The Chinese pantheon, introduced with Age of Mythology: Retold’s Immortal Pillars expansion, features three major gods: Fuxi, Nuwa, and Shennong. Compared to the others, Nuwa is the least offensive in the early game — but this doesn’t mean she is weak. Instead, she excels at defensive play. The Chinese pantheon is unique, with each god having their own God Blessing.
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In addition to regular peasants, Chinese gods have access to Kuafu, giant workers. These units are somewhat similar to Norse Dwarves, but Kuafu are exceptional at gathering wood and gold, and they also make excellent fighters. If Nuwa is your chosen major god, this guide is for you.
Nuwa Overview
Nuwa focuses heavily on peasants, Kuafu, and defensive play. Her unique technologies also enhance peasants and Kuafu directly. However, starting defensively doesn’t mean she stays defensive in later ages.
Nuwa’s god power is Creation, which allows you to spawn a set number of clay peasants for a limited time. These units work just like regular peasants, but they disappear when the effect ends. The later you activate this god power, the more clay peasants you get.
Every Chinese major god has a God Blessing. Nuwa’s Creator’s Auspice gains tiers as you earn Favor, but you don’t need to spend this Favor for it to progress. Each new tier reduces the cost of peasants and increases building hitpoints.
Additionally, in Nuwa’s Favored Land, buildings construct themselves automatically. Foundations will complete on their own, without needing workers to build them. Moreover, buildings in Nuwa’s Favored Land spread its effect one range further, allowing you to expand your territory faster.
Nuwa also grants a ten percent health bonus to all cavalry units.
Nuwa has two unique research upgrades. The first is Kuafu Chieftain, a stronger version of the regular Kuafu. While it gains no gathering benefits, the Kuafu Chieftain respawns after death — but you can only have one at a time. The second is Mountainous Might, which boosts the attack, health, line of sight, and attack range of both regular Kuafu and the Kuafu Chieftain.
Minor God Choices
You can choose your minor gods based on your playstyle. If you prefer a more defensive strategy and plan to launch a major offensive in the final age, you can select your minor gods accordingly.
Since Nuwa herself grants a health bonus to cavalry, it’s a good idea to pick minor gods that enhance cavalry-focused armies. In the Mythic Age, Gonggong synergizes slightly better with Nuwa, but Zhurong is also a very strong option.
Classical Age: Xuannu / Houtu
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Xuannu |
Houtu |
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If you want a versatile minor god, Xuannu is for you. The healing effect provided by Qilins is extremely valuable for both defensive and offensive playstyles. Her god power, Vanish, can be useful for sneaky surprise attacks, and if used well, it can provide value in any age. However, it’s less effective for slow units. The Divine Books upgrade reduces the cost of Training Yard additions to military buildings, further improving the training speed bonus it provides. This allows you to train infantry and ranged soldiers quickly, making it a valuable technology for both defensive and offensive strategies. |
Unlike Xuannu, Houtu is not versatile — she’s a pure defensive minor god. She synergizes well with Nuwa’s defensive nature, so if your goal is not to rush enemies in the Classical Age, Houtu is a great choice. Her god power, Earth Wall, spawns walls around a friendly building, protecting it — though its effectiveness decreases in later ages. The Advanced Defenses upgrade increases the damage and range of sentry towers, also benefiting Baoleis. Houtu’s myth unit is the Qiongqi, which can fly, though it cannot attack while airborne. The Abundance technology generates small resource trickles whenever you deposit resources in Favored Land. |
Heroic Age: Goumang / Rushou
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Goumang |
Rushou |
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Goumang is a very compatible minor god for Nuwa. The Hooves of the Wind upgrade increases cavalry speed and gives them some hack armor, enhancing their survivability. Goumang’s god power, Forest Protection, targets a building and roots enemy units around it, while healing allied units. His myth unit, Taowu, is highly defensive and can charge into enemies at incredible speed, making them ideal for protecting your backline. Additionally, if you’re playing on a water map, Maelstrom improves your arrow ships, giving them a chance to spawn whirlpools, especially effective against myth units. |
Rushou’s god power, Fei Beasts, spawns monsters at a target location. These monsters deal poison damage, helping you quickly eliminate enemy units. One of Rushou’s myth units is the Baihu, which launches enemies into the air after dealing damage, similar to the Greek Minotaur. His second myth unit, Pixiu, works like a regular caravan unit, but is more defensively durable (although they generate less gold than mechanical oxen). However, the Autumn of Abundance upgrade allows Pixiu to generate food and wood alongside gold. Additionally, Gilded Shields improves the pierce armor of your Dao Swordsmen, and Divine Judgement gives your infantry divine bonus damage against myth units. |
