Shaolin Master

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. For the unit in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, see Shaolin Monk.

Shaolin Master
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Hero Infantry Hand infantry Healing unit Monk Sees stealth
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Exploration Age
Training
Trained at	Town Center
Cost	300 Coin
Train time	30 seconds
Train limit	1 2 (with the "Walk the Rice Paper" card)
Statistics
Hit points	450
Resistance	10% Ranged
Speed	4.5
Line of Sight	18
Ability	Claims treasures Builds Town Centers and Trading Posts Trains Disciples Regeneration
Special ability	See Special abilities
Kill XP	90
Healing
Healing	6/s
Range	12
Requires	Temple of Heaven
Siege attack
Damage	15 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	7 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Guardian 0.75x vs. Hero 0.25x vs. Villager
Notes
The Shaolin Master will collapse instead of dying when his hit points reaches 0 and can be revived by having a friendly unit or building around him once he regenerates at least 100 hit points

“	Religious leader who trains Disciples, stuns Guardians, and has a chance to inflict a Critical Strike in combat. Explores, fights, and builds Town Centers and Trading Posts.	”
—In-game description

The Shaolin Master is a melee infantry Monk in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese. It explores uncharted areas of the map and has some special abilities to help himself and his settlement. In standard random map games, the Chinese start with a Shaolin Master and a Disciple.

Overview

The Shaolin Master lacks a ranged attack; he is equipped with nothing but a pair of fists, but has the highest hit points and attack of all Asian Monks. A second Shaolin Master can be made available with the Walk the Rice Paper Home City Card.

The Shaolin Master initially has the Critical Strike ability which gives him a chance to inflict extra damage on attacks and train Disciples, and can do roundhouse kicks and strengthen nearby Disciples through Home City shipments and Monastery improvements. Like other monks, he can temporarily stun Treasure guardians, but with a shorter cooldown. From the Commerce Age onwards the Shaolin Master has the Make Disciple ability which gives him a small chance of converting defeated enemies into Disciples.

Special abilities

• Stun: Stuns a Treasure guardian from a range of 16 for 20 seconds. 40 seconds cooldown.
• Critical Strike (passive): Gives the Shaolin Master a 20% (40% with Slow Motion Routines) chance to do double damage when attacking.
• Monastic Sangha (passive; requires Training Forms): Increases the hit points and attack of Disciples in a radius of 24 around the Shaolin Master by 10%.
• Make Disciple (passive; available at the Commerce Age): Gives the Shaolin Master a 10% chance to turn any enemies he defeated into a Disciple.
• Roundhouse Kick (requires Snatch the Pebble Home City Card): A powerful attack that does 170 (with a ×0.25 multiplier against villagers and MercType2) hand damage to the target enemy and other enemies in an Area of Effect of 3 around the Shaolin Master, and increases his Critical Strike's chance to 100% for 8 seconds. 120 seconds cooldown.

• In unpatched versions of the game Make Disciple's conversion chance is very frequent; in patched versions the conversion chance has been greatly reduced.

Upgrades

The Shaolin Master is automatically upgraded on each Age starting from the Commerce Age:

• +50% hit points and damage, 190 Roundhouse Kick damage
• +100% hit points and damage, 225 Roundhouse Kick damage
• +150% hit points and damage, 270 Roundhouse Kick damage
• +200% hit points and damage

Further statistics

As the Shaolin Master is unique to the Chinese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Treasure guardians, infantry
Weak vs.	Villagers, heroes, cavalry, MercType2
Improvements
Hit points	Aztec Initiation (+100%) Sikh Gurus (+50%) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Supreme Ultimate Fist (+300%) Aztec Initiation (+100%) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Master Lessons (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack)
Resistance	Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance)
Speed	Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Other	Training Forms (gives the Monastic Sangha ability) Supreme Ultimate Fist (+100% Roundhouse Kick damage) Slow Motion Routines (doubles Critical Strike chance) Carib Ambush Party (train Carib Ambushers) Loyal Nootka War Chief (train Nootka War Chief) Tupi Animal Lore (train Pet Cougars)

Home City Cards

As the Shaolin Master is unique to the Chinese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Shaolin Master

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
Snatch the Pebble	Monk hit points and damage +50%; Shaolin Masters get the Roundhouse Kick ability
Walk the Rice Paper	Delivers a second Shaolin Master and enables him to be retrained at the Town Center
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure	Delivers 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villager, healing unit, Envoy, and Disciple speed +5%
Western Reforms	Unit hit points and damage +8%

• "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" does not stack with the Inca "TEAM Inca Bridges" card.

Dutch

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry hit points +10%; Dutch-only infantry hit points +15% instead

Haudenosaunee

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Scout Infantry	Delivers 1 Native Scout; infantry Line of Sight +8

Inca

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Inca Bridges	Delivers 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villager, healing unit, and Envoy speed +5%

• "TEAM Inca Bridges" does not stack with the Chinese "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" card.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Jujutsu	Villager hit points +35%; unit affected by villager upgrades hit points +10%; Surgeon, Priest, Architect, Native Scout, and Envoy damage +20%; Disciple and Shaolin Master damage +10%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Fencing Instructor	Hero hit points and damage +20% (except Shaolin Masters' Roundhouse Kick attack and Sohei Archers' Sabotage attack)
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry damage +15%
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Snatch the Pebble	Monks get +50% hit points and attack; Shaolin Masters can use Roundhouse Kick		1
Walk the Rice Paper	Ships a second Shaolin Master and allows him to be retrained at Town Centers		25
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and attack		40

Dutch

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints	Infantry get +15% hit points		10

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and attack		25

Iroquois

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Scout Infantry	Infantry get +8 Line of Sight		10

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Explorer Combat	Heroes get +20% hit points and attack (except Shaolin Masters' Roundhouse Kick attack and Sohei Archers' Sabotage attack)		1
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack	Hand infantry get +15% attack		10
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Random names

• Da Zaohua
• Pucong
• Tianyuan
• Zongqing
• Zhue Yuen
• Bai Yu Feng
• Gee Sum Sim See
• Wang Lang
• Yue Kong
• Chieh Yuan

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• The Stun ability has a cooldown of 30 seconds.

The African Royals

• With update 38254, the Stun ability has a cooldown of 40 seconds.

Trivia

• The Shaolin Master's Make Disciple ability works on animals (e.g. Treasure guardians and pets).

History

“

One of the most famous Buddhist monasteries is the Shaolin Monastery, located in the Henan province of China, founded in 495 CE. The edifice is associated specifically with Chan Buddhism and the martial art of Kung Fu. Monastery legend states that the Indian monk Bodhidharma visited the temple in 527 CE. During his time meditating on the mountain overlooking the monastery, Bodhidharma taught himself a form of martial arts to defend against wild animals and bandits. He stayed at the temple for nine years, and before his departure he taught his disciples the skills he had learned, creating the martial arts legend that surrounds the Shaolin monks to this day.

”

Gallery

An in-game Shaolin Master

A fallen Shaolin Master

The Shaolin Master's history portrait

In-game Shaolin Master in the Definitive Edition

Captain Huang portrait

Female Shaolin Master (Zheng Yi Sao) portrait

In-game Lao Chen skin for the Shaolin Master

In-game Captain Huang skin for the Shaolin Master

In-game Female Shaolin Master (Zheng Yi Sao)

Shaolin Master image from the Compendium section

See also

• Brahmin
• Sohei Archer