Best top 3 Paladin Civs? (pick only 3 and no more)
- Byzantines
- Burgundians
- Celts
- Cumans
- Franks
- Huns
- Lithuanians
- Magyars
- Persians
- Spanish
- Teutons
0 voters
4 Likes
Do you know that Celt paladins have 100% win rate in hidden cup 4? They are beastly
20 Likes
Oof…I wish the pie chart was more rainbow-like instead of all blue-black-white.
If any AoE forum moderator is reading this message: PLEASE make the pie chart have many colors!
4 Likes
This is pretty obvious.
1 Like
Pie charts with different shades of the same colour are more accessible for people with colour blindness. Though I agree that pie charts with different colours is better suited for everyone else.
1 Like
Please, if you have nothing to say, don’t write. Your message does not provide anything to start a coversation or to provide any information or anything useful
2 Likes
Franks und Lithuanians are very obvious.
I think Teutons are overrated (but still good). Melee armor doesn’t matter a lot for teamgames and lower speed is quite a downside - and in 1v1s Paladin itself doesn’t matter too much. They’re still good, but i’d prefer other options.
Went for Persians as my number 3 in the end, because they chew through Arbs (needing 2 instead of 3 hits) and have a nice boom. Cumans have nice Paladins with +5% Speed, but are weird to play (not being able to help teammates early game, or not using any bonus). Huns and Magyars are great, but “only” have vanilla FU Palas lategame. So I think Persians is a good #3-choice 
Also depends how much you value the civ as a whole or make it only about have the best possible Paladin in the end.
5 Likes
Franks are still going to be the best and most used paladin in the game thanks to the amount of advantages (Free Mill upgrades, +20%HP, Chivalry, Team Bonus…).
2 Likes
Franks
They have a good eco, don’t need to spend on BL, more HP, extra LOS and maybe the best UT for a cav civ. Simple and effective
Liths
The free extra dmg from relics is great, and the food boost on start and faster monastery helps them to get them… average eco (a little above average with relics but def not great) but probably the best knight line on the game
Persians
I just prefer them rather than teutons, teutons are great, but have no husbandry and slower paladins are easier to counter with halbs, also the extra dmg to archers its very good. Both Persians and Teuton have great boom and eco
Teuton armor makes the halb kill one hit slower. It meets an important threshold.
7 Likes
Lithuanians are generic without relics, so I’m going to throw them out of the equation. They’re definitely strong, and potential to be great, but not always.
That leaves Franks, Teutons, and Cumans. Franks best I think, but depends situationally. If there’s walls or forced fights, Teutons for sure. Cumans definitely top tier where you’re using the mobility though. No question.
1 Like
Persian Paladin would still need 3 hits vs Arbs. 20-3 = 17 net attack. Two hits will leave Arbs with 6 hp. Only a Lithuanian 3+ relic paladin with a Persian ally can kill the Arbalest in 2 hits. Huns have 20% faster stables, that helps u get upgrades faster and the units are produced about 4 seconds sooner.
The +2 attack helps against Cavalry archers of all civs, chu ko nus, plumed archers and all cav archer UUs. But against vanilla Arbalests, its not very useful.
3 Likes
Yes, but thats something you can only say when you get paladins, cavaliers vs halbs and knights vs pikes die the same… its an expensive upgrade
Not to mention archers that have more time to fire on them. This doesn’t mean I dislike teuton, but I value husbandry higher than +2armor.
I would say FU Cuman paladin its better than both Teuton and Persia, but its harder for them to get there
Whoops, dont even know what I was calculating xD
You’re right, probably Huns are a tiny bit better.
It’s on preference, so whatever, but you’re highly underestimating the general effect of the extra armor and the conversion resistance. Knight v Knight matchups are a huge pain against Teutons and monks are worse in that role. Teutons also have a great siege tree that benefits from the conversion resistance.
