This article is about the hero units in Age of Mythology. For hero units in other games of the series, see Hero. |
โ | Heroes are typically elite human soldiers that are powerful in combat, and may have special abilities as well. They are trained from the Town Center, Temple or Fortress. Atlantean Heroes are created from Atlantean human units, including Citizens, Oracles, and Soldiers. Heroes are more expensive than human soldiers, but are cost-effective at defeating myth units. | โ |
—In-game help section |
Heroes are one of the three basic unit types in Age of Mythology, alongside human units and myth units. They share two core characteristics: they are powerful against myth units and they can pick up relics and store them in Temples. In accordance with the rock-paper-scissors combat system, heroes are indifferent against human soldiers and can be beaten by them, especially when at a numerical disadvantage.
Typically, heroes have a special glow surrounding them. When they are killed, their corpse loses the glow and a glowing silhouette comes out from their lifeless body, followed by Athena announcing "A hero has fallen..." if the hero is an essential character. Each of the game's five civilizations has heroes with quite different characteristics.
Greeks[]
Greek players are able to train heroes at the Town Center once they have built a Temple, and at the Fortress from the Heroic Age. Each Greek major god has individual, named heroes, all of which are famous figures in Greek mythology.
A new hero becomes available at the start of each Age. This means that Greek players are limited to a maximum of four heroes (or five with Poseidon who has a unique naval hero). However, Greek heroes are far stronger than those of the other four civilizations. They can slay myth units with ease and can hold their own against human soldiers, so long as they are not numerically overwhelmed. The three Greek heroes of a given Age are very similar to each other up to the Mythic Age. The Heroes in the Mythic Age vary more and each has its own special attack. In the Extended Edition from patch 2.8, all gods also have access to Hippocrates in the Classical Age.
Heroes[]
- All
- Hippocrates (since the Extended Edition)
Age advance bonuses[]
Age advancement grants Greek heroes the following improvements:
- +10% hit points, +10% attack
Egyptians[]
Pharaohs and Priests are the standard heroes of the Egyptians. The Egyptian player starts the game with a Pharaoh, who does not occupy any population slots. The Pharaoh is able to empower buildings, improving all of the building's functions, and heal allied units. He is not particularly strong, but he does gain 20% attack per Age advance. If killed, he soon rises again at the Town Center.
The Mythic Age minor god Osiris has a god power that transforms Pharaoh into the Son of Osiris. The strongest hero in the game by far, the Son of Osiris has dramatically increased hit points and a deadly chain lightning attack which can attack up to four units. Osiris also grants New Kingdom, which gives the player a second Pharaoh (who can stay at home while the Son of Osiris fights).
The Priest is similar to the Pharaoh. They are weaker but can be mass-produced. Egyptian players start with one Priest and more can be trained once a Temple from the Archaic Age. Like the Pharaoh, Priests can heal units, and can build Obelisks, which help with scouting by providing a continuous Line of Sight. Priests are very weak against human units, but very good against myth units when massed, especially the slower ones.
Age advance bonuses[]
Age advancement grants Egyptian heroes the following improvements:
- Pharaoh: +10% hit points, +20% attack, +9/+6/+2 LOS (Classical/Heroic/Mythic Age)
- Son of Osiris: +10% hit points (added to a base of 420 HP, making a total of 546 HP)
- Priest: +10% hit points, +10% attack, +8/+6/+2 LOS (Classical/Heroic/Mythic Age)
Norse[]
The main Norse heroes are the Hersirs, the captains of the Viking army. Hersirs can be trained at the Temple in the Archaic Age and at the Longhouse in the Classical Age. They are formidable against myth units but are otherwise average melee fighters and not cost-effective against human soldiers.
The other type of Norse hero cannot be trained. Mythic Age players who worship Baldr can use the Ragnarok god power, which instantly transforms all the player's Gatherers and Dwarves into Heroes of Ragnarok. These heroes are similar to Hersirs, but are faster, have better armor, and a stronger basic attack. However, they are not quite as good against myth units.
Both types of Norse hero are also considered infantry units, though, as usual with heroes, they do not benefit from infantry upgrades. Nevertheless, they are susceptible to counter-infantry units such as the Hypaspist, and, like other Norse infantry, they can build and repair buildings. Since they are also melee units dealing hack damage, the Norse do not have any dedicated hero unit to counter flying myth units or fast ranged myth units. They instead have human units with increased bonus attack for such purposes. Throwing Axemen (with Axe of Muspell) and Bogsveigir are able to counter flying myth units. Jarls can catch up and deal great damage to fast land myth units.
