Information about Japanese Pantheon

It looks like you can play the Japan / Heavenly Spear DLC on Gamescom 2025, and someone has summarised the information on the Japanese pantheon in a Reddit post.
Japanese Pantheon Information So Far (Credit to GrimmWeeper19) : r/AgeofMythology

Reddit Poste from TubeGaming

Japanese Pantheon Information So Far (Credit to GrimmWeeper19)

The gamescon 2025 in Germany had a booth for the new Heavenly Spear expansion coming to AOMR. GrimmWeeper19 got a chance to play it and divulged some fun information to share with us. I compiled it here into as organized as I could. We don’t have all the names and information but we do got quite a bit. I’ll seperate it into sections. First, economy, like how the villager system works. Second, favor, how the Japanese gather favor. Third, military and heroes, the military system, as in what military buildings there are and what units could be made, as well as heroes since they kinda go hand in hand. Fourth, god powers, the four god powers available in the demo. Fifth, myth units, I’ll include the scouting here too as well as the three myth units that could be used. Sixth, I’ll explain the bushido mechanic into more detail. Disclaimer, although I did my best to compile all this information, it is not perfect. There’s names missing, place holders, and even straight up missing units. There’s no mythic age siege. But without further ado, here we go.

Number 1: Economy

The villager-units are called commoners. They are very plain. 50 food, same training time as other base vils, and almost the exact same stats as the Greek villagers. They build the same, gather the same, carry the same, move at the same speed.

As for dropsites, there are two. One is a single building for both wood and food, much like the Greek storehouse but trading gold for food. They have a seperate building for gold deposit.

They have no secondary eco-unit, although there is another unit that can be made from the town center. But as you’ll see, it does not affect economy, rather it is specifically for favor.

Number 2: Favor

The Japanese create Mikos from their town centers. They cost 100 gold and create a little slower than commoners. They are heroes with a big multiplier against myth units, they quickly gain more attack as the ages progress, like other heroes and myth units. However, this does not have a seperate queue from commoners, meaning you need to stop your production to make them, much like Egyptian priests. To circumvent this, these Mikos can construct temples so that you don’t need to take off any commoners from gathering to make one.

To gain favor, Mikos construct shrines (125 wood, 125 gold). These shrines do nothing by themselves, it’s only when a Miko empowers it that it begins generating favor. It generates more favor the more natural resources are around it (I.e. trees, berry bushes, animals, gold piles, etc). The radius is shown when placing it down. There is no limit to Mikos or shrines that we know of yet but only one Miko can empower one shrine. There also might be a reduction the more Mikos you make, sort of like the Greek praying villagers.

Number 3: Military

The Japanese are the 3rd pantheon to have melee cavalry in the classical age, along with Greeks and Norse (Turma are ranged so they dont count). They have three buildings, much like the Greeks or Chinese.

1st building: Guardhouse (3 units)

  • Yari Spearmen (Hard Anti-Cavalry Infantry, Age 2)
  • Yumi Archers (Generalist Archer, Age 2)
  • Bushi (Hero Archer, Costs Favor, Spammable, Age 2)

2nd building: Stable, possibly placeholder (3 units)

  • Unnamed Cavalry Unit (Hard Anti-Ranged Unit Cavalry)
  • Yumi Horse Archer (Anti-Ranged Unit AND Anti-Infantry Cavalry Archer, Age 3)
  • Daimyo (Cavalry Hero, Costs Favor, Spammable, Age 3)

3rd building: Dojo (3 units)

  • Samurai (Generalist Infantry, Gains More Damage With Experience Levels, Expensive, High Health, High Damage, Age 2)
  • Shinobi (Anti-Ranged Unit Infantry, possibly Anti-Building, possible special ability, Age 3)
  • Onna-Musha (Melee Hero, Costs Favor, Spammable, Age 2)

4th building: Castle, possibly placeholder, fortress-type building (2 units for now)

  • scorpion-type unit, unknown Japanese name (Anti-Unit Siege Weapon, Better Against Units Than Buildings, AOE Damage, Age 3)
  • Onmyoji (Ranged Hero Unit, Special Projectile Ability, Devestating Anti Myth Bonus, Emphasis on Healing, Age 3)

So in total, 6 human units, 5 hero units, you got the Yari Spearmen, Yumi Archers, Unnamed Anti-Ranged Unit Cavalry, Yumi Horse Archer, Samurai, and Shinobi. For heroes, you got the Miko, Bushi, Daimyo, Onna-Musha, and Onmyoji. So lots of units to choose from. It’s likely we’ll get a second siege unit in the castle, a mythic age close range siege. From the sounds of it, the scorpion siege unit shoots on projectile that does AOE damage and it’s model is unique, not a copy of the Chinese Siege Crossbow. Another note, the Samurais experience is seperate from Bushido. It gains attack from its experience, and line upgrades from Bushido. Since Miko and Onmyoji can heal, it seems like Japanese encourage you to save these units. They’re apparently expensive at like 105 food and 50 gold, also 4 pop. The Daimyo is also 4 pop with similar stats to the Hippeus. Seems like the Japanese have extremes in terms of strong units like Greeks while still having a spearmen type unit.

Number 4: God Powers

The demo locks you into the fourth age so you can’t choose your minor gods. Additionally, the fourth age god power was replaced with Susanno’s god power, likely so people didn’t use mythic age god powers. You’re also forced to play Tsukyomi, so you can only try the same four god powers. I’ll explain the details shown.

