How good are Woad Raiders? (AoE2)

[@_pk_]

I sense a Celts overview coming soon

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

stolen like a credit card from me :(

[@kinbine_]

Impossible, this never happened before.

[@zamlent2492]

I was about to make the same comment, but you beat me to it 11

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

@@zamlent2492 a community full of thieves oof

[@michabaron4129]

Nah i think its a prelude to Bulgar redux

[@Irfanhill]

They're impressively resistant given that they only wear a thin layer of pants and otherwise can take a few arrows in their bare chests and go on power walking and raiding.

[@mandowarrior123]

Well, the woad stops them bleeding and getting infections, and the pants protect their gigantic balls.

[@flydrop8822]

Their manly chest hair blocks arrows/javelins

[@nathanielstanford3115]

it's the Conan the Barbarian hair

[@Jondiceful]

It's the same logic behind female armor in most video games😜

[@DuringDark]

​@@Jondicefulwhy aren't they wearing body builder thongs >:(

[@HelloFutureMe]

my favourite units :O

[@shane1948]

What a surprise! How long have you been playing this game? I love your worldbuilding videos

[@HelloFutureMe]

@@shane1948 I have about 1000 hours in it. Still play it regularly and have for years! Celts/Hindustanis/Byzantines/Vietnamese/Mayans are my go tos.

[@TheCherryTrader]

my favourite writing channel :O

[@MrMarinus18]

Though perhaps they could change their animation to have them be running. They look kind of awkward as their animation was meant for their original speed and it was just sped up.

[@stosslegionen]

New Zealand jump scare.

[@SizzleCorndog]

The pain that is seeing a block of these running around outside your base before you even have champ ready

[@mattender8323]

Cav is better against them.

[@justalonesoul5825]

@@mattender8323 not cost effective. Siege or hand cannons much better. Scorps with trash units...

[@balazsfenyes3880]

call the teutonic order for pesticide

[@JazzJackrabbit]

@@balazsfenyes3880 - TKs are too slow. The infantry will run circles around them while they get shredded with Scorpions/Onagers.

[@balazsfenyes3880]

@@JazzJackrabbit We are talking about wood raiders and most infantry/ most melee units has 0 chance against TKs and WR is one of them.

[@Cblazer100]

Honestly, watching SOTL go over a classic AOE2 unique unit gives serious nostalgia vibes and satisfaction. Love this content.

[@IammeoramI]

Someone else finally put into words why I watch Sotl despite having not touch AOE2 since 2012

[@dj_koen1265]

@@IammeoramIthe game is fun, worth playing, even campaigns can be good if you avoid the original campaigns

[@OandCoGames]

So good to see an in-depth analysis that includes the critical metric of post-fight cliquiness

[@redcastlefan]

william wallace would be mad so ill say 10/10

[@SvanTowerMan]

I have found that power walking like the Woad Raider allows you to have great speed for a longer time frame than if you were conventionally running, probably because you're moving your arms and legs less. Perhaps there is something to their animation.

[@benne6512]

see the Malcolm episode where Hal powerwalks

[@zachariastsampasidis8880]

You can walk fast but not run

[@citricdemon]

You can't run because you don't have any legs

[@SvanTowerMan]

@@citricdemon What are you talking about?

[@DarkOmegaMK2]

Spirit of the Jigsaw is another one of SotL's many businesses, among those there's: >Spirit of the Log, a wood trading company. >Smelting of the Law, his very own smiting company. >Smelling of the Law, his otorhinolaryngologist clinic >Spirit of the Loss, his funerary services company. >Spirit of the Lawn, his gardening company.

[@niklasw.1297]

Spirit Of The Jigsaw 👌 I appreciate the pun-transitions into Sponsors SOTJ does, it's almost like he gets a civ bonus for that

[@ImRandomDude]

ever since I was kid, when I thought Woad was a mistype for Road Rider, which made sense to me back then ... to this day I cannot bring my brain to rewire it to proper name

[@dj_koen1265]

i always thought it was supposed to be a wood raider

[@bluedistortions]

Hahaha.. some people do mispronounce R as W. Elmer is the cartoon character that personifies this. "Woad wider."

