Guide

Action’s Guide to effective Isis play

I won’t bore u with boring stats and god bonus’s because u can go get that from the manual if u really want to. This guide consists of seven sections. Firstly I’m going to give u my opinions on minor gods, when, where and how each should be used, then Isis on certain maps, and vs. each civs on those maps, and then also some build orders which can be followed pretty closely but of course, should be changed accordingly. Next, some advice into performing certain specialized strategies, and then give combination of human units u can use vs. each civ. Penultimately, I will give small tips which can have big effects on increasing your rate, and finally I will give advice into beating popular strategies such as the Norse semi-fh.

Section 1: The Minor gods.
- 1.1 The Minor Gods

Section 2: Isis in every Every Matchup.
- 2.1. Alfheim
- 2.2. Anatolia
- 2.3. Ghostlake
- 2.4. Highland
- 2.5. Marsh
- 2.6. Medi
- 2.7. Midgard
- 2.8. Oasis
- 2.9. Savannah
- 2.10. Tundra
- 2.11. Watering hole

Section 3: Build orders.
- 3.1. Optimal land eco fh
- 3.2. 4.20 rush with Hunting Dogs
- 3.3. 4.20 rush without Hunting Dogs
- 3.4. pre-4minute rush with Hunting Dogs
- 3.5. Monument start
- 3.6. 5.00 3 dock classic fight (Water)
- 3.7. 5.27 semi-fh (Water)
- 3.8. 7.10 fh (Water)
- 3.9. Anti-atty dock spam (Water - medi specific)
- 3.10. Optimal 2 dock mass eco unit build (Water)
- 3.11. Highland specific (1v1) (Water)

Section 4: Specific strategy advice and tips.
- 4.1. 2tc -fh
- 4.2. Anubis rush
- 4.3. General Standard FH advice
- 4.4. General Low hunt FH advice
- 4.5. Effective a/e attacks
- 4.6. The 3tc boom
- 4.7. The priests/siege fh
- 4.8 The Water (medi) 7.20 fh.


Section 5: Human unit combo’s.
- 5.1. Combinations of human units to use vs. each civilisation

Section 6: Secret tips to increasing your rate.
- 6.1. Important tips

Section 7: Help me, how do I beat...?
- 7.1. Raids and early flaming weapons
- 7.2. Scarab rush
- 7.3. Greek FM
- 7.4. Athena map control
- 7.5. Atty rush
- 7.55 Atty boom
- 7.6. Isis wars


Section 1
1.1. Minor gods

The great thing about Isis that I find is versatility (yes I know most people will expect the same thing every time). When I start a game I could use any of the 6 minor gods.
Bast: I love bast and she is my favourite of the 2 classical gods, eclipse is in my opinion the 2nd best classical gp (2nd to restoration IMO), I just love it, I win so many games thanks to eclipse, the obvious use of a/e, or combining with mass laser crocs (petsuchos?) or with my titan (owns oranos regenerating titan lamers). Sphinxes are sexy fast mu and great damage and extra classical eco ups always a bonus. Use bast vs. all eggy, all Greek and atty when u have safe 2nd gold or can fh easily, vs. everyone on water.
Anubis: is fruiting sexy vs. Norse and atty (lower hunt/open maps) Gp is kind of useful for securing gold or a hunt spot early, well microed anubites absolutely own Norse and atty armies so fast, 2 monument’s and the faster favour flow tech and u get a sexy constant supply, keep them away from heroes and just watch them win the game for u. Use vs. Norse and atty on land. He is useful on medi if u want to 4.30adv or faster to counter rushes, but I would recommend bast if your vs. Eggy no matter when u adv.
Nepthys: The most commonly chosen heroic god, simply for the gp, so it can be combined for lethal combo, and, quite frankly, is very powerful. Super mu, scorpion men are possibly one of the very best heroic mu in the entire game, and the sexy priest upgrades make u totally immune to other player myth units, seems pretty perfect, and well she is so powerful, one of the very top heroic gods in the game and it’s so good to have her available, Best use on open maps, water maps vs. All
Hathor: My favourite minor god of any age in the entire game, I just love hathor and use her every single game I possibly can! Mercs are already imbalanced and hathor just extends their life, medjay brick... more hp and cheaper buildings, can u say imba? And of course, rocs. Fan-fruiting-tastic. Crocs are super powerful too with 60 pierce damage. Use vs. All when u have safe gold mine or when u don’t fh.
Thoth: The best eggy mythic god, and one of the very best in the game. There is no really good counter to Thoth ellies (except a million towers) and book of Thoth gives +10% all resources and u can use meteor to take out a Tc or kill enemy tt gate, need I say more? (Avoid phoenix11) Use vs. All on all maps unless u vs. A big time mu spammer...
Osiris: Very useful in the right situation. Son of Osiris is the most powerful single hero aot has to offer, as well as 2 pharaohs it gives u mummy’s which kill any unit in 1 second! Great vs. Colossus spammers or fire giant spammers or if the atty lamer is going tt super fast.
Actions ideal god path: Bast - Hathor - Thoth
Of course everything depends on the map and situation, u should use what u feel is best, I find myself going Nepthys more than hathor, use what will help u win the specific game in question!


Section 2
Isis on specific maps, vs. each god!!!

