Template:Infobox unitsThe Kraken is a Heroic Age myth unit in Age of Mythology, available to Norse worshipers of Njord.
Special attack
Can instantly sink ships with its tentacles or grab a human unit close enough to the shoreline and throw it away, instantly killing it (similar to the Cyclops). Requires 16 seconds to recharge.
Attack Bonuses
- Myth units: x10.8
- Human units: x3.85
- buildings: x3.6
God bonuses and upgrades
General
Loki reduces favor cost by 10%.
Specific
Wrath of the Deep (Njord): Upgrades Krakens to Trench Krakens, increasing hit points by 25%.
Strategy
Being the only naval myth unit with an instant kill attack, the Kraken is a very valuable addition to the Norse navy. Like most naval myth units, they train from the dock quickly so they can instantly turn the tides in naval warfare. Their large amount of hit points, speed and armor makes killing them a difficult task. The best way to kill them would be with heroes, assuming they can reach the Kraken, or other naval myth units who are immune to its special attack. Krakens deal decent damage but have a very slow attack speed, striking about every 4 seconds. They also cost a lot of food, favor and population and killing one will mean a devastating loss for a naval army.
Mythology
| “ | Scientific Name – Psychroteuthis pelagii Size – 60,000+ thousand lbs | ” |
Kraken (Special)
This variant of Kraken is exclusive to the Fall of the Trident campaign and only appears in Omens, its first scenario. It only differs from the Kraken in two ways: it doesn't have the key task after its name in the screen description and can also enter buildings and Transport Ships. While the first thing is probably made for differing them from regular Krakens (special ones are used in that level by Egyptian pirates), being capable to entering buildings and ships is probably there to transport them in the Pirate Ships of that level or was initially meant to do this.
Special Krakens are not normally playable. In the campaign, they only appear in the Omens scenario, only as enemies, and must be killed to win. In standard games, they are not trainable by any culture. There is also no building or other way to spawn them. The only way to play them is spawning them in the editor maps, where their unit is available and differs from normal Krakens by being called (only in the unit editor) "Kraken - Special". If a spawned special Kraken is killed, it can't be trained again without triggers.
If a Special Kraken gains the Wrath of the Deep upgrade, their skin and their stats will turn to the Trench Kraken one, but their name will not change to "Trench Kraken". Also, their exclusive features will be kept the same, still without the key task after the name in the description and still being able to enter buildings and Transport Ships. This can obviously only be done in custom maps, by spawning Special Krakens and researching that upgrade.
Trivia
- Even though Krakens are naval myth units, they have also an ability which strikes ground units. This is uncommon for a naval unit.
- The Kraken is the first Myth unit fought by the player in the campaign, excluding the Cyclops in the Tutorial.
- Before the Extended Edition, Krakens could use their ability to sink Leviathans, as they were boats, though there is no animation when a Kraken uses the ability on a Leviathan. In the Extended Edition this no longer works.
- The special abilities of Krakens are based on the classic Kraken appearance in mythology: a giant octopus which sinks a ship using the grip of tentacles and throws humans with them.
- In the editor, there is an environment object called "Kraken bits", which are some remnants of Krakens like tentacles and heads. They do not seem to appear in any campaign scenarios.
Gallery
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