The Gurjaras are a camel and cavalry civilization introduced in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dynasties of India. They borrow several gameplay mechanics seen in other real-time strategy games such as Starcraft and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, making Gurjaras a good civilization for players who are familiar with mechanics seen in both real-time strategy games.
Strengths[]
The Gurjaras' biggest strength is their food economy, as two of their civilization bonuses and their Castle Age unique technology focuses on food efficiency. First, the Gurjaras have the ability to garrison herdable animals in Mills for a slow trickle of food. In addition, the Gurjaras also start with two Berry Bushes at their Town Center, giving them an immediate free source of food in the early game. Their food efficiency is further improved with their Castle Age unique technology Kshatriyas, which reduces the food cost of their military units.
Their food economy synergizes well with their main strength: camels and cavalry units. Their cavalry units deal from 20% up to 40% more bonus damage, which makes their Heavy Camel Rider, Hussar, and Siege Elephant more threatening to cavalry, Monks, and buildings, respectively. To further highlight their strength in camels, they start out with a Camel Scout instead of a Scout Cavalry, which they can train more of them in the Stable in the Feudal Age, and automatically upgrade into the Camel Rider upon reaching the Castle Age. This makes Gurjaras a formidable foe against cavalry civilizations who would attempt a Scout rush in the Feudal Age and transition into Knights, as the Gurjaras' Scout Camels will be an immediate threat to enemy Knights once they reach the Castle Age. Their Elephant Archers are relatively cheap due to Kshatriyas, and are more durable against melee units thanks to their Imperial Age technology, Frontier Guards (which also benefits their camels as well).
Their first unique unit, the Chakram Thrower, is a ranged melee infantry that can throw discs to hit multiple enemies in a line similar to a Scorpion, allowing them to deal with infantry who are clumped together (especially Pikemen). The Gurjaras also have access to the Shrivamsha Rider in their Stables in the Castle Age, which is a light cavalry unit that can "dodge" projectile attacks, which is represented with a second, regenerating health bar which has to be depleted before the unit itself takes damage.
The Gurjaras can also garrison their Fishing Ships into their Docks, which allows them to protect their fish economy from enemy raids.
Weaknesses[]
While the Gurjaras have a formidable cavalry and camels, their foot soldiers are borderline unusable, as they lack the Arbalester and Ring Archer Armor for their foot archers and Skirmishers. The latter hurts their Elephant Archer's ranged durability, as they also lack Parthian Tactics. While the Gurjaras have cheap Militia-line units thanks to Kshatriyas, their Militia-line units should not even be considered in their army composition in the late-game, as they lack the Champion, Squires, and Blast Furnace (which also hurts their offensive power for their camels and Hussars when fighting other units), as the Gurjaras' Two-Handed Swordsman will lose in a lot of cost-efficiency trades with other civilizations' Militia-line units (even against the Goths' Champions). Adding insult to injury, the Gurjaras are also the second civilization in the game that cannot upgrade their Spearman unit, putting Gurjaras in a significant disadvantage in trash wars despite the food discount affecting their trash units. This leaves their Chakram Throwers and Hand Cannoneers as their only reliable late-game foot soldiers.
Despite their formidable cavalry, they also lack the Battle Elephant and Knight units, meaning the Gurjaras will have to rely on Shrivamsha Riders and Hussars as their main raiding unit and Heavy Camel Riders with Frontier Guards as their main frontline cavalry.
While their Siege Elephants are the best in tearing down buildings, their other siege options are mediocre, with Bombard Cannons without Siege Engineers as their only other siege option to tear down enemy Castles and towers.
Despite their ability to garrison Fishing Ships in Docks, their late-game navy is considered average at best, as they lack the Elite Cannon Galleon, Fast Fire Ship, and Dry Dock.
Their Monastery tech tree is average, as they do not have Faith and Block Printing. They do at least get Heresy, giving their Elephant Archers the best conversion resistance of all South Asian civilizations.
