Arquero Elefante Élite

Slow and durable, the Elite Elephant Archer is the toughest archer unit in the game. This durability comes at a cost, however: it is the most expensive archer unit in the game considering civilization bonuses. It does not come with an increased offensive capability in exchange for this cost, with the same attack and basic rate of fire as the Heavy Cavalry Archer. An army of Elite Elephant Archers will have dramatically more hit points, but a fraction the offensive power of an equal-cost army of standard archer units. However, the strength of this unit relies on its population-efficiency rather than on cost effectiveness. Compared to its predecessor, the Elite Elephant Archer has +50 (+21.7%) hit points, +1 attack, and +15% accuracy, all of which make it a very important upgrade. Like the other elephant units, Elite Elephant Archers are highly vulnerable to Halberdiers and Monks. Being also a mounted archer, they are highly vulnerable against Elite Skirmishers. Furthermore, Flaming Camels deal bonus damage, for a total of 200 damage against elephant units, and are thus simply lethal for packed groups of Elite Elephant Archers. While vulnerable to said counter units, they survive against other units much better than do other archer units. While most foot and mounted archers die to the Onager in one and two shots, respectively, Elite Elephant Archers can take five and still barely survive. Their huge size also means that Onagers are hitting only a few units at once. While the example of the Onager is an extreme case, their resilience to attacks is nonetheless far greater than most archers. In addition to their hit points, they have 2 pierce armor naturally, which makes them stronger against archers. Compared to melee elephants, whose biggest counters are Monks, the Elite Elephant Archer at least has a fighting chance, unlike melee elephants which get converted before reaching the Monks. The Elite Elephant Archer's high hit points dictate that it should be used as a damage sponge, like the War Elephant. However, being ranged means that they will be at the back of formations most times. This can be circumvented by using units with even more range. While Crossbowmen fulfill that criteria, it is impractical to use two units fulfilling the same role. Good examples include Monks and ranged siege weapons. This was a design issue for the Indians, as they had three units fulfilling the ranged support role, i.e. Elite Elephant Archers, Heavy Cavalry Archers, and Hand Cannoneers, any combination of which could not achieve much more than they would on their own. Each civilization that has access to the Elite Elephant Archer has bonuses and unique technologies that may make their use a bit different. However, since none of these civilizations have Parthian Tactics, it will be ignored. === === Bengali Elite Elephant Archers specialize in defense, receiving -25% bonus damage and conversion resistance, as well as all relevant Blacksmith and Stable technologies. This makes them a highly efficient option, as it enables them to resist Halberdiers and Monks (in some cases even defeating them, if those counter-units are deployed in similar numbers). Their unique technology Paiks increases their fire rate by 20%, more than offsetting the fire rate boost of Thumb Ring, which they lack. They are still limited to 85% accuracy, which is manageable. While they can still serve a defensive role, and can be reasonably effective when massed in the late game, they are still vulnerable to Elite Skirmishers due to the huge bonus damage they take, which can limit all-in use. === === Dravidian Elite Elephant Archers are the most offensively powerful of the three. They do not get access to Bloodlines, rendering them comparatively vulnerable when facing melee damage. However, they fare better against ranged attacks than the Gurjaras, which do not have Ring Archer Armor. With all attack technologies, plus their civilization bonus that makes Elite Elephant Archers fire 25% faster, they are the fastest-firing archers in the game, slightly outclassing even Mongol mounted archers. This makes them the most reasonable choice as the bulk of an army, rather than as a damage sponge, even being more cost-efficient than Arbalesters against some high-armor units. Even better, they regenerate 30 hit points per minute after Medical Corps is researched, which roughly compensates for the lack of Bloodlines, and can make them an extremely efficient option in the long term, if protected. === === Gurjara Elite Elephant Archers are the easiest to deploy of all three as they start with +25% faster creation speed due to their team bonus, and can cost with their Kshatriyas technology. However, their improvement options in the Imperial Age make them significantly different to the other two civilizations' Elite Elephant Archers. Firstly, they lack Ring Archer Armor, but have the Frontier Guards technology, the latter of which increases their Elephant Archers' (and Heavy Camel Riders') melee armor by +4 for a total of +3 over other Elite Elephant Archers and is much more expensive. Hence, they are relatively weaker against archers but more resilient against melee units, especially Hussars. Next, they have access to Heresy but not Faith. While Gurjara Elite Elephant Archers have several potent bonuses, their broadly poor late game, high technology investment, and the presence of the Elite Shrivamsha Rider unit (which broadly fills the same anti-archer role) makes this a particularly niche unit to justify. === Comparison among civilizations === { Civilization Cost Time Hit points Armor 0+3/2+4 0+3/2+4 Firing rate 1.7 Accuracy 100% 100% Extras Receive -25% bonus damageResistant to conversion (die upon getting converted) } ; Similarities: * Pierce attack - 7+4 * Range - 4+3 * Attack bonus - none * Speed - 0.99