This is my Hades guide. I'll do this starting in the Archaic Era and working my way up to the Mythic Era. Below I'll go over some strategies that can be employed depending on which civilization you're up against and which map you're playing on (separately). Hope this helps anyone who wants to play Hades. Let's start!
Hades, like all the other great gods, gives you some momentum bonuses. Hades increases the hit points of all your buildings, increases the attack of your archers and buildings, and finally Hades grants your human units the chance to return as shadows after death.
In my opinion, increasing the hit points of buildings is one of the best bonuses of any great god. It's not like Hades cheered them up a bit, either. is 25%. That's a big chunk of hit points. The normal Greek town center starts at 2800 hit points, while Hades town center starts at 3,500. That's an extra 700 hit points!
If the building's health boost isn't enough, Hades also gives his buildings increased attack. I think this is something that a lot of players forget or don't adjust while playing the game. The average player will continue to raid as usual, only to find that he loses a bit more than usual to his raid party due to the extra attack power of the build. The 20% attack boost is a nice boost and along with the health boost, Hades is a great god for blocking incoming attacks or enemy attacks.
Hades also grants his archers increased attack power. Toxotes and Peltasts get around 0.5 attack bonus. The actual increase is 10%. Though small, it's still something and it certainly helps, as the toxote is already a mainstay of any Greek army.
The shadow, an undead military so to speak, is a pretty cool perk. Your shadows are created in your temple. If you have more than one temple, the temple closest to the enemy is where they spawn. The shadow is basically a model unit. By that I mean it's the most basic unit you can have. He doesn't deal bonus damage to other units and no other units deal bonus damage to him and he has very average stats. This makes the Shadow a mild counter to all other units and a decent unit to fight. They make good meat shields.
Sentinel is the divine power given to you by Hades. As you probably know, it is used in one of his town hubs and gives him four living statues that are very similar to a Toxote but are stationary with higher attack, armor, and hit points. However, each Sentinel benefits from the Archer Deployment upgrade and weapon upgrades, just like Toxotes and Peltasts, and gains the 10% attack boost from Hades' Momentum buff. Unfortunately, they do not benefit from hacking or piercing armor upgrades. Sentinel's base stats are 250 health, 11 piercing attacks, 30% protection against hack damage, 95% protection against piercing damage, 10% protection against crush damage, and 22 range.
When using Sentinels, it always defends the center of town, but that doesn't mean it's strictly a defensive divine power. Going into the city center and deploying Sentinel can put a lot of pressure on your opponent. Use this power wisely, protect your four living statues with buildings or wall sections. Also, don't use it right at the beginning of the game. Doing this allows your opponent to figure out where you used divine power and figure out exactly where the center of town is instead of having to guess based on the center of town.
The Vaults of Erebus grant you a small gold thread. The cost of this drip is 150 food and 5 favors. I'm going to show you both sides of this technology, as you can view it as treasure or as trash. First the negative thinking side. The drip gives 45 gold per minute and takes 40 seconds to search for. Now consider how long your average game is. Like Hades, most games will take you at least 20 minutes, with probably an average playtime of around 30 minutes. 45 x 30 = 1350. That's if you had the drip every 30 minutes. Subtract 155 from that number to account for the resources you used to pay for the drip and you only get 1195 for 30 minutes of dripping. It takes 3.5 minutes to recover the lost resources for the purchase. This is the side of negative thinking. Here is the positive thinking side. 45 gold per minute means no gold is spent on more than 30 toxotes over the course of the game, or one toxote per minute that only costs wood. Considering you earn at least 30 Toxotes each game, that's a pretty good drop. My personal feeling is that this technology should always be explored. No matter how you look at it, the resources you spend on it will recharge in 4 minutes. However, I think you should be careful when exploring the Erebus Vaults. When you face a race you have to use your food for the militia in the agora, so you can't wait 4 minutes while you replenish the resources you spend in the Erebus dungeons. That being said, if you have time to catch your breath, get Vaults of Erebus early so you can benefit more from the drop.
With your scout you have the best scout of all civilizations. You don't have to waste time building like Ulfsark, you can attack differently than Oracle, and you don't waste bonuses like Pharaoh (in terms of buffing). However, your first priority is to find the second (sometimes third) location of food and gold that you will collect. You must do that first or you will run out of food and have to send your villagers off into the dark in search of your next huntable target. Once you've done that, you can start exposing black however you see fit, but I would suggest exposing it relative to the strategy you want to use and/or depending on the opposing god you're up against. For example, if you're up against Kronos, you'll most likely be up against Krush. Therefore, it would be convenient to spin circles around the base in order to know in advance which side it is coming from. When facing Egypt, you can try to explore your opponent's side of the map more to find the gold so you can try to kill your gold-hungry opponent. You can also use your Kataskopos as a hit and run raider. Your scout will die in a 1v1 battle with any type of villager. So if he decides not to stand still and fight, just hit the villager you want to interrupt and click. It's also good to harass enemy oracles since they can't attack you in return, and if your opponent decides to make the oracle a hero, you've won because you just made him spend valuable resources on weaker units and slow them down at the same time. . Advance.
