SoTL, you should score Mayans as top worst Cav civ, because they lack Redemption, so they cant even convert enemy stables. Also, if you start in Post Imperial, Xolotl Warior has higher stats: +30 HP and some armor and atack.
actually teuton imperial scouts arent that bad. 9 attack 65 HP and 5 melee armor isnt that bad. Beats a lot of light cav civs head on. And since scout is a bit faster than LC/Hussar the speed differential isnt as big.
So much of a cavalry strat is built around a castle age rush which battle elephants aren't for. Their best use is when you are building up a deathball and are looking to add sheer tankiness to a mid-late castle age push
It works in context of faster age up. In theory you’re already in castle age while your opponents are in feudal. Their battle elephants are fine in early castle, but you should be transitioning by mid to late.
I like the idea of Xolotl warriors benefiting from infantry armor, Spirit. Personally, I feel like they should benefit from Garland Wars and Fabric Shield, just as a small buff to them. Of course, I feel like the Aztec variant would become a bit of a glass cannon at that point.
Would be a fair reward to have a somewhat strong cavalry unit for converting an enemy stable, which is not easy to do in most games. Could add an interesting strategic element if the opponent has to take into account the possibility of having their stables converted.
@@PaulSchlock Still relying on a random chance on a specific maptype, doesn't quite seem to be enough to consider it better than Dravidians to me. And even for all the other 2 meso civ, again outside the random chance on a specific map, they still have to get monks, and redemption, and then hope the enemies build stables in a position, where you can not only get to them, but also stay near long enough for the convert, AND then be able to also defend that position from the enemy(ies)... That is planetary alignment kind of odds still there, to even get access
@@GummieI The chances of getting a meso stable in megarandom is as slim as a good player going cavalry as Dravidians lol A lot of the comments here seem to be coming from people who just build whatever they want and think a strategy is good simply because it won them a match at 400 ELO. The point SOTL tried to make here, I think, is to illustrate that relying on stable units as, say, Dravidians, is almost as absurd as doing so as an American civ.
@@DaddyMouse It has nothing to do with the chance someone do choose to go with it, but rather the ability for YOU as a player to be even able to, if you do want to for some reason, no matter the elo, or even if you are playing ranked or not in the first place. And the inability or extremely rare conditions, that YOU as the player that might want to try it, again for whatever reason you choose to do it, of factors you have little to no control over, is obviously something that would affect how bad a dev is at that aspect of the game. And for all the meso civs(and specially so for Mayans) even the ability to get any cav are reliant on factors that are not only outside of your control, but also extremely rare to even happen, should rank them as clearly worse than a civ that sure has absolutely trash, but at least a consistent way to even get them
To be fair, it might be better to have no stable than the Dravidian one. I‘m sure someone accidentally built a stable and then got baited into creating terrible units.
The thing that always surprises me about AoE2 is how essential the general techs are. Like, as he said, one armor tech plus Bloodlines is kinda equivalent to the actual Hussar upgrade. It's completely different in AoE3, where the regular unit upgrades in the military building are almost ALWAYS the strongest upgrade for that unit with afaik exactly one general exception.
@@SIGNOR-G One card and lots of ressources make it a pretty lategame strat. And AoE3 games rarely last that long in 1v1. But even with that in mind, let's take the infantry upgrades, that's +10% HP and +15% attack for 550/600 total. Guard Skirmisher (AgeIV) is 600/600 and adds 30% HP and attack to that unit. So 2.5x as good unless you use another gunpoweder infantry unit. It's oc better value if you use two types of units, and you should do both if you use one type a lot, but still. Also, most civs have cards which just grant +15%/15% for free for some unit types.
@@Alias_Anybody I hated aoe 3 card system back when the game released but i have to admit that now i like the complexity of this game. Also lots of unique units for each factions. Would be cool to see this combiend with the gameplay of AOE 2.
You forgot to mention that Ethiopians have a unique tech, Royal Heirs: Shotels and Camel units receive -3 damage from mounted units. That puts them on par with average camels at the very least.
They're still far worse than average camels against their counters. Archers already decimate even good camels. Missing both bloodlines and imp armor makes ethiopian camels melt even to persian trashbows.
Me playing random civ and ending up with Dravidians. Get feudal rushed by some random feudal units. Fast Castle works out and I think "nothing that 2-3 knights can't handle"... and then finding out I can't even make camels after rushing up 2 stables... :D
Reminds me my first match as bulgarians when they just came out. I for some reason thought they had decent archers. Rushed 2 archery ranges, full on archer production during deudal. Turned out they can't even get xbows xD My opponent probably died laughing... unless he too had no idea that bulgarians don't get xbows, in which case he probably was wondering why didnt I upgrade my 30+ archers when i hit castle lol
I have tried 2 stable knights with Aztecs and it is not easy, it really feels like you are fighting an uphill battle. You don’t even have scale barding armor, no bloodlines, no and no husbandry. The only thing they have going for them is that stables are free, but locked beings the redemption tech.
I was sure you'd include the ultra-barebones Dravidian Stable as the absolute worst but I didn't expect to include the mesoamerican civs and rate them higher.
Objection for Ethiopians: Camels DO have a bonus with them, allowing to resist 3 damage from any mounted unit. Granted, it does not make them better than generic camels, but gives them an interesting anti cavalry archer option in castle age that others civs lack and make ot strictly above average in some matchups compared to other camels.
IDK, I know that it's a meme but I feel like I'd take Dravidian Light Cav over Xolotl. Malay are missing both armor upgrades, Xolotl are missing all of them and only take 20 arrows before going down. Xolotl only can be created in late Castle Age, which is a point where the only civ they're worth making against is Dravidians (and you're more likely to convert an Artillery Foundry in AOE2 than a Dravidian Stable). Dravidian Light Cav is also much faster and most importantly, benefits from Wootz Steel (which is anywhere from +2 to +5 attack on common units). Still a comically awful stable, but at least their meme cavalry can be used as a trash option, whereas the Mesoamerican meme cavalry can only meme.
you can't get a stable before castle age unless megarandom gives you one. so in terms of competitive play there is no downside to xolotl being a castle age unit.
