Guide

Introduction

Oranos, the Atlantean god of the sky, is a very powerful god — commonly considered the 2nd best god (right behind Isis). There are many strategies with Oranos; the most common is the 4:30 seven-villager start, but there are plenty of other options covered in this guide.

The First 5 Seconds

1. As soon as the loading bar finishes, press the Town Center hotkey then queue 1 villager
2. Check if there's enough food for Hunting Dogs — if yes, use the 4:30 build; if not, use the 4:00 build; if it's a water map, go 4:40 Galley rush
3. Send your first Oracle to scout
4. Press the auto-queue button at the Town Center
5. Send out remaining Oracles as they come out

Main Build Orders

4:00 Build (Fast Advance)

Use this against opponents who will advance faster than 4:30 and rush you, or when you want to rush them very quickly. Harder to execute than the 4:30 but effective when perfected.

1. Starting Citizen to food (do NOT make an Economic Guild)
2. 2nd Citizen to food
3. 3rd Citizen to food
4. 4th Citizen builds a house, gathers 5 wood (1 hit on a tree), then builds a Temple, then goes to food
5. 5th Citizen to food
6. 6th Citizen to gold
7. Advance through Prometheus

During advance: move 2 food Citizens to wood and 1 food Citizen to gold. You should have 1 food, 3 wood, 2 gold. Send 1 wood villager back to food as you near Classical.

Upon reaching Classical: Auto-queue Citizens. Build either 2 Counter Barracks or 1 Counter Barracks + 1 Military Barracks. Auto-queue Prometheans at your Temple, Turma at Counter Barracks, and Murmillo at Military Barracks. Raid their economy and try to take minimal military losses.

4:30 Build (Standard)

The usual build for Oranos — recommended for most games. The goal is to raid until the enemy's economy is wiped out and they resign.

1. Starting Citizen builds Economic Guild (buy Hunting Dogs), then goes to food
2. 2nd Citizen to food
3. 3rd Citizen to wood
4. 4th Citizen to gold — when you have 80 wood and 25+ gold, build a Manor with the gold villager, then send back to gold
5. 5th Citizen to food
6. 6th Citizen to food (build Temple at ~3:05 with gold or wood villager)
7. 7th Citizen to gold
8. Advance through Prometheus

After advancing you should have 2 food, 3 wood, 2 gold. Buy both gold/wood upgrades at the Economic Guild.

Upon reaching Classical: Auto-queue Citizens and Prometheans. Build 2 Counter Barracks + 1 Military Barracks. Auto-queue Turma from both Counter Barracks and Murmillo from Military Barracks.

Archaic 2nd TC Grab (Boom/Rush Hybrid)

Gives you 9 villagers and a 2nd TC with a ~6:00 Classical time.

1. Make Economic Guild, get Hunting Dogs, then food
2. 2nd Citizen to food
3. 3rd Citizen to wood
4. 4th Citizen to gold (build Manor at 25 gold)
5. 5th Citizen to gold
6. 6th Citizen to wood
7. Next Citizen to TC
8. Next to food (build Temple)
9. Next to food
10. Advance at ~5:50-6:00

Upon reaching Classical: Auto-queue Citizens at both TCs and Prometheans at your Temple. Build Counter Barracks for Turma and Military Barracks for Murmillo. Get Copper Weapons, Copper Mail, Pickaxe, Shaft Mine, Husbandry, Hunting Dogs, Handaxe, Bow Saw, and push toward Heroic.

4:40 Three-Dock Bireme Rush (Water Maps)

Best for Midgard and Mediterranean. Gives a 6-Citizen, 4:40 Classical time with 3 docks pumping Biremes.

1. Starting Citizen builds a dock, then goes to wood or food (whichever is closer). Make 2 Fishing Ships
2. 2nd Citizen to whichever resource the starter didn't go to
3. 3rd Citizen to food
4. 4th Citizen to food — when you have 80 wood, build a Manor, then go to wood
5. 5th Citizen to food
6. 6th Citizen to food (build Temple)
7. 7th Citizen to gold
8. Start advancing around 3:40

During advance: rearrange to 2 gold, 4 wood, plus a builder making another dock and a Manor.

Upon reaching Classical: Two choices — make a 3rd dock and go full naval rush, or make a barracks and auto-queue Murmillo + Prometheans for a combined land and sea attack.

Minor Gods

Classical Age

Prometheus (Recommended ~100% of the time)

God Power — Valor: Target a group of units to turn them into heroes instantly (3 units + 1 Citizen if nearby). Saves approximately 700 resources total. Can be used 3 times.

Myth Unit — Promethean: (90 gold, 10 favor) A super cheap, fast-training myth unit that splits in half when killed. Decent crush attack — 6 of them can kill a completely unguarded TC.

Stat	Value
HP	175
Speed	4.00
Armor	80% Crush / 50% Hack / 25% Pierce
Attack	5 Crush / 10 Hack

Techs:

• Alluvial Clay (150 gold, 12 favor): +30% Promethean HP
• Heart of the Titans (200 gold, 20 favor): -30% heroization cost

Oceanus (Situational)

God of water with healing myth units. The Caladria is a great scout but expensive.

God Power — Carnivora: Summons a carnivorous plant that auto-kills any normal unit. Cannot move (vulnerable to archers). Can be used 3 times.

