Ninja (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. For other uses of the term, see Ninja.

Ninja
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Last Khans
Type	Infantry
Training
Food	60
Gold	30
Training time	9 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	50
Melee attack	9
Attack bonus	+2 vs Standard building +2 vs Eagle Warrior +9 vs Heroes
Reload time	1.8
Melee armor	1
Pierce armor	1
Armor class	Infantry
Speed	1.1
Line of Sight	6

“	Light and quick infantry. Strong vs. heroes.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Ninja is an untrainable infantry unit in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. It is available in some campaign scenarios and in the Scenario Editor. Its appearance is based on artistic interpretations from Meiwa, Meiji, and modern periods, with an all-black garment except the trims with the owning player's colors. It wields a typical Kusarigama (sickle with an iron weight on a chain).

They do above-average damage and move faster than most standard infantry units while doing bonus damage against buildings, Eagle Warriors, and heroes. It is the only unit in the game to do bonus damage to heroes, representing their historical use and legends as assassins and saboteurs.

Campaign appearances

It is available to the Mori clan (player or AI) in the Shimazu scenario of Victors and Vanquished, where it is modified to be specifically an anti-Samurai unit. It appears with another set of modified mechanics in Nobunaga.

Ninjas are also secretly present in the allied Transport Ships in the Lake Poyang scenario in Historical Battles, carrying precious goods to the construction site of the Temple of Heaven.

History

A ninja (Japanese: 忍者) or shinobi (忍び) was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding, and were renowned for their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu. Their covert methods of waging irregular warfare were deemed dishonorable and beneath the honor of the Samurai. Though shinobi proper, as specially trained spies and mercenaries, appeared in the 15th century during the Sengoku Jidai (1467-1568) and were used extensively, antecedents may have existed as early as the 12th century.

Bugs

• There is a visual glitch (see gallery) with the idle and running sprites of the Ninja, where the sickle in the Kusarigama is missing, lending to the appearance of the chain levitating just below the right hand. The sickle appears correctly in attack animation sprites.

Gallery

A group of Ninjas.

The sickle visual glitch

Attacking sprite of the unit

See also

• Ninja (Age of Empires III) - The unit counterpart in Age of Empires III
• Shinobi (Age of Empires III) - Another unit counterpart in Age of Empires III
• Shinobi (Age of Empires IV) - The unit counterpart in Age of Empires IV