The Divine Will mechanic in Total War Saga: Troy lets you commune with the gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon. You’ll be able to obtain their boons and blessings to help you on the campaign map and during battles. Here’s our Total War Saga: Troy Divine Will guide to help you out.
Note: For more information, check out our Total War Saga: Troy guides and features hub.
Total War Saga: Troy – The Divine Will of the gods and goddesses
How exactly does the Divine Will mechanic work in Total War Saga: Troy? For starters, you’ll want to look at the Divine Will panel on the campaign HUD. Here, you’ll find seven Greek gods and goddesses and you can check the different buffs they provide depending on the level of their “cult.”
There are four cult levels or tiers, and you can rank up by acquiring more favor points from a specific god. Here are the tiers:
- Neglected: 0 to 49
- Respected: 50 to 299
- Celebrated: 300 to 599
- Worshiped: 600 and above
Next, here are the passive buffs you get depending upon the tier (the “Neglected” tier, obviously, means that the god also neglects to give you boons):
| Gods and Goddesses | Cult Level: Respected | Cult Level: Celebrated | Cult Level: Worshipped |
| Hera | Military Service: +20% missile attack for slingers -7% recruitment costs for units in provinces where you have 50% influence | Flourishing Homeland: -1 construction time for main settlement buildings -10% wood construction costs +50 growth to provinces where you have 50% influence | Divine Protection: +10% casualty replenishment rate +20% morale to all units in your territory Recruit Corybantes |
| Zeus | Might of the Thunderbolt: +20% melee attack for club units +15% missile attack for javelin units | Father of Heroes: -50% recruitment costs for heroes and agents “Messenger of Zeus” trait for newly-recruited agents “Descendant of Zeus” trait for all newly-recruited heroes | Regal Presence: +1 happiness for each defensive/military alliance (up to +5) +1 influence for each defensive/military alliance (up to +10) Recruit Minotaur |
| Ares | Eager to Fight: +1 local recruitment capacity +20% morale for sword and axe units | Delight for Violence: +20% income from raiding, looting, and sacking +1 happiness for each war (up to +5) +20% melee attack for sword and axe units | Panic and Terror +10 charge for all units All heroes frighten enemies in battle Recruit Spartoi |
| Apollo | Piety: +3 recruit rank for priestesses -20% construction costs for temple buildings | Lord of the Silver Bow: +20% range for archer units +15% reload skill for missile units | The Light of Phobus: -20% action costs for all agents +25% administration efficacy for Royal Decrees/techs Recruit Seer |
| Athena | Protector of Cities: +20% morale for spear units -20% battle fatigue while defending | Mentor of Heroes: +20% melee attack for spear units +4 recruit rank for all heroes +20% melee defense for shielded units | Gorgoneion: +10 morale for units within hero’s aura All heroes are unbreakable in battle Recruit Gorgon |
| Poseidon | Call of the Sea: +15% campaign movement range at sea -2 enemy siege holdout time | The Riches of the Sea: +40% treasures after battle/post-battle loot +100 food per turn for each coastal region that you own | Blood of Poseidon: -20% battle fatigue for mythic, mounted, and chariot units +30% morale for mythic, mounted, and chariot units Recruit Cyclops |
| Aphrodite | Love of the People: +10 diplomatic relations with all factions +200% to all effects of Organize Games province commandment (+happiness/growth) | Golden Apple: +30 growth +1 happiness for each non-aggression pact (up to +5) +10% battle captives taken | Invisible Guardian: +25% damage resistance for heroes -30% success chance for enemy agent actions Recruit Satyr |
Below, you can see the blessings that are active when you fight battles (these are dependent on the cult tier of the deity):
Gaining favor
Having multiple tier 3/”Worshiped” bonuses provided by the gods and goddesses sounds awesome, right? Sadly, you also lose 10 favor each turn for all gods and goddesses until you’re back down to zero. Our goal to master the Divine Will mechanic, therefore, is to boost our favor gains to reach some semblance of stability when it comes to a particular god.
There are a few means to increase favor:
- Building a temple dedicated to a god. This costs wood and, later, stone and gold.
- Rededicating a temple to a new god. This costs gold and the new temple will be of the same level as the previous one (sort of like building conversion).
- Initiating a hecatomb—a sacrifice of 100 cattle—to a deity. This costs food and can only be initiated every five turns.
- Priestess (agent) and seer (epic agent) rituals in a settlement with a temple. The former costs food and can only be done every three turns.
- Special buildings in specific settlements. Examples include the Oracle of Apollo in Elateia (Ozolia province) and the Gorgoneion Cave in Volissos (Ophioussa province).
- Certain events as you play Total War Saga: Troy‘s campaign. Aeneas’ mechanics are even closely tied with the favor of the gods and the Divine Will mechanic.