Myth Units:

• Servant (125 gold, 15 favor): Sea healer that can also heal units on the shoreline. 300 HP, 5.50 speed.
• Caladria (100 wood, 25 gold, 10 favor): Aerial healer with large LOS, excellent for scouting. 125 HP, 6.00 speed, no attack.

Techs:

• Bite of the Shark (200 food, 15 favor): +15% Murmillo hack damage
• Weightless Mace (200 food, 25 favor): +10% Katapeltes speed, +15% hack attack

Heroic Age

Theia (Recommended)

Usually the best Heroic choice. Focuses on cavalry.

God Power — Hesperides Tree: Acts like an Isis Monument, blocking god powers. You can train Dryads from it (150 gold each, decent myth units, take no pop, max 5 at once). The tree can be captured by enemies. Can be used 2 times.

Myth Unit — Stymphalian Bird (200 wood, 50 gold, 25 favor): Powerful aerial unit with a huge multiplier vs myth units. Fires 3 projectiles (~33 pierce damage if all hit). 400 HP, 4 pop.

Techs:

• Lemurian Descendants (50 food, 75 gold, 8 favor): +9 LOS for all units
• Poseidon's Secrets (300 food, 35 favor): +10% Contarius speed, +15% hack attack — a must-get if using Contarii
• Lance of Stone (300 gold, 12 favor): Hero Contarii get a large bonus vs buildings

Hyperion (Niche Pick)

Weak god power and myth unit with mediocre techs. Only consider him vs Scylla spam.

God Power — Chaos: Turns a group of enemy units to Gaia (hostile to everyone). Can be used 3 times.

Myth Units:

• Satyr (225 wood, 18 favor): Ranged myth unit but costly and weak for a Heroic age unit. Not recommended.
• Nereid (200 gold, 15 favor): Water unit with 600% bonus damage vs water myth units — the reason you might pick Hyperion vs Scylla spam.

Techs:

• Heroic Renewal (150 food, 150 gold, 20 favor): Hero units regenerate ~1.5 HP/sec
• Gemino (350 wood, 150 gold, 25 favor): Satyrs throw 3 extra javelins. Skip this.

Mythic Age

Hekate (Best for Titan strategies)

Goddess of Chaos — ideal if you're going for a Titan.

God Power — Tartarian Gate: Opens a gate to Tartarus that constantly summons powerful Tartarian Beasts (max 6 out at once, replaced when killed). If placed under a building, it destroys it. Great as a distraction while building your Titan. Can be used 1 time.

Myth Unit — Lampades (250 gold, 25 favor): Can convert enemy units to Gaia (like mini-Chaos). Sprays damaging blood when killed. 350 HP, 5 pop.

Techs:

• Asper Blood (200 wood, 250 gold, 15 favor): Stronger Lampades blood spray. Skip.
• Mythic Rejuvenation (300 gold, 30 favor): All myth units regenerate 2 HP/sec — includes the Titan. Invaluable.
• Celerity (200 gold, 10 favor): -60% myth unit training time. Cheap and good if massing myth units.

Helios (Best without Titan)

A very good god if you don't plan on going for a Titan. The only minor god that gives you a building.

God Power — Vortex: Instantly teleports all your units on the map to the target location. Only 1-minute cooldown. Great for surprise attacks or emergency defense.

Myth Unit — Heka Gigantes (300 gold, 25 favor): Tank units with massive HP, good armor, and a devastating attack. The only myth unit whose special ability works on Heroes — bashes back and damages attackers. 850 HP, 5 pop.

Building — Mirror Tower (300 wood, 150 gold, 5 favor): Shoots a beam of light instead of arrows — 100% accurate. 1100 HP, 22 range, 85% pierce armor. Great for extra defense.

Techs:

• Halo of the Sun (350 gold, 20 favor): +25% Fire Siphon damage, +20% Fire Ship damage. Useful vs turtlers.
• Petrified: +15% siege unit hack armor. Good if enemy is killing your siege with melee.

Unit Combos by Matchup

Opponent	Strategy
Zeus	Cheiroballista / Turma / Murmillo to counter Toxote / Hoplite / Hippikon. Requires heavy micro.
Hades	Lots of Turma to counter Toxote spam. Later adjust — if he adds Hoplites, add Cheiroballista.
Poseidon	Katapeltes or Murmillo to counter cavalry and raids. Mix in Turma in case he switches to Toxotes.
Ra	Katapeltes on Camels/Elephants, Turma on Slingers and Chariot Archers. Key: scout his Migdol.
Isis	Raid hard early — keep Isis completely off gold or her Heroic Ancestors + Chariots/Elephants will kill you.
Set	Scout heavily — he might go Classical fight or Fast Heroic.
Thor	You must kill him before Mythic. Once he reaches it, he'll almost always Ragnarok. Raid and micro hard.
Odin	Katapeltes + Cheiroballista to counter his Throwing Axemen and Raiding Cavalry or Fast Heroic.
Loki	Go Prometheus (mandatory vs myth spam). Consider Krush-style build: skip Economic Guild, fast Temple, auto-queue Prometheans + 2 Counter Barracks with Turma. Kill their forward base, then raid to death.
Kronos	Same as vs Loki — Krush style. Whoever has better economy and micro wins.
Oranos	4:30 start with Murmillo / Promethean / Turma. Better economy and Turma hero micro wins.
Gaia	Main weakness is myth units. 4:30 and rush/raid — should usually win.