Gath is a dry land that has only recently recovered from the devastation caused by its earlier inhabitants. For ages the land has been dominated by giants, but under constant pressure from human immigrants and the Abysian Tide of Fire, the original inhabitants of the land were forced to retreat and watch as city after city was destroyed. Now there is but one city left: Gath, the City of Giants. The Gittite descendants of the Anakim of Ashdod still dominate the surrounding land and have subjugated several human tribes. While the human tribes comprise much of the population of the kingdom, the Gittites are the undisputed rulers of the land. By keeping iron-working from the human population and through a strictly centralized cult focused around bloody sacrifices at the Great Temple, the Gittites have kept control of the land. The Gittites are small compared to the ancient Rephaim, but still large by human standards.

Gath is a nation with a lot of variety. It has 3 different sacred troop options: cap-only Giants, recruit-anywhere humans and the powerful Se'ir blood summons, incentivising a strong bless. It also has a fantastic mage selection, with great magic diversity, having 6 of the paths at level 2, as well as many cross paths. More to come…

Notable weaknesses include a lack of any mage with level 3 in a path (except for a 3.33% chance on a slow to recruit cap-only unit), making it difficult to climb to high levels outside of combat, even with great access to rare cross path boosters. More to come…

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Prefers Heat +1 Waste Survival Humans: Mostly Average Some have High Morale Some have Fire Resistance Gittites: Size 3 Base 1 Protection +14 HP vs. Humans +5 STR vs. Humans +2 MR & MOR vs. Humans +1 ATT & DEF vs. Humans Fire Resistance (3) Gibborim: Size 4 Base 2 Protection Fire Resistance (4) Gluttony (2-3) Old Anakim: Size 5 Base 2 Protection 3 Miscellaneous Item Slots Fire Resistance (5) Gluttony (5)	Sacred Giants use Magic Gear Half-Giant Gittites use Iron Most Humans use Bronze Tribal Variety: - Reuben & Naphtali: Weak but Many - Gad & Asher: Strong but Few - Zebulon: Formations & Standards - Benjamin: Multi-attacking Pillagers - Iassachar: Useful Outside Battle - Levi: Sacred & Zealous	2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2 2 2 Hero: 34 Summons: 3 (req. 41) 4, 4, 4, 4 (req. 73)	Powerful (3) 2 off-capital Free 2 Heroes Temples cost 800 Blood Sacrifice Temple-only Researchers Healing Heretics	Giant Citadels

Random paths might mess with you as Gath: your Mages that can have 2, 2, and/or 2 have only a one-in-three chance at most of having it, while 2 is relegated to one-in-four. At least you have more crosspaths now, compared to way back in EA & MA.

General description of the units in the nations roster, any standouts, shared qualities aka temperature, any foreign rec, what makes a good basis to plan around.

Gath makes use of wastelands to summon troops, and is given a wasteland capital by some map generators. Most of their troops and commanders have wasteland survival to mitigate this, but care should be taken when using indy commanders for logistics, or moving units with and without wasteland survival together.

