Best Norse build order for Age of Mythology Retold

The Norse Pantheon is a strong option in Age of Mythology Retold if you want to win, but you will need to follow the best build order to reap their benefits and become victorious.

To advance through each age in Retold as quickly as possible, you will need to have the optimum build order. In contrast to Age of Empires, the best construction orders in AoM, especially in the first Ages, are different for all four Pantheons.

The Norse are powerful due to their mobile Ox Carts, versatile infantry, fast Favor generation, mighty Myth units, God Powers, and Siege units. This paired with their aggressive playstyle benefits, makes them an incredibly fun and formidable choice.

Here’s the best build order for the Norse Pantheon, including the goal of each age, and the order in which you should make certain villagers, military units, and buildings as you advance through each age.

Archaic Age

Goal: Establish a strong economy and advance to the Classical Age quickly.

With Norse uniquely benefiting from Dwarfs to gain Gold faster than standard villagers, you won’t need to prioritize Gold as much as the other three Pantheons. As always, Food is the key priority for the most crucial age, and by following the instructions below, you will transition to the next age with ease.

Here is the best Norse build order for the Archaic Age:

1. Send 3 starting villagers and Ox Cart to collect food.
   • Note: If using Thor, you will start with 3 Dwarfs instead. Put 2 on Food, and 1 on Gold.
2. Order Dwarf to mine Gold.
3. Build a house.
4. Build Ox Cart next to Gold Mine.
5. Order a Dwarf to mine Gold.
6. Order 2 villagers to collect Wood.
7. Build Ox cart next to Wood source.
8. Order 2 villagers to collect Food.
   • Note: If using Thor, Move the 2 starter Dwarfs from collecting Food to mine Gold.
9. Order 1 villager to collect Wood.
10. Order 2 villagers to collect Food.
11. Order Dwarf to mine Gold.
12. Build Temple (After you have ordered your 3 Dwarfs, it should be about time to build).
13. Advance to Classical Age.

Classical Age

Goal: Start military production and maintain economic growth.

After the Archaic Age, you will be left with 7 villagers on Food, 3 chopping down Wood, and 3 Dwarfs mining Gold. Food is still the main focus, so you won’t need to move any villagers around. Instead, you will need to add more to each area to balance it out and start your military production.

Here is the best Norse build order for the Classical Age:

1. Keep 7 villagers on Food, 3 on Gold, and 3 on Wood.
2. Build 3 houses.
3. Order 2 villagers to collect Wood.
4. Order 2 Dwarfs to mine Gold.
5. Build Long House and Great Hall.
6. Order 2 villagers to collect Food.
7. Order 2 Dwarfs to mine Gold.
8. Order 10 military units (5 Raiding Cavalry, 5 Throwing Axemen).
9. Build Armory.
10. Advance to Heroic Age.

Heroic Age

Goal: Expand your army with stronger units, make efficiency and military upgrades, and scout nearby areas for resources, relics and enemies.

Even though the first two eras of the game have a structured build order, at this point your overall strategy becomes more flexible based on the resources at your disposal and uncontrollable in-game events such as enemy movements. However, you will need to make sure you raid like a true Viking.

Here is the best Norse build order during the Heroic Age:

1. Increase your villagers to a total of 25 (10 on Food, 8 on Gold, 7 on Wood).
2. Build 3 houses.
3. Order 10 Mythic Herser units.
4. Build Market.
5. Upgrade farming, mining, and woodcutting to increase efficiency.
6. Build 3 houses.
7. Double your military units to around 40 regular units.
8. Scout nearby and use cavalry units and especially Hersers to attack enemy villagers and demolish nearby buildings to increase your Favor.
9. Collect any nearby Relics with Hersers.
10. Build another Town Center if possible to increase the Population Cap.
11. Order 2 Ox Caravans to produce passive Gold.
12. Build Fortress.
13. Advance to Mythic Age.

The Norse Pantheon’s way of earning Favor is through combat, fighting enemy units and buildings. You will therefore need to play more aggressively to gain more map control early on while playing as Norse and attack your opponents to gain Favor.

The key at this stage is to attack without overstepping to avoid major conflicts, especially if your army isn’t yet big enough. This is why we recommend getting a bandit of Hero Hersers as quickly as possible, as these are strong units that gain Favor faster and can also collect Relics.

Mythic Age

Goal: Establish dominance and attack your enemies or strive for the final Wonder Age.

You must ensure that your resource economy is still in place because, by this point, the surrounding resources will be sparse. If your adversaries haven’t attacked you already, they most likely will.

The key is to expand your army as much as you can, including a balance of powerful Myth units, ordinary soldiers, and in particular for Norse, their strong Siege weapons.

Here is the best Norse build order during the Mythic Age:

1. Increase your villagers to a total of 30 (12 on Food, 10 on Gold, 8 on Wood).
2. Upgrade farming, mining, and woodcutting to increase efficiency.
3. Build more military buildings for the units you use to improve efficiency.
4. Build 5-10 houses.
5. Order 5 Ballista Siege units.
6. Upgrade farming, mining, woodcutting.
7. Double your army size again to around 75-100 units in total.
   • Have a strong balance of Siege units, regular units, and Mythic Hero units, such as 10 Ballistas, 20 Hersirs, 10 Valkyrie, 5 Fenris Wolf Blood, 3 Jotuns, and the rest should be standard infantry, cavalry and ranged units depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies.
8. Upgrade military units.
9. Research the Secrets of the Titans from the Town Center.
10. Build a Titan gate when you reach enough Favor to spawn a Titan.
11. Build a Wonder.

You must construct a Wonder for 5,000 Food, 5,000 Wood, and 5,000 Gold in order to reach the Wonder Age. Use your Market to trade various resources in order to expedite the process if you’re having trouble gathering the resources naturally.

Wonder Age

Goal: Maximise your army’s potential and wipe out all your enemies with the benefits.

In Retold, the Wonder helps end games but isn’t a game finisher itself. As you reach the Wonder Age, your Norse Myth units become stronger, and you can recast God Powers faster and cheaper.

Once you reach the end, focus on attacking your opponents with your full army, destroying them completely. Ensure you’ve upgraded everything and built any necessary military structures to stay effective if your forces are defeated.

Build orders will change based on enemy moves, your chosen God, and unexpected events, especially against experienced multiplayer players or higher-difficulty AI. The first two stages will follow the set build order, but from Stage 3 onward, strategies can vary, and some players might rush their attacks.

We have provided the best build order guides for every other Pantheon in Age of Mythology Retold, including the Greeks, Atlanteans, and Egyptians.

You can also check out every cheat available and how to use them during your matches.