Age of Mythology: Retold — Relic Guide

What this covers

This is my beginner-friendly walkthrough of relics in Age of Mythology: Retold: how they differ from other Age games, what you need to use them, how I scout and prioritize them, and where the UI still makes things harder on console. I play as Gaia (Atlantean) in the example match to show oracles, hero conversion, and a few concrete relic effects I find on the map.

Finding relics before the match

• In the pre-game lobby, look at the full map outline before the game starts. Small relic icons appear on that preview.
• Those markers are a rough guide to where relics will spawn; I don’t treat them as pixel-perfect, but they tell you regions (for example, relics often sit toward the edges of the map on the example shown).
• During the game, oracles (Atlantean scouts) are great for sweeping corners: they have low line of sight while moving, but if they stand still, their vision ramps up to a huge radius over time—handy for spotting relics without committing much.

How relics work

• In Retold, relics are ongoing gameplay buffs for the whole match as long as they are garrisoned in a temple you control.
• You need:
  1. A temple (for most civs: wood and gold; it’s also part of aging up to the second age).
  2. A hero to pick up a relic off the ground.
• If your temple is destroyed, you generally need to recover the situation and get relics back into a temple again to keep the bonuses.

Relic positions on the preview map line up somewhat with reality, but which buff sits in which corner feels randomized from game to game—so sometimes one side gets stronger combinations; that’s part of the risk–reward layer of the mode.

Atlanteans, heroes, and pickup rules

• Atlanteans start with three oracles. I lean on them for early vision and, when needed, hero conversion.
• Any human unit can become a hero for 40 food, 60 gold, and 1 favor. Oracles generate favor, so I can promote an oracle, grab a relic, and move on.
• Important: you cannot pick up relics until your temple is finished, even if you already have a hero. A hero will walk past a relic on right-click until the temple exists—something I demonstrate on purpose so the rule sticks.

You can also promote villagers to heroes for relic duty, but that has opportunity cost (they aren’t gathering or building). Sending several villagers on relic runs adds up; oracles are cheaper to replace mentally and economically than villagers you might lose.

Reading relic effects

• On mouse and keyboard, I can hover relics (and UI tied to them) to see exact effects—for example +15% building HP or increased range for soldiers and heroes.
• Examples I call out from the match:
  • Building HP bonus (meaningful for defense).
  • Soldier/hero attack range.
  • Pegasus that spawns at the temple on a timer and respawns if killed—neat for free scouting.
  • Cavalry speed (+10%)—useful only if I’m actually going cav; otherwise it’s still a denial pickup.
• Strong relic types mentioned in passing include hero regen in combat, higher TC pop cap, and cheaper Secrets of the Titans—game-warping when the map rolls your way.

When and how hard to push relics

• I treat relics as high value and generally recommend grabbing them as early as you safely can, especially buffs that scale over time (for example, a slow food trickle for the rest of the game).
• Two philosophies:
  1. Hoard / deny — in 1v1, taking relics the enemy might use even if the buff is mediocre.
  2. Prioritize — rush the relics that match your build and skip marginal ones unless you’re denying.
• In practice I see most players commit to relics in Age I; going much later is rarer in my experience because the sooner the temple is up and relics are in, the longer the payoff runs.

Civilization differences

• Atlanteans / Norse: I find getting heroes online for relics easiest here given how their rosters and mechanics work in this context.
• Greeks: Heroes are limited by age (roughly one hero per age in the framing I use here), so early relic runs can feel tighter on flexibility.
• Greek Age I relic timing: training a hero like Ajax costs time and 100 food—that’s villager time not spent on the TC and a noticeable chunk versus the 400 food gate to Classical. If the hero is queued alongside the age-up, the age-up timer can also feel longer in practice. Net: early Greek relic hunting delays your Classical timing more than doing relics a bit later—worth knowing when you choose your opening.

Controller vs mouse and keyboard

• On Xbox/controller, I couldn’t reliably see full relic descriptions until I had direct line of sight with a unit—fog of war hides the identity in a way that hurts planning.
• From the temple UI on controller I could step through some text (e.g. “Nose of the Sphinx” and “increase building hit points”) but not the exact percentage that MK shows (e.g. 15%).
• There is a “send nearby hero to this location” style interaction that helps oracles run out without babysitting every step.
• Dropping relics from the temple to reposition them was awkward or unavailable on controller in my test compared to MK—worth re-checking after patches, but the design gap I care about is: relic power needs to be readable through fog (or otherwise) so every platform can judge whether a pickup is worth the trip.

Temple capacity, dropping relics, and Chronos

• Relics are garrisoned in the temple like contained units. I count four in one temple in the footage and note the five-relic framing—if you exceed what one temple holds, build another temple (not a huge ask late game).
• Chronos can teleport buildings. I warn myself (and you): think twice before teleporting a temple that still holds relics toward the enemy—losing that building is catastrophic for the buff package. I didn’t lab whether relics travel with the teleport or drop; treat it as high risk until you confirm in your own test.

Bottom line: I think relics are almost always worth contesting in Retold—the passive bonuses stack, denial matters in mirrors, and the main friction today is information parity on controller and early-game tempo for civs with expensive or limited heroes.