@@BayWa4eva There is one because you need to convert a Stable. The price of getting a Mesoamerican Stable is a Monastery, a Monk and Redemption. By the point of getting all that and converting a Stable, Xolotl production is too late to be relevant.
Dravidians’ stable makes me think the devs are very scared of making their BE’s too strong because of wootz steel but ended up making them too weak to be usable. They should at least have Elite BEs to be the armor crushing tanks they’re supposed to be
I think Malay is placed wrong. While battle elephants are bad most times in mid game, shinning only in late game, Malay takes a spin: they are great in midgame and gets worse in late. I don't even think they are horrible in late game. That discount can carry hard, just like Poles with their cheap knights.
Thats what makes their cavalry somewhat better, also their elephants regenerate HP. You don't need the elite upgrade as you can't afford it in most games anyway. Regen offsets their elephants a bit and still makes them very viable in castle, while their light cav can shine with wootz steel.
Malay cavalry work only in a very limited time window. Good timing attacks can give you the momentum that change the match’s trajectory. (This lesson I learned from SoTL’s Malay Overview from years ago) I won against Huns once by winning feudal with scout spear then going into pike elephants, catching my opponent off guard ( the elephants of surprise ). It’s always fun when you manage to make a situational bonus work
I personally love using Britons cavalry. A common tactic I use is to slowly build up numbers over the course of a game, but not letting my opponent see I'm doing anything. Then as I'm aging to imp I strike with siege to break down walls and watch as spear units come out in their Feudal form, never having been needed.
I think that Malay shouldn't be treated so harshly. To be honest, I really like to play them around those elephants. It doesn't really matter that you don't have those armor upgrades, elephants can tank arrows all day anyway. You can always go for elephants in castle age, and then switch to two handed swordsman in imp, where you invested in only 1 tech that won't be relevant - 1st armour.
Now is Dravidians' time! Jokes aside, I would say Armenians are a slightly better cavalry civ than Japanese for the simple fact their eco scales better enough to make a Knight addition (Or support a Scout rush) easier in the mid-game I would also remove Britons from the bottom 10, having the last armor is so much better than miss Hussars and Bloodlines is not even close, their eco doesn't directly help knight play but cheap TCs are always good. The real surprise for me though is missing Celts, lacking Bloodlines and final Armor makes their cavalry so awful that it doesn't matter they have Hussars, great economy and Paladin, they are so garbage that the only time you'll ever make them is out of desperation. I would put them below Ethiopians personally because bad Camels with Royal Heirs are at least a better option than bad Paladins
I tried to find the 10 worst cavalry civilizations in the game by reading the title of this video and before I got them, I found nine... I hadn't put the meso civs but I had added the Celts! And a tie for tenth place with Armenians and Japanese. I love this begening series !Tks
Yeah, I had a feeling _that_ civ would be number #1. The stable basically does maybe one feudal rush, replaces a lost scout, and... that’s it outside of niche strategies. XO
I hope Age of Empires 2 gets a new expansion with new civs soon with some civ overhauls as well. Spirit of the Law deserves some new content to make videos on :P
I don't get your dravidians being worse than south american civs thing. Even if dravidians stables tech tree is garbage, in no way it beats south americans needing to convert a stable to be able to produce a below average knight with no bloodlines or armor, that also costs the same amount of resources than an actual knight. But i do admit they look pretty cool tho, i wish they were viable sometimes.
For when you get to Top 10 Worst Infantry, my #1 would be the Gurjaras. No Pikemen, no Blast Furnace, no Champions, no Squires, and no Gambesons. Their Castle Age UT might give them a low Food cost on THS's, but those THS's are utter crap due to the missing techs and have no other bonuses to compensate.
I would dispute the Gurjaras as the worst because they have the Chakram Thrower, which is a good option for dealing with pikes despite lacking squires and blast furnace, and can make a decent men-at-arms rush. It's not like the Tatars where the lack of chain mail and bonsuses really hurt the infantry line.
@@paulreiter7015 Chakrams honestly don't feel like your typical infantry in any event, even if they count as them. Plus Chakrams are crap against cavalry. They feel more like a Scorpion alternative.
@@darkdill They're still infantry units and still useful for the Gurjaras as their anti-infantry option, even without blast furnace or squires.That makes them a better infantry civ, for me, than the Khmer, the Persians, the Tatars or the Huns. By comparsion, the lack of chain mail is really bad for the Tatars. -Halbs die in one less hit against fully upgraded cavaliers, so they get one less attack -They’re the only the only halbs that lose 1v1 against fully upgraded generic hvy camel riders -Fully upgraded arbalasters defeat them in 5 shots, the same as pikeman with chain mail, one less than halbs with chain mail and two less than halbs and pikes with plate armor -Elite skirmishers defeat them in 6 shots, one less than pikes and halbs with chain mail, two less than pikes with plate and three less than plate armored halbs That’s pretty bad for unit meant to be anti-cavalry and a cheap meat shield As for their champions, -It takes 9 shots for fully upgraded arbalester to take them out, the same as Khmer (who are also a bottom 10 infantry civ) two-handed swordsmen, so one less than champions with chain and two handed swordsmen with chain and gambesons and it gets worse once plate armor starts getting taken into account (even the Persian long-swords, which are bad, take 15 shots) -Tie against generic two-handed swordsmen with both blast furnace and plate armor despite champions being the more expensive upgrade
AOE2 has done a good job in terms of historic accuracy of lack of cavalry in regard to India. Historically Indian kingdoms notably Dravidians often struggled with lack of good native horse breeds and relied heavily on import. Same was the case with the Bengalis. It was always an Achilles heel. So it makes sense for them being worse cavalry civ. One of the few regions of India that was actually suitable for horse breeding was area from which Gurjaras originated and rose to power. Although unlike in AOE2 their mastery was more in heavy cavalry. One of the last cavalry charge was led by their descendants in WW1.