OK this is the main section; I’ll go through Isis on each map vs. every god and include general build ideas.
2.1. Alfheim: [/size]this is a brilliant map for u vs. any god, except maybe ra/set. The first thing to look at is the position of your starting Tc:
? Option 1: U are in the corner, this means the map should be played aggressively and u will need to secure the gold (high chance).
? Option 2: U are in the middle, scout to the sides first, find your 2nd tc, I find in about 75% of alfhiem games there is at least 1 safe protected goldmine, if this is the case, u can go boom, if not, go aggressive.
I usually try not to fh here, instead fight classic and then up heroic with hathor because rocs are to imba here, the only exception is vs. Eggy where I don’t have safe gold. Its fairly safe to go boom here because even if u get 4-2 tc’s u have the best eco, u can jump mythic and titan while roc dropping enemy tc’s and/or his tt gate. I often like to scout with my pharaoh just a bit at the start, unless I have enough hunt to do my optimal 5-3-3 start (explained later), relics often sexy here.
Last point: Walls EVERYWHERE.

Vs Zeus: Often u need to react to him, will he rush, will he fm, will he 2tc/3tc? If he rushes u shouldn’t have too many problems, it’s easy to defend a rush here, if he booms u should look at the cliffs. Do u have easy access to your 3rc Tc? If u do make sure to do your a/e attack with as many scorpions/siege as u can and some ca to pick off his hero. Aim for at least 4 siege/3 scorpions when u want to attack, I know I said hathor for this map but Zeus loves colls just a bit too much so Nepthys ups are helpful if he booms for his mythic, if he fm’s ( u need to find out fast!) You can either rush him (1tc 8min fh, attack at 10.30 with max pop) or 3tc then fm yourself and try to out-eco him, both might work, both might not. Its generally a good idea to make 2 monument’s early no matter what, favour for scorpions or Nepthys ups is a must. Mass walls vs. anything is so important as ever

Vs. Possy: ez11, make walls, up crenellations, mass scorpions, go attack with siege/scorpions/ca laugh say gg. If u get some sexy safe gold, u can go 3tc with 40 farms at 12 minutes and up hathor then go full ellies from 2 migdols and watch them win.

Vs. Hades: boom, He is unlikely to be aggressive but if he does walls will slow him long enough for u to adapt. Boom full ellies and make sure u go hathor.

Vs. Ra: I often don’t know what I’m doing until I know his classical god, if he goes bast, I’m going 2tc fh with a lot of priests and unless I have really bad gold I will go hathor (bad gold = Nepthys), if he goes Ptah I will go hard boom and always up hathor, out eco him (try have some farms for when he rains).

Vs. Isis: rush, up as soon as u can 4.30 if u can with quite a lot of priests, heroic as soon as u can with a forward migdol (if it’s going well go hathor still) and try for a 4-2 tc advantage.

Vs. Set: I never know what to do vs. Set here, if I get safe gold I boom and mass ellies, if I don’t I fh and hope 11. Trying to out-eco a set player is usually a good strategy seeing as u are never going to get map control anyway due to shifting sands and animals.

Vs. Loki: U should be expecting forseti rubbish, so do the usual semi-fh with 5 axe men and up Nepthys, then it’s fairly standard a/e before fw and push with axe/ca/ellies/siege.

Vs. Thor: 4.20 Anubis!!! (For extra help see strategy guide at the end) try for 4 Tc’s in classic and up hathor. Just keep those anubites away from his hero. Make sure to up hathor also. Raid him hard and keep him off hunt.

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: Game dependant. Try to work out his strategy, does he 4.30? boom? 3.55? Check to see if he has hunting dogs early.

Vs. Kronos: Chances are he will krush so you want to adv at 4.20 with Anubis (or faster if a lot of hunt). Send your anubites to raid and try to fend him off with your heroes. Add some slingers and try to kill his hero’s and watch your anubites win for u.

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.2. Anatolia: The best map for u, If Isis could design an aot map, this would be it. U can do pretty much anything u want here and probably win, but u should probably fh at 8-8.30. Look carefully at the middle tc’s here, If one is close to the water, try to win that water and try to build THE OTHER tc. This means u have the best Tc and can use water as a way to take his Tc out in mythic, your enemy now can’t do this. Try to keep about 10-12 on wood and lot on food for a lot of ellies. U should win more than u lose on this map. Use the optimal 6.00 water build order provided later in this guide. It’s vital to pick up a lot of middle gold as trade is often not good.

Vs Zeus: React to him, if he goes heavy on water, go heavy on land and keep him off all middle gold. If he rushes u on land, knock him off fish and use some barracks units to help u get to heroic safely, then use migdol units and barracks unit and your a/e to put him in his place.

Vs. Possy: Fh with a lot of ellies/ca/siege/spears

Vs. Hades: Fh with a lot of ellies/ca/siege/slingers

Vs. Ra: Fh with a lot of ellies/siege

Vs. Isis: Fh with a lot of ellies/siege. When going to heroic scout the middle with 5 priests and obelisks so u know where he is, a/e him if possible, only a/e his first migdol if u catch it under 1/3 hp or he doesn’t have many priests

Vs. Set: as Isis, your eco is better to use that to your advantage, u will need quite a lot of priests, win as much water as u can.

Vs. Loki: win as much water as u can, both sides if possible. Use a lot of axe men and priests with the Nepthys damage up, added to your ellies/ca. Go aggressive and try to get a/e in before fw.

Vs. Thor: Keep raiding his fish then use axes/ellies/fast a/e. U don’t need to many guys on wood for this strategy

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: Win 1 side of the water and go ft with 2tc. Save eclipse to use with your tt and gg. Osiris too

VS. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.3. Ghostlake: This can be a great map for Isis, or a poopie map for Isis. It mostly depends on the eso generator. The first thing u need to check for is, do u start with 1 or 2 3k goldmines in your base? If u only have 1, u are going to need to go fh fast or play aggressively classical fight (before 8.20 if u fh if possible) as it is likely that good opponents are going to play aggressively against you. If u have 2 goldmines u can boom a bit more if u like, it usually depends who I’m playing against but it at least gives u the option of a really big pros(20+ vills) and spamming many farms and going mass ellies, works great against Greek for example. Take note of the goldmines on the outside, Ghostlake has a habit of giving one player nearly all the outside goldmines (at least in my experience), so if your side is lacking, make sure your setting up that trade route very early on, even if it’s a small one, u can enlarge it later. Remember Ghostlake is an open map and there are no resources in the middle, so raiding is a very good tactic to use here.

