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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For the similar unit in other games of the series, see War Elephant. |
| “ | Heavy cavalry effective against cavalry, siege weapons, walls, and buildings. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The War Elephant is a unique melee cavalry unit of the Delhi Sultanate in Age of Empires IV that is also an elephant unit. It can be created from the Stable starting in the Castle Age. It is also available to the Byzantines as a mercenary unit.
Overview[]
The War Elephant behaves somewhat differently to most units, because it can be considered two units in one, or as a single unit with two independent attacks. Each elephant is mounted by a spearman with an anti-cavalry spear attack, and has a melee tusk attack as well. This tusk attack can be used to attack Stone Walls and other buildings, and this unit does not possess a Torch attack. The tusk attack also deals Area of Effect damage in a 0.75-tile, 150 degree sector in front of it, although scaling all the way down to only 15% and 10% damage at increasing radii. The spearman will act similar to the archers on a Tower Elephant, in that it will automatically target and attack any units around it while the elephant is moving, even if not given an attack command. However, the elephant must stop to use its tusk attack. Additionally, the War Elephant possesses a devastating Charge attack, which deals significantly more damage and can be used to close in on fleeing infantry.
Tactics[]
While not quite as powerful or versatile as the Tower Elephant, the War Elephant still has quite a bit to offer the Delhi Sultanate army composition. They primarily serve as an extremely durable frontline unit, with over 1,200 hit points fully upgraded, and very high ranged armor, making most ranged attacks almost completely ineffective. They are also less expensive than the Tower Elephant, saving some resources in the long run when building a full army.
War Elephants do high damage to structures and units alike, especially cavalry, which they have a large damage bonus against. This allows them to easily beat any other cavalry unit in combat, including Camel Riders, which can sometimes be a threat to Tower Elephants. Since Tower Elephants are vulnerable to Horsemen, adding a few War Elephants as protection can shield Tower Elephants from one of their only counters. Tower Elephants in return can deal with enemy Spearmen and Crossbowmen that might otherwise do significant damage to War Elephants.
So long as Spearmen and Crossbowmen are dealt with, the only real danger to elephants are powerful, long-ranged siege like Bombards. Supporting elephants with a few Ghazi Raiders to deal with siege is therefore a good idea.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Cavalry |
| Weak vs. | Spearmen, Crossbowman, Handcannoneer |
| Conditional matchups | Archer |
| Hit points |  Biology (+20%) Armored Beasts (+25%)
|
| Attack |  Bloomery (+1) Decarbonization (+1) Damascus Steel (+1)
|
| 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) Armored Beasts (+4 ranged)
|
| Movement speed |  Mahouts (+10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33% creation speed)
|
| Aura enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Attack speed |  Zeal (+50% for 3 seconds)
|
| Creation speed |  Garrisoned Scholar (+100%, requires Efficient Production)
|
Mercenary War Elephant[]
The Byzantines can purchase Mercenary War Elephants with Olive Oil from a Mercenary House built next to a Trade Post (if available) after researching Veteran Contract. Once unlocked, they can train automatically from the Golden Horn Tower. In addition to the generic upgrades, they benefit from the following Byzantine unique bonuses:
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Hit points |  Elite Contract /  Foreign Engineering Company (+25%, grants Armored Beasts)
|
| Regeneration |  Triumph (+2 hp/s while active) Pilgrim Flask (25 hp/s for 6 seconds, requires Cistern of the First Hill)
|
| Attack | Triumph (+4 while active)
|
| Armor | Elite Contract / Foreign Engineering Company (+4 ranged, grants Armored Beasts)
|
| Movement speed |  Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship) Triumph (+10% while active)
|
| Creation speed |   Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level)
|
Changelog[]
- Originally, the War Elephant had 2 ranged armor, 1,400 hit points, cost 600 food, 400 gold, and the Spear attack did 20 damage. With update 6.0.878, it has 5 ranged armor, 850 hit points, costs 400 food, 350 gold, and the spear attack does 25 melee attack.
- Originally, the War Elephant had both a melee tusk attack which did 30 melee damage vs units at 2.75 seconds attack speed, and a siege tusk attack which did 100 siege damage vs Buildings at 5.75 second attack speed. With update 6.0.878, the melee tusk attack damage was increased to 50, and the siege tusk attack gained a +100 damage bonus vs buildings. With update 7.0.5861, the siege tusk attack was removed, and the melee tusk attack was given a +45 damage bonus vs buildings (to give the same DPS vs buildings as the previous siege tusk attack).
- With patch 11.1.1201, War Elephants now do splash damage.
Gallery[]
