Bagains is a technology in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition that is unique to the Bulgarians and can be researched at the Castle once the Imperial Age is reached. Once researched, it gives +5 armor to Militia line units.
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Bulgarians miss the Champion upgrade, but with Bagains, their Two-Handed Swordsman has 8 armor, which is just 1 less than a fully upgraded Elite Boyar.
A very useful consequence to this is that Halberdiers, Light Cavalry, and Hussars without Blast Furnace, all Pikemen, and Teuton Scout Cavalry deal only 1 damage to the Militia-line, reinforcing their role as anti-trash units and also adding more protection against Eagle Warriors.
Bulgarian Two-Handed Swordsmen with Bagains can defeat fully upgraded Champions with these exceptions: Aztec, Burmese, Teuton, Slav (en masse), and Japanese Champions in equal numbers, and are arguably tied with Viking Champions. With all upgrades, they have the third-highest melee armor of all units, being only beaten by the Elite Boyar with 9 melee armor and the Elite Teutonic Knight with 13 melee armor.
However, Cataphracts and Jaguar Warriors are still devastating against them, as their bonus attack against infantry outperforms their high melee armor. The Leitis' attack ignores melee armor, so this will be totally useless when facing them.
Team bonuses[edit | edit source]
Changelog[edit | edit source]
Definitive Edition[edit | edit source]
- Initially, Bagains gives +3 armor. With update 34055, it now gives +5 armor.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The technology's name comes from the Anglicized plural form of bagain (багаин), a Bulgarian medieval title for the lowest-ranking commanders. The melee armor bonus likely stems from the fact the Bulgarian footmen are better organized in combat.
