Loki Hersir Rush: A Guide
By Aetius · vanilla
Aetius’s early Loki rush guide considers how aggressive Hersir play competes with fast advancement strategies.
Introduction
With the recent surge of players using fast heroics many people are starting to question whether the rush is still a viable option in multiplayer games. The purpose of this article is to explain how to stop these new popular strategies with a new Norse Hersir Rush that has been used recently by the #1 player on ESO, L_Clan_Geek. The Norse hersir rush utilizes Loki’s bonuses towards hero’s and longhouse units, and the fact that Loki’s Hersir summon myth units during battle. It allows the player to build up a strong force to wreak havoc among his still classical age opponent, while not putting him too far behind economically so that he is unable to keep up when his opponent does actually hit the second age.
Archaic Age
Now, lets take a peek at some of the benefits that makes Loki such a great god for rushing:
Bonuses
- Hersir summon myth units after fighting for long enough.
- Hersir move 10% faster.
- Myth units cost 10% less favor.
- Longhouse units train 10% faster.
- Ox Carts move 50% faster and cost 50% less, but have 25% less HP.
God Power: Spy The Spy GP is essential in pulling off a good hersir rush. Cast it on a scout unit like the Kataskopos, a Priest or Pharaoh, or a gatherer (Do not cast it on a unit that can build, as the god power will cease once that particular unit builds a building). The casting of the Spy GP should leave you with a good idea of where your opponent is placing his villagers, which will help out a lot when you begin your raiding in Classical.
Technology: Eyes in the Forest When researched, this technology gives all infantry unit’s +3 line of sight. Generally, this technology isn’t worth it until later on, as in a rush you don’t want to waste resources that could be used to train more units.
Archaic Economy
In most cases with the Hersir rush you will want to research the Husbandry technology right away, and stick your first five gatherers on berries. This applies to pretty much every situation unless you have a group of huntables in your original line-of-sight, or you are playing on a water map, in which you will want to place your first few villagers on wood, and immediately place a dock with your ulfsark. You will want to place a couple of gatherers along with an oxcart on gold, and two gatherers on straggler trees. You should then train and send four or five dwarves over to gold, allowing you to send the gatherers at your gold pit over to herd sheep. Meanwhile, you want to have your ulfsark scouting around your starting area. Be sure to have him lay down a house or two before the three minute mark, as you will need to place a temple a little ways outside of your opponents temple sometime between 3:00-3:45 so that you will be able to get a fast classical time.
The Temple
The temple is a building that is required to advance to the Classical Age. You will need to lay down a temple somewhere near your opponent’s town, but not close enough so that he will notice it being built. You will want to place your temple at around the 3:00-3:30 mark so that you will be able to have a fast advance to the second age. Be sure that you place your temple close to your opponents town, but not too close that he will be able to spot it with a scout unit. Try to place it somewhere on either the right or left side of his town, as he will most likely be expecting it to be somewhere in the front. During the advance be sure that you train three to five hersir to assist your ulfsark in the building of houses and to aid in your initial attack on your opponent’s town. Hersir cost a fair amount of resources at 80 food and 40 gold, so you’ll need to have ample resources to train them, but do not attempt to train any hersir before you have clicked the button to advance to the Classical Age.
Hersir
Hersir are the hero units of the Norse. They are fairly expensive at 80 food and 40 gold, but are a great unit to use for a very powerful early rush that your opponent is not ready for. The hersir may be trained at the temple during the advance to the second age, and are also available at the longhouse once you hit Classical. They have the ability to build buildings, which is a great bonus as you can set up a tower or two near your opponent’s gold mines, and can also place longhouses down once you have advanced, allowing you to insert various other units into your army. Hersir counter Myth units, but it is unlikely that you will be up against any at the point in which you begin your initial attack, but they also do fairly well against cavalry, but are too slow to keep up with the fast mounted units. With Loki, hersir have the ability to summon Myth units to aid them in battle, which can really turn the tide of a fight early on in the game. The summoned units cost no resources whatsoever, and can really give you a huge advantage against your opponent who most likely already has very few units to fend off your raids.
Classical Age
Before you begin the advance to the Classical Age, you must select your minor god. Loki offers you two gods to choose from, Heimdall and Forseti. When attempting the Loki Hersir rush you will almost always want to select Heimdall, even though he does not offer the Hall of Thanes technology that benefits that Hersir, he will make your Classical Age attack overall much stronger.
Forseti was the Norse god of justice, who ruled on judicial matters in the dwarven built palace of Glitnir. The gods would turn to him when they struck disputes among themselves. You will want to select Forseti if you fear a similar rush from another Norse player, or if you want to go all out on Hersir and Myth units.
God Power: Healing Spring When this god power is cast a small spring appears that heals all friendly units within a certain range. The spring cannot be destroyed, but can be captured by enemy units and used in their favor, thus the placement of the healing spring is vital, and it needs to be cast in a safe area, such as around your town center or at a forward base.
Myth Unit: Troll Trolls are ranged myth units that can hit units from a far distance. They are very slow, causing them to have a tough time against cavalry, but are cheap and you should be able to add a decent amount of them to your force early in the Classical Age. Trolls are also ‘vampiric’, and regain HP when they deal damage to enemies.
Improvements:
- Hamarrtroll- Trolls +50 HP, +2 range, +20 attack
- Hall of Thanes- Hersir +10 HP and speed.
- Mithril Breastplate- Ulfsarks have –10% hack damage vulnerability.
