Dune: How to Play House Harkonnen

Dune: Spice Wars
How to play the wealthiest, eeeeeevilest house in all the land.
0:00 Introduction
2:28 Why Play House Harkonnen
6:54 What Makes Harkonnen's Unique
11:50 Counselors - Expansion - Economy - Mainbase
38:53 Developments - Operations
52:58 Units - Armory
1:07:40 Win Conditions
1:12:38 Heroes (then back to win cons)
1:18:17 Tips and Tricks

[@daevohk]

Appending this guide with a quote from the excellent movie Margin Call: What have I told you since the first day you stepped into my office? There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first; be smarter; or cheat. Now, I don't cheat. And although I like to think we have some pretty smart people in this building, it sure is a hell of a lot easier to just be first.

[@quentincollins1825]

The Offices of Order are a fitting installation for Hark, but the constant uprisings are a distraction and drive me nuts, especially where water is concerned.

[@daevohk]

@@quentincollins1825 I do wish you could turn off the fight notifications of rebellions because they're super obnoxious after like 20 minutes of it nonstop

[@annointedbytalos5673]

​@@daevohknow I know why the Baron takes those baths in the movies it's to stop the constant alerts from reaching his ears. Anyone would comfort eat if they had to endure what the baron does on a daily basis.

[@afiqrizal645]

@@quentincollins1825 i especially hate it when a few rebellions happens at almost the same time, one right after the other so the notifications just keep coming

[@quentincollins1825]

The whole Atreides-Harkonnen feud started 10K years before the events of Dune because Abulurd Harkonnen didn't want to harm human hostages at the battle of Corrin and was derided as a coward by Vorian Atreides. Thus, ironically, love of humanity ultimately begot their inhumanity.

[@afiqrizal645]

so lore-wise, the 2 houses at some point switched their stance on humanity?

[@anjaisarachi2703]

The way you use a book chapter to separate sections is very tasteful. Thanks for making these guides!

[@daevohk]

Sophisticated guides for the gentleman gamer.

[@cobyjones1818]

daevohk going to court over the countless murders he’s committed to everyone’s sleep schedules when he keeps uploading

[@rhastasynn7934]

man you are the quintessential channel to go to for any dune spice wars related information. great work on this awesome video. ps-you made me check out adam smith's wealth of nations. haha.

[@mikemac1298]

These guides are a 10/10. They have helped me so much learning the factions. And I have had the game since release.

[@x04b]

Bro, I have to say thank you for all the guides you send in here for the community. Can't wait to hear you talk about the other factions, specifically Smugglers next time :D cheers mate !!

[@daevohk]

And thank you for the positive feedback!

[@juxstapo]

Thought 1. "I love these faction deep dives, I am so glad I found this channel." Thought 2. "... He's going to say Mee-Lee in every single video isn't he?"

[@daevohk]

You'll just have to think of it as my own unique accent. Glad you're liking the guides!

[@exalted-champion-of-grinch]

After trying out every single faction at least once in game, this video has helped me choose which one to main. Very well put together.

[@flux9433]

Nice intro about House Harkonnen!It was expected but either way very well done! Guide on point!Thanks!

[@Maqouz]

Yessss!! Ty Daevohk for another guide. You re really helping me get into spice wars. Cheers!

[@jakubskrzypek917]

Hey daevohk, this vid served me as a great podcast during work , thanks a lot!

[@jeremyrugg3015]

One thing I have to say on armory upgrades (and I could be very wrong on this) is that I take the first aid kit first on troopers near always. My reasoning is that it isn't an upgrade to help with wars and fighting other players, it's an upgrade to allow the troopers to better be able to continue pillage streaks longer. Then, when pillaging is much easier and I am fighting instead, it's only 1K gold to swap out. But if I'm missing something then I am not sure when it would be a good tech.

[@daevohk]

Worthwhile, I do not feel strongly about the basic trooper upgrades at all

[@klaxxon__]

My mind was blown Daev explained how the choam prices work. I though it was entirely based on how people are buying shares with a significant portion of randomness on top.

