Battle Elephant

"Slow and heavy cavalry."

- Age of Empires II description

The Battle Elephant is a cavalry unit in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas that can be trained at the Stable once the Castle Age is reached. It is a slow yet very powerful and resilient cavalry unit, in some way similar to the War Elephant, but weaker and cheaper. It is only available to the four newly introduced civilizations: Burmese, Khmer, Malay, and Vietnamese. All civilizations that have access to Battle Elephants can upgrade them to Elite Battle Elephants and have special bonuses and/or technologies that benefit them. Battle Elephants deal trample damage.

Tactics
Similar to Persian War Elephants, but on a lesser scale, the Battle Elephants are tough, durable and costly. They move slowly and are vulnerable to units that deal damage at range, but are also good as a meatshield for allied ranged units. As elephant units, they are also vulnerable to enemy Pikemen, Kamayuks. Mamelukes are particularly effective against them. They can be easily converted by enemy Monks, so they should be deployed with supporting units, preferably units with range.

Knights are generally preferred to Battle Elephants as Castle Age cavalry, because Battle Elephants are slower and more expensive, but the Imperial Age is when they truly shine, since they are comparatively cheap and thus quick to upgrade, and none of the Southeast Asian civilizations have access to the Paladin. Also, each civilization that has access to Battle Elephants has specialties that benefit them. That makes their use different:

Burmese
Both Burmese unique technologies benefit their Battle Elephants: Howdah gives them +1/+2 armor, making them more resilient particularly to ranged attacks, and Manipur Cavalry gives +6 attack bonus against buildings. In combination, that makes them a fairly viable choice for sieging. Having access to all technologies from the Stable and the Blacksmith aids their fighting capabilities.

Khmer
Khmer Battle Elephants move 15% faster, get +3 attack out of Tusk Swords, and get full upgrades from both Stable and Blacksmith. This probably makes the Khmer Battle Elephants the best ones in melee fights and raiding. Since Tusk Swords is already available in the Castle Age, Battle Elephants reach 17 attack there, an unprecedented value that makes Battle Elephants very dangerous offensive tools in earlier stages of the game. It must be mentioned, though, that the Khmer lack both Heresy and Faith, leaving their Battle Elephants very prone to conversion. It is possible for the Khmer to perform a "Battle Elephant rush" but it requires a strong economy early in the game.

Malay
The Malay have 25% cheaper Battle Elephants. This, combined with their civilization bonus that makes them Age up with relative ease, enables them to get the Battle Elephants out on the field astonishingly quickly. Combined with archers to deal with Pikemen and Monks, an early Castle Age visit of a dozen of them can prove very unpleasant to any ill-prepared town. Later on, they become much less dangerous, lacking key Blacksmith upgrades, but as they are cheaper, they are still ready to be used, especially considering that they are the only civilization with access to Battle Elephants that gets full coverage against conversion (unlike their Burmese, Khmer, and Vietnamese counterparts). Similarly to the Khmer, the Malay can perform a Battle Elephant rush.

Vietnamese
The Vietnamese Battle Elephants are the most resilient of them all as they get another 30 HP out of the Chatras technology. They also get full armor from the Blacksmith. That makes them perfect for the Vietnamese as they can act as meat shields to protect their excellent archers. The fact that they lack Blast Furnace and Husbandry does little harm in the Vietnamese's case.

Civilization Bonuses

 * Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
 * Khmer: Battle Elephants are 15% faster.
 * Malay: Battle Elephants are cheaper.
 * Vietnamese: Conscription is free.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Conscription and unique technologies that benefit Battle Elephants are researched 25% faster.
 * A team containing Huns: Battle Elephants are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Battle Elephants are more resistant to conversion.

Rise of the Rajas

 * Malay: Initially, Battle Elephants are 20% cheaper. With patch 5.3, that bonus is increased to 25%.