Brition light cav are pretty nice, actually. Not something you want to run solo, but a really good answer to your opponent's skirmisher/scorpion/onegers
You're not showing anti elephant bias, it's anti light cav bias. While Xolotl are better in castle age, scouts/light cav with practically zero upgrades still do their jobs of scouting, fighting the relic war, and sniping siege, and in imperial I'd take wootz steel light cav over +4 +0/0 knights. If Xolotl benefited from infantry armor (and squires/arson, why not) then I think I would take them over wootz light cav.
I would say he is a bit hyper focused on Knights and because of it this list is a bit bad IMO. Malay who can win games with ele spam doesn't sound like bottom 5 to me. If you have legit, working strategy with cav it doesn't sound like one of the worse civ. It isn't much and I wont say it is best cav civ but they still can successfully go cavs...
@@Just_a-guy Malay can only win games with ele spam in low elo. Then again, given a big enough skill gap, you can win by only making supremacy villagers or petards. i'm 1300 and I saw malay rush win a game only once. If you watch high-ELO/Pro games you'll see people don't even attempt it there at all
@@DaddyMouse or in team games, im myself are mid player yet I can find successful ele rush from daut against strong opponents. It is not like Franks knight but they are usable and functional so I personally wouldn't say they are bottom 5
@@Just_a-guy Daut has also won multiple 1v1 tournament games with Korean hussar play. That doesn't make the Korean stable good, it just demonstrates that even a bad stable has its uses.
@@teddyhaines6613 I'm not talking about "youpudding" like strategy but elephant being viable option. They are as cheap as knight (with reverse cost so 75/53 food to gold in comparison to 60food and 75gold) yet offering great power ( double the hp with one pierce armour and trample dmg in melee). IMO they are valid options and for sure more than "bottom 5" and a lot of players (I'm talking about top players) successfully used them against other top players (Hera, MBL, Daut, Viper, Tatoh). They for sure are not power houses in terms of cav civ but they have huge potential IMO
@@andrewjessop6054 Technically Mayans do as well if they can somehow get a Stable. Note the "somehow" part. I dunno how the game works these days but couldn't an ally gift them a Stable or something or is unit trading not a thing and is only done with Monks?
Personally I think that if you convert an enemy stable as a Meso civ, you should be able to research a tech in that stable that allows you to make your own. Big risk, big reward.
I would love a complete breakdown and analysis of the Heavy Camel Rider versus the Cavalier. Looking at the resource cost versus the unit stats, not factoring Civ bonus, they're really not that different. But Camels always seemed slower and of lesser value than Cavaliers. Insight from better and more knowledgeable players would be awesome.
Despite Malay having some of the worst cavalry, I like finding opportunities to create Elephant rushes with their cheaper Battle Elephants in early castle age. 🐘
I love the idea of infantry armor applying to Xe’lato warriors. In the end, you need get redemption, to find a stable, convert it and keep it up. By then, you should deserve decent cavalry !
I always thought the Dravidians' Medical Corps tech should apply to both the elephants themselves AND units in a small radius around them. That's what a medical corps does, after all, and it could make their otherwise useless cavalry--and their related Castle Age unique tech--have an actual purpose.
The fact that a civ without stables can train something like knights but the Indian civs cant, really grinds my gears. We did have heavy cavalry, you know!
someone should make a mod that makes all units work like resources in the market. the more people buy, the more expensive they get. maybe the more of one type of unit you KILL, the less expensive it becomes for you. would be fun seeing civs forced out of their favorite units because it becomes so expensive that it becomes better to build other stuff instead.
I think these rankings depend a lot on elo, particularly for how highly you rate the knight. They crush at lower and mid elos, but once players can use monks and the speed on light cav well, then light cav + monk becomes a perfectly viable option.
They never did. There was just some confusion about the wording of a balance change that made it so they'd get anti-skirmisher bonus damage in melee mode, or something to that effect.
I was expecting the Mesoamerican civs to be an honorary mention because technically they can't train cavalry, etc. Because making them #1 would be too obvious... but I guess putting them in as the second worst works :D
There has been something on my mind regarding the Saracens: Mamelukes weren't camel riders, historically. They were horse riders (melee units). I have an alternate solution for that. What if the devs rename the current inaccurate Mamelukes to Scimitar Slingers or something like that, and pull off what they did with the Persians and give their knight line a new upgrade: the Mamelukes. It can be a new design which they can also apply to the Saladin hero unit. (Yes, I'm aware that Mamelukes weren't Arab but Turkish and Mamelukes should be given to them technically. Even if that happens, we still gotta do something about the current Mamelukes). Also, if Daut and Spirit ever teamed up, they should call themselves, "Spirit of the Lawd".
I would propose the Ethiopians to trade the 2nd armor upgrade for bloodlines. Combined with their +100 food&gold bonus upon reaching feudal age, that could make a nasty feudal rush.
It's not a tier list, it's a list. Like you don't put bread and eggs in S tier and milk in A tier and flour as B tier when shopping for groceries. Now for the overviews it might make more sense but for these it's a list. They go in order.
For a civilization that for hundreds of years was known for their heavy cavalry, the fact that they're number 10 on the list of worst just hurts. I would take away light cavalry and give them fully upgraded paladins. I'd even take away one of their infantry bonuses if it meant having a good knight line. But it's the devs' decision to make.
