Keshik

The Tatar unique unit can generate gold when it attacks. How big of a difference does that actually make?
1:00 Stats comparison to knight, cavalier, and paladin
1:30 Cost, creation time
1:45 Gold generation ability
2:05 How much gold do you get from a normal fight?
3:40 Keshik vs ranged units
4:10 How they do against halberdiers and camels
4:50 Keshik as a trash unit?
6:20 Comparison to steppe lancer?
7:00 Gold from villagers
7:30 How they fit into the Tatar tech tree
7:55 Farming infinite gold in a FFA?
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Full intro song: • Spirit of the Law Chan...
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition, with Forgotten Empires, African Kingdoms, Rise the Rajas, and Last Khans expansions

[@Onyx_crowmen]

If someone told me 10 year ago that age of empire 2 would get monthly patches , I would have laugh at them , times truly changes...

[@CBRN-115]

We currently live in a time where Blizzard's reputation is crashed into the mud and Star Wars is utterly ruined and a pandemic is ravaging the world Yep, times change in a terrible way

[@sugoi9680]

@jocaguz18 maybe for you

[@Poseidon6363]

@jocaguz18 Not exaggerated if someone close to you has died from it, grow up.

[@Gunlord]

We live in an age of wonders...

[@themoldycrow4890]

@@Poseidon6363 Did someone close to you die from it? not doubting you.

[@michaelmccarty1327]

Two keshiks: fight Eight monks: “YEAH! YEAH, WOOOO! GO! KICK HIS ASS!!”

[@Septimus_ii]

@Crimson I don't think that's how gambling works

[@criter96]

@@Septimus_ii Taxes on gambling, boom.

[@Tremere]

SotL content is like mana from the heavens

[@BIGPILGRIM420]

the best channel on youtube just happens to be an aoe2 channel. #blessed

[@Alche_mist]

How would you, a member of the House and Clan, know mana from heavens? That sounds like some Salubri heresy. You're gonna get staked atop the roof of the chantry, awaiting the sunrise!

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

'Cept you can keep it forever and it never turns into worms

[@remembertostayhydrated]

"...69 gold, which is nice" - see what you did there)

[@HandsomeGamerGuy]

I like the little pause before he said is nice. xD

[@unocualqu1era]

How did you comment 11 hours ago?

[@Panzermeister36]

@@unocualqu1era Patreon early access?

[@unocualqu1era]

@@Panzermeister36 ohhh, so it's an unlisted video for a while and they get the link?

[@avideogamemaster]

Damn I wanted to comment that lol

[@MrMercuryW]

0:53 Ultra Instinct Female Villager

[@nostalgicdouchebag1912]

FU I was gonna comment the same 11

[@MayhemMessiah]

Yeah wtf was that?! I need to see more

[@furkansaryerli]

"You fool. This isn't even my final form."

[@UnDeaDCyBorg]

@MayhemMessiah I believe that's the DE AI showing what it's capable off. Or just a bug, those also sometimes happen.

[@Deszigames]

Spin to win

[@baldawen]

8:22 200 IQ play: Don’t upgrade attack but only cav armor so that you need less monks to heal them.

[@carlpult5235]

If you combine that with the monks being byzantine monks. ...

[@MrMorvana]

I guess it will work even better with a ram ?

[@yoyodude-aoe2726]

@@MrMorvana you can't heal rams

[@federalepps]

SOTL, what about a weird strat where a keshik attacks a ram while being repaired by a villager? Wood ~ gold = effecient?

[@tkzsfen]

we need this question to be answered - UPVOTED!

[@nicita27]

New meta confirmed?

[@Fruktfisk]

Or what if the Keshiks are hitting teutonic knights? Surely it must save on the monks required and be easier to manage.

[@edwardblom2661]

There’s just no way that’s efficient pal. Rams SUCK at taking melee damage, it would be ridiculously expensive to keep on repairing that. Maybe it’ll be more efficient with a Teutonic knight, but I mean cmon while you have found your team mate, a little gay spot to do this, and set up 10 keshiks/t knights/monks your opponent will already have chopped wood, sold it at the market and raided the f out of you. Would NEVER work in a pro game so please just drop this.

