This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. For other uses, see Samurai. |
“ | Powerful Japanese Samurai swordsman that inflicts area damage in hand combat. Good against cavalry and buildings. | ” |
—In-game description |
The Samurai is a melee heavy infantry unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Japanese and can be trained at Barracks, Atakebunes, and by Daimyos. It has a splash attack that harms multiple enemy units in one sweep of their sword and is one of the strongest non-mercenary melee infantry units in the game.
Overview[]
Unlike most infantry recruited at the Barracks, the Samurai takes two population slots. Samurai are deadly against cavalry, shock infantry and buildings, being able to kill large groups of cavalry and shock infantry, or high hit point buildings in mere seconds, and do OK against other heavy infantry if they aren't spread apart too much. Samurai should stay away from ranged infantry, which can kill them with ease, but if the Samurai get in close, they can easily wipe the Skirmishers and archers out with their area attacks, due to the low hit points of most skirmishers. The same goes for artillery, because of their low hit points and 75% ranged resist, and the Samurai's high hand damage.
Samurai are very similar to the German Doppelsoldner, although they are less useful against cavalry and shock infantry, have a smaller Area of Effect, slightly less hit points, and are slightly stronger against all other units and buildings. They also cost more food, but less coin, and have a 30% hand resistance versus the Doppelsoldner's 20%.
Upgrades[]
Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Disciplined Samurai | 200 wood 100 coin |
Upgrades Samurai to Disciplined (+20% hit points and attack) | |
Honored Samurai | 600 wood 600 coin |
Upgrades Samurai to Honored (+30% hit points and attack); requires Disciplined Samurai | |
Exalted Samurai | 1,500 wood 1,500 coin |
Upgrades Samurai to Exalted (+50% hit points and attack); requires Honored Samurai |
Further statistics[]
As Samurai are unique to the Japanese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Cavalry and shock infantry especially in groups, buildings |
Weak vs. | Light infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery |
Improvements | |
Hit points | Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%) |
Attack | Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Master Lessons (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Incendiary Grenades (+15% siege attack multiplier vs. buildings) |
Resistance | Somali Oryx Hide Shields (+5% ranged resistance) |
Line of Sight | Town Watch (+3) |
Speed | Military Drummers (+10%) Quechuan Mountaineering (+10%) Akan Fontomfrom (+5%) Apache Endurance (+5%) |
Train time | Standing Army (-25%) Akan Fontomfrom (-20%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) |
Cost | Somali Oryx Hide Shields (-10%) Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost) |
Other | Clan Offerings (every Castle spawns 1 Samurai; Consulate with Japanese Isolation) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) |
Home City Cards[]
As Samurai are unique to the Japanese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:
- Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Samurai
Some cards are highlighted with: | |
Green | TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team |
Purple | Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times |
Red | Shipment that can be sent twice |
Blue | Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds) |
Chinese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Yongle Infrastructure | Ships 1 Mongol Scout; infantry, land villagers, healing units, Envoys, and Disciples get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" does not stack with the Inca "TEAM Inca Bridges" card.
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +10% hit points; Dutch-only infantry get +15% hit points instead |
Haudenosaunee[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Scout Infantry | Ships 1 Native Scout; infantry get +8 Line of Sight |
Inca[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Inca Bridges | Ships 1 Chasqui; infantry, land villagers, healing units, and Envoys get +5% speed |
- "TEAM Inca Bridges" does not stack with the Chinese "TEAM Yongle Infrastructure" card.
