AoE2 Scorpions

What are the best and worst units against mass scorpions? Let's find out.

Range and damage 1:10
The experiment setup 2:15
Halberdiers 2:58
Champions 3:38
Huskarls 3:57
Woad Raiders 4:15
Teutonic Knights 4:30
Berserks / Jaguar Warriors / Samurai 4:42
Mayan Eagle Warrior 5:02
Aztec Eagle Warrior 5:15
Arbalest / Chu Ko Nu / Plumed Archer 5:27
Longbowmen 5:42
Elite Skirmishers 5:51
Hand Cannoneers 6:02
Paladins 6:31
Hussars 6:57
Cataphracts 7:12
Cavaliers 7:18
Heavy Cavalry Archers / Mangudai 7:38
Mameluke 7:56
Conquistador 8:09
War Wagons 8:20
Tarkan 8:30
War Elephants 8:45
Heavy Camels 9:25
Onagers 9:47
Bombard Cannons 10:00
Aztec Monks 10:12
Bonus vs buildings 10:30
Civilizations with scorpion bonuses 11:00
Results - Top 10 Best and worst units vs scorpions 12:15

Game: Age of Empires 2 HD

[WonkieNJ]

You know a game's bangin' when people are looking into mechanics this closely 17 years after release.

[UMlol]

0:42 Deer confirmed strongest unit in AoE 2

[VRichardsn]

The other day I was trying to be clever and, after having my precious Teutonic Knights pestered with stones courtesy of Inca Slingers, I remembered this video and said "hey, Scorpions seem to be the correct choice here"(remember what happened to the Hand Canonneers in the video). So I went forward with the idea, because it is nice to find a use for forgotten units (and also because I am cheap: Scorpions cost nowhere near other siege uints)
Ok, I make a dash (well, sort of) with the Teutonic Knights to draw the Slingers and then I go in for the kill with the Scorpions. Then out of nowhere a Mangonel fires upon my Scorpions, flattening them with no effort.
I promptly ditched the idea and used Siege Onagers instead.

[octapusxft]

I still like the scorpions cause they sound so cute when you click on them

[filiuscanis]

You have a very gentle voice, when I can't sleep I sometimes play one of your videos and fall asleep to you narrating age of empires 2 tactics.

[mexikorn]

I don't even play AoE2, I just watch your videos cause they're good.

[ichigoblackTWD]

One my enemy made a lot of Teutonic Knights, i made scorpions. They all died and he resinged lol

[miranuzeri]

finally the video i have been waiting for

[carlosolea]

Cobra car counters everything so who cares

[SpiritOfTheLaw]

A few questions from this video have been addressed in a followup one:

Questions include:
What about rams?
What about trebuchets?
What about throwing axemen?
Should archers be moved closer against scorpions?
Why did the scorpion appear to destroy some trees at 4:10?

[dariodimarziasalvatore]

So basically don't ever build scorpions unless you play some tight-alley map like black forrest in which case build mangonels so again don't ever build scorpions. :D This unit needs to get buffed IMHO...

[anirudhdad]

u forgot to take seige rams in the test.. i think they are atleast 2nd best against scorpions :D

[rodskagg]

I think the fact that you compare the resources sold to gold in late imp with market saturated makes the Scorpions seem worse than they are. The most likely scenario is that there is still gold to be mined on the map and that the game (at least in my experience) is probably over when all gold is mined.
For example a scorpion is costing 75 wood and 75 gold. You had 32 (four lines with eight in each) of them in your tests which is equal to 4800 resources. If we compare it against skirmishes which was 2184 gold and inverse market trade to its original resource we get 15600 total. In this case the Scorpion is killing the Skirmishes at a little more than 3:1 ratio in resources which is pretty good.

I would still consider gold a more valuable resource but maybe not as much as the 100:14 ratio. Maybe you can show both "total resources" and "sold to gold" in your videos so that one can compare early and late game value.
Love your videos anyways. Keep it up

[CmdrSloanne]

That's why I always put my Scorpions, siege onagers, trebuchets behind walls to try to slow down the enemy units & then try to move my infantry around to sandwich them between my siege weapons & main forces... great video as always Spirit. have a good weekend.

[AvihooI]

In the test you're using the scorpions as a defensive choke point unit, where actually they should be used in a mobile choke point situation (think black forest) behind strong units.

Their advantage (like in any siege unit) isn't about gold vs gold, rather their low population cost relative to their effect... it is better to have a screen of scorpions behind an assortment of units, then just more of those other units.

[nicolasweber]

I always love that intro with the villager and the car. xD the music at the time is so cool :DDD xDDDD

[TZerot]

Honestly this is maybe my favorite SotL video, heck I'm still coming back to it years later (runner up might go to yasma arrow tech vid). It's got math, some fun practical scenarios, a bunch of unique units thrown at mass units and some good advice. Perfect.

[MrValonievs]

Scorpions are totally awesome, they're weak against certain cavs and siege yeah but with celts they're ballistic monsters. Just played two games where I mass scorpions and put a combo of halberdiers, champions and woad raiders in front. if they sent cav they met the halberdiers and died against them and the scorps. When they tried the onagers I sent forth the raiders and just v-form dodged their attacks and took em down. When they tried a mass of halbs and champions they got hold off by the whole combo while they was mowed down by the scorps. The cavs was fully upgraded paladins but was powerless againts a small line of champs and halbs with the backing of scorps. Massing scorps have been my road to victory when I've used that tact and my fall to loss when I've not used them. Scorps are way underrated.

[billwithers]

I saw Viper use mass scorps earlier today on Black Forest. It was truly awe inspiring how quickly they slaughtered huge swathes of paladins and monks.

[Gauss]

Man, I miss the old helepolis from aoe 1, that's how scorpion should be, although they would need to be far more expensive to be balanced in aoe 2....