[@edwardblom2661]

Fruktfisk That would mean that there’s only 1 unit getting gold instead of 2 keshiks... Let’s say you use 1 keshik, 1TK and 2 monks. It’s still 1/4 units collecting gold at a dark age rate, compared to 1/5 in the first case. Your team make probably want some gold too, so when you send it to him it’s probably 1/5 rate again or worse... Also, imagine all the darn micro to set this up. Sorry but you should all give up on this dream to abuse this unit... There’s just no way, unless they auto heal without monks somehow.

[@kinbine_]

3:01 "...only 69 gold, which is nice..." it is nice indeed

[@cumeman5113]

Nice

[@markesssssss]

Nice

[@RegistracijosKlaida]

Nice

[@wmtch]

Nice

[@roebbiej]

Nice

[@pairot01]

I'm glad the full intro is back

[@MrBloodomer]

Agree I love Seeing the Villager kicking the Cobra Car all the time

[@estellebright2579]

I once thought Keshik should be allowed to generate gold while attacking Town Centers, obviously at a much lower rate (1/10 of dark age gold miner), to reinforce the heavy cavalry role as raiding units. This would work a bit like Pillage in Warcraft III Orc.

[@terner1234]

It would be too underpowered in my opinion.

[@meneldal]

Full rate for town centers would be fine, you get shot down by town centers pretty quickly typically, it's not easy farm. It would be too op against defenseless structures but for a town center it seems fair.

[@rahzoriel2103]

@@meneldal Heck if this bonus stacked against any garrisonable, shootable building (towers, TCs, castles), it would still not matter a lot.

[@meneldal]

@@rahzoriel2103 Castles definitely, they are even more deadly to horses. Towers it might be trickier since some can be relatively defenseless (but you could argue it's on you). The real worry is that in those cases you could actually exploit it for gold generation (not as much healing to do)

[@ingolifs]

Two things of interest: -The Keshik's worth isn't in whether it can pay back the money spent on it, but rather that it can pay back the disadvantage you create when not going with the same resources worth of knights. -Keshiks are best employed when you're already numerically ahead. The longer a keshik survives, the more of them you can make. When you're already behind and you're sacrificing your troops to the meat grinder in a desperate bid to stay alive, you're probably better off going with knights. It would be interesting to see where the transition between advantageous knights and advantageous keshiks lies.

[@Panzermeister36]

This guy gets it

[@superstar5042]

Knights better only in 1 thing: they can be creayed from stable. Thats all. Besides that keshiks much better and chraper than knights or cavaleer

[@devilpistons1269]

"When you're already behind and you're sacrificing your troops to the meat grinder in a desperate bid to stay alive, you're probably better off going with knights" Why are knights the better option if you're scrambling to stay alive? That wasn't what I took away from the video.

[@RLP92]

The old BGM is back :O

[@HeavyCavalryArcher]

SOTL, I LOVE the new extended intro!! Like in the good old days

[@BIGPILGRIM420]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE MR. C.A.

[@unimportantcommenter4356]

Mangudai is way cooler than you

[@yevgenyiyeet8737]

I really love the memes on this channel. They're so old that they shouldn't work but they are somehow the best. The oldnes just makes it better

[@Thomas-vn6cr]

Memes that depend on being new to be good are generally weaker in my opinion, especially in KZbin videos.

[@yevgenyiyeet8737]

@@Thomas-vn6cr yea new meme formats die quickly and none are really iconic

[@michasokoowski6651]

​@@yevgenyiyeet8737*Surprised pikachu*

[@iau]

yevgenyi yeet That always has and forever will be true. With memes, music, films, etc. If you compare everything produced today with stuff in the past that has already stood the test of time. The past *always* wins. But that's not a fair comparison since, by definition, nothing new today has _stood the test of time_. Give it time, and in a few years we'll see how 2020s memes were "so much better", once all the bad ones have been forgotten.

[@yevgenyiyeet8737]

@@iau i don't think that will be the case with 2020 memes. We might remember it as a great meme era but formats die too quickly to really become iconic and even if they do they are often ruined by overusing them and people trying to constantly keep it alive or revive it.

[@ExcelonTheFourthAvalonHeirs]

Glorious intro!!!

