Unique unit (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the unique units in Age of Empires II. For the armor class, see Armor class: Unique unit. For unique units in other games of the series, see Unique unit.

A unique unit is a unit only usually available to a single civilization in Age of Empires II.

Overview

Each civilization in the game has one unique unit that can be trained in the Castle from the Castle Age. The Bulgarians and Sicilians can train their unique unit in another building in addition to the Castle; the Krepost and Donjon, respectively. In addition, sixteen civilizations have access to a second unique unit that is trained at another building. The Gurjaras are the only civilization with 3 unique units, but with maximum 2 trainable simultaneously.

Before Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms was released, a Castle was required to train the second unique unit. Since that was changed, the civilizations with two unique units gain the advantage of instant access to a unique unit once the Castle Age is reached.

There are different categories of unique units:

• Castle unique units
• Unique upgrades
• Non-Castle unique units (which are not unique upgrades)
• Shared units (available through team bonuses)

As the name suggests, a Castle unit can only be trained at a Castle (except Huskarl, Tarkan, Serjeant, and Konnik - see the list below), while non-Castle units are created elsewhere (ex. Longboat, Missionary, Slinger). Unique upgrades by definition are created at the building where other units of the line are created.

Castle unique units share a common weakness in the requirement of a Castle to be produced. This means that, especially in the Castle Age, it is much harder to create a group of unique units compared to a group of units not trained in a Castle. Anarchy and Marauders alleviate this issue for the Huskarl and Tarkan respectively, but both upgrades still require a Castle to be created.

Shared units, however, fill a different and broader niche, since their nature means that they can be used by other civilizations in addition to their own by simply allying with their native factions. A team containing an Italian, Berber, or Vietnamese player will have access to the Condottieri, Genitours, or Imperial Skirmishers, respectively. Shared unique units are team bonuses and not unique units. They may, however, be a part of the Armor class: Unique unit. A team containing a Cuman player will have access to 5 free Elite Kipchaks per each Castle when Cuman Mercenaries has been researched.

All unique units are available in the Castle Age, apart from the Camel Scout, Imperial Camel Rider, Condottiero, Imperial Skirmisher, Houfnice, Serjeant, Thirisadai, Legionary, and Savar. Presently, there is no unique upgrade in the Castle Age.

Unique units unlocked in the Imperial Age and unique upgrades by design do not have an Elite upgrade. Hence, all other unique units but Slinger and Missionary have an Elite version that possesses overall superior statistics. The upgrade is always available in the Imperial Age. However, the Serjeant receives a free upgrade upon reaching the Castle Age. Moreover, Serjeants are the only unit which can be trained at the Castle in the Feudal Age in Regicide game mode or when the player starts with Castle from the start, e.g. MegaRandom or Fortress maps.

The Samurai possesses an attack bonus against all pure-unique units (including itself). Hence the Imperial Camel Rider, Imperial Skirmisher, Houfnice, Winged Hussar, Legionary, and Savar are safe from this attack bonus, since they are unique upgrades. The Samurai is the only unit that has an attack bonus against unique units.

List of unique units

Overall, there are 65 unique units:

• 15 archers (including the Arambai, melee Ratha, excluding gunpowder units)
• 21 infantry (including the Dismounted Konnik and Warrior Priest)
• 17 cavalry (excluding the melee Ratha)
• 5 land gunpowder units
• 4 ships (including Turtle Ships)
• 1 non-gunpowder siege weapon (Ballista Elephant)
• 2 special units (Missionary and Flaming Camel)

The following list contains all unique units sorted by expansions. It can also be sorted by their civilization, type, and building(s) as need be. In addition, a small speciality/description is provided.