Age advance bonuses[]
Age advancement grants Norse heroes the following improvements:
- +10% hit points, +10% attack
Atlanteans[]
The Atlanteans do not train their heroes, but rather create them from regular human units. These transformations cost on average around 120% of the unit's original cost plus a small amount of favor. Units that can be transformed are the Citizen, Oracle, Murmillo, Katapeltes, Turma, Arcus, Contarius, Destroyer, and Fanatic. All these specially created hero units gain a large bonus against myth units and Animals of Set. They retain the multipliers they had before and the characteristics. For example, the Katapeltes hero is still considered an infantry unit and retains its large bonus against cavalry. Atlantean Heroes have better base stats (see below) than their human unit counterparts, though their other upgrades (e.g. Medium Infantry) are lost. On the other hand, their Age advance bonus is greatest in the Classical Age, giving them an early boost. They also get more armor from Armory technologies.
Turning ordinary units into heroes is expensive early on and increases the number of population slots the unit occupies, which may push a player over the population limit. This prevents the training of units to replace them. To help combat this, Prometheus grants the player the Heart of the Titans technology which decreases the cost of turning human units into heroes, plus the Valor god power which transforms a small group of human units for free.
Hero stat bonuses[]
Upgrading a unit to a Hero grants it the following improvements:
- Oracle: +10 HP, +0.5 speed, +2 LOS, enables melee attack (6), +100% LOS growth rate
- Citizen: +20 HP, +0.2 speed, +2 LOS, +1 range (15)
- Turma and Arcus: +10 HP, +0.3 speed, +2 LOS
- Murmillo, Katapeltes, Contarius, Destroyer, Fanatic: +15 HP, +0.3 speed, +2 LOS
Age advance bonuses[]
Age advancement grants Atlantean heroes the following improvements:
- Classical Age: +20% hit points, +20% attack
- Heroic Age: +10% hit points, +10% attack
- Mythic Age: +5% hit points, +5% attack
Chinese[]
Monks and Immortals are the two varieties of Chinese heroes. Monks are capable of melee combat, healing other units, and converting human units; the monks of Shennong can also convert non-Titan myth units. Immortals are multi-range heroes, fighting ground targets in melee while shooting down aerial targets with bows. There can be a maximum of eight Immortals at one time, keeping with the Eight Immortals of Chinese lore. With the exception of Fu Xi, who can acquire all eight from the beginning, the Immortals become available in increments of two per Age advancement.
There is another variant of Immortals called "Servant Chinese". In the game he has the appearance of an immortal, but in cutscenes he has the appearance of an old man. Unlike the Immortal, this one doesn't make any sounds. In addition, he only has 130 hit points and has 9 Hack Attack in the Archaic Age. All other attributes of an Immortal remain the same.
Age advance bonuses[]
Age advancement grants Chinese heroes the following improvements:
- +10% hit points, +10% attack
- Immortals gain +1 range per age (after patch 2.8)
Campaigns[]
โ | Heroes in the Age of Mythology campaign, as agents of their respective gods, are difficult to kill. A hero reduced to one hitpoint will fall in battle. When this happens, you will hear the voice of Athena announce "A hero has fallen." However, the hero is not dead, and as such you will rarely lose a scenario because a hero has been lost. Instead, the hero falls unconscious, but will stand up and regain hitpoints as soon as all dangerous enemy units or buildings have been cleared out of the area. The hero may risk falling in battle again until they are healed or their hitpoints return to a reasonable level. | โ |
—In-game help section for "Fallen Heroes" |
These are heroes that are exclusive to the campaigns:
Fall of the Trident[]
- Arkantos
- Ajax (SPC)
- Agamemnon
- Odysseus (SPC)
- Chiron (SPC)
- Amanra
- Setna
- Kamos
- Gargarensis
- Boar (Arkantos)
- Boar (Ajax)
- Brokk
- Eitri
- Skult
- Folstag Flag Bearer
- Reginleif
- Arkantos (uber)
- Athena (Non-playable)
- Theocrat (Non-playable)
- Kemsyt (Non-playable)
- Theris (Non-playable)
- Osiris (Non-playable)
- Circe (Non-playable)
The New Atlantis[]
- Kastor (adult)
- Amanra (older)
- Ajax (older)
- Son of Osiris (XP)
- King Folstag
- Krios (Non-playable)
- General Melagius (Non-playable)
- Arkantos (god) (Non-playable)
- Kastor (with staff) (Non-playable)
Tale of the Dragon[]
- Jiao-Long
- Shun
- Zhi
- Servant Chinese (Non-playable)
- Danzhu (Non-playable)
Semi-Heroes[]
These units aren't technically heroes, but they share traits of heroes such as the ability to revive, "(Hero)" in their names, hero glow, hero birth effect, hero death effect, pick up relics, and/or health regeneration. Because they aren't technically considered heroes, they are weak against myth units and are unaffected by hero upgrades such as Olympic Parentage or Age advancement.