Anything you do in the Archaic era prepares you to move into the Classical era. I break it down into three ways and they revolve around the times you want to get to the Classical Age. Do you want to arrive early to the Clásico, on time to the Clásico or late to the Clásico? This is the question you need to ask yourself and answer within the first 2 minutes of the game so you can change your build accordingly. By Hades I mean the following times when I think of early, on time, or late. Early feeding is between 4:15 and 4:45 a.m. m., feeding time is between 4:50 and 5:20 a.m. m. and late feeding is between 5:25 and 6:00 a.m. m. The way you answer this question depends firstly on the enemy god you are facing and secondly on the strategy you want to use. A good observation will help you determine what your opponent is planning and this will help you in your decision. However, remember that punctuality is the most ideal thing for you and the most natural thing for you as Hades. Waking up early and late is abnormal and requires more attention and effort in your archaic age. Keep this in mind as the timeskip happens less often than early or late as it is important to change based on your opponent's main god choice. It should also be noted that these times are delayed on certain maps due to lack of food. This lack of food affects all players, so most of the time on these maps you should expect you and your opponent to progress a little slower. You can also find times when the map is going in your favor, allowing you to progress earlier and still be on time of course.
Hades's divine path to the classical era allows you to choose between Athena and Ares. Both of the minor gods rely on infantry in their technologies, but your strategy will be very different between the two. In general, Ares is a more aggressive god while Athena is a neutral god who can push or sit.
The plague is a very good divine power. Stop any military building in range where you cast the power to train a unit. This includes docks, forts, temples, and all major military buildings. The duration of the divine power is 50 seconds, and while the divine power is active, you gain line of sight from the point you cast Pestilence as if you had built a tower at that point. The plague will also affect buildings under construction. This divine power is very useful when you are making an attack to bring down the affected buildings or attacking other things like the town center or defenseless villagers. It can also be used to interrupt an opponent's attack, disrupting their military production and allowing you to destroy buildings without military resistance.
The Cyclops is a big hunk of meat, especially considering he's a mythical entity from the Classical Age. The incredible 650 hit points in the Classic Era border on ridiculous. Compared to other mythic units, it is on par with mythic units from the heroic era that are similar to it. Cyclops is basically a siege unit, as he has 12 smash attacks, but he has a one-hit KO special attack against human units that also deals a small amount of splash damage to enemy units that are near the unit being attacked. play. I must admit that I love to see elephants flying towards chariot archers. If you compare the Cyclops to the Mountain Giant and Scarab, which are mythical units that are used as siege units, you are basically tied to the Scarab and lose to the Mountain Giant. However, by adding the Ares upgrade to Cyclops, Kronos and his older Cyclops are on par with Mountain Giants in terms of attack damage, take up less population space, and possibly have better pathing while being a questionable special attack. Elder Cyclops slightly on Scarabs. Note that this is a Classical Age mythic unit that I am comparing to Heroic Age mythic units. When you factor in the cost of resources, you have a strong case that Elder Cyclops is better than Mountain Giant. Did I mention that Elder Cyclops moves in just 15 seconds? Cyclops' downside is the very bad path, as well as the duration of the special attack. Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where your Cyclops traps an enemy unit and starts dying before killing the unit. In this case, not only do you have a dead Mythos unit, but the captured unit is unharmed. The cost of food for Cyclops is another disadvantage. Since you're pretty high, you really shouldn't make more than one extra cyclops unless you're on a high food map like Marsh. Also, without the Will of Kronos upgrade, the cost is generally not worth it. Cyclops costs 250 food and 20 favor. He has 650 health, 12 smash and 15 hack. Will of Kronos costs 200 food and 25 favors. Elder Cyclops costs the same as regular Cyclops and has the same amount of hit points, but trains 5 seconds faster, has 24 slash and 22 slash attacks.
Ares grants you three mythical technologies. Phobo's Panic Lance increases your Hoplite Attack, while Deimo's Dread Sword increases your Hypaspist Attack. Enyo's Dread Bow increases the attack of his toxotes. Each of these technicians can be researched in the armory, as well as in the building that trains the affected unit. Both infantry engineers cost 200 food and 15 favor, while the dread bow costs 200 gold and 20 favor. Any of these technologies are good boosts for your army. The most common unit combination he will use is Hoplite + Toxote, so Ares fits perfectly into the main military composition of him. They are not very expensive, but they are not exactly cheap either. Depending on your opponent's choice, try to wait to acquire a unit unless you need it or have a stable economy to buy easily. And please, whatever you do, don't pick up the Sword of Terror in the classical era. There's no point spending resources on a unit you can't yet craft. Maybe you can get it during the transition to the Heroic Age, but even then it's moot once you've transitioned into the stupid realm.
Do you remember what Athena's sexy voice says? Use the divine power of restoration to heal your units and repair your buildings.
Restoration is a multifaceted divine power. It can be used for an offensive attack or a defensive boost. Healing bolts are sent from the sky on all of your units and structures for seven seconds, essentially making them immune to enemy attacks for those seven seconds. Using it in the middle of a fight will ensure you win the fight as long as you are at least close to your opponent's number. When used after a battle, it saves you a lot of resources that you would have to spend to replenish the troops you will soon lose. You can also use it after/while applying a destructive divine power to your front base or hometown to heal your buildings. Another potential use is to help you build an advanced city center while under attack. Restoration will keep your villagers alive; Stop your opponent from destroying the city center before its completion and keep the military alive to fight against the opposing army. It can give you those precious seconds to complete the construction of your Titan Gate or restore a damaged Wonder.