As Gath has recruit-anywhere sacred troops, all other troops value will scale depending on the investment you place in your bless. Gaths human troops are varied, but none excel in any particular role and there is a lack of high damage attacks.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Naphtali Spearman 10 11 9	Waste Survival	These troops have identical stats to indie light infantry. They are resource cheap, and thus prime troops to help with early expansion, especially if you do not have a bless.
	Reubenite Archer 10 7 9	Waste Survival	A basic short bow unit. Also your lowest resource unit, massable for sieges. Flaming arrows is very accessible for Gath, but short bows are comparatively weaker in LA. Additionally this archer is not particularly cheap, has bad armour for missile wars and also has only 8 morale.
	Benjaminite Slinger 11 11 12	Waste Survival Pillager Ambidextrous(1)	A duel sword infantry with solid attack density but low damage. They have almost no protection and no shield, but have reasonable defense skill. Their low price and similar combat speed to Gibbors make them suitable for filling the gaps between size 4 Gibbors to improve their dps and hp density. Their low resources cost and decent quality makes them a viable option for the very early expansion. With Strength of Giants they are pretty killy, though very squishy.
	Gadite Swordsman 12 28 14	Resist Fire (3) Waste Survival	The first of your higher protection units, this one brings above average strength and HP, fire resistance, and a Javelin. Could be helpful if you are fighting a fire nation, but your giant troops present another option with fire resistance. Note that the presence of these troops in a province opens 2 bad events, one of which will destroy your 800g temple!
	Zebulunite Soldier 13 15 16	Waste Survival Formation Fighter (2)	This hoplite has better than average Att/Def/Morale but a disappointing 12 protection and normal human HP and Strength. Gath has good access to point buffing magic such as Body Ethereal through Sibyls, that can take advantage of tightly packed hoplites. The resource cost of these soldiers is also quite low, so they can be massed.
	Asherite Soldier 15 27 21		Your highest protection troop, the Asherite soldier also has a kite shield, making it an efficient arrow catcher. It boasts better than average all-around stats, with the drawbacks of being expensive in gold, resources and recruitment points, and having only map move 8 and no wasteland survival, making them slower than all your other troops.
	Zebulunite Horn Blower 20 16 21	Standard (1) Waste Survival Formation Fighter (2)	A standard unit for boosting your troops morale. Its low combat speed will keep it behind your front line and relatively safe. It can fit 4 to a square with the other hoplite units for additional safety. Most of your troops tend to already have good morale, making these more of a situational choice than a must-have.
	Gittite Soldier 25 25 15	Resist Fire (3) Waste Survival	Your only non-sacred giant troop, the Gittite soldiers have solid combat stats and, with their 18 piercing damage spear, are your only massable access to a hard hitting attack. They have a 1 to 1 gold to resource ratio and a lethal javelin, making them a good candidate for scales expansion. With Strength of Giants and Flaming Arrows, their javelins become a frightening threat against unshielded troops. Their protection of 14 is mediocre, but can be easily raised with buffs. With innate fire resistance they might still have their place in the mid game. They are arguably Gath's strongest non-sacred troops.
	Levite Zealot 15 17 14	Sacred Waste Survival Patrol bonus (2)	Your recruit anywhere sacred is, on the face of it, an unexceptional unit, being quite similar to an indie heavy infantry unit with lower protection but 1 additional HP and excellent morale. Their patrol bonus and sacred upkeep gives them great value as patrollers for your blood hunters. In combat, having a size 2 troop to fill squares with your Gibbors is important for attack density and Zealots will rarely break. However, there is competition from your other sacred units to be the focus of bless design and designing a cost efficient bless to make Zealots significantly strong is challenging. Note they only have Map move 10, so will slow down all your giant units and summons.
	Gibbor 70 43 23 Capital Only	Sacred Resist Fire(4) Waste Survival Gluttony (2)	Gibbors are much weaker than their MA counterparts, the Anakim, losing their second attack, a point of size, and some skill. They are accordingly half the price, and still boast giant HP, good defense and in-built magic weapons. Their main weakness is their low attack density, which, when combined with only 14 protection, will lead to them killing their opponents slowly and being whittled down. It is important to note their gluttony: Abbas or supply items are sometimes necessary to prevent starvation and disease.

Vanilla

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Nabi Multihero	2 Sacred Waste Survival	A Nabi appears once in a while. They are useful for preaching and blood sacrifice, and can lead some troops when needed.
	Sabba - Sibyl of Hermon Minimum hero arrival turn: 5	34 19 Sacred Resist Poison (7) Healer (2) Supply Bonus Fortune Teller (20) Waste Survival Female Spirit Sight	Sabba is your highest mage apart from a 1% cap-only random, and your highest mage by 2 whole levels. Landing her will crank you up to 7 with a Treelords Staff and Moonvine Bracelet, which is helpful for nature rituals if you don't take a regeneration bless. The cross-path makes Call Arel casting simple, if desired.