The ability to garrison herdables in Mills for a trickle of food requires high-level decision making and adopting to build orders with alternate sources of food. Gathering food from herdables directly can help with their early-game Villager production, but the player will miss out in the long-term value of their civilization bonus if they opt for a boom strategy. Not only that, the civilization bonus can be seen as a "high-risk, high-reward" bonus, as their Mills will be perfect targets for enemy raids who can easily take the herdables for themselves, thus putting the player at a significant disadvantage.
Strategy[]
The Gurjaras' start is different from other civilizations. They get two Berry Bushes under their Town Center that they can gather first instead of taking Sheep. Unlike other civilizations, they should start the game by creating two Houses and a Mill as soon as they find their other Berry Bushes, and use the straggler trees around the Town center to replenish their wood for making their first Lumber Camp; they need their Sheep to be inside the Mill for generating their food trickle. Alternatively, they can gather their Sheep normally, but in most cases, the food trickle is preferable, despite the slowness. It may be a risky strategy, as they may lose their Camel Scout in this process, but it can be a good idea for a Gurjara player to try to steal the herdable animals from an opponent in order to have a better food trickle.
Gurjaras also start the game with a Camel Scout instead of a normal Scout Cavalry. Camel Scouts are as good as a Scout Cavalry in the Dark Age for scouting, but if they encounter an enemy Scout Cavalry in the Dark Age, the Camel Scout can marginally win against it. Camel Scouts also automatically improve when advancing to Feudal Age, becoming a useful defensive unit against early cavalry raids; they become Camel Riders at no cost when reaching the Castle Age. Gurjaras can perform a Camel Scout rush, but it is costly, since Camel Scouts are not particularly cheap and train slower in the Feudal Age. The main two advantages this unit offers are early protection against cavalry and the possibility to perform an early Camel Rider rush in the early Castle Age. If the Gurjara player decides not going with camels, they also have the option of a regular Scout Cavalry rush in the Feudal Age, which in their case is favored by their early extra Berry Bushes and the Sheep food trickle.
Once in the Castle Age, Gurjaras may take these routes:
- Keep improving their cavalry at the Stable by incorporating Shrivamsha Riders to their already deployed Light Cavalry and/or Camel Riders
- Boom their economy
- Create Archery Ranges and Siege Workshops and make use of their Elephant Archers and Armored Elephants
- A combination of these strategies.
Researching Kshatriyas at the Castle is the key to success for the Gurjaras, since all their core units cost food, and this technology decreases the food cost of all military units by 25%.
The Shrivamsha Rider is a very special unit, as it has the ability to dodge ranged attacks. Their "dodging arrow" ability consist of a shield gauge that recharges fast; each ranged attack damages the shield gauge, protecting the unit's hit points. Once the gauge reaches zero, the ranged unit can actually damage the Shrivamsha Rider. Shrivamsha Riders fill an important role in the army composition of the Gurjaras, being the anti-archer unit they need for supporting their elephant units, Camel Riders, and Scout Cavalry. However, they deal poorly against hand-to-hand units, so they may need support from Camels Riders and the second Gurjara unique unit: the Chakram Thrower. Chakram Throwers are a ranged infantry in a similar vein to the Frankish Throwing Axeman and Malian Gbeto, but their projectile acts in a similar manner to Scorpion projectiles, dealing damage to every unit between the Chakram Thrower and its target. This quirk makes Chakram Throwers excellent against masses of units. Also, the unit has some attack bonus vs infantry. A typical Gurjara army composition should have Camel Riders for dealing with cavalry, Chakram Throwers for countering infantry, Shrivamsha Riders and/or Elephant Archers for dealing with archers, and Siege Elephants for taking down buildings. In this case, the player must remember that each mounted unit of the Gurjaras has increased attack bonuses.
If the player decides to go into Elephant Archers, their Kshatriyas technology, along with their team bonus, enables them to perform a Elephant Archer rush if they previously managed to do a Fast Castle technique. Gurjara Elephant Archers are the cheapest and easiest to deploy in the game, and they retain good value in the Imperial Age, as the Frontier Guards technology improves them against melee units, making anti-melee support less necessary for them.