The Minotaur is a great mythic unit and powerful enough to use throughout the game. This is mainly due to his special attack and relatively high armor. The special attack doesn't take long to charge up and deals significant damage. The Minotaur can also take a fair amount of fire from heroes with piercing attacks, especially Turma heroes. But the real advantage of the Minotauro is the upgrade and the resulting low purchase price. Minos' Labyrinth costs 250 heavy wood and 20 favors, but you get a very cheap mythic unit with almost 450 health. The Minotaur Bull only costs 150 Food and 14 Favors. These are now easy to collect and the food cost is good to balance your economy with Toxote being the backbone of your army.
Athena grants you two mythical technologies that improve the armor of your infantry. Aegis Shield improves the piercing armor of all infantry and Sarissa improves the short armor of her hoplites. Both technologies are a bit expensive for what they do, but that extra armor makes it harder to kill your infantry. Aegis Shield is 300 wood and 25 favor and Sarissa is 200 W and 20 favor. Because of the high cost, try researching these technologies later when you've progressed through Hephaestus and make your armory upgrades cheaper with your Forge of Olympus. These two technicians can be researched at the Armory or the Military Academy.
Choosing between these two minor gods mainly depends on what you want to achieve. Athena is generally better when you plan or need to defend more, while Ares is generally better when you plan to attack more. It is also wise to consider your opponent's god and what you are likely to face. If you're facing an opponent with an advanced build, Ares is probably your best choice, as the divine power of Pestilence and Cyclops will help you destroy the advanced build easily. You really can't go wrong with either in most situations.
When you explored the ancient world, you probably found some relics. As a Greek, you couldn't get them because Ajax can't be created until you build a temple. Getting the relics, even if they suck, should be something done from late archaic to early classic. If you find a really good relic like the Eye of Horus (allows for extra population), a drip relic, or some other high quality relic, you should get Ajax before proceeding because these relics are worth a little fight and Ajax will win the most if not all of these. little skirmishes. If the relics you find are not good, get Ajax when you reach classical age and get them too with the help of Chiron.
As you transition to the Classic era, be sure to prepare for any strategies you plan to use if you haven't already. This is the time to move villagers from one resource to another to gather enough of the correct resource you need. This is also the time to research Pickaxe and Handaxe in most cases. This might also be the best time to research farming, but depending on the map, you may have already researched it or you may not need it for a while. You can also spend your time exploring during this time, as no new units are trained and it only takes a few clicks to switch villagers to the resource they need. There shouldn't be much of the map left black when you encounter Classical Era, given that you have plenty of time and a fast enough scout. The transition period is also a good time to hit enemy villagers with your kataskopos and run. If you already have Ajax, you can also use it for harassing. Just be careful not to send them to their deaths under enemy fire in the center of the city.
When you get to the classical era, there are some things that take precedence over everything else. The first is to build some military buildings. No matter what strategy you are going to use, you will need at least an archery range and a military academy or a stable. There are two military buildings. Most of the time I end up with three. You won't always have two different ones, but having a melee and a support is usually the best course of action to start with. The more villagers you use to build a building, the faster it will build, this will be obvious to most, but I'm saying it anyway for the sake of completeness. The time required to build each of the three main military buildings is the same. It takes a villager 22 seconds to build an archery range, 17 seconds with two villagers, 14 seconds with three villagers, 12 seconds with four villagers, and 10 seconds with five villagers. I like three villagers to build my building, two in one building and one in the second building. They both finish and automatically switch to the second building and the end result is that I built two military buildings in about 22 seconds. If all three built the same building at the same time, it would take them 28 seconds to complete both buildings. This is not very important if you are not facing aggressive players, but if you need troops in a hurry, the speed at which you build your buildings is very important. It's better to get in the habit of building fast than building slowly.
The early classical age is also the time of building most other houses. As any beginner's guide will probably tell you, build them around your towers. If you've already used Sentinel, you can also build them around your living statues. Most games also allow you to automatically start queuing at this point. This isn't always the case, but as Hades, you'll train some Toxotes even if you don't auto-queue them.
Once you've built your military buildings and clicked on some military units to train, you can proceed with building your economy. You'll almost always need to send most of your villagers out to gather wood after leveling up in the classic era, since all of your buildings cost wood, as does your best unit, the Toxote. You want to build more and more buildings little by little and get the tower upgrades when you can. The more buildings you have, the better. Remember, since you are Hades, your buildings are stronger. Go ahead and use that and build.
After that, the play-by-play strategy begins, so I'll save that for later. Let's move on to choosing your little heroic god.
Hades' divine path to the heroic age offers a choice between Aphrodite and Apollo. Aphrodite gives you a financial boost, while Apollo gives you some tactical advantages.
Curse is a sub-par divine power compared to most, though it is useful and often allows you to win a fight. The curse turns a handful of enemy units into pigs. I say handful because the number is usually 5 or 6. While that doesn't sound like a lot, it almost always results in a winning fight. This way you can control the little pigs and send them home to eat. A good source of free food, not that you really need it at this point in the game, but it's still free.
