Persians overview (Aoe2) – updated for 2023!

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Shout out to Squarespace for sponsoring  this video hey guys Spirit of the law here   in this overview we’re going to be looking  at the recently revamped and re-energized   Persians [music] Persians these days are  comfortably a top tier civilization following

Some recent buffs that had a dramatic impact  on both their 1v1 win and play rate on the   ladder now while it’s true that 1v1 stats are  usually the standard when talking about balance   I should note they’re actually performing  the best right now in team games and are

Especially crushing things on michi which  really plays to all of their strengths it’s   pretty good for a civilization that doesn’t  even have bracer let’s check them out [Music] to start things off their team bonus is that their  Knights have plus two attack against archers the

Term Archer here is used very Loosely including  skirmishers Cavalry archers hand caners and every   variant of those you can think of the effect  of this can be quite profound and in Castle for   example it means a Persian teams Knights take out  crossbows one attack sooner with three instead of

Four hits while that doesn’t always help against  massed crossbows that are one shotting your   Knights for cleaning up feudal archers or taking  slightly better engagements it’s a handy bonus   especially in team games where Knight and crossbow  meta is quite popular moving on to their C bonuses

The first two I consider strongly linked together  creating a super economy package for Persians   first they start with plus 50 wooden food adding  in a faster work rate on your town center in dock

A third effect here is you also have double HP on  Town centers and docks as well and maybe the most   infamous use of this is to delete your starting  Town Center partway through Dark Age and then   rebuild it beside your opponent given Persian  double HP with similar villager numbers your

Opponent’s Town Center will always go down first  without repairing while it also means repairing   your own Town Center is cheaper since the cost is  tied to the percent of HP repaired it’s a risky   all-in strategy but you can’t talk about Persians  without mentioning it the faster work rate though

Is among the best booming bonuses in the game  in Dark Age with a typical fetal Advance time   you’re usually up by 1 villager already from a  5% faster TC absorbing your extra 50 starting   food but leading into a dangerous Scout Rush  which is by far the most popular way to play

Persians online in feudal age and Beyond the  bonus actually grows in its effect size with   a fast Castle under three four or even five Town  centers all getting that plus 15% and this is when   your villager count can really start to snowball  one thing I should note about this bonus though

Is that it doesn’t mean you’re going to have 15%  more resources to work with in the mid game in   fact usually not floating more resources than  other civilizations as remember you have to pay   for those extra villagers and farms and with  villagers coming out 4 seconds faster it’s an

Unusually resource hungry boom I’ve modelled this  before and found in a pure booming situation by   25 minutes you should be somewhere around nine  villagers ahead of your opponents but once you   factor in those villagers cost you’re only ahead  of a generic Civilization by about 150 resources

It’s when you stop at that 130 villagers let’s say  while your opponent has 110 and is still creating   more that this bonus really leads to a flood  of resources keep in mind your Advanced times   are also sped up saving anywhere from 6 seconds  going up to feudal and your research time for

Wheelbarrow and Town Center Etc are also slightly  faster of course a lot of this applies to the dock   as well giving them a better than average fish  boom made even easier with some extra starting   wood while also functioning as a bit of a naval  military bonus helping you Mass ships faster than

An opponent on the same number of docks or get  upgrades like War galley just those couple of   seconds earlier combined with the Town Center  boost this makes them a dangerous civilization   on both hybrid and water Maps moving on their  next bonus is a new one and it’s that parthan

Tactics is available in Castle age not only does  this help their attack against Spear units but   the plus two armor means they take just three  damage from crossbows instead of five leading   to much better trades there’s an argument they’re  among the best Castle AG Cavalry archers though

Of course don’t forget Persians are missing bracer  in Imperial AG this ties in very nicely with their   next SI bonus which is the cavalry including  Cavalry archers generate five gold per enemy   unit killed an hour plus 1v1 game can easily get  into the range of 500 or 700 units lost on both

Sides and if even half of those are military units  killed by Persian Cavalry whether it be the knight   line camels hazards war elephants or cavalry  archers we’re talking on a scale of 1,500 or   more gold comparable in total to having an extra  Relic for most of the game of course this doesn’t

Include any villager picks when raiding but it’s  another completely passive bonus that just throws   a few more resources at Persians for using units  they were probably already going to make their   final bonus then becomes another gold bonus this  time unlocking the caravanserai this building is

Only available to hindustanis and Persians and  heals and speeds up passing trade cards by 20%   making them harder to raid and improving your gold  income at the same time this even works on ally   trade cards as well though if there’s one drawback  is that they cost 50 Stone each in addition to 175

Wood so covering a trade route on a 2v2 map  puts you back about 400 Stone and covering   the side of a 4v4 map would be nearly the stone  cost of a castle plus a lot of wood the payoff

Is substantial though and for a 4v4 game with say  40 trade cards per player this could be worth for   your team collectively 800 more gold per minute  in theory so it’s generally worth doing if you   can afford it so that’s the Persian bonuses and  if there’s one recurring theme so far it’s really

That your economy is going to be very strong next  though you need to decide what to spend all those   resources on which is where their expensive  unique units enter the scene let’s take a look   at those starting with the war elephant these are  of course the classic example of an expensive but

Very population efficient unit stats-wise you’re  getting over three times the HP of a paladin a   third more damage when fully upgraded and 50%  trample damage to adjacent units of course they   cost over 250 resources each with an elephant size  emphasis on food and the elite upgrade is also

Quite expensive keep in mind their tanky stats can  be slightly misleading here as they take a lot of   extra bonus damage from spear units scorpions and  a few anti-cavalry Specialists including tatar’s   flaming camel one hidden advantage to be aware  of though is they actually deal a lot of bonus

Damage to buildings between High melee attack  adding in plus 30 against all buildings plus   another 30 against what the game calls Stone  defenses including walls towers and Gates but   for some reason not castles for comparison a cap  dram has 150 bonus versus buildings so while the

War elephant isn’t quite on that level it’s still  a nice bonus thrown in for an already strong unit   to give a b of perspective they are cost effective  against paladins even outnumber two to one not   just ending with about 2/3 of their HP left but  not even a single elephant goes down outnumber

2 to one by halberdiers they actually still do  okay and even 3 to1 they can still technically   win this isn’t necessarily cost effective for the  elephants but stopping a large elephant army with   halberdiers takes longer than you might think  partly because trample damage is so effective

Against large numbers of low HP units you might  think their slow speed could then be exploited   by archers but it turns out they need over three  times the number of arrows as a paladin and almost   nine times a hussar so again while it works in  theory and genoese crossbows specifically do

Okay in general archers are not as effective as  you might think even if they have bracer instead   it’s monks best equipped to exploit the elephant  slow speed and the only thing worse than losing   your 250 resource elephant unit is immediately  having to fight it after a conversion as noted

Earlier Persians aren’t necessarily floating a lot  of extra resources in the mid game despite having   more villagers so war elephants are pretty rare  in Castle age and I’d even say 1v1s in general   for team games like black forest or michi though  where pop efficiency is King they’re reasonably

Common to see and can be quite effective when  paired with bombard cannons or hazards to handle   enemy monks in Siege competing for your attention  though is another Imperial age unique unit this   time a Persian specific slightly modified reskin  of the Paladin this is what Persians upgrade their

Cavaliers to and it offers two major advantages  and one disadvantage the disadvantage is it has   15 less HP and actually ends up being a little  worse in some melee situations than the Paladin   it’s not a massive Difference by any means but  against Pikeman for example they go down one

Hit sooner though notably they beat paladins  one-on-one thanks to a slightly faster attack   rate on the flip side their first Advantage is  they’re a bit cheaper and even a little faster   to upgrade than Paladin so you hit that power  Spike sooner making it also easier to upgrade

While continuing to build up numbers its other  main advantage is it’s just all around better   against archers not only does it have one more  Pierce armor which has a pretty large percentage   impact on their damage taken per Arrow but they  also get an enhanced version of the Persian team

Bonus having not just plus two but a secret plus  five against archers which means they can take   out arbalesters and Elite skirmishers in two hits  as opposed to three despite having lower HP it’s   clearly the better unit against anything ranged  or especially Town centers where they take just

One instead of two damage per Arrow making even  just a few of them very frustrating to clear out   unless you have spear units or camels on hand  now that slight extra weakness to Pikeman and   halberdiers sounds a little rough on paper but  Persians actually have a few good ways to deal

With that one way is with Cavalry archers another  is hand caners or instead you could use their   first unique Tech commander on this swaps the  crossbows gold cost with extra wood giving them   the affectionate name trash bows per Persians  are missing bracer don’t forget so they’re not

The best crossbows in the world but with up to  eight attack plus three more unblockable damage   to Spears they can do the job while conserving  your gold typically Elite skirmishers play an   anti-par role for most civilizations but even  without bracer the crossbow has one more attack

So especially if there’s Champions or anything  else with even modest Pierce armor around the   crossbow feels significantly more well-rounded  the other Persian unique Tech is citadels giving   various attack improvements including bonus damage  to your castles while also letting them take 25%

Less bonus damage from things like trebuchet  and Rams now something you may not have run   into before is Captain Siege Rams add a bit of  resistance to anti-ram bonus damage with Siege   Rams actually negating the Persian Tech entirely  but against infantry Persians deal almost double

The damage after this Tech and about 50% more  damage to any raiding hussars just remember your   missing bracer so your castles are harder hitting  but a bit shorter range and again totally generic   against Siege ramps on top of this they also take  three extra shots from trebuchet thanks to taking

Less bonus damage so that’s the unique units in  TX which combined to give you the foundation of   a powerful and generally cost-efficient Lake game  Army Persians actually have a pretty nice Tex in   general as well and let’s take a look at that  now starting with the archers opening with an

Early archery range or two is a very reasonable  play with fully upgraded crossbows and as we saw   arguably among the best Cavalry archers in Castle  age thanks to Plus Pierce armor while you lack   bracer and arbalester in Imperial their crossbows  can then have their gold cost removed and arguably

The Cavalry Archer are still viable in Imperial  age given they generate Gold Plus don’t forget   the hand Canon ear if you’re getting overrun  by halberdiers yes they lack bracer but there’s   enough here I think it’s still a solid B+ moving  on to infantry Persians somewhat randomly lack

Two-handed swordsman which is a funny combo with  getting supplies and gambesons for some excellent   long swords that go nowhere basically the  halberdier is fine and the long sword technically   still beats Elite Eagle Warriors in the late  game one-on-one though usually players avoid the

Persian swordsman line for obvious reasons I’d  say it’s a C+ for infantry next up for Cavalry   you basically have a full Tech Tree obviously  missing a few Regional units but have camels   as well as their unique Paladin replacement like  I said earlier the safest Persian play is to go

Scouts and their night and or camel spam is also  quite solid late game they have a ton of great   options to the point they’re almost in a class of  Their Own with various good supporting units to

Handle Cavalry counters as well I’d say it’s an  A+ and they’re at the moment quite possibly the   best Cavalry civilization in my opinion moving  on to Siege the variety is surprisingly good   for a Cavalry Civ though unfortunately you’re  missing Siege Engineers losing that plus one

Range hurts there’s no way around it and it’s  almost like you’re missing bracer on your siege   at the same time I’m actually tempted to mention  the war elephant here now given all of its anti-b   building damage plus the ability to tank a lot  of arrow fire altogether I’d say it’s a b next

Up for the Navy again the tech tree is awesome but  keep in mind you’re missing bracer early game you   have double HP docks that work slightly faster and  you also start with a little extra wood for a very

Clean dark age as well while there’s no direct  Galley or fire galley bonus I think there’s still   a very competitive a minus on water early late  game you lack ship R and that one range upgrade   that you’re probably sick of me saying but still  have the dock work rate bonus for faster creation

I’d say it slips to a solid but not amazing B on  water for a B+ overall taking a quick look at the   monks Persians actually have among the worst  monasteries lock printing without Redemption

Is a bit of a troll and in fact the tech you’re  probably most likely to get here is Faith as that   can be handy for Cavalry albeit at a high cost I’d  say it’s a c minus but probably could be an F next

Up for defenses they have pretty brutal towers and  also no fortified walls with of course brace for   it yes lacking bracer don’t forget the double Town  Center HP though making them harder to push with   Castle a Siege and their new Imperial AG unique  Tech giving castles improved attack albeit with

A bit shorter range the Caravanserai could also be  included here as it helps resist raiding so it’s a   mix of some advantages but also glaring holes I’d  say it averages out to a middling C+ with lacking

Fortified walls in particular being able to bite  you on Arena or black forest and finally for their   trash units that is units that don’t cost gold  again they’re just missing bracer on skirmishers   and crossbows I’d say that’s more than made up for  by having hazards generate gold with each military

Unit killed letting you sneak in the odd extra  Siege unit plus of course crossbows also factor   in is a trash unit here costing just wood and  doing much better against things like Champions   than skirmishers I like it enough for an A and  especially with the new gold generation would

Be very happy to get into a trash War as Persians  these days so to give some final thoughts there’s   no question the recent rework and overhaul has  turned Persians into a Powerhouse especially   in team games their extra starting resources and  faster town center give them a strong start with

Scouts or a fast Castle being the most standard  strategy depending on the map their night spam   with a bonus against archers also makes them a  top tier pocket in team games arguably even the   best choice at the moment once you factor in the  Savar and caravanserai their Cavalry archers have

Also turned into a very intriguing option with  their two new bonuses and were lacking bracer   is sometimes a kiss of death for Cavalry archers  in this case it doesn’t feel like it has to be   a deal breaker combining their strong stable and  archery range they’re definitely not a one trick

Pony with a knight line having several powerful  late game units including gunpowder with many   good unit combinations depending on what you’re  up against everyone loves to have options after   all which was also a founding principle in  my newest online side hustle Spirit of the W

With over 500 unique guitar pedals that can be  mixed and matched just like late game Persian   units it even has a great website thanks to  this video sponsor Squarespace where websites   traditionally take a lot of technical knowledge  to set up and maintain Squarespace is a tool to

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Squarespace.com/spiritofthelaw to save 10% off  your first purchase of a website or domain so   hopefully that was a useful overview of the revamp  Persians and that like a good elephant you’ll   never forget that Persians lack bracer thanks for  watching guys and I’ll see you next time [Music] —
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