Monk (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the armor class, see Armor class: Monk. For the similar unit in other games of the series, see Monk.

Monk
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Type	Monk
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Castle Age
Training
Trained at	Monastery Fortified Church
Gold	100
Training time	51 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	30
Reload time	62
Range	Conversion: 9 vs. most units 0 vs. buildings, Trebuchets, Battering Rams, and Armored Elephants Healing: 4
Accuracy	38%
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	0
Armor class	Monk
Speed	0.7
Line of Sight	11 9 (Monk with Relic)
Ability	Carry Relics Convert units Heal units

• Definitive
• Original

“	Converts enemy units to your civilization. Heals friendly units (except ships and siege weapons). Can collect Relics and bring them to Monasteries.	”
—In-game description

“	Slow and weak. Converts enemy units, ships to your civilization (player color). Heals wounded villagers, military units (except siege weapons).	”
—In-game description

The Monk is a special unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Monastery starting in the Castle Age. It is a non-combat unit used for different purposes, which can be seen in the ability section.

Ability

Conversion

Main article: Conversion#Age of Empires II

Four Monks converting a War Elephant.

Recharge time: 62 seconds. The most important purpose Monks serve is to convert enemy units. Depending on the level of play, opinions can differ widely about the use and strength of conversion in the game. However, converting a unit reduces the enemy's numbers while simultaneously increasing the player's own army. In the Castle Age, Monks can be effective in backing up rushes with the ability to outrange almost every single unit. If a Monk is able to convert even just one Knight or other pricey unit, said conversion can completely make up for the Monk's cost even if the Monk dies soon after the conversion.

Civilizations with good Monks can even perform a Monk rush. This can be effective, because the attacked player most likely does not have any anti-conversion technologies researched, and the Monks are affordable due to the high amount of gold being freely available in the Castle Age. Monk rushes are usually backed up with Mangonels and/or Scorpions for a Monk-Siege push (commonly abbreviated as "Smush"), a combination that pairs well (as Mangonels help Monks against archers and buildings and Monks cover against Knights) and can be very difficult to stop.

Redemption is generally considered the most important technology, as it allows for conversion of Mangonels and Scorpions, which otherwise can kill Monks. Sanctity is just as impactful, as it allows Monks to survive one Mangonel shot, as well as surviving for generally significantly longer for a relatively low cost. Atonement is incredibly useful when an opponent is making Monks but otherwise useless, and Fervor is a decent buff but not too impactful.

In the Imperial Age, Block Printing becomes available, allowing Monks to outrange almost every unit in the game, especially Onagers that would otherwise kill them in one hit even with Sanctity. Theocracy helps when using groups of Monks by significantly reducing micromanagement required, and Illumination gives a sizable boost to faith regeneration for its cost.

As player armies get much bigger in the Imperial Age, Monk become harder to use and relatively weaker. Almost all infantry and cavalry units are able to kill them in three hits, archers normally only need five. Siege units also make short work of Monks. That is a huge problem for players relying on Monks. Another problem is that conversion requires a high amount of micromanagement due to the fact that Monks do not convert on their own and cannot be instructed to do so (there is no aggressive stance function for Monks, and attack move only leads them to healing injured friendly units on the path, ignoring enemy units and buildings). That means that the player always has to be present and execute the conversion manually. In later stages of the game, when the battle is larger and taking place on multiple locations, it is almost impossible to handle aggressive Monks adequately. If there is just one main battlefield, it can still work, however, if the player concentrates on converting key units such as Paladins, War Elephants, or Boyars and guards the Monks well.

Relics

Main article: Relic (Age of Empires II)

Sometimes the only role Monks serve is to collect Relics. Every Relic inside a player's Monastery generates a continuous trickle of gold over time, roughly equivalent to one gold miner without mining upgrades. Monks (and Warrior Priests) are the only units that can collect Relics, and it is generally worth creating Monks for this purpose alone. Monks carrying a Relic lose 2 Line of Sight and cannot heal or convert units, but they can drop the carried Relic to regain those abilities.

The ability to pick up Relics is only available for regular Monks, Warrior Priests, and Scenario Editor Priests and Pagan Priests. All other Monk variations, like Missionaries and Hero Monks, cannot pick up Relics. Prior to the Definitive Edition, Hero Monks could pick up Relics, but this would revert them to regular Monks.

