The BEST Unique Units | Tierlist | AoE2

00:00 - 00:57 Intro
00:57 - 01:43 Arambai (Burmese)
01:43 - 03:17 Ballista Elephant (Khmer)
03:17 - 04:35 Berserk (Vikings)
04:35 - 06:21 Boyar (Slavs)
06:21 - 07:20 Camel Archer (Berbers)
07:20 - 09:06 Cataphract (Byzantines)
09:06 - 10:10 Chakram Thrower (Gurjaras)
10:10 - 11:20 Chu Ko Nu (Chinese)
11:20 - 12:02 Conquistador (Spanish)
12:02 - 13:28 Coustillier (Burgundians)
13:28 - 14:02 Gbeto (Malians)
14:02 - 14:56 Genoese Crossbowman (Italians)
14:56 - 15:52 Ghulam (Hindustanis)
15:52 - 17:15 Huskarl (Goths)
17:15 - 18:21 Hussite Wagon (Bohemians)
18:21 - 19:37 Jaguar Warrior (Aztecs)
19:37 - 20:35 Janissary (Turks)
20:35 - 21:16 Kamayuk (Incas)
21:16 - 21:59 Karambit Warrior (Malay)
21:59 - 22:58 Keshik (Tatars)
22:58 - 23:42 Kipchak (Cumans)
23:42 - 24:39 Konnik (Bulgarians)
24:39 - 26:13 Leitis (Lithuanians)
26:13 - 27:04 Longbowman (Britons)
27:04 - 27:54 Magyar Huszar (Magyars)
27:54 - 29:21 Mameluke (Saracens)
29:21 - 30:04 Mangudai (Mongols)
30:04 - 31:14 Obuch (Poles)
31:14 - 32:18 Organ Gun (Portuguese)
32:18 - 33:19 Plumed Archer (Mayans)
33:19 - 34:16 Ratha (Bengalis)
34:16 - 35:02 Rattan Archer (Vietnamese)
35:02 - 35:45 Samurai (Japanese)
35:45 - 36:36 Serjeant (Sicilians)
36:36 - 37:17 Shotel Warrior (Ethiopians)
37:17 - 38:35 Tarkan (Huns)
38:35 - 39:01 Teutonic Knight (Teutons)
39:01 - 39:41 Throwing Axeman (Franks)
39:41 - 40:30 Urumi Swordsman (Dravidians)
40:30 - 41:20 War Elephant (Persians)
41:20 - 41:55 War Wagon (Koreans)
41:55 - 42:36 Woad Raider (Celts)
42:36 - 44:04 Final Talk & Outro

Edits by K1

[CrewMate-rm]

Would also love to see a tierlist of "unique trash units" e.g. Bohemian monks, Malay two-handed swordsman, Magyar Huszar, Imperial Skirmisher, etc

[PauxloE]

What changed since then:
→ non-castle units were omitted now
→ new units (for new civilizations) added (Chakram thrower: S, Ghulam: A, Hussite Wagon: D, Obuch: A, Ratha: C, Urumi Swordsman: C)
Moved up by two tiers:
→ Ballista elephant: C → A
→ Coustillier: B→S
Moved up by one tier:
→ Boyar: C → B
→ Cataphract: B → A
→ Kamayuk: C → B
→ Keshik: B → A
→ Leitis: B → A
→ Mameluke: B → A
Stayed the same tier:
→ Arambai: B
→ Berserk: B
→ Conquistador: S
→ Genoese Crossbowman: B
→ Hurkarl: S
→ Jaguar Warrior: D → C → D
→ Janissary: A
→ Karambit: D
→ Mangudai: S
→ Organ Gun: B
→ Samurai: C
→ Serjeant: B
→ Shotel Warrior: C
→ Teutonic Knight: D
→ War Elephant: D
→ War Wagon: A
Moved down by one tier:

→ Gbetto: B → C
→ Chu Ko Nu: A → B
→ Kipchak: A → B
→ Konnik: B → B → C
→ Longbowman: A → B
→ Magyar Huszar: A → B
→ Plumed Archer: S → A
→ Rattan Archer: A → B
→ Tarkan: A → B
→ Throwing Axeman: B → C

[pbsoccer]

Cataphract is my favorite unique unit. Wish it would get more use. Its always hard to tech into in competitive play.

[derPandre]

For me as a noob-player, every unique unit that is good vs rams (usually melee like shotel warrior) goes up a tier in my mind ^^
feels so much safer in castle age wars

[maelmoor]

Absolutely love tierlists! Glad you didn't rush through it too, this was perfect length!

It's a fair comment regarding Hussite Wagons and their bonus, but I've seen them used by quite many pro players to hold off crossbow pushes in castle age. A few wagons with some skirms behind them is literally a wall against ranged units.

Overall I think the list represents that the meta has changed away from ranged units (apart from CA). Longbowmen and Plum Archers used to reign these lists. Overall it feels like speed/mobility is much more valued now.

[AGoodLittleSub]

Two more really strong points for the janissary are, in my opinion:

First the really low frame delay and attack delay - with the elite actually having none at all - making both the micro ceiling and entry level (in lack for a better word, my reasoning is they are easy to micro by easily hitting the correct timing) making them even stronger against everything they have to be good against.