It seems SOTL forgot about the Ethiopian Castle Age Unique Technology, Royal Heirs, that lets their Camel Riders take -3 damage from all cavalry units. Against enemy cavalry, this tech compensates for their lack of Bloodlines and the last armor upgrade. Though overall I'd still prefer generic Camel Riders, this could, in my opinion, push Ethiopians outside of the list.
It's pronounced Rathaa (sanskrit pronunciation) or Rath (Hindi) The first ra is similar to the first syllable of run. I would add the double a at the end to emphasize the longer 'a'. Maybe ruh-thaa?
I think making a Top 10 Worst Infantry list would be really hard, since the only ones with at least one really big hole there I can think of are Gurjaras, Persians, Tatars and Turks. The rest are, at worst, just kind of below average but still usable to a noticeable extent. In fact, I don't think any civilization, except Gurjaras, miss both Champion AND Halberdier.
You could fast-castle, build 2 Monastaries, one at your base to tech Redemption, and one forward to make a monk, then quickly convert a stable Xolotol warriors could be a decent in early Castle age. Aztecs have their crazy eco/farming bonus, and Incas have their food discount, with Castle-age Handcannoneers (Slingers) to wreck Halberdiers. Not entirely a meme Hating on the elephant is a BIG mistake though... They're coming 🐘🐘🐘
I learned something new today. I had no idea that American civs had a unique cavalry unit that can only be obtained in very specific ways. Now I'm just wondering how you can reliably get them because you can't just have your ally build a stable then convert it...right?
Honestly wondering what the choice was to design the Indian civs around not having knights, when heavy cavalry was used throughout the history of South Asia. And Dravidians not having Elite Battle Elephants is the cherry on top.
Traditionally Indians did not use many heavy cavalry since 3rd-4th century. It's mostly light cavalry, elephant and infantry based armies. When the Portugese first arrived in india they were shocked at how much money Indians were spending in buying horses from Arabia and most of them dying within few years as the climate was not very easy for the horses and many native horses are smaller.
SoTL, you should score Mayans as top worst Cav civ, because they lack Redemption, so they cant even convert enemy stables.
Also, if you start in Post Imperial, Xolotl Warior has higher stats: +30 HP and some armor and atack.
+2 attack and+2/+2 armour I think. So like cavaliers
@@Yumao420 damm you should get the elite upgrades
@@catrielmarignaclionti4518 EXACTLY. So easy but so fun
Mayans can still get a lucky stable on MegaRandom though.
@@Bzhydack agreed.
Even using atonement to convert a monk that has redemption doesnt give it redemption.
Korean Hussar against Chad Teuton Scouts
actually teuton imperial scouts arent that bad. 9 attack 65 HP and 5 melee armor isnt that bad. Beats a lot of light cav civs head on. And since scout is a bit faster than LC/Hussar the speed differential isnt as big.
@@daarom3472Wait, scouts arent slower ?
@@NolmanZ no they are faster. I think 1.6 vs 1.55 for LC/Hussar
@@daarom3472 which is why they are a chad. 1v1 against Korean Hussar, Teuton Scout still has ⅓ of it hp
@@daarom3472 Exactly, teuton scouts are even stronger than Korean hussars. Korean Cavalry is so bad lol
Don't be silly SOTL, the worst cavalry civ is the one I'm trying to scout rush with
Don't be silly Bacitisful, the worst cavalry civ is the one I'm trying to knight rush with
Don't be silly guys, the worst cavalrly civ is any civ I pick and it has a horse
Horse
Pick.
So...Aztecs?
I love the use of the traditional happy first place music for loser civs. It makes me laugh every time.
@@DaedalusDM even they at least have a unique tech that makes up for being atrocious.
I didn’t even think about this thanks for another laugh!
So much of a cavalry strat is built around a castle age rush which battle elephants aren't for. Their best use is when you are building up a deathball and are looking to add sheer tankiness to a mid-late castle age push
It works in context of faster age up. In theory you’re already in castle age while your opponents are in feudal. Their battle elephants are fine in early castle, but you should be transitioning by mid to late.
@@martytu20 especially as Malay battle elephants are pretty good if your enemy is still feudal
I like the idea of Xolotl warriors benefiting from infantry armor, Spirit.
Personally, I feel like they should benefit from Garland Wars and Fabric Shield, just as a small buff to them. Of course, I feel like the Aztec variant would become a bit of a glass cannon at that point.
Would be a fair reward to have a somewhat strong cavalry unit for converting an enemy stable, which is not easy to do in most games. Could add an interesting strategic element if the opponent has to take into account the possibility of having their stables converted.
@@gmwdim Most sensible opponents would delete their buildings after a few seconds of conversion anyway.
@@skipper472that's just bad sportsmanship mate. People should do better
Mayans don´t have redemtion so can´t even create the Xolotl Warrior
He did mention megarandom though.
@@PaulSchlock Still relying on a random chance on a specific maptype, doesn't quite seem to be enough to consider it better than Dravidians to me. And even for all the other 2 meso civ, again outside the random chance on a specific map, they still have to get monks, and redemption, and then hope the enemies build stables in a position, where you can not only get to them, but also stay near long enough for the convert, AND then be able to also defend that position from the enemy(ies)... That is planetary alignment kind of odds still there, to even get access
@@GummieI The chances of getting a meso stable in megarandom is as slim as a good player going cavalry as Dravidians lol A lot of the comments here seem to be coming from people who just build whatever they want and think a strategy is good simply because it won them a match at 400 ELO. The point SOTL tried to make here, I think, is to illustrate that relying on stable units as, say, Dravidians, is almost as absurd as doing so as an American civ.
