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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West. For the unit in Age of Empires IV: Knights of Cross and Rose, see Serjeant (Age of Empires IV). |
| “ | Sicilian unique infantry unit which can construct Donjons. | ” |
| —Announcement post description | ||
The Serjeant is the unique unit of the Sicilians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West, which is available at Donjons and Castles starting in the Feudal Age. It is an infantry unit with high armor with the ability to construct (and repair) the Donjon, a defensive building similar to the Krepost.
Serjeants receive free enhancements upon reaching the Castle Age, and can be upgraded to Elite Serjeants in the Imperial Age.
Tactics[]
Serjeants are a very peculiar infantry, as they are able to build (and repair) Donjons and can be trained in the Feudal Age, unlike any other unique unit. They can be seen as a variant of the Militia line with this peculiar quirk. Indeed, compared to a Man-at-Arms, a Serjeant in the Feudal Age has the same hit points, less attack and Line of Sight, and better melee and pierce armor. Still, Serjeants cost more than Men-at-Arms and need to be trained at a Donjon in the Feudal Age (which costs 50 wood, 175 stone each, so it is a substantial investment).
Their ability to build Donjons enables Sicilians to perform a very peculiar strategy called Donjon Drop or Donjon Rush, and it can be done in the Feudal Age if the player has gathered stone beforehand (at least another 150 stone for making a second Donjon). For performing this, the player must go with few Villagers near an opponent's settlement, create the first Donjon, and then start spawning Serjeants, which should also create more Donjons near the opponent, especially near their main Gold and Stone Mines and their main Lumber Camp. Feudal Age Serjeants construct Donjons 25% slower (take +33% time) than Villagers and Castle Age Serjeants. Also, Donjons can garrison 10 units, but the number of arrows remain the same until the Castle Age. With enough resources, a Donjon Drop can snowball quickly, as it does not need the assistance of villagers, unlike a Castle drop, except for the first Donjon, and although it will be faster if the player continues to use Villagers, it will also be riskier.
Once the player reaches the Castle Age, Serjeants automatically gain +25 hit points (for a total of 75 hit points), +3 attack (for a total of 8), +1 melee and pierce armor (for a total 3/3 armor). Compared to a Long Swordsman, a Serjeant in the Castle Age is much more resilient against arrowfire and melee attacks, thanks to the extra armor. Still, its attack is a bit weaker than the Long Swordsman, and its attack bonuses are inferior to Long Swordsmen. However, its armor makes this unit more versatile than its Barracks counterpart, since it can be used to defend a location against different types of units (also, all Sicilian land military units have bonus damage resistance vs attack bonuses, so infantry counters are less effective). After the Castle Age, Serjeants must be the infantry of choice for Sicilians, unless the player has a shortage of stone for making Castles or Donjons. However, the Militia line of infantry is still a better counter against Eagle Warriors and buildings, so there are situations in which the player may focus more on the Militia line rather than Serjeants.
The Elite Serjeants in the Imperial Age continue the trend of being a better armored infantry with less attack than the Militia line. Elite Serjeants' armor and movement speed sits on the middle ground between a Huskarl (which is highly specialized against arrowfire) and a Teutonic Knight (which is highly specialized against melee attack).
The Sicilian unique technology First Crusade brings a muster of 5 Serjeants from each Town Center (maximum five Town Centers). This technology can still be researched even if the player has reached maximum population and is highly useful for an emergency if the player needs to defend but does not have enough troops. It can also be used to rapidly increase the player's army for a Serjeant raid against an opponent.
Serjeants fare much better than most infantry against their counters, due to their high melee and pierce armor, as well as the reduced bonus damage taken, but there are some units that can deal with Serjeants pretty well without problem. High-melee armor units, such as Teutonic Knights and Boyars can counter Serjeants pretty well. Jaguar Warriors and Samurai can be devastating due to their attack bonuses. Leitis and Dravidians' infantry (Especially the Urumi Swordsman) with Wootz Steel can also counter Serjeants, since their melee armor is useless against them. The Obuchs are in a similar situation. Since their attack removes armor, they will easily erase the advantage of the Serjeants cost-effectively and leave them prone to the attacks of other units. The Liao Dao is another threat to the Serjeant, as the Serjeant armor is useless against the bleeding damage from the Liao Dao's attacks, especially after Lamellar Armor. Despite having their bonus damage reduced, Cataphracts can still effectively deal with an army of Serjeants, due to the trample damage, and their bonus damage is still enormously high for Serjeants, and finally, Battle Elephants and War Elephants destroy them due to their very high hit points, attack and trample damage.