Vs Zeus: 2 monuments start and a lot of ca, try to adv to classic around 5mins and use you're mu/free hero’s to stop a tc if he is building it, or disturb his hunters/ military production builders. Keep your scorpions safe, they are your best friend, keep focus firing on his hero’s and watch your scorpions with for u, keep aggressive and raid him hard.

Vs. Possy: rush him again, like Zeus, but Possy is less versatile and less powerful than Zeus so u can be pretty sure he will up and spam hipps, maybe taking a 2nd tc. I like taking a 2nd tc myself and spamming 10 spears to repel his raids making 2 or 3 monuments’, a good mix of scorpions and camels/ca and some heavy raids should see you good. If u have 2 goldmines and a lot of safe food u can just go fh, don’t forget crennelations.

Vs. Hades: Hades is likely to want to boom here, so u have 2 options. 1) adv fast again and try to stop that tc going up then heroic as soon as u can, I find when I’m doing this I’m using a lot of camels (get pierce up) vs. his gay archers. The other option is (providing u have some good gold) 3tc booming in classic and going hathor/Thoth for op late game, this is my favourite approach.

Vs. Ra: 1 gold? Go super fast fh aggressive (8mins) and fwd migdol, use your ancestors well and gold starve the fruiter, don’t forget 8 priests + Nepthys damage up to beat those pesky scarabs. 2 gold? Well unless u are vs. someone who will scarab rush u for sure (in which case defensive migdol with 8 priests, some slingers/camels/ca) go 3tc and up hathor/Thoth for insane late game. A lot of ra’s will usually go 2tc ptah if they have 2 x goldmines, so u will rape him playing this way.

Vs. Isis: 4.30 adv or faster, take map control (hunt/gold) and go heroic when u can (8.30 or before). 1 goldmine? Offensive migdol and try to gold starve, full army, take a 2nd and 3rd Tc when you’re popped. 2gold? Migdol closer to home and make3tc and trade as soon as possible, go for a better eco.

Vs. Set: play defensive and build a monument by your gold and keep your sheep’s close to the monument so he can’t shift them away. 1goldmine? Migdol at home and try to get your ancestors in first, u still want 8 priests to deal with animals/ancestors and spam camels/ca/slingers. Try to pick up 2nd Tc after u secure outside gold. Your eco is better, abuse this. 2tc? Make a 2nd Tc and then spam 25-30 farms (use pros for the farm spam), heroic, mass ellies, + a/e, pick up your 3rd Tc and setup trade.

Vs. Loki: axe semi-fh, Nepthys priests up with 6-8 priests + axe/ca should see you good. Fh by 8.15

Vs. Thor: 1 gold Anubis rush, 2gold, boom with 2 or 3 Tc’s (depends on hunt/food spots), ellies/axes/siege/scorpions a/e attack should see u good.

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: 1 gold Anubis classic fight, 2 gold priests/siege fh

VS. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.4. Highland: A map many of the pros don’t like, u can lose to players 100points worse than u, and , likewise beat players 100 points better than u simply because of the luck u have walking to the side with most fish, or the bears eating your poor vills. It’s a great map for u vs. atty and Norse/ra, and quite good vs. Possy/Hades, terrible vs. Zeus/set. I find a good general strategy is to win some fish (9 spots at least) with 5.30 adv (see 5.27 water or highland specific build order) and then take my Tc’s and boom. Hathor is important to have here in most cases.

Vs Zeus: just try and work out his strategy, is he rushing your docks/water? Then make 2-3 Tc while trying to win a smaller pond, and boom your ass off, is he going fh > fm? Go fh on land and go super aggressive, a lot of siege and ca, don’t give him a second’s peace.

Vs. Possy: 7.20fh

Vs. Hades: 7.20 fh

Vs. Ra: 7.20fh

Vs. Isis: fh with few classic ships

Vs. Set: fh with few classic ships

Vs. Loki: win some water and make Tc’s, use axe men to defend. Hathor/Osiris.

Vs. Thor: win some water and make Tc’s, use spearmen to defend. Hathor/Thoth

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: Win some water and make Tc’s. As long as u dong get fruited with gold u should win pretty easy, go priests/siege spam, or farm spam then use anti-atty combo’s (described in later section) or go ft saving eclipse.

VS. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.5. Marsh: A pretty damn sexy map...sometimes. If u get a 6k goldmine inside Tc range you’re smiling, if u get 2x 6k gold, your laughing all the way to a high rate. It’s good to play this map aggressively in most situations to push your enemy off hunt (not including vs. atty). Also, when scouting u should scout the middle only at first with your priests, get a good look at where the op relics are and take as many sheep as u can, use your own sheep to scout the side or the sphinx can do it later. Look for the good tc/bad Tc scenario as described later on.

Vs Zeus: rush him at 4.30, push him off hunt and heroic as soon as, spam ca and scorpions and siege, if u have great gold, u can 2tc fh with 2 monument’s or even adv around 5.10 and make a middle tc, followed by a back tc and really out boom him.

Vs. Possy: fh with crenellations and 2 monuments. Use pros to spam some farms and make camels to kill his hipps, keep 5 vills on gold to make scorpions and a few ca, it’s also a good idea to have a barracks for spears. A lot of mu and killing hero’s fast hurts.

Vs. Hades: either rush, like vs. Zeus, or if u have good gold 2tc fh and go hathor, crocs rocks vs. Hades

Vs. Ra: 2tc fh

Vs. Isis: 4.20 rush, heroic as soon as u can and go for map control, normal stiff after, ca/ellies/siege etc.

