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A deathball is a type of army composition that specializes in being impossible for an enemy to defeat. The downside of a Deathball is that it requires a lot of investment both in the technologies and units that it utilizes. Deathballs are usually seen on closed maps like Black Forest where raiding and aggression are discouraged and the amount of space to fight over is small. On more open maps, most civilizations will opt for more balanced army compositions.
Age of Empires II[]
Deathballs in Age of Empires II typically revolve around a powerful siege unit, as they have the highest damage output of the standard units. Other standard Deathball units include heavy cavalry, elephants, mounted archers, and (at higher levels) Monks.
Notable Deathball civilizations[]
Aztecs: With their extra durable Monks and Siege Onagers, they have an excellent array of powerful units. Their infantry serves well as front-line support with their diversity and high attack.
Bengalis: Their elephant units are more resistant to conversion and take less bonus damage, making their late-game army composition very difficult to deal with. In addition, their durable Monks that take less population space (due to Mahayana) also help keep their elephants alive or convert any enemy units that would threaten their elephant army.- Britons: The combination of long-range Longbowmen and highly accurate Trebuchets with Warwolf makes their army composition relatively hard to deal with for civilizations without access to Bombard Cannons and/or Siege Rams. Furthermore, they can protect their archers and Trebuchets with either fully upgraded Champions or Halberdiers depending on what enemy compositon they are facing.
- Bohemians: The Houfnice is an even stronger version of the already powerful Bombard Cannon, and all of their gunpowder units move faster (due to Wagenburg Tactics). In addition, their Halberdiers deal 25% more bonus damage against cavalry, making them a powerful and deadly army for closed maps.
- Celts: Their siege weapons fire 25% faster and have +40% hit points (the latter due to Furor Celtica), making them very strong and hard to destroy.
- Ethiopians: Torsion Engines gives Siege Onagers, Heavy Scorpions, and Bombard Cannons great damage radius and output.
- Georgians: Their Cavaliers, Heavy Cavalry Archers, and Monaspas regenerating hit points and taking less population space (the latter due to Aznauri Cavalry) makes their cavalry deathball relatively hard to deal with. In addition, their Keeps with Svan Towers allow them to secure map control (especially when built in higher elevation thanks to their civilization bonus), and they have access to Hand Cannoneers and Siege Onagers to support their cavalry deathball.
- Goths: The ability to flood a variety of cheap infantry units quickly on the battlefield with their Huskarls, Halberdiers, and Champions makes their infantry spam relatively hard to deal with for many civilizations who are unable to diversify their army composition. While their infantry spam is relatively difficult to deal with for newer players, it is less reliable for higher-level games due to various counters (i.e. diversifying their army composition, or proper micromanagement of Siege Onagers).
- Khmer: Battle Elephants and Heavy Scorpions are both very strong with this civilization. Ballista Elephants are also nigh unstoppable when massed, potentially making them unapproachable for most melee units while being durable enough to withstand most ranged enemies.
- Koreans: War Wagons are a bulky and powerful ranged unit that pairs well with Shinkichon Siege Onagers with +1 range. Additionally, their Halberdiers cost -50% wood, making them a great front-line buffer. On water, the Turtle Ship is a defensively and offensively powerful unit with great population efficiency.
- Malay: Forced Levy Two-Handed Swordsmen allow them to attrition their opponent which will eventually allow them to overwhelm the opponent when gold runs low. In team games, they can mix their trash Two-Handed Swordsmen with Arbalesters, Bombard Cannons, and cheaper Elite Battle Elephants.
- Mongols: Mangudai are very deadly with high attack, fast movement, and decent durability. Additionally, all siege units move 50% faster with Drill. They also have Hussars with more hit points as meatshields to protect their Mangudai and siege weapons.
- Romans: Centurions make Legionaries very strong in combat, and their Heavy Scorpions are augmented in several ways, being inexpensive, having smaller minimum range, being affected by Ballistics, and firing faster (the latter due to Ballistas).