In the Imperial Age, Gurjaras are probably at their strongest, as their Heavy Camel Riders get more melee armor due to the Frontier Guards technology, along with Siege Elephants that deal +50% more damage against buildings, and cheap and hardy Elite Elephant Archers.
The Gurjaras should finish the game before the Gold Mines run out, as their trash units are among the worst. They have no Pikemen or Blast Furnace, fragile Skirmishers, and Hussars even have less efficiency at raiding due to lacking Blast Furnace as well. However, in team games, they can get gold by trading.
In water maps, Gurjaras may play defensively, as they can garrison Fishing Ships inside their Docks; but other than that, they lack several late Dock improvements, so they should finish the game fast in those circumstances.
Patch changes[]
Update 66692 saw several nerfs to the Gurjaras, with the Elite upgrade for the Shrivamsha Rider adjusted to 800 food, 600 gold. In addition, their "dodge" ability takes longer to recharge. Their mounted units bonus damage was reduced to +40%, meaning that Camel Riders take one more hit to kill cavalry, and Armored Elephants take two more hits to destroy most buildings. They now have lower damage output against buildings than Bengali Armored Elephants with Paiks.
Their food income for their garrisoned herdables has also been readjusted and uses a logarithmic calculation, meaning garrisoning additional herdables into a Mill will have diminishing returns, reducing their food income from their garrisoned herdables. This is mostly to address "laming" enemy herdables that will allow the Gurjaras to have a significant food economy advantage over the opponent and to also reduce the food income from all garrisoned herdables.
Update 73855 saw further nerfs to the Gurjaras. Their bonus damage for mounted units scales proportionally to age rather than a flat 40% bonus damage, which weakens their Camel Scout rushes. Furthermore, Chakram Thrower stats were readjusted to be a more specialized against low-armor infantry units (i.e. the Spearman line and Huskarls) but much less effective against archers and cavalry with its base attack reduced, but their pass-through damage dealing 100% and have +1 bonus damage against infantry.
More nerfs came to the Gurjaras. In update 78174, the hit points of and Siege Elephants were reduced by 20. In update 81058, the cost of the Kshatriyas unique technology was raised from 200 food, 400 gold to 500 food, 450 gold. The Shrivamsha Rider also got nerfed, as their gold cost was increased from 20 gold to 30 gold, and the Rate of Fire was reduced from 1.75 to 2 for standard and 1.9 for elite.
In update 153015, the Gurjaras got some buffs to their early game. The starting Berry Bushes now provide +100 more food than before, delaying their Farm seeding time. The Camel Scout has +1 attack and is trained as fast as its upgrades, making them appealing for Gurjaras' potential new tactic. These buffs were to counterbalance the many nerfs for the civilization, and also to survive against the buffs for infantry, especially the Militia line, as the Gurjaras are extremely vulnerable to infantry rush due to having an abysmal Barracks and having to rely on their Castle unit, the Chakram Thrower, to deal with infantry. The Gurjaras are not as powerful as before in the early game since most of their critical units and civilization bonuses were weakened.
Alliances[]
Compared to the team bonus from other civilizations, the Gurjaras' are more restrictive, for only civilizations that can access camelry or elephant units can enjoy it.
Several allies with camelry can make good synergy with the Gurjaras: as another civilization unable to receive the Pikeman upgrade, the Turk ally can spam their camels in exchange for allowing their Gurjara team-mate to mass both Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons quickly, while Hindustani allies grant Gurjara players an anti-building bonus for their camelry, in return for making their Imperial Camel Riders train quicker. By granting Gurjara team-mates Genitours and the Kasbah technology, Berber allies can enjoy "economies of scale" from dirt-cheap, more spammable camel units. The Khitans' Camel Rider rushes will be more threatening, as they gain more attack in the Castle Age while being trained faster. Furthermore, their Camel Riders can regenerate by researching Ordo Cavalry. It also affects Mounted Trebuchets. In return, the Khitan team bonus makes Gurjara Chakram Throwers more effective against archers.
