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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Age of Empires III, see Mameluke (Age of Empires III). |
| “ | Saracen unique Cavalry with ranged melee attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
| “ | Saracen unique camel unit with ranged melee attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Mameluke is the unique unit of the Saracens in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is a camel cavalry unit with a ranged melee attack and an attack bonus against cavalry but not camels.
Mamelukes can be upgraded to Elite Mamelukes in the Imperial Age.
Tactics[]
Similarly to Throwing Axemen, Mamelukes are melee units, but they throw their scimitar from a range of 3. Due to their high speed and range (which makes them effective against infantry) and their natural strength against cavalry, Mamelukes are some of the most difficult units to counter. This is offset by their very high cost. As an anomaly, their attack bonus against cavalry does not translate to an attack bonus against camels.
A well controlled group of these can take down any unit, except by higher number of foot archers and ranged infantry, like Throwing Axemen and Gbetos. Mamelukes are well rounded units suited for most combat situations. That said, they are woefully ineffective against Teutonic Knights; even if the Mamelukes can kite them indefinitely, they can only deal 1 damage per shot.
When allied with Hindustanis, Mamelukes benefit from the Hindustani team bonus that gives camel and light cavalry units +2 attack bonus against standard buildings. In team games, if the player has an Hindustani ally, they can use the Mameluke as a supporting unit that can take down non-defensive buildings as well as counter the opponents' cavalry that can put in danger the players siege units that are used against towers and Castles. However, this is more theoretical than practical, since having two camel civilizations with absymal Knight line in the same team is not a wise choice.
Counters[]
Mamelukes are in the Armor class: Camel as well as Armor class: Mameluke, which means they actually take more damage from Elite Mamelukes (+1), Spearmen (+4), Pikemen and Halberdiers (+11), and Heavy and Imperial Camel Riders (+7). Mamelukes are neither in the archer armor class*, nor the cavalry archer armor class (unlike the Camel Archer). However, Camel Archers still possess advantages against Mamelukes, due to not having cavalry armor class for themselves and having a longer range. Also, Mamelukes have no base pierce armor, and Camel Archers are also cheaper, making them a good trade-off fighting with Mamelukes.
Counter-intuitively, Camel Riders are a great counter to Mamelukes, since Mamelukes do not deal bonus damage to the Camel Rider line. The Camel Rider line, on the other hand, deals bonus damage against the camel armor class, with Heavy and Imperial Camel Riders both dealing additional +7 damage against the Mameluke armor class. The Camel Rider line is also faster than Mamelukes, which helps negate the latter's range.
As for other units that counter them, Genoese Crossbowmen are very strong due to having an attack bonus vs camels. Other foot archers work effectively against them as well. Also, despite the fact that they can kill siege units fairly quickly, Siege Onagers can devastate a group of Mamelukes with a well-placed shot. Shrivamsha Riders, despite being cavalry, can handle small groups of Mamelukes thanks to their dodging mechanic, while the Mameluke cannot outrun the Shrivamsha Rider.
Monks can also be very effective against Mamelukes considering they are high-value units, especially in gold. Mamelukes require at least 5 (4 for the Elite) shots to kill a Monk with Sanctity, making it unlikely a Mameluke will kill the Monk one-on-one before it converts them.
When used effectively, the Mameluke cannot be countered by trash units.
Pairing[]
Mamelukes work well when paired with Camel Riders, Onagers, Bombard Cannons, and Hussars, all of which Saracens have at least fully upgradeable. Each one of these units helps counter one or two of the weaknesses of the Mameluke. Saracen Camel Riders counter most other Camel Riders and siege, Onagers counter archers, Hussars counter siege and Monks, while Bombard Cannons counter buildings and siege. The Cavalry Archer, while a good option on its own, does not sit well with Mamelukes since both units fulfill similar roles, with the Heavy Cavalry Archer having longer range, while the Mameluke is straight up better. The only case, where Heavy Cavalry Archers can be used with Mamelukes is when facing Teutonic Knights. In addition, Hussars can be used as a cheap meatshield.
Counters in older versions of the game[]
Before the release of Dynasties of India, Mamelukes also belonged to archer armor class, and thus took bonus damage from anti-archer attacks, which made Skirmishers (+2/+3/+3), Huskarls (+6/+10), Persian-allied Knight-line (+2), and Burmese cavalry (+5 with Manipur Cavalry) effective against them to a reasonable degree, even though these units have low melee armor or cavalry armor class, meaning they take a lot of damage from Mamelukes.
Skirmishers were good counters against Mamelukes because they were very cost-effective. They were the trash unit of choice to field against Mamelukes, because they take no bonus damage (as opposed to Light Cavalry) and cannot be hit-and-run (as opposed to Pikemen).
Also, in The Conquerors and The Forgotten, before The African Kingdoms, camels and ships shared the same Armor class: Ship, which made them take massive bonus damage from defensive structures, especially with Heated Shot.
