“ | All-purpose infantry unit. | ” |
—Age of Empires II description |
The Champion is an infantry unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Barracks once the Imperial Age is reached. It is the final tier in the Militia line.
Availability chart[]
Available | Unavailable |
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|
- x means that the civilization gets fully upgradeable Champions. The technologies being considered here are Blast Furnace, Plate Mail Armor, Gambesons, and Squires.
- + means that the civilization gets some civilization or team bonus or a unique technology that benefits the combat strength of the Champion.
Overview and tactics[]
The Champion has an attack bonus against buildings and the Eagle-line, and is even more powerful when used in conjunction with Rams.
As the final upgrade for the Militia, and the second upgrade in the Imperial Age, the Champion upgrade offers +10 hit points. While the upgrade is moderately pricy, the impact of the upgrade is worth it unless the Champion is not meant to be a mainstay of the player's army.
With additional armor for melee combat coupled with an attack rarely superseded by other infantry, the Champion is a good unit when complemented with other units (such as cavalry for tracking down ranged units, or siege units for faster razing) or in waves of units if the player has a massive replenishing stockpile of food and gold. The typical infantry shortcomings do exist, however, as they are still slow and are modest in terms of health, making them vulnerable to archers, heavy cavalry, and splash-damage siege weaponry.
Champions excel in two particular situations: early Imperial Age when their counters are not as prominent and late Imperial Age when gold is scarce. Champions are informally called 'trash busters' since they can easily defeat all the trash units (Halberdiers, Elite Skirmishers, and Hussars). The unique trash units, the Genitour and the Magyar Huszar, can stand up to most civilizations' Champions, but do not defeat them distinctly.
For some civilizations, Champions are a go-to late game deathball choice. This includes Malians with their +3 pierce armor bonus, the Aztecs and Burmese with their additional attack damage, the Vikings with their +20% hit points, the Slavs with their blast damage, the Teutons with their +2 melee armor, and Japanese with their faster attack speed. An Imperial Age Champion rush requires a huge Farm-based economy.
On lush maps with plenty of resources (e. g. Yucatán), it is recommended to opt for another type of army (as long as the additional cost can be shouldered by the economy), as they generally tend to fare better in general combat.
Further statistics[]
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
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Strong vs. | Skirmishers, Genitours, Halberdiers, Camel Riders, Eagle Warriors, buildings, Light Cavalry, Huskarls |
Weak vs. | Archer units, Scorpions, Mangonels, Cataphracts, Jaguar Warriors, Paladins, Boyars, War Elephants, Battle Elephants, Teutonic Knights, Obuchs |
Upgrades | |
Hit points | Fereters (+30, Armenians only) |
Attack | Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 against standard buildings) Garland Wars (+4, Aztecs only) Druzhina (gives trample damage in 0.5 tiles radius, Slavs only) Chieftains (+5 attack against cavalry and +4 against camels, Vikings only) Wootz Steel (attack ignores armor, Dravidians only) |
Armor | Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1) Chain Mail Armor (+1/+1) Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2) Gambesons (0/+1) |
Speed | Squires (+10%) |
Conversion defense | Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only) |
Creation speed | Conscription (+33%) Perfusion (+100%, Goths only) |
Train cost | Supplies (-15 food) |
Regeneration | Stronghold (30 HP/min when within 18 tiles square of a team Celts Castle) |
Other | Chieftains (generates gold when killing Villagers, trade units, and Monks, Vikings only) |
Civilization bonuses[]
- Armenians: Champions are available in the Castle Age.
- Aztecs: Champions are created 11% faster.
- Burmese: Champions have +3 attack. Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Champions move 15% faster. Champions can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Champions are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Dravidians: Researching Supplies, Gambesons, Arson and Squires is 50% cheaper.
- Georgians: Champions receive -20% (-40% instead of -25%) damage on higher elevations.
- Goths: Champions are 35% cheaper and have +3 attack against standard buildings.
- Incas: Champions cost -25% food.
- Japanese: Champions attack 33% faster.
- Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free.
- Malians: Champions have +3 pierce armor.
- Portuguese: Champions cost -20% gold.
- Sicilians: Champions take -33% bonus damage.
- Slavs: Supplies and Gambesons are free.
- Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Champions cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit Champions provides 20 gold each.
- Teutons: Champions have +2 armor.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
- Vikings: Champions have +20% hit points.
Team bonuses[]
- Armenians: Champions have +2 Line of Sight.