Vs. Set: ewww horrible matchup. With some luck u get gold in your base and u can boom a bit with ellies, like on Ghostlake, if not go fh as fast as u can. Make migdol in your base and try to secure gold, using ancestors in defence here is no bad thing, get that 2nd monument on your outside gold while eclipse is on so he can’t shift your priests away during his ancestors, again your eco is better, abuse this.

Vs. Loki: up around 5.30 and make a few axe men, take more tc’s and boom, then rape him with ellies and axes and Nepthys.

Vs. Thor: 4.00 Anubis

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: if u get really bad gold go for Anubis classic fight, or u could just do that full stop, it’s really effective here. If I get a 2nd safe goldmine I prefer going fh and priests/siege spam which often works really well, if u get two safe 6k goldmines go ft (2tc). U want to adv to classic around 5.40. If u want to make a second Tc right away keep 9 on gold, then u won’t need pros.

Vs. Kronos: You need to work out how fast he is rushing u, so go send your priest to work it out. Start with the 3f 3g 2f as talked about in either the 4.20 adv or the optimal fh build orders, at this point u should know if he has hunting dogs (no krush so same as oranos) or doesn’t have hunting dogs (carry on with 4.20 build order. If he krushes go up Anubis and make 2 monuments as soon as possible. Use slingers/priest combo to kill his heroes then unleash your anubites and watch then win for u. IF u have good gold, once u have 10 or so units, make a 2nd tc and out boom.

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.6. Medi: a great map for u vs. any god except Zeus. 7.20 fh works beautifully here vs. non-eggy/Zeus, and 5.27 semi-fh works great vs. eggy. The main thing for this map is that if u win water, u should fish EVERY gold spot while setting up trade (10.00). If things are going to plan (i.e. your raping on water) then try to make a migdol by the enemy’s 3rd Tc, and build that, a fish/trade fuelled 4tc is unstoppable.

Vs Zeus: One of the worst matchups for an Isis on aot without a doubt. I tried many approaches and the one that seems to work best is a 5.00 3 dock classic fight (build order given later), this idea was actually given to me by my wub (u know who u are baby), the idea is that even if he has restoration (Which u run away from) he is spamming from 2 docks and u are spamming from 3, so with some good micro u should outdo him.

Vs. Possy: 7.20fh

Vs. Hades: 7.20fh

Vs. Ra: 7.20 fh

Vs. Isis: 5.27 semi-fh

Vs. Set: 5.27-semi-fh

Vs. Loki: 7.20fh. A/e his eco only if there ar 2 hersir or less, more means that they will kill your anc so fast and he will be slow to heroic to anyway so u shouldnt have any problems winning water.

Vs. Thor: 7.20fh, as loki

Vs. Odin: 7.20fh, as loki

Vs. Oranos: 7.20fh

Vs. Kronos: 7.20fh. Some of u will be wondering how this is possible, but it is, u just need a lot of docks (5-6 at 4.45, build given later)

Vs. Gaia: 7.20fh

2.7. Midgard: A great map for u vs. eggy and atty, not so great vs. Norse and Greek but by no means hopeless. The reason for this is it’s hard to setup a good trade route. I would 2 dock start vs. all (follow 5.27 build for vs. atty and the op water build vs. rest). It’s often fairly good to distract the enemy on water in classic then go full land in heroic. This map is often really low in goldmines (I’ve played it where there has only been 3x 6k goldmines on entire map) so it’s important to locate gold and secure enough especially as it’s hard to setup a trade route here.

Vs Zeus: Again u need to react to him, if he goes heavy water, u go heavy land, if he goes heavy land, u play defensive with a few barracks units and go fh and raid him on water a bit.

Vs. Possy: Fh with a lot of ellies/ca/siege.

Vs. Hades: Fh with a lot of ellies/ca/siege.

Vs. Ra: Fh with a lot of ellies/siege.

Vs. Isis: Fh with a lot of ellies/siege. When going to heroic scout the middle with 5 priests and obelisks so u know where he is, ancestors him if possible. Try to be in heroic before 8 minutes and take map control/goldstarve.

Vs. Set: Abuse your naturally stronger eco; push him off fish while securing gold and abuse ellies/siege.

Vs. Loki: Few axes on land in classic and raid his fishing, up heroic as soon as possible and go full land with ellies/axe/ca/Nepthys upgraded priest.

Vs. Thor: axes/ellies/fast a/e gg. Distract him on water a bit in classic and try to make him fight it so he can’t boom so well, then pummel hard on land.

Vs. Odin: As Thor.

Vs. Oranos: Anubis classic fight or fh if u have really good gold (2nd 6k goldmine close to base). If u fh, win the water after u secure outside gold and use axe/ellies/slings on land.

Vs. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.8. Oasis: Interesting map here. At the start I always end priest and pharaoh on a sheep-finding mission, unless I’m vs. atty and I want a 4mins adv. Classic fight and boom works well a lot of the time. Making walls all over the map to stop his trade is always a good idea. Also protect yours. Hathor is a great idea here when possible (when not playing against extremely aggressive opponents).

Vs Zeus: fh and go aggressive, 2monus, scorpions, siege and ca.

Vs. Possy: as Zeus

Vs. Hades: as Zeus

Vs. Ra: aggressive fh and build your migdol on his 2nd gold, so u can gold starve him, if he goes bast/sekhmet make sure u have enough priests.

Vs. Isis: Middle tc’s go fh (don’t bother with priests in classic) as fast as u can possibly can then make 8~priests when u up to get map control, then u should be in heroic before your opponent, with map control, take 4-2 tc and wall off his trade.

