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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend. For the unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, see Shaolin Master. |
| “ | Monk with strong combat capabilities. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Shaolin Monk is a religious unit with combat ability in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, unique to Zhu Xi's Legacy. It can be trained at the Shaolin Monastery and Pagoda (the latter requires the former constructed) both starting in the Castle Age. It is a cross between melee infantry and religious units:
- It has combat ability and benefits from certain infantry technologies.
- It can pick up Relics, convert enemy units, and capture Sacred Sites.
- It cannot heal allied units.
Ability[]
Body of Iron (active): The Shaolin Monk hardens his body and reduces incoming ranged damage by 50% for 15 seconds. 1 min 30 secs cooldown.- Ascetic Recovery (passive): The Shaolin Monk regenerates 1 hit point per second when he is not fighting.
- Drop Relic: Drop a held Relic at a particular location. This can only be used to drop-off a Relic on the map, not in a building such as a Monastery, which must be right clicked while holding the Relic.
- Conversion (active): While carrying a Relic, attempts to convert all units within a 4.75 tile radius to its side. Any enemy units remaining within the radius at the end of a 6 second countdown are converted. Siege engines, hero units, and other religious units are not affected. Has a 120 second cooldown.
Tactics[]
Shaolin Monks, in many ways, serve the role of the standard Monk, with some key differences. While they can capture Sacred Sites, Convert enemies, and recover Relics, Shaolin Monks do not heal other units, instead recovering hit points passively when outside of combat. Compared to a Monk, Shaolin Monks cost only food, and have higher hit points, with some melee armor.
The primary selling point of the Shaolin Monk is that they are also a melee combatant. Shaolin Monks have fairly high damage, comparable to a Man-at-Arms, with a very fast Rate of Fire. This allows them to deal a considerable amount of damage. Their lack of ranged armor can be mitigated by using their Body of Iron ability, which reduces ranged damage by half.
While Shaolin Monks benefit from religious upgrades like Piety, and infantry upgrades like Elite Army Tactics, they are not considered infantry by the game, and so do not take bonus damage from any kind of unit.
Further statistics[]
| Upgrades and Enhancements | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Piety (+40)  Elite Army Tactics (+15%)
|
 Regeneration
|
 Divine Vitality (+2 hp/s out of combat)
|
| Attack |  Bloomery (+1) Decarbonization (+1) Damascus Steel (+1) Elite Army Tactics (+15%) Ming Dynasty (+20%)
|
| Armor |  Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee) Insulated Helm (+1 melee) Master Smiths (+1 melee) Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged) Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged) Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
|
| Resource cost |  Yuan Dynasty (-10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Supervision (+150%, or +300% with Regional Inspection)
|
Dialogue lines[]
The Shaolin Monk shares dialogue lines with the regular Monk for Zhu Xi's Legacy (Chinese).
- Main article: Monk (Age of Empires IV)/Chinese dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Initially, Shaolin Monks had 2 ranged armor. With patch 9.1.370, this was reduced to 0.
Trivia[]
- Originally, Shaolin Monks were intended to have an Elite upgrade. This was removed prior to the release of The Sultans Ascend.
Gallery[]
