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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For other uses, see Samurai. |
| “ | Japanese unique infantry unit with fast attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Samurai is the unique unit of the Japanese in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is a fast-attacking infantry unit with an attack bonus against other unique units.
Samurai can be upgraded to Elite Samurai in the Imperial Age.
Ability[]
Note: The following were added in update 141935.
- Charge attack: The Samurai line charges its attack by +1 over 30 seconds.
- Speed charge: The charged-up speed activates when its target is within 2 to 6 (7 for Elite) tiles. Its speed increases by 25% (to 1.25 before Squires, 1.375 after) in this distance, and dissipates once impact is made.
Tactics[]
Samurai should be used to seek out the strongest late-game enemies, as they possess an attack bonus against other unique units. At first glance, the Samurai appears to be similar in combat to its equivalent swordsman from the Barracks, (the Long Swordsman in the Castle Age, and the Champion in the Imperial Age). The standard Samurai has +1 damage over the Long Swordsman as well as a faster attack rate. The Elite Samurai, on the other hand, deals -2 damage compared to Champions, but even with lower damage the Elite Samurai wins due to its much faster attack rate. The Japanese bonus to infantry attack speed makes them better in melee combat than swordsmen from most other civilizations, though this comes at the cost of having 1 less pierce armor than a Champion with Gambesons, making Samurai more vulnerable to pierce attacks.
The Samurai already innately has a faster attack rate than most infantry but combined with the Japanese civilization bonus of 33% faster attack speed gives them a lightning-fast attack. Due to their attack bonus against unique units (10 for regular, 12 for Elite), the Samurai fares better in the late-game, when unique units play a bigger role in combat. This attack bonus makes it cost effective even against anti-infantry unique units such as the Cataphract and the Jaguar Warrior (though they are only cost efficient if they can outnumber the former). However, they are not cost-effective against the Chakram Thrower and Slinger due to the ranged attacks and bonus against infantry. As with most sword-wielding infantry, they struggle against the Knight line, Scorpions, and archers. Legionaries can destroy them, as they aren't classified as unique units, while having bonus damage against infantry, as well as being cheaper and easier to train from multiple Barracks, and being further boosted by Comitatenses and the Centurion's aura attack speed boost.
Samurai perform well when paired with Pikemen (who also receive the Japanese infantry attack bonus) to answer cavalry, but against archers they need ranged support. They should be supported by the strong Japanese archers (particularly Cavalry Archers, which have +2 attack against archers), Elite Skirmishers, or Scorpions when dealing with an archer-using opponent. Since update 14195, Samurai gain a 25% speed boost when charging at an enemy unit and +1 attack. This compensates for the low pierce armor, enabling them to close gaps better against moderate archer groups and to push back siege weapons better than other infantry units, while helping to perform better against ranged unique units.
Unique upgrades (due to being upgrades of common units), unique buildings, and Camel Scouts do not take bonus damage from the Samurai.
Further statistics[]
As Samurai are unique to the Japanese, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Buildings, Eagle Warriors, Pikemen, Elite Skirmishers, light cavalry, melee unique units |
| Weak vs. | Archers, Scorpions, Hand Cannoneers, Paladins, Battle Elephants, Legionaries |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 attack against Standard Buildings)
|
| Armor |  Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1) Chain Mail Armor (+1/+1) Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Speed |  Squires (+10%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Regeneration | Stronghold (30 HP/min when within 18 tiles square of a team Celts Castle)
|
Team bonuses[]
- Armenians: Samurai have +2 Line of Sight.
- Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies are researched 80% faster.
- Goths: Researching Squires and Arson is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion and Faith are researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Samurai are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Samurai are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Samurai train in 16 seconds.
- Samurai have 0 pierce armor, a Rate of Fire of 1.5 (2 base), and move at a speed of 0.9.
- Samurai have an attack bonus of +5 (+6 for Elite) against Unique Units.
- Non-Elite Samurai have 60 hit points and 8 attack.
- The Elite Samurai upgrade costs 950 food, 875 gold.
- (Elite) Samurai cost 60 food, 30 gold.
The Conquerors[]
- Samurai train in 9 seconds.
- Samurai have 1 pierce armor, a Rate of Fire of 1.43 (1.9 base), and move at a speed of 1.
- Samurai have an attack bonus of +10 (+12 for Elite) against unique units.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Arson introduced.
Definitive Edition[]
- Tracking removed; all infantry now receive +2 Line of Sight from the Feudal Age instead.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- With update 56005, non-Elite Samurai have 70 hit points and 10 attack, and the Elite Samurai upgrade costs 750 food, 650 gold.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 81058, (Elite) Samurai cost 50 food, 30 gold.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- With update 141935, (Elite) Samurai cost 45 food, 30 gold and gain additional 25% movement speed and +1 attack when charging at an enemy unit.
