Teutonic Knight

The Teutonic Knight is a unique Infantry Unit of the Teutons featured in Age of Empires II available at the Castle once Castle Age is reached. Teutonic Knights can be upgraded to Elite Teutonic Knights once Imperial Age is reached.

Overview
The Teutonic Knight is the most powerful infantry unit in the game. When upgraded to Elite Teutonic Knight during the Imperial Age, they boast 100 hit points and 17 attack power without any upgrades. With all the upgrades from the Blacksmith, Elite Teutonic Knights boast 100 HP, 21 Attack, 13 Armor and 6 Pierce Armor. They can defeat fully upgraded Paladins more easily than fully upgraded Pikemen, but are about twice as expensive.

Teutonic Knights are tough enough to beat every melee unit in the game, with the exception of the Persians' War Elephant and Byzantines's Cataphract. However, they are extremely slow, due to the large amount of armor they wear, and so are at a disadvantage to ranged units and artillery. They are also vulnerable to double-teaming from infantry who attack quickly, such as Japanese Samurai or Celtic Woad Raiders. However, this can easily be compensated for by increasing the number of Teutonic Knights traveling together. The Aztecs' Jaguar Warrior is a match for them as well, though it depends on who strikes the first blow (with Garland Wars it can defeat Teutonic Knight easily).

Teutonic Knights boast an attack bonus vs. buildings and Eagle Warrior. Due to their slow speed, on maps with plenty of waterways it may be effective to transport them to some areas using transport ships. Additionally, their slow speed will make them vulnerable to Monk, Archers and area-of-effect attacks, so it is usually wisest to place them in staggered formation to compensate when battling siege weapons, garrisoning them in Battering Rams can also be done, as, while they are inside the rams they will have a faster speed and pierce armour.

If the enemy has assembled a large force of Teutonics, the best strategy is to use infantry to delay them while massed archers attack from behind the infantry. if that is not possible, assemble a force of horse archers as large as possible, and use hit-and-run, shoot a volley, then withdraw the archers. That is efficient against small pockets of Teutonics but is less useful against a large group.

History
''As the height of the Christian Crusades into the Holy Land, German crusaders formed an order of warrior monks called the Teutonic Knight. This order gave up crusading in the Eastern Mediterranean and turned its attention to Eastern Europe. Through conquest they brought Christianity to the Baltic region and forests of what became Prussia. They built castles from which they could control the surrounding countryside. The Teutonic Knights were committed warriors who carved out an empire that lasted into the twentieth century.''