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The Chinese pantheon, introduced withAge of Mythology: Retold’s Immortal Pillars expansion, features three major gods: Fuxi, Nuwa, and Shennong. Compared to the others, Nuwa is the least offensive in the early game — but this doesn’t mean she is weak. Instead, she excels at defensive play. The Chinese pantheon is unique, with each god having their own God Blessing.
In addition to regular peasants, Chinese gods have access to Kuafu, giant workers. These units are somewhat similar to Norse Dwarves, but Kuafu are exceptional at gathering wood and gold, and they also make excellent fighters. If Nuwa is your chosen major god, this guide is for you.
Nuwa Overview
Nuwa focuses heavily on peasants, Kuafu, and defensive play. Her unique technologies also enhance peasants and Kuafu directly. However, starting defensively doesn’t mean she stays defensive in later ages.
Nuwa’s god power is Creation, whichallows you to spawn a set number of clay peasantsfor a limited time. These units work just like regular peasants, butthey disappear when the effect ends.The later you activate this god power, the more clay peasants you get.
Every Chinese major god has a God Blessing. Nuwa’s Creator’s Auspicegains tiers as you earn Favor, but you don’t need to spend this Favor for it to progress. Each new tierreduces the cost of peasants and increases building hitpoints.
Additionally, in Nuwa’s Favored Land, buildings construct themselves automatically.Foundations will complete on their own, without needing workers to build them. Moreover,buildings in Nuwa’s Favored Land spread its effect one range further, allowing you to expand your territory faster.
Nuwa also grants aten percent health bonus to all cavalry units.
Nuwa has two unique research upgrades. The first is Kuafu Chieftain,a stronger version of the regular Kuafu.While it gains no gathering benefits, the Kuafu Chieftainrespawns after death— but you may only have one at a time. The second is Mountainous Might, which boosts the attack, health, line of sight, and attack range of both regular Kuafu and the Kuafu Chieftain.
Minor God Choices
You can choose your minor gods based on your playstyle. If you prefer a more defensive strategy and plan to launch a major offensive in the final age, you can select your minor gods accordingly.
Since Nuwa herself grants a health bonus to cavalry, it’s a good idea to pick minor gods that enhance cavalry-focused armies. In the Mythic Age, Gonggong synergizes slightly better with Nuwa, but Zhurong is also a very strong option.
Xuannu
Houtu
If you want a versatile minor god, Xuannu is for you. Thehealing effect provided by Qilinsis extremely valuable for both defensive and offensive playstyles.
Her god power, Vanish, can beuseful for sneaky surprise attacks, and if used well, it can provide value in any age. However, it’s less effective for slow units.
The Divine Books upgradereduces the cost of Training Yard additionsto military buildings, further improving the training speed bonus it provides. This allows you totrain infantry and ranged soldiers quickly, making it a valuable technology for both defensive and offensive strategies.
Unlike Xuannu, Houtu is not versatile —she’s a pure defensive minor god.She synergizes well with Nuwa’s defensive nature, so if your goal is not to rush enemies in the Classical Age, Houtu is a great choice.
Her god power, Earth Wall,spawns walls around a friendly building, protecting it — though its effectiveness decreases in later ages. The Advanced Defenses upgradeincreases the damage and range of sentry towers, also benefiting Baoleis.
Houtu’s myth unit is the Qiongqi, whichcan fly, though it cannot attack while airborne.
The Abundance technologygenerates small resource trickleswhenever you deposit resources in Favored Land.
Goumang
Rushou
Goumang is a very compatible minor god for Nuwa. The Hooves of the Wind upgradeincreases cavalry speed and gives them some hack armor, enhancing their survivability.
Goumang’s god power, Forest Protection, targets a building androots enemy units around it, while healing allied units.
His myth unit, Taowu, ishighly defensiveand can charge into enemies at incredible speed, making them ideal for protecting your backline.
Additionally, if you’re playing on a water map,Maelstrom improves your arrow ships, giving them a chance to spawn whirlpools, especiallyeffective against myth units.
Rushou’s god power, Fei Beasts, spawns monsters at a target location. These monsters deal poison damage, helping youquickly eliminate enemy units.
One of Rushou’s myth units is the Baihu, whichlaunches enemies into the air afterdealing damage, similar to the Greek Minotaur.