[@marktaro]

Wholesome af

[@THOTHGames]

Back when I was little I would play the AoE2 trial a bunch, and because I liked Woad Raider's aesthetic I would use my monks to convert as many as I could so I could have my own woad raider army.

[@AlexMathiesen]

2:30 HE SAID THE HOAGG LINE!!!!

[@Jeff_the_Hobo]

Celt Eat TC

[@ns-islandsroblox]

I STILL YOUNG AND HANDSOME

[@tantegreta]

I was looking for the comment, UP YOU GO, SIR!

[@JJBeauregard1]

Petition to finally give them a running animation!!

[@willichtenstein7071]

And lose the power walking intimidation factor? No thank you.

[@blacklight4720]

​@@willichtenstein7071 How about a petition to upgrade WW power walk into Techno-Viking power walk?

[@L3monsta]

I would love to see them use the eagle warriors running animation. That would be sick

[@simonlindner693]

HELL no, walking faster than other units run is the ultimate flex

[@Ghostbellrei]

Tutorial loves them so much

[@hansoskar1911]

A compositional benefit of Woad Raiders is that agaist Celts most players arent eager to clump up their ranged unit so just 2 scorpions mean you often get to fight staggered formations.

[@enc3342]

Thanks for another thorough and in-depth video! One thing not covered, though, is that the woad raider's smaller size means they can swarm more effectively than faster but larger units. It gives a mass of woad raiders a larger potential surface area, meaning they can surround units more effectively and ultimately deal more DPS. Woad raiders kill fleeing villagers far more quickly than most melee cavalry units, for example. Especially at lower ELOs like mine (1000) where the micro is not so good.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

This make them more vulnerable to siege units splash tho

[@PeterFendrich]

....... How did I never know that I needed Spirit of the Law jigsaw puzzles until just now

[@SirAroace]

I do love the Woad Raiders but their anachronistic nature (bronze age) does make me understand why some want to replace them with Gallowglass

[@informitas0117]

We have Mameluks throwing away expensive swords.

[@RoastCDuck]

We have franks in medieval times instead of just french... and aztecs, mayans... no olmecs... native north americans... teutons... no lithuania... we have huns... yeah it's mixed.

[@James-sk4db]

Why not both, Gallowglass would be a cool champion reskin, like a Persian paladin.

[@devangnivatkar2649]

Aren't those already represented by Celtic Champions?

[@lmnisop5516]

​@@RoastCDuckwhat do you mean no Lithuania?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

For some reason, I miss them being used for Amerindian units in certain maps and missions for the pre-HD/DE AoE II.

[@leonciesla5456]

8:03 This is the funniest thing I have seen this week at least. Just Imagine how baffled those horses must be that these naked celts are just running them down.

[@MrMethekill]

I know it's a bit late....but....but...they are not even running. You have to realize that they WALK those horsed down.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

People can actually outrun horses, just not at short distances. People can develop incredible stamina comparably to most land animals (thanks to effective sweating), so while initially horse always create distance gap because of raw speed in fresh condition, it soon become tired so human catch up to it and then outrun. And if horse already tired (or wounded) this will not take too long. This is actually hunting strategy of stone age, manage to wound animal with some javelin or similar weapon, then annoyingly stalk that animal until it become completely exhausted.

[@WheissRS]

personally i feel the coolness of the "walk running" animation of a bunch of woad raiders attacking you more frightening than any other of most powerful units, needless to say is my favourite unit since back my childhood haha

[@commiecomrade2644]

Woad raiders were my JAM when I was a kid playing age of kings and didn't know wth I was doing. Then I moved onto War Elephants. I could barely beat the medium AI. Cheese Steak Jimmy and Robin Hood helped me out a TON lol.

[@g7majoh125]

Thank the man for putting the ad at the end

[@ElendilAOE]

Got know the pain when these little guys swarm your base

[@reubendias18]

I feel that every video of yours can be a research paper on AOE2 or gaming in general. You take a particular topic and break it down into objective/overview, analysis in terms of different types, counters, use cases, ages, varieties, bonuses, etc. and finally conclusion. You might as well get a noble prize for Gaming.