The Nemean Lion is another high-quality mythic unit for your army. They are great for flanking archers as their pierced armor is 60%. They also have a good amount of hit points at 660. With 10 hit attacks and 20 hit attacks, the Nemean Lion is a powerful unit. They cost 250 gold and 22 favor. The cost is adequate for what you get from them, and the favor shouldn't be hard to come by after researching the golden apples. However, they are enhanced by the roar of Orthus. Orthus's Roar costs 300 food and 20 favor, and increases the armor of your Nemean Lions to 43% Hit Armor and 80% Pierce Armor. Your Nemean Rex is now a machine that eats archers and excels in close combat. For the special attack, the lion's roar brings an initial damage attack. Since all enemy units within roar range are affected, you can use this to your advantage by focusing your Toxotes on damaged units for quicker kills. All in all, the Nemean Lion is just a great unit. Just an interesting side note, while Nemean is spelled Nemion in-game when it appears in unit build announcements. For example, upon reaching the Age of Heroes it says: Aphrodite gave you a lion Nemion...
Aphrodite grants you two Mythic Technologies and both improve your economic output and both are researched in the center of town. The first of them is Golden Apples. Golden apples increase the rate at which your villagers receive favors in a temple, and it's pretty cheap. Only 200 food and 150 gold and your favor comes very well. Don't think you'll beat Zeus's collection of favors, as golden apples don't give much of a boost. I ran some tests to see exactly how much Golden Apples increase your favor collection rate, and here are the numbers:
proof of favor
He had lined up five villagers to pray at the temple. I started with one that accumulated at the minute mark. I paused the game at the end of one minute and noted how many favors were received. I then order another villager to worship while the game is paused. I continue the game and repeat it for up to five villagers.
A villager: 5 per minute
Two villagers: 9 per minute
Three villagers: 14 per minute
Four villagers: 17 per minute
Five villagers: 21 per minute
A villager: 5 per minute
Two villagers: 11 per minute
Three villagers: 16 per minute
Four villagers: 20 per minute
Five villagers: 24 per minute
A villager: 7 per minute
Two villagers: 13 per minute
Three villagers: 19 per minute
Four villagers: 24 per minute
Five villagers: 29 per minute
So, as you can see, the golden apples give you a nice boost to your preferred income, but not as much as Zeus. You should also note that Golden Apples only take effect once you've used two villagers for favors. Personally, I don't like having less than three once the Clásico has started. If you want to spam mythic units, I would suggest no less than five, as that gives you enough favor for one classic or heroic mythic unit per minute, as long as you have Golden Apples.
The second Mythos technology that Aphrodite gives you is Divine Blood. This is a huge boost to your economy, as it increases the amount your villagers can carry, increases their walking speed, and makes them build buildings faster. The increased carrying capacity means that your villagers will spend more time gathering the resource and less time running to and from the drop location. The increase in walking speed makes the walking time very short. Together, these two increases mean that your villagers will spend more time gathering resources, allowing you to absorb them faster. Faster building isn't as big of an advantage as walking speed and carrying capacity, but it will make your Titanic or Miracle Gate build faster. In a race of miracles or a race of titans, it can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Divine Blood costs 200 Food and 35 Favors.
Underworld Passage is quite a useful divine power, as you can easily use it for offensive or defensive moves. The premise is simple, but its effective use is not. His Underworld Passage has 2250 Health (boosted by Hades bonus), 5% Crush Armor, 40% Hack Armor, and 69% Pierce Armor, allowing all your units (except Titan) to move quickly from one point on the map to another. other. The key wherever you place the pass is to defend it and have a foothold on both ends. The only time you don't take this into account is when you're using the underworld to destroy a titan gate or when you figure you couldn't get there in time otherwise. In these cases, you should have enough troops to destroy the wonder or gate with the first or second wave, otherwise your passage through the underworld will certainly be destroyed by the enemy without too much trouble. The step can also be used to defend yourself if you are attacked without warning in a location where you are vulnerable. Any game is very useful, the passage of the underworld is a great divine power.
The Manticore is a mediocre mythical entity. The 420 hitpoints and medium armor make it easy for most units to pick when upgrading those units. However, ranged combat works very well against Norse and Atlantean opponents, as neither have easy access to heroes that can reach their manticore. The Manticore works well as a support unit amongst his Toxotes, but is easily the weakest of all the Mythic units Hades could get his hands on. That doesn't mean it's not worth using. As long as you keep them away from melee attackers they will work just fine. Not commonly seen, but can also be used for attacks.
Apollos features three mythical technologies, each providing a tactical advantage over the enemy. Sunbeam is the easiest as it increases the attack power of all your ranged units, human and mythic. This tech costs 200 gold and 30 favors and will probably hold up better if you can buy it easily, but you should definitely research this tech towards the end of almost all of your games where you progress through Apollo.
The second mythological technology is Oracle. Oracle grants additional line of sight to all of its units and structures. This is one of my favorite technologies because the extra line of sight gives you so much more information than you normally would. I love being able to use a pig's or goat's line of sight to cast Underworld Passage behind the enemy. You can also see the enemy coming before. The only building that will have a bigger line of sight than you is the lighthouse. It is also very cheap since it only costs 150 wood and 10 favors. I bought this technology before homing pigeons because it is cheaper and gives the same result.
