SHOGUN 2 UNITS TIER LIST!

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I unfortunately missed Yari Cav when I downloaded all the unit images, so I didn't add it into the list. Of course Yari Cav is Chad Yari Ashigaru tier though!

[@BalkansBrazil]

Please help-me , my total war is freezing on the Campaign map

[@lurkkerr5507]

Hey !! How do u choose a group with click on battle ??

[@AdrianGamingLP]

I am curious about Onna Bushi!

[@joshuahart4013]

Have you ever even played the game?

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

@@joshuahart4013 Only 2100 hours, it's not like I have dozens of Legendary difficulty campaigns on this channel or anything.

[@SonbiTal]

Imagine being a Samurai looking up hoping you one day will be a Spear wielding Peasant.

[@cloudfanlp4923]

Or you get Red Armor and a Horse.

[@lewiswood1437]

Historically knights and samurai were replaced with halberd and gun weilding levy's

[@GeraltofRivia22]

It's the Samurai's fault for not using spears like they did irl. A sword is not a battlefield weapon.

[@lewiswood1437]

Historically the most common weapon in war was a naganata which is similar to a glave or halberd. Almost all samurai used bows or naganata as their primary weapons. Until guns were introduced.

[@lewiswood1437]

@@GeraltofRivia22 they actually very rarely used their swords in battle, it was seen as a emergency back up weapon. They are so famous because a privilege of being samurai was you could wear your swords in town and this was seen as a status symbol. So they were most often seen with swords, even though they rarely used them in wars

[@GeassEnabler]

Honestly by the time you get the ability to recruit matchlock units you might as well just wait and recruit Line Infantry from Fall of the Samurai

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Hahahaha!

[@Vince-tt1uj]

But if you play as Otomo you can recruit Portuguese several turns into campaign.

[@milo20060]

Not that hard...

[@TheTeodorsoldierabvb]

@@Vince-tt1uj Doing a campaign with them right now, its a nightmare. These matchlocks aint worth shit if you dont have an equal or greater amount of bows. Else you have to charge in there with your shitty yari ashigaru, who break two volleys in and leave your tiny marchlock units to be swept away.

[@gabrielmelnik6796]

@@TheTeodorsoldierabvb but if you are defending the matchlock ashigaru are insane. I won crazy battles with Yari ashigaru and matchlock ashigaru against all my odds.

[@kristoforperkola6923]

I'd say the hand mortars deserve F-tier rather than vomit-inducing-tier because they can move after deployment unlike the other artillery. Still bad though.

[@Naraku-no-Hana-WE]

Hey someone gets it

[@amycooley9153]

Nice

[@NemoA90]

I propose a new challenge campaign! Use only units of D tier or lower!

[@TheDzudas]

But he needs yari ashigaru at start

[@handlesarecringe957]

@@TheDzudas Not really, I've won battles with only bow ashigaru before

[@koreancowboy42]

@@handlesarecringe957 lies, what difficulty. Also who you playing as? Possibly chosokabe since their bouns into archery it's easy but even with that boost it's nothing. Even now I still use matchlock samurai cuz of the morale damage. Paired with whistling arrows and them charging yari wall it's over. Also saying you've won battles with only bow ashigaru is hard to believe even against an late game army or an large early game army is hard to believe. Even if you have archer stacks

[@Smelly556]

Unfair, European cannons are amazing

[@GeraltofRivia22]

That's easy. Just choose Ikko Ikki and use bow and katana ronin.

[@BlackWolf1589]

*Chad yari ashigaru vs virgin yari samurai*

[@fatfish2066]

Humanity if Yari samurai had yari wall

[@darthrevan926]

6:03 I don't think the SS accepts ashigaru

[@TheDzudas]

Long yari ok, but ashigaru is not SS, naginata are. Ashigaru have bad moral and armor, if you play Oda than ok

[@darthrevan926]

@@TheDzudas you know I was making a horrible nazi joke?

[@TheDzudas]

@@darthrevan926 oo sorry, that is funny. But SS was ally with ashigaru 😁

[@nogisonoko5409]

-Peasants -Not Aryan Blasphemy

[@directrulefromgamerchair3947]

Out of all the German military branches in WW2, the SS would be one of the most likely to accept Japanese into their ranks. There were SS legions drawn from all kinds of people, including Latvians, Indians and even some muslim countries, so it's not the biggest stretch. Though to be fair, as Japan was an active participant on the same side in the war, I couldn't see much reason for a Japanese man to make the trip all the way to Germany instead of just fighting for Japan lol

[@milo20060]

"I won't take long" 30 minutes pass lol.

[@captainnyet9855]

Daikyu Samurai should be in S tier. They are way easier to recruit in large numbers due to lower price and upkeep; they also have more armor and a larger unit size, allowing them to survive longer when under fire in battles and they preform better in melee if necessary, meanwhile as archers they perform almost identically, Monks do perform better against low-armored units, but Daikyu often perform equal or better against armored units. While Daikyu do tend to kill a bit slower, they also run out of ammo slower, so in fights that drag on i usually find Daikyus to serve me better. Personally i'd put them all the way up at Yari Ashigaru tier as they make the chosokabe campaign a breeze, but that could be personal bias, they're definitely as good as bow monks though tier wise.

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Daikyu samurai have armor piercing arrows and therefore are better in the late game, since even katana samurai have 5 armor.

[@captainnyet9855]

@@GeraltofRivia22 daikyu arrows are not AP; they have a damage stat of 0,4 (as opposed to 0.3 of other arrows)

[@xanders8100]

I hope one day I too can be another body holding a long pointy stick in a general direction. lol

[@iceee420]

My man forgot the yari cav. Still good video

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I did indeed, would've been S or Chad Yari Ashigaru tier.

