Hersir

"Infantry, Hero. Good against myth units. Generates Favor faster and collects Relics."
In-game description

The Hersir is the regular melee Norse hero and infantry, available in the Archaic Age once a Temple has been built. Like other heroes, Hersirs are strong against myth units and can pick up Relics. Like other Norse foot soldiers, Hersirs can build and repair buildings.

Special Abilities

Image	Name	Description
	Sacred Hands	Can pick up Relics and drop them off at a Temple.
	Scourge of the Skies	Switches to a ranged attack to fight flying units.
	Petrification	Turns the target to stone, instantly destroying most units. Survivors break free after a short time.

Technologies

General Technologies

Offense

Image	Name	Description
	Copper Weapons	+10% damage
	Bronze Weapons	+10% damage
	Iron Weapons	+10% damage
	Ballistics	Fires more accurately at moving targets.

Defense

Image	Name	Description
	Copper Armor	-15% Hack Vulnerability
	Bronze Armor	-15% Hack Vulnerability
	Iron Armor	-15% Hack Vulnerability
	Copper Shields	-15% Pierce Vulnerability
	Bronze Shields	-15% Pierce Vulnerability
	Iron Shields	-15% Pierce Vulnerability

Myth Technologies

Name	God	Description
Oracle	Apollo	+4 Line of Sight
Sun Ray	Apollo	+10% anti-flying damage, projectiles reveal the surrounding area
Dionysia	Dionysus	+5% hit points
Beast Slayer	Artemis	+2 damage multiplier against myth units

Relic Bonuses

Image	Name	Description
	Arrows of Heracles	+5% attack
	Hermes' Winged Sandals	+10% movement speed
	The Khopesh of Horus	+1.0 attack bonus multiplier vs. myth units
	Pelt of Argus	+6 Line of Sight
	Thundercloud Shawl	-5% pierce vulnerability
	Tyrfing, Angantyr's Sword	Regenerate +10% of damage dealt

Gameplay

Hersirs have an average attack and armor. They excel in two areas – defeating myth units and generating favor. Norse players find generating favor more difficult than those of other civilizations, so the extra favor Hersirs generate is very important. Both the double favor and accumulated favor effects become more noticeable when Hersirs are massed. In combat, Hersirs are strong against myth units, and, as they generate lots of favor while fighting them, can help their player to create his own myth units in retaliation. However, because they are slow-moving melee units, Hersirs are rather less effective against ranged myth units. Furthermore, they are mediocre against human soldiers and therefore not cost-effective at combating them. Loki's Hersirs move faster and can summon random myth units when in combat, making them even more useful, particularly at early raiding.

As Jarls also have an attack bonus against myth units and are quite versatile, some players might want to field them instead of Hersirs. However, as they are heroes, Hersirs have three crucial advantages over Jarls: they are immune to myth units' special attacks; they have a larger attack bonus against myth units; and all myth units have an attack penalty against them.

History

"The commanders of the Viking raids were not the kings or jarls, but chieftains of middle rank called hersir. These were independent landowners comparable to medieval knights in wealth and influence. A hersir had better equipment than most of his warriors, including perhaps chain mail and the ownership of his own longboat and horse (though like any good Viking, he would still dismount to fight)."
In-game compendium

Gallery

Trivia

Hersirs are classified as infantry but they do not benefit from infantry-line technologies or Relics like Gaia's Book of Knowledge (increases infantry damage against Titans).
Hersirs were originally unique Norse upgrades for the Hirdman, a heroic version.
Hersirs die angrily, in contrast to other unit deaths, which are either in surprise, shock, or neutral.
There is an Elite Hersir technology in the game files which doubles the Hersir's hit points and increases its attack. It is unavailable to research by any player and does not appear in the technology tree, but can be researched for a player via a trigger in the Scenario Editor. Unlike other technologies, it does not have an icon and does not appear as an upgrade in the unit's In-Game Help screen when applied. It was possibly cut.