I think that’s fair criticism overall, but I want to clarify where my thinking has landed recently — especially against Norse.
Against Norse, I’ve more or less resolved what was giving me trouble, and it really does come down to myth pressure backed by Toxotes. Cyclops + Toxotes in particular has made the matchup feel dramatically easier with the box unit formation. It punishes pure raiding-cavalry play very hard, gives me Classical siege, and forces a response that walks directly into my strongest unit. I don’t need a Fortress to generate pressure or damage. If they answer with Hersirs, Toxotes shred them. If they don’t, Cyclops pressure generates real value on its own. The moment they’re forced to transition, they take a significant tempo hit — as long as I respect Flaming Weapons.
What was especially frustrating before was the lack of consistency. Once this clicked, Norse stopped feeling oppressive, and it also eliminated the constant “run across the map chasing raiders” problem that was exhausting me. As long as I can keep my 2nd TC up for 3 mins without losing viallgers then they can do whatever they want with it, I dont care. If they want to delete their army into it, no problem of mine.
At this point, the pantheons I still struggle with are Poseidon, Zeus, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, and occasionally Gaia. Even there, the issues are clearer now — for example, in a close Gaia game the problem was simply not transitioning into enough Peltasts against Arcus spam. Again it was close, it was also Oaisis which I didnt like very much.
Where I still genuinely struggle is Poseidon and Zeus, and I don’t think that’s controversial. Yes, I’m aware of the tools — Curse, Nemean Lions, Apollo timings — and I do use them. But Zeus in particular gains power very passively (Golden Apples, easier myth mass), which feels far more forgiving. Hades, by contrast, requires much tighter sequencing and positioning to reach comparable impact. That doesn’t mean Hades is weak — the stats and top players clearly show otherwise — but he rewards grindy control and sustained punishment rather than decisive, one-click swings. Over long ranked sessions, that difference matters. The added pressure of Centaur play from both Zeus and Poseidon also tends to force heavier reliance on Minotaurs just to maintain control.
A lot of my recent frustration, I think, came from raider-heavy flanking metas at my current bracket. That took time to adapt to. Once I stopped trying to answer everything with a “perfect unit mix” and instead leaned into concentrated myth pressure, the game immediately felt more manageable across several pantheons — Norse, Greeks, and Chinese especially. Egypt still plays differently, which is expected.
So I’m not really saying “Hades is bad.” What changed is how I apply pressure. When I play into that properly, the god feels strong again — and honestly, I’m enjoying Hades a lot more now.