[@chrisleong5190]

Maybe add an annotation in the video for yari cav?

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

What is this, 2015? Annotations are a thing of the past, haven't been able to use those for a few years, I'll make a pinned comment though.

[@iceee420]

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP only busting your chops man. Cant wait to see your next 3k video

[@agungwiranugraha699]

Om

[@korvasterindar9672]

You know, you gain a new appreciation for the mount/dismount option on calvary units when you do a calvary only challenge. Katana calvary have a higher damage output than katana samurai when unmounted, making them respectable frontline fighters for only slightly less cash and they'll demolish yari samurai and yari ashigaru, even more so with experience. Unmounted bow calvary are actually really good for defensive sieges due to their high accuracy, which is even higher than bow samurai. And to top it all off, they are slightly cheaper to maintain than samurai

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I already did a cavalry only challenge, but since it was a cavalry only challenge I wasn't allowed to dismount units that kind of defeats the purpose of cavalry only. kzbin.info/aero/PL28oZ4FVZmk479gM8Bs8x-YspOb0bnDeH

[@IPromiseTomorrow]

That's pretty creative to do. I might just try that

[@ythandlename]

I actually felt forced to recruit a lot of calvary for the instructor event and I'll say their utility is doubled when you can dismount them since not only are they just less men, better units but having the option to do so allows you to flexibly counter yari units since all I have to do is dismount them when the yari units are charging and watch the samurai demolish them since yari only gets their bonus when they're fighting mounted and are useless outside that condition.

[@koreancowboy42]

@@ythandlename yari units aren't technically useless, when their the back bone of the army. Two units of yari ashigaru its an possibility for katana cavalry might lose even when dismounting also the upkeep and buying them is not worth it when you get much more work out of yari cavalry who have more stamina and can gen snipe along side they also have the option to dismount they also are able to counter act other cavalry unless it's another yari cavalry or great guard. Other than that it comes down to experience if the unit and how it's used.

[@ravenbuster8111]

28:50 Well actually Daikyu Samurais don't have armor penetration at all, their arrow(0.4 dmg) just deals +0.1 damage more than normal ones(0.3 dmg).

[@Zayl1016]

I know this is probably common knowledge, but for new players who like Date who have specialized nodachi units: you have a blacksmith on your capital and if you take up the armorsmith tree, nodachi from there become amazing frontline beasts.

[@michaelfisher737]

I've been getting back in to shogun 2 and this has been super helpful, especially for helping my wife learn the game. Would love to see a FotS follow up!

[@s31t0r4]

nodachi samurai is a missed opportunity, originally an anti cav sword , to cut down cav thats bogged down in the first strike their charge is nowhere give it justice

[@alejodavies]

@Khaffit I think that was more in the European context, with zweihanders and the like.

[@nogisonoko5409]

It weird how Nodachi samurai does not have bonus against cav.

[@arnijulian6241]

The (dachi) group of swords where not very present in the sengoku jidae/waring states period as field battle moved away from mounted combat to ground infantry. Before what most view in their head as the iconic katana was the (tachi) in the pervious eras before the waring states. A (dachi) is just big tachi that was used in mounted combat against other mounted combatants. The largest & longest of these swords in the 13th & 14th century are normally called (Nagai o/no-dachi) / is or. No is also a common particle in Japanese to denote ownership. like: (anata no sakana=your fish. watashi no sakana=my fish) So not exactly a anti cavalry weapon, but a cavalry vs cavalry weapon that was used in tandem with mounted pole arms & spear users. Honestly a lot of the sources from this earlier periods are quiet lacking with minimal detail & sparse unfortunately. The dachi was more often romanticised as the brutes, fearless or wild fighters weapon in poetry, theatre & such. They would often denote that character with red line paint down from the eyes that denotes passion, temper, anger & emotion/characteristic of that nature. I see it as hot blooded.

[@nickdobrov]

Warrior nuns - D tier. Reason: not enough men.

[@maltaaaas]

I recently build my new gaming PC and bought Shogun 2 on Steam, because I always wanted to lead samurai into battle :D this really helps me as a noob, so thanks

[@callyfow9397]

This was a great watch, nice to see a more consolidated overview of how you rate units, would defo love to see a FOTS version aswell.

[@jameswisslead4533]

Can't agree with light cav that high, despite their low cost they die off too quickly, I only use them to mop up routing units or charge bow ashigaru. Attack most melee units and they're dead or routing in a hurry.

[@Fr_Fa]

Same for Shogun 2, the fall of samourail?

[@correctorer]

I can spoil it for you, Armstrong Guns and Tosa Riflemen are gonna be on top

[@screamingcactus1753]

What I'd like to know is what's worse? Wooden cannons, or mangonels?

[@angels2online]

@@screamingcactus1753 yes

[@GeassEnabler]

Kihetai are way better than Tosa Rifleman cause they are infinitely recruitable elite line infantry.

[@GonnaDieNever]

He won't do that because he hates siege weapons, an playing FOTS without artillery is like blowing your own foot off.

[@Sharnoy1]

People who think Shogun 2 lacks unit variety should see this video :D I enjoyed this one and would love to see one made about FOTS as well ;) It would also be cool to see you make a list like this with for instance your top patreon, so that we may have some discussion and arguments about the ratings!

[@morganwithaneevee246]

Well, I mean... Over half of the list is made up of heroes and faction-specific units... And about a third are made of units almost no one ever uses in an actual campaign. Unit variety in Shogun 2 isn't bad, there just isn't any reason to use about 2/3 of the units in the game because they're not practical enough for canpaign. Say what