Which civ in AOE2: DE has the best and worst monks?

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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Hello. In AOE2: DE, i often play with Monks and love to convert units. I just want to know that which civilization has the best and worst monks. In my mind, these are the best number wise:

1#. Aztecs
2#. Spanish
3#. Bohemians
4#. Slavs/Bengalies
5#. Lithuanians/Burmese

The worst monk civs:

Persians, Mongols, Huns, Goths, Vikings are in my mind now.

Any opinion?

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My top 5:

  • Aztecs
  • Portuguese
  • Bengalis
  • Bohemians
  • (Burmese) (EDIT: I put Teutons instead)

My bottom 5:

  • Persians
  • Mongols
  • Bulgarians
  • Vikings
  • Celts

PS:

  • I am not often playing with monks
  • I based my ranking a lot around mid game.
  • I ranked Spanish lower than you because of the castle requirement. Bohemians still make my list because I think trash monks can be used to counter siege late game when lacking gold, whereas I wouldnt use Spanish monks in late game.
  • I think lacking atonement (and to a lesser extend block printing) are big drawback, just like lacking Redemption or Sanctity. Because you may have more hp, but if you are unable to convert monks (in addition to mangonels), it kind of sucks on arena.
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For me, the best Monks are Spanish ones. They convert so fast with Inquisition that the opponent just doesn’t know what hit them. Second is Aztecs, because of the extra hit points. Bohemian Monks are really good too.

I suppose the worst ones would be the Mongol, Hun, and Viking Monks, because of how many different techs they’re missing.

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Tatars have bad Monks and they’re the only civ without heresy and faith so Tatar units are pretty vulnerable to monks

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Overall, i rank Aztec monks as best since i think the biggest weakness of a monk is its low hit points. Aztec monks are strong in both Castle and Imperial age due to that bonus. With Aztecs monks, i basically feel too much protective too convert units and often dauntlessly convert Galleons, Archers and Cavalry.

Spanish monks are good too but after the Inquisition Unique tech that requires a Castle and an an upgrade. The missionary isn’t much good either. Despite of that tech, Spanish monks still struggle against strong units due to their hp which Aztecs monks don’t.

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Monk in AOE 2 it weaker than AOE 1 so much :))). And not popular need change many things for it more popular :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:. A lot of monk just use for elephant

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Strongest 5 imo:
0. Spanish: Missionaries and Inquision.

  1. Bengalis: THE best monks in early castle age, bar none
  2. Aztec: Extra HP, but takes a little while to get there
  3. Burmese: The monks are not stronger than FU, but the relic bonus and monastery discount is great
  4. Teutons: The range is rarely appreciated, but really strong
  5. Bohemians: Food monks is nice in late game

Weakest imo:
Vikings, Mongols, Dravidians, Persians: Miss Redemption, and at least one of Sanctity and Fervor

Slightly better, still bottom tier: Goths, Celts

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You are biased to say Dravidians are weakest, they miss only 4 techs.
While you missed civs which miss more techs: Sicilians(5), Tatars (5)

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It is not only about techs, but also about which techs.

But I agree that Dravidians do not look like bottom 5, I would much rather have the HP of sanct than Fervor speed.

This is a good catch, Teutons are definitely top 5 thanks to their innate conversion resistance.

I would put them in my list instead of Burmese. Burmese are a discutable pick anyways because their tech discount partially replace the eco bonus of other civs: what they saved for monks techs, other civs maybe saved it already during Feudal (Teuton Farms, Bohemians villagers, …).

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Teutonic monks are good but i don’t think they are much good to become a monk rush civlization. They don’t have a particular bonus for their monks (tghir team bonus is mostly useful for units rather than for monks). Thats why i excluded teutons. I think Aztecs as the Top one monk rush civ due to their good relic bonus, all techs available and strong hp (Hp is the most weakest point of monk). For me, Spanish come later.

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Which is fair. I am not pretending having the undisputable list.

I decided to include Teutons for their conversion resistance, which should be great for monks (and monks + mangonels) battles.

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They do, though. People usually forget this, but teutonic monks have double healing range. One of the interesting implications of this is that you won’t be able to see your opponent’s units getting healed if you are going to fight with just knights.

If your opponent doesn’t have good ranged units, it’s usually worth it to bring a few monks just to heal from a range.

Correct. You can just miss redemption, sanctity and fervour and have everything else, and you’d still be bottom tier.

I’ve made my criteria clear on that comment. Any civ that misses redemption, and at least one of speed and HP are bottom tier for me. Extra HP is nice against knights, but pretty useless against scouts. Extra speed is perfect for collecting relics, and running away after conversions. You need both, imo.

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I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Byzantine monks. Definitely in my top 5.

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@filtercoffee488, now i seem to agree with you. Now i think excluding teutonic monks from top would be unfair. And i think Byzantine monks also deserve a place here. I though put Aztec monks at top 1#. Teutonic monks at 4#, 5# or #6.

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For monk rushes:
#1. Portuguese → -20% gold cost.
#2. Burmese → cheaper techs
#3. Slavs → extra movement speed / Bengalis → extra armor
#4. Bohemians → Free mining upgrades and previously, cheaper monasteries. Fervour and Sanctity benefit villagers… further incentivizing you to get them
#5. Teutons → Conversion resistance + healing range / Lithuanians → Faster monasteries

Using monks defensively:
#1. Slavs / Bengalis
#2. Aztecs
#3. Teutons → Healing range, conversion resistance and free herbal medicine
#4. Portuguese
#5. Byzantines → healing speed, cheaper imperial upgrade (which helps you get monk techs like illumination, theocracy and block printing sooner) /

Lithuanians → Faster Monasteries

Late game monks:
Must have all monk techs plus maybe something extra. Herbal medicine is optional. Not having Heresy is a deal breaker here.

#1. Spanish → Missionary, inquisition, gold bonuses (trade and researches provide more gold, blacksmith upgrades don’t cost gold)
#2. Aztecs → +5 HP per monk tech which involves getting very expensive techs (like Heresy and Faith) to reach their full 95 HP
#3. Bohemians (tech to make them cost food, villagers benefit from fervour and sanctity (related but not actively used). Trade bonus helps get trade out sooner too.
#4. Teutons
#5. Byzantines

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I disagree with Aztecs being number one. They really need a lot of Monk techs to get really tanky, and that’s not something all that feasible with monk rushes.

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Hmm… fair enough. I agree that Aztecs get no immediate bonus for their monks. But for a monk rush, we typically need Sanctity, fervour and redemption, right? The Aztec economy is good… but yeah, I see your point. I’ll edit the list.

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Bengalis are the strongest for monk rushes and it isn’t even close. On top of +3/+3 armour on monks, bengalis also resist bonus damage from scout cavalry. On top of those, they also get conversion resistance once they get their UT.

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What? The only one of these that Bengalis actually have is the +3/+3 armor. The bonus damage resistance is for elephants, as is the conversion resistance, and they don’t have a UT that affects conversion resistance.

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Armenians will be the strongest with the upcoming new uu.
May the force be with you.

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