Civilization	Unique unit	Type	Trained at	Description/Speciality
Britons	Longbowman	Foot archer	Castle	Long range
Byzantines	Cataphract	Heavy cavalry	Castle	Anti-infantry, resistant to anti-cavalry attacks
Celts	Woad Raider	Medium infantry	Castle	Fast-moving, heavily armed
Chinese	Chu Ko Nu	Foot archer	Castle	Fires multiple arrows in quick succession
Franks	Throwing Axeman	Heavy infantry	Castle	Ranged melee attack
Goths	Huskarl	Medium infantry	Castle	Archer-resistant, anti-archer
			Barracks*
Japanese	Samurai	Heavy infantry	Castle	Attack bonus against unique units
Mongols	Mangudai	Mounted archer	Castle	Attack bonus against siege weapons
Persians	War Elephant	Elephant cavalry	Castle	Slow and tanky with powerful Area of Effect attack
Saracens	Mameluke	Camel cavalry	Castle	Ranged melee attack, anti-cavalry
Teutons	Teutonic Knight	Heavy infantry	Castle	Heavily armed, heavily armored
Turks	Janissary	Foot gunpowder unit	Castle	Long range, high attack
Vikings	Berserk	Heavy infantry	Castle	Regeneration
	Longboat	Warship	Dock	Fast-moving, easy to micromanage
Aztecs	Jaguar Warrior	Heavy infantry	Castle	Anti-infantry
Huns	Tarkan	Medium cavalry	Castle	Archer-resistant, anti-building
			Stable*
Koreans	War Wagon	Heavy mounted archer	Castle	Archer-resistant
	Turtle Ship	Heavy gunpowder warship	Dock	Ship-resistant, high attack, medium-ranged
Mayans	Plumed Archer	Foot archer	Castle	Fast-moving, high hit points
Spanish	Conquistador	Mounted gunpowder unit	Castle	High attack
	Missionary	Mounted Monk	Monastery	Does not have an Elite version
Incas	Kamayuk	Heavy infantry	Castle	Extra range, anti-cavalry
	Slinger	Foot archer	Archery Range	Anti-infantry, does not have an Elite version
Indians (removed)	Elephant Archer	Elephant mounted archer	Castle	Archer-resistant
	Imperial Camel Rider	Camel cavalry	Stable	Unique upgrade to the Heavy Camel Rider
Italians	Genoese Crossbowman	Foot archer	Castle	Anti-cavalry
	Condottiero*	Medium infantry	Barracks	Fast-moving, anti-gunpowder
Magyars	Magyar Huszar	Light cavalry	Castle	Attack bonus against siege weapons
Slavs	Boyar	Heavy cavalry	Castle	Heavily armored
Berbers	Camel Archer	Camel mounted archer	Castle	Anti-mounted-archer
	Genitour*	Mounted archer	Archery Range	Mounted Skirmisher
Ethiopians	Shotel Warrior	Light infantry	Castle	Fast-moving, heavily armed
Malians	Gbeto	Light infantry	Castle	Ranged melee attack, heavily armed
Portuguese	Organ Gun	Gunpowder siege weapon	Castle	Good against bunched up foot soldiers
	Caravel	Warship	Dock	Pass-through damage
Burmese	Arambai	Ranged cavalry	Castle	High but inaccurate attack
Khmer	Ballista Elephant	Elephant cavalry siege weapon	Castle	Elephant with mounted Scorpion, able to cut trees
Malay	Karambit Warrior	Light infantry	Castle	Costs less resources and half population
Vietnamese	Rattan Archer	Foot archer	Castle	Archer-resistant
	Imperial Skirmisher*	Foot archer	Archery Range	Upgrade to the Elite Skirmisher
Bulgarians	Konnik	Heavy cavalry	Castle Krepost	Respawns as Dismounted Konnik upon death
	Dismounted Konnik	Heavy infantry	Corpse of Konnik
Cumans	Kipchak	Mounted archer	Castle	Cheap cost, fires many arrows at once Available in a limited quantity for free to allies as well through Cuman Mercenaries
Lithuanians	Leitis	Heavy cavalry	Castle	Heavily armed, ignores melee armor of enemy units
Tatars	Keshik	Medium cavalry	Castle	Cheap cost, generates gold during combat
	Flaming Camel	Mounted suicide unit	Siege Workshop	Attack bonus vs cavalry units, anti-elephant
Burgundians	Coustillier	Medium cavalry	Castle	Charges attack every 40 seconds
	Flemish Militia	Medium infantry	Barracks	Anti-cavalry, does not have an Elite version, first obtained by replacing existing Villagers
Sicilians	Serjeant	Heavy infantry	Castle Donjon	Good armor of both kinds, can build Donjons, can also be obtained by First Crusade
Bohemians	Hussite Wagon	Gunpowder siege weapon	Castle	Tanky, protect units behind by absorbing 50% damage
	Houfnice	Gunpowder siege weapon	Siege Workshop	Unique upgrade to the Bombard Cannon
Lithuanians	Winged Hussar	Light cavalry	Stable	Unique upgrade to the Light Cavalry, replaces Hussars
Poles
	Obuch	Heavy infantry	Castle	Decent armor of both kinds, damages armor of enemy units
Bengalis	/ Ratha	Mounted archer	Castle	Can switch between melee and ranged modes
Dravidians	Urumi Swordsman	Heavy infantry	Castle	Charges attack every 24/20 seconds
	Thirisadai	Heavy warship	Dock	Ship-resistant, does not have an Elite version
Gurjaras	Chakram Thrower	Light infantry	Castle	Ranged melee attack, pass-through damage
	Shrivamsha Rider	Light cavalry	Stable	Dodges projectiles
	Camel Scout	Camel cavalry	Stable	Unique precursor to the Camel Rider, scout unit
Hindustanis	Ghulam	Light infantry	Castle	Archer-resistant, anti-archer, thrusts into multiple units
	Imperial Camel Rider	Camel cavalry	Stable	Unique upgrade to the Heavy Camel Rider
Romans	Legionary	Heavy infantry	Barracks	Unique upgrade to the Long Swordsman Replaces Two-Handed Swordsman and Champion
	Centurion	Heavy cavalry	Castle	Buffs nearby Militia-line units
Georgians	Monaspa	Heavy cavalry	Castle	Attack is increased in the vicinity of other Monaspas and Knights, low hit points, low gold cost
Armenians	Composite Bowman	Foot archer	Castle	Ignores pierce armor of enemy units
	Warrior Priest	Religious infantry	Fortified Church	Can heal and carry Relics in addition to combat
Persians	Savar	Heavy cavalry	Stable	Unique upgrade to the Cavalier, replaces Paladins

