| “ | Target a path of destruction along which to damage enemy buildings. Walls and towers instantly collapse, and other buildings take considerable damage. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
| “ | Target near enemy Walls, Towers or Fortresses to crumble them. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Undermine is a Norse Classical Age god power in Age of Mythology that is available to worshipers of Heimdall. When invoked, it deals damage to walls, towers, Town Centers, and Fortresses. Undermine is powerful enough to destroy walls and towers of any strength instantly, leaving a pile of rubble in their place, but only deals limited damage to Town Centers and Fortresses. It has a duration of 14 seconds. Friendly buildings are not damaged.
Further statistics[]
Age bonuses[]
Wonder Age: -75% recharge cooldown and recast favor cost.
Relic bonuses[]
- Hekate's Torches: -10% recharge cooldown and recast favor cost.
Strategy[]
Undermine is useful when ambushing an enemy town or a group of worker units as walls and gates are regularly built to protect a town or provide a safe escape route for worker units gathering resource away from a town. If using siege weapons, the enemy is likely to have time to respond but using Undermine will destroy defenses quickly, reducing the chance that the enemy can respond in time.
Undermine must be invoked on a building, from where it generates an unseen Area of Effect, the size of which is indicated by the orbit of the Norse symbols, that slowly travels to the next closest tower, wall, Town Center, or Fortress-type building, dealing crush damage to any aforementioned building in its path for the duration of 14 seconds. Invoking Undermine on a wall makes it possible for the player's army to rush into a town or continue chasing worker units during a raid. It is advised to target Undermine at the edge of a wall rather than its center, as this will affect a larger portion of it. This becomes more devastating for Egyptian, Atlantean, or Chinese players (both in Immortal Pillars and Tale of the Dragon) who invested a lot of resources in the many wall technologies available to them. Undermine's Area of Effect is wide enough that it can destroy any tower built too close behind a wall. It also essentially nullifies the advantage of Houtu's Earth Wall god power.
Undermine will also bring down towers instantly. If an enemy has grouped several towers together to protect a Wonder or Titan Gate under construction, a good amount of them can be eliminated to protect the player's army from harm when attacking. This is especially useful for Loki players planning on using Nidhogg, since he receives additional damage from towers. Removing a tower protecting a group of worker units is another viable use, especially when the enemy has researched Crenellations, which causes arrows to do additional damage to cavalry units, notably Raiding Cavalry who are the Norse's preferred units for raiding.
Although it does not destroy them instantly, Undermine also deals a considerable amount of damage to Town Centers and Fortress-type buildings. Weakening these large structures makes it easier for players to destroy them with a follow-up attack. Even when invoked on such buildings, Undermine generates the traveling Area of Effect and can potentially destroy any wall or tower built nearby. In team games, Undermine can be combined with Nüba's Drought to further weaken enemy defenses, reducing the hit points of enemy buildings in a wide radius before hitting them with Undermine's area attack.
Changelog[]
Age of Mythology[]
- The direction of Undermine's effect cannot be targeted.
Retold[]
- At release, Undermine deals 5 crush damage per tick, and has a damage multiplier of 2× vs. Town Centers and Fortress-type buildings.
- The direction of Undermine's effect can be targeted manually.
- Undermine also deforms the terrain, lowering the elevation of the ground where it passes through.
- With update 18.7603, Undermine deals 7.5 crush damage per tick and has a 75% damage penalty versus settlements under construction.
Immortal Pillars[]
- Initially, Undermine dealt no damage to Houtu's Earth Walls. With update 18.12962, Undermine now properly damages Earth Walls.
- With update 18.27100, Undermine deals 10 crush damage per tick, and has a damage multiplier of 0.75× vs. Town Centers and 1.5× vs. Fortress-type buildings.
Gallery[]
