Hephaestus

"You have advanced to the Mythic Age through the Toil of Hephaestus."
Age up text

Hephaestus is a Mythic Age Greek minor god in Age of Mythology. Worshipers of all Greek major gods can choose Hephaestus.

Attributes

God Power

Name	Description
Plenty Vault	Creates a Plenty Vault that generates 3 food, wood, and gold every second. The vault is indestructible, but can be captured if surrounded by enemy units.

Technology

Name	Description
Forge of Olympus	Armory technologies cost 50% less Food, Wood, and Gold.
Hand of Talos	Colossi gain +100 hit points.
Shoulder of Talos	Colossi gain +200 hit points and has -20% hack damage vulnerability.
Olympian Weapons	Unique units gain +20% attack.

Myth Unit

Name	Description
Colossus	A slow moving but nigh-unstoppable siege weapon due to high armor, hit points, and attack vs buildings. Can regain hit points by eating trees and Gold Mines.

Gameplay

Hephaestus grants military and economic bonuses. Forge of Olympus greatly decreases the cost of Armory technologies, allowing them to be researched more quickly and giving an advantage over opponents. Technologies made cheaper include Weapon of the Titans, which improves the attack of Myrmidons, Hetairos, and Gastraphetoros, depending on the major god.

Hephaestus' Myth Unit, the Colossus, is the strongest non-Titan myth unit in the game. Once fully upgraded, it can withstand pitched battles due to its massive amount of hit points and armor and can heal by eating trees and gold mines. It also serves as a building destroyer due to its high damage versus buildings.

Hephaestus' god power generates an unlimited supply of Food, Wood, and Gold. This is equivalent to at least three Villagers per resource, and ties in with Forge of Olympus to make Armory technologies even quicker to research.

Hephaestus is difficult to get the full benefit of. He is recommended for ending a race to the Mythic Age, at which point he will provide a massive economic spike to help the player boom an underdeveloped economy more quickly and knock out enemies with the player's superior human units and powerful Colossi.

Mythology

"The god of fire, volcanoes, blacksmiths, and metal working, he had a strong following in the cities where his skills were important to commerce and war. He is usually seen with an axe. In one account he sided with his mother Hera against Zeus who threw him so far that he fell all day and limped thereafter. Hephaestus was associated with Mt. Etna on the island of Sicily. In his workshop he fashioned many wondrous things for the gods, including thunderbolts for Zeus, Athena's shield, arrows for Eros, and the chariot with which Helios the sun god rode across the sky. He also helped create the first human woman from clay, named Pandora, who released the evils of the world on humankind from her magic jar."
In-game compendium

Trivia

Hephaestus and Tyr are the only two minor gods that are available to more than two major gods in the original game.