@@DaddyMouse It has nothing to do with the chance someone do choose to go with it, but rather the ability for YOU as a player to be even able to, if you do want to for some reason, no matter the elo, or even if you are playing ranked or not in the first place. And the inability or extremely rare conditions, that YOU as the player that might want to try it, again for whatever reason you choose to do it, of factors you have little to no control over, is obviously something that would affect how bad a dev is at that aspect of the game. And for all the meso civs(and specially so for Mayans) even the ability to get any cav are reliant on factors that are not only outside of your control, but also extremely rare to even happen, should rank them as clearly worse than a civ that sure has absolutely trash, but at least a consistent way to even get them
To be fair, it might be better to have no stable than the Dravidian one. I‘m sure someone accidentally built a stable and then got baited into creating terrible units.
The thing that always surprises me about AoE2 is how essential the general techs are. Like, as he said, one armor tech plus Bloodlines is kinda equivalent to the actual Hussar upgrade.
It's completely different in AoE3, where the regular unit upgrades in the military building are almost ALWAYS the strongest upgrade for that unit with afaik exactly one general exception.
What baout the special card that lets you use special upgrades at the foundary?
@@SIGNOR-G
One card and lots of ressources make it a pretty lategame strat. And AoE3 games rarely last that long in 1v1.
But even with that in mind, let's take the infantry upgrades, that's +10% HP and +15% attack for 550/600 total.
Guard Skirmisher (AgeIV) is 600/600 and adds 30% HP and attack to that unit. So 2.5x as good unless you use another gunpoweder infantry unit. It's oc better value if you use two types of units, and you should do both if you use one type a lot, but still.
Also, most civs have cards which just grant +15%/15% for free for some unit types.
@@Alias_Anybody
I hated aoe 3 card system back when the game released but i have to admit that now i like the complexity of this game.
Also lots of unique units for each factions.
Would be cool to see this combiend with the gameplay of AOE 2.
You forgot to mention that Ethiopians have a unique tech, Royal Heirs: Shotels and Camel units receive -3 damage from mounted units. That puts them on par with average camels at the very least.
Only in Castle Age. In Imperial, missing Bloodlines and Plate Barding Armor hurts too much.
They're still far worse than average camels against their counters. Archers already decimate even good camels. Missing both bloodlines and imp armor makes ethiopian camels melt even to persian trashbows.
@@DaddyMouse good thing Ethiopians have top 2 siege and good halbs to counter Persian late army comp.
@@Progeusz- it’s more about the grand scheme of things. Ethiopian camels at now have something to compensate for an otherwise atrocious cavalry line.
This video is exclusively made to troll the Dravidians lmao
Me playing random civ and ending up with Dravidians. Get feudal rushed by some random feudal units. Fast Castle works out and I think "nothing that 2-3 knights can't handle"... and then finding out I can't even make camels after rushing up 2 stables... :D
All Indian civis without exception can't create knights
@@DanielBlue dravidians would disagree...
Reminds me my first match as bulgarians when they just came out. I for some reason thought they had decent archers. Rushed 2 archery ranges, full on archer production during deudal. Turned out they can't even get xbows xD My opponent probably died laughing... unless he too had no idea that bulgarians don't get xbows, in which case he probably was wondering why didnt I upgrade my 30+ archers when i hit castle lol
@@Ssarevok Damn, sorry, I was in a hurry and I didn't notice the spelling xd
Me playing goths and find out they don't get stone walls. Yikes
I have tried 2 stable knights with Aztecs and it is not easy, it really feels like you are fighting an uphill battle. You don’t even have scale barding armor, no bloodlines, no and no husbandry.
The only thing they have going for them is that stables are free, but locked beings the redemption tech.
I was sure you'd include the ultra-barebones Dravidian Stable as the absolute worst but I didn't expect to include the mesoamerican civs and rate them higher.
Just riding the popular hate wave
Should see the hussite wagon video. That one is inaccurate too
I think for the Ethiopians the camels are actually quite decent with the unique tech against other cavalry.
Fun fact 1: Teuton Scouts beat Korean Hussar
Fun fact 2: Saracen knight beat Malay cavalier
Likely because Malay lack all the armor, its otherwise just 2 attack and 20 HP difference. Additionally Malay lack bloodlines too.
@@voyagerdeepspaceexploratio5023 - doesn't matter. Proof of pudding is in the eating
I thought it was irl at first, got me wondering, "Of course the arabs and persian would win. Do we even have cavalry in the first place?"
"announces nr 1 worst cavalry civ" *happy music starts playing*
Objection for Ethiopians: Camels DO have a bonus with them, allowing to resist 3 damage from any mounted unit. Granted, it does not make them better than generic camels, but gives them an interesting anti cavalry archer option in castle age that others civs lack and make ot strictly above average in some matchups compared to other camels.
IDK, I know that it's a meme but I feel like I'd take Dravidian Light Cav over Xolotl. Malay are missing both armor upgrades, Xolotl are missing all of them and only take 20 arrows before going down. Xolotl only can be created in late Castle Age, which is a point where the only civ they're worth making against is Dravidians (and you're more likely to convert an Artillery Foundry in AOE2 than a Dravidian Stable). Dravidian Light Cav is also much faster and most importantly, benefits from Wootz Steel (which is anywhere from +2 to +5 attack on common units).
Still a comically awful stable, but at least their meme cavalry can be used as a trash option, whereas the Mesoamerican meme cavalry can only meme.
you can't get a stable before castle age unless megarandom gives you one. so in terms of competitive play there is no downside to xolotl being a castle age unit.
@@BayWa4eva There is one because you need to convert a Stable. The price of getting a Mesoamerican Stable is a Monastery, a Monk and Redemption. By the point of getting all that and converting a Stable, Xolotl production is too late to be relevant.
Is Artillery Foundry some other game or another region/language's name for Siege Workshop?
@@Nazuiko Yeah the joke is that it's an Age of Empires 3 building.