Most civilizations that have access to elephant units can also get on well with the Gurjaras. By revealing the beginning locations of enemy Town Centers and granting the Imperial Skirmisher technology, Vietnamese allies can amass their own Battle Elephants (with Chatras technology) in a shorter period. Similar mutual relationships also occur with Burmese allies (they reveal the beginning locations of all Relics in the map, for quicker production of their own Battle Elephants with extra armor and the Manipur Cavalry technology), Khmer allies (they grant Gurjaras' Heavy Scorpions a range boost, for quicker production of their own Battle Elephants with extra speed and the Tusk Swords technology) and Bengali allies (they grant Gurjara trade units extra food income for quicker production of their own beefy Battle Elephants, Elephant Archers, and Siege Elephants).
Compared advantages and disadvantages[]
Advantages vs other civilizations[]
- The biggest strength of the Gurjaras is their food economy, as their economic bonuses put emphasis on food efficiency. They start with two Berry Bushes and can garrison herdable animals in Mills for a trickle of food. In addition, they can save even more food in the Castle Age for their military units with the Kshatriyas unique technology. This gives the Gurjaras an economic advantage against civilizations that lack both long-term economic bonuses and early-game economy (i.e. Goths and Magyars).
- The Gurjaras' Camels are considered to be some of the best, as they not only deal additional bonus damage, but they also have access to the Camel Scout in the Feudal Age, which automatically upgrades to Camel Riders when they reach the Castle Age. Combined with the extra durability with Frontier Guards in the Imperial Age, this makes Gurjaras a threatening foe to any cavalry civilization (e.g. Huns, Franks, Cumans, Burgundians, and Mongols).
- Despite their very limited siege options, their Siege Elephants are among the best, as they can tear down buildings quickly, thanks to their additional bonus damage to buildings, which is comparable to a fully upgraded Siege Ram, thus giving Gurjaras an advantage against civilizations with lackluster defenses (e.g. Aztecs, Cumans, and Goths). The Gurjaras also have access to Bombard Cannons to destroy enemy siege weapons that would threaten their Siege Elephants and Chakram Throwers.
- Despite lacking the Champion upgrade and having lackluster foot archers, the Gurjaras' Chakram Thrower allows them deal with large number of infantry units (especially the Spearman unit line that would threaten their cavalry), as their projectiles can hit multiple targets in a line in a similar fashion to a Scorpion. Combined with their access to Hand Cannoneers, this allows the Gurjaras to handle infantry civilizations, especially those who can flood large number of infantry units quickly (e.g. Goths, Ethiopians' Shotel Warriors, and Malay's Karambit Warrior).
- The Gurjaras have a very solid Elephant Archer rush, as their Elephant Archers are cheaper thanks to Kshatriyas, which can put civilizations with a lackluster early game off-guard. Their access to Heresy makes their Elephant Archers less vulnerable to conversion from civilizations with bonuses to their Monks (e.g. Aztecs, Burmese, Spanish), and their extra melee armor from Frontier Guards allow them to survive extra hits from Knights and Light Cavalry units that would threaten them.
- The Shrivamsha Rider is a light cavalry unit that allows them to "dodge" projectiles, which makes up for the Gurjaras' lack of the Knight line, giving a tactical edge against archer civilizations (e.g. Britons) and even against ranged anti-cavalry units (e.g. the Genoese Crossbowman and Mameluke).
- As the Gurjaras can garrison their Fishing Ships into Docks, this gives them an advantage in water maps against civilizations that excel at water rushes (e.g. Japanese, Malay, Vikings, and Bengalis).
Disadvantages vs. other civilizations[]
- Apart from their Chakram Thrower and Hand Cannoneers, their other foot soldiers are mediocre (i.e. their foot archers and Barracks units), as they lack several key technologies and upgrades across the board, putting Gurjaras in a disadvantage against civilizations with good archers (e.g. Britons, Vietnamese, Ethiopians, Maya) and infantry (e.g. Celts, Japanese, Dravidians, Teutons, and Aztecs).