Fall of the Trident[]
- Kastor (Teenager)
The Golden Gift[]
- Polaris (Non-playable) (Cameo in Fall of the Trident)
Tale of the Dragon[]
- Emperor Yao (Non-playable)
Others[]
Ornlu and the Regent are not present in the campaign.
- Golden Fleece (Age of Mythology) (Cameo in Tale of the Dragon)
- Ornlu (Age of Mythology)
- Regent (Extended Edition)
- General (Tale of the Dragon) (only Chinese unit)
Characteristics[]
The heroes are listed in order of selection. All heroes in italics are semi-heroes. The game has a total of 75 heroes/semi-heroes (78 if the three variants of the Hero of Ragnarok and the two variants of Citizens are counted individually).
Legend:
- - Revivable
- - Animation (applies only to revived heroes that have an animation when revived)
- - Non-revivable
- - Buyable (civilian heroes)
- - One-Time-Hero
- - God power (these heroes can only be obtained through a god power)
- - Melee
- - Ranged
- - Non-Fighter
- - Special ability
- - Can heal
- - Can pick up Relics
- - Appears in hero search
- - Killable (what is meant is whether the player can kill the hero themselves)
- - Hero glow
- - Hero soul and "A hero has fallen" (when the hero dies) (โ - both; โ - soul only; โ - message only)
Hero | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Osiris | โ | โ | โ | โ 1 18 | โ | โ | โ | |||||||||
Ajax (SPC) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Arkantos | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Gargarensis | โ | โ 2 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | |||||||||
Setna | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 17 | |||||||||
Kemsyt | โ | โ 2 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | |||||||||
Odysseus (SPC) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||||
Chiron (SPC) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Amanra | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Reginleif | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Kamos | โ | โ 2 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||
Hersir | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Achilles | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Pharaoh | โ | 3 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Odysseus | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Chiron | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Polyphemus | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Priest | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ 4 | โ | โ 5 | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||
Folstag Flag Bearer | โ | โ | 6 | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ | |||||||||
Boar (Arkantos) | โ | โ | 7 | โ | โ | โ 15 17 | ||||||||||
Heracles | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Jason | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Hippolyta | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Theseus | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Bellerophon | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Ajax | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Atalanta | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Perseus | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Skult | โ | 6 | โ | 7 | โ | โ | โ 15 | |||||||||
Circe | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | |||||||
The Argo | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||
Hero of Ragnarok | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Son of Osiris | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||
Athena | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 17 | |||||||||
Agamemnon | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||||
Theocrat | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||
Brokk | โ | โ | โ | โ 8 | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Eitri | โ | โ | โ | โ 8 | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Kastor | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ | |||||||||||
Golden Fleece | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | ||||||||||||
Arkantos (uber) | โ | โ | โ 9 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 10 | โ | |||||||
Pharaoh 2 | โ | 3 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Boar (Ajax) | โ | โ | 7 | โ | โ | โ 15 17 | ||||||||||
Theris | โ | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ | โ 10 | โ 15 | |||||||
Ornlu | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||||
Polaris | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||||
Citizen | โ | โ | โ | โ 8 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Destroyer | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Murmillo | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Contarius | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Fanatic | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Arcus | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Katapeltes | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 15 | ||||||||
Turma | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Oracle | 11 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Kastor (adult) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
General Melagius | 2 11 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||
Son of Osiris XP | โ | โ | โ | โ 12 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
King Folstag | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ 10 | โ 15 | |||||||||
Krios | 11 13 | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Ajax (older) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Queen Amanra | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Arkantos (god) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 10 | โ | ||||||||
Kastor (with Staff) | 14 | โ | โ | โ | โ 18 | โ | โ | |||||||||
General | โ | โ | โ | โ | 7 18 | โ | โ | |||||||||
Immortal | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Monk | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||
Jiao-Long | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Shun | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||
Regent | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | ||||||||||
Zhi | โ | 13 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 17 | ||||||||
Danzhu | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||||||
Hippocrates | โ | โ | 6 | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ 16 | ||||||
Emperor Yao | โ | โ | 6 (?) | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||||
Servant Chinese | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | |||||||
Hero | 30 | 21 | 45 | 28 | 15 | 2 (3) |
47 | 20 (23) |
10 | 23 | 9 (10) |
63 | 68 | 41 | 68 | 69 (19) (61) (26) |
- Notes
- 1 โ Can pick up Relics, but cannot place them in the temple.