The latest mythical technology offered by Apollo is the Temple of Healing. This can be very useful as long as you take advantage of it. If you don't have temples near your front line, it's not worth it, as you'd need to retreat a lot to be reasonable. This makes your temples the fastest healers in the game outside of the divine power of restoration. Tech is cheap at just 150 gold and 20 favor. Being able to heal your units is a huge benefit, as it saves you valuable resources, which in turn allows you to fast-forward to the Mythic Era and research upgrades faster. My recommendation for using this tech is to have two temples near your front lines so you can easily retreat and quickly get back into battle after healing your units enough.
This pick is a bit easier to make than the lesser god pick from the classical era. I pick Aphrodite a bit more than Apollo because I like a strong economy and the ability to use more mythic units as well as a stronger mythic unit. However, I would say that Apollo is a great choice against all Nords, as they fight against Mythic ranged units, and Oracle makes it much easier to spot their builds and advanced attacks. As a general rule of thumb, you should go with Aphrodite against Egypt and Atlantis, while you go with Apollo when facing the Scandinavians. Against the Greek, the decision is more up in the air since it depends more on what happens in the game in question.
Once you reach the Heroic Age, you will surely find yourself in the midst of increasingly frequent battles, fighting for control of the map. Lucky for you, the Greeks are very strong in the Heroic Age. It has now gained access to all of its powerful anti-human units and is the only civilization to conduct a long-distance ground siege with Petrobolos. The Petrobolos will make it much easier for you to control the map than others, as you can easily protect them with your already stronger Hades Toxotes while they take down buildings so you can build your own.
The Divine Path to Hades gives you a choice between Artemis and Hephaestus. Artemis will grant you devastating god power and strengthen your ranged units, while Hephaestus will give you a huge economic boost, as well as a mini-titan on the Colossus.
The earthquake is one of the most devastating divine powers, if not the most. It deals heavy damage to all structures within range and is ideal for destroying a Titan Gate or Wonder. Earthquake is great for house groups as it will severely reduce your opponent's population very quickly, giving you an instant advantage as they won't be able to replenish their forces as they're out of space. Earthquake also helps you take out your opponent's front bases with just one mouse click. And if that click isn't enough, the remaining buildings will surely catch fire and be easily taken out by your army.
The Chimera is a fabulous unit. With 800 health and 60% slashing and piercing armor, the Chimera is tough prey for most heroes. But the Chimera really shines with its special attack. With a swipe from the serpent's tail, damage multiple units at once with a fiery breath. This is especially effective when used to attack enemy villagers. As if that wasn't enough, you can upgrade these beasts to Chimera Tyrants with Typhon's Flames for the price of 400 Food and 20 Favors. The Chimera Tyrant has 960 Health plus 6 Attack, making it even more devastating in combat.
Artemis has three Myth Techs for you. I have just described one of them, Flames of Typhon. The second is the Trierarch technology, which empowers your ships with arrows and makes them more resistant to siege ships. Trierarch would be nice if you had access to him in Heroic Age, but you don't, so he has very little impact on gameplay. The last Mythos technology that Artemis gives you is Plague Waves. Shafts of Plague costs 300 gold and 40 favor, and increases the attack of your toxotes and peltasts. As if your Hades archers weren't already strong enough.
Plenty Vault is the easiest Godpower to use in my opinion. All you have to do is place it in a safe place and you will have some resources for food, wood and gold. This free and endless supply of resources makes their economy one of the best and the only reason it isn't the best is because of Pharaoh's empowerment for Egypt. However, combined with Aphrodite's economy technologies, it could have a very good case for the best late game economy. The performance of each resource is the same, reaching 180 resources per minute. That's more than triple the amount that the Vaults of Erebus and the Nile Flood spend on gold and food respectively, and Plenty Vault offers food, wood, and gold instead of just one of them.
With its high armor and high hit points, the Colossus is by far the best Mythic siege unit. Colossus can still resist being hit by Heroes, which should be his counter for a while. In fact, heroes aren't even considered the best way to counter Colossus. This distinction applies to mythical one-hit KO units like the Mummy. As if 1100 health wasn't enough, Hephaestus gives you not one, but two Tech Myths, each increasing the Colossus' health by 200. These two boosts bring your Colossus to 1500 health. Only a Titan has more hit points. Even better is the healing ability that Colossus has. By eating lots of gold and trees, the colossus gains hit points for each resource a villager has collected. (one tree = 150 wood, so a colossus would gain 150 health) The colossus is actually a beast of a mythical entity.
The two technical Colossus mythos I just mentioned are the Hand of Talos and the Shoulder of Talos. Their total cost is the same, but the hand requires wood and the shoulder requires gold. 300 wood or gold and 20 favor for these upgrades. Sometimes it's not worth it if you're already running over your opponent, but they are useful in long games.
The Olympus Forge is the next technology that Hephaestus offers you. This technology is one of my favorites since in the end it saves a lot of resources. This technology will greatly reduce the cost of everything you research in the Armory. This includes all Mythos Technicians.
In most cases, you won't be able to skip copper upgrades, so you'll rarely skimp on this level of armory upgrades. You occasionally save on bronze upgrades, but you always save on iron and burning pitch upgrades. With these saved resources you will have more resources for your army and buildings. You'll also save on mythical technologies from the Armory that you haven't researched yet.
Hephaestus' latest mythological technology is his Titan Weapon. This technology costs 400 gold and 20 favor and increases the attack power of your unique unit: the Gastraphetes.