- While their Elephant Archers are more resistant to melee attacks and conversion, thanks to Frontier Guards and Heresy, respectively, their Elephant Archers are less durable in ranged combat, due to the lack of Ring Archer Armor and Parthian Tactics, making their Elephant Archers vulnerable to civilizations with bonuses to their Skirmishers (e.g. Dravidians, Aztecs, Maya, and the Vietnamese Imperial Skirmisher), or ranged anti-cavalry damage from units such as Camel Archers and Genoese Crossbowmen.
- As Chakram Throwers are considered ranged infantry, they are vulnerable to civilizations with bonuses to their Siege Onager (e.g. Saracens, Mongols, Celts, and Ethiopians) and Hand Cannoneers (e.g. Turks, Hindustanis, Bohemians, and Burgundians). The same logic can also be applied for civilizations with strong cavalry and archers when facing Chakram Throwers.
- While Shrivamsha Riders are very resistant to ranged projectiles, they are vulnerable to melee attacks, due to their low hit points and armor, especially against civilizations with strong bonuses to their Halberdiers and camels. The former category can also deal with the Gurjaras' camels as well.
- Across from Siege Elephants and Bombard Cannons, the Gurjaras' other siege options are mediocre as they lack Siege Engineers, putting them at a disadvantage against civilizations with bonuses to their siege (e.g. Mongols, Celts, and Ethiopians)
- While the Gurjaras can garrison their Fishing Ships in their Docks, their late-game navy is considered average when compared to other naval civilizations such as the Vikings, Bengalis, Dravidians, Koreans, and Portuguese.
- Civilizations with inherit bonuses to their herdable animals (e.g. Celts, Britons, Maya, and Tatars) will have an economic advantage over the Gurjaras, as they can perform an early-game rush and attack their Mill to take the herdables for themselves. Similarly, civilizations with bonuses to other food sources from such as Farms (e.g. Teutons, Franks, and Slavs), fish (e.g. Dravidians), or huntable animals (e.g. Mongols and Goths) may able to compete with the Gurjaras' food economy.
- As the Gurjaras lack upgrades for the Spearman line and lack Blast Furnace and Ring Archer Armor for their Hussars and Elite Skirmishers, respectively, this puts Gurjaras at a disadvantage in low-gold situations, especially against civilizations that excel in trash wars (e.g. Magyars, Vietnamese, Berbers, and Persians) since the Gurjaras also lack the Champion upgrade. Due to extremely lacking Spearman-line with mediocre Monk in the Imperial Age, the Gurjaras will have no effective counter to elephant units, even with their Camel-line bonuses.
Situational advantages[]
- It is much more advantageous to pick Gurjaras in matches that start in the Dark and Feudal Ages; picking them in matches starting in the Imperial Age or Post-Imperial Age is not recommended.
- As they can garrison herdables in their Mills, they have a huge economic advantage in maps that start with more than 8 herdable animals (such as Ghost Lake, Yucatán, or Oasis).
- Their food economy and cavalry focus also makes them a good pick in open maps such as Arabia, as they can be a formidable foe to any civilization who would want to Scout rush thanks to their access to Camel Scouts in the Feudal Age.
- In Nomad-type maps, the two Berry Bushes will spawn beneath the Town Center that was built, giving them an advantage in situations where the player is unable to secure herdables or other food sources for themselves.
- Their cheaper Hussars with Kshatriyas and increased bonus damage makes them a good pick in Capture the Relic mode, as they can easily keep enemy Monks from securing the Relic. In a similar sense, their military units costing less food, combined with their Siege Elephants additional bonus damage to buildings, also makes them a good pick in the King of the Hill mode, as they are able to secure the Monument easily.
- As the Gurjaras start with the Camel Scout, they have an advantage in maps such as Budapest, as they will start out with two Camel Scouts instead of one (although the two Berry Bushes will spawn in only one of their Town Centers).
- In Death Matches, as gold and food scarcity is not an issue, they are able to freely spam their Elephant Archers, Camel Riders, and Shrivamsha Riders easily.
