| “ | Myth unit. Dryads are trained at the Hesperides Tree. Good against human soldiers. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Dryad is an Atlantean myth unit in Age of Mythology that can be created from the Hesperides Tree summoned by the Hesperides god power, available in the Heroic Age by worshipping Theia.
Whenever Hesperides is invoked, two Dryads are also spawned for free near the Hesperides Tree. Any player can train Dryads if they capture the Hesperides Tree.
Special ability[]
Lifesteal (Passive, requires Crimson Linen): Regenerates hit points equal to 20% of damage dealt. (since Retold)
Further statistics[]
God bonuses[]
Apart from Gaia and Oranos' bonuses, the bonuses listed below are applicable only when the Hesperides Tree has been captured by another player, or in Arena of the Gods when the Dryads are either unfrozen as part of the World Twist Gaia's Remnants of Atlantis or spawned via the Gaia's Last Resort Blessing.
- Hades: +15% hit points.
- Poseidon: +0.4 speed.
- Kronos: Refunds 40 wood upon death.
- Oranos: +4 Line of Sight.
- Gaia: Regenerate 1 hit point per second when on Lush. (since Retold)
- Shennong: Regenerate 1.5 hit points per second when on Favored Land. Regeneration rate increases by 1.5 HP with each Age until the Mythic Age. (since Immortal Pillars)
Myth technologies[]
- Channels (Gaia): +15% movement speed on Lush. (since Retold)
- Mythic Rejuvenation (Hekate): +2 regeneration rate.
- Celerity (Hekate): -25% Rate of Fire, +10% speed.*
- Eyes of Atlas (Atlas): +9 Line of Sight. (before Retold)
Additionally, a player of another civilization who has captured a Hesperides Tree can upgrade their Dryads with the following.
- Oracle (Apollo): +5 Line of Sight.
- Dionysia (Dionysus): +5% hit points.
- Monstrous Rage (Hera): -25% Rate of Fire, +15% speed.*
- Crimson Linen (Sekhmet): Gains a lifesteal passive effect equal to 20% of damage dealt. (since Retold)
- Freyr's Gift (Freyr): +10% hit points. (since Retold)
- Thurisaz Rune (Bragi): +10% speed and +0.25 regeneration rate.
- Rampage (Hel): -95% training time.
- Peach of Immortality (Shennong): +15% hit points.
- Rock Solid (Nüba): -10% hack and pierce vulnerabilities, can further reduce hack and pierce vulnerabilities by up to 60% while standing still.
- Flaming Blood (Zhurong): Deals additional damage to nearby enemy units.
Age bonuses[]
- Mythic Age: +20% hit points, +20% damage.
- Wonder Age: +100% hit points, +100% damage, +20% speed.
Relics[]
- Jade Hare: +5% movement speed.
- Pelt of Argus: +6 Line of Sight.
- Scales of a Catoblepas: -15% pierce vulnerability.
- Scales of Echidna: -15% cost except favor.
Strategy[]
Dryads are fairly effective melee fighters and are strong against human units. However, in comparison to other myth units, they have fairly low statistics, and so will not last long in combat against them. As with all myth units, they are weak against heroes.
They are generally used defensively, as the structure they are created from can be captured by the enemy. They do not cost any population or favor, though each Hesperides Tree owned by the player allows up to five Dryads to be created. For example, if the player controls three Hesperides Trees, they can train 15 Dryads. Prior to Retold, each player was restricted to having only five Dryads regardless of the number of Hesperides Trees owned.
Changelog[]
The Titans[]
- Dryads have 99% crush armor, cost 150 gold, and take 8 seconds to train. They have 30 Line of Sight and inflict 15 hack attack per second.
- Dryads have a build limit of five.
Tale of the Dragon[]
- With patch 2.7, the Dryad has 80% crush armor.
Retold[]
- Dryads cost 150 wood. They have 16 Line of Sight and inflict 22 hack attack per hit with a reload time of 1.5 seconds.
- Dryads now have a build limit of five that is multiplied by the number of Hesperides Trees owned by the player.
- Dryads gain +20% hit points and attack in the Mythic Age. They further gain +100% hit points, +100% attack, and +20% speed in the Wonder Age.
Immortal Pillars[]
- With update 18.21333, Dryads cost 200 wood and take 22 seconds to train.
Dryad (Blessing)[]
In Arena of the Gods, the God Blessing Gaia's Last Resort allows the player to spawn Dryads for a cost. These Dryads are temporary, decaying in hit points until they die after 40 seconds at the maximum, earlier if they receive damage. 10 Dryads (Blessing) are spawned from the Town Center at a cost of 100 wood, 10 favor, 15 seconds, which lose 7 hit points per second. All their other attributes and flavour text are the same as regular Dryads.
In-game dialogue[]
The Dryad speaks a fictional language, using a distorted version of the female citizen lines.
- Select 1 Herjos? - What?
- Select 2 Youshi? - Yes
- Select 3 Shkopos? - Order?/Command?
- Move 1 Osto
- Move 2 Youshi - Yes
- Move 3 Mak
- Attack 1 Voleyart!
- Attack 2 and 3 Eshlōst
Mythology[]
| “ | Scientific name -- Nymphae dasos Size -- Human-sized Diet -- Water, sunlight These shy, beautiful tree nymphs were the caretakers and guardians of wild groves and forests. Normally peaceful they could become quite fierce when their trees were threatened. The satyrs courted, protected and entertained the Dryads. |
” |
| —In-game help section | ||
Trivia[]
- Although their in-game mythology section states they are human-sized, they in fact appear much taller than human soldiers.
- Even though Dryads are classified as myth units, they won't show up in the post-game as the player's favorite myth unit if they were the most trained myth unit by a player.
- Dryads are the only trainable myth unit that do not cost any favor. They are also the only military unit, apart from Archaic Age Greek heroes, to not cost gold.
- When the Dryad is tasked to attack an enemy unit or building, she may reuse the Caladria's "Eshlōst" voice clip despite the latter's voice sounding considerably different from the Dryad. This was changed at the release of Retold by removing the offending sound file from the Dryad's XMB file script.
- In the files of the Extended Edition, the Dryad also has an unused "Eshlōst" voice clip spoken in her own voice (named
dryadattack2..wav, note the additional period before ".wav"), which would have been used for when she is tasked to move.
- In the files of the Extended Edition, the Dryad also has an unused "Eshlōst" voice clip spoken in her own voice (named
Gallery[]
Close-up of the Dryad in Retold
A Dryad in-game
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