Healing

A Monk healing a Tarkan.

Monks are able to heal friendly units. While this is useful during downtime from conversions, taking full advantage of this can be difficult, as Monks move slower than any unit they can heal, and the healing range is limiting, putting them in possible danger of enemy ranged units. They also cannot heal while moving, which further compounds with their slow speed and limited opportunities to heal. Creating Monks purely for healing is not recommended unless the game is slower paced (for example a free-for-all or a campaign scenario), as apart from the previously mentioned hindrances, Monks are usually unable to heal fast enough for their investment to pay off in a straight engagement.

The healing speed of $n$ Monks or Missionaries healing one target is given by $75\times (n+1)$ hit points per minute. This means that for a single unit, the first Monk heals it at 150 hp/min, while subsequent Monks heal it at half the speed. The number is double for allies of Byzantines. This means that players should ensure that there is only one Monk healing each injured unit, unless there are more Monks than injured units. Monks by default seek out units to heal which are not being healed by other Monks, but this means that Monks will stand idle if there are more Monks than injured units.

Monks are not able to heal themselves, meaning that another Monk must be present to heal them. The only exception to this is if a Monk is a hero unit, in which case it will inherently have the health regeneration ability that all heroes possess. Alternatively, they can still be healed by being garrisoned in a building like all other units, though naturally that also prevents them from healing other units and is much slower.

The Byzantines and Teutons have the best single target healers in the game, as they have a faster healing rate and a longer healing range, respectively. Spanish Missionaries are also among the best, thanks to their speed, allowing them to keep up with armies. The Saracens are the best area healers due to their passive ability gained from Bimaristan, which heals all friendly units in their aura radius.

Tactics

Lacking any means to attack, Monks are one of only two units able to convert others' units to the player's side, the other being the Spanish Missionary. They also heal allied units and the player's own units, except for ships and mechanical siege weapons. Initially weak, Monks can be powered up quite a bit by researching all technologies in the Monastery.

Among all civilizations, the Aztecs have the strongest Monks in late game, having access to all religious technologies and receiving an extra 5 hit points for each one researched. If every technology is researched, Aztec Monks have 100 hit points — more than twice as much as a regular Monk with Sanctity. The Bengalis also have good Monks, especially against Villagers, against whom they have 40% more survival than post-Imperial Aztec Monks. The Spanish Missionary also becomes very beefy on account of benefiting from Bloodlines, which is a cheap and commonly researched technology, while gaining a notorious durability benefiting from cavalry armor upgrades.

The Bohemians, Saracens, and Spanish also have unique technologies that benefit their Monks. Burmese, Byzantine, Lithuanian, and Teuton Monks are also fairly effective, benefiting from both Monastery technologies and team bonuses.

The Monk is a versatile unit that plays a number of important roles from the Castle Age onward, including the collection of Relics, harassing opposing resource nodes, disrupting opponents lines, dissuading aggression by Knights and other expensive melee units, and healing injured friendly units.

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Slow and/or expensive non-ranged units (such as Battle Elephants or Knights), Onagers (with Redemption and Sanctity/Block Printing)
Weak vs.	Eagle Warriors, Light Cavalry, archers, siege weapons (without Redemption), Heroes

Technologies
Hit points	Sanctity (+15, +20 for the Aztecs) Redemption (+5, only for the Aztecs) Atonement (+5, only for the Aztecs) Herbal Medicine (+5, only for the Aztecs) Heresy (+5, only for the Aztecs) Fervor (+5, only for the Aztecs) Devotion (+5, only for the Aztecs) Faith (+5, only for the Aztecs) Illumination (+5, only for the Aztecs) Block Printing (+5, only for the Aztecs) Theocracy (+5, only for the Aztecs)
Range	Block Printing (+3)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
Movement speed	Fervor (+15%)
Resource cost	Hussite Reforms (+100 food, -100 gold, Bohemians only)
Population cost	Mahayana (-10%, Bengalis only)
Other	Redemption (convert siege weapons and most buildings) Atonement (convert Monks) Illumination (regain faith faster) Theocracy (only one Monk rests after conversion involving two or more Monks) Bimaristan (Monks automatically heal multiple nearby units, Saracens only) Inquisition (take -1 min, -1 max seconds to convert {-6 min, -6 max for buildings}, Spanish only)