Heimdall was the watcher of Bifrost, the rainbow bridge that connected Asgard to Migard. He was charged with preventing the giants from attacking the Aesir’s very home. His hearing was so sharp he could hear wool growing on sheep’s’ backs, and he could see hundreds of miles, even at night. You will want to select Heimdall if you want to have a strong mixed force of longhouse units, or are playing against an Egyptian player.
God Power: Undermine When cast the Undermine God Power can tear down a number of walls, a tower, and does a great deal of damage to Town Centers and Fortresses. This god power can be a big help when attempting to take down an Egyptian opponent’s town, as it can tear down one of their free towers that may be guarding a resource site that you are attempting to raid, making it easy for you to harass the villagers gathering there. Undermine can also take out a group of walls that are guarding a players unprotected flank, allowing you to waltz into your opponents town virtually unharmed.
Myth Unit: Einherjar The Einherjar is a slow myth unit, but is almost like a siege unit for the Norse in the Classical Age. It is very effective at tearing down buildings, and in addition to that it’s special ability is a morale-boosting horn blow which gives your units increased abilities for a certain amount of time.
Improvements
- Eldhrimnir Kettle- Einherjar have +6 hack damage and +10% HP
- Safeguard- Walls and Towers have double HP, Towers cost 25% less
- Arctic Wind- Longboats have +10% speed and attack
Raiding and Classical Age Fighting
After you manage to lay down three or four longhouses you will want to begin your initial attack. If you have used the Spy GP correctly you should have a good idea of where your opponent’s woodcutters and gold miners are. Take your Hersir around and start attacking any villagers that are straying away from the range of your opponent’s town center. Remember, your goal is not necessarily to kill any villagers, but to keep them from gathering resources, as they are as good as dead when they are not.
Meanwhile, you will want to be producing Raiding Cavalry along with some Hersir at your longhouses and temple. If you have the favor then try to train an Einherjar or two, as they are great building killers early on. Swing your raiding cavalry around and try to hit your opponent from two directions, so that it will be much tougher for him to counter your attacks. If your opponent if Egyptian, and hits Classical he will gain free towers, which can be a menace. Make sure that you use Heimdall’s Undermine power on a tower that is guarding resources so that your raiding may continue a bit longer without interruption. When your opponent does hit Classical you will need to attempt to keep him from sending villagers off to remote locations to gather resources. Be sure that you are constantly scouting around the map, and if you do indeed find some unprotected villagers in a distant corner of the map then send a few raiders to take them out. Once your opponent sends military units to attack your raiders then run away. If you were successful in your early raiding then he shouldn’t have the resources to build up a huge force, so if he only sends a few units then you should take them out instead of retreating.
Heroic Age
Once you feel that you have your opponent on the locked in, and you are at your population limit, then you may elect to advance to the Heroic Age, which will give you access to strong siege units, and offensive god powers that will allow you to take down your opponent’s town center and surrounding buildings. In this case you will want to choose Njord as your Heroic Age God, as he gives you an excellent siege unit in the Mountain Giant, and one of the best god powers in the game in Walking Woods.
Njord was the Vanir god of the sea, winds and fire. His blessing brought good luck to sailors and hunters, however displeasing him would often result in fierce storms.
God Power: Walking Woods When the Walking Woods power is cast it has the ability to create a number of ferocious walking trees that attack your opponent’s units and buildings when they are near by. These walking trees are not great at fighting regular units, but have a huge bonus against buildings, and can really tear a huge chunk of your opponents town down. The Walking Woods GP is most effective when cast near vital military buildings, as the trees can tear quite a few of them down in a very short period of time.
Myth Unit: Mountain Giant The Mountain Giant is an extremely slow, but extremely tough myth unit that is very effective against buildings. When combined with the Walking Woods God Power, a Mountain Giant can fairly easily take down a very large portion of an opponent’s town, and can level a crucial town center of fortress with no trouble.
Improvements:
- Ring Giver- Jarls have +25% HP
- Long Serpent- Longboats have +20% attack and -20% crush damage vulnerability
- Wrath of the Deep- Krakens have +200 HP
Bragi was the god of eloquence and poetry, and the patron of skalds (poets or bards) in Norse mythology. Runes carved in his tongue gave him enternal inspiration, and by letting humans drink from his mead, they would be filled with words to write songs and poems.
God Power: Flaming Weapons When cast the Flaming Weapons GP engulfs all weapons of your military units in flames, giving them a huge attack bonus when fighting, which can turn the tide of a crucial battle so much that you may even be able to run over your opponents entire town.
Myth Unit: Battle Boar The Battle Boar is a strong, heavily armored myth unit with a nice attack bonus. Battle Boars are extremely tough to take down, and can give you ample time to rebuild a defeated force, or can be used as a diversion while you slip in siege units to level your opponent’s town.
Improvements:
- Call of Valhalla Ulfsarks +20% HP
- Swine Array Ulfsark have damage x2 vs Cavalry
- Thurisaz Rune All myth units move 12% faster
Conclusion
Hopefully this article will give you enough information on how to do an effective Hersir Rush with Loki, and will allow you to try something other than the popular fast heroic strategy. If you are interested, we have uploaded a couple of record games of the Loki hersir rush at it’s finest for your viewing pleasure:
FoX_EliteX (Ra) vs. L_Clan_Geek (Loki) (117 KB)
L_Clan_Trippin (Ra) vs. L_Clan_Geek (Loki) (104 KB)
Source: Aetius · HeavenGames