[@UnfamiliarPlace]

As a frequent Celt player, I would agree with your conclusions here. Especially with general infantry upgrades over the last couple years, champions have come to replace what Woads once did in my army, except when I really need the speed. They really are great at raiding - a dozen Woads in an enemy open base is a huge headache, and 20 elite ones becomes a real threat that can take out a generic TC and the vills hiding in it. I usually bring them in just as the tide starts to turn in my favour and I can breathe enough to afford to add them, and then they quickly snowball.

[@marksnoei]

Great video, I assume we will see a Celt overview soon! I noticed recently looking at the civ stats that the Sicilians are having the opposite phenomenon of the Chinese. Sicilians are the number 1 performing civ for low elo games but the bottom performer in high elo games. I was wondering why that is, I would be interested to see what your take on it is.

[@historymax5479]

Maybe it's because the higher rated players have counter strategies while low elo players are still able to use the civ bonuses against newbies, but I suspect that's just one of many reasons.

[@pierredefraguier3877]

I'd say the scouts into kts play (which is the easiest/best for low elo) is really strong with sicilians because opponent needs to be careful of fights taken with counters because of bonus damage resistance. Cavalier with imp UT are busted, so if it gets there, it's even harder. Not sure how viable/popular it is at low elo, but I could see donjon/serjant rush be quite oppressive. At higher level, timings and rushes will hurt Sicilians. They are too slow to get going, lacking a significant early/mid game eco bonus. And if you choose your strat carefully against Sicilians, you can nearly avoid the bonus damage reduction to play a role

[@AH-bf4md]

I just got back into AoE2 after years of not playing it and boy is it good and your vids are a tremendous glimpse in a few niches/civs. Keep up the good work!

[@Max-ej4oh]

My fave civ. I sneak a castle to the side of the map, not even for defense nor attack and start to mass em. They don't expect the Woad inquisition running directly into their unprotected buildings. And when they do it's already too late, it was my low elo strategy, love it.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

Sniping monks 🙏 and siege (especially Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons) is a great benefit of speed too. Plus, speed is generally helpful in a game for getting units to where they need to be or running away from things. The training time being low is also really good, especially for defence 🛡. Also, the unit upgrades are really expensive and time consuming for the Militia-line. Elite Woad Raider is expensive, but you can use the un-upgraded Woads for specialist roles in the meantime. Whereas Militia-line units behind on upgrades are basically useless 🚫🧰. Celt Champions are probably still a great addition for extremely late Imperial Age, though, outside of the Woad's specialist roles, as they are less gold intensive. Though you only tend to transition to that extremely late, so it will just be a normal Champion transition. Also, the Militia-line is a counter for Eagles. Overall, it is important to know how much of a replacement they can be, to know whether or not you should eventually tech into Champions.

[@VINsational331]

I would love to see the devs update the Woad Raider movement animation. The sped up power walk is so weird. Plus the Eagles and Ghulams have such a cool run animation...Woads could look like that too.

[@L3monsta]

I was just going to say that. If they could take the animation of the eagle warrior and apply it to the woad raiders model for movement I think it would look sick.

[@akshay12328]

We know whats the next video now! Celts overview 😊

[@rochreech3173]

Wow! Another Indian AOE fan! Hi there, I feel like we are a rare and dying breed. Keep Gaming on !

[@claudioolate2516]

0:14 Gooo goooo

[@arthur-yq4ic]

scogoo

[@ezio_aoe821]

pogo

[@RyuFireheart]

dogo

[@MagicHjalti]

Cocoo cocooo

[@arthur-yq4ic]

how can i forget "dogo" @@RyuFireheart

[@Gigas0101]

Could you please do a video on the knight line? I'd love to go down the history of how the knight rush has been the meta for literal decades.

[@martincarlosalejandrocigar5561]

1:45 it's so interesting to me that the reason for the animation looking so wonky all over the years was this buff many of us didn't know existed because we started with AoC and that DE could "fix" by changing it to a running animation. Although I believe that after all these years their fast walking has probably become a visual characteristic of the unit.

