How To Gain Favor In Age of Mythology: Retold

What sets Age of Mythology: Retold apart, as the name suggests, is its inclusion of mythological and strategic elements. While mastering the playstyle of your chosen pantheon, you must also maintain a stable economy. You’ll need to exploit gold mines, forests, berry bushes, and wild animals to build an army that can outmatch your opponents.

A snowy town being attacked, an army on the sands, and a lush village from Age of Mythology Retold.

Age Of Mythology: Retold – Beginner Tips

Here’s a brief primer to learning the ins and outs of Age of Mythology: Retold.

But, of course, armies aren’t just made up of human units. Myth units, with their unique abilities, often turn the tide of battle and make things more challenging. For these, you need Favor. But do you know how to earn Favor?

Updated March 15, 2025, by Emre Pala: With the Immortal Pillars expansion, the Chinese pantheon has been added to the game. Naturally, their method of gaining Favor differs from other pantheons. We’ve updated our guide to include how to generate Favor when playing as the Chinese pantheon.

What Is Favor? What Is It Used For?

Behemots and Argus' standing next to ocean in Age of Mythology - Retold.

Favor is one of the four resources you can obtain in the game. However, unlike Food, Gold, and Wood, you cannot gather Favor from the map. Each pantheon has its own unique method of earning Favor, so you must follow that specific method to gain it. Favor serves five purposes:

Training mythological units.
Researching mythological unit and other various upgrades.
Using God powers multiple times.
Building Fortress, Migdol Stronghold, Hill Fort, Palace.
Researching the Secret of the Titans upgrade to summon a Titan.

How To Earn Favor In The Greek Pantheon

Villagers are worshipping around the temple in Age of Mythology - Retold.

If you’re playing as one of the Greek gods, all you need to do is build a Temple, which can already be done in the first age, the Archaic Age. After that, you can assign your Villagers to worship at the Temple, and they will start generating Favor.

How To Further Increase Favor

If you’re playing as Zeus, you gain Favor 20 percent faster.
If you’ve selected Aphrodite in the Heroic Age, you can research the Golden Apples upgrade to earn Favor 20 percent faster from the Temple.

How To Earn Favor In The Egyptian Pantheon

Five Egptian monuments are built next to each other in Age of Mythology - Retold.

The Egyptian gods have a hassle-free way of earning Favor. All you need to do is build monuments. There are five different monuments you can construct in total. These monuments will automatically and steadily generate Favor.

The last monument you construct, the Monument to Gods, generates more Favor than other monuments. Additionally, you can empower the monuments with your Pharaohs to further increase your Favor gain. If you want to further increase your Favor:

How To Further Increase Favor

If you’re playing as Ra, your Priests can also bless the monuments, further boosting your Favor income. Additionally, when you are playing Ra and while Pharaoh empowers a monument, it empowers all nearby monuments, so you should build your monuments close together to maximize your Favor gain.
If you select Bast in the Classical Age, using the Eclipse God power will increase your Favor gain as long as it’s night.
If you select Anubis in the Classical Age, the Necropolis research upgrade increases the Favor you gain from monuments by 25 percent.
In the Mythic Age, if you select Osiris, you will have two Pharaohs, which allows for even more empowerment.

How To Earn Favor In The Norse Pantheon

A Norse army is preparing to raid enemies in Age of Mythology - Retold.

Gaining Favor with the Norse Pantheon is more challenging compared to other pantheons because your Favor gain isn’t tied to any buildings. To gain Favor as the Norse, you need to fight. Whenever a Norse soldier or ship battles enemy units, you will earn Favor. Hersirs, heroes trained from the Temple, earn Favor more quickly from combat compared to other units.

How To Further Increase Favor

If you select Thor, you can research the Hammer of the Gods upgrade in the Archaic Age, allowing your Hersirs to generate Favor automatically without needing to engage in combat.
If you select Odin, the units you train from the Great Hall will gain 25 percent more favor in battle.
In the Heroic Age, selecting Bragi will give you one Favor each time one of your Berserks dies.

How To Earn Favor In The Atlantean Pantheon

An oracle increases his line of sight in Age of Mythology - Retold.

For Atlantean gods, Favor is earned through your scouts, the Oracles. The longer your Oracles stand still, the more their line of sight will increase, and they will also generate Favor. You can train Oracles from the Temple, but note that you cannot have more than ten Oracles at any given time.

However, you must be cautious of a few things. The more your Oracles move, the less Favor they will generate. If two Oracles are within each other’s line of sight, only one of them will generate Favor. Therefore, it’s best to place them far apart in safe locations.

How To Further Increase Favor

If you promote your Oracles to Heroes, they will generate more Favor than regular Oracles.
If you select Leto in the Classical Age, the Perception research upgrade will allow your Oracles with full line of sight to generate more Favor.
If you select Hyperion in the Heroic Age, you can promote your Oracles to Heroes for free, and all new Oracles will be automatically promoted to Heroes.
If you select Rheia in the Heroic Age, the Horns of Consecration research upgrade will allow you to steadily generate Favor, though at a slow rate.
If you select Theia in the Heroic Age, your Oracles’ automatic Favor generation will increase by ten percent, and they will generate ten percent more Favor when their line of sight is full.

How To Earn Favor In The Chinese Pantheon

The Favored Land around a town center is displayed on a snowy terrain in Age Of Mythology Retold

If you’re playing as a god from the Chinese pantheon, the first thing you need to understand about gaining Favor is the concept of Favored Land. This refers to the yellow circle that expands around your Town Centers. The purpose of these yellow circles is to generate Favor for you.

If you select any of your buildings, you’ll notice these circles.

Every building you construct has its own circle. By default, these circles appear gray. However, if you place a building so that its gray circle touches the yellow area of a Town Center (or another yellow circle), it will turn yellow.

So, when playing as the Chinese, your goal for gaining Favor is to expand the yellow area around your Town Centers. You do this by placing buildings in a way that connects to the existing yellow circles. The larger your yellow area, the more Favor you generate. Remember, every Town Center you build will create a new Favored Land area.

Avoid building in cramped spaces, as this will limit your Favor gain. Instead, spread your buildings apart while ensuring that their circles remain connected.

How To Further Increase Favor

If your Major God is Nuwa, your buildings will generate larger yellow circles compared to other gods. This allows you to gain more Favor and makes it easier to connect buildings.
Other than this, there are no alternative ways to increase Favor. The key is to expand aggressively and protect your buildings. If your structures are destroyed, your yellow area shrinks, reducing your Favor generation.