Worthy Heroes

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Nabi	Multihero 3 Spreads Dominion (1) Summons 1 Levite Zealot per month Summons 4 Levite Zealot in battle	In addition to the vanilla game where Nabi are useful for preaching and blood sacrifice, a Levite Zealot every month is a decent bonus, especially if you have a strong bless. They are also increased to Holy 3, but you already had other options for that.
	Goliath - Champion	Unique Sacred Fire Resist (10) Waste survival Fear (5) Halt Heretic (3) (1)	Watch out for slingers :P
	Cain - Kinslayer	Unique 22 13 Immortal Cause Unrest(+5 per month) Bringer of Misfortune (10) Kills Population (50)	Brings misfortune, raises unrest and kills population, but he is immortal and gives you a new crosspath in magic.

Gath's magic can be described as wide but shallow, as they have access to 6 paths at level 2, but non at level 3 (except for Holy, and very rare randoms). In combat, the shallow path problem is greatly alleviated by communions/sabbaths, in which you have access to all your 6 paths and can easily boost to high levels for big spells. You also have many and varied cross-paths, which give access to many path boosting items. However, for the bigger rituals help from a pretender can be needed.

Fire: Max:2 X-paths: 11122

Your Kohen Gadols can cast big fire spells () in sabbaths, and 11 Yeddeonis can forge the Skull of Fire to make that easier. Summon Flame Spirit or Bind Arch Devil can boost you further.

Air: No native access

Water: No native access

Earth: Max:2 X-paths: 11222

Your Kohen Gadols can cast big earth spells () in sabbaths, forge both Earth Boots and Blood Stones and use earth buff spells to Thug/SC. Yeddeonis and Kohens can cast earth buffs, with the 2 Yeddeonis being valuable for this. Your Se'ir love Strength of Giants!

Astral: Max:2 X-paths: 11122

Your Kohen Gadols can cast big astral spells () in sabbaths, and use astral buff spells to Thug/SC. Massing Iassacharite Sibyls is cheap, and they can then point buff large quantities of troops with Body Ethereal and other astral buffs. You can forge Starshine Skullcaps and Crystal Coins natively to boost to 4 for mind hunt and gateway, which give a lot of utility.

Death: Max:2 X-paths: 111

Death only comes on your Yeddeonis, which you will likely not be recruiting en masse. Your 2s are important for forging Skull Staffs and you can't boost higher until Summon Mound Fiend at Conj 7. However, your / mages can communion to cast any particular big death spell. Be careful of straining a communion with a lot of off path skelli-spam.

Nature: Max:2 X-paths: 111

Abbas with or and access to both nature boosters means big nature spells are a breeze. Hordes of cheap Iassacharite Sibyls allow swarm spam and point buffing of troops or SCs with wooden warriors or enlarge.

Blood: Max:2 X-paths: 222

Boosting to higher blood requires pretender help or an empower for the first blood thorn. Researching blood 4 to get access to Se'ir and bloodlust is recommended once your blood economy gets rolling. Later, you can easily cast Father Illearth and Bind Archdevil

Gath has 11 national spells, most of which lie in Conjuration. The nation's most defining national spell is Scapegoats, but some of the Conjuration summons provide useful utility.

Combat

• Evocation 4 21: Strange Fire
  Strangely, this battlefield spell is exclusive to Ashdod and Gath, despite the fact that both nations struggle to cast it. The only mage that can for Gath is a 10% random Kohen Gadol who gets the crosspath, which is a 2% chance. If you do luck into mages who can cast this, it is essentially a Falling Fires that does more 7 more untyped damage to undead or demons with better range and comes a research level earlier, making it quite powerful. However, as all your Kohens and Kohen Gadols can cast Banishment and Smite Demon effectively, you do not lack counters to demons or undead anyway.