Dravidians’ stable makes me think the devs are very scared of making their BE’s too strong because of wootz steel but ended up making them too weak to be usable. They should at least have Elite BEs to be the armor crushing tanks they’re supposed to be
When a hard number guy like SoTL said "feel like" so many times in a video, I can tell the video is hard to make. 😂
Didn't watch it yet but i already know who are the top 3 worst cav civs
You might not 😮
@@TheOhioNews I was pleasantly surprised hahaha
I think Malay is placed wrong. While battle elephants are bad most times in mid game, shinning only in late game, Malay takes a spin: they are great in midgame and gets worse in late. I don't even think they are horrible in late game. That discount can carry hard, just like Poles with their cheap knights.
Aztecs AND incas can make Xolotl warriors, while Mayans can't convert stables so they can only do it on mega random if they start with a stable
I straight up love the thumbnail. Keep up the amazing content SOTL
"Since I don't like battle elephants, I'm going to consider all civs that have a good stable of elephants, bad"
7:48 Anyone else smell the word "Dravidians" right there before he even said it?
Thanks again SOTL for bringing back the OG version of the closing music ❤
Teutonic knight "I fear no man, but that thing" dravidian scout with wootz steel "it scares me"
Thats what makes their cavalry somewhat better, also their elephants regenerate HP. You don't need the elite upgrade as you can't afford it in most games anyway. Regen offsets their elephants a bit and still makes them very viable in castle, while their light cav can shine with wootz steel.
Glad to see so many appreciate Teuton scouts
Malay cavalry work only in a very limited time window. Good timing attacks can give you the momentum that change the match’s trajectory. (This lesson I learned from SoTL’s Malay Overview from years ago)
I won against Huns once by winning feudal with scout spear then going into pike elephants, catching my opponent off guard ( the elephants of surprise ). It’s always fun when you manage to make a situational bonus work
I personally love using Britons cavalry.
A common tactic I use is to slowly build up numbers over the course of a game, but not letting my opponent see I'm doing anything.
Then as I'm aging to imp I strike with siege to break down walls and watch as spear units come out in their Feudal form, never having been needed.
I think that Malay shouldn't be treated so harshly. To be honest, I really like to play them around those elephants. It doesn't really matter that you don't have those armor upgrades, elephants can tank arrows all day anyway. You can always go for elephants in castle age, and then switch to two handed swordsman in imp, where you invested in only 1 tech that won't be relevant - 1st armour.
Now is Dravidians' time!
Jokes aside, I would say Armenians are a slightly better cavalry civ than Japanese for the simple fact their eco scales better enough to make a Knight addition (Or support a Scout rush) easier in the mid-game
I would also remove Britons from the bottom 10, having the last armor is so much better than miss Hussars and Bloodlines is not even close, their eco doesn't directly help knight play but cheap TCs are always good.
The real surprise for me though is missing Celts, lacking Bloodlines and final Armor makes their cavalry so awful that it doesn't matter they have Hussars, great economy and Paladin, they are so garbage that the only time you'll ever make them is out of desperation. I would put them below Ethiopians personally because bad Camels with Royal Heirs are at least a better option than bad Paladins
Teuton overview or we riot
Wait for sponsorship
There IS a Teuton overview. Sure it is old however cut SOTL some slack
@@nnhoffingg way too old
I honestly love these videos. They throw so many fun curveballs
i like these in-depth videos, as a kid a good cavalry civilization was those who could have paladins and a cavalry unique unit
I tried to find the 10 worst cavalry civilizations in the game by reading the title of this video and before I got them, I found nine... I hadn't put the meso civs but I had added the Celts! And a tie for tenth place with Armenians and Japanese. I love this begening series !Tks
I would be interested in worst economy or worst naval civ next.
pausing because of the chock seeing MALAY at only fifth place. Im thrilled to keep watching now! oh boy oh really boi!
Yeah, I had a feeling _that_ civ would be number #1. The stable basically does maybe one feudal rush, replaces a lost scout, and... that’s it outside of niche strategies. XO
Digging the fresh outro 🎉
I also love a good castle age knight rush. Your videos are the best and have been for years
Imagine being able to build a stable and landing in the most worst spot behind the civs who can't build one.
That's because the video is lamely inaccurate
I want top 5 worst eco civs next
Spirit dissing elephants so much is the greatest betrayal in AoE2 history.
At least he mentions them, Steppe Lancers dont even get a single mention at all!
Babe wake up, new SoTL video just came out
I hope Age of Empires 2 gets a new expansion with new civs soon with some civ overhauls as well. Spirit of the Law deserves some new content to make videos on :P
I don't get your dravidians being worse than south american civs thing.
Even if dravidians stables tech tree is garbage, in no way it beats south americans needing to convert a stable to be able to produce a below average knight with no bloodlines or armor, that also costs the same amount of resources than an actual knight. But i do admit they look pretty cool tho, i wish they were viable sometimes.
Xolotl Warrior has something many others lack - style.
For when you get to Top 10 Worst Infantry, my #1 would be the Gurjaras. No Pikemen, no Blast Furnace, no Champions, no Squires, and no Gambesons. Their Castle Age UT might give them a low Food cost on THS's, but those THS's are utter crap due to the missing techs and have no other bonuses to compensate.
worst one is Tatars
Gurjaras docks are bad too
I would dispute the Gurjaras as the worst because they have the Chakram Thrower, which is a good option for dealing with pikes despite lacking squires and blast furnace, and can make a decent men-at-arms rush. It's not like the Tatars where the lack of chain mail and bonsuses really hurt the infantry line.
@@dannyv.8545 Tatars at least have halbs, which don't need armor as badly as champions since they're glass cannons anyways.
