| “ | Stronger than Battle Elephant. Slow and heavy cavalry. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Elite Battle Elephant is a cavalry unit in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas that can be trained at the Stable once the Imperial Age is reached. It is a slow yet very powerful and resilient heavy cavalry unit. Elite Battle Elephants deal 25% trample damage.
Contents
Tactics[edit | edit source]
Similar to Persian War Elephants, but on a lesser scale, Elite Battle Elephants are tough and durable. They move slowly and are vulnerable to units that deal damage at range. As cavalry units, they are also vulnerable to enemy Pikemen and Camel Riders. Mamelukes are particularly effective against them. Because they are big, move slowly and don't have a ranged attack, Scorpions (which also deal bonus damage) and Mangonels are also effective against them. They can be easily converted by enemy Monks, so they should be deployed with supporting units, preferably units with range.
Each civilization that has access to Elite Battle Elephants has specialties that benefit them, making their use different:
Burmese[edit | edit source]
Both Burmese unique technologies benefit their Elite Battle Elephants: Howdah gives them +1/+1 armor, making them more resilient particularly to ranged attacks, and Manipur Cavalry gives +6 attack bonus against standard buildings. In combination, that makes them a fairly viable choice for sieging. Having access to all technologies from the Stable and the Blacksmith aids their fighting capabilities.
Khmer[edit | edit source]
Khmer Elite Battle Elephants move 10% faster, get +3 attack out of Tusk Swords, and get full upgrades from both Stable and Blacksmith. This probably makes the Khmer have the best Elite Battle Elephants, especially in the late game. In Rise of the Rajas, the Khmer lack both Heresy and Faith, leaving their Battle Elephants very prone to conversion; in the Definitive Edition, however, the Khmer have access to Faith.
Malay[edit | edit source]
The Malay Elite Battle Elephants come in kind of weak defensively, lacking Bloodlines and Chain Barding Armor, but they are 40% cheaper to make it up (only costing 72 food and 42 gold). In late game, the Malay Elite Battle Elephants are probably the weakest. Still, the Malay are the only civilization with access to Battle Elephants who have Heresy (unlike their Burmese, Khmer, and Vietnamese counterparts).
Vietnamese[edit | edit source]
The Vietnamese Elite Battle Elephants are the most resilient of them all as they get another 50 HP out of the Chatras technology. They also get full armor from the Blacksmith, as well as Bloodlines (and Husbandry in the Definitive Edition) from the Stable. That makes them perfect for the Vietnamese as they can act as meat shields to protect their excellent archers. The fact that they lack Blast Furnace (and Husbandry in Rise of the Rajas) do little harm in the Vietnamese's case.
Further statistics[edit | edit source]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Melee units, buildings |
| Weak vs. | Pikemen, Kamayuks, Genoese Crossbowmen,Mamelukes, Cavalry Archers, Monks, War Elephants, Scorpions |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Bloodlines (+20) Chatras (+50, Vietnamese only)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Manipur Cavalry (+6 against standard buildings, Burmese only) Tusk Swords (+3, Khmer only)
|
| Armor |  Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2) Howdah (+1/+1, Burmese only)
|
| Speed |  Husbandry (+10%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy (Malay only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%)
|
Civilization bonuses[edit | edit source]
- Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Khmer: Elite Battle Elephants are 10% faster.
- Malay: Elite Battle Elephants are 40% cheaper.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses[edit | edit source]
- A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Conscription and unique technologies that benefit Elite Battle Elephants are researched 25% faster.
- A team containing Huns: Elite Battle Elephants are created 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
- A team containing Teutons: Elite Battle Elephants are more resistant to conversion.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
- A team containing Bulgarians: Researching cavalry armor and attack upgrades at the Blacksmith is 80% faster.
Changelog[edit | edit source]
Rise of the Rajas[edit | edit source]
- Elite Battle Elephants have an attack of 16.
- Elite Battle Elephants train in 28 seconds.
- Elite Battle Elephants deal 50% trample damage.
- Elite Battle Elephants have 10 bonus damage against buildings.
- Initially, Elite Battle Elephants have a blast radius of 0.5. With patch 5.7, the radius is now 0.4.
- Burmese: Initially, Howdah increases the armor of Elite Battle Elephants by +1/+2. With patch 5.7, the effect is now lowered to +1/+1.
- Burmese: Initially, Manipur Cavalry gives +6 attack against buildings. With patch 5.3, the bonus is spread over the two building classes (building and standard building) equally.
- Khmer: Elite Battle Elephants are 15% faster.
- Malay: Initially, Elite Battle Elephants are 20% cheaper. With patch 5.3, that bonus is increased to 25%. With patch 5.7, that bonus is increased to 30%.
- Vietnamese: Initially, Chatras increases Elite Battle Elephant HP by +30. With patch 5.7, that bonus is increased to +50.
Definitive Edition[edit | edit source]
- Elite Battle Elephants now have an attack of 14.
- With update 34699, Elite Battle Elephants now train in 24 seconds.
- With update 39284, Elite Battle Elephants deal 25% trample damage.
- With update 42848, Elite Battle Elephants have 7 bonus damage against buildings.
- Burmese: With update 37650, Manipur Cavalry's bonus is now +6 attack against standard buildings and no damage against buildings, so it does not get partially negated by Masonry.
- Khmer: With update 42848 Elite Battle Elephants are now 10% faster.
- Vietnamese: Husbandry added to their technology tree.
Lords of the West[edit | edit source]
- Malay: With update 47820, Elite Battle Elephants are now 40% cheaper.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- A fully upgraded Vietnamese Elite Battle Elephant has 370 HP, a value that is only beaten by the Elite War Elephant (620 HP) and Celtic Siege Ram (378 HP), making it the unit with the third highest HP. Note that this is more than double the HP of a fully upgraded Paladin (180 HP).
- Elite Battle Elephants are the most nerfed unit, as their upgrade price and time, attacks, trample damage, and bonus against buildings have all been weakened, but with only train time reduced, mostly because they can turn the tide of team games in the late game and be very hard to counter, especially the Khmer one.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Video overview[edit | edit source]
ELITE BATTLE ELEPHANT (Vietnamese) vs EVERY UNIQUE UNIT - AoE II- Definitive Edition