- Saracens: Mamelukes can defeat every land unit apart from foot archers, and Counterweights makes their Siege Onagers great at handling them.
- Teutons: The Teutonic Knight is practically impossible to kill in melee barring the few units that ignore armor, and the Siege Onager kills any ranged units that can threaten it. Teutons also have +2 melee armor on their Barracks and Stable units as well as good Monks and Bombard Towers.
- Turks: The combination of gunpowder units and Heavy Cavalry Archers with extra hit points (especially long-range Bombard Cannons and Bombard Towers) makes their army composition very difficult to deal with. In addition, their Hussars (which they get the upgrade for free in addition to +1 pierce armor) give additional support to their gunpowder army.
Age of Empires III[]
Deathballs in Age of Empires III are usually composed of heavy artillery, such as Falconets, Horse Artillery, and Heavy Cannons. Enough of these can quickly destroy anything the opponent throws at them (even cavalry, which are supposed to counter them). Cannon artillery also have 75% ranged resistance, making archers and firearms ineffective. This army works as long as there is a critical mass, due to long range, high DPS, area damage, and no effect of friendly fire.
- As such, the best late-game army compositions for deathballing come from European civilizations (which have access to a full artillery roster), plus Factories for free Heavy Cannons.
- Italians: The Italian Papal Bombard is considerably stronger than regular artillery, but harder to mass. Enough of these can easily destroy any European-like army composition short of Culverins. The Holy Fire ability obliterates even heavy enemy cavalry.
- Swedes: Opposite to Italy, Sweden has access to the cheap Leather Cannon, allowing them to deathball artillery earlier and without the need of gold. Since most cavalry able to counter artillery cost gold, many opponents will struggle to defeat a sufficient number of Leather Cannons.
- French: Massed Cuirassiers used to be a popular French alternative deathball composition based on cavalry, with an infamous reputation of being uncounterable. This changed in the Definitive Edition, where they were considerably nerfed; although they remain generally viable, they can be countered.
- Indians: The Indians can do something notionally similar to Europeans by accumulating Siege Elephants. However, they are very expensive and not nearly as powerful on a general-purpose offensive. On the flip side, a large enough army of Siege Elephants will counter European artillery due to bonus damage and lack of a need to deploy to fire. For this strategy to work, it is necessary to upgrade Elephants for lower population use and higher stats via Home City Cards.
- Japanese: The Japanese can deathball using Samurai (which have lots of Home City upgrades) and Flaming Arrows. They can build up to two Dojos for free Samurai that counter cavalry and shock infantry in melee, while Flaming Arrows can counter ranged infantry and other artillery. Japanese artillery may be trained quickly on the move by the shippable Shogun Tokugawa, which in turn is only one of several Japanese unit-training heroes that also receive shipments - thus making their army replenishable in the field.
- Inca: The Inca can form a powerful if non-conventional deathball in the Industrial Age by using the Tupac Rebellion Home City Card. This turns all units into normally more powerful and expensive European counterparts (except for the Maceman, which turns into the weaker yet ranged Soldados). By selecting the appropriate units to produce beforehand (such as Chimu Runners, which turn into Guard Hussars), the normal population limit can be exceeded considerably. The Europeanized units may then get the benefits of Priestesses and Llamas doing the War Ceremony at the Community Plaza. However, this switch may only be done once, and lost Europeanized units will not be replaced.
- Aztecs: Though the Aztecs' Arrow Knights make for a mediocre all-purpose deathball (except for the rapid destruction of bases), they are notable for being able to counter the classic Artillery deathballs when massed on their own due to their 5.25x damage multiplier (and not having to deploy in order to attack, unlike Culverins), while also picking up any stray units at long range with high Rate of Fire. This strategy was nerfed in update 14.43676 by making Arrow Knights deal reduced damage to cavalry and shock infantry, thus making them easier to counter.