In context of the above:

• Light units have better speed but lower hit points, armor and attack compared to their heavy counterparts.
• Multiple linked tags means that the unit is upgraded as such.
• Having an attack bonus does not make the unit a counter unit, as such it is different from anti.
  • Magyar Huszars are anti-siege, but that is not only because of their attack bonus.
• Units may have other properties but they are not popular for those. Example: Longboats have multiple projectiles, but are famous for their speed lending to micro-potential.
• Heavily armed means more melee attack.
• Heavily armored means more melee armor.
• Archer-resistant means more pierce armor.
• Unique upgrades do not drastically change a unit, as such their description does not have much, except for the Camel Scout.
• Units marked with an asterisk (*) are available as team bonuses, hence are lost in Full Tech Tree mode

Trivia

• The cost of the Castle-based unique units' "Elite" upgrades varies significantly. The lowest cost for one of these Elite upgrade is 1,100 resources total (for the Mameluke) and the most expensive costs 2,150 resources (for the War Elephant).
  • Likewise, the cost of individual units also varies widely, with the cheapest Castle-based unique unit costing 40 resources (the Malay Karambit Warrior) and the most expensive costing 255 resources (the Persian War Elephant).
• With the release of Dynasties of India, the Elephant Archer lost its status as the unique unit of the Indians, as it is now available to the Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras, but not to the Hindustanis.
• The Condottiero, Genitour, Imperial Skirmisher and Kipchak are all unique units that can be shared.
• Gurjaras are the civilization with the most unique units at 3, although they can simultaneously have only 2 types.
• Infantry are the most common type of unique unit, numbering at 21 (including the dismounted Konnik), followed by melee cavalry, including the melee Ratha, at 18. Monk (excluding Warrior Priests, which cannot convert) and suicide unit are the rarest types, numbering 1 each.
• On release, Flemish Militia were trainable at the Town Center after Flemish Revolution was researched. Their training location was later changed to the Barracks.
• The Serjeant and Camel Scout are the only unique units available in the Feudal Age.
• The Flemish Militia is the only unique unit which needs to research a unique technology to be available (Flemish Revolution).
• There are several instances where a civilization's icon/crest is also a part of their unique unit's model, such as the Dravidians' Urumi Swordsman, the Georgians' Monaspa, the Hindustanis' Ghulam, the Incas' Slinger, the Lithuanians' Leitis, the Magyars' Magyar Huszar, and the Sicilians' Serjeant.
• Karambit Warriors, Shotel Warriors, and Warrior Priests are the only units in the game that attack with dual-wielded weapons. Gbetos and Chakram Throwers dual-wield weapons, but use only one hand while attacking.

Gallery

All unique infantry units trained at the Castle

All unique archer units trained at the Castle

All unique cavalry units trained at the Castle

All unique siege units trained at the Castle

All the unique ships in the Definitive Edition

All unique units that can be obtained only through, or additionally through, sources other than the Castle or Dock

All unique units in The Age of Kings

All unique units in The Conquerors

All unique units in The Forgotten

All unique units in The African Kingdoms

All unique units in Rise of the Rajas

All unique units in The Last Khans

All unique units in Lords of the West

All unique units in Dawn of the Dukes

All unique units in Dynasties of India

All unique units in Return of Rome

All unique units in The Mountain Royals