@@paulreiter7015 Chakrams honestly don't feel like your typical infantry in any event, even if they count as them. Plus Chakrams are crap against cavalry. They feel more like a Scorpion alternative.
@@darkdill They're still infantry units and still useful for the Gurjaras as their anti-infantry option, even without blast furnace or squires.That makes them a better infantry civ, for me, than the Khmer, the Persians, the Tatars or the Huns.
By comparsion, the lack of chain mail is really bad for the Tatars.
-Halbs die in one less hit against fully upgraded cavaliers, so they get one less attack
-They’re the only the only halbs that lose 1v1 against fully upgraded generic hvy camel riders
-Fully upgraded arbalasters defeat them in 5 shots, the same as pikeman with chain mail, one less than halbs with chain mail and two less than halbs and pikes with plate armor
-Elite skirmishers defeat them in 6 shots, one less than pikes and halbs with chain mail, two less than pikes with plate and three less than plate armored halbs
That’s pretty bad for unit meant to be anti-cavalry and a cheap meat shield
As for their champions,
-It takes 9 shots for fully upgraded arbalester to take them out, the same as Khmer (who are also a bottom 10 infantry civ) two-handed swordsmen, so one less than champions with chain and two handed swordsmen with chain and gambesons and it gets worse once plate armor starts getting taken into account (even the Persian long-swords, which are bad, take 15 shots)
-Tie against generic two-handed swordsmen with both blast furnace and plate armor despite champions being the more expensive upgrade
AOE2 has done a good job in terms of historic accuracy of lack of cavalry in regard to India. Historically Indian kingdoms notably Dravidians often struggled with lack of good native horse breeds and relied heavily on import. Same was the case with the Bengalis. It was always an Achilles heel. So it makes sense for them being worse cavalry civ. One of the few regions of India that was actually suitable for horse breeding was area from which Gurjaras originated and rose to power. Although unlike in AOE2 their mastery was more in heavy cavalry. One of the last cavalry charge was led by their descendants in WW1.
Justice for Battle Elephants and Elephant facts!
Brition light cav are pretty nice, actually. Not something you want to run solo, but a really good answer to your opponent's skirmisher/scorpion/onegers
If it's 'worst of' list, then it shouldn't be 'Top 10', rather it should be 'bottom 10'
You're not showing anti elephant bias, it's anti light cav bias.
While Xolotl are better in castle age, scouts/light cav with practically zero upgrades still do their jobs of scouting, fighting the relic war, and sniping siege, and in imperial I'd take wootz steel light cav over +4 +0/0 knights. If Xolotl benefited from infantry armor (and squires/arson, why not) then I think I would take them over wootz light cav.
I would say he is a bit hyper focused on Knights and because of it this list is a bit bad IMO. Malay who can win games with ele spam doesn't sound like bottom 5 to me. If you have legit, working strategy with cav it doesn't sound like one of the worse civ. It isn't much and I wont say it is best cav civ but they still can successfully go cavs...
@@Just_a-guy Malay can only win games with ele spam in low elo. Then again, given a big enough skill gap, you can win by only making supremacy villagers or petards. i'm 1300 and I saw malay rush win a game only once. If you watch high-ELO/Pro games you'll see people don't even attempt it there at all
@@DaddyMouse or in team games, im myself are mid player yet I can find successful ele rush from daut against strong opponents. It is not like Franks knight but they are usable and functional so I personally wouldn't say they are bottom 5
@@Just_a-guy Daut has also won multiple 1v1 tournament games with Korean hussar play. That doesn't make the Korean stable good, it just demonstrates that even a bad stable has its uses.
@@teddyhaines6613 I'm not talking about "youpudding" like strategy but elephant being viable option. They are as cheap as knight (with reverse cost so 75/53 food to gold in comparison to 60food and 75gold) yet offering great power ( double the hp with one pierce armour and trample dmg in melee). IMO they are valid options and for sure more than "bottom 5" and a lot of players (I'm talking about top players) successfully used them against other top players (Hera, MBL, Daut, Viper, Tatoh). They for sure are not power houses in terms of cav civ but they have huge potential IMO
the thumbnail is golden
Hey Spirit, Guys of the Law here!
Hey Spirit! Guys of the Law here ❤
I randomed Japanese on arena last night and got rolled by mayans 😢
I'm gonna say Aztecs and the other Mesoamerican have the worst cavalry.
ROtfl! They don't have cavalry let alone bad cavalry. 😂
The Eagle Warrior is a great stable unit.
@@PrasenjeetKumarAuthoraztec and incas get Xolotl warriors
Id argue they count for n/a
Shouldnt even be on the list.
@@andrewjessop6054
Technically Mayans do as well if they can somehow get a Stable.
Note the "somehow" part. I dunno how the game works these days but couldn't an ally gift them a Stable or something or is unit trading not a thing and is only done with Monks?
Personally I think that if you convert an enemy stable as a Meso civ, you should be able to research a tech in that stable that allows you to make your own. Big risk, big reward.
I would love a complete breakdown and analysis of the Heavy Camel Rider versus the Cavalier. Looking at the resource cost versus the unit stats, not factoring Civ bonus, they're really not that different. But Camels always seemed slower and of lesser value than Cavaliers. Insight from better and more knowledgeable players would be awesome.
You forgot mentionning that Dravidians don't have husbandry.
Despite Malay having some of the worst cavalry, I like finding opportunities to create Elephant rushes with their cheaper Battle Elephants in early castle age. 🐘
I love the idea of infantry armor applying to Xe’lato warriors. In the end, you need get redemption, to find a stable, convert it and keep it up. By then, you should deserve decent cavalry !
I always thought the Dravidians' Medical Corps tech should apply to both the elephants themselves AND units in a small radius around them. That's what a medical corps does, after all, and it could make their otherwise useless cavalry--and their related Castle Age unique tech--have an actual purpose.
