SantoriniPowerHeracles

Introduction

As the doer of the twelve labors, Heracles is a hero that can restrain opponents. With his strength to lift domes, he can trap opponents, block them from disturbing his plans, or use them for many other plans. The problem is, which plan is the best for now?

Hero Power

Once per game instead of building normally, both of your workers may build any number of domes at any level.

Category

Player build

Explanation

We know that the main difference between heroes and gods is that heroes are more unpredictable, and probably require that you are more careful considering all possibilities. However, in terms of unpredictability, Heracles takes the cake and can win the game out of nowhere.

As you have probably figured it out, most of Heracles’ strategies will consist of trapping workers. We give special highlight to the following strategies: Trap the opponent: the opponent loses because they are completely trapped (surrounded by domes or Heracles) and loses due to not being able to finish their turn. You should recognize the following patterns.

• 4-in-a-row [Heracles: C1,C4, Opp: C2,C3 (easiest to fall for) or Heracles: C2,C4, Opp: C1,C3]:

All four workers are in the same row and Heracles is able to trap everyone (including himself).

If you know these patterns, then it will be easier to identify similar tactics. For example, you see that you are one move away from delivering the 4-in-a-row. However, the “domes” in D3 and D4 are there luckily for Heracles and he is able to trap the opponent by moving to B4 and building a dome on every possible square.

• Cozy perimeter: The opponent should avoid going with both workers to the perimeter otherwise it is highly likely that they will be trapped.

• Death path: This case can be a crossover of the previous ones but what distinguishes it is that Heracles might not be able to trap the opponent completely but places domes in a way that wherever they go, Heracles will follow and will eventually trap the opponent by using his workers. [H: B3, D4; O: B1, E3; Domes: A2]

Heracles moves b3-c2 and domes every space. The opponent is not trapped yet, they can go to E1 but Heracles will move to E2 and the opponent will be trapped in the next turn.

• Trap your own worker: At first, you might be reading this and thinking “That does not make sense”. However, we have already seen how other domers (e.g. Selene) can isolate their own workers and win in that tiny spot.

This situation is more common than you might think and that’s why generally the opponent wants to stick close to Heracles, but not too close, or he might get trapped.

Suddenly the opponent realizes the situation they got themself into, but it is too late to do anything about it now. Heracles uses his power and trap his worker at A2 while blocking his opponent at E3. Now, there is no way to prevent Heracles from winning in A1. Sure, the opponent has a threat in E2, but the D4 worker will easily block that.

PS: If you play against the AI, you will be able to do this many times with Heracles since it is tough for the machine to see several moves ahead.

This strategy works even better if you do it while defending an attack of your opponent. If you think about it, the most natural of domes is to block the opponent’s gameplay, isn't it?

Heracles plays b2-a2, and places domes in A3, B1, B2, B3, D2, D4, E2 and E4. Similarly to what we have seen before, he will win in A1. The difference now is that the opponent had a strong position but Heracles destroyed that in just a single move.

• Skip a turn: This situation is beyond rare, but Heracles’ power allows him to move and build zero domes, which means to move and not build at all.

Game Strategies

Early Game

Depending on the opposing power, you will select your strategy. Will you prefer to play in the center or the perimeter? Will you ignore your opponent and create your own attack? This will depend on the matchup, but a general good guide is to have in mind all of the possible uses for the domes and try to employ those strategies.

For example, you might want to build in the perimeter so that if your opponent goes there, you can try to trap him. Otherwise, Heracles might use those squares to create his own winning threat by trapping himself. We enhance that trapping the opponent with a 4-in-a-row might be the easiest to fall for since it appears to be out of nowhere. I mean, how often do you get trapped in the middle of the board?

Mid Game

Heracles should take any opportunities to create barriers with domes, levels 3 or even levels 2, especially if in the center of the board. As we have seen before, with the help of some domes, Heracles might be able to trap the opponent.

This phase of the game still revolves around looking for opportunities to apply the strategies previously mentioned, i.e., trapping workers. It is usually a bad sign when Heracles is “forced” to use his power to defend an opponent’s threat. Although Heracles might destroy the opponent’s progress until now, he is from now a mere mortal and the most likely outcome is a loss. If the matchup is hero vs hero, usually the first hero to use their power is the winner. So if you see a good opportunity to use your power, do not be afraid.

Late Game

If by this phase Heracles still has his power, the chances the opponent will be trapped increase drastically, since there are less squares to play in.

Specific Matchup

Atalanta

This is actually a matchup where Atalanta can shine (she is not better, but she stands a chance). Many of Heracles’ trapping techniques won’t work unless he completely traps Atalanta because Atalanta can, for instance, skip a turn by returning to the same square.

Aphrodite

Although Heracles has to stay close to Aphrodite, this won’t be a problem for Heracles. Heracles will easily trap Aphrodite or himself, and Aphrodite’s power won’t make much difference.

Apollo

I’m not going to lie, Apollo is better in this matchup. But taking into account all the tactics we have seen, Heracles might trap Apollo. He just has to make sure that he also traps himself, otherwise Apollo would be able to swap and build.

Atlas

Who of these two domers will win? Atlas can use his power in every turn, but one single blow from Heracles might be enough. Heracles should be stronger in this matchup, but there are still some tricks Atlas might try.

Double builders

Although Heracles can ruin the opponent’s progress of several rounds with just one turn, that might not be enough to stop them. Most likely, Heracles will have a hard time against these powers.

Limus

Heracles is a good choice to defeat Limus. Although being a mortal against Limus is very bad, in one turn Heracles can turn the tables around. In this matchup, Heracles should try to build in the corners and aim to trap himself. If Limus follows him, he moves close to another corner, creating multiple threats which Limus will have a hard time defending against.

Poseidon

If Poseidon gets one of his workers trapped, then he loses his power. With this observation in mind, Heracles will look for an opportunity to trap one of Poseidon’s workers and play a favorable 1 vs 1. This reasoning also applies to other powers which only work with both workers, such as Ares.

Terpsichore

Terpsichore is, without a doubt, one of the strongest powers of the game, and domes are her only possible weakness. So who would be better than Heracles to go against her? In fact, it is not obvious how Heracles can win this matchup, but one thing is for sure, Terpsichore will have to be watching over her shoulder the whole game.

For starters, Terpsichore should at all times keep her workers neighboring each other, otherwise it is simple for Heracles to trap a single worker and hence the game is over. When she has both workers together, it might appear that one worker is trapped but if worker A can move, worker B (which seemed to be trapped) can move to the square previously occupied by worker A. In this matchup, trapping Terpsichore with a Death Path might also be especially easy...

Considering all things, Heracles should win without too much effort, right? Wrong. Terpsichore is a very strong power and she might still find a way to work around Heracles’ ability.

Conclusion

Playing against Heracles can be a real pain since, as we have seen, there are a lot of different strategies he might try. Due to his unpredictability, many strong opponents might be defeated in a single move if they are not careful enough. There might even be cases where they are careful and it just might be the case that Heracles' threats are too much to deal with.

Tier ranking: A