Before patch 5.8, they used to be in Armor class: Cavalry (+11), which was replaced by the Mameluke class. This class was created to reduce the Halberdier's attack bonus, without changing other attack bonuses. It was reduced by 5 in patch 5.8 and by another 5 in the Definitive Edition.
In The Age of Kings, Mamelukes were in the Armor class: Infantry (which was replaced in The Conquerors by the Armor class: Archer), and they had 0 Cavalry armor (which was increased to 11 and the Ships & Camels armor class was added in The Conquerors), so they used to take bonus damage from Hand Cannoneers and Janissaries, but not from defensive structures, Skirmishers, and Huskarls, and took less bonus damage from the Spearman and Camel lines.
Further statistics[]
As Mamelukes are unique to the Saracens, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Siege weapons, Elite Skirmishers, mounted archers (except Camel Archers), melee units (especially cavalry) |
| Weak vs. | Foot archers, Camel Riders, Monks, Teutonic Knights, Camel Archers |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Bloodlines (+20)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2)
|
| Armor |  Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Husbandry (+10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Upgrading | Conscription (+33% faster) Kasbah (+25% faster, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Hindustanis (+2 vs standard buildings)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Creation speed |  Gurjaras (+25%)
|
| Upgrading |  Portuguese (+25% faster)
|
Team bonuses[]
Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies are researched 80% faster.- Huns: Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry are 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Mamelukes are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Mamelukes move at a speed of 1.41.
- Non-Elite Mamelukes have an attack of 7.
- Elite Mamelukes have an attack delay of 0 seconds.
- Mamelukes are in the cavalry armor class and the infantry armor class.
The Conquerors[]
- Mamelukes move at a speed of 1.4.
- The infantry armor class is replaced with the archer armor class.
- Mamelukes are given +11 armor of the cavalry armor class.
- Camel and ship armor class added.
- Zealotry introduced. It gives Mamelukes +30 hit points.
- Camelry introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Non-Elite Mamelukes have an attack of 8.
- Camelry removed.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Ship and camel armor class separated into two armor classes, with the Mameluke receiving the latter.
- With patch 4.8, Elite Mamelukes have an attack delay of 0.5 seconds.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- With patch 5.8, the cavalry armor is removed from Mamelukes. Instead, a new Mameluke armor class is added to negate 5 attack bonus from Halberdiers, while keeping all other anti-cavalry attack values the same. In other words, Halberdiers receive -5 attack vs Mameluke armor class (from +21 to +16).
Definitive Edition[]
- Attack delay: regular Mameluke: 0.6 → 0.4 sec, Elite Mameluke: 0.5 → 0.2 seconds.
- Halberdiers another -5 attack vs Mameluke armor class (from +16 to +11).
Lords of the West[]
- With update 44725, Mamelukes have +10 hit points as a new civilization bonus. Zealotry gives Mamelukes +20 hit points.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, Mamelukes are no longer listed in the archer armor class.
The Mountain Royals[]
- With update 95810, Mamelukes have +25% hit points as a new civilization bonus. (Elite) Mameluke hit points increased from 65 (80) to 80 (90). Zealotry removed.
Heroes[]
There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Mameluke:
History[]
| “ | The mamelukes were slaves trained as warriors by various Arab leaders, partially because early believers in Islam would not fight each other. Slave warriors got around this ban. The mamelukes were well trained and highly motivated. A mameluke army from Egypt won a rare victory against the Mongols in Syria, turning these barbarian horsemen back from the Nile and North Africa. In time the mamelukes rose up against their Arab rulers and took control themselves. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in the eighteenth century, he defeated a mameluke army at the Battle of the Pyramids. | ” |
Trivia[]
- The Mameluke is tied with the Composite Bowman for having the cheapest Elite upgrade in the game among all unique units made from the Castle (with a total of 1,100 resources). The Elite Genitour upgrade is the only unique unit with a cheaper Elite upgrade (costing a total of 950 resources).
- In-game, Mameluke rides a camel. This is historically incorrect, as mamelukes rode horses.
- Furthermore, even the in-game Mameluke's mount is the wrong species: Arab camel-riders rode the one-humped dromedaries, not the two-humped Bactrians, which were sometimes ridden by Timurid Tatars. This historical inaccuracy was likely done intentionally to make it easier to distinguish Mamelukes from generic Camel Riders.
- Mamelukes throw their scimitars rather than swing them in melee which is physically not viable.
- Mamlūk مَمْلُوك literally means "one who is ruled over" in Arabic. (The root M-L-K means "to rule", and here it is in the passive participle "ruled" with a nominalizing M.)
- The Mameluke is the only unit that had infantry, archer and cavalry armor classes assigned to it in different versions of Age of Empires II.
- The Mameluke used to be one of the least used unique units in 1vs1 matches, because of its high cost, which is too much for the Saracens' weak economy. Due to this, various balance changes were made directly to Mamelukes, with the most notorius one added with Dynasties of India, where the archer armor class was removed.
- The event scenario Ayn Jalut focuses on the Mamluk Dynasty.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