This choice usually comes down to whether or not you can win the game with Earthquake. Otherwise, it's always wise to go for Hephaestus, as his buffs and divine power from him are much more useful in the long run.
The Gastraphetes is a great unit due to its versatility. Acts as an archer and besieger with piercing attack and smash attack. With the addition of Burning Pitch, it only takes a handful of these little critters to gobble up buildings with ease. In almost every game, Gastraphetes will take the place of your Petrobolos (you'll still want to use Heliopolis) because they're also out of attack range of buildings, but have the added ability to run when attacked. They also don't need the protection of Toxotes like your Petrobolos. Your Gastraphets will also help you a lot in killing an enemy Titan, as they have a Crush attack, the weakest Titan armor. Beast Slayer makes them even better at killing titans. With Burning Pitch and Beast Slayer, Gastraphetes becomes a unit capable of destroying buildings and mythical units with ease. They need to be deployed in groups to be effective, but that goes for most units. The disadvantage of Gastraphetes is its high cost and low hit points. Toxotes are better against human units, so don't give up Toxotes in favor of Gastraphetes. However, Gastraphets are definitely a unit you should be using.
Well, that's the descent from the archaic to the mythical. Now I want to highlight some strategies when facing the different civilizations. I'm going to talk about each civilization in general, so there may be some things that can be more or less effective against the main god of a particular civilization.
Ah, Greek wars. I love her. These are often some of the longest games, and also some of the most fun. Often it comes down to who has the best mic for their army and attacks, or both. The range of strategies that any Greek can successfully employ is so wide that it's hard to say which one is best for Hades. However, I think a 5 minute classic is the best way to go. This advancement gives you a stable economy that you can either build an army or go Heroic with a second town center. It's important to remember that being heroic is more important in Greek wars than in other cases, as you'll have a huge advantage over your opponent if you get there first. This is because of how the Greeks get their units. All counter units are available in Heroic. So if you can be on Heroic while your Greek opponent is on Classic, you should be able to win any battle as long as you micronise your army correctly. When you go up against Zeus, you'll probably find Athena to be the better classical god. This is because you'll probably be using a mix of Hoplite and Toxote, so the Hack and Pierce armor upgrades will really help you when you're going up against a Zeus, who will probably also be using the same military combo. In the event that Zeus makes Hippicon, Athena's technologies will once again be useful to make your hoplites more resistant to your opponents' attacks. When facing Poseidon, you'll probably want to go with Ares, mainly because of the godlike power of him. You'll have a hard time stopping an earlier advance with Poseidon's Hippicon attacks, so stopping your military production early can buy you the time you need to protect your villagers. For Heroic, you'll want to go with Aphrodite most of the time because of her economic buffs and because Nemean Lions is so much better than Manticore against another Greek. This is especially true against Zeus, so you can reduce your advantage by gathering favors. Mythic is all about your position in the game. If you have a clear advantage, go with Artemis to (hopefully) end the game with a well-placed Earthquake. If you're looking for a longer game, you'll certainly want the economic strength of Hephaestus, as well as a stronger siege with Colossus and the ability to upgrade Gastraphetes with Weapon of the Titans. Get tired of the Centaur Strangle and take control of the map as soon as possible. Classic grappling is usually a good strategy for this match, but you should take the opportunity to raise if you can. As I mentioned earlier, getting to Heroic could mean victory and being late could mean defeat. As with the other Greeks, Petrobolos protected by Toxotes is a powerful combination. Try to enjoy it while protecting yourself from it. Hit points added to your buildings help in this area.
DON'T MAKE PELKEYS! Peltasts have 3.3 Attack, Toxotes have 7.2. Peltasts take extra damage against Throwing Axeman, but Toxotes already beat Throwing Axeman easily. Peltasts have 10 more HP, but will fare terribly against all other Norse units due to weak basic attack. Better piercing armor is of little consequence as the Nords have no human units that deal piercing damage and very few Norse opponents will use trolls against you. DON'T MAKE PELKEYS!
You usually want to get ahead a bit early against Nordic opponents. Between 4:30 and 4:45 is probably what you should be aiming for. Previously against a specific race, but a wise northerner won't advance against Hades because it's too easy for you to destroy him with Pestilence. You will find that Ares is often the best option against the Nords due to the unit options you will inevitably use against him. Most of the time he will use Hypastpysts and Prodromos with Toxotes as his backbone. Ares' mitotechs help this combo more than Athena and Cyclops works better than Minotaur vs Norsemen in my opinion. For Heroic, Apollo is probably your best bet, but you can't go wrong with Aphrodite. Apollo is the favorite for Manticore's range and piercing attack, as he can easily get behind the Scandinavians with Underworld Passage to exploit their weaker buildings with his long-range siege. It's a bit difficult for Mythic. Weaker Norse buildings will make Earthquake a bit more effective, but the added economic boost from Hephaestus is important in the face of an impending Ragnarok, to provide enough troop-pumping capacity and to reclaim ground you'll inevitably lose due to Rag. Both Chimera and Colossus will also do well. If you think you can take down Earthquake, take Artemis with you. If you're not sure, go to Hephaestus.