Civilization bonuses
Armor	Bengalis (​+3 melee / ​+3 pierce)
Damage resistance	Georgians (-20% damage {-40% instead of -25%} when on higher elevation)
Movement speed	Slavs (+20%)
Resource cost	Portuguese (-20%)
Healing	Teutons (+100% range)

Team bonuses
Conversion resistance	Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
Creation speed	Lithuanians (+20%)
Healing	Byzantines (+100% faster)

Civilization bonuses

• Burmese: Technologies that benefit Monks are 50% cheaper.
• Celts: Monks can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Monks are 10%/15% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Spanish: Technologies that benefit Monks provide 20 gold each when researched.

Team bonuses

• Lithuanians: Monastery technologies are researched 20% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Monks are researched 25% faster.

Upgradability chart

The following table shows the availability of the technologies for Monks every civilization. Herbal Medicine, Devotion, Faith, and Heresy are not counted, since they do not benefit Monks specifically.

Toggle upgradability chart

	Available
	Unavailable
	Fully covered by civilization bonus if unavailable

Civilization								Total	Direct Monk bonus/technology
Armenians								7
Aztecs								7	+5 HP for every Monastery technology
Bengalis								7	​+3 melee / ​+3 pierce armor Mahayana - Monks take up -10% population space
Berbers								5
Bohemians								7	Hussite Reforms - Monks cost food instead of gold
Britons								5
Bulgarians								4
Burgundians								6
Burmese								7	50% cheaper upgrades
Byzantines								7	Monks heal 100% faster
Celts								2
Chinese								6
Cumans								3
Dravidians								4
Ethiopians								5
Franks								5
Georgians								5
Goths								4
Gurjaras								6
Hindustanis								6
Huns								4
Inca								5
Italians								7
Japanese								7
Jurchens								5
Khitans								5
Khmer								5
Koreans								4
Lithuanians								7	Monks are created 20% faster
Magyars								5
Malay								5
Malians								6
Maya								5
Mongols								2
Persians								3
Poles								5
Portuguese								6	Monks cost -20%
Romans								5
Saracens								7	Bimaristan - Monks automatically heal multiple nearby units.
Sicilians								3	First Crusade - Monks become more resistant to conversion (+4 min, +4 max)
Shu								4
Slavs								7	Monks move 20% faster, but do not have Fervor
Spanish								7	Inquisition - Monks convert faster
Tatars								4
Teutons								7	Monks resist conversion, have 2x healing range
Turks								5
Vietnamese								5
Vikings								3
Wei								4
Wu								5

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Fervor affects all Monks properly.
• Byzantines: Monks heal 200% faster (team bonus).

The Conquerors

• Armor class: Monk introduced. Monks carrying Relics are not affected by anti-Monk damage.
• Fervor only affects Monks carrying Relics.
• Heresy introduced.
• Theocracy introduced.
• Aztecs: Monks are created 17.6% faster as part of faster military creation bonus.
• Byzantines: Monks heal 50% faster (team bonus).

The Forgotten

• Monks carrying Relics are susceptible to anti-Monk damage.
• All Monks are affected by Fervor, not just Monks carrying Relics.
• Saracens: Madrasah introduced.
• Slavs: Orthodoxy introduced.
• Spanish: Inquisition introduced.
• Aztecs: With patch 4.8, Monks lose the faster creation bonus.

Definitive Edition

• Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies that benefit Monks are researched 30% faster.

Lords of the West

• Sicilians: First Crusade introduced. With update 47820, First Crusade increases conversion resistance (similar to Faith).

Dawn of the Dukes

• Bohemians: Hussite Reforms introduced.
• Byzantines: With update 56005, Monks heal 100% faster (team bonus).

Dynasties of India

• Saracens: With update 61321, Madrasah is removed from the game.
• Slavs: With update 61321, Orthodoxy is removed from the game.
• Bengalis: With update 66692, Monks gain ​+3 melee / ​+3 pierce armor. With update 81058, Mahayana effect now also applies to Monks.
• Portuguese: With update 73855, their new team bonus means all technologies that benefit Monks are researched 25% faster, replacing their earlier civilization bonus of 30%.

