Heroes

Deep Dive: Hero Mechanics and Strategy

Heroes in Age of Mythology: Retold are the linchpin of defensive strategy against myth units. Every civilization can train myth units, and every civilization has a hero system specifically designed to counter them. The details of those hero systems, however, differ so dramatically between civilizations that playing Greeks, Egyptians, Norse, and Atlanteans feels like four genuinely distinct experiences — not merely cosmetic variations on the same mechanics.

Greek Heroes — Breadth and Selection

Greek heroes are named legendary figures from Greek mythology: Heracles, Perseus, Achilles, Ajax, Odysseus, Bellerophon, Theseus, Chiron, and Atalanta. Each has a different stat profile. Heracles is the strongest in direct combat, with high HP and attack, making him the go-to choice for fighting myth units directly. Perseus has a special ability to petrify enemy myth units when he kills them, turning dangerous creatures into temporary stone obstacles. Achilles is extremely fast for a hero, making him useful for chasing down fleeing units. Odysseus has extended vision and the ability to detect enemy units in stealth.

Greek players can train up to four heroes simultaneously, choosing from the available pool at each age. The strategic consideration is: which four heroes best complement your current army and the threats your opponent is fielding? A Greek player facing Norse Frost Giants wants heroes with high HP and burst damage. Against Egyptian Sphinxes, heroes that can close distance quickly matter more. The choice is not about having the strongest heroes in isolation, but the most situationally appropriate combination.

Heroes gain experience from killing myth units and human soldiers, eventually leveling up to become more powerful. A veteran hero who has survived multiple battles and accumulated experience is significantly stronger than a freshly trained one, creating an incentive to protect your heroes carefully rather than using them as expendable units.

Egyptian Heroes — The Pharaoh System

The Egyptian Pharaoh is unlike any other hero in the game. There is only one Pharaoh — if he dies, he respawns at the Town Center after a delay, during which the Egyptian player is without their most powerful unit. The Pharaoh's role is dual: he is the Egyptian player's primary hero for fighting myth units, and he is an economic powerhouse that empowers nearby buildings to work faster. A Pharaoh standing beside a gold mine increases its gathering rate. A Pharaoh next to a Temple generates additional favor. A Pharaoh beside military buildings speeds up unit training.

Egyptian Priests are the secondary hero type — weaker in combat than the Pharaoh but trainable in quantities and capable of converting enemy units, healing friendly units, and dealing bonus damage against myth units. Combining a Pharaoh with a group of Priests in a battle provides both the myth unit damage of the Pharaoh and the sustain healing of Priests on damaged human soldiers. The Pharaoh's empowerment ability is passive on buildings, making positioning him near your most important economic structure a constant management task.

Norse Heroes — Quantity Over Quality

Norse Hersirs are the opposite of Greek heroes in almost every way. Where Greek heroes are few, powerful, and individually named, Hersirs are generic, moderately powerful, and trainable in unlimited numbers. Each Hersir generates favor through combat — the more Hersirs fighting, the faster favor accumulates, creating a powerful incentive to train many Hersirs and keep them in constant combat. This synergy between hero quantity and favor generation is central to Norse strategy: an aggressive Norse player who maintains large Hersir forces is simultaneously generating the favor needed for myth units while fielding effective myth unit counters.

Individual Hersirs are weaker than Greek heroes in head-to-head combat, but a group of five or six Hersirs can handle most myth units efficiently. Norse players should think of Hersirs not as precious irreplaceable units (like Greek heroes) but as a critical part of the regular army that also provides the economic benefit of favor generation. Training Hersirs from the Temple continuously is almost always correct play for a Norse player.

Atlantean Heroes — Transformational Flexibility

The Atlantean hero system is the most mechanically distinct. Any Atlantean military unit or citizen can be transformed into a hero version by paying additional resources and favor. A transformed Citizen becomes a Hero Citizen — still capable of gathering resources but now also effective in combat with hero bonuses against myth units. A transformed Toxotes becomes a Hero Toxotes — a ranged hero who deals bonus damage against myth units and takes reduced damage from them.

This system gives Atlantean players enormous flexibility. If an enemy deploys a large myth unit force, the Atlantean player does not need to frantically train dedicated heroes — they can simply transform their existing army into hero versions on the spot. The cost is significant (resources plus favor), but the strategic value of having heroes distributed throughout your entire army rather than concentrated in a small dedicated hero squad is substantial for certain playstyles and matchup scenarios.

Hero Micro Techniques

Effective hero use requires active attention during fights. When a myth unit appears on the battlefield, your instinct should be to immediately move heroes to focus fire on it while keeping human soldiers either back or attacking a different target. Heroes are more valuable as myth unit counters than as melee damage dealers against human armies — don't waste them charging enemy infantry formations when they could be eliminating a Colossus. Between fights, heroes should be kept away from large archer formations that could whittle their HP. Retreating a damaged hero to a safe location allows passive regeneration, preserving your investment for the next engagement.