Ritual

Resurgent Demons

• Conjuration 3 1 for 3: Summon Mazzikim ( Mazzik×8)
  A Mazzik is statistically almost identical to the Imp summoned in battle with Summon Imps. These are effective at jumping into the enemy back lines and messing with enemy mages and troop formations. This spell allows you to get 2.66 Imp-type units per , without using mage turns in combat. Furthermore, these flyers can be summoned in large numbers pre-battle and then attack rear en masse. As demons, their strength can be boosted with Blood Lust allowing them to actually do damage. This could be a powerful disruptive strategy in an early war and this spell can be used as an early-mid game "panic button", cast in volume by Iassacharite Sibyls to win a key battle. However, are valuable for many purposes, so it is important to get value from any Mazziks summoned.
• Conjuration 5 4 for 15: Summon Lilot ( Lilot×1)
  Lilots are dream seducers, which is unfortunately the less effective kind of seduction due to the extra MR check involved before the morale check for the seduction itself. Lilots are also not mages, limiting their options in an assassination battle. However, like any assassin, a Lifelong Protection or other retinue items can make them a dangerous threat to most enemy commanders.
• Blood 3 1 for 8: Scapegoats. Wasteland Only ( Se'ir×2)
  Se'irim are size 3, sacred, berserking goat demons with 3(!) attacks, each hitting at 17 attack and 24 damage once they go berserk and Blood Lust has been cast. They are also quite tough, with good hp, MR and OK natural protection once berserk. These troops are vital to your armies, as your main source of high damage along with good attack density. The spell comes early at research level Blood 3 but the Blood 4 spell Blood Lust greatly increases their value. A wasteland is required to cast this spell, so is a vital strategic objective if you do not use a map generator that guarantees one for Gath. An aggressive bless for Se'irim would include +strength, +attack and blood surge, all of which are minor blesses that can be combined with an imprisoned pretender.
• Blood 4 31 for 28: Summon Shedim Wasteland Only ( Shed×3)
  Gath has no native access to magic, making the Se'ir a much more natural choice for summoning than the Shed. If you are able to obtain air mages, Shedim make a strong source of AN damage that can be produced en masse and transported easily due to being able to fly.

Abrahamic Angels

Most of the Abrahamic Angels are quite difficult for Gath to summon due to their crosspath requirements. They are all sacred, so will benefit from your bless.

• Conjuration 4 2 for 9: Call Malakh ( Malakh×1)
  The Malakh's chief qualities are its stealth, mobility and low cost. It can function as a very light thug due to its natural invulnerability and awe, as long as it is given some gear before being sent out. A cheap and accessible way to screen your armies from an early tech level.
• Conjuration 6 31 for 21: Call Hashmal ( Hashmal×1)
  A Hashmal is a much upgraded version of the Malakh, gaining ethereal, a strong fire shield and an aoe 1 fire attack, as well as improved Awe (5), invulnerability 20 and double the HP. However, its magic is not much better and it only has hand and misc slots. Outside of combat, Hashmal provide 120 leadership and inquisitor for utility. 21 in the Late Ages is a fairly tall ask for a PD raider, however.
• Conjuration 7 41 for 39: Call Arel ( Arel×1)
  The Arel can be directly compared to the Ivy King, coming at the same research level and both being 3 mages. Costing 39 instead of 30, Arelim are also strong healers and 3 mages as well as having the typical Angel attributes. However, Awaken Ivy King can be cast by any Abba with a Thistle Mace and Moonvine Bracelet, while Call Arel requires empowerment, multipath boosters or Pretender intervention to cast. Even if you can cast it, Arelim do not provide much additional utility to Gath. As battlefield casters, Iassacharite Sibyls and Abbas can use communions to get to 3 and beyond. Abbas also already take their role as healers, and Kohen Gadols can cast Divine Blessing.
• Conjuration 8 52 for 49: Call Ophan ( Ophan×1)
  A bigger Hashmal with trample and 3, allowing it to be a highly mobile throne-claimer (perhaps not so useful for Gath given its cap-recruitable 3). Replaces invulnerability with natural protection. Also only has misc slots.
• Conjuration 9 73 for 222: Call Merkavah ( Chayot×1 + Ophan(units)×4)
  The Chayot is an extremely powerful 4 mage-angel that alternates between four forms: 4, 4, 4 and 4. It is also incredibly, astoundingly expensive, costing more pearls than two Wishes, and comes at a high research level.

Spooky Scary Skeletons

• Enchantment 5 21 for 10: Memories of Stone ( Fossil Warrior×5+[1/2 lv])
  The Fossil Warrior is very good among skeletons, coming with a whopping 25 protection and a high damage attack (though it lacks attack density and has relatively low hitpoints). Its high magic resistance make it less susceptible to holy magic. However, Fossil Warriors are also rather expensive at a default 2 per.