- 2 โ Although he has a recover animation in the Extended Edition, he also has it in the vanilla version, but it was not included in the file.
- 3 โ Appears automatically when killed and when owning a Town Center or Citadel.
- 4 โ Only with the god Set.
- 5 โ Only in The Titans and the Extended Edition, and if players have researched the "Hands of the Pharaoh" technology.
- 6 โ Was originally going to be a melee fighter, but ended up getting scrapped. All but Athena kept their animation but were not used. Circe's and the Folstag Flag Bearer animations have had their code removed in the animation file but their animations are still there. Athena's animation file says she still has the code to attack, but she doesn't have the materials and model to go with it.
- 7 โ In theory, this unit can collect Relics, but it was not carried over into the proto-file code.
- 8 โ Only when hunting.
- 9 โ Only in the campaign.
- 10 โ He has his "own hero glow".
- 11 โ Although he cannot be revived, he still has animation.
- 12 โ Can only "heal" the sleeping Guardian in the The Titans campaign.
- 13 โ He has indirect animation.
- 14 โ Even though the code says players can revive him, they can't, because he doesn't have a death animation to do so.
- 15 - Only in the Extended Edition via update.
- 2.0 - Gargarensis, Kemsyt, Kamos, Boar (Arkantos) (soul only), Skult, Circe, The Argo, Theocrat (message only), Boar (Ajax) (soul only), Theris, Ornlu, Polaris, King Folstag.
- 2.7 - Katapeltes
- 16 - Via update in patch 2.8.
- 17 - The hero soul is only present on the first death. After that, it no longer appears. The reason for this is that this was only adopted in the proto file, but not in the anim file.
- 18 - Doesn't carry the Relic properly and it is in the body (except for The Argo) because there is no animation for it.
- Other characteristics
- All revivable heroes, except Athena and the Golden Fleece, have automatic regeneration. All Atlantean and Norse heroes also have an automatic regeneration if you have researched the "Heroic Renewal" (Atlantean) technology, and for the Norse only if you have chosen the god Odin.
- Almost all heroes/semi-heroes have the word "(hero)" after their names. Those not affected are the following: Osiris, the Hersirs, both Pharaoh's, the Folstag Flag Bearer, Boar (Arkantos), Skult, the Heroes of Ragnarok, Athena, the Theocrat, Kastor (Teenager), the Golden Fleece, Boar (Ajax), General Melagius, King Folstag, Krios, Arkantos (god), the General's, Emperor Yao, and Servant Chinese.
- It is not available for both Pharaoh's and the Hersirs because they are randomly given different names in the game. With the Heroes of Ragnarok, the word is right at the beginning.
Gallery[]
Heroes obtainable in Random maps in Age of Mythology | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
God | Archaic Age | Classical Age | Heroic Age | Mythic Age |
Greeks | ||||
All | Hippocrates | |||
Zeus | Jason | Odysseus | Heracles | Bellerophon |
Poseidon | Theseus | Hippolyta | Atalanta | Polyphemus |
The Argo | ||||
Hades | Ajax | Chiron | Achilles | Perseus |
Egyptians | ||||
All | Pharaoh | |||
Priest | ||||
Osiris | Son of Osiris | |||
Pharaoh (second) | ||||
Norse | ||||
All | Hersir | |||
Baldr | Hero of Ragnarok | |||
Atlanteans | ||||
All | Citizen (Hero) | Murmillo (Hero) | Arcus (Hero) | Fanatic (Hero) |
Katapeltes (Hero) | Contarius (Hero) | |||
Oracle (Hero) | Turma (Hero) | Destroyer (Hero) | ||
Chinese | ||||
All | Monk | |||
Fu Xi | Immortal (8) | |||
Others | Immortal (2) | Immortal (2) | Immortal (2) | Immortal (2) |