[@KingofMolten]

Awesome!! Been waiting for this one 💪🏻

[@dillpickle1308]

Thank you. Always very entertaining content that I really enjoy.

[@nerodelacroix9281]

🎉I just love this Adam Smith reading, Clockwork Orange watching, spice wars winning epitome of a content creator❤

[@daevohk]

🎩

[@kevinhowe543]

Honestly the sacrificing 3 armor for 6 later is actually really good on paper. Sure you get to half health quicker but by then you are back to normal armor amounts. As you get lower you attack faster and the extra armor allows you to deal more damage before death (sardukar not included).

[@daevohk]

Fair to say it does synergize with their basic ability, it just isn't that exciting. Might as well grab it as there isn't a lot of competition for slot 2

[@afiqrizal645]

i'd like to add they actually make troopers more tanky in practice. i honestly am not really sure by how much, but on paper it's basically x2, just needs to be low hp. and for some odd reason i do notice my troopers to live longer with the upgrade instead of without it. since red fluid is a huge no and fix up kit is kinda meh imo, just take the scarring armor bcs why not eh? so scarring + morbid makes them actually viable for late game composition especially if you need a lot of troops fast, maybe you just lost a big fight and they're pushing your territories sort of situation. also if you feel that it's bothersome replacing cerberus all the damn time, troopers can pretty much just replace them. this allows you to have a wider*, tankier army, just not as tanky as buffed up executioners. also with the condition that you kill the enemies faster than they can kill your troops bcs you basically let go of the 3 stacks from each cerberus dying to jack up your executioners. however i do think that popping a sleeper operation basically makes up for it, perhaps even more. this allows you to tie up more of the enemy troops from jumping your gunners too since troopers live longer than cerberus *by wider i mean that since cerberus die too fast anyway, the army is basically just other troops in the composition that'll do most of the fighting, even though cerberus costs 3 cp while troopers costs 4.

[@lasharuxo4469]

Great video my friend, make tutorials like this on another houses, huge respect and love ❤

[@Wrecking_Paul]

thanks for the guide. already looking forward to get sweaty with them

[@RedAce93]

Man this was awesome, please make one for every house.

[@pikkozoikum8523]

Cruel Reputation can be a big deal, if you play political Harkonnen. You can spam Decoy Thumper into enemies spice fields to get influence boosts :3 Or Toxic Vampor to drain their manpower

[@shady923]

very helpful thanks

[@apoleonschneider]

Thank you for this!

[@apoleonschneider]

Great tutorial! Now we gotta see you play more with them. You rarely do. They are my favorite. Please dew it!

[@Snowy123]

The spice must flow

[@walkinmist9818]

Yep. Doing another Hark playthrough in conquest. I didn't know about the pillaging stacks. Now I can pillage with no worries.

[@MarvalMontreal]

Thank again for the help But there is so many things to look at

[@VenAuri]

Thank you for this guide, the Harkonnen don't seem as daunting now

[@DasUberCow]

Great insight. Question though, Rabban's extra Heavy Militia also grants 5% production right? He's gotta be the competitive pick every time if so.

[@daevohk]

Yes. Rabban is deff the default pick for most everyone. Nefud's extra dps from ops and manpower refunds for dead guys lean a bit more into a very aggressive playstyle but certainly the less popular choice.

[@franferber1153]

Nice video!!! What faction do u think is the best for passive players who prefer diplomacy/hegemony instead of domination games?

[@daevohk]

Thanks! You're looking for Atreides or Corrino. Maybe Vernius but I wouldn't actually recommend them to anyone

[@franferber1153]

Thanks! Why not Vernius?

[@Levantinyx]

@@franferber1153 vernius while very interesting is generally weak: they have early money problems, the HAVE to invest into knowledge and their army is instantly countered by a 200 intel operation (emp)

[@daevohk]

@@franferber1153 they're a bit under tuned and work best when you already have extensive knowledge of how every other faction works

[@_TheOldMan_]

Question: when speaking of the embassy, does 10% solari income mean just the actual solari income, or also spice which is the sold for solari? I mean if you dont have a lot of rare minerals, and are heavily spice based, the bonus might not be so big, if its the former.

