Chimera

This article is about the unit in the PC game. For the unit in the handheld video game, see Chimera (Age of Empires: Mythologies).

Chimera
Unit information
Unit type	Myth unit
Civilization	Greeks
Age	Mythic Age
God	Artemis
Trained at	Temple
Training time	20 seconds
Cost
Cost	300 gold 30 favor
Population	4
Statistics
Hit points	800
Speed	5.3 feet/second
Line of Sight	16 feet
Attack
Hack	20
Pierce	-
Crush	-
Armor
Hack	60%
Pierce	60%
Crush	80%

The Chimera is a Mythic Age hybrid myth unit granted to worshipers of Artemis.

Special attack

Fire breath (3 projectiles): each causes 28 hack (×3 vs myth units) to all nearby units. Range: 8 meters. Recharge time: 20 seconds.

Attack bonuses

• Myth Units: ×3
• Heroes: ×0.5

Upgrades

Specific

• Flames of Typhon (Artemis): increases regular and special attacks by 30% and hit points by 20%.

General

• Oracle (Apollo): increases LOS by 6.
• Bacchanalia (Dionysus): increases hit points by 5%.

Strategy

The powerful jaws of their lion head grants them a strong melee hack attack. Chimera possess a powerful special attack, whereby their snake tail lunges forward and spews fire over the enemy. This is an area of effect attack that damages many enemies at once. Due to the nature of their special attack and their general effectiveness against most types of unit, Chimera need little management in order to be effective.

The Chimera has bonus damage against myth units and is also strong against human units. However, they are easily slain by heroes.

The Flames of Typhon improvement turns Chimera into Chimera Tyrants, with increased attack, hit points and special attack damage.

Mythology

Scientific name -- Draco chimera
Size -- 12,000+ lbs.
Diet -- Carnivore, especially humans

The chimera is one of the varied offspring of Echidna (with the torso of a beautiful woman and a horrible serpent below the waist) and Typhon (a fire-breathing giant with 100 serpent heads). The Chimera is a fire-breathing beast, usually depicted with the body of a goat, the head of a lion, and the tail of a serpent. The Corinthian hero, Bellerophon, defeated the original Lycian (a Greek kingdom in Asia Minor) chimera by flying into battle on the winged horse, Pegasus.

Trivia

• The Chimera's design was changed at within the last few months of development (June–August 2002), and because of this, the Chimera's corpse model is of the old model, rather than the current one.
• The Chimera's stat distribution was later reused for the Azure Dragon and White Tiger, although the latter costs Food.

Gallery

Chimera in-game

Chimera using its fire breath

Render of pre-release Chimera

Chimera concept art

Pre-release Chimera breathing fire

The Chimera's special attack can also deal serious damage to nearby naval Myth Units.

Chimera indirectly damaging a building adjacent to the unit being targeted by its special attack.