Return of Rome

• Sanctity cost increased from 120 gold to 175 gold.
• Slavs: With update 87863, Monks move +20% faster, but they lose access to Fervor.

The Mountain Royals

• Monks functionality:
  • Conversion attempts will now take 1 second to disrupt the current task of a Villager, instead of instantly inducing fleeing behavior.
  • Monks will no longer retain conversion cycle charges when switching between buildings and units.
• Saracens: With update 95810, Bimaristan introduced.
• With update 99311, conversion mechanics are overhauled. See changelog here.

Battle for Greece

• With update 141935, Monks have seven new regional skins, some of which were already used by hero units. They now also have distinct animations for conversion and healing.

Variations

Monks have nine distinct models and icons for various civilizations depending on its historical regions and state religions. This was added in update 141935, prior to which only the Native Americans had different cosmetics.

Icon	Religion	Unofficial name	Civilizations	Appearance
	Catholicism	Franciscan Friar	Bohemians Britons Burgundians Celts Franks Goths Lithuanians Magyars Poles Romans Sicilians Teutons Vikings	Idle Relic
	Native American Shamanism	Native American Priest	Aztecs Inca Maya	Idle Relic
	Catholicism	Catholic Cardinal	Italians Portuguese Spanish	Idle Relic
	Buddhism	Buddhist Bhikku	Bengalis Burmese Chinese Japanese Jurchens Koreans Malay Shu Vietnamese Wei Wu	Idle Relic
	Hinduism	Brahmin	Dravidians Gurjaras Khmer	Idle Relic
	Islam	Imam	Berbers Hindustanis Persians Saracens Tatars Turks	Idle Relic
	Tengrism	Tengrist Shaman	Cumans Huns Khitans Mongols	Idle Relic
	African folk religion	African Hermit Monk	Ethiopians Malians	Idle Relic
	Orthodoxy	Orthodox Bishop	Armenians Bulgarians Byzantines Georgians Slavs	Idle Relic

Heroes

Below is a list of heroes in the game with the appearance of a Monk by regional skin. While they can convert, heal, and benefit from technologies like Monks, none of them can collect Relics in the Definitive Edition:

Franciscan

• Archbishop
• Friar Tuck
• Imam (before The Forgotten)
• Harold Haardraade
• Pope Leo I

Imam

• Imam (since The Forgotten)

Buddhist

• Chand Bardai
• Bui Bi
• Yu Ji
• Zhang Jue

History

“	Religion was a powerful force during the Middle Ages, whether it was Roman Catholicism of the West, Islam in the Middle East, or Buddhism in Asia. The missionaries and teachers of religion were mainly monks, men who took vows of poverty and who dedicated their lives to spreading their message. Middle Age conflicts often derived from religious differences and were led or supported by contingents of monks on each side. The Crusades, for example, were multiple attempts by European Christians to wrest control of the Holy Land from the hands of Islamic Arabs. Large numbers of monks accompanied the Christian crusading armies.	”
—Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual

Trivia

• The Monk is one of only two units in the game to cost only gold, the other being the Missionary.
• The Monk is one of only four land units to have more than a single design, the others being the Villager, the Flemish Militia, and the Trade Cart.
  • The fifth design document of Ensemble Studios (dated 17 July 1998) envisioned Monks with four different skins depending of their religion: bald in a brown robe for Christian civilizations, white hat and robe for Muslims, bald in white robe for Buddhists, and Deer mask in brown robe for pagans.
  • Since the HD Edition, there is an unused South East Asian Monk icon, possibly an unused icon for Chand Bardai or Bui Bi. Additionally, an unused Middle Eastern Monk icon exists in the Definitive Edition, possibly intended as the Imam's icon.
  • Like Ensemble Studios, Forgotten Empires too made multiple regional Monk models and conceptualized regional Monastery models for the Definitive Edition, but these were not implemented into the game at release. The only remnant of these unimplemented designs is an unused icon for the African Monk in the game files of the Definitive Edition. Most of these designs were implemented with update 141935.
  • A notable exception was the Pagan Priest, developed as a unique Monk skin for the Lithuanians but ultimately implemented as a different unit available in the Scenario Editor only.
• Originally, Monks (and Missionaries) could also repair the player's own Farms and Fish Traps (but not allies'). It cost the same amount of wood to repair the same amount of damage for each, but Monks could repair from their healing range. One Monk could repair a Farm several times faster than one Villager, but a Villager will repair a Fish Trap near the shore much faster than a Monk. Monks did not start repairing the player's Farms or Fish Traps automatically, unlike healing nearby allied units. With an update^[When?] in the Definitive Edition, Monks (and Missionaries) can no longer heal Farms or Fish Traps.
• When using the Select All Military hotkey, the Monk gets selected, while a Monk with a Relic does not.
• Monks cannot convert some units and buildings.
  • Monks cannot convert Kings, Queens, Crusader Knights, and hero units. These units have a hero flag which protects them from conversions.
  • Monks cannot convert certain buildings even with Redemption: Town Center, Castle, Krepost, Monastery, Fortified Church, and Wonder, because they are also protected by a hero flag.
  • Some special types of buildings are naturally protected from conversion (due to having the unit class). These buildings are of the type walls (Palisade, Stone, Fortified or City), Gates (Palisade, Stone, Fortified or City), and Farms (Fish Traps included), where the last type cannot even be targeted by Monks.
    • Farms and Fish Traps not being worked by any other unit can instead be taken over by the player's Villagers and Fishing Boats, respectively, by simply assigning one such unit to work on them.
  • Buildings which cannot be built in regular games also follow the same rules. Hero buildings like Fortified Tower, The Tower of Flies, The Accursed Tower, Dome of the Rock, Sanchi Stupa, etc. Usually special buildings (except of type Walls or Gates) can be converted, like Fortress and Poenari Castle since conversion immunity was de-hardcoded.
  • Even though they cannot convert Monasteries, they can still convert any Cathedral, Mosque, and Shrine in scenarios with Redemption researched.
• In the Definitive Edition, Monks (and Missionaries) have a 5 in 105 (≈4.76%) chance to use the "Wololo" chant of the Age of Empires Priest unit, instead of the regular chant, while performing their conversion animation.
• Since update 107882, the "flemish reformation" cheat code turns all of the player's Villagers into Monks.
• While Monks cannot be upgraded in Age of Empires II, they can be upgraded to the Elite Monk in Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, the console spin-off of Age of Empires II.

Gallery

Conversion animation of each Monk in the Definitive Edition

Healing animation of each Monk in the Definitive Edition

Monk sprite in the Definitive Edition

A group of regular Monks before the Definitive Edition

A group of Native American Monks before the Definitive Edition

The information panel of a Monk showing his faith recharge level

Allied Monks convert enemy Knights; notice how the Knights' color changes on the right picture.

A Monk heals injured units.

Native American Monks store Relics in a Monastery.

A Monk in the Definitive Edition

Planned and unimplemented regional Monk models and Monasteries for the Definitive Edition release

Regional Monks cut for the Definitive Edition before being implemented in update 141935, top row: Lithuanian Romuva Pagan Wiseman, Steppe Tengriist Shaman, Ethiopian Orthodox Priest; bottom row: South and Southeast Asian Hindu Brahmin, Mediterranean Catholic Cardinal; the concept also mentions a Schemamonk for Slavic civilizations and the Byzantines

Monk-like unit sprites of in the Definitive Edition before update 141935. Going from left to right: Western, Middle Eastern, Missionary, Native American, East Asian, and the Priest.

Unused South East Asian Monk icon in the HD Edition

Is Healing Worth It?

Monks riding Relic Carts (carrying Relics) from the "Upside Down" mod event

One of the many types of thunderbolts that strike converted units as an event reward from the Return of Rome event, referencing a cheat unit from Age of Empires

Monks in the official cover art of the Wololo Wednesday event in 2018

Shaman's costume, National Museum of Mongolia

Aztec Priest in Codex Vaticanus A (3738)

Catholic Cardinals from a manuscript c. 1300-1500

Japanese sculpture of a Boddhisattva holding a shakujō (khakkhara), late 12th–mid 13th century, The Met