In all, it’s hard to combat the Knight from Teutons in Castle age and that saves them resource for Imperial. Not to mention, their much cheaper farms make their food eco extremely robust. When they do get there, it’s practically a mistake to use any unit that doesn’t hard counter them, as Hussars, generic Champions, Eagles, and most melee UU’s do practically nothing. Paladin tends to be a win button in lategame, and Teutons stick the button on when they smash it.
also, it’s not just halb, Heavy camel rider takes an extra hit to kill a teuton paladin too.
2 Likes
You say that, but there is already much debate in the comments below on things like “Hunnic Paladins are better than Teutonic Paladins” or “No, Persian Paladins are much better” and so on.
Personally went for Lithuanians, Franks, Persians.
Although maybe my approach misunderstood the question in the thread, as I prefer to also look at the civ surrounding the Knight/Paladin, rather than just the Knight/Paladin.
Lithuanians obvious #1 for me, because if the game goes lategame, you have really strong trash units, besides the faster skirms with ridiculous pierce armor makes archer civs seem a whole lot less scary. The relic bonus is also nice, since you usually want to contest relics anyway (or the very least, not let the opponent get all 5…), the extra attack you get out of it is just a nice bonus for sure. The 150 extra food is obviously a nice dark age bonus.
Franks #2 for me, because the forage bonus is still nice, the free farm upgrades are really nice, it saves a bit of eco, a bit of attention, the cheaper castles are very useful in either going forward and dropping it on the enemy, or defensively, very flexible. The TA can be a nice complement for your knights if the enemy goes heavy on pikes. All around can’t complain.
Persians #3 for me, even though the Teuton Knight clearly beats a Persian Knight, for me the Persians just have a better flexibility/less one dimensional than Teuton civ. You get Light Cav and Hussar, you get Trashbows, so if the game goes lategame, you’re in a much better spot than Teutons, who get only Scout Cavalry. For me this is a big deal, as the raiding potential of Scout Cav is negligible, while Persians get FU Hussar for late game raids. Both civs have no bracer for their skirms, but the Trashbow is still great. Although the Teutons have a nice conversion resistance bonus as their TB, I prefer to be able to make light cav than to rely on a dice roll, but this can be quite subjective.
1 Like
But those Teutonic Scout Cavalry have extra armor. 
Okay…joking aside, I enjoy reading these arguments that you and others here in the comments are making about Persian Paladins being rather good. From my experience with Persian Paladins, they just seem like generic Paladins with a simple +2 extra bonus attack to enemy archers, and I just always felt that Teutonic Paladins are just more cost-effective since they can survive melee fights better.
With that said…it is TRUE that Teutonic Paladins do suffer a bit. When compared to Frankish Paladins, Teutonic Paladins grossly are outclassed due to the former have faster speed (i.e. having Husbandry) and more hit points than the latter. Cuman Paladins, being the fastest of all Paladins can also perfom some toe-to-toe actions with Teutonic Paladins, simply by being faster when switching to new targets. Spirit of the Law made me realize this when he made his “Who has the best Paladins” YouTube video. Still…the fact that Teutonic Paladins get that sweet extra melee armor makes them no slouches in the heavy cavalry role. Franks are #1 Paladin civ because their Paladins live the longest of any Paladin. Lithuanians, assuming 4 Relics, do get the best attacking Paladins, but if the opponent(s) are smart enough, they can keep the Lithuanian player away from the Relics which robs the Lithuanians of one of their key advantages.
Now…in regards to the CIVS in general and not just their Paladins, Teutons are quite good with their cheaper farms, and their access to so many Eco-techs. Persians do get extra work rate on their Vills, which can make them have a killer eco in late game. Cheap crossbows are also not shabby, albeit they are not Arbalests and have no Bracer in Post-Imperial Age fights.
Relic bonus is limited to +4 attack
I know. What I meant that was you usually don’t want your opponent to get all 5 relics, in most situations, regardless whether you are Lithuanians or not.