Janissary (Age of Empires II)

"Turkish unique unit. Hand Cannoneer with longer range and no minimum range. Powerful close attack, but inaccurate at range."

- Age of Empires II description

The Janissary is the unique unit of the Turks in Age of Empires II. It is a gunpowder unit with high attack and melee armor.

Janissaries can be upgraded to Elite Janissaries in the Imperial Age.

There is also a related unit, the Royal Janissary, which is only available in the Scenario Editor. It has exactly the same stats as the Elite Janissary, apart from the HP.

Tactics
Janissaries play similarly to Hand Cannoneers, but with superior statistics. They are fragile but have a devastating attack. In groups they can send out a volley that will kill or severely injure enemy units that are too close. They are especially strong against infantry, but against them, the Hand Cannoneer is actually better. They are not quite as effective against archers and cavalry due to the former's ranged attack and the latter's speed. In great numbers, however, Janissaries can kill them before they do too much damage.

Counters
Up close, Janissaries can be killed easily due to their low hit points, but any unit attacking a dense formation of Janissaries up close is vulnerable. Janissaries can kill much more easily at close range due to their low accuracy at range. Therefore, siege weapons are a threat to them, as a single shot from an Onager can devastate a formation. Bombard Cannons also work very well against Janissaries. Archers are also an issue, because they can make advantage of the Janissary's low accuracy, low pierce armor, and low Rate of Fire.

In addition, Huskarls can easily overwhelm Janissaries in numbers due to their attack bonus against archers (armor-wise, Janissaries are also considered archers). Condottieri and Samurai also are a threat due to their attack bonuses.

Further statistics
As Janissaries are unique to the Turks, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:

Civilization bonuses

 * Turks: Janissaries have HP.

Team bonuses

 * A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Janissaries are created and upgraded 25% faster, and Conscription is researched 25% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Janissaries are more resistant to conversion.
 * A team containing Turks: Janissaries are created.

The Age of Kings

 * Janissaries have 15 (18 for Elite) attack. Non-Elite Janissaries have an attack bonus of +4 against infantry, and Elite Janissaries have +8 attack against infantry as well as +3 attack against buildings.
 * Janissaries have an accuracy of 55%.
 * Turks: Janissaries have +50% HP. The team bonus does not affect Elite Janissaries.

The Conquerors

 * Janissaries now have 17 attack (22 for Elite), but lose their attack bonuses against infantry and buildings.
 * Janissaries' accuracy reduced to 50%.
 * Heresy introduced.
 * Turks: Janissaries now have +25% HP.

The Forgotten

 * Turks: Elite Janissaries are now affected by the team bonus.

Trivia

 * Jannissaries originally were meant to be heavy foot archers rather than unique Hand Cannoneers, this was more historically in line with the historical Turks in Age of Empires II medieval era time period. Janissaries also could be upgraded into unique Hand Cannoneers, this was later changed due to an archer unique unit already existing.
 * The Janissary was originally planned to have the design used by the Royal variant with a hat. However, this was changed; the reason for the change was because "testers and Ensemble employees would comment that the Janissary looked like a 'Ku Klux Klan' member".

History
"Some of the best units in the Turkish armies were the janissaries. These men were slaves captured as children and raised under Islam to be fanatical warriors. They wore distinctive white headgear and marched into battle accompanied by music. They fought on foot with a variety of weapons, including early firearms when these weapons reached the Middle East. The military was their entire life and they took great pride in their ability. They led the successful assault into Constantinople and the unsuccessful Turkish attacks against Malta and Vienna."