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InAge of Mythology: Retold, each pantheon offers a different gameplay style. For instance, if you’ve only played with the Greek pantheon, switching to the Egyptian pantheon might surprise you. Even within the same pantheon, significant differences exist between the gods, with their choice of minor gods setting them apart.
The Norse, due to their warrior nature, are highly offensive, and their gods come with advantages that support this playstyle. But who is the most notorious Norse god? The answer is, of course, Loki—the god of trickery and shapeshifting. Loki is incredibly versatile and powerful in this game. If you’re ready, it’s worth taking a look at these strategy tips.
Loki Overview
Choosing Loki will grant you various advantages. The first is that when your units deal damage to enemy units,they have a chance to spawn myth units.Hersirs contribute more to myth unit spawning, while human soldiers have a lower chance. Therefore, having a large number of Hersirs in your army will benefit you.
Since Loki is already a god of the Norse pantheon,you’ll need Hersirs to generate favor, but their higher chance to spawn myth units makes them even more valuable compared to other gods. Keep in mind thatthis ability doesn’t work when attacking buildings—only the more enemy units you attack, the more likely this ability will trigger.
Another feature of Loki’s units is counter damage. However, this ability does not apply to his myth units. It only affects human soldiers and heroes, and they willdeal 25 percent counter damage when they take hits.
Loki also has some economic perks. The first is that Ox Carts are half-price. This means you won’t need to hesitate when producing Ox Carts in the early ages. While other Norse gods pay 50 food and 50 wood, you’ll only pay half of that.
Additionally, one of Loki’s key advantages is the ability toturn Gatherers and Dwarves into Berserks for free.When your enemies target your workers to disrupt your economy, they’ll face an unpleasant surprise. This makes it a highly effective defensive trait. However, make sure to replace the workers you convert into Berserks quickly, oryou may face economic trouble.
Loki also allows buildings to be constructed 25 percent faster. While this might not seem like a major benefit at first, since Norse gods mustplay offensively and stay mobile to generate favor, this can be useful when you push towards your enemy and need to build structures around them more quickly.
Loki’s god power is Spy. It’s a powerful ability that highlights the importance of intelligence. The earlier you use this god power in the game, the better. It allows you to spy on an enemy unit, giving you insight into their movements and army composition in advance.
Moreover, Loki has an improvement called Eyes in the Forest. This grants your units the Line of Sight of natural objects like trees, berry bushes, and gold mines. Thisenables you to see the surroundings betterand prepare accordingly.
Minor God Choices
Loki has access to highly effective minor god choices. Excluding Freyr, the god introduced to the Norse pantheon through DLC, Loki is the only one who can access Hel. This makes Loki incredibly powerful in the late game, with access to strong myth units.
However, even before that, the minor gods Loki can choose from have the potential to change the course of the battle. Here are all the minor gods you can choose from:
Description
Forseti
If you’re planning to healyour units, Forseti’s Healing Spring god power will be your only option. As for myth units, Trolls will be your only ranged myth unit unless you choose Hel in the final age. Keep this in mind when making your decision. The Dwarven Breastplate, which makes your Hirdmen and Berserks more defensive, is also a highly useful research upgrade.
Heimdall
Einheri are powerful myth units, and their horn blast, whichgives your units an attack and speed buff, increases their value. Another great advantage is their effectiveness against buildings, which canmake early-game raids highly disruptivefor your opponents. Additionally, Heimdall’s god power Undermine makes your raids even easier. Safeguard is useful in halving the gold cost of buildings, but the hitpoints bonus it gives to walls and sentry towersloses its effectiveness in later ages.
Bragi
Bragi’s god power, Flaming Weapons, temporarily strengthens your human units, making them incredibly powerful and adding more punch to your raids. Battle Boars are very expensive myth units, but they areeffective against buildings and can toss surrounding units.If you don’t use Hirdmen and Berserk units, Call of Valhalla and Swine Array won’t be useful to you. However, if your opponent relies heavily on cavalry units, you should definitely research the Swine Array upgrade.
Njord
It would be wrong to say that Walking Woods is a highly effective god power—unless used at the right moment, thesummoned units aren’t very impressive.If you plan on choosing Hel in the next age, you could unlock the Mountain Giant. But if you are planning to choose Tyr, Bragi may be a better choice. Also if you’re on a map with a lot of naval battles, Wrath of the Deepmakes Krakens extremely deadly, increasing their health by nearly 1.5 times. There are also excellent upgrades for Jarl and Raiding Cavalry.
Hel
Hel is an outstanding choice. Nidhogg isone of the most devastating unitsin the game and can put your opponent in serious trouble. Unlike most gods, when you choose Hel, you getaccess to three myth units: Fire Giant, Frost Giant, and Mountain Giant. The Rampage upgrade reduces their training time by 95%, making it an incredible upgrade. Another excellent upgrade is Granite Blood, whichprovides all your Giants with a massive hitpoints bonus.
Tyr
Frankly, Tyr isn’t as strong of a choice compared to Hel. However,if your opponent has a lot of hero units, you might want to consider choosing Tyr. Fimbulwinter can be an effective god power forcrippling your opponent’s economyor bolstering the strength of your raids. Fenris Wolfbrood is a cheap myth unit, but you’ll need to mass-produce them to make them effective. The Berserkgang upgrade is also a must, as it allows your Berserks to heal, making them more resilient.
General Tips
Always Place A Spy On Your Opponent
With Loki’s god power, Spy, you can keep tabs on what your opponent is doing. If you place it in the early ages, you’llgain insight into unexpected raids in advance, allowing you to position your units to counter the enemy.
If your opponent is aggressive, it’s smart toplace Spy on one of their workers.On the other hand, if you place it within their army, when they raid you, killing the Spy can deactivate the power.
Have A Significant Number Of Hersirs In Your Army
Loki’s Hersirs have a unique ability – they have a chance to spawn myth units as they deal damage to enemies. However, this doesn’t happen all the time, and it’s beyond your control. Your human units can also contribute to spawning myth units, but they do so atfive times lower efficiency than Hersirs.
So, the more Hersirs you have in your army,the higher the chance you’ll unexpectedly spawn powerful myth unitsmid-battle. And who knows, maybe a Fire Giant will appear and turn the tide of the fight. Additionally, since your human soldiers and heroes have 25 percent counter damage, your Hersirs will benefit from this effect as well.
Turn All Your Workers Into Berserks When Things Go South
If things are looking grim, you’re able to use your final card andturn all your workers into Berserks. Unlike the other Norse gods, Loki cantransform them into Berserks for free.This gives you one last chance to hold off your enemies. However, since this will damage your economy, think carefully before doing so. But if it’s your only way out, isn’t it worth a try?
Make The Right Decision In The Mythic Age
In the Mythic Age, you can choose the minor god Hel, giving youaccess to powerful myth units and Nidhogg.With Hel’s research upgrades, you can boost the hitpoints of these giants andnearly eliminate their training time.While Hel may seem very appealing, if your opponent’s army consists mostly of Heroes, it may be wiser toturn to Tyr and steer away from myth units.