[@theobald_indoaoe]

Hi SOTL, I love Woad Raiders! I'd like to give a suggestion about testing melee units in scenario editor like minute 03:59. As I saw the battle, both Woad Raiders and Longswordmen were enganging a fight with totally clumsy behavior. They didn't attack the closest units and moved around to target certain unit which affected the result of the fight. This happens when you patrolled both units or they were standing without any command. To avoid this kind of situation, you can Use 1 Player and 1 AI instead of 2 AIs, then patrol both. They 90% will attack any closest enemy unit they meet without moving around behavior and getting attacked. The 10% comes from the Player Units sometimes still moving around and you might need to restart the test. Hopefully you read my comment. I used this testing settings in my past latest videos, it worked pretty well with very good results.

[@michaelbird9148]

Spirit of the Jigsaw - so good. Love your approach to ads.

[@slimcourage901]

Your Squarespace website puns are my new favorite bits of your videos. Second only to your (increasingly rare, sadly) intro music.

[@Destructivo]

I love the background music. everytime

[@Jondiceful]

I'd just like to second that

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

4:19 very historically accurate considering how Strabo and Tacitus described the relationships between celts. cough cough

[@hotjavalava]

SOTL got a square space sponsorship?! He's big time now.

[@Phillip_of_Burns]

I paused at @0:00 to say this, and I mean it. You better say they're good, because I've loved these things for 20+ years now.

[@spencereades]

I keep watching these videos right after playing Valheim, and coming away with new build ideas. AoE2 buildings are so perfect for the construction engine in that game.

[@lollylegsgruff]

Great vid as always, with the archer tests, it would be interesting to see if the attack changes would mean they kill archers in less hits than longswords (4-5 hits for long bois depending on upgrades vs 3-4 for the woads)

[@Cysubtor_8vb]

Was a good weekend for RTS nostalgia as C&C Ultimate Collection finally hit Steam! I've always gravitated to AoE2 more often due to the random maps, but I'm glad I'm able to play Red Alert 2 and C&C Generals: Zero Hour again. There's even talk of a Red Alert 2 remaster, though, I doubt it will be anywhere near as extensive as AoE2:DE.

[@Caio22011]

My absolute favorite unit when I first played this game MANY years ago

[@Soviless99]

i have so much fun running around peoples bases on nomad with this bois! 😊

[@Akymma]

One of my favorite units even from back in the day. Fast and hard hitting and easy to produce. You barely have time to react when they come, and IF you leave them alone for a second they're already at the other side of the map pummeling your economy.

[@Ollieb6477]

Spirit your the best

[@HazmanFTW]

What would be great is that if you could get Hoang to give some insight on Celts for the civ overview.

[@palid11]

non-elite damage boost from 8 to 11 is extremely important for raiding - woads can now kill villagers with loom in 4 hits, which was not possible before even with iron casting

[@lupus_lupi]

20 years ago my first meta was spamming Woads + pikes + siege rams, but there was a match were I changed tactics, I destroyed several buildings and then retreated to heal them and to restore the ranks while the enemy rebuilt his base, then I struck again and again, soon they didn't have woods and stone for more buildings

[@arsmariastarlight3567]

I always treat this unit as, well... Raiders (it's in their name). Most of the time I use them for raiding party on enemy base, destroy some buildings, kill villagers and disrupt the economy (always have a group of pikes handy). They're like infantry version of cavalry archer when it comes to harrassment role

[@BrownFoxWarrior]

I found out the cavalier-paladin dynamic first hand rececntly. I underestimated how much punch the Woad Raiders packed, so while I was just barely winning with numbers, I was surprised just how well they fended off my cavalier until I was able to finally get paladin.

[@arthur-yq4ic]

catle for woads baracks for pikes and siege workshop for scorpions

[@MagicOmelet]

No idea what happened in the video, I was only looking at how the units group after fighting. In later fights the outcasts were sometimes allowed to come back :)

[@nicholase2868]

I randomed into Celts last night. Wasn't sure what else to do but make siege and Woad Raiders. It went well until my opponent massed up enough Gbetos to shred my army.

