The Shinobi is a highly unusual unit. It has the hit points of a Musketeer, resistance of a Crossbowman, speed that is slightly lesser than a Pikeman, a high base damage and no multipliers. As a general rule Shinobi are strong against ranged units and very weak in melee combat. Additionally, they have exceptional siege damage for an archer unit. However, the siege animation is much slower than that of other ranged infantry, making Shinobis better than most archers at sieging, but worse than most heavy infantry, such as Musketeers. It can go into stealth mode to avoid enemy contact, but must avoid units and buildings that can uncloak stealthed units, such as hero units and Town Centers.
Shinobis are classified as Siege units, which comes with both advantages and disadvantages. It makes them very resistant to defensive structures, such as Outposts, Forts or War Huts (taking only half damage, which is further negated by their range resistance), but making them more vulnerable to Militiamen or their equivalent units. Their high base damage and hitpoints gives them a strong advantage against other ranged infantry. The Shinobi can beat nearly all Skirmisher-type units in a one on one fight. The primary disadvantage of Shinobi is their short range, although this can be negated by both their speed and stealth ability.
In the Industrial Age and onwards, Shinobi can be massed by Shogun Tokugawa, and have the advantage over Yumi Archers of not having a wood cost. An odd characteristic of the Shinobi is that they seem to fire some sort of explosive arrow against buildings, rather than a grenade or a torch.
Upgrades[]
The Shinobi is automatically upgraded in every Age starting from the Fortress Age. However, only the regular variant whose name changes to reflect this.
The Shinobi-No-Mono is a counterpart of the Shinobi which starts with +10% hit points and damage. It can be trained at the Consulate when Japanese Isolation is chosen.
Upgrades[]
The Shinobi-No-Mono is automatically upgraded in the Fortress Age, Industrial Age, and Imperial Age. However, this does not change his name from his regular variant:
Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa speed +5%, Line of Sight +10, training and research work rate +15%; land military train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead
Good Faith Agreements
Consulate unit train time -50%; Consulate technology cost -40% (-300 export for Brigades), research time -50% (except Brigades)
"Good Faith Agreements" only affects Shinobi-No-Mono.
Although it is not listed in the patch notes, with update 13.58326, Shinobis have a ×0.75 melee multiplier against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry, a ×0.5 ranged multiplier against cavalry and ×0.6 against hand shock infantry. Shinobi-No-Mono gives 12 XP when trained or killed.
With update 14.43676, Shinobi negative multipliers against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry were removed.
History[]
“
Translated to mean "one skilled in the art of stealth," shinobi were masters of the art of stealth, also known as ninjutsu. They were peasants of no social rank, but in possession of expert skills that were sought after by generals and feudal lords, and that often fetched high prices. Most shinobi acted as assassins or spies, gathering reconnaissance information that could turn the tide of battle. While most feudal daimyo and honorable samurai waged a moral war against the outlaw shinobi, it is believed that many of these high ranking warriors actually were shinobi, and simply kept up the ruse of hunting the outlaws in order to deflect suspicion from their own actions.
Popular culture has grossly misrepresented the appearance of shinobi, and they are most often identified by a black suit that supposedly helped them blend into the darkness. However, shinobi most likely dressed in the typical peasant garb of fifteenth-century Japan: remnants of samurai armor, with perhaps the addition of a head covering, and a special piece of footwear called jika-tabi, which had a split-toe design that improved gripping and wall climbing and were virtually silent. The shinobi arsenal consisted of a variety of weapons and diversions, many of which utilized gunpowder. Smoke bombs, firecrackers, hand cannons, and even land mines were used to stun enemies, or to provide a moment of confusion that allowed the shinobi to escape. These gunpowder secrets were carefully guarded within the shinobi clan. Another form of trickery were the ashiaro, wooden pads that were carved to look like an animal's paw, or a child's foot, and could be worn to produce misleading footprints.
The numbers of shinobi reached its peak in the centuries of war before the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of the Edo Period in 1603. During the waning years of the shinobi and the samurai, writers recorded the techniques and weapons of these arts in technical manuals in order to keep the traditions alive. The most famous of these was the "Mansen Shukai", written in 1676 by ninjitsu master, Fujibayashi Samuji.
”
Gallery[]
A Shinobi under white background
A Shinobi (left) and a Shinobi-No-Mono (right); note the circle which differentiates the latter with the former
The Shinobi's history portrait
Shinobi image from the Compendium section
See also[]
Ninja: A very similar melee unit available via shipments.
Disciplined Shinobi: +20% hit points and damage
TEAM Senegalese Riflemen
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints
TEAM Coffee Consumption
TEAM Scout Infantry
TEAM Inca Bridges
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Onin War
Bakufu
Good Faith Agreements
TEAM Knights of the Round Table
TEAM Mariachi
TEAM Spanish Inquisition
Dueling School