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
3 Samurai | Ships 3 Samurai | |
8 Samurai | Ships 8 Samurai | |
5 Samurai | Ships 5 Samurai | |
6 Samurai | Ships 6 Samurai | |
Samurai Attack | Samurai get +20% attack | |
Sword Saint | Samurai get +10% hit points, attack, and speed, but cost +10% | |
Onin War | Infantry get +33% siege attack | |
TEAM Odzutsu Mortars | Artillery get +10% attack; Samurai replace a building attack with a hand mortar attack with a range of 12 and get +2 Line of Sight; Incendiary Grenades can be researched at the Golden Pavilion | |
TEAM Sengoku | Unit upgrades cost -20% | |
Bakufu | Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +5% speed, +10 Line of Sight and train units 15% faster; land military unit train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead | |
Warring States | Samurai, Daimyo, and Shogun Tokugawa get +15% hit points and attack |
Maltese[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Knights of the Round Table | Ships 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center owned by the player; all units get +2% hit points |
Mexicans[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Mariachi | For the next 30 seconds, military buildings work 400% faster and units get +10% speed |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack | Hand infantry get +15% attack | |
TEAM Spanish Inquisition | Ships 1 Inquisitor; all units get +10 Line of Sight |
Swedes[]
Card | Description | Age |
---|---|---|
TEAM House of Bernadotte | Heavy infantry get +15% hit points |
Dutch[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Infantry Hitpoints | Infantry get +15% hit points | 10 |
Indians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics | All units get +5% hit points and attack | 25 |
Iroquois[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Scout Infantry | Infantry get +8 Line of Sight | 10 |
Japanese[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
3 Samurai | Ships 3 Samurai | 1 | |
7 Samurai | Ships 7 Samurai; Samurai get +5% hit points and attack | 1 | |
5 Samurai | Ships 5 Samurai | 10 | |
6 Samurai | Ships 6 Samurai | 25 | |
Samurai Attack | Samurai get +20% attack | 10 | |
Sword Saint | Samurai get +10% speed, but cost +10% | 25 | |
Onin War | Infantry get +33% siege attack | 40 | |
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades | Unit upgrades cost -20% | 1 | |
Bakufu | Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa get +10% speed, +20 Line of Sight and train units 100% faster | 10 | |
Warring States | Samurai, Daimyo, and Shogun Tokugawa get +15% hit points and attack | 25 |
Russians[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
Dueling School | Infantry (except Skull Knights), Old Han Army, and Territorial Army train time -25%; Black Flag Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Imperial Army train time -12% | 25 |
Spanish[]
Card | Description | Age | HC level |
---|---|---|---|
TEAM Hand Infantry Attack | Hand infantry get +15% attack | 10 | |
TEAM Inquisition | All units get +10 Line of Sight | 10 |
Changelog[]
The Asian Dynasties[]
- The Samurai costs 100 food, 100 coin, has 25 hand attack, a ×0.5 multiplier against villagers, a ×1.15 multiplier against Elephants, and gives 20 XP when trained or killed.
Definitive Edition[]
- The Samurai has 28 hand attack and has no multipliers against villagers and Elephants.
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
- With update 13.27885, Samurai cost 95 food, 95 coin.
- With update 13.58326, Samurai give 19 XP when trained or killed.
Trivia[]
- The Samurai has attack voice lines in the game files but they are all unused. This was not corrected in the Definitive Edition, where they remain unused.
- The Samurai is called
ypKensei
in the game files. Kensei was a Japanese honorary title for exceptional swordsmen.
History[]
“ | The samurai were members of the Japanese warrior aristocracy who embodied the bushido code; they rose to power during the rival clan wars of the twelfth century. This bushido belief system - "the way of the warrior" - emphasized an unwavering loyalty to a master, the act of self-sacrifice, and an indifference to pain. From the twelfth century to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, the samurai were the dominant social class in Japan, and many acted as knights in the service of the warring feudal lords. After Tokugawa Ieyasu was declared shogun and began to consolidate power, the samurai were encouraged to leave their posts as village defenders and take more bureaucratic government posts in castle towns, earning government stipends to abandon their warrior ways. This was done to reduce the threat of masterless samurai, or ronin, who had become a threat to Tokugawa's dictatorship. However, the drastic culture shift did not sit well with many samurai, and former warriors eventually led the overthrow of the shogunate in 1867. | ” |