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This article is about the unit in Age of Mythology. For the similar unit in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, see Throwing Axeman (Age of Empires II). |
| “ | Infantry, Ranged Soldier. Counter infantry only good against other infantry. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
| “ | Infantry. Only good against other infantry. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Throwing Axeman is a Norse ranged infantry unit in Age of Mythology and the only one there is. It is the Norse counter-infantry unit and the only ranged human unit they had before the addition of the Bogsveigir in Tale of the Dragon, as they previously lacked ranged soldiers. In Retold. Throwing Axemen are again the only ranged human unit due to the removal of the Bogsveigir, which was replaced by the ranged hero unit Godi.
Special ability[]
Nature's Eyes (Passive, requires Eyes in the Forest): Animals and natural objects within the unit's Line of Sight reveal their surroundings (30-tile radius) for 6 seconds.
Further statistics[]
Strengths and weaknesses[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. |  Infantry,  Hersir,   Hero of Ragnarok
|
| Weak vs. |  Ranged soldiers,  Cavalry,  Hypaspist,  Peltast,  Axeman,  Slinger,  Godi,  Turma,  Cheiroballista,  Wuzu Javelineer
|
Upgrades[]
| Age | Upgrade | Upgrades to | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
 Medium Infantry
|
Medium Throwing Axeman | 150 food, 150 gold 20 seconds |
+10% hit points, +10% damage, +1 Line of Sight, +1 attack range |
|
 Heavy Infantry
|
Heavy Throwing Axeman | 300 food, 300 gold 30 seconds |
+15% hit points, +15% damage, +1 Line of Sight, +1 attack range |
|
 Champion Infantry
|
Champion Throwing Axeman | 500 food, 400 gold 40 seconds |
+20% hit points, +20% damage, +1 Line of Sight, +1 attack range |
God bonuses[]
- Freyr: Repairs buildings for free.
- Loki: +10% damage multipliers. Damaging enemies can spawn myth units. Constructs buildings +10% faster.
- Odin: Regenerate 0.4 hit points per second.
General technologies[]
- Levy Longhouse Soldiers and Conscript Longhouse Soldiers: -20% training time.
- Copper Weapons, Bronze Weapons, Iron Weapons: +10% attack.
- Dwarven Weapons (Thor): +10% attack.
- Copper Armor, Bronze Armor, Iron Armor: -10% hack vulnerability.
- Meteoric Iron Armor (Thor): -10% hack vulnerability.
- Copper Shields, Bronze Shields, Iron Shields: -10% pierce vulnerability.
- Dragonscale Shields (Thor): -10% pierce vulnerability.
- Ballistics: More accuracy vs. moving targets.
- Burning Pitch: +1 damage multiplier against Buildings, +1.5 damage multiplier against Ships.
- Axe of Muspell: 3× attack vs. Flying units and +2 range. (Before Retold)
Myth technologies[]
- Freyr's Gift (Freyr): +10% hit points.
- Eyes in the Forest (Loki): Animals and natural objects within its Line of Sight reveal a radius of 30 around them for 6 seconds.
- Hall of Thanes (Forseti): +10% movement speed.
- Rigsthula (Heimdall): -20% training time.
- Servants of Glory (Ullr): +5% movement speed and passive short burst of speed after standing idle.
- Huntress' Axe (Skadi): +1 range, attacks never miss targets.
- Twilight of the Gods (Vidar): +10% hit points and +0.2 damage multiplier vs. Heroes.
Relics[]
Throwing Axemen are affected by several infantry- as well as archer-focused Relics.
- Armor of Achilles: -5% hack vulnerability.
- Bow of Artemis: -10% wood and gold cost.
- Canopic Jar of Imsety: -25% training time.
- Eye of Ornlu: +5% attack.
- Feather of Bifang: +0.2 attack multiplier vs. buildings.
- Gaia's Book of Knowledge: +3.0 attack multiplier vs. Titans.
- Girdle of Hippolyta: +10% hit points.
- Pelt of Argus: +6 Line of Sight.
- Thundercloud Shawl: -5% pierce vulnerability.
- Ullr's Bow: +1 Line of Sight and range.
- Wuhao, Bow of Huangdi: Apply 15% snare for 2 seconds.
- Arrows of Heracles: +5% attack. (Before Retold)
Tactics[]
The main strength of Throwing Axemen is their distinctive ranged hack attack, allowing them to destroy many units with low hack armor such as siege weapons and many flying units like the Qinglong and Phoenix. They are even more effective when in groups, as they can easily wipe out any threat from infantry at any stage in the game. Likewise, they also deal considerable damage to buildings, even over obstacles such as walls. When behind cover, they can deal damage to enemy units from safety, especially infantry units. From the Heroic Age onwards, they can also be supported by Godis to take down flying units even more easily.
However, without cover, Throwing Axemen are considerably weaker, as they have low hit points and can be cut down by both ranged soldiers and cavalry. Their low pierce armor makes them especially vulnerable to ranged soldiers. Also, due to being classed as both ranged soldiers and infantry, they are doubly vulnerable to counter-archer units like the Wuzu Javelineer and Peltast. As such, it may be ideal to employ Huskarls and Raiding Cavalry together with Throwing Axemen to repel any enemy ranged soldiers.
The main strength of Throwing Axemen is their distinctive ranged hack attack. It allows them to destroy many units with low hack armor such as siege weapons and many flying units. They are even better against flying units thanks to the Axe of Muspell technology. They also deal considerable damage to buildings, even over obstacles such as walls. When behind cover, they can tear into cavalry and simply slaughter other infantry units.
Without cover, Throwing Axemen are considerably weaker as they have low hit points and can easily be cut down by faster units such as cavalry. Also, despite what the game literature says, the Throwing Axeman is weak against other counter-infantry such as the Hypaspist and the Axeman, losing in one-to-one fights against them. However, their greatest weakness is against archers, especially ranged counter-archers, all of which have a large attack bonus against Throwing Axemen.Changelog[]
Age of Mythology[]
The Titans[]
- With patch 1.01, Throwing Axemen have 30% hack armor.
Retold[]
- Throwing Axemen have 6 hack attack, 10 range, and train 15 seconds.
- Now also classified as an archer.
- Increased the damage multiplier against infantry from a unit-dependant multiplier varying between 2× and 2.75× ➞ 3× for any unit.
History[]
| “ | We know little about how warriors fought using throwing axes, but we do know that at least one Norse/Germanic tribe, the Franks, derived their name from a knife or axe that they apparently threw in battle. It is possible that they threw one weapon just prior to joining hand-to-hand combat, at which point they switched to another axe or sword. Throwing a weapon just prior to close fighting may have wounded and shaken many of the enemy just before the moment of contact, giving an initial, and perhaps decisive advantage to the throwers. | ” |
| —In-game help section | ||
Gallery[]