  • New Moon (Archaic Age)

This was the god power people were worried about, and for good reason. Instantly researches all available techs in that age and speeds up unit production. The techs are permanently unlocked HOWEVER it does not follow through with the next tier. What I mean by this is that using it on the Guardhouse even in mythic age without any techs researched will only make your Infantry and ranged units into medium, not immediately into champion. Same with the armory. Say you haven’t researched even copper weapons, but you use it in mythic age. You get copper weapons, copper armor, copper shields, ballistics, and burning pitch but no bronze or iron upgrades. It’s 100 favor to recast. Still strong but more manageable now. Could be strong if a minor god puts two or three of his techs in one building.

  • Unnamed Tree (Classical Age)

This one is weird. So it’s like healing spring, a physical thing place down that can be captured. What it does is it respawns dead myth units. It doesn’t have a specific range so it can respawn them regardless where they died. However, it doesn’t have a queue. Say you have two myth units and one dies. It starts being respawned as if it’s being trained again. Then, the other myth unit dies. If the tree is busy respawning one, the other doesn’t even get put in line, it simply dies permanently. So that’s probably an incentive to keep recasting this. From what I know thats the only effect it gives.

  • Thundering Drums (Heroic Age)

So I was wrong, Raijin is likely a third age god. Unless they didn’t actually place the god powers in their respective ages, like you’ll see with the fourth one. This becomes more likely when you consider the fact that the Raiju wasn’t available in the temple, meaning these god powers probably don’t match up with the same god that gives you the myth units and god techs in the demo. It’s exactly how it was in that one Instagram post. Starts in a smaller area, damaging and stunning, growing bigger and bigger. Doesn’t do too much damage but it’s still strong.

  • Kusanagi no Tsurugi (Mythic Age)

Exactly how the archaic age god power is described for Susanno, but apparently it did a lot of damage. Like a sword goes across an area and then remains for a little, doing damage to buildings. It’s unclear but it’s likely that this demo isn’t representative of an actual lineup of god choices you can make. But it’s still a good reference point.

Number 5: Myth Units

Starting with the Kitsune, it’s an insanely fast scout, 6 speed. Although it has a small line of sight, similar to the Chinese scouts from the original game in Tale of the Dragon. However, it has an area of effect around it that speeds up friendly units. Could be useful for rushing or getting heroes across the map faster for relics.

The demo allowed for 3 myth units, the Kamaitachi, the Tengu, and the Basan/Itsumude.

The Kamaitachi had a spinning attack like the Sphinx or Avenger

The Tengu had a leap attack like the Anubite but it had the added effect of increasing its armor

The Basan/Itsumude was a flying myth unit that was like a mix of the Pheonix and Mummy. It did a single unit attack by breathing fire, no damage over time, apparently it had good range. The ability summons six “Wretches”. Unlike the Mummy, it doesn’t need to curse and kill any units, instead, it summons them like the Plague of Serpents or Ancestors god power, but at a much smaller scale. Apparently they stack well, having five of these myth units can create basically another army in the middle of the battle and make it hard for your enemy to reach your units.

Again, it’s likely there’s effects or upgrades we did not see that differ them from the Egyptian comparisons I made here. Additionally, it’s not concrete if these are representing the age 2, age 3, and age 4 choices. We’ll have to see.

Number 6: Bushido

Finally, Bushido. This one’s interesting. So it does give your units free line upgrades, however it isn’t per unit, it’s an umbrella effect. It gives medium upgrades to Infantry, ranged units, AND Cavalry all at once. I think it depends on how much you fight or not. So these are permanent effects, making it so you don’t need to buy the line upgrades. If you end up choosing to do so anyway, they are discounted depending on how far you are on Bushido. This is especially strong for the Samurai, who benefit from both Bushido and their own experience levels, gaining both line upgrades from Bushido AND damage increase with their experience levels. It does cap out quick though. This isn’t counting armory upgrades or god techs.

Edit: forgot to mention that each major god does something special for Bushido. Tsukyomi increases the attack of Shinobis and Cavalry for each tier, Amaratsu makes military units generate gold, and Susanno gives an immediate favor bonus upon reaching a tier. Idk if this means that Bushido continues after the champion upgrades or not. Apparently it’s viewable on the top of the screen, like the Chinese god blessings.

But anyway, that’s my best attempt at compiling all the relevant information. It’s a good overview for the new civ. Hopefully they iron out the placeholders and add a unique siege unit for the mythic age. I’m excited for the god techs and other myth units, hopefully we get some new mechanics and gameplay concepts. Lemme know any questions you have, I’ll try to answer them but I haven’t even played the demo :sweat_smile:.

Credits to GrimmWeeper19 and TubeGaming ( Reddit user names)

4 Likes

I must say, I’m rather pleased about the selection of Units and Buildings. Food+Wood dropsite is something I love, Chop down Trees, then surround with Farms.
Footsoldier barracks, Cavalry Stable and an Elite building, with a hero type unit in each (most likely “counterable” like being classified as Infantry, Cavalry etc.) and access to a Cavalry Archer Age 3 (Probably/Hopefully gonna get plenty of tweaks untill it won’t be super OP). Would like if you could build Yari, Cavalry or Samurai in Fortress in addition to siege depending on which Age 3 minor god you choose instead of only siege (and Onmyoji).
Hope it meets expectations :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Thanks for sharing. Interesting read :disguised_face:

oh wow thanks for sharing. love the miko/shrine idea!
some things sound still a bit weird/complicated to me.

also saw kitsune image in a new post and it looks really great nothing to complain about at all!

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i really like the spider-woman Jorogumo idea but DAMN some of those concept arts look so cool and in regards of the Umibozu i personally think the concept art is WAYYYY cooler! why did we get a giant alien blob and not this badass mean looking water-elementa-djinn-male-mermaid creature? >.<

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Interesting special abilities for the MUs. Some are a bit generic, but it seems enough there to make some unique at least!