Monje

Lacking any means to attack, Monks are one of only two units able to convert others' units to the player's side, the other being the Spanish Missionary. They also heal allied units and the player's own units, except for ships and mechanical siege weapons. Initially weak, Monks can be powered up quite a bit by researching all technologies in the Monastery. Among all civilizations, the Aztecs have the strongest Monks in late game, having access to all religious technologies and receiving an extra 5 hit points for each one researched. If every technology is researched, Aztec Monks have hit points — more than twice as much as a regular Monk with Sanctity. The Bengalis also have good Monks, especially against Villagers, against whom they have 40% more survival than post-Imperial Aztec Monks. The Spanish Missionary also becomes very beefy on account of benefiting from Bloodlines, which is a cheap and commonly researched technology, while gaining a notorious durability benefiting from cavalry armor upgrades. The Bohemians, Saracens, and Spanish also have unique technologies that benefit their Monks. Burmese, Byzantine, Lithuanian, and Teuton Monks are also fairly effective, benefiting from both Monastery technologies and team bonuses. Though having no direct advantages, Portugese Monks are the cheapest, and they can research technologies which benefit Monks faster. The Monk is a versatile unit that plays a number of important roles from the Castle Age onward, including the collection of Relics, harassing opposing resource nodes, disrupting opponents lines, dissuading aggression by Knights and other expensive melee units, and healing injured friendly units.