Monk (Age of Empires II)

"Slow and weak. Converts enemy units, ships to your civilization (player color). Heals wounded villagers, military units (except siege weapons)."

- Age of Empires II description

The Monk is a special unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Monastery. Lacking all means of attack, they still hold a position of power as they are one of only two units being able to convert other units to the player's side (the other being the Missionary). Additionally, the Monk can heal all allied units or their own, except for ships and siege weapons. Initially, they are very weak, but they can be powered up quite a bit by researching all technologies is the Monastery.

Of all civilizations, the Aztecs have the strongest Monks, having access to all religious technologies and getting an extra 5 HP for every one researched. If every technology is researched, Aztec Monks have 95 HP.

The Saracens, Slavs, and Spanish also have very good Monks.

Tactics
Monks are a versatile unit that play a number of important roles from the Castle Age onward, including the collection of Relics, harassing opposing resource nodes, disrupting opponents lines, dissuading Knight aggression, and healing injured units.

Relics
The first and arguably most important role they serve is to collect Relics. A Relic is a special object that gives the player holding it in one of their Monasteries a trickle of gold over time, equivalent to approximately one miner. Relics do not run out of gold, meaning the later a game goes the larger a part Relics play in deciding the victor. Also, in certain game modes collecting all the Relics is a victory condition.

Conversion
The second purpose Monks serve is to convert opposing units. Opinions differ widely about the use of conversion in the game. Obviously, converting a unit minimizes the enemy's forces as well as increases the own. In the Castle Age, Monks are indeed effective, without the opponent having the ability to research Faith and being able to outrange every single unit but the Longbowman.

Good Monk civilizations (Aztecs, Saracens, Slavs, Spanish) can even perform a Monk rush. That can be dangerous, because the attacked player does not have any anti-conversion technologies researched and the Monks are affordable due to the high amount of gold being freely available.

In the Imperial Age, Block Printing becomes available, helping the Monk to keep up rangewise, but the armies of the players are getting much stronger in the Imperial Age, which relatively makes the Monk much weaker. Almost all infantry and cavalry units are able to kill them in three hits, archers normally only need four. Siege units also make short work of Monks. That is a huge problem for players relying on Monks. Also, with Heresy being available, the use of conversion is significantly decreased. Another problem is that conversion requires a high amount of micromanagement due to the fact that Monk do not convert on their own and cannot be instructed to do so (there is no aggressive stance function for Monks). That means that the player always has to be present and execute the conversion manually. In later stages of the game, when the battle is larger and taking place on multiple locations, it is almost impossible to handle aggressive Monks adequately. If there is just one main battlefield, it can still work, however, if the player concentrates on converting key units such as Paladins, War Elephants, or Boyars and guards the Monks well.

Healing
Monks are able to heal friendly units. That comes in especially useful for resilient units that the player wants to keep taking hits. Monks are often paired with archers, because they are easy to control and be effective at the same time with the defensive stance mode. Siege weapons are a heavy threat to this combination.

Players should have around two to ten Monks depending on the size of their forces, to heal wounded units free of charge during battle. Monks should be kept out of danger and the wounded units should come to the Monks, not the other way around or else they are likely to be targeted.

Defense
The Monastery is no military building, and does not have any prerequisites other than being in the Castle Age. This is important for a lot of boom strategies where a Blacksmith and Market are used to get to the castle age. Upon reaching the castle age, it will be difficult to get out military to defend the player's settlement as they will need to build a barracks and then range/stable before producing units. Once these buildings are up, they'll produce unupgraded units. Comparatively, a monastery can be built, monks can be produced immediately, and they're fully functional right off the bat. Combine with a siege workshop producing mangonels, and the player will have hard-countered archers, skirmishers, knights, and infantry with minimal investment. With a wall off, the aggressive options left to their opponents are further limited when they can no longer get eagle warriors or scouts into the players base.

Further Statistics
Civilization Bonuses=
 * Aztecs: Monks gain +5 HP for every researched Monastery technology.
 * Celts: Herdables cannot be stolen within a Monk's Line of Sight.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Monks are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
 * Portuguese: Monks cost 15% less gold.
 * Teutons: Monks have double range for healing.
 * -|Team Bonuses=
 * A team containing Byzantines: Monks heal 60% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Monks are more resistant to conversion.
 * -|The Forgotten Changes=
 * Monks carrying Relics are now susceptible to anti-Monk damage.
 * All Monks are now affected by Fervor, not just Monks carrying Relics (as it was in The Conquerors).

Heroes
This section lists all the so-called "Monk Heroes" available only in the Scenario Editor of Age of Empires II. Each Monk Hero features different stats and attributes. These units can be upgraded with any Technology found at the Monastery as with an ordinary Monk. Civilization bonuses and unique technologies that benefit monks also affects the following heroes. Although each of these units can carry a Relic as with a Monk, this is not recommended since all the stats unique to it will be lost due to an unknown glitch that will transform it back to an ordinary Monk.

All monk heroes are eligible for +5 hit point bonus per monastery technology if Aztec. They are also eligible for the +15 hit point bonus from Sanctity (not +50% as stated by the technology description).

Archbishop
The Archbishop is nothing more than a pumped up version of an ordinary Monk. It is exclusive only in the Scenario Editor and cannot be found nor trained in normal games.


 * Attack: 0
 * Hit Points: 70
 * Armor: 0
 * Pierce Armor: 2
 * Range: 9

Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is a Monk hero loosely based on a fictional character of the same name who is a companion of Robin Hood. It is similar to the Archbishop but has more Armor and a lower amount of Hit Points. It is exclusive only in the Scenario Editor and cannot be found nor trained in normal games.


 * Attack: 0
 * Hit Points: 60
 * Armor: 2
 * Pierce Armor: 4
 * Range: 9

Harold Haardraade
For more information, see Harold Haardraade.

Imam
The Imam is a Monk unique to the Conquerors Expansion and only appears in the El Cid Campaign, mission two, "Enemy of my Enemy", where the player meets the Imam on a secluded island, and he agrees to aid in the end of the rebellion in Toledo by bringing to him captured relics. He is also available in the Scenario Editor. He is almost identical to a normal Monk, except the icon, the only differences is that he sports 15 more hitpoints and has an armor of four Normal and four Pierce (4/4) compared to a typical monk of (0/0). He has mediocre conversion speed and Faith recharge time to that of the standard monk. He also has the range of a typical monk.


 * HP: 60
 * Range: 9
 * Armor: 4
 * Pierce Armor: 4

Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I is based on an Italian aristocrat and pope with the same name who is also known as Saint Leo the Great. In the game, Pope Leo is a unique monk whose stats and abilities are no different from those of Friar Tuck other than having its own unique icon. Pope Leo is featured in the final scenario of the Attila the Hun campaign who appears at the end, and talks to Attila privately in order to convince him to abandon his invasion of Italy.

Trivia

 * The Monk is one of only two units in the game to only cost gold, the other being the Missionary.
 * The Monk is one of only three units to have two different designs, the other being the Villager and the Trade Cart.

History
"Religion was a powerful force during the Middle Ages, whether it was Roman Catholicism of the West, Islam in the Middle East, or Buddhism in Asia. The missionaries and teachers of religion were mainly monks, men who took vows of poverty and who dedicated their lives to spreading their message. Middle Age conflicts often derived from religious differences and were led or supported by contingents of monks on each side. The Crusades, for example, were multiple attempts by European Christians to wrest control of the Holy Land from the hands of Islamic Arabs. Large numbers of monks accompanied the Christian crusading armies."

- Age of Empires II manual