Vs. Set: super fast fh and out boom.

Vs. Loki: 3tc with axes.

Vs. Thor: Anubis rush.

Vs. Odin: As Thor.

Vs. Oranos: Anubis classic fight.

Vs. Kronos: as oranos.

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.9. Savannah: not a good map for u 11. Raids are a good tactic here It can be turned into a good map sometimes, look carefully for your back tc/tc’s, sometimes they protect a goldmine, in this case build that Tc and out boom.

Vs Zeus: fh as fast as u can with 2 monument and spam ca/scorpions. Raid him hard; when u have 4 sieges do your ancestors attack.

Vs. Possy: as Zeus, get crenellations.

Vs. Hades: as Zeus.

Vs. Ra: fh gold starve (like oasis) or 3tc boom if u have good gold.

Vs. Isis: 4.20 classic and map control.

Vs. Set: eeeewwwwwwwwwww not fun. Fh and try to secure 2nd gold then pick up Tc’s while raiding and get eco advantage.

Vs. Loki: make some axes and go semi-fh, or Anubis classic fight, depending on hunt. If there is a lot in the middle it’s often worth fighting for.

Vs. Thor: Anubis rush/raids.

Vs. Odin: As Thor.

Vs. Oranos: Anubis power.

Vs. Kronos: as oranos.

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.10. Tundra: In my opinion the worst map for u vs. any god except ra. Unless u get some sexy back gold or hunt. U can play this map really aggressively, or go fh super faster and raid hard, in my opinion.

Vs Zeus: he is likely going to go Athena aggressive so use the anti-Athena strategy described later. It’s a good idea to rush them, knocking off hunt but u need a good heroic time. Doing this allows your hunters to keep hunting while he defends vs. your priests.

Vs. Possy: 2mons fh with crenellations, or rush at 4.30 and go heroic, it depends how much hunt u have close to your base, some maps give 4x aurochs by your towers, so just go fh in this case, if u don’t get anything nice, rush the fruiter

Vs. Hades: rush him to fruit his boom and heroic as soon as possible, lots of siege.

Vs. Ra: 2tc fh

Vs. Isis: 4.20 rush, use pros and get a lot of priests, keep him off hunt and migdol fwd, get a 4-2 Tc adv

Vs. Set: alt-f4. Or fh as fast as possible with 2nd monument at 2nd gold and secure Tc’s after u got gold safe

Vs. Loki: axe men semi-fh

Vs. Thor: Anubis rush

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: Anubis classic fight or priests/siege heroic if u get good food

VS. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

2.11. Watering Hole: Either the best land map, or the worst land map, Depends on the eso generator. Sometimes u get unlimited safe hunt/gold (So to speak) and sometimes u don’t even have the food to fh. So scout and play appropriately. Assuming u get semi-good food, look at the gold, if u don’t have any safe, go fh and play aggressive, if u get 1 safe goldmine by either 1st or 2nd tc, go 2tcfh, if u get 2 safe goldmines (6k’s) go ft. Make sure to watch out for the good Tc/bad Tc scenario.

Vs Zeus: Depends on res, 2tc Osiris ft works great, as does playing aggressive (8min fh, attack at 10.30)

Vs. Possy: 2tc fh with crenellations, ft if gold is good

Vs. Hades: 2tc fh, or fm. IF he goes 2tc Athena (most likely) he isn’t stopping catapults + SoO + 2-3 mummies + ca/ellies

Vs. Ra: Look at the gold, 2tc fh with hathor if possible, ft if u can

Vs. Isis: 2tc semi-fm or super aggressive

Vs. Set: 2tc fm/ft

Vs. Loki: 2tcsemi-fm Osiris

Vs. Thor: 2tc ft or really aggressive with 2 monuments and a lot of scorpions

Vs. Odin: As Thor

Vs. Oranos: fh priests spam or ft with eclipse

VS. Kronos: as oranos

Vs. Gaia: As oranos.

Section 3
Build Orders

3.1. Land op eco FH - HIGH HUNT

? 3food
? 3gold
? 2food
? Villager makes: Monument > 3 houses > Temple > rest houses > market
? 3 wood
? 7 food
? 5 gold
? Adv (12f-3w-8g)
? Armoury at wood, send new villagers to wood
? Adv 5 food/7wood/lots of gold

This will put u in classic in 6.09, if u want to be faster, send less to gold at the end and put 1 villager from wood to gold. Around 3mins u will research Nile and pickaxe, and get husbandary + hand axe the moment u can after u have started your temple. As soon as u advance, get shaft mine/the bast wood tech and signal fires.

3.2. 4.20 priests rush HIGH hunt

? 3 food
? 3 gold
? 7 food (make a temple with 2 gold vills)
? Houses/monument after adv
? Wood
? 2 gold
? Adv, send 5 vills to gold from food (5f-1w-10g)
? After adv send 5 vills back to food (10f-1w-5g)
? Send vills to food until 15
? Send vills to gold until 10
? Adv

3.3. 4.20 priests rush LOW hunt

? 11 food
? Temple
? 2 food
? Houses
? 2 Gold
? Adv
? Same eco as on high hunt.

3.4. Adv even faster on High hunt!

? 3 food (+ hunting dogs)
? 2 Gold (don’t make obelisks)
? 7 food
? Temple + houses
? Gold until adv.
I did a 3.50 classic with this before but u need to have minimal walk time, it’s great for a 4.02 vs. Kronos or Norse.

