes targeting a faction, that faction will lose Landsraad Standing.

For day-to-day bonuses, Feyd-Rautha doubles the Harkonnens' Agent recruitment speed and lets the House generate twenty percent more Influence, as long as one or more Villages is currently being oppressed.

Piter De Vries

Piter De Vries is the Baron's mentat advisor. While he is on the council, sacrificing an Agent to expedite a mission grants five hundred Solari. In addition, the mission for which the Agent was sacrificed costs twenty percent less to perform for the rest of the game.

Cron Vatia

The Harkonnens make extensive use of slave labor, overseen by Cron Vatia. Vatia adds an additional bonus to Oppression, causing affected Villages to triple their construction speed.

When Rebels appear as a result of your misdeeds, Cron will let you turn a nuisance into a source of revenue - every killed Rebel unit generates fifty Solari for the Harkonnen treasury.

Umman Kudu

Captain Kudu is a minor character in the books, but his presence at the time of Dune: Spice Wars makes sense. He's led the Baron's personal guard for years, and knows how to get things done - he provides a thirty percent bonus to recruitment speed.

Additionally, if a Harkonnen Operation targets a region where Kudu's troops are present, they gain an additional point of Armor. This bonus does not stack with multiple Operations, but can carry over between multiple regions if the conditions are met on both sides of the border.

Glossu "Beast" Rabban and Iakin Nefud are no longer Councilors, and can instead be recruited as Heroes once House Harkonnen reaches ten thousand Hegemony.

House Harkonnen Developments

House Harkonnen's unique developments make it easier to forcibly annex Villages and to maintain a large standing army.

Early Game Strategies And Tips

House Harkonnen relies on Infiltration and Influence to win games, so one of your two councillors should always be Feyd-Rautha. Choose a second councillor that fits your play style, then start the game as you normally would; getting your first Spice Refinery online and capturing the Villages around your capital.

Once research is unlocked, unlock Composite Materials, Local Dialect Studies, and Instill Fear, in that order. This will make your early expansion easier, and by the time your initial allotment of Authority runs out, Instill Fear should be ready. From that point on, if your troops are idle, and you don't have the Authority to annex anything, Pillage everything within reach!

If Piter is on your council, build a Stealth Probe and send it to sit just inside the border of each enemy faction as you meet them. This will generate a lot of Intel over the course of the game!

Focus on the Economy and Statecraft tech trees. This will greatly speed up your Agent recruitment, letting you establish a powerful intelligence network. While you're doing that, build up your Villages to specialize as much as possible, since you'll get the most out of Oppression this way.

Late Game Strategies And Tips

Despite their large armies and fearsome reputation, Harkonnen military operations should for the most part be limited to annexing neutral Villages, raiding enemy border settlements, and defense. Harkonnen units are designed to be expendable, so they'll have a hard time making a prolonged assault against an enemy capital.

Once your expansion begins to slow down, it's time to put your plan into motion. If you haven't already, identify your biggest competitor for Landsraad votes and infiltrate them. The goal is to assassinate them as quickly as possible, then move toward your preferred endgame.

Continue to expand and build up your economy until you can build and load a Nuclear Silo; this will be your weapon of last resort if things go wrong. You'll have a decision to make at this point; you can either maintain a high Landsraad Standing and go for a Political or Economic Victory, or disregard your Standing and go for a Conquest or Hegemony Victory.

In either case, use your high Influence production to force voting your way. For the high-Standing route, grab as many Spice Fields as you can, especially from the Regions formerly held by the assassinated leader.

Even if an Economic Victory isn't feasible, try to keep your total stake in CHOAM at ten percent. That way you'll get the Influence bonus for being a Prime Investor.

For the low-Standing route, start another assassination plot. Try to get elected as Eye Of The Council for some extra Agents, an assign them to Counterintelligence; it's very likely that someone will be trying to assassinate you at this point! While you're waiting for the assassination to play out, continue to Pillage frequently. Whenever you have enough Authority, conquer Special Regions for the extra Hegemony. By the time the second assassination goes through, you'll be perfectly poised to snatch the remaining land needed for a Hegemony victory... or just assassinate your last opponent.