Myth unit. Amphibious tortoise and snake duo with heavy armor. Good against human soldiers and ships.
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—In-game description
The Xuanwu (玄武) is a Chinese amphibious (land and naval) myth unit in Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars available at the Dock once the Mythic Age is reached. It is one of the Four Auspicious Beasts from Chinese mythology. With the body of a black tortoise with a fierce snake seated above, it is a hardy amphibian unit with high hit points and vulnerability reductions, moves faster on water than on land, and has a melee attack with a ranged special ability.
Venomous Spit (Charged): Attacks enemies with a poisonous blast at long range. (50 hack / 10 crush at range 18 on water and 16 on land with usual multipliers against enemy units, inflicting additional 2 divine damage per second for 20 seconds, recharge time: 15 seconds)
An amphibious unit with the ability to travel on both land and water, the Xuanwu boasts high hit points and armor, making it difficult to kill without the right units. Its normal attack inflicts both crush and hack damage, making it useful against both ships and buildings. The Xuanwu's snake half can spit venom at an enemy unit, poisoning them and damaging them over time, similar to the Wadjet's venom projectiles, but more powerful.
While the Xuanwu can move on both land and water, its movement speed is halved to only 3 whenever it is on land, leaving it vulnerable to attack. As such, bringing a Xuanwu to land can usually only be justified if the player wants to have it be healed by a Sage or Shennong's Favored Land. On the other hand, the player can train an army of Xuanwus and have them quickly travel by water to an enemy's base. While they will still become much slower once on land, this is faster than if the Xuanwus were made to travel to the base entirely by land instead.
Like with all myth units, the Xuanwu is weak against heroes, especially when on land, thanks to its halved movement speed and attack range. Likewise, it is also vulnerable to groups of melee myth units, especially fast ones like the Yazi and Anubite. Units that deal divine damage, such as the Son of Osiris, Man O' War, and Bellerophon, are also ideal to counter Xuanwus with, since divine damage ignores armor.
In Chinese tradition, the Xuanwu is one of the Animals of the Four Directions. Xuanwu represents the direction North and is associated with winter and the element of water. It is depicted as a giant tortoise entwined with a serpent. Due to the tortoise's long lifespan and the serpent's regular shedding of its skin, Xuanwu is considered a symbol of longevity.
Venomous Spit (Charged): Attacks enemies with a poisonous blast at long range. (50 