3.5. Monument start

? Monument first then 7vills food
? 5vills gold
? Wood
? Houses/temple builder
? Wood
? 6-7 food
? Gold until adv making a 2nd monument


3.6. Water 5.00 adv 3 dock classic fight (use vs. Atty/Greek on medi)

? 1 villager make dock > house > gold
? 5 vills food
? 4 vills wood
? 2 vills gold
? All food. (make a temple when u can and make 2 houses with a wood will when your about 23/28 pop)
? Adv at 4.00 and arrange eco so u have 12 wood, 6 gold and a builder dude makes 2 more docks then houses/monument

3.7. Water 5.27 semi-fh (use vs. Isis/set on medi)

? 1 villager makes dock > house > 2nd dock > 4 houses > more docks/houses/monument
? 5 food
? 5 wood
? 5 gold
? All food until adv
? Adv at 4.27 and arrange eco so u have 13 wood, 7 gold. In classic send all new vills to gold until 15 or so, it’s important to over stack your gold so u can make priests if opponent goes fh and that u have 500 gold around the 9mins mark to go heroic even though u have been making ships from 3 docks non-stop.


3.8. Water 7.20 fh (medi vs. Norse/atty/Greek/ra)

? 1 villager makes dock > house > 2nd dock > 4 houses > more docks/houses/monument
? 5 food
? 5 wood
? 5 gold
? All food until adv

Adv at 4.27 arrange your eco, it should be about 21-3-7. In classic, make an armoury at wood and adv.

3.9. Anti-atty medi mass dock build for medi

? 1 villager makes dock > house > 2nd dock > 4 houses > more docks/houses/monument
? 4 food
? 4 wood
? 6 gold (Send a wood villager to make more docks after u started temple, having 2 vills making docks will see u have enough to survive atty prom bashing (which u can own with hero anyway.
? All food until adv (u will probably hit classic at 5.40 or 5.55 depending on if u got food or hunt, just make armoury up.

N.B build docks close together so if he attacks one with ships, 3-4 docks will fire at the enemy at any one time.

3.10. Optimal water build 2-dock (Midgard/Anatolia vs. All)

? 1 villager makes dock > house > 2nd dock > 4 houses > more docks/houses
? 5 food
? 6 wood
? 6 gold (With 6th make monument)
? 3f
? Gold until adv. (this should give around 6min adv with 45-50 pop depending on fish)

Leave eco the same and make a few ships in classic and go heroic as soon as u can (usually 8.30)

3.11. Highland (I hate this map - all luck no skill)

? 1 villager makes dock > house > 2nd dock > 4 houses > more docks/houses/monument.
? 5 food
? 4 wood
? 6 gold
? All food until adv except last villager to gold, make a couple of ships and go fh


That concludes pretty much all the build orders I use. I don’t always stick to them but it’s fairly close. Each map is different and should be adapted to.


Section 4
Specific Isis strategies

4.1. The 2tc-fh

This is one of my favourite strategies; u can boom so terribly fast and do anything u want. Use the optimal 12-3-8 build order I provided earlier, but add an extra gold villager so u adv 12-3-9 and adv at 6.23. Immediately in classic, send 5 vills to make a new tc from gold, and research shaft mine and signal fires while making an armoury with your 3 wood vills, simply adv as soon as u can. The 5 tc builders should go to wood after the tc is complete and new vills should go to gold, in heroic send new vills to pigs and research the final gold upgrade as soon as possible, also get both bast techs + plow during adv to heroic. When u have around 18-20 gold vills hit pros, with your 3 upgrades u will get over 2k gold, so spam 35-40 farms. Make ca until u have these farms and once u do u can make anything u want. Your eco will be insane. So go lame.

4.2. Anubis rush

A very effective strategy, u should use the 4.20 build orders provided earlier. Auto queue priests on way to classic until 4-5 and push him off hunt, and keep him off. When you are advancing to classic, u should have approximately 6 food, 1 wood, 10 gold - it depends how fast u advance. After u have made your barracks (using 3 gold vills), u should send these vills to either food or wood. This will allow u to make priests and barracks without needing to use prosperity. Once u are classic set up 2-3 barracks and Auto queue unit. You should only have 6 on wood max, 12-15 on gold and lots on food, I mean lots. More food is better. Save serpents if u can and use it in the battle over your enemy’s 2nd gold mine, if u can win this battle and can control the map well u will surely win the game. It’s vital (!!!!!!!!!!!) u make 2 monument’s as early as u can. Make 1 during adv to classic and the other as soon as u can after. A good tip is that when you’re lacking on food, send lots of vills to gold and pros, then farm spam 15-20 farms.

4.3. General High hunt FH advice

A lot of people ask me, what do the best Isis players do differently to the 1750 Isis player in fh, they all follow the same builds and use the same units, they all pick up tc’s and they all raid, so what is it that makes some player so much better? The answer is fairly simple, it’s the amount of food u gather between 9 and 17mins, the top players will never have more than 12 or so on wood (unless they are doing some crazy wood based strategy) and they will send many vills to farm and herdables very fast. I usually aim for 35 food vills by 15mins. When I’m doing normal fh I keep 7 on wood, 15 or so on gold and everything goes to food. I’ll start of making come ca, then as food production increases, I’ll make some ca/camels and start my trade (10.00), as food production increases further I’ll simply ellies mass and some siege. The point is early trade/high food counts/high amounts of civ units, u can out eco your opponent and should have any problems picking up 4-2 tc adv, because u rushed, didn’t u XD.

4.4. General Low hunt FH advice

So, what about on a map like alfhiem or Ghostlake, its Isis wars and u don’t have hunt, what do u do? Well u have 2 options, U can either rush, using a 4.20 low hunt build order as provided, or if u get some good hunting at the back, which u find late u could do a later, 6.30 advance, throw up an armoury and go straight to heroic. Build orders should be specific, but u could use something along the lines of (of u don’t want/need to advance fast) of 3food, 3 gold, 4 food, 3 wood (make a monument), 7 food, then gold until u advance. Something along these lines is always a very solid start. U want to have Flood of the Nile, pickaxe and husbandary. Get hand axe after u advance to heroic.