Mythic Age: Gonggong / Zhurong
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Gonggong |
Zhurong |
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If you selected Goumang in the previous age and have plenty of wood, Gonggong is an excellent follow-up. His myth unit, the Qinglong, is extremely powerful and can fly, meaning only ranged units can hit them. His god power, Great Flood, is devastating, especially against buildings. If your army relies heavily on heroes, Shaker of Heaven increases their health by 30 percent and makes them deal extra damage to myth units. Another hero-centric technology, Tempestuous Storm, reduces hero training cost and lowers ability cooldowns. Finally, Last Stand synergizes very well with Nuwa, giving your cavalry more armor as their health drops. |
Zhurong is ideal if you want to boost your myth units’ offensive power. His myth unit, the Zhuque, is a phoenix-like bird that excels at destroying buildings. While it isn’t the best defensively, it occasionally boosts its own armor as well as the armor of nearby friendly units. The Song of Midsummer upgrade increases their health and grants them the Healing Descend ability, allowing it to heal themselves. Zhurong’s god power, Blazing Prairie, deals area damage to units and buildings for about 15 seconds, making it extremely effective. The Flaming Blood upgrade causes myth units to deal additional fire damage to nearby enemies. If you’re relying on ranged units, the Southern Fire upgrade makes Fire Archers deal ignite damage to units and buildings, while also boosting their overall damage. |
General Tips
Use Creation To Target Distant Resources
When you face resource shortages, you can quickly boost your economy using Creation. This god power becomes even more valuable in later ages since it summons more clay peasants, and its long-lasting effect ensures you won’t suffer economically compared to other god powers.
While using it in the earliest ages may not be very effective, it can still help you advance to the next age faster if needed. If you selected Houtu in the Classical Age, the Chasing The Sun research upgrade will allow you to construct buildings much faster.
You can take advantage of this by rapidly building a Silo near gold mines close to your enemies. Then, use Creation to gather resources from these gold mines as much as possible, economically damaging your opponents. This aggressive economic playstyle forces your enemies to move closer to you in search of new resources.
Use Kuafus For Defense Until You Build A Proper Army
In the early stages of the game, you can rely on your Kuafus for defense. This is especially effective if you research Kuafu Chieftain. Later, you can further enhance them with the Mountainous Might upgrade, allowing you to defend your base until you form a proper army.
However, keep in mind that Kuafus gradually lose effectiveness after the second age. If you chose Houtu as your minor god in the second age, the Earth Wall god power can help you hold the line defensively until your army is ready.
Including Cavalry In Your Army Is A Good Idea
Thanks to Nuwa, your cavalry units gain ten percent extra health. However, you won’t be able to build Baolei, the cavalry training building, until the Heroic Age. Fortunately, Nuwa excels defensively, and with the right minor gods, along with effective use of Kuafus and other units, you can hold the line until you reach the Heroic Age.
In the Heroic Age, choosing Goumang will unlock the Hooves of the Wind research upgrade, which increases your cavalry’s speed and grants them slight resistance to hack attacks. Goumang’s other upgrades will also be useful for gathering wood.
In the Mythic Age, if you select Gonggong, you can research Last Stand, which makes your cavalry more defensive as their health drops. Additionally, if you had good wood income thanks to Goumang, you can easily train plenty of Qinglong—the myth unit provided by Gonggong, which also requires wood. This allows you to field a strong force of these powerful units.
Expand Defensively And Consistently For Creator’s Auspice
To maximize the benefits of Creator’s Auspice, Nuwa’s god blessing, it’s important to spread your base across a wide area. The key is to ensure that the yellow circular influence zones created by your buildings cover as much ground as possible. This allows you to generate more favor, causing this god blessing to level up faster.
This will gradually make your peasants cheaper and your buildings more defensive. By selecting Houtu in the Classical Age, you can research Advanced Defenses, further strengthening your sentry towers and improving your base’s defensive power. Additionally, Houtu’s Abundance upgrade will make your Silos within your favored land even more efficient.
Finally, thanks to Nuwa, the yellow circles around your buildings in favored land will grow larger, making it easier to establish and expand your favored land.
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