[@daevohk]

To the best of my knowledge this also includes the spice that is sold for solari.

[@nerodelacroix9281]

Is a vernius guide coming? I'm not brave enough to try that house without your guidance, warmaster

[@daevohk]

Probably last in line behind Smugglers -> Atreides -> V

[@nerodelacroix9281]

@@daevohk looking forward to it!

[@Nattybumco]

Where would I find Baron Psychodilla's(?) written guide?

[@daevohk]

The written guide lives on the discord.gg/Turin server among the dune channels in the Shai-hulud-chronicles. A bit hidden away if you aren't already in the community there

[@Nattybumco]

@@daevohk Thank you

[@emirion11]

What kind of militia you build in a villages? Is it ok to build only 20 manpower guys with a shield icon?

[@daevohk]

For harks you want quantity ASAP, so you're fine with 10mp guys at first. Then if/when you start to max out on MP you can go back and swap guys to the heavy 20 version

[@nerodelacroix9281]

So I tried Harkonne after watching this guide, and I gotta say i can't play harkonne for shit. Time to finish the ultra-violence episode ig

[@Moose_RF]

Tree fund.

[@daevohk]

That's extremely generous Moose, thank you so much! Is there any content in particular you'd like to see in the future?

[@hanzz9083]

how can i get flying units? i played a month and still cant get it =(

[@VenAuri]

You have to build the Guild building, and trade something in exchange of their favors. Once you reach 100 you should be able to build the special space ship of your faction. It should be located in the same area as the research hub building if I am not mistaken.

[@LadyMorrigan]

Still working on that step 1 IRL...

[@daevohk]

I dont have a guide for that. Have you tried being born into nobility?

[@LadyMorrigan]

@@daevohk I've moved on to trying to marry into nobility, it seems like the next best step.

[@Xenotrickster]

205 spice. Nuff said.

[@waltteritirranen9407]

Excuse me Harkonnens are...competent?? Competent at swindling people. Competent at wasting fortunes made from whale-fur speculation (another form of swindling). For nothing, one might add. Competent at killing unarmed people chained to a post so that they cannot run away or fight back. Competent all but dying out as a faction in the first book of the whole series. That is how "competent" these "people" Frank Herbert wrote them to be. And my assessment here is extremely kind since I'm not going into specifics that can be found about this faction, should one read even the first book alone. KZbin would censure my text for obvious reasons if I did. Learn nothing from these parasites except how not to be like them in real life. Btw Barons own instruction to Rabban tells exactly how costly this venture was for them: "If you squeeze Arrakis for every cent it can give us for sixty years, you'll just barely repay us!". Competent at wasting political capital and valuable resources... nothing more. Besides, their education of next generation managers was found wanting. Harkonnens = what a waste!

[@daevohk]

Fair to say they don't come out particularly well in the end. But destroying your greatest rivals in the galaxy, having rock solid compromat on the Emperor, and securing Arrakis for all foreseeable future is what we call a Pro-Gamer Move. They'd have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for that meddling kid who was a super human that could see the future and unite a notoriously fractious people who also happened to be the greatest fighting force in the galaxy.

[@waltteritirranen9407]

@@daevohk Harkonnen tried to destroy their greatest foe but did not succeed because they were sloppy, granted that they forced the change of the title of duke in the process. Emperor used baron to get rid of bothersome duke that was too popular in the Landsraad and ditched him publicly just before barons own demise by the hands of Alia. By foreseeable future you mean insignificant 5 years (whole finale of Arrakis affair) that resulted the end of 10000+ year reign of former emperors family and toppled the emperor of known universe? No my good man, that is not pro-gamer move by any measure at all. We should call it what it truly was: "Stupendously expensive colossal screw-up by fidgeting hubris fueled frightened old fat man too weak to support his own flesh without the help of suspensors". True gamers with pro moves can be found outside of Arrakis or Giedi prime during this entertaining time. Keep it real, man!

[@Mr_Sex_Goblin]

ty daevohk 🙏