[@XanderWhite]

So they and Steppe Lancers could be considered "medium cavalry," costed and statted in between light and heavy? Neat balance, especially after Rajas introduced heavier heavy cavalry!

[@smaranv4077]

How did you post a comment 8 hours ago when the video was posted only 13 minutes ago??,

[@chimps121]

@@smaranv4077 im assuming the patrons get to watch the video earlier

[@bledferox6601]

Well steppe lancers are a non-trash litgh cavarly. Keshiks are more similar to tarkans for stats perspective. Besides that keshiks attack faster and are cost effective against tarkans. So in conclusion keshiks are definitely cheap heavy cavarly

[@europeanpatriot8031]

How did you write this comment 8 hours ago?

[@papermaniac]

i could say Elephants are on their own special category, those are Good building destroyers, heavy meatshields and Archer harrassers, Other cavalry types are more made for raiding.

[@diegovarela8097]

Last time I was this early Manguadai were crazy good. Wait...

[@sharishth]

They still kinda are.

[@diegovarela8097]

@@sharishth that's the point

[@tyranitararmaldo]

@@diegovarela8097 *Laughs in Mongolian*

[@BunnyOnASnuman]

So yesterday

[@mastodonstrengthandperform6346]

@@tyranitararmaldo throat sings in mongolian

[@cbillygoatsgruff5942]

SOTL!!! The intro's BACK!!!! Thank you so much :)

[@AgeArena]

I always love how your memes are so on point! I also tested Keshiks and they - only have *1* unique *A-Tier* counter - only have *5* unique *B-Tier* counters - are cost effective against *28 / 34* other unique units For the tests I assume equal resources (eg 11 Keshiks vs 3 Elephants), PostImperial Age and no micro. Then after the fight I count the HP of the winning unit and > 60% HP would be an A-Tier counter. I did all that 3 times to get a good average. I really like Keshiks and their uniqueness!

[@harishsundar3409]

what are the 5 b tier counters ?

[@Pyroptere]

"Befriend" a Teuton with 1 Elite Teutonic Knight and 1 Monk, let him put his ETK on "no attack stance", attack with 5 keshiks, generate 110 gold/min for 7 pop. Less good than trading but with the benefit of feeling like a genius. (The math is slightly off, do we have real SOTL fans around to point where is the slight mistake in this reasoning?)

[@sebastianvroom7595]

Do converted keshik also generate gold? Becuase with that you can have some ground to barter with. Also it's easier to hide and easier to defend from raiding that trade. Migth be usefull as a way to generate gold in a 1v1 with a friend in order to goof around if you don't have too much knowledge with the editor

[@ptsg]

@@sebastianvroom7595 > Do converted keshik also generate gold? They do

[@f.c.laukhard3623]

@@sebastianvroom7595 True, TKs and Keshiks with monks can even defend themselves which trade cannot do. ;)

[@yukarichan3962]

@@f.c.laukhard3623 Monk heals 150 HP per min

[@sebastianvroom7595]

@@f.c.laukhard3623 Monks heal 1hp every 0.4 seconds, that converts to 150 HP/min, with Keshik's 15 damage per attack evey 1.9 secs against the knigths 13 melee armor when fully upgraded, a single Keshik deals 63.16 damage per minute to a knigth, so the rates end up close to 1 monk to 2.37 Keshik or prettied up to 3 monks to 7 keshiks, 7 goldminers worth of gold to 11 pop, perhaps a little more, since you can maximize pop space by having as many keshiks as possible attack the same knigth I pulled all the info from the aoe2 wiki

[@PWN4G3FTW]

I just love how you change the intro every now and then but keep the overall feeling. Well done, SotL.

[@pt8306]

Honestly I think the Steppe Lancer needs a buff, and the civilisations that use it should in turn have the knight line removed, so that there would be more unit diversity - have some civilisations good with the steppe lancer similar to elephant civs - and make the steppe lancer viable as a knight replacement with some twists.

[@Dhrazia]

Agreed

[@NearNihil]

Full intro is back!! Nice.

[@Berix]

Yes! The full intro is back!

[@Pablo-Herrero]

I was getting afraid you weren't going to upload today!

[@janpanui3192]

I just realised i watch all of your videos. Awesome content dude.