Heroes[]
There are three heroes in the game with the appearance of a Samurai:
- Kitabatake (Samurai)
- Minamoto (Elite Samurai)
- Nobunaga (Elite Samurai)
History[]
| “ | When knights were coming into dominance as lords and warriors in Europe, a similar social and military change was taking place simultaneously in Japan. A weak central government and a scramble for control of land gave rise in Japan to a local military ruling class called the samurai. These men of noble birth trained continuously in the military acts, as well as various cultural arts, They put great emphasis on honor and tradition, as did European knights with the code of chivalry. Samurai fought with a variety of weapons, including the bow and their unique curved swords made of the strongest steel. They sought out high-ranking enemies on the battlefield for personal duels and were trained to seek death in battle to increase their aggression and avoid hesitancy. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II manual | ||
- Early samurai (Japanese: 侍, lit. "servant"), from the Late Heian and early Kamakura, were usually mounted and used bows as their primary weapons - in other words, those samurai were closer to Cavalry Archers (but unlike Mongolian counterparts, they never formed a large group/horde) rather than to infantry. They used to call their art of war kyūba no michi "the way of archery and horsemanship". When they fought, they first fired arrows at the opponent; when they had no more arrows, then they dismounted and used swords in a melee duel to determine the winner. However, as the number of samurai increased and their average wealth declined as time passed (during the medieval era, a samurai's property was equally distributed among his sons); more and more samurai could not afford to learn mounted archery since it was too expensive. Moreover, war tactics changed: originally, Japanese warriors fought in small numbers, but by the Sengoku era, wars involving large numbers of troops (mainly infantry) became the predominant way. In this new type of warfare, mounted archery became wildly impractical as the cost of training one mounted archer equaled the cost of training several arquebusiers - leaving aside the high cost of lost horses and the comparative inferiority of the bow at penetrating armor. In the end, the image of samurai changed to the familiar, katana-wielding warriors on foot.
- The part of the above quote "(...) and were trained to seek death in battle to increase their aggression and avoid hesitancy" appears to be based on the writings of Yamamoto Tsunetomo in Hagakure, specifically "The Way of the Samurai is found in death. When it comes to either/or, there is only the quick choice of death. It is not particularly difficult. Be determined and advance. To say that dying without reaching one's aim is to die a dog's death is the frivolous way of sophisticates".
- Although Tsunetomo was himself a samurai, he lived in peacetime, being born half a century after the end of the Sengoku Jidai, and what was written in Hagakure only reflect his personal view, not of the majority of samurai, let alone the rest of Japanese society. For example, Tsunetomo defended the practice of Junshi, and almost attempted it on himself, while the majority of Japan's upper classes criticized and banned it.
Trivia[]
- One of the Samurai's death animations shows him stabbing himself with his sword, then dropping to the ground. This was the samurai way of ritual suicide upon being defeated, known as seppuku, ('belly-cutting') or, more informally, hara-kiri.
- This animation was replaced by a more conventional fall in the Definitive Edition.
- The Samurai is the only unit that has an attack bonus against other Unique Units. However, this bonus is not applied to the Imperial Camel Rider, Imperial Skirmisher, Houfnice, Winged Hussar, Camel Scout, Legionary, Savar, and Dragon Ship, as they are unique upgrades or precursors for generic units.
- With Rate of Fire of 1.43 seconds per strike, the Samurai is tied with a Condottiero trained by the Japanese for the fastest attacking infantry unit in the game.
- The Samurai was originally meant to have both melee and ranged attacks, before developers ultimately removed their ranged attack due to being too unwieldy and cumbersome to use by players. The risk of quickly ordering a Samurai to attack a ram with their melee attack, attend to other things, and checking back to see the Samurai accidentally having been ordered to attack with the bow instead of the sword was deemed too much to manage.
- This gameplay mechanic was reused by the Ratha in Dynasties of India.
- In real life, medieval samurai were essentially cavalry archers (see the history section). As explained above, the original developers tried to capture these characteristics but couldn't make it work properly.
- Since update 95810, Japanese Cavalry Archers received an anti-archer attack bonus, imitating the Samurai's own anti-unique unit attack bonus.
- Historically, samurai were not very ubiquitous, as Japanese armies consisted mainly of foot-soldiers recruited from commoners (Ashigaru, as they would be known since the 14th century).
- The Elite Samurai model features a distinct battle-mask called a men-yoroi, and a banner on the back called a sashimono.
- The samurai models (both in the original and the Definitive Edition) wear their weapons cutting-edge-down, suggesting that the weapons are tachi. This is historically accurate for early as well as later samurai, as the tachi preceded the katana, which is shorter, worn cutting-edge-up, and datable to the Muromachi period (1336-1573). However, the sword on the Definitive Edition unit portrait is far too short to be a historical tachi.
- Before the Definitive Edition, the Samurai held a regular combat katana or tachi with all adornments, known as koshirae. In the Definitive Edition, his model is equipped with a plain wooden handle and scabbard, called a shirisaya, which were made of soft wood and used only for transporting the blade, rather than in combat.
- The Samurai's ability to charge into enemy units with a higher attack and speed is similar to the Swedish Carolean's Charge ability and the Ottoman Nizam Fusilier's Surat Assault from Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition.
Gallery[]
Video[]