His second myth unit, Pixiu, works like a regular caravan unit, but ismore defensively durable(although theygenerate less goldthan mechanical oxen). However, the Autumn of Abundance upgrade allows Pixiu togenerate food and wood alongside gold.
Additionally, Gilded Shieldsimproves the pierce armor of your Dao Swordsmen, and Divine Judgement gives your infantrydivine bonus damage against myth units.
Gonggong
Zhurong
If you selected Goumang in the previous age and have plenty of wood, Gonggong is an excellent follow-up. His myth unit, the Qinglong, isextremely powerful and can fly, meaning only ranged units can hit them.
His god power, Great Flood, isdevastating, especially against buildings.
If your army relies heavily on heroes, Shaker of Heavenincreases their health by 30 percentand makes them deal extra damage to myth units. Another hero-centric technology, Tempestuous Storm,reduces hero training costand lowers ability cooldowns.
Finally, Last Stand synergizes very well with Nuwa,giving your cavalry more armoras their health drops.
Zhurong is ideal if you want toboost your myth units’ offensive power.His myth unit, the Zhuque, is a phoenix-like bird thatexcels at destroying buildings.While it isn’t the best defensively, it occasionally boosts its own armor as well as the armor of nearby friendly units. The Song of Midsummer upgrade increases their health and grants them the Healing Descend ability,allowing it to heal themselves.
Zhurong’s god power, Blazing Prairie,deals area damage to units and buildings for about 15 seconds, making it extremely effective.
The Flaming Blood upgradecauses myth units to deal additional fire damage to nearby enemies.
If you’re relying on ranged units, the Southern Fire upgrade makes Fire Archersdeal ignite damage to units and buildings, while also boosting their overall damage.
General Tips
Use Creation To Target Distant Resources
When you face resource shortages, you can quickly boost your economy using Creation. This god powerbecomes even more valuable in later agessince it summons more clay peasants, and its long-lasting effect ensures you won’t suffer economically compared to other god powers.
While using it in the earliest ages may not be very effective,it can still help you advance to the next age fasterif needed. If you selected Houtu in the Classical Age, the Chasing The Sun research upgrade will allow you to construct buildings much faster.
You can take advantage of this by rapidlybuilding a Silo near gold mines close to your enemies.Then, use Creation to gather resources from these gold mines as much as possible, economically damaging your opponents. This aggressive economic playstyle forces your enemies to move closer to you in search of new resources.
Use Kuafus For Defense Until You Build A Proper Army
In the early stages of the game, you can rely on your Kuafus for defense. This is especially effective if you research Kuafu Chieftain. Later, you can further enhance them with the Mountainous Might upgrade, allowing you to defend your base until you form a proper army.
However, keep in mind that Kuafus graduallylose effectiveness after the second age.If you chose Houtu as your minor god in the second age, theEarth Wall god power can help you hold the line defensivelyuntil your army is ready.
Including Cavalry In Your Army Is A Good Idea
Thanks to Nuwa, your cavalry units gain ten percent extra health. However, you won’t be able to build Baolei, the cavalry training building, until the Heroic Age. Fortunately, Nuwa excels defensively, and with the right minor gods, along with effective use of Kuafus and other units, you can hold the line until you reach the Heroic Age.
In the Heroic Age, choosing Goumang willunlock the Hooves of the Wind research upgrade, which increases your cavalry’s speed and grants them slight resistance to hack attacks. Goumang’s other upgrades will also be useful for gathering wood.
In the Mythic Age, if you select Gonggong, you can research Last Stand, whichmakes your cavalry more defensive as their health drops.Additionally, if you had good wood income thanks to Goumang, you caneasily train plenty of Qinglong—the myth unit provided by Gonggong, which also requires wood. This allows you to field a strong force of these powerful units.
Expand Defensively And Consistently For Creator’s Auspice
To maximize the benefits of Creator’s Auspice, Nuwa’s god blessing, it’s important tospread your base across a wide area.The key is to ensure that the yellow circular influence zones created by your buildings cover as much ground as possible. This allows you to generate more favor, causing this god blessing to level up faster.
This will gradually make your peasants cheaper and your buildings more defensive. By selecting Houtu in the Classical Age, you canresearch Advanced Defenses,further strengthening your sentry towers and improving your base’s defensive power. Additionally, Houtu’s Abundance upgrade willmake your Silos within your favored land even more efficient.
Finally, thanks to Nuwa, the yellow circles around your buildings in favored land will grow larger,making it easier to establish and expand your favored land.