[@jorgeruesta9123]

Ok Spirit, but picture this scenario. Diplomacy game: Tatars, teutons and byzantines in the same team. The tatar player is attacking a teutonic knight with a keshik, while not being attacked by it. The teutonic knight is at the same time being healed by monks with the byzantine team bonus (monks heal faster). Would it be viable then?

[@muhittincankorkut6094]

and can send half of the gold to the teuton player and set up ths configuration multiple times as well :D

[@bartoszmichalik7149]

Exactly! 3 pop for 1 dark age gold miner equivalent. I don't think You even need byz monks, keshik will do 1 dmg anyway, right? So teutonic monk should be enough I think. Not sure though.

[@Eon2641]

I'mma go out on a limb and say that would be a no, because halving the amount of gold produced per side means that the villagers are still more profitable, even if it only took one monk to heal the knight

[@ailius1520]

No. The pop space would be better spent on trade carts.

[@jorgeruesta9123]

@@muhittincankorkut6094 despite all that trade seems like a more population efficient and viable option xd

[@deesemode7896]

Ever think of doing a cumans civ review? Was just thinking of this since they're one of the step lancer civs. Excellent content as usual! Keep it coming!

[@sokolovremwwii2205]

I Like the reworked intro! Keep up the good work!

[@Panzermeister36]

Thank you for another great video.

[@daniielah.7569]

The intro

[@Klepske]

I'm glad the intro is back.

[@PazCristo]

when will be Tatars and Cuman's civs overview come out?

[@tamerlane2951]

Yeah, I would LOVE a cumans overview. Super unique playstyle.

[@paulmcevoy3198]

wooh old intro, its amazing and I love it

[@jodeer3232]

thanks for this nice video (as the pach came out i wished a video like this)

[@bomjus1706]

FINALLY HE DID AN UPDATE ON THE KESHIK

[@alloy299]

Full length OP! Thanks!

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

We NEED a civ with that unique tech : Horse meat ! : units produce food when fighting cavalry Cannibalism : units produce food when fighting non-siege land units.

[@MrDibara]

That sounds like some Orc civilization or whatnot. Perfect for a Lord of the Rings mod.

[@fullmetal_faqih6446]

I'd love to see a new barbarian civ with these bonuses maybe the vandals or gauls

[@anghainguyen9951]

That should be an Aztec teach lol :v. Also wood steal : melee unit produce wood when attack building, ship or Siege unit...

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@fullmetal_faqih6446 Gauls were assimilated into the Roman Empire for quite some time before the West fell, who then were ruled mainly by the Franks. All that's left of celtics cultures are, well, the Celts. They would be better suited as a AOE1 civilisation. And still, they weren't "fully barbarian" by the time of Caesar's conquest so I wouldn't give them such an unique tech.

[@fullmetal_faqih6446]

@@Duke_of_Lorraine aight cool

[@Nata-ch2bk]

Even if one doesn't necessarily agree with all the strategic points discussed in a SOTL video, one has to admit that the aesthetics and video production quality are pretty sick. Those Keshik fights zoomed in with top tier quality graphics, beautiful :D

[@TZerot0]

I'm curious as to what points you take issue with? I feel like he usually is very clear about the limited validity of the test scenarios, and tends to stay away from strategies rather than just describing some applications from the results of his tests! True on the production quality, tho! I don't even have DE, and I still have been loving the new videos.

[@tkzsfen]

i don't want to pressure you, but we are waiting for the next historic overview of a civilizations. it is such a good feeling, when you understand the connection between the civilization features and its historic side.

[@Matt_Pallardy]

Best AoE2 videos out there! Entertaining and informative

[@SlayPlenty]

that villager going full Neo on the intro skirmishers gets me every time....absolute beast..

[@mmkmk1467]

thank you, i love your subtle humor

[@leonardoferro628]

Love your video, would love to see more tutorials for who is willing to get good at the game like me :)

[@oscars7948]

the INTRO is back...finally the universe is in perfect harmony

[@ailius1520]

I haven't tried DE, but this setup reminds me of the Norse civilizations from Age of Mythology that get "Favor" when units are in combat. When talking resources, "When do you get it?" is just as important as "How much do you get?". If there was a unique tech in a regicide game that gave you a million gold when your king's death animation starts, it would be a worthless tech. The problem with the Keshik is the time you get the gold is generally after the time you need. The only times it can help you is if you lose the fight but your opponent fails to lay on the pressure afterwards, or if you win the fight but have multiple opponents.

