Demeter: preparing an Underworld Invasion — Retold
By Ajax (compiled) · retold
Prepare for Underworld Invasion’s economic cost, choose a reachable target, and budget Call of Lykaion separately.
Prepare for Underworld Invasion
Underworld Invasion is Persephone’s Mythic power. Casting it sacrifices your Town and Village Centers to revive fallen human soldiers as Eidolons. The size of the revived army depends on your completed centers and the power’s spawn limit. You cannot build new Town or Village Centers while its rebuilding restriction is active.
Prepare the attack before casting. Inspect the completed centers you will sacrifice, the pool of fallen human soldiers, and the enemy’s ability to retreat or counter the revived army. Scout a valuable objective and a route your force can reach together. Losing centers reduces your economic and population support, so spend the military advantage on a position that helps compensate for that loss.
Lykaon production is separate from Underworld Invasion. Update 19.14612 moved center-linked Lykaon spawning into Call of Lykaion. Budget the prerequisite and technology before counting those future units in your army plan.
Keep workers protected and secure resources the army can continue to defend after the cast. If the opponent can avoid the attack while denying your surviving income, maintain conventional pressure until the position improves. Before committing, decide where the army will go, what it must destroy or secure, and how you will support the economy afterward.
Terrain control needs a follow-up
Demeter combines harvest, terrain control, deceptive myth units, and resource disruption in Retold. Identify what the enemy must gather next, disrupt access at a useful moment, and place the army where the opponent must respond.
Before casting Wither near your economy or an ally, check its current affected objects, duration, and area. Practice the interaction on a representative resource patch, then coordinate the disruption with an army that can contest the opponent’s replacement income.
Scout the dependency you intend to attack
Locate enemy food, wood, and gold, then watch where workers actually gather. A large forest near a base is not necessarily the forest supporting production. A farm cluster may be less decisive if the opponent still controls rich outside food. Effective denial starts with information about active income, not a guess based on the map’s appearance.
Look for a forced transition. When one resource is nearly exhausted, the next site becomes predictable. Your army can pressure the destination while the power disrupts the current plan, or threaten the old position to make the move difficult. Do not split forces unless both groups can survive long enough for the coordination to matter.
Keep a normal Greek army functioning
Demeter’s unusual tools still need ordinary income, continuous production, and a formation appropriate to the enemy army. Keep workers active and population room available while planning the power. A clever disruption followed by no reinforcements may inconvenience the opponent without improving your own position.
Choose the frontline and ranged mix by the threats you can see. Bring your relevant anti-myth support when enemy monsters are present. If the opponent builds a response to your own myth units, use human troops and movement to change the contact rather than insisting the monsters carry every fight.
Use deception to create information and access
Demeter’s myth units can use disguise, concealment, displacement, or enemy movement to create a better fight or expose a useful target. Learn the selected unit’s ability and restrictions so the army can exploit it as soon as it takes effect.
For example, a hidden unit watching a likely resource route may give advance warning of an economic move. A displacement effect can be useful when the rest of your army is positioned to punish the separated target. The same effect cast while your force is too far away may achieve little. Coordinate the ordinary troops first, then commit the specialist ability.
Avoid sending expensive specialists alone into an area you have not scouted. Deception changes what the opponent knows; it does not guarantee that a detector, hero, or reinforcing army is absent. Preserve an exit and update the plan when enemy movement reveals new information.
Judge a disruption by the response it forces
A successful denial may force workers to walk farther, cause a production interruption, or make the opponent defend an inconvenient location. Convert that window into a safe expansion, a favorable battle, or control over the replacement resource. Attacking a strong central position merely because the power was cast can waste the opportunity.
Watch for the opponent’s adaptation. If they relocate quickly and maintain army production, adjust your objective. It may be better to take the space they abandoned than to chase workers through defensive terrain. Resource denial is most useful when your own economy continues producing during the disruption.
Practice the sequence without guessing
In a custom match, test the current power against a small representative resource area and note what changes. Then play a practice game where you cast only after confirming an active enemy dependency. In the replay, compare the minute before and after: where did workers go, what did the opponent stop producing, and what position did you gain? If the answer is unclear, improve scouting and army coordination before trying a more elaborate trick. That keeps the strategy meaningful even when a balance update changes a duration or affected-object rule.