Guide

Archaic Age God Powers

Great Hunt (Odin)

Odin's first GP is a great way to expand your early food eco. It can only double the amount of animals up to 750 food, so never use Great Hunt on 2-3 deer and never use it on elephants because you're not guaranteed to get another elephant (GH is a very variable GP).

Best uses:

• Take all your sheep to a pack of 5+ deer, then cast Great Hunt. If only 600 food of deer is converted, the pigs make up for it and also multiply. Pigs generate food over time, so you're getting a lot more than 750 food.
• Immediate GH with pigs on Marsh or Tundra is also a solid use.
• Sometimes it's best to GH a second pack of deer so when you switch to that pack for your Classical food eco, you have lots of food prepared.

Dwarven Mine (Thor)

One of the most wasted GPs in AoT. Dwarven Mine is free gold, so using it immediately in Archaic isn't always best.

Only use immediately if:

• It's a water map where you plan on fishing
• Going for a 4:00 advance
• You have lots of hunting and plan on getting Pigsticker by 1:30

Don't use Dwarven Mine if all you have is a rhino — you'll lose a lot of hunting time just killing it with 1-2 villagers.

Later uses: Dwarven Mine's value increases as you age up (500 in Archaic, 1k in Classical, 3k in Heroic, 6k in Mythic). Drop it by your original gold mine to maintain flow while transitioning, or save it for late game when you have no mines left.

Spy (Loki)

Best targets:

• Gold villager (best): Whether you rush or raid, you always know where their gold is. The opponent can't know which villager is spied, so switching villagers won't help them.
• Food villager (second best): Useful intel on their food eco.
• Military units: Monitor where they're going to attack, if they're building up, and what counter-units they're making.

Wood villagers are the worst target because they don't move much.

Classical Age God Powers

Forest Fire (Bragi/Forseti)

Primary uses (in order):

1. Attacking wood eco: Either at ~6:00 when your Valkyrie hits their wood line, or later with cavalry to trap and kill multiple wood gatherers
2. In battle: Damage military units fighting near a forest (make sure it's actually touching their units)
3. Against buildings: Particularly effective vs Egyptian tower + house combos. FF can kill the tower, houses, and a monument very fast, opening them up to attack

Healing Spring (Forseti)

A defensive and passive GP — use it as such.

Best use: Cast it near your barracks in a raiding strategy. Rotate cavalry groups — raid, retreat, switch groups, let the damaged ones heal, send the fresh ones out. This dramatically reduces casualties even against towers and enemy units.

Also great for healing key strong units like Fenris Wolves between raids.

Undermine (Heimdall)

Best uses:

• Rushing: Instantly knock out a tower above someone's gold or take 800 HP from a TC for free
• Multi-tower kills: Aim the two dots behind one tower at another tower in a straight line — two towers down with one GP. If towers are closely packed, you can potentially destroy many more
• Late game: Free siege hit on Migdols, towers, or TCs. Back it up with a powerful army for maximum impact

Heroic Age God Powers

Flaming Weapons (Baldr)

A fantastic GP that allows Norse to knock down buildings and push through heavily fortified positions.

Common mistakes:

• Using FW when the opponent has a counter-GP ready (Cease Fire, Pestilence, etc.)
• Using FW when you'd easily win the battle anyway — save it for close battles or attacking fortified positions

Best GP combos:

• Ragnarok + FW: If your opponent can't Cease Fire the combo, you've got a great chance of winning. Max villagers + dwarves + caravans with all armory upgrades before Ragging
• FW + Fimbulwinter: Pushes your opponent off their eco while you attack with a boosted army. They can't cast GPs (Fimbulwinter blocks them), can't reinforce (eco is garrisoned), and usually can't push you back. No reinforcements + no GPs + dead army = GG in most cases

Frost (Skadi)

A counter-GP. Best used to stop Bronze, FW, or other timed GPs.

During Frost: Unlike Cease Fire, you can do whatever you want while the enemy is frozen. Drop a Hill Fort or two, then focus down their most dangerous units (siege, powerful MUs). When they unfreeze, they have to retreat or fight with a weakened army.

Walking Woods (Tyr)

Both underrated and overrated. It can end games, but it can also do nothing against a well-prepared army with heroes.

Best uses:

• Fast Heroic rushes: Immediate aggression with free myth units
• Charging fortified positions: If the enemy has no heroes, it's devastating. If they do, your army is more effective because they have fewer regular units
• Raiding economy: WW their faraway gold while you're attacking elsewhere
• WW + Fimbulwinter + TC attack: Almost impossible to beat on the first try due to the sheer mass of myth units that don't cost pop slots

Mythic Age God Powers

Ragnarok (Baldr/Tyr)

The most-used Norse Mythic GP. Converts all villagers and dwarves into powerful Ragnarok Heroes. More villagers = more powerful Ragnarok.

Preparation:

• Never Ragnarok prematurely. 60 villagers with a fast Mythic and no upgrades will almost certainly get pushed back by an opponent who waited for 100 villagers with full upgrades
• Set up a large trade route and/or fishing before Ragging so your eco isn't completely dead
• Get all armory upgrades before committing

Combos:

• Rag + Titan: Drop the Titan Gate in a secure position, put Rag Heroes on it, send the rest to fight. If your opponent hasn't gone Secrets yet, this is extremely strong
• Rag + FW: Very powerful but don't hold FW in Heroic if you need it there

Execution tips:

• Don't just charge into 30 towers + 10 Migdols + ranged units. Go Secrets first if needed
• Attack weaker TCs instead of heavily fortified positions — make it 5 TC vs 1
• Never retreat with Rag — if you're retreating, you used it wrong
• Don't split Rag unless you're confident in both attack points

Fimbulwinter (Skadi/Hel)

Only useful in combination with an attack. Anyone can just ring the town bell and Fimbulwinter does nothing on its own.

Best uses:

• Cast it right as you hit their TC (ideally with FW or WW). Stops their eco and prevents reinforcements
• Killing Titan Gates: Wait for the gong sound of them starting the gate, then cast Fimbulwinter immediately. The wolves may kill builders, and if they town bell, wolves might even destroy the weak gate

Nidhogg (Hel — Loki only)

A flying dragon unit that's strong in the right situation but easily countered.

Best against: Armies without many ranged units or ranged heroes. 40 hack per hit adds up fast when they can't shoot back.

Micro tips:

• Micro Nidhogg heavily — retreat when they focus him, then re-engage when their units scatter
• Keep him away from ranged buildings unless you plan to destroy them immediately
• Use for raiding enemy gold, trade routes, or sniping undefended units

Titan Gate snipe: Nidhogg does crush damage and can be summoned anywhere you have LOS. Summon him right on top of a freshly started Titan Gate — you can potentially kill it in less than 5 seconds with minimal HP lost.