You should isolate your gathering areas from the Nords as much as possible, as raiding is very easy. Most of the time you will also run into Freyja which only makes the attacks stronger. Prepare yourself by having two firewood collection points so that the forest fire does not do you so much damage. You should be able to fight Classic, but you shouldn't think about Classic for too long. Just fight a battle you're sure to win and get to Heroic. A second town hub can be taken against a less aggressive nordic player before heading into Heroic. You'll get an advantage there with access to your counter units, and the Petrobolos will help you destroy the Norse base, which will likely be in the middle of the map. When you're on an aquatic map, you're at a huge disadvantage, especially against Thor and his arsenal. Water is Hades' weakest point in my experience and it only gets stronger against the Scandinavians, who have strong arrow ships on Classic and can quickly advance to Heroic. Try as much as possible to keep the intense fighting on land as you will lose to the stronger Nordic Navy in most of the water battles.
In these games you almost always want to keep up with the Egyptian player and Fast Heroic. Athena is usually the best option, but Ares will work as well. Restoration tends to be more useful against Egypt than Pestilence, and Ares' attack-based techs aren't used as often because you'll be using more cavalry and archers than infantry. Cyclops does well against elephants, so Ares is viable. Heroic, there is no doubt that you love Aphrodite. You need that extra economic boost to keep up with the Egyptian player, and the Nemean Lion (used with Prodromos and Toxotes) is your ticket to beating the Elephants. I think with Mythic you will find that you need to be frugal again and progress with Hephaestus.
As I mentioned earlier, when you're up against elephants, you'll need to be able to spam the Nemean Lions to help out your army of Prodromos and Toxotes. Otherwise you will have a hard time beating the OP elephants. You must also keep up with advancing age; Otherwise you will be dominated by a titan. You will have a long game in most cases. Enjoy your ranged siege on Heroic as much as you can. Prodromos will be a big part of your army. So if you find relics that increase cavalry, you should get them. Fight for them if you must. Use a lot of mythic units, especially on mythic. It is also important to enter the market trade. This isn't too difficult for Hades in Mythic, as just a few gastraphets can easily take down a market. Tower upgrades are also important in relation to Egypt, namely the battlements. It will be very beneficial for you to have towers near each of your population centers and any other place where you have military buildings.
This is probably the hardest match for Hades because the Atlanteans are very fast to move and attack. Both Kronos and Oranos make it very difficult to even get off the ground. You need to surround your base to protect your rally points and advance early to be able to fight the gang, who will surely be lurking to kill your villagers. For Classical, I usually start with a 15 villager lead. With Ares and Pestilence, you can give yourself an extra minute and potentially destroy a Kronos Forward base that has been set up too aggressively. As Athena, you will win a battle with Restoration and the super cheap Minotaur, who hold up very well to the classic Atlantis army. Regardless, you should get to Classical as soon as possible if you want to play for more than 10 minutes. For Heroic, it's almost always better to use Aphrodite so you can spam mythic units. For Mythic I like to use Artemis because Earthquake works very well against weaker Atlantean buildings and the Chimera attack is very strong against Atlanteans. Hephaestus is also a good option.
When facing the Atlanteans, you should go with a balanced army, 1-1-1 Hoplite Hippicon Toxote. You will also need to spam as many mythic units as possible, as it will be difficult for the Atlanteans to keep creating heroes to fight them. As already mentioned, Aphrodite is perfect for this purpose. However, in case you think you need to fight longer in classic Athena, it's a good option since Minotaur becomes cheap after exploring Minos' labyrinth. This is especially true on maps with little food, where Cyclops would mean your death because you can't advance due to lack of food. Once you're on Heroic, you have to watch out for Destroyers. Your Toxotes won't be enough to take out these guys because they have such high armor that you'll need to be prepared with some Hypaspysts near your critical buildings. Your petrobolos will be particularly effective in these games as the Atlanteans don't have much cavalry and their buildings are weaker. Use this as much as possible. When the game comes to Mythic you have to get ready to fight the titan because sooner or later it will happen. If you manage to find yourself in a mythical era, the earthquake is usually chilling and the Atlantic awaits you to build a titan. In this case, it's like a win for you since your Mythic is stronger than theirs. When fighting the Atlanteans, your battles will be very micro-intense due to unit combinations. Be careful not to neglect your economy and check it after each battle.
These are the basics for fighting any civilization. Let's move on to some considerations for each letter.
This map is a decent map for Hades, as you can isolate yourself well due to the trees and hills. The downside, however, is the lack of hunting that is usually present on this map. You'll have a rare chance of getting a good hunt, but most of the time you'll find two groups of three deer and maybe a couple of bears. Because of this, it's generally good to get to Heroic faster than normal to improve farming, and that's possible with wide walls (relieved by hills and trees). Beware of sneaky ways to place troops on the hills. Rocs are the main culprits here.
As a semi-aquatic map, Hades tends to have a downside, but since most of the combat takes place in the center of this map, it's far from impossible. The key to Anatolia is to get gold. Most of the gold is in the center of the map, so this is where you should set up camp. Always fish from both sides and defend the water; However, I don't think it's wise to push yourself too hard in the water. Your opponent won't be able to hit you on both sides at the same time, so you could lose on one side while gaining an advantage on the other side. A tactic commonly used by Zeus and Norsemen is to build near the water and attack the docks simultaneously with land and sea troops. This can work occasionally when you're pushing Ares, as Cyclops is important for this strategy to work for you. Keep in mind, though, that this isn't a very strong tactic for Hades, so don't put all his faith in it. However, don't forget that the actual price is in the middle of the map.
