Loki Hersir Rush: A Guide

By Aetius
Published 2/7/03, AoM v1.03

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.

Next: The Classical Age