Discuss the top few generic spells that most increase a nation's combat power or synergize with national strategies. These will generally be early-to-mid game spells since individual spells matter much more during those periods of the game. Some examples are Foul Vapors for MA C'tis, Horde of Skeletons + Sabbath Master/Sabbath Slave for the Niefelheim line of nations, Mother Oak for the Pangaeas, Wailing Winds access, etc. For broader advice on magic use, link to Not-Lola's Basic Magic Use Guide.

This is also a good place to point out notable magic weaknesses, such as a lack of nature access making a nation vulnerable to Foul Vapors.

List and describe any unique national items or discounts in this section, discuss and compare with similar generic items. Also discuss generic items that are useful and accessible for the nation. These may include:

• Thug gear (if the nation has good thugs)
• Research boosters (particularly if the nation needs help researching or is already very good at researching)
• Other items that synergize with the nation (e.g. Dwarven Hammers for MA Ulm)

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

Without a strong bless, Gittite Soldiers are your best expansion unit. Gibbors will be better with a strong defensive bless (regen) but consider alternating recruitment with size 2 infantry in order to fill their squares in combat. You may want to recruit Naphtali Spearman on turn one, for more numbers and javelins in your first party. Avoid heavy cav until you have enough Gibbors/Gittites and some chaff to catch lances (perhaps the remains of your first expansion party?). An early Yeddeoni can bring reinforcements to an expansion party and then start death site searching while kohens can lead and bless Gibbors. Recruiting Iassacharite sages can cheaply jump-start your research and make use of any spare commander points. From the end of year 1, you should aim to recruit as many Kohen Gadols as possible from your cap.

Your blessed Gibbors are your strongest early game threat, and defence against rushes, so make sure you produce them in decent numbers. It is not essential to go to war early, but if you have invested a bless into your Gibbors you should look for an opportunity to make use of it on a vulnerable neighbour before they research counters!

Gath has excellent mages, but most are expensive, including the primary blood hunter. It is therefore extremely gold hungry, and benefits from good income scales. The troops are not that resource intensive, and Gath is a blood nation, so Order takes priority over Productivity.
Gath also has many sacred troops, including the exceptional Se'ir, suggesting a strong bless. However, Gibbors are not that strong, so investing in an awake bless in order to rush a neighbour could be a fragile strategy. Strong troop options, fast earlygame research and recruitable SC chassis provide some insurance against early aggression.
The mages have wide but shallow paths, encouraging a pretender with fewer deeper paths. The troops are strong enough to expand reasonably easily without help from a bless.

Pretender Ideas:

- Imprisoned F6E6B6 Golden Idol, Dom6, O3P2H3G3M1M1, Attack Skill x 2, Strength x 4:
This pretender combines great scales with a bless which makes your Se'ir hit 3 times for 28 damage with Attack 17, before they berserk, which adds +4 to attack and strength. Unleash your first army of Se'irs onto a neighbour in the mid-game and watch even heavily armoured troops be annihilated, all without much cost to your income. This is also a great lategame bless for your zealots, as there are many spells to help them survive but far fewer to make them able to do damage. The scales can be tweaked to your preference, e.g. Magic 3 for more sibyls and research but less gold. B7 gives blood surge but costs a whole scale and Dominion point. High blood magic is helpful for lategame summoning and boosters.

- Dormant N7B5 Fountain of Blood, Dom7, O3P2H3G3M1D3, Regen + Blood Bond:
The classic defensive bless option is powerful for your gibbors and se'ir, particularly as it ensures your Se'ir are always berserk, and even gives your zealots something to do. Going dormant pays for good scales; gives you a huge power spike at the end of year 1 as long as you make sure you have a force of Gibbors ready; and lets you forge your first blood thorns on time. The scales combination sacrifices long term research for income. In the earlygame your Iassacharite Sages can jump start your research, but do not overproduce them! It is essential you site search Fire and research construction 6 for Lightless Lanterns early enough so that your research does not fall too far behind.

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