[@zachariastsampasidis8880]

Mass scorpions and one or two onagers vs gbetos

[@noanjad]

thank you spirit for the detailed video about woad raider . please I have a question ,spirit you always speak about negative side and positive side of any civ unique unit but when you talk about the civ bonus economic bonus you actually talk about the positive sides of the economic bonus but is there any annoying side we should be worry about like for example stone minning or gold minning of villager civ can I actually expect a minning camp working in the negative way like minning a bit slower or maybe completley slower that could be noticabley annoying wich could affect my economy civ

[@avideogamemaster]

1:50 I never understood this speed comparison in all your videos. If an unit is faster than others, shouldn't they increase the gap as they are running from one side to the other? I don't see that.

[@SpiritOfTheLaw]

The fast ones do extend their lead during the clip. The units all start at the edge of the map and are running before the video starts for 10-20 seconds. I like the way I do it because it shows how small differences in speed add up after a bit of time.

[@PurpleWarlock]

Spirit, have you made a video on the effectiveness of Druzhina? What's an efficient Champ/Halb combo when one is facing groups of enemy units?

[@ZarfuRS]

celt fast castle into woad raider spam has been my go to for the last few weeks, nice to get a few wins in before everyone sees this haha

[@MaxYoung-Maxinfet]

Do you use any scripting/automation to do the micro archer examples for the purpose of consistency? I was thinking because those examples happen on a completely open plane so it would be possible and interesting to have a python script or something of that nature doing the clicking to move perfectly for firing within the calculated refresh time between shots. This would allow for perfect micro when doing comparisons or at least perfect micro from the client side but for the purposes of crunching numbers, this seems really useful though it would never truly compare to how a player could do use the units it would show the theoretical limits and the delay between stopping, moving and panning the screen for firing could be modified to try to be more representative of different ELO players. Likely this could be a whole video on its own.

[@LukeandaGuitar]

I dunno why, but as a child I thought these guys were armed with a pair of gigantic circular saw blades! Must've been those lower resolutions playing tricks on me. I played on a hand-me-down pc that my dad let me have when I was 10. Over 20 years ago! What a game!

[@Laetwo]

Any chance to get a deep look into differences of Hussite Wagons vs Organ Guns? Love the vids SOTL!

[@MsWheems]

Trying to find your Spirit of the Jigsaw website, Cant find it though.

[@dudeistpreist5721]

I used to build 9 castles in my base for the emergency defense fund and drag it on in the imperial age to deplete reserves. A rain of arrows and a passive regen? And they're faster? The celts just got better baby.

[@ramonantoniolli7379]

great video as always!

[@Alsborg]

Wood Raider sees strange with high speed and that walking animation

[@RoastCDuck]

In going above and beyond they would be great if the castle heal radius could reach the whole map but it doesn't neither does the heal rate increases, celts are still fast arrows since it's a castle age tech.

[@DidYaServe]

I like Woads. Great for a late overwhelm if you have resources and pop space.

[@PurpleWarlock]

The Woad Raider and the Furious

[@MrChill56]

I love this content! I have a question though: why do you keep saying "Age of Conquerors"? Wasn't the expansion called juts "The Conquerors"?

[@mojungle3054]

For historical purposes, I'd like to see them renamed and reskinned to "Gallowglass". Maybe at least as an optional setting

[@vallytine]

5:40 Honestly? Historically accurate Medieval Scottish Army. (If you ignore the fact that Woad Raiders are more like Pictish soldiers, and it'd be more accurate if the Celts unique unit were Gallowglasses instead.)

[@St3v3NWL]

I'd like to see a bonus attack damage versus villagers to enphasis the raiders aspect

[@mcbain7392]

I always liked this unit but has a limited use, I would use it to make small raids to destroy houses fast before or when a big fight is happening. Hit and run tactics ftw.

[@Jondiceful]

I would like to suggest that their speed does offer one other benefit. They are fast enough that once they pursue an enemy formation, they don't really require micro. Meanwhile, if your opponent wishes to win the engagement, he must spend his attention space on a furious game of micro. This gives the Celt player more decision time in the battlespace and should enable you to more effectively apply pressure on your opponent until they are overwhelmed. On the other hand, your opponent can choose to abandon their units to their fates and focus on a more effective response. This is a costly strategy because they will lose those units and the time and resources spent making them, and because they will still have to face those same Woad Raiders again. In short, they create a dilemma for your opponent for which their solutions all have serious drawbacks. I won't say that makes them OP, but I will say that it makes them a dangerous threat for any player to counter.

