| “ | Khitan unique Infantry with powerful attack that wounds enemies, dealing damage over time. Strong vs. Cavalry and Infantry. Weak vs. Ranged Soldiers at long range. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Liao Dao is the first unique unit of the Khitans in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms. It is a heavy infantry unit that can be trained at the Castle once the Castle Age is reached.
It can be upgraded to the Elite Liao Dao in the Imperial Age.
Ability[]
Its attack deals an additional 9 damage to non-siege land units over 3 seconds, which can stack and is unaffected by armor.
Quantifying[]
It can be reasonably assumed that the armor-ignoring part of the ability does not come into play if the damage output is simply added, because the base attack of the unit is already large enough. It is being assumed, for the purpose of quantifying, that the entire bleed damage is dealt at once with the standard attack.
| Enemy unit type |  Liao Dao
|
 Elite Liao Dao
|
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-siege land unit | 18 | 22 | +2, +3 (Elite) vs shock infantry +2 vs archers |
| Siege unit and ship | 9 | 13 | |
| Building | 11 | 16 | Includes attack bonus against standard buildings |
Tactics[]
Thanks to its bleeding damage, relatively solid hit points and melee armor, and damage-reflecting mechanic, the Liao Dao is a very dangerous opponent in melee fights with equal resources. Jaguar Warriors and Teutonic Knights, despite being strong against most other infantry, lose against Liao Dao, though Samurai, Urumi Swordsmen, and Cataphracts (with all technologies) can narrowly win. They can also beat Battle Elephants if they have Lamellar Armor, as the trample damage will get partially reflected back at the elephants, but they still lose against War Elephants.
However, Liao Dao are weak against ranged units. Arbalesters and Hand Cannoneers will make short work of them, as will Cavalry Archers and other similar units. Mangonels and Scorpions can also deal with them as long as they are protected and won't take any bleeding damage if Liao Dao reach them.
Further statistics[]
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This section is most likely incomplete and may need expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
Lamellar Armor: Deals 25% of damage received from non-projectile attacks back to the attacker
Trivia[]
- The name of this unit is based on a weapon. Liao refers to the Liao dynasty of the Khitans and dao (Chinese: 刀) is a Chinese blade type. Analysis of this kind of weapon can be found here.
- It is also one of the four non-siege/ship units whose name refers to the weapon instead of the wielder (e.g. Long Swordsman) or mount (e.g. War Wagon). The other three such units are the Obuch, the Arambai, and the Chu Ko Nu. The Arbalester was also named in this fashion (as Arbalest) before the Definitive Edition.
- The bleeding damage dealt by Liao Dao's attacks is similar to the Incan Jungle Bowman's ability in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, where each attack does additional damage over time.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
