Sohei Archer

Template:Infobox Unit

“	Religious leader who stuns Treasure Guardians and has a chance to do Divine Strike damage in combat. Explores, fights, and builds Town Centers, Trading Posts, and Shrines.	”
—In-game description

The Ikko-Ikki is an archer hero in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Japanese. In standard random map games, the Japanese starts with two Ikko-Ikki; both are counted as separate units.

Overview

The Ikko-Ikki begin with the Divine Strike ability, which allows them to occassionally instantly kill a weakened enemy, and the Smoke Bomb ability to immediately return to their Home City shipment point. Later on they can acquire more abilities and Stealth mode from improvements at the Monastery. They can also build Shrines, granting a safe and convenient way to claim remote animal herds.

Since they are the only explorer to be classified as archers, Ikko-Ikki are affected by archer-specific upgrades, such as Carib Garifuna Drums (x1.25 damage versus villagers) and Seminole Bowyers (+25% damage).

One of the more clever uses of the Ikko-Ikki involves their stealth and Sabotage abilities for undermining unique structures such as Factories and enemy Wonders. With Mountain Warriors, they will receive twice the normal resources or experience for recovering Treasures, which can be a significant early game advantage. Do note that it has no effect on Treasures based on percentage or units.

Abilities

Ability	Effect
Stun	Stuns a Treasure Guardian for 20 seconds; 60 seconds cooldown
Smoke Bomb	Returns the Ikko-Ikki to the Home City shipment point after 4 seconds; 60 seconds cooldown
Divine Strike	Gives the Ikko-Ikki a 25% chance to instantly kill enemy units with lower than 30 hit points when attacking
Dodge	Gives the Ikko-Ikki a 15% chance to evade enemy attacks; requires Intonjutsu Stealth
Sabotage	Causes 1500 damage to an enemy building or ship from a range of 16; 60 seconds cooldown, requires Kayakujutsu
Stream of Enlightenment	Reduces the attack of enemy units in a radius of 24 around the Ikko-Ikki by 7.5% (stacks if both Ikko-Ikki are close together); requires Stream of Enlightenment Home City Card

• If both Ikko-Ikki are together, the combined Stream of Enlightenment effect nullifies Mansabdar unit bonuses entirely and reduces the Unction advantage available to the Spanish.
• Keep in mind that melee attacks are faster, and will thus cause more frequent Divine Strikes. If the enemies are stunned and of a weaker variety, move the Ikko-Ikki into melee range to quickly kill them with one hit.
• The Divine Strike's hit points threshold are affected by attack boosts, including from the Mountain Warrior Home City Card. The Kyudo improvement at the Monastery will further boost the threshold.

Upgrades

The Ikko-Ikki gets +50% hit points and attack in every Age starting from the Colonial Age.

Further statistics

As the Ikko-Ikki is only available to the Japanese, only improvements available to them (including native improvements) are listed here.

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Treasure guardians, infantry
Weak vs.	Villagers, cavalry, Spies, Ninja
Improvements
Hit points	Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Sikh Gurus (+50%)
Attack	Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0x multiplier vs. villagers) Seminole Bowyer (+25%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Clenched Fist (+30% melee attack)
Speed	File:Inca Road-building.png Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) File:Inca Chaquis Messengers.png Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Other	Reiki (can heal friendly units) Intonjutsu Stealth (gives stealth mode and the Dodge ability) Kyudo (+50% Divine Strike hit points threshold) Kayakujutsu (gives the Sabotage ability) Carib Ambush Party (train Carib Ambushers) Loyal Nootka War Chief (train Nootka War Chief)

Home City Cards

As the Ikko-Ikki is exclusive to the Japanese, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here.

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Ikko-Ikki

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Dutch Card Description Age Home City level TEAM Infantry Hitpoints Infantry get +15% hit points 10 French Card Description Age Home City level TEAM Ranged Infantry Attack Ranged infantry get +15% attack 10 Indians Card Description Age Home City level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Iroquois Card Description Age Home City level TEAM Scout Infantry Infantry gets +8 LOS 10 Japanese Card Description Age Home City level Mountain Warrior Ikko-Ikki gets +50% hit points and attack (Sabotage is not affected, but Divine Strike's hit point threshold is affected), and doubles the resources or XP they acquired from treasures 1 Stream of Enlightenment Ikko-Ikki gets the Stream of Enlightenment ability 10 Spanish Card Description Age Home City level TEAM Explorer Combat Heroes get +20% hit points and attack, but Shaolin Master's Roundhouse Kick ability and Ikko-Ikki's Sabotage ability deals 20% less damage 1 TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

History

“

Like the yamabushi and the sohei, the ikko-ikki are an order of Japanese warrior monks devoted to a form of ascetic Buddhism, specifically the Jodo Shinshu, or True Pure Land Sect. This sect believed that all believers were equally saved by the grace of the Buddha. The ikko-ikki lived for years as scattered mountain hermits until the fifteenth century, when the eccentric Jodo Shinshu abbot, Rennyo, established a temple in the Echizen province and began to rally the local citizenry behind him. Even though Rennyo was a pacifist, he advocated the use of pragmatic violence during dark times, such as the years of conflict that defined Japan’s warring states period. With the support of villagers and ikko-ikki monks behind him, Rennyo led an uprising against the samurai rulers of Kaga province in 1488. His army claimed the region and declared themselves its rulers. This act represented the first time in Japanese history that a group of commoners ruled a province. For the next one hundred years, the ikko-ikki fought against and alongside many powerful daimyo, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, Oda Nobunaga, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, depending on their aims. Occasionally, they even found themselves facing warrior monks of other sects in battle. The ikko-ikki monks wore clothes symbolic of their origin as countryside mobs, with traditional monk robes and varying degrees and types of armor. Many wore helmets, while others opted for the straw hat and cloak of a peasant. Naginata remained very common along with a variety of other blades, and a limited number of firearms. As they charged into battle, the ikko-ikki often carried banners ahead of them proclaiming, “Hail to the Amida Buddha!” and “Renounce this world and attain the Pure Land!”

”

Gallery

An Ikko-Ikki as they appear in-game

A fallen Ikko-Ikki

See also

• Shaolin Master
• Brahmin