Second, and possibly more important, they work amazingly with what Turks have otherwise. If you have a super strong knight + skirm civ, possibly add in a few camels, but even their go to comp of janissary + hussar will often do well, camels and pikes get shredded and will open your way to hussar, their free to upgrade hussar kills all siege and their bonus pierce damage makes them almost a counterunit vs every ranged unit, barring genoese crossbow, which also should be dealt with easily when having janissaries.

As soon as you can mix in some bombard cannons, in my opinion janissary hussar bombard cannon is one of the most effective timing compositions in early imp and even overall.

[damianvergaradominguez]

Chakram also is perfect counter to halbs which is the counter to the other broken stuff of Gurjaras

[kcrknp]

Longbowman has been my favorite unit since I first played in 2000. I just came back to the game and still love it.

[vvneagleone]

Wow, your Youtube content is amazing these days. It's impressive how much thought and effort went into every minute of this video. This was super enjoyable to watch and didn't feel like 45 minutes.

[CornBredCrusader]

While this is a pretty good tier list, I think it missing some key points that should be looked at when addressing UUs: Does the UU cover a weak spot for that civ? (Ghulam, Genoese, Huskarl, etc) Does the civ have other strong options in castle age/imp (Conq, Arambai) Does the unit out perform (or underperform) from its standard unit comparison (Longbowmen, Konnik, Samurai, etc) given how much harder it is to go into a castle and produce from there.

For example; The briton longbowmen is CA gives +1 attack. And in imp it has +1 range over briton arbs. But in order to go for it, you have to produce from a castle, you give up the faster producing range bonus that you have with britons, it takes longer to mass since you have less production buildings, and while 12 range in imp is crazy, 11 range is pretty much just as good, and while +1 range on archers also seems really good, as britons you already have +1-3 range over your opponent, having 1 more isnt nearly as important as hitting with those large number of xbow/arb on early powerspikes. Longbows are like driving 20 miles to get a milkshake when you already have one in the fridge.

[andrewneal]

Loved this video. This video makes me think about tips for how to counter the “S” tier units.

Especially since I’m newer to AOE2, stuff like Huskarl spam is really hard to counter. Had to learn the hard way to use Champions and just cross your fingers the Goth player won’t go into archers or like Scorpions.

[PauxloE]

In Battle for Wesnoth (a turn based strategy game, so not really comparable), the "charge" mechanic works as "on attack, this unit does double damage, but it also gets double retaliation damage". So you try to use it against units which will be likely dead after the first or maybe second hit (low-HP units on low defense terrain), so the retaliation damage doesn't come into effect, or against units with low melee damage in general (like mages and archers). The counter to this ability (beside high-HP and/or being on good-defense terrain) would be units with first-strike (i.e. which strike first even on defense) – unfortunately, the only first-level examples in the default era are are the horseman and the spearman, both for the loyalist faction, so this only comes into effect on mirror matches (or in campaigns).

I don't know how something like this could be implemented in a real-time game like AoE – maybe for x seconds after a charge attack, all attacks against this unit do double damage?

[sim]

Love these kinds of videos to have on in the background while I'm doing jobs, would like to keep seeing more of them. Keep up the great work been really enjoying your content recently!

[Ωζ]

very solid list, i only would bump the obuch to low S, that unit is so cheap for what its worth plus the fact that you get extra gold and food to begin with as poles makes this unit so much crazier. Its stats are also really busted; 80 hp and 2 armor and reasonable speed makes it so annoying to play against. I guess archers counter them, but its not like poles dont have an answer for archers anyway.

[arsm]

Hera sending my childhood hero, the Caped Crusader (aka Teutonic Knight) to the bottom tier… Why you be that way man..? :( :(

[Skyace]

Look I was just gonna go with you were doing the old Vine meme of 9 + 10 = 21 but for leitus. Turns out it’s just Hera’s genius

[dariussonofjazzlin]

I feel as though the coustillier and hussite wagons were a legitimate effort to shake up gameplay and introduce new challenges in micro for both the player and the opponent. The coustillier falls apart when they're stopped by walls, but those are less common on open maps. It's hard to switch our habits, and the coustillier benefits from this, whereas the hussite wagon suffers from it.

[markvanderwerf]

Good list.
I think the throwing axeman is much better than listed, i put it A tier. The thing is you'll have attack upgrades for your cav anyway. So basic TA do 11 dmg per 2 secs or 5.5 dps. HC do 27/3.45 * 0.75(accuracy) = 5.9 dps to infantry. TA are significantly cheaper, do only slightly less DPS to infantry and have more hp. Plus they do solid damage against stuff mixed in whereas HC don't. TA are a much better support unit when it turns into cav + halb vs cav + halb, common in cavalry civs mirrors. Castles for Franks are also much easier to have than a university and chemistry.

[gwensgaming]

"Once you get a high number of archers they can start one-shotting your organs..." yeah... hearts, kidneys, livers, etc have very low resistance to arrows.

PS I'm just 1300 but I've won hundreds of games to Teutonic knights. Defends forward castle drops and comes out strong with little investment, and can melt TC's with less investment than siege.

[karnazacss]

"Genovesse crossbow, I think that you never get to it..." Tatoh won a game vs Lierrey in RW final with them :P and it was masterpiece