Comparison with similar units[]
 Serjeant line
|
 Militia line
| |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 60 food, 25 gold | 50 food, 20 gold |
| Train time | 16 seconds (in Feudal Age from Donjons) 12 seconds (other cases) |
21 seconds |
| Movement speed | 0.95 | 0.96 |
| Other | Can build and repair Donjons | |
 Feudal Age
|
Serjeant
|
 Man-at-Arms
|
| Research Cost and Time |
None | 100 food, 40 gold 40 seconds |
| Hit points | 50 | 45 |
| Armor | 2/1 | 0/1 |
| Line of Sight | 3 | 4 |
| Melee attack | 5 | 6 |
| Attack bonus | +2 vs shock infantry +2 vs standard building |
+2 vs shock infantry +2 vs standard building |
| Upgrade cost and time | None | 150 food, 65 gold, 45 seconds |
 Castle Age
|
Serjeant
|
 Long Swordsman
|
| Hit points | 75 | 60 |
| Armor | 4/2 | 1/1+1 |
| Line of Sight | 3 | 4 |
| Melee attack | 8 | 9 |
| Attack bonus | +2 vs shock infantry +2 vs standard building |
+6 vs shock infantry +3 vs standard building |
| Upgrade cost and time | 800 food, 675 gold, 45 seconds | 200 food, 100 gold, 75 seconds 650 food, 350 gold, 100 seconds |
 Imperial Age
|
 Elite Serjeant
|
 Champion
|
| Hit points | 85 | 70 |
| Armor | 6/3 | 1/1+1 |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 5 |
| Melee attack | 11 | 14 |
| Attack bonus | +3 vs shock infantry +3 vs standard building |
+8 vs shock infantry +4 vs standard building |
Further statistics[]
As Serjeants are unique to the Sicilians, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Archers, infantry with less melee armor, buildings, Light Cavalry, Camel Riders |
| Weak vs. | Gunpowder units, siege weapons, Slingers, Monks, Cataphracts, Leiciai, Samurai, Teutonic Knights, Boyars, Jaguar Warriors, Obuchs, War Elephants, Battle Elephants, Composite Bowmen |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 against standard buildings)
|
| Armor |  Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1) Chain Mail Armor (+1/+1) Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Squires (+10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, only for Castle-trained Serjeants with a Berber ally only)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Line of Sight |  Armenians (+2)
|
| Other |  Portuguese (Elite upgrade is researched 25% faster)
|
Team bonuses[]
Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies are researched 80% faster.- Goths: Researching Squires and Arson is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion and Faith are researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Serjeants are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
Lords of the West[]
- Originally, Serjeants have 1/2 armor in the Feudal Age, and 3/3 armor and 60 hit points in the Castle Age.
- Elite Serjeants have 4/4 armor and 75 hit points.
- Donjon Serjeants train in 20 seconds.
- (Elite) Serjeants receive -50% bonus damage.
- (Elite) Serjeants have 0.9 movement speed.
- (Elite) Serjeants cost 60 food, 35 gold.
- With update 47820:
- Serjeants have 2/2 armor in the Feudal Age and 65 hit points in the Castle Age.
- Elite Serjeants have 85 hit points.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 61321, Donjon Serjeants train in 16 seconds in the Feudal Age. Starting in the Castle Age, Donjon (Elite) Serjeants train in 12 seconds, matching the train time of (Elite) Serjeants trained in Castles.
- With update 66692, (Elite) Serjeants receive -33% bonus damage.
- With update 81058, Serjeants build/repair 25% slower in Feudal Age, have 50 HP in the Feudal Age, 75 HP in the Castle Age, and the elite upgrade costs 800 food, 675 gold.
Return of Rome[]
- With update 93001, (Elite) Serjeants cost 50 food, 35 gold.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- With update 141935:
History[]
In the English and French feudal system, a serjeant is someone who performs tenure in return of a duty other than knight service.
Serjeanty originated in the assignation of an estate in land on condition of the performance of a certain duty other than knight-service, usually the discharge of duties in the household of the king or a noble. It ranged from non-standard service in the king's army (distinguished only by equipment from that of the knight), to petty renders (for example the rendering of a quantity of basic food such as a goose) scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent-paying tenant or socager.
The word comes from the French noun sergent, itself from the Latin serviens, servientis, "serving", the present participle of the verb servo, "to keep, preserve, save, rescue, deliver".
Trivia[]
- The Serjeant's ability to build Donjons is similar to the building ability of Norse infantry units and Hersirs in Age of Mythology and several infantry units in Age of Empires III such as Janissaries and Sepoys after sending the Battlefield Construction card, as well as the Russian Rekruts after sending the "Pjotr's Toy Soldiers" card.
- The Serjeant, Camel Scout, and Flemish Militia are the only unique units that can be trained in the Feudal Age.
- In matches where the player starts with or gains a Castle before the Castle Age (Fortress and Regicide type maps and scenarios where the player starts with a Castle), they can train Serjeants at the Castle right from the Feudal Age.
- Serjeants are not affected by Treadmill Crane.
- Conscription also affects Donjons, whereas Kasbah does not.
- Serjeants cannot assist in building, or repair non-Donjon buildings/units.
- Serjeants converted by other civilizations cannot build Donjons.
- The regular Serjeant's shield bears the Hauteville coat of arms, which is also the Sicilian civilization icon, while the Elite counterpart's has a dragon design also seen historically on Norman kite shields.
- The Elite Serjeant helm is directly taken from Roger Bosso's.
- Since armor was already widely traded in Europe in the early medieval period[1] from which the Serjeant originates, its armor design resembles that of how the Huskarl, according to the Bayeux tapestry, should look like.
- Apart from their unique technology First Crusade, Serjeants were one of the most underused unique units since Dawn of the Dukes, despite also being trained in the Donjon, which makes it easier to mass them. They are not only costly as an infantry, but also have low attack and slow speed compared to their Hauberk Cavaliers. Many improvement were made to them, such as being created faster since Dynasties of India, more hit points in the Feudal and Castle Age, cheaper upgrade cost, and their training cost was cheaper too.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Infanterie normande Norman infantry (xi century).jpg (490 KB)")
Videos[]
