Unique upgrade

This article is about the unique upgrades in Age of Empires II. For unique units, see Unique unit (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. For unique technologies, see Unique technology.

A unique upgrade is an upgrade of a non-unique unit which is available to generally a single civilization in Age of Empires II. This concept was introduced with The Forgotten. As of The Three Kingdoms, nine civilizations have access to a unique upgrade, including a unique upgrade for a building. Similarly, one civilization has a unique precursor which upgrades to a generic unit.

List of unique upgrades

Expansion	Civilization	Age	From	Upgrade	To	Type
The Forgotten	Hindustanis		Heavy Camel Rider	1,000 food, 500 gold, 125 seconds	Imperial Camel Rider	Camel cavalry
Rise of the Rajas	Malay		Dock	300 food, 300 gold, 40 seconds	Harbor	Building → Defensive structure
	Vietnamese and allies		Elite Skirmisher	300 wood, 300 gold, 50 seconds	Imperial Skirmisher	Foot archer
Dawn of the Dukes	Bohemians		Bombard Cannon	1,100 food, 800 gold, 140 seconds	Houfnice	Siege weapon
	Poles Lithuanians		Light Cavalry	600 food, 800 gold, 60 seconds	Winged Hussar	Light cavalry
Return of Rome	Romans		Long Swordsman	800 food, 400 gold, 100 seconds	Legionary	Infantry
The Mountain Royals	Persians		Cavalier	1,000 food, 600 gold, 150 seconds	Savar	Heavy cavalry
The Three Kingdoms	Chinese		Fire Ship	297 wood, 255 gold, 60 seconds	Dragon Ship	War ship

List of unique precursors

Expansion	Civilization	Age	From	Upgrade	To	Type
Dynasties of India	Gurjaras		Camel Scout	Automatic	Camel Rider	Camel cavalry

Notes

A team containing a Vietnamese player will have access to the Imperial Skirmishers as a shared unique unit due to their team bonus, as such it can be available to multiple civilizations.

The Winged Hussar is available to two civilizations - Poles and Lithuanians. The joint-availablity is a nod to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The Gurjaras have a unique precursor to the Camel Rider, the Camel Scout, which also counts as a unique upgrade. It is available from the start of the game, since it is their scout unit, and can be trained starting in the Feudal Age. It is upgraded for free in the Castle Age.

The Legionary, Savar, Winged Hussar, and Dragon Ship upgrades are somewhat different in that they are replacements rather than an addition for existing upgrades, in these cases the Two-Handed Swordsman - Champion, Paladin, Hussar, and Fast Fire Ship respectively.

The Samurai does not possess an attack bonus against these units, as they are just upgrades to regular units.

Trivia

• The Camel Rider line is the only regional unit line which has unique upgrades.
• The Camel Rider line is the only unit line which has more than one unique upgrade.
• The Imperial Skirmisher is the only unit in the game which is both a unique upgrade and a team unit.
• The Winged Hussar is classified as a unique upgrade despite being available to more than one civilization normally.

Gallery

The Camel Rider line, with the Camel Scout on the left and the Imperial Camel Rider on the right

Dock upgrade line with the Harbor on the right

The Skirmisher line, with the Imperial Skirmisher on the right, in the Definitive Edition

The Bombard Cannon line, with Houfnice on the right

The Scout Cavalry line, with the Winged Hussar on the bottom-right

The Militia line, with the Legionary in the bottom row

The Knight line, with the Savar on the bottom-right

The Fire Galley line, with the Dragon Ship on the bottom-right