Priest (Age of Mythology)

This article is about the unit in Age of Mythology. For the Priest in other games in the series, see Priest.

The Priest is the main Egyptian hero in Age of Mythology. He is in essence a lesser version of the Pharaoh, though a player can have any number of Priests. Like other Heroes, the Priest has a large attack bonus against myth units. Though he does not start with the ability to pick up Relics, he can do so after Hands of the Pharaoh, a technology in The Titans, has been researched.

Additional powers[]

All Priests can heal allied units at 7.5 HP per second, somewhat more slowly than the Pharaoh, though this rate is doubled by researching Spirit of Ma'at (see below). Priests can also build Obelisks, Egyptian-only buildings that have a wide Line of Sight to help with scouting. Each major god grants the Priest a further power as follows.

Set[]

Priests of Set can convert any huntable wild animal (with the notable exception of Ducks and Chickens) to the player's cause. The conversion time depends on the type of animal; it ranges from 18 seconds for a Gazelle up to 1 minute for a Rhinoceros. Converted animals cost no resources and take up very few population slots. This enables the Set player to create a cheap army of animals early in the game when resources are low. Alternatively, converted animals can be used to scout or as food.

Isis[]

Isis' Priests build Obelisks more quickly and at a reduced price, making them better at scouting. This enables Isis players to better maintain line of sight across the map.

Ra[]

Ra's Priests can empower buildings like the Pharaoh, though less effectively. The effects of a Ra Priest's empowerment are as follows:

Buildings are built 30% faster
Units are trained 20% faster
Technologies are researched 20% faster
Buildings fire arrows twice as fast
Drop sites create 15% 'extra' resources
Monuments accumulate favor 15% faster

Ra's Priests can substantially boost the player's economy, especially if several of them are used.

Upgrades[]

Specific[]

Hands of the Pharaoh (The Titans): enables Priests to pick up relics and grants +2 range and LOS.
Spirit of Ma'at ( Nephthys): reduces the cost of Priests by 30% and enables them to heal units twice as fast.
Funeral Rites (Nephthys): increases the Priest's attack multiplier against myth units by ×1.5 (i.e. from ×9 to ×13.5)

General[]

Copper Weapons, Bronze Weapons, Iron Weapons: +10% attack
Copper Mail, Bronze Mail, Iron Mail: -15% hack vulnerability
Copper Shields, Bronze Shields, Iron Shields: -15% pierce vulnerability

Age Advance[]

Classical Age: +10% attack, +10% hit points, +9 range, +8 Line of Sight
Heroic Age: +10% attack, +10% hit points, +7 range, +6 Line of Sight
Mythic Age: +10% attack, +10% hit points, +3 range, +2 Line of Sight

Table of Priest's statistics:

Age	Attack	HP	Range	LOS
Archaic Age	1.5	90	3	8
Classical Age	3.3	99	12	16
Heroic Age	3.6	108	19	22
Mythic Age	3.9	117	22	24

Strategy[]

In battle, Priests function mainly as ranged support units as they are fragile and weak against human soldiers. However, they still form a crucial part of any Egyptian army: they are the Egyptians' main answer to myth units and their ability to heal prolongs an army's life. From the Classical Age, Priests have a long ranged attack; this improves further in later Ages.

Priests are also the Egyptians' designated scout. They can be used as such, at least in the Archaic Age when there is no real alternative. Although they are slow and have poor line of sight in the early game, they can build Obelisks: cheap but fragile structures that provide broad Line of Sight until they are destroyed. Though Priests are still useful at building Obelisks in later ages, other units such as Spearmen are better at scouting as they are cheaper and much faster.

Changelog[]

Age of Mythology[]

Originally, Ra's Priests could empower gathering to the same degree as Pharaohs. With patch 1.05, Ra's Priests give less of a bonus than Pharaohs when empowering drop-off points.
Originally, Priests did ×5 damage against myth units. With patch 1.05, this was changed to ×7.

Trivia[]

Originally the Priest had the ability to convert human soldiers and buildings. This feature was removed as it was considered unbalanced - it potentially granted the Egyptians access to all human units.
- Despite this, the Chinese Monk was introduced with the ability to convert human soldiers, although he cannot convert buildings.
The Priest is one of the most accurate units. He can hit moving targets, such as the Camelry and Raiding Cavalry, with a maximum speed of 6.00.
When attacking myth units, the Priest's projectile is a white glowing magic missile. When attacking other units, the Priest fires a projectile in the form of a rock similar to the projectiles thrown by Slingers.
The Priest was originally intended to be both melee and ranged, much like the Immortal. His ranged attack animation was the melee attack animation. The Priest still has his original ranged attack animation. The animation is shared with Setna.

Gallery[]

v • d • e	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
Poseidon	Theseus	Hippolyta	The Argo	Polyphemus
Hades	Ajax	Chiron	Achilles	Perseus
Egyptians
All	Pharaoh
All	Priest
Osiris				Son of Osiris
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)