Elite Battle Elephant

"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 trample damage.

Tactics Edit

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

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 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

Khmer Elite Battle Elephants move 15% 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

The Malay Elite Battle Elephants come in kind of weak defensively, lacking Bloodlines and Chain Barding Armor, but they are 30% cheaper to make it up. 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

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

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 (+3 attack against buildings and 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
Creation speed	Conscription (+33%)