Prayers and temples
Temples to the gods and goddesses not only net you with more favor for Total War Saga: Troy‘s Divine Will mechanic, but they also have additional province-wide effects where they’re built. Temples also increase the number of priestess agents that can be recruited (up to a maximum of three for your faction). Likewise, all the temples you’ve built regardless of the deity will increase the food cost of hecatomb sacrifices. On the bright side, they’ll also increase the amount of favor you obtain.
Next up are prayers. Prayers cost food and gold to activate, and the boons will be improved depending on the god’s cult level too.
While hecatomb sacrifices can only be done every five turns, you can pray to different deities each turn to gain their buffs. The buffs last four turns and will take effect on your next turn. But, you can’t pray to the same deity again until the buff has run its course. Still, you could do something like: pray to Athena -> gain her buff next turn; pray to Apollo -> gain his buff next turn while Athena’s buff is still active; pray to a different god, and so on.
In any case, here are the effects you gain from temples and prayers:
| Gods and Goddesses | Prayer | Temple Buildings |
| Hera | Increased siege holdout time for cities being defended; increased attrition casualties for enemy armies in your territory | Increased province growth; increased morale for recruited units |
| Zeus | Increased diplomatic evaluation for deals except for barters | Increased influence in province; decreased construction costs of buildings |
| Ares | Decreased morale of all enemy units; increased rage generation during battles | Increased unit charge and melee attack of recruited units; increased local recruitment capacity when you build the shrine and temple |
| Apollo | Increased success chance for all agent actions; increased campaign map line of sight around temples of Apollo | Decreased recruitment costs for missile units; decreased recruitment cost for all agents; increased rank for recruited agents |
| Athena | Increased recruit rank for all units; increased local recruitment capacity (slots) for all provinces | Increased melee defense for all recruited units; increased rank for recruited heroes (generals) |
| Poseidon | Increased battle speed for melee, mounted, and chariot units; immunity to deep-sea attrition for all units | Increased campaign movement range for all armies starting in the province; -1 building construction time (not affected by higher-tier buildings) |
| Aphrodite | Increased growth; increased happiness | Increased casualty replenishment rate; increased happiness |
Priestesses and the Ritual of Exultation
Another concept we have to take note of when it comes to Total War Saga: Troy‘s Divine Will mechanic would be the “Ritual of Exultation” action initiated by your priestesses (agents) on settlements with a temple dedicated to a specific god or goddess. As mentioned, these only cost a few hundred units of food, but the favor gains are extremely helpful if you want to offset the “-10 favor per turn” malus.
Note: If the settlement you perform the Ritual of Exultation in has no temple, then you’ll gain the favor of a random god, but the amount will be slightly lower.
Priestesses, like other regular agents, can be leveled up. In fact, some of their perks provide them with “increased critical success chance” (they could go from +20 favor to +40 favor if they crit). Similarly, you can select perks that let them focus on a specific god or goddess so you can “farm” favor for that divine being.
Remember that the “Ritual of Exultation” can only be done every four turns, so you’ll want to time it right with other means to maximize your favor gains. Since you can only field a maximum of three priestesses faction-wide, you should have specific agents that are predominantly focused on a specific deity while you’re spending resources on hecatombs and temples for other gods.
Additional Total War Saga: Troy Divine Will tips
Lastly, the best tips I can give you — if you really want to focus on Total War Saga: Troy‘s Divine Will mechanic — are these:
- Pop a hecatomb to Athena and pray to her immediately. You should have extra recruitment slots next turn to muster troops that have leveled up. This is only if you want to get a headstart when it comes to conquests.
- If you do need to cross the sea and invade the Greek or Trojan mainlands, don’t forget to pray to Poseidon. Even at “Neglected” rank, your troops will still be immune to deep-sea attrition.
- If you need extra diplomatic evaluation for barters, you can’t go wrong with prayers dedicated to Zeus. The bonus values allow you to propose ridiculously lopsided trades especially if the AI already likes you beforehand.
- Build a temple to Apollo in your capital and focus on upgrading it (or initiate a hecatomb sacrifice). At tier 1/”Respected,” you should get +3 ranks for priestesses and an additional +6 ranks if the temple is maxed out. The extra levels will let you grab happiness, critical success, and favor perks for your priestesses from the get-go. If you obtain extra priestesses from events (or the “gratitude” mechanic), they’ll also be at a higher level since they’ll spawn in your capital.
- Once the Cult of Apollo reaches the “Worshipped” tier, you can recruit the seer (epic agent) every 10 turns in any settlement. The seer instantly maxes out the cult level of a deity if she enacts a ritual in a settlement’s temple. She’s basically the Bronze Age’s version of a popular influencer, minus the “will tell my followers about your restaurant if you let me eat for free” schtick.
Note: If you’d like to learn more about the seer, gorgon, minotaur, and others, you can head over to our mythological creatures and epic agents guide.
Total War Saga: Troy is available via the Epic Games Store. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
Published: Aug 13, 2020 07:45 am