[@toylan]

SOTL was not did something about woad raiders when i searched about this video 1-2 weeks earlier.

[@joshuagrosvenor9837]

NGL I'd actually buy one of those jigsaws

[@JoeLiningToolFilms]

I love how you've kept the same sick looking logo over the years instead of switching to some boring "minimalist" modern logo

[@flakstruk-8481]

I reckon it'd be cool if these were in place of the champion line, or at least treated like the serjant

[@TheEarlofBronze1]

I struggle to see the reason to even make cavalry as celts? The Woad Raider speed seems to render them essentially redundant. Knights may be theoretically the better unit, but they also get countered by pikes, which youre almost guaranteed to be up against. Why not just mix range and siege behind Woads and save the res on cavalry?

[@chadsmith6283]

Wallace has come!

[@annaairahala9462]

I almost feel like the knight comparison is closer than the militia-line comparison

[@Klautsche]

I couldn't find spirit of the jigsaw anywhere, could you link it maybe?

[@justincronkright5025]

4:20 - the most interesting part of the video/these two guy's lives (even after they've just massacred warriours of their own people)! 4:50 - glad the generics don't discriminate against these activities either!

[@franciasii2435]

I genuinly look forward to whatever cheesy pun you put in your squarespace ad.

[@Xardas131]

There is a very cool graphical mod for woad raiders as a mod. Gives them a inpressive cape and a twohanded sword :)

[@SpiritOfTheLaw]

Nice, I hadn't heard of that. I'll check it out!

[@ietsbram]

Mmm i wonder which civ review we get next 🤔

[@steThanos]

Spirit, the Devs have been buffing infantry for a while now but they still haven't really made it into pro meta. What do you think they should do next to get people playing infantry over Cav or Archers? Speed them up like Woads?

[@ikiry0830]

I think the core question for 'how to get them playing infantry' is 'what should infantry be good at'. As if you make them all fast they're basicly just Small Cavalry. I feel like Infantry should double down on their role as Building Trashers (Obviously not to such a degree they outdo siege but enough to make even a few infantry running about your base a threat to the buildings). Knights can win a fight but are relatively slow to beat a building while Woads Eat TC and Champions smash down doors to towers.

[@steThanos]

@@ikiry0830 my thought is infantry are good in mass and when defending things. So I thought a "shield wall" type bonus might be a good idea. One way to do this might be stance that you activate which halves their movement speed but adds an extra armour. Another would be the Georgian unique unit bonus but giving melee armour instead of attack when 7 or more milita are massed. Either way infantry will be better at that defending/attacking a position.

[@tearav3]

I'd love to have seen them compared to other anti building units the tarkan or any others I'm not aware of

[@TheKobasen]

"With William Wallace and his WOAD RAIDERS on your side the English might be in trouble. Once you have a large army and plenty of siege weapons, go destroy the English castle."

[@eliminshrintar]

Hey Spirits! Law of the Guy here

[@BenjaVeraV]

Hey Law, Guy of the Spirit here

[@MP-oh9lt]

Here Spirit! Hey Law of the Guy

[@leonardo_pandaboff]

You forgot the Condotiero, which can be trained if you have an italian ally

[@JJBeauregard1]

Maybe I'm just seeing things but I wonder if the design of their axe is meant to to be a little Easter egg for the axe-man in AoE 1. Their axes look almost exactly like the upgrade icon in that game and as far as the timeline goes, Woad Raiders would actually fit better in AoE 1 as well so I like the idea.

[@xarin42]

Every time I end up disapointed that the website from the ad doesn't actually exist T^T

[@aniruddhbhatkal1834]

I feel like Supplies should also apply to unique infantry units. Like you said, the tech makes them less appealing What do you think?

[@2nightwehunt]

Hello Law, Spirit of the Guys here

[@SvanTowerMan]

Guys Law, Spirit of the hey here.

[@vishnujayakrishnan-vj5646]

0:13 Woad Raiders go gooo goo gooooo !!!!