The problem with Greek matchups against Japan is not that Greeks are weak, but that their intended identity no longer functions. Greeks are designed around limited but powerful heroes, strong myth units, and slower, deliberate play that trades early tempo for late-game payoff. Japan overlaps all of these strengths while retaining very few exploitable weaknesses.
This is most visible in the Onmyo–Asura synergy. While Onmyos can technically be sniped, Asuras deal splash damage while moving and, together with Onis, have extremely high health pools. . With damage, durability, and mobility all present at once, counterplay collapses — if stats remain unchanged, movement speed must be reduced.
Japan’s god powers further undermine asymmetry. New Moon provides early tempo acceleration that Greeks only access much later and at a weaker level, erasing Greece’s identity partly. Forge of ollympus doesnt make researching tech any quicker.. A similar issue exists with Onis versus Colossi, where Japan gains comparable power without the same timing or opportunity cost.
The hero system makes the identity issue unavoidable. Greeks are deliberately capped on hero count and meant to be compensated with quality and uniqueness. Japanese heroes such as Daimyo and Onna-Musha often match or exceed Greek heroes while being far more numerous and scalable. Meanwhile, Greek heroes like Ajax and Chiron lack their campaign abilities, while Japanese heroes arrive with special mechanics by default, nullifying the purpose of Greek hero limits.
Because Japan can field large numbers of heroes alongside powerful myth units, Greeks are forced into unfavourable matchups- and myth-heavy fights. The idea of Olympian Weapons converting Greek units into heroes illustrates how extreme the compensation would need to be — which is precisely why Japan should be tuned down instead. Greek unique units cannot stand up to sustained hero and myth spam when they are not heroes themselves.
At a roster level, Japan pulls from the strengths of multiple pantheons with minimal tradeoffs: strong infantry, powerful myth units, massable heroes, high tempo, excellent god powers, and even cavalry archers — traditionally an Egypt role. Greeks, meanwhile, still carry their full weaknesses: slower armies, limited heroes, and favor opportunity cost. When older pantheons keep their drawbacks while newer ones accumulate strengths, asymmetric strategy gives way to overlap and redundancy.
This design failure is reflected in results. Tsukuyomi has the highest win rate against all Greek gods, which is not coincidence. Again all JAPAN gods have higher win rates against all of the Greeks. When one pantheon consistently beats an entire other pantheon, it is no longer a balance issue but a systemic one — Greek identity simply does not function in this matchup.
If Japan is going to retain such a broad toolkit, then its units must be sharply counterable. Hard counters preserve identity. The Prodromos exemplifies this: devastating against cavalry, but extremely vulnerable to archers. Japanese cavalry heroes have no comparable weakness; their only drawback is low hack armor, which becomes irrelevant when supported by multiple high-HP Onis and numerous heroes with special attacks. Sure I can myth spam, but they got long ranged heroes to help deal with that. We’re stil llimimted to four heroes. Frankly just lower Bushis ranged. You’ve already given Japan chariot archers, make bushis range its own weakness. lower pierce armour resistence of cavalary heroes and you’d fix their hero roster massively…. Why do yuimi archers even have the same range as Hades archers? Just what are they thinking???
As a result, Japanese cavalry heroes trade well into myth units, remain durable against ranged fire, and scale through hero and myth mass. Greeks are hard-limited to four heroes until Mythic Age, and even then Olympian Weapons is only a simple 2× modifier that does little against high pierce armor which their myth units ALL HAVE VERY HIGH PIERCE ARMOUR. Oh and good luck sending your myrmidons as Zeus, Asura will kill them all before they can reach him. With mixed compositions of Oni, ranged heroes, and cavalry heroes — further reinforced by Gusting Wind forcing favorable engagements — Greeks lack a clean, decisive answer.
In short, Japan is not just strong; it overlaps other pantheons’ strengths while avoiding meaningful weaknesses. Without clear, exploitable downsides, Greek identity will continue to collapse in practice, and the asymmetry that defines the game will erode.