4.5. Effective a/e attacks

Another question I get asked a lot is, why does my a/e attack never work but the top players attacks so? It’s fairly simple, it’s the speed at which u attack. A good attack should be at 10.30 - 11mins (at the latest if u are 1tc rushing). So check what time u are attacking, I would expect that if u are 1750- and you’re a/e attacks aren’t as effective as u would like them to be, your attacking at 12mins +. This isn’t good. The next thing is siege. Players never have enough siege. You are aiming for 4 siege towers, 3 scorpions and random other units, a lot of ca is usually the best way with a few ellies/camels. If u can attack this fast with this amount of siege along with everything else, you’re doing good. Now obviously, this is a lot of wood, and I’ve said all the way through this article that u should never have more than 7 on wood, if u have 7 on wood and try this, you’re going get ass-whooped. U need around 14 on wood with hand axe, only about 10 on gold (after pros) and the rest of vills go on food, and all new vills go to food. This “wood based rush” is best used vs. eggy and Greeks and open maps like tundra or savannah or Ghostlake (1 goldmine).

4.6. The 3tc boom

This is a really sexy effective strategy, If I do this properly I’m in heroic around 10.20 with over 70 vills. If I get attacked before then I have ample resources to setup 6 barracks and auto queue units from all of them. Basically u will want to go up around 6mins and use prosperity with 13 on gold. U only need 1 village on gold and the rest on food. If for example u do a 6.09, which gives 23 villagers (+ builder dude), 13gold / 1 wood / 9 food should be your combo, that’s pretty much perfect. As u will have 400 food and 1000 gold once u get to classic. Send 5 vills + pharaoh to make a fwd tc and another 5 to make a back tc. After the vills make the fwd tc are done, send them all + pharaoh to herdables, all new vills from your starting tc should go to herdables. Villagers from the second tc should go to gold. Once your 3rd tc is complete, send the vills building it to food, and all new vills from this tc should go to food as well. Then just wait for your eco to blow to extreme levels. This is used best vs. passive opponents or in team games (When u should make barracks units to help a potentially doubled ally).

4.7. The priests/siege fh

This strategy rocks hard vs. atty when they either boom or u get a sexy 2nd gold on maps like marsh, waterhole or Ghostlake. Start with your standard fh, but be as fast as u can, u only need Nile, pickaxe and husbandary/hunting dogs. Ur aiming for 8mins or faster. When u are advancing u only want about 3 on food, 2 on wood, and as many as possible on gold and use pros. When u are advancing, upgrade the 1st pierce upgrade in the armoury and make a second temple. After pros has finished, setup 8 farms (With 8 vills from gold) and get plow, send more vills to wood so u have 6 and get hand axe. As soon as u get to heroic research the upgrade that makes priests cost 70 gold and make siege camp then auto queue siege, once the upgrade in the temple is done, auto queue priests from both. New vills should go to gold. Once u have 3-4 sieges and a bunch of priests and at least 2 scorpions, go and kill him. If u have a lot of hunt, it’s a great idea to make 2monu’s early. If u can get 3 scorpions in this attack he stands 0 chance.

4.8 The Water (medi) 7.20 fh.

It’s vital u get to classic 5.30 or before (use the 5.27 build order). Adv at 4.27 arrange your eco, it should be about 21-3-7 (depending on the amount of fish spots eso gives u), the food eco units will decrease as the opponent attacks your ships but no problem. The second u get to classic, armoury goes up with wood vills + pharaoh and adv as fast as u can. Depending on how good your enemy is u may not have any fishing ships fishing, keep 2 vills on food, 9~ on gold and the rest on wood (should have 11-12) when your advancing. Hit pros and send your sphinx to the enemy ready to a/e. Set the temple waypoint in his base as well so the scorpions runs there. After u win the water, fish every water spot and setup a trade as soon as u can. Then on to victory.


Section 5
5.1. Isis Human unit combo’s.

This is just a short little bit stating standard combinations of human it’s to use vs. Each civ in a standard situation, of course if he using units that counter what I have suggested, by all means switch your combo. And myth units/priests/siege should be added at all times if possible:

Eggy: Ellies/ca
Norse: Ellies/ca/axes
Greek: Ellies/ca/barracks units (axes if he has a lot of hops, spears if cavalry etc..)
Atty: Ellies/slingers/axes.


Section 6
6.1 Secret tips to improve your rate by 50+ points.

?Trade!!! U Must MUST MUST trade early, after your villager who is making 10 houses is done, send him to where u want to make markets, this should be about 9 minutes, so make 2-3 markets!

?U only need a small amount on wood, I like to use 7 (7 * 15 = 105) to keep ca production going in early heroic. Get a lot on food, the more food u collect between 9 and 15 minutes, the better player u are. This is when u are playing DEFENSIVELY and raiding/booming.

?When u are playing AGRESSIVELY and want an effective a/e attack (as described previously) u should have approximately 13-15 on wood. Lots of wood fast is important as speed is of upmost importance.

?You only need 3 on wood per barracks your making slingers from, so if (like me) u make slingers from2 barracks u only need 6 on wood! So up that food eco)

?Hathor is a deadly weapon; use her as often as u can.

?If the map is nice and open (savannah/Ghostlake/tundra), on way to mythic, setup a migdol near you opponents back tc and aq ellies to it once u are mythic, meteor it and try to take it, this can be a game winner, there is also a good chance u will fruit his trade.

?The ultimate late game combo is 5 catapults behind walls and towers with ellies and ca supporting them. (mercs if possible.)