[@Dreska_]

that was the Norse's only way of getting favor though

[@Alche_mist]

@@Dreska_ Not really, Loki's Hersir were generating favor by simply existing (and faster in combat).

[@manowhite9187]

Yaaay full intro

[@Daxter250]

the keshik are a great imperial age option when the enemy expect ya to attack with cav archers you were harassing him with in castle age and suddenly, BAM! keshiks ^^.

[@IorekMetal]

The intro is back!

[@dog1783]

FULL LENGTH INTRO WOOOOOO

[@iagocasabiellgonzalez7807]

Hell yeah that intro!

[@subhamadhan112]

Great video

[@longtomjr22]

Intro is back!

[@mzil]

Perfect intro!!!

[@Clairvoire]

SOTL - the most efficient setup for a diplo game I've tested, is 4 non-elite keshiks on an elite teutonic knight on no attack stance, with one supporting monk. It works out to 0.15 gold per second for each unit, which is 50% as good as a castle age miner. But I guess the advantage is that it works anywhere with little space, it requires no defending, once setup it's stable with no management, and needs no map resources.

[@wiliammbr]

As always, take my like, even before watching it

[@arnaug5022]

Nice video! Can you talk about steppe lancer next time?

[@carlglyde5764]

Intro let’s gooooo!

[@9ooglesuxballs]

"...but if it makes you feel like a genius then go ahead and live your best life." Man I love your sense of humour

[@Ahmadabdal_]

7:58 nice i just saw the comment in the older keshik video

[@NeonTiger]

Updated intro? Insane villy micro at 0:53!

[@noahslippy214]

I'd like to see how much better one or two healing monks makes a Keshik army. Might not help that much or pay off the monk cost, but it would be interesting.

[@RealFreshDuke]

When you calculated the secret alliance tactic did you check if having armor upgrades without attack upgrades would make a difference? Or with another setup, where you have the Keshik as an attacking unit, a tank unit with greater defense and monks / villagers (for healing/repairing)?

[@justrecentlyi5444]

The intro is back?!!!!!

[@bilythebest]

Hey spirit, i just saw a MrBeast video and it had not one but two background musics that you play everytime on your videos ! is it just a coincidence or there's more to it ? :p thanks and great video as always !

[@Ciclopotis]

Maybe they'd be too overpowered if their bonus worked on buildings, but it'd be neat if if applied when attacking houses only, sort of signifying the raiding and pludering even more.

[@olivet7499]

Good idea

[@navinkumarpk86]

The Keshiks look so badass either way!

[@TisTheWay]

I use the Keshin like the Huns unique unit. Have a few attacking building/ walls to generate gold and to bait the enemy into an engage

[@anisaliu3443]

"With equal numbers the battle only lasted long enough to generate 69 gold, which is nice." SOTL FLOOR GANG CONFIRMED

[@timioskiechajas9102]

Is there any chance for a full civilization overview of Tatars and Cumans?

[@MrDibara]

Maybe after the patch? Couple of things could change with it after all.

[@Wockes]

0:37 best part

[@marcomongke3116]

Fun fact. Kheshik literally means 1. gift from the lord, 2. Your share(percentage) in Mongolian. The longer version Kheshikten means royal guards, mostly cavalry too.

[@alejandroromero6464]

8:26 I liked that conclusion section.

[@komodoejderi0760]

Ah man, i misses the intro so much.

[@tomasgonzalez970]

best intro ever

[@muhammadadel4070]

Hey spirit how are u, hope u doing well...i want to ask if you gonna make a tatars review because until now you didn't make a full review about them.

[@PedroKing19]

Yesssssss the introoooooooo

[@sogomn]

YESSSSS INTRO

[@oyuyuy]

You have to go deeper SotL! See, to get an efficient secret alliance, you should do a ratio of 4 Keshiks, 1 Teutonic Knight and 1 Monk. 1 damage per hit, with 4 attacks every 1.9s. 1 heal every 0.4s/4 heal every 1.6s.

