Ikko-Ikki

The Japanese get two Ikko-Ikki monks

Overview
Ikko-Ikki has and ability to immediately return to their town center if defeated. 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 30.0 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 (x1.3 damage versus Villagers) and Seminole (+25% damage) to affect them.
 * 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.
 * When using divine strike, keep in mind that melee attacks are faster and will thus cause more frequent divine strikes. If the enemies are stunned and of a weaker variety, move the monks into melee range to quickly destroy them.