Berserk

"Infantry. Good against whatever it can reach. "
In-game description

The Berserk (named Ulfsark before Retold) is a lightly armored infantry unit in Age of Mythology. They wear animal skins on their heads and form the backbone of the Norse army.

Like other basic infantry units Berserks are a soft counter against cavalry and as such are supposed to be cost-effective against most cavalry units. Heavier cavalry such as War Elephants and Jarls require hard counter units to be cost-effectively defeated.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong vs.
Hippeus • Prodromos • Spearman • Jarl • War Elephant • Berserk • Camel Rider • Huskarl • Hersir • Raiding Cavalry

Weak vs.
Toxotes • Hypaspist • Cheiroballista • Chariot Archer • Throwing Axeman • Axeman

Technologies

General Technologies

Offense
Image	Name	Description
	Copper Weapons	+10% damage
	Bronze Weapons	+10% damage
	Iron Weapons	+10% damage

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

Utility
Image	Name	Description
	Levy Infantry	-20% training time
	Conscript Infantry	-20% training time

Myth Technologies

Name	God	Description
Phobos' Spear of Panic	Ares	+1 divine damage
Sarissa	Athena	+10% hack damage, +1 attack range
Aegis Shield	Athena	-15% pierce vulnerability
Oracle	Apollo	+4 Line of Sight
Dionysia	Dionysus	+5% hit points

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
Classical Age	Medium Infantry	150, 150, 20 seconds	Upgrades Hoplites to Medium: +10% hit points, +10% damage, +1 Line of Sight
Heroic Age	Heavy Infantry	300, 300, 30 seconds	Upgrades Hoplites to Medium: +15% hit points, +20% damage, +1 Line of Sight); requires Medium Infantry
Mythic Age	Champion Infantry	500, 400, 40 seconds	Upgrades Hoplites to Medium: +20% hit points, +30% damage, +1 Line of Sight); requires Heavy Infantry

Relic Bonuses

Image	Name	Description
	Armor of Achilles	-5% hack vulnerability
	Canopic Jar of Imsety	+25% training speed
	Gaia's Book of Knowledge	+3.0 attack multiplier vs. Titans
	Pelt of Argus	+6 Line of Sight
	Thundercloud Shawl	-5% pierce vulnerability
	Gungnir, Odin's Spear	+5% attack

Gameplay

Berserks are critical in the early stages of the game, especially the Archaic Age since they are the primary Norse builders and scout units. Norse players start with one Berserk. To lose this initial Berserk early is dangerous, as the player must spend more time and resources to replace it. Berserks are well-rounded units: they're good against cavalry and fair against infantry.

Berserks are powerful in melee combat but will lose to counter-infantry so it is best to use them together with Throwing Axemen and/or Raiding Cavalry. They are more lightly armored than their counterparts, the Hoplite, Spearman, and Murmillo, but have a higher attack. With the right upgrades and gods, the Berserk's attack can be boosted to a maximum of 16 (compared to 14 for both the Murmillo and Hoplite). As infantry units, they are weak against ranged units.

If Thor is chosen as the major god, a Dwarven Armory can be built to research technology beyond iron. With Forseti, Bragi, and Tyr as minor gods, many improvements beneficial to Berserks become available. With all those upgrades, Berserks will have a very high attack, high hit points, decent armor, fast speed and high rate of attack while still being cheap and fast to produce and being able to build. Likewise, Freyr grants access to Ullr, Bragi, and Vidar as minor gods. Out of these minor gods, Vidar provides the most upgrades to Berserks, with a total of three counting towards a maximum of six total upgrades provided by Freyr and the three aforementioned minor gods.

Norse Gatherers and Dwarves can be turned into Berserks at any time, resources permitting. This can be useful in two ways. Firstly, in an emergency to defend a Norse base, as converting workers to Berserks is instantaneous, while training them from the Longhouse or Town Center takes time. Secondly, this can be exploited in the late game when there is a surplus of workers and resources, and population space becomes more important, similar to the Ragnarok god power.

In Retold, the Hamask technology enables Berserks to gain increasingly high boosts to their attack and speed as they lose health, encouraging their use as relatively expendable mass units and turning their low armor into a blessing in disguise.

History

"Viking warriors who wore bear skins into battle were known as Berserks. They were similar to Ulfhednar (wolfish warriors in their renowned tendency to enter battle frenzy. Berserks fought on foot, armed mainly with axes and swords. They generally wore minimal armor, preferring freedom of movement to heavier protection, for their raging state caused them to be unaffected by most wounds."
In-game compendium

Gallery

Trivia

Champion Berserks are equipped with kite shields. However, this is anachronistic, as kite shields were used from the 10th century on. Also, wielding both a kite shield and a two-handed axe would be unwieldy.
Though male Berserks fight bare-chested in-game, their real-life counterparts historically wore mails (see gallery).
The various upgrades of the Berserk wear different animal pelts on their head and back.
- In the original game, the Berserk wears a brown wolf pelt, a snow wolf pelt, a brown bear pelt, and a golden bear pelt.
- In Retold, the Berserk wears a young deer pelt, a wolf pelt, a white boar pelt, and a brown bear pelt.
Ulfsark literally translates to "wolf-shirt", and Berserk to "bear-shirt".
There are several historical references and ancient artistic depictions of Norse and Germanic warriors wearing wolf and bear skins. References to boar and hog warriors are much less common, and seem to refer to warriors wearing boar-shaped helmets instead of boar skins as in the game.