[@hbarudi]

The way the tatars are right now worth replaying that campaign. Played coop with my brother as tatars and they hold their own. The demolition camel does not feel great, they should at least lower its cost significantly or make more powerful...

[@ejga]

Any amount of likes and comments aren't gonna be enough to really recognize the full worth of the long intro and the 69-nice innuendo which T90 would be very proud of.

[@jamesburke2235]

The intro is back! This is not a drill!!!

[@edireland8983]

Could you do a test on whether making monks and missionaries for healing is worth it?

[@utterlyhollow5377]

When will we get the civ overview for Tartars and Cumans?

[@papermaniac]

Lol you can make a tournament of keshiks in game and gain gold with it. that sounds fun.

[@bardofhighrenown]

Intro music is back!

[@ThangHuynh10]

The secret diplomacy is quite an interesting idea. If 1 side has un-upgraded keshiks hitting 1 teutontic knight max armor, they will each only deal 1 damage to him, just set the teutonic knight not to attack. By doing this, the # of monks would be reduced drastically => every keshik = 1 villager mining gold.

[@Ironmaidenportugal]

Can you make a video about allies bonus of same civs? does it stack? which civ can stack and how effective?

[@Clairvoire]

on the side of a hill, you can get 3 Post-Imp Keshik's generating gold on a teutonic knight on No Attack stance, with just one supporting monk. Not sure how that compares for the same 5 pop space elsewhere, but the setup required makes it incredibly fair if it turns out to be really good

[@Clairvoire]

Doing the math, it works out to 14 gold per minute for each unit involved, out of thin air. Not as fast as a miner of course, so perhaps not worth while

[@Clairvoire]

doing even MORE math, non-elite Keshiks can work 5 on a single knight+monk on a hill corner for around 10 minutes generating 0.35 gold per second for the 7 units involved. The knight won't die if you remove one Keshik for rest before the 10 minutes needed to kill the Knight, this is more efficient than 7 feudal age miners

[@Wildeye13]

I was struck with a sense of deja vu with this video. then I remembered the last video about these guys was about their ability.

[@fernalon3398]

Fun fact: A non-elite Keshik with full armor and no attack upgrade can pay for himself in gold and win against an elite elephant Archer with full armor and not attack upgrade.

[@tyranitararmaldo]

Keshik's are visually my favourite new DE unit. They look so sleek, like what the Cataphract should have been.

[@MrDibara]

HERE'S A FELLAH WHO TALKS MY LANGUAGE! The unit which aesthetically looking, is closer to the Cataphract design then the actual Cataphract! (though granted, they did change the Cataphract's visual a bit) Another unit I also thinks looks more like a Cataphract is the Elite Steppe Lancer, though his horse armor only covers the front of the horse, not the entire body.

[@StriKe_jk]

I see a combinations of 2/3 keshik (for frontline) and 1/3 stepp lancer (backline) to be a very cost effective and efficient army composition. Can you check that out? Maybe tweak the numbers a bit (maybe 50/50 is better?)

[@Dr.CaveCurinas]

Okay then, I'd like to see if betwween the Leitis and Magyar Huszar which civ has the better trash unique unit

[@KlausBioMadsen]

Spirit of The Law for president

[@_Morph1ne_]

I’m so used to skipping you tubers intros I skipped 10 seconds and was like “oh shit I forgot that shit is fire gotta go back”

[@USAltefore]

I loved the monk cheerleaders.

[@Behemoth3434]

Can you carry out some experiments and generate an accurate multi shift+right click pattern for a scout to draw a wild boar for long distances? Thanks.

[@michaeltaylor8698]

I just hope the steppe lancer gets buffed again slightly in the next patch. Right now there's no reason to use them over knights or light cavalry in their respective roles. Since Keshiks are now really good for their price Tatar players won't use SLs. It's cool that Mongols have them as well now but again they're not used since Mongol players use the gold for Onagers and Mangudai and use Hussars instead, and Cumans just become another Paladin spam civ in imperial age like Persians, Magyars, Huns etc. I also think Huns should get SLs. They are a raiding civilization originating from central Asia so they are appropriate, and SLs, discounted cav archers and Tarkans could be a really fun army to use.

[@nilabhra100]

Can you make a knight vs pikemen and when to take the fight video ?