The Dravidians with Wootz steel are amazing. I can't understand how you can't see that
The fact that a civ without stables can train something like knights but the Indian civs cant, really grinds my gears. We did have heavy cavalry, you know!
7:19
It would be cool if they got camel or elephant versions if the original owner of the stable had those kinds of units.
It's also funny to think drivavidian scouts are higher
damage than FU hussars against incas villagers, killing them with one less hit.
someone should make a mod that makes all units work like resources in the market. the more people buy, the more expensive they get. maybe the more of one type of unit you KILL, the less expensive it becomes for you.
would be fun seeing civs forced out of their favorite units because it becomes so expensive that it becomes better to build other stuff instead.
I had a feeling that the runner up wouldn't be the expected one.
I think these rankings depend a lot on elo, particularly for how highly you rate the knight. They crush at lower and mid elos, but once players can use monks and the speed on light cav well, then light cav + monk becomes a perfectly viable option.
The thumbnail is hilarious
Wait,did they make melee ratha vulnerable to skirms again?I thought they changed that
They never did. There was just some confusion about the wording of a balance change that made it so they'd get anti-skirmisher bonus damage in melee mode, or something to that effect.
Spirit of the la hire!!
I was expecting the Mesoamerican civs to be an honorary mention because technically they can't train cavalry, etc.
Because making them #1 would be too obvious... but I guess putting them in as the second worst works :D
That thumbnail is hilarious lmao
Hi Spirit. Ethiopians have an unique tech which helps their Camels against mounted units. I think you should have included that in your conclusion.
There has been something on my mind regarding the Saracens: Mamelukes weren't camel riders, historically. They were horse riders (melee units). I have an alternate solution for that. What if the devs rename the current inaccurate Mamelukes to Scimitar Slingers or something like that, and pull off what they did with the Persians and give their knight line a new upgrade: the Mamelukes. It can be a new design which they can also apply to the Saladin hero unit.
(Yes, I'm aware that Mamelukes weren't Arab but Turkish and Mamelukes should be given to them technically. Even if that happens, we still gotta do something about the current Mamelukes).
Also, if Daut and Spirit ever teamed up, they should call themselves, "Spirit of the Lawd".
It's a Dravidians battle to lose.
I would propose the Ethiopians to trade the 2nd armor upgrade for bloodlines.
Combined with their +100 food&gold bonus upon reaching feudal age, that could make a nasty feudal rush.
Tip - Use tier maker , will add a 'Visual Summary' to your 10 min video
It's not a tier list, it's a list. Like you don't put bread and eggs in S tier and milk in A tier and flour as B tier when shopping for groceries.
Now for the overviews it might make more sense but for these it's a list. They go in order.
For a civilization that for hundreds of years was known for their heavy cavalry, the fact that they're number 10 on the list of worst just hurts. I would take away light cavalry and give them fully upgraded paladins. I'd even take away one of their infantry bonuses if it meant having a good knight line. But it's the devs' decision to make.
Now we wait Infrantry Top 10 Worst list!
It seems SOTL forgot about the Ethiopian Castle Age Unique Technology, Royal Heirs, that lets their Camel Riders take -3 damage from all cavalry units. Against enemy cavalry, this tech compensates for their lack of Bloodlines and the last armor upgrade. Though overall I'd still prefer generic Camel Riders, this could, in my opinion, push Ethiopians outside of the list.
It's pronounced Rathaa (sanskrit pronunciation) or Rath (Hindi)
The first ra is similar to the first syllable of run. I would add the double a at the end to emphasize the longer 'a'. Maybe ruh-thaa?
Sotl smartly timed this with snake having baby and cant so easily strike back for dravidians
I think making a Top 10 Worst Infantry list would be really hard, since the only ones with at least one really big hole there I can think of are Gurjaras, Persians, Tatars and Turks. The rest are, at worst, just kind of below average but still usable to a noticeable extent. In fact, I don't think any civilization, except Gurjaras, miss both Champion AND Halberdier.
You could fast-castle, build 2 Monastaries, one at your base to tech Redemption, and one forward to make a monk, then quickly convert a stable Xolotol warriors could be a decent in early Castle age. Aztecs have their crazy eco/farming bonus, and Incas have their food discount, with Castle-age Handcannoneers (Slingers) to wreck Halberdiers. Not entirely a meme
Hating on the elephant is a BIG mistake though... They're coming 🐘🐘🐘
10 best and stranger Cavalry civs next video plz
You're bad, Dravidians, and you should feel bad.
You do know that Dravidians, Indians in general and Chinese basically rule the world?
This was likely the hardest bottom 10 list.
As just having knights in castle age and/or scouts in feudal, is useful period.
the fact that i called that somehow the aztecs, mayans and incas would somehow not be on the first spot
I learned something new today. I had no idea that American civs had a unique cavalry unit that can only be obtained in very specific ways. Now I'm just wondering how you can reliably get them because you can't just have your ally build a stable then convert it...right?
AMAZING thumbnail!
hi sotl, just wondering what your thoughts are on the EULA fiasco that's currently paralysing aoe2de players on steam?
Hey SoTL, Can you do ranking of the best civs for trash wars?
Honestly wondering what the choice was to design the Indian civs around not having knights, when heavy cavalry was used throughout the history of South Asia. And Dravidians not having Elite Battle Elephants is the cherry on top.
Traditionally Indians did not use many heavy cavalry since 3rd-4th century. It's mostly light cavalry, elephant and infantry based armies. When the Portugese first arrived in india they were shocked at how much money Indians were spending in buying horses from Arabia and most of them dying within few years as the climate was not very easy for the horses and many native horses are smaller.
this now makes me hope they add the tlaxcaltecs to the game so they can be the one lone american civ with stables
dravidians light cavalry push with wootz steel is op if you guard them with siege