?Good Tc/Bad Tc. Maps like watering hole, marsh or Anatolia will often have 1 of the 2 middle tc’s close to the water, u should aim to win the water close to the tc and make THE OTHER Tc, this gives an extra way to win late game, and gives your opponent one less way to win, picking to build the right tc can win (or lose) u games.

?Crenellations is one of the best classic upgrades, if you’re playing vs. a cavalry spammer u should get this as soon as u can, it will give u many free kills.

?To make priests, or not to make priests. Basically, if u get safe hunt and/or safe gold u can get away with not make priests and booming in classic or going fh (whichever u prefer). By SAFE I mean that its within range of your starting tc/towers or another tc, or is un-raidable if make some walls or there is water/trees. It boils down to, can he mess up your fh? Yes u need priests to defend/ or attack (to defend so he attack your priests rather than your hunters). If not u don’t need to make any and u can go about your business how u like. U need to assess, what’s going to get me to heroic the fastest with the better eco? If he can’t harm your hunt, don’t delay your heroic with 500 gold on priests, just get up as soon as u can.

?LASTLY AND IMPORTANTLY - If u want a successful a/e attack u need to attack around 10.30 with 4 sieges/3 scorpions and lot of other random units that counter your enemies army.



Section 7
Help me, how do I beat...? Find your answers here.

7.1. Raids and early flaming weapons
You need just a very few barracks units to defend, about 5, crenellations is very useful too. Then u should go to heroic, unless picking up another Tc secures u a nice big goldmine, in which case do that. U should make a lot of walls; just have 1 villager constantly making walls. Finally, when it comes to actually fighting against FW, u need “3 buildings” so, 2migs and a Tc, 3migs, a Tc, a migdol and 2 towers (1 tower = ½ a building), or any combination. This should make him waste his fw or if he fights, it will hurt him as much as, or more than u.

7.2. Scarab rush
If u want to fight it straight up (no booming, staying 1tc) u need to be in heroic as soon as u can be, under 8mins and make a lot of ca/camels. U should make 2 migdols as chances are he will kill 1 at least and u should finally make a barracks for slingers, ra players will always have many ca in their scarab rush army to try to kill your priests, so micro your heroes in and out of migdols and kill the ca with slingers. U should try to get 8 priests with the range upgrade and Nepthys damage upgrade (180gold/15 favour one). It helps if u can get a/e in beforehand. Providing u have map controlled well and he isn’t getting gold during the scarab rush u should win pretty fast, if not, pick up tc’s and mass trade, remember your only building forward on 1goldmine maps (Savannah/tundra etc)

7.3. Greek FM
This is quite a simple one, adv fast and rush him and then go super aggressive in heroic, keep him fighting constantly so he can’t hop to mythic fast. The problem is u don’t know he is going fm until late, so u need to scout well and try to figure out if your enemy wants to go fm.

7.4. Athena map control
This is hard to beat, especially on maps like tundra and savannah, but this is what I find is best. Go normal fh (2 monuments) and make a migdol in your base, next to Tc so he can’t kill it, but don’t use prosperity. Make ca until your gold runs out then walk with all your gold vills to the goldmine u want make mine and hit pros, he will come with his army and u do ancestors, he will run away, during your a/e u must get up 2 migdols by that goldmine, this way when he comes back with his restoration/max army, 2 migdols producing ca should be enough to win, he is likely to kill 1 migdol, but no problem. Don’t forget crenellations if he has a lot of cavalry. Then pick up your Tc’s and trade to victory. This concept of saving pros and setting up 2 migdols on an outside goldmine is also an effective strategy vs. Norse raids/fw.

7.5. Atty rush
1 simple piece of advice, don’t lose your bloody units! Not a single unit, and don’t fight him until u are maxed out, or at least 100 pop. The mistake a lot of people make vs. atty is fighting too soon, if u just be patient and get a high pop then fight later on, u can win, use priests/slingers/anubites, and it rapes atty. As soon as u secure your outside goldmine, this should be around 10 minutes, use your prosperity on this new goldmine, make a 2nd and maybe a 3rd tc and some farms, now out boom him. When your food eco is rolling nicely use the axes/ellies/slingers combo as previously stated. A useful thing to do, vs. an oranos is to make a monument at each of your tc’s to defend vs. tartarian gate. If u can’t afford this, make a siege camp or 2 in your base and make a couple of siege towers which can go attack the gate once it is placed, use 2-3 priests to defend your towers from tartarian spawn.

7.55. Atty boom
Well the first thing u can do is laugh at him coz he sucks, then go fh as fast as u can with all your hunt (by 8mins) and rape him with priests/siege at 10mins, pick up your tc’s (hopefully 4), laugh some more, maybe type “1111111111111naab” at him and continue rape. He will try to counter with murm, so add a few ca in the back (his from turma) and murms/kata drop like flies.

7.6. Isis wars
Are won/lost in classical (believe it or not) quite a lot of the time, priests wars are often important as to who gets map control and access to the outside resources and Tc’s. So you’re trying to win the priests wars, and be first to heroic and like stated previously, gather more food between 9 and 17mins, more food means more ellies and trade which means more Mercs which means u win. This is a good thing. Ellies are best used between 15-25mins. Watch out for when your opponent picks up crennelations. Once he does or becomes too heavily fortified, mercs/catapults/walls/towers is the most effective strategy. The most valuable piece of advice I can give really is that the earlier u setup a trade route, the likely u are to win. A perfect Isis war should go something like:

Adv really fast > take map control > be first to heroic > boom/raid/setup trade > get to mythic first > ellies/towers/siege/mercs.



The idea of this isnt that u should read the entire guide in 1 go, well u can if u want. Its for answers if u have problems or questions in particular parts of your game or in certain matchups. Well thats it. I hope Some guys can use this to help them improve.

Oh, and if anyone has a questions, u can post there here, i'll add them into the guide and give answers.