Monk (Age of Empires III)

The Monk replaces the explorer and war chiefs, they are available to Asian civilizations in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties.

China
The Chinese get only one monk (two with a card shipment), the Shaolin master, but he has the highest hit points and attack of all Asian monks. He is equipped with nothing but a pair of fists and a critical strike ability which has a chance to inflict extra damage. He can also train disciples, which are cheap units with some of the master's special abilities. The Shaolin master has a small chance of converting defeated enemies into disciples.

Usefulness

 * In unpatched versions of the game the conversion rate is very frequent, in patched versions however the chance of a conversion has been greatly reduced.

Japan
The Japanese get two Ikko-Ikki monks with the ability to immediately return to their town center if defeated (though this is only free the first time). They can also build shrines, granting a safe and convenient way to claim remote animal herds. The Ikko-Ikki have access to many upgrades via the monastery, such as the bombardment attack, stealth, the dodge ability and sabotage. The Ikko-Ikki begin with the divine strike ability, which gives them a 25% chance to instantly slay any enemy with fewer than 63.0 hit points.

Usefulness

 * One of the more clever uses of a Japanese monk involves their stealth and sabotage abilities for undermining unique structures such as factories and enemy wonders. Japanese monks are also the only explorer type units to have the classification of Archer, allowing archer specific upgrades such as those from the Carib to affect them (x1.3 damage versus Settlers).
 * If the card Mountain Warrior is sent they will receive twice the normal resources or experience for treasures, which can be a significant early game advantage (has no effect on treasures adding a percentage bonus) depending on the nearby treasures. It will however inflict heavy penalties on their sabotage ability.
 * The card Stream of Enlightenment will reduce the damage of nearby enemies by 7.5% per monk for a total of -15% if both are nearby. This nullifies Mansabdar unit bonuses entirely and still inflicts a 5% penalty while also reducing the unction advantage available to the Spanish.

India
The Indians receive two elephant mounted brahmin units. They have weak basic stats, but they inflict trample damage and they can heal at the start of the game. Indian monks have the stomp ability, which adds a chance for Indian monks to stun all units in a radius around them. They possess a higher ranged resistance than the other monks, and due to being cavalry they have higher speed as well. Their LOS is the same as the Chinese monk, and both have less than the Japanese monk.

Usefulness

 * Their ability to heal is very weak, a mere 4 hit points per second versus the standard rate of 10 per second for units such as surgeons, etc. This realistically limits it's usefulness to healing each other, as the natural monk health regeneration stacks with the heal ability to restore hit points much quicker than it would for a non-regenerating unit like a sepoy.
 * Favorable Karma is of questionable use, as the brhamin units gain 60% hit points and damage and learn the ability to train tigers. While it would allow a player to easily claim treasures, it will ultimately leave their economy weaker due to not sending the typical villager or resource card in the Discovery Age.
 * Dukkha Suffering is the Indian equivalent of the Japanese monks Stream of Enlightenment, whereas it keeps enemies from effectively fleeing when combined with the area of effect stun attack from the monks also. It can also keep enemy units from chasing down and annihilating the monks or the army they are escorting.