SantoriniPowerHypnus

Introduction

Hypnus is seen as a bad god without an active power by most beginners. However, there is one thing you know right away. Against most gods, Hypnus’s opponent must have both workers at level 2 before winning, which is especially painful against Pan or Poseidon! So the point is how to play this god passive aggressively...

God Power

If one of your opponent's workers is higher than all of their others, it cannot move.

Category

Opponent blocking

Explanation

This happens at the opponent’s turn, when his highest worker is unable to move. However, he is able to build (e.g. Graeae) or do special actions (e.g. Ares). Also, if two or more workers are in the same highest level, all workers can move (which is important for Graeae and Proteus).

Game Strategies

Early Game

The best strategy with Hypnus is always to play as aggressively as possible, which can be done by these (and more):

• Building next to an opponent’s worker which has just moved up, since he can’t use those squares while the other worker(s) are at a lower level.
• Or by building on two opposite sides of the board. If the opponent is playing with both workers on one side of the board, you can start building on the other side of the board. If you are fast enough, he has to move to that side to defend, step down and leave the other worker unmovable.

Another strategy to have in mind is that it is usually good to keep the opponent’s workers separated. If they are separated, it is harder for a worker to build next to the other in case of a threat.

Mid Game

You have to utilize Hypnus’ ability. This implies that sometimes you might want to build a higher level next to your opponent. If the opponent doesn’t use it, Hypnus will use it. If the opponent moves up, that worker might get stuck for a while. Consider the following example, which gives an idea of how strong he is:

Hypnus built on two different sides of the board and the opponent had to go to the right lower corner to defend (because he wouldn’t be able to win first, he must get both workers on level 2). Now Hypnus can take advantage of this position by creating a threat on D2, which the opponent must respond by moving the E3 worker up. But now that worker is the highest of the opponent’s workers, meaning that at the moment, he cannot move. Clever Hypnus takes advantage of that by building a level 3 where only he can win.

Another way to use Hypnus’s ability is to trap one of the opponent’s workers. If you trap an opponent’s lower worker, then the win is certain as the awake worker will never be able to reach a level 3.

Late Game

If Hypnus lets his opponent move both workers to level 2 in a position such that there are a lot of level 2s, Hypnus’ power can go unnoticeable and he doesn’t want that. One way to avoid this is for Hypnus to create level 3s threats, even if the opponent can block them easily. Hypnus is not that effective at this stage of the game, so I would recommend you to finish the game as soon as you can or prevent a high number of level 2s from being on the board.

Specific Matchup

Charon

If you have played against Charon, you might have asked yourself: “How can I beat this guy?”. Well, Hypnus might be an option, although I still think Charon should be stronger.

Castor & Pollux

This is probably one of the easiest gods to play against Hypnus. The fact that he can just not move or he can move both workers in the same turn are both great. Being able not to move is great to defend next to your highest worker (this is often a problem against Hypnus) and being able to move both workers can sometimes just ignore Hypnus’ ability. For example, if Castor & Pollux has both workers in the ground level, he can move them both to level 1 with one turn, so both of his workers can move in the next turn.

Hera

An interesting matchup where both powers affect the opponent. This should be slightly favorable for Hypnus but still a balanced matchup.

Hermes

The fact that Hermes can build and not move is very helpful against Hypnus. I would recommend you pick him in this matchup.

Gods with multiple workers (e.g. Gaea, Graeae, Hydra, Jason and Proteus)

If the opponent has three or more workers, there is only one situation where the workers are restrained. That situation is when only one of the workers is higher than all of the remaining workers and in that case, the highest worker can’t move. For example, if Graeae has two workers in level 1 and one worker in level 0, ALL workers are free to move. We can analyze each matchup individually, but the fact that this happens against powers with 3 or more workers weakens Hypnus very severely and that’s why Hypnus should not be preferred in these matchups.

Morpheus

Just like most gods, Morpheus needs to get both workers on top of a level 2 and only then he can win. This sounds like it could be a problem, but the fact that Morpheus is so strong and Hypnus is a little passive, gives time for Morpheus to collect enough blocks to defend and attack.

Pegasus

Pegasus should be preferred in this matchup since he can easily get both workers to level 2. He just needs to be careful not to move any worker to a level 3 or at least one worker won’t be able to move up to a level 3.

Poseidon

Hypnus is probably the worst enemy of Poseidon! As everybody knows, Poseidon is one of the strongest powers of the game since he destroys most of the opponents in a blink of an eye. But Hypnus is here to save the day! By requiring Poseidon to have both workers in level 2 before getting the win, Hypnus is especially strong against Poseidon. And this is not all! Whenever Poseidon moves to a level 1, it is the last opportunity for him to use his power. This is because he is no longer able to move a worker while the other is on the ground level. Since Poseidon loses his power too soon, the best strategy he can probably try is to build as much as he wants while maintaining both workers in the ground and only then move up. Anyway, anyone who plays decently with Hypnus will have absolutely no problem and Poseidon will be hopeless. This is probably the best pick to defeat Poseidon!

Conclusion

If you face a weak player with Hypnus, he might seem weak. But if you face a (very) strong player with Hypnus, you can see how destructive he can be. That being said, Hypnus is not one of the easiest powers to play with. Still, you should be better with him the more you play with him.

Tier ranking: A

Although Hypnus is a passive power, he is one of the most menacing gods. Just watch out for gods with multiple workers and he should be fine.