This map is usually light on hunting, but almost always has a large group of huntable animals on the sides of the map. You need to find these places quickly to get a good down payment and regular savings. This card is also notorious for its poor gold placement. Often most of the gold is on one side of the map, so it's important to keep an eye on these areas. You need to scout well to know where the gold is or your opponent will arrive first and you will be hungry for gold. Since the map is built with hills, you can usually fence off the corners on your side for protection, but the frozen lake in the middle prevents a proper wall there. Spamming this map is recommended to help you control areas with gold. Lots of military buildings and towers, you can never have enough.
This map is generally good for Hades as you can fish and there are enough wilds to get you into Heroic without too much trouble. The key to this map is core control, as it's a bit like Jotunheim, where water takes the place of the cliff barrier. Remember that boats can easily be used to cross the water. Resources are evenly distributed on both sides and trading in the market tends to be easier due to the water. Petrobolos can be used to great effect to force your opponent out of the water when necessary. The Underworld Passage becomes very useful when you can't make your way through the center of the map. Watch out for units sneaking up to your side and try to sneak up to your opponent's side so you can attack from behind.
This map is heavily hunted so you should be able to progress quickly. This map also has 4 relics so you should always leave Ajax early to get the good ones, they are always in the middle of the map. Controlling the center of this card also usually results in victory. Marsh is also a walled card due to the water patches and wooded environment, though not as well as Alfheim. You need to be prepared to be rushed on this map, as the high amount of chasing makes it very easy for your opponent to rush forward and have strong starting power. Another good thing about this map is that you will usually have a lot of gold near the center of your hometown. This helps protect the villagers early on, but don't make the mistake of staying home and turning into a Hades turtle. Advance the gold and if you lose your position you can retreat to the safety of the nearby mines.
This is by far the worst Hades map due to its weak army. Without a Mythos water unit and no naval upgrades to Mythic (not that great though), the odds of winning this map are stacked against you. Ares is very useful for trying to blow your opponent out of the water early on, albeit with Pestilence and Cyclops. If you catch your opponent with a spring, you're in good shape. Be sure to only fight battles you can win, and retreat to the safety of your docks when you're outnumbered. 7-8 villagers in wood are usually good for Archaic, but you'll need to pump more wood after your advance to maintain the economy of the ship and port. The best thing to do is keep up the attack pressure on land to try to divert your attention away from the water, where you are weaker most of the time.
This is another water map, so again Hades will be at a disadvantage, but this map also has a lot of hunting so you don't have to put up with having to fight too much for water. This map will also have the most ground battles, which is a boon for Hades given his weak armada. The hard thing about Midgard is figuring out where to hunt and where to fish. Often the game isn't in your initial line of sight, so you'll probably have to search for berries or chicken first. The pier villager should also be kicked out early in the game and build the pier in the corner where fish are usually collected. Sometimes you will be mistaken for fish, which is unfortunate. Additional town centers are often within range of siege ships. Keep this in mind when attacking and defending. Securing gold is also very important on this map, as trading in the market is reduced due to water.
This map is hard for everyone since it is low in food. It's been a bad map for Hades in my experience, but there are others that seem to work well here because a heavy Toxote army is usually good for Hades and allows you to save on food. Due to the lack of food, Ares is generally not a good idea, since you can't spend food on Cyclops or the Infantry Mythos technologies you need to build an army and Breakthrough. Athena and Aphrodite are almost always the best choices, as they each have high-quality Mythic units that can easily pay for their resources, and Aphrodite's economic prosperity goes a long way toward generating the food that is so scarce here. You should try to close your side as much as possible because this map is very open. Otherwise, you won't have a good trade in the market later in the game and you will be easily hacked.
This is one of the more open maps and therefore you have to watch out for attacks a bit more than on other maps. It's good to protect remote hangouts here with a tower or two. Hunting on this map is generally high, but often it won't be a smooth hunt, so you have to be careful with your villagers so you don't lose them to animal attacks. The strategy is very flexible here as the map is very open. There are usually no points that can be easily protected with walls, so you can often have your army attack weak points while your opponent can do the same. Being aggressively passive. By that I mean creating what I call a lush build. Basically think lush Gaia and create your own lushness with buildings. Then you can use your Petrobolos in the protection of your towers and forts.
This is a good map for Hades as it has a lot of features close to home. This map is open, so raids are common, but there are plenty of places to gather. Sometimes you can escape raids just by getting lucky in a place where your opponent isn't looking. Tundra is also a good map for the center of a sprawling city. Make sure you take some troops with you, as well as a free mythological unit and at least one hero when you do this. Like Savanna, it's easier to hit weak spots because the map is so open.
This is a good card for Hades as he has a good early chase and a lot of chase after that. It's also easy to isolate your hometown center and water bottlenecks. One thing to remember about this map is that the relics are always in the same places, on the sides towards the corner of the map, one near each player. The hub of this map is where most of the action takes place, and gaining control of the hub usually means victory and losing it means defeat. You must also use the water by using ships to help your land army. City centers in between are almost always within siege ship range. You should also be able to have a strong market trade on this map, as it's easy to close and the center location usually puts one near one side of the map.
Well, that's all I have. I hope this is helpful to anyone looking to improve their Hades skills.
Confucius says: "The man who jumps through the screen door is likely to fight."