“Religious leader and healer with a Stomp area attack that can stun Treasure Guardians. Explores, fights, and builds Town Centers and Trading Posts.”—In-game description
The Brahmin is a melee cavalry hero in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Indians. In standard random map games, the Indians start with two Brahmins; both are counted as separate units. It explores uncharted areas of the map and has some special abilities to help himself and his settlement, and can heal injured units from the start of the game.
Overview 
Edit
Brahmins have weak basic stats, but they inflict trample damage and have the Stomp ability, which gives them a chance to stun enemy units around them when attacking. They possess a higher ranged resistance than the other Monks, and due to being cavalry they have higher speed as well. Their LOS is the same as the Shaolin Master, and both have less than the Ikko-Ikki.
The Brahmin's healing ability is very weak, a mere 4 hit points per second versus the standard rate of 10 per second for units such as Surgeons. This realistically limits their usefulness to healing each other, as the natural Monk health regeneration stacks with the heal ability to restore hit points much quicker than it would for a non-regenerating unit like a Sepoy. The healing rate can be increased by Improved Healing at the Monastery.
Favorable Karma is of questionable use, as the Brahmin gains 60% hit points and attack, and can train Tigers. While it would allow the player to easily claim Treasures, it will ultimately leave their economy weaker due to not sending the typical resource card in the Discovery Age.
Abilities Edit
| Ability | Effect |
|---|---|
 Stun
| Stuns a treasure guardian from a range of 16 for 20 seconds. 60 seconds cooldown. |
 Stomp
| Gives the Brahmin a 10% (20% with Crushing Force) chance to stun enemies for 0.8 seconds when attacking. |
 Terror Charge
| Increases the speed of elephant units in a radius of 24 around the Brahmin by 5% (stacks if both Brahmins are close together). Requires Terror Charge. |
 Dukkha Suffering
| Reduces the speed of enemy units in a radius of 24 around the Brahmin by 5% (stacks if both Brahmins are close together). Requires Dukkha Suffering Home City Card. |
Dukkha Suffering is similar to the Ikko-Ikki's Stream of Enlightenment, whereas it slows units instead of weakening them and prevents enemies from effectively fleeing when combined with the Brahmins' Stomp ability. It can also keep enemy units from chasing down and annihilating the Brahmins or the Indian army they are escorting.
Upgrades Edit
The Brahmin gets +50% hit points and attack in every Age up.
Campaign appearances Edit
In Act III: India, one Brahmin can be trained at Town Centers. He can heal and collect treasures like a normal Brahmin, but loses the ability to build Trading Posts and must be retrained at the Town Center if he dies.
Further statistics Edit
As the Brahmin is unique to the Indians, only improvements available to them are shown in the following table.
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Treasure guardians, ranged infantry |
| Weak vs. | Villagers, heavy infantry, light cavalry, Spies, Ninja |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Sikh Gurus (+50%)
|
| Attack |  Yoga (+5%)
|
| Speed |  Terror Charge (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
|
| Other |  White Tiger Training (train Wagner the Pet White Tigers) Improved Healing (+67% healing) Terror Charge (gives the Terror Charge ability) Crushing Force (doubles Stomp chance) Carib Ambush Party (train Carib Ambushers) Loyal Nootka War Chief (train Nootka War Chief)
|
Home City Cards Edit
As the Brahmin is unique to the Indians, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affect them are shown in the following tables.
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Brahmin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indians
|
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 Favorable Karma
| Brahmins get +60% hit points and attack, and can train Axehilt the Tame Tigers +1 Villager |  | 1 |
 Dukkha Suffering
| Brahmins get the Dukkha Suffering ability +1 Villager |  | 10 |
 Dravidian Martial Arts
| All units get +15% melee attack +1 Villager |  | 40 |
 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
| All units get +5% hit points and attack |  | 25 |
 Grazing
| Sowars and Zamburaks generate 0.05 food every second; Brahmins, Mahout Lancers, Howdahs, Flail Elephants, and Siege Elephants generate 0.1 wood every second +1 Villager | | 40 |
Russians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cavalry Scouts
| Cavalry and light infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS | | 1 |
Spanish Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Explorer Combat
| Heroes get +20% hit points and attack | | 1 |
 TEAM Inquisition
| All units get +10 LOS | | 10 |
History Edit
“A Brahmin is a member of India’s highest priestly Hindu caste. They are the only caste that can perform Vedic sacrifice, interpret the Vedas, and preserve Vedic hymns. They are considered to be of greater spiritual purity than members of other castes. The greater Brahmin caste is divided into ten sub-castes that are regionally based, with five in the north of India and five in the south.
The Brahmin community has its root in ancient India’s Vedic period, roughly from 2,500 to 600 BCE. Brahmins adhere to the acceptance of the Vedas, the oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism. They believe that the means or ways to salvation are diverse, and that God is one being, but takes countless names and forms. This single deity is the same across all cultures and languages, seeming to change to fit individual perceptions. Scholars, teachers, priests, intellectuals, scientists, and knowledge-seekers formed the Brahmin class.”
Gallery Edit
