Siege weapon (Age of Mythology)

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

Siege weapons in Age of Mythology are land units that excel at the destruction of enemy buildings. They can also be used against infantry and ranged soldiers, though they are somewhat expensive and/or fragile and should be protected. Each civilization has two unique siege units: a ranged one and a melee or close-range one.

These regular siege weapons are complemented by a unique siege ship and many myth units that can be used very effectively against buildings. Examples include the Colossus, Cyclops, Mountain Giant, Einheri, Scarab, Taowu, and the Behemoth.

List of siege weapons

Greeks

• Helepolis: Ranged siege tower which can transport units.
• Petrobolos: Catapult which fires multiple rocks.

Egyptians

• Siege Tower: Uses a ram to tear down buildings. Fires arrows at units.
• Catapult: Similar to the catapult and stone thrower from Age of Empires. High range and high damage against fortifications.

Norse

• Portable Ram: Melee siege weapon almost immune to arrows. Strong versus buildings, but very weak against units. Akin to the Battering Ram from Age of Empires II.
• Ballista: Very long-ranged siege unit, strong against ships, infantry and archers. Moderately effective against buildings.

Atlanteans

• Cheiroballista and Cheiroballista (Hero)*: Anti-infantry siege weapon.
• Fire Siphon: Short-ranged but robust flame thrower.
• Onager (in Tale of the Dragon): Long-range siege unit similar to a Ballista, but better against buildings and weaker against units.

Chinese (Immortal Pillars)

• Siege Crossbow: Long-ranged siege weapon decent against buildings, ships, and units.
• Axe Cart: Short-range weapon that swings a large axe to destroy buildings and walls.

Chinese (Tale of the Dragon)

• Sitting Tiger: A long ranged siege unit similar to catapult.
• Fire Lance: A siege infantry like Destroyer but utilizes ranged attacks.

Anti-building human units

Greeks

• Infantry (Zeus): 1.5×
• Gastraphetoros (Hades): ​12  pierce damage with a multiplier of 12x vs. buildings (15× with Burning Pitch). Prior to Retold had ​6 crush attack, with Burning Pitch does 3×.
• Hetairos (Poseidon): 3.5×. Changed in Retold to instead do ​10  hack damage in an area of 2.5.

Egyptians

• Axeman with Axe of Vengeance tech (Horus): 3×
• War Elephant: 3×

Norse

• Huskarl with Bravery tech (Tyr): 2.25×

Atlanteans

• Destroyer: 6×
• Contarius (Hero) with Lance of Stone tech (Theia): 3×. Changed in Retold to instead slow down any one enemy unit by 30% for two seconds.

Chinese (Immortal Pillars)

• Fire Archer: 6×

Anti-building myth units

Siege weapons are not the only units effective at demolishing buildings quickly; some myth units may also be used as siege weapon alternative.

The Titan is a common myth unit for all civilization that is very effective against buildings. Some water myth units are also proficient against buildings, but since they are usually not used against buildings most of the time (excluding Docks), they do not appear in the list below.

Greeks

• Exceptionally good: Colossus, Cyclops
• Good: Minotaur, Hydra, Nemean Lion, Medusa

Egyptians

• Exceptionally good: Scarab, Sphinx
• Good: Petsuchos, Phoenix

Norse

• Exceptionally good: Mountain Giant, Rock Giant, Walking Woods, Nidhogg
• Good: Einheri, Battle Boar, Frost Giant, Fire Giant, Fafnir

Atlanteans

• Exceptionally good: Behemoth, Centimanus, Tartarian Spawn
• Good: Promethean, Carnivora, Lampades

Chinese (Immortal Pillars)

• Exceptionally good: Taowu, Hundun, Xuanwu
• Good: Baihu, Chiwen, Taotie

Chinese (Tale of the Dragon)

• Exceptionally good: Earth Dragon
• Good: Pixiu, War Salamander, Vermilion Bird

Anti-siege human units

Villagers do +50% damage against siege weapons. Other units with bonus damage against siege are:

In Retold

• Chinese (Immortal Pillars)
  • Terracotta Rider: 2×

In the Extended Edition

• Greeks
  • Prodromos: 2.5×
• Egyptians
  • Spearman: 2×
• Norse
  • Raiding Cavalry: 2×
• Atlanteans
  • Katapeltes: 2.5×
• Chinese (Tale of the Dragon)
  • Cataphract: 2×

Further statistics

God bonuses

• Kronos: Siege units return 20% of their resource cost when destroyed.
• Oranos: +4 Line of Sight.
• Fuxi: Yang Blessing increases damage by 10%.
• Shennong: Fire Lances and Sitting Tigers deal Area of Effect damage with radius 2. Increased damage multiplier versus buildings. (Before Retold)

General technologies

• Draft Horses: +20% movement speed.
• Engineers: Upgrades to Heavy variant (terrestrial siege weapons only), granting +25% attack, +100% bonus damage versus walls, and increasing the range of Petroboli, Catapults, and Fire Siphons by +2.

Myth technologies

• Oracle (Apollo): +4 Line of Sight.
• Sun Ray (Apollo): +10% attack. Attacks reveal enemy units for a short time. (Grants 25 Line of Sight around the target for 6 seconds)
• Dionysia (Dionysus): +5% hit points.
• Force of the West Wind (Sekhmet): +20% siege and myth unit crush attack, unlocks Catapults in the Heroic Age.
• Freyr's Gift (Freyr): +10% hit points.
• Nine Waves (Aegir): +20% attack and +10% movement speed; also affects heroes.
• Divine Books (Xuannü): Siege weapons and Fire Archers trained +50% faster at Training Yards.

Relics

• Archimedes' Ledger: -1 population cost.
• Dwarven Calipers: -20% cost.
• The Scarab Pendant: +20% attack bonus multiplier vs. buildings.