- Bulgarians: Researching infantry armor and attack upgrades at the Blacksmith is 80% faster.
- Goths: Champions are created 20% faster. Researching Supplies, Gambesons, Squires, and Arson is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Champions are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Champions are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Champions have +3 attack against standard buildings.
- Champions have 0 pierce armor.
- Champions upgrade research time is 100 seconds.
- Goths: Champions are 25% cheaper and have an extra +1 attack against standard buildings.
The Conquerors[]
- Champions have +6 attack against Eagle Warriors.
- Champions have 1 pierce armor.
- Heresy introduced.
- Goths: With patch 1.0b, Champions are 35% cheaper. Perfusion introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Champions have +4 attack against standard buildings.
- Champions have +8 attack against Eagle Warriors.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Arson introduced.
- Vikings: With patch 4.8, Chieftains affects Champions. It gives Champions +2 attack against camels.
Rise of the Rajas[]
Definitive Edition[]
- Tracking removed; all infantry receive +2 Line of Sight from the Feudal Age instead.
- Supplies introduced.
- Bulgarians: Initially, the team bonus gave the Blacksmith a 50% work rate boost. With update 42848, this was changed to a 80% work rate boost.
- Goths: With update 36202, bonus damage against standard buildings is +3. Goths lose access to Arson.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, as a civilization bonus, technologies that benefit Champions are researched 30% faster.
- Teutons: With update 35584, Champions have +1 armor. With update 36906, Champions have +2 armor.
Lords of the West[]
- Sicilians: Champions resist 50% bonus damage. With update 47820, First Crusade increases the conversion resistance of Champions.
Dynasties of India[]
- Sicilians: With update 66692, Champions resist only 33% bonus damage.
- Portuguese: With update 73855, as a team bonus, technologies that benefit Champions are researched 25% faster.
- With update 81058, the Champion research time is 85 seconds and Gambesons is introduced.
- Incas: With update 81058, Champions cost -30% food.
The Mountain Royals[]
- Incas: With update 99311, they cost -25% food.
Heroes[]
There are eight heroes in the game with the appearance of a Champion:
- El Cid
- King Arthur
- La Hire
- Le Lai (removed)
- Le Loi (only in the HD Edition)
- Le Trien
- Siegfried
- William Wallace (only in the HD Edition)
History[]
“ | Among the best swordsmen there were a few who, through their renown on the battlefield and in tournaments, achieved the status of champion. Such men became war leaders and rose in social standing thanks to abilities so highly regarded at the time. Lords kept champions on retainer for status and because staged fights between elite warriors were used on occasion to resolve disputes. Having a great champion in your pay or as a vassal was the Middle Age equivalent to having a good lawyer. Champions were professional warriors who might also be members of the nobility. A successful champion might gain a noble title through tournament victory, battle honors, or marriage. A minor knight in England named John Marshal was so successful in tournaments that he rose to become a high-ranking noble of great wealth thanks to prizes and successive marriages to admiring women of means. | ” |
Trivia[]
- The Militia line is the only unit line in the game with more than three stages.
- Due to a minor graphical bug, the Champion may appear to be wielding two swords at once depending on the angle of unit rotation before the Definitive Edition.
- In the alpha, the Champion is in a separate line to the Man-at-Arms.
- Burmese Champions are tied with Elite Jaguar Warriors with Garland Wars by having the third highest attack of all infantry units with 20 attack, being behind Aztec Champions with Garland Wars and Elite Teutonic Knights with 21 attack and Elite Shotel Warriors with 22 attack.
- Japanese Champions have the second fastest attack of all infantry units with a reload time of 1.5, being behind Samurai and Japanese Condottieri with a reload time of 1.425.
- With 100 hit points, the Armenian Champion with Fereters is tied with the Elite Teutonic Knight and the Mayan Elite Eagle Warrior with El Dorado as the foot soldier with the third highest hit points in the game.
- During the Beta, the Malay had access to Champions but lacked Plate Mail Armor, and the Vietnamese lacked them.
- Despite being a civilization that lack access to the Champion upgrade, the Bulgarian Two-Handed Swordsman with the Bagains unique technology can defeat most Champions from other civilizations.
- All of the civilizations with the Western European, East Asian, and Mediterranean architecture sets have access to Champions.
- Malian Champions are often referred as "Champskarls" due to their civilization bonus giving their Militia unit line relatively high pierce armor.