Hades: build a ranged position you can leave
By AoM Guides · retold
Use a defended opening to develop protected ranged damage, then move that advantage onto the resources that matter.
The objective: defend once, then control the map
Hades rewards ranged soldiers and defensive positions, but a permanent retreat to your starting Town Center lets the opponent choose every expansion and resource. Build enough safety to assemble a useful ranged army, then use that army to contest a specific location. A strong opening should leave you with both surviving troops and a reason to leave home.
Hades’s ranged-soldier upgrades are discounted. Budget for Ballistics and Burning Pitch when you need them; they require a purchase rather than arriving free with an age advance.
Arrange your first defensive area
Mark your working gold, food, and wood before choosing the location you want to defend. Keep routes open for workers to retreat and troops to move between resources. Defensive structures help only where their fire and your army can reach the attackers. A powerful central defense does not protect a distant hunting group by itself.
Use Sentinel on an eligible strongpoint that matters to the immediate game. Its presence can reduce pressure on that location, freeing the mobile army to watch another approach. Continue scouting the areas outside its coverage: the opponent may bypass the protected position rather than fight it.
Give ranged troops uninterrupted attacks
A Toxotes group needs room and a screen. Put durable troops between it and enemies that can reach it quickly, leaving space behind the formation for retreat. Avoid standing the archers against a forest or building line that turns a normal withdrawal into a surround.
Add counters according to the actual threat. If enemy ranged soldiers are winning the exchange, more of your original frontline may not solve the problem. If myth units dominate, bring the appropriate Greek hero and protect its access to those targets. Keep the ranged group shooting while the specialist handles its job, rather than ordering the entire force to chase one damaged monster.
Buy upgrades for the army you have
Discounts change affordability, not the need to make choices. Compare an upgrade with the additional units or reinforcement infrastructure the same resources could provide. An upgrade affecting a substantial surviving ranged group can support a planned attack; buying several technologies while the army is too small to defend delays the useful part of the investment.
Balance wood and gold for continuous ranged production with the food needed by its escort. Buy the next upgrade when it strengthens a substantial group you can keep alive, and keep the production queues working during the purchase.
Advance through a useful route
Once the defense holds, move toward an outside mine, contested food, or a vulnerable reinforcement point. Establish vision ahead of the army and avoid taking the shortest route if it leads through a narrow area where enemy mobility can surround you. Arriving together matters more than arriving a few seconds earlier in separate groups.
If the opponent retreats to fortifications, occupy the resource approaches they conceded. Do not turn a successful positional move into an unsupported assault on the center. Add a suitable siege transition only when the escort and income can protect it.
Replay drill
Follow your ranged troops through the first serious fight. How much time did they spend attacking, walking, or trapped? Then inspect the first movement after winning the defense. If nothing on the map became safer or more accessible, the opening lacked a follow-up. Improve that transition before investing in a larger defensive shell.