What is Gauntlet?
A new mode in Arena of the Gods. Challenge yourself in the Labyrinth with a series of escalating skirmish battles where you pick your path, earn unique bonuses (blessings), and overcome the Boss Battle in singleplayer or co-op with a friend. Completing a run earns you an Eternal Blessing or a new Legend – available for your use on future Gauntlet runs.
What is a Run?
The core of the Gauntlet is called your Run – it’s your path (with 3 lives) to victory. Make your way through 9 nodes (battles) of the Labyrinth to get to the Boss Battle and win your Run! However, if you lose 3 battles, you are defeated and sent back to the beginning with no Blessings.
How do the Blessings work?
In the Gauntlet, there are two types of Blessings.
A Blessing is a special boost to stats, speed, or a special unit, and you can unlock and accumulate more Blessings as you win each match. There are regular (non-Eternal) Blessings and Eternal Blessings in this mode.
Choose Blessings at the beginning of a node to help you win the match, but note they are only available during your run and will disappear as soon as you start a new path through the Labyrinth. At the start of the run, you will be able to choose a starter Blessing. This is where your hard work in the Daily Celestial Challenge or Story Mode pays off… You can start your run with any of the Blessings earned in those modes!
Eternal Blessings are a bit different. Eternal Blessings are acquired after completing the Boss Node and will be yours to add to your pool of choices for all subsequent runs. Eternal Blessings can ALSO be unlocked in Arena of the Gods - Story Mode. More reason to check out the other mode!
What is a Legend? How do I unlock more Legends (Heroes)?
At the beginning of the Gauntlet run, choose a Legend to help you along the way. These Legends are powerful Heroes that unlock as you beat the final Boss at the end of each run through the Labyrinth! As a bonus, after Legends are unlocked, they are available for all future play-throughs! All players will start with Kastor from the Arena of the Gods Story Mode. There are currently 12 possible Legends to unlock in the Beta.
What is the Favor Stash and how can I use it?
Traversing the Gauntlet is fraught with perils – but also rewards for your efforts. As you complete nodes in your run, you accumulate extra Favor that can be used to purchase perks or back-up muscle during a Gauntlet / skirmish match, cash it out as regular Favor for god powers and myth units, or save it up for the more difficult matches. But be careful – you are limited on the amount you can use during each match!
The Favor Stash is available to you after you build your Market building (2nd Age) in a match. This currency is also available in other Single-player content, such as the regular Skirmish mode!
What does the co-op player get for their efforts?
What is the role of a friend? You are the wingman, the back-up, and sometimes you carry… But you also will earn experience, levels, and a Favor stash of your own to keep! Bragging rights, buying power, and the unending appreciation of your buddy are what we currently offer.
As we gather more information about players' experience with this new mode, we hope to add achievements and further refinements that make being the Co-Op partner more directly rewarding.
Can I play Gauntlet offline?
Gauntlet is not currently available offline. Due to how awards (badges, Favor, etc.), leaderboards, and co-op are designed and integrated, it’s necessary to have a connection to our servers to ensure gameplay consistency and our ability to address issues. We understand that many enjoy the solo-leveling experience; we believe the whole AoM Community overall gets the best experience with our current design.
What happens if I lose my connection when playing?
Due to the current design, losing connection will result in loss of the run. Ultimately, this was a decision around possible ways to cheat and resource constraints. We opted to focus on additional features with the hope that we get player feedback on this and how often it happens.
Why are my Myth units huge? Is this a bug?
Did you see an absolute (myth) Unit walking across your battlefield in a Gauntlet match? Wondering if it’s that old-bug-turned-cheat-code (Cheats for Age of Mythology: Retold) that suddenly came back? More probably, you’ve hit the special combination of blessings and the Wonder that causes this to happen. Not a bug! Enjoy!
The Gauntlet says 'Beta' - how do I give feedback?
Would you like to flex your design muscle and give suggestions on how we can improve Gauntlet? We welcome your creative and helpful comments in the Age of Myth forums (Latest Age of Mythology: Retold topics - Age of Empires Forum), Reddit (Age of Mythology), and Discord. While we cannot promise to act on all great ideas, we will take them into consideration! Your feedback helps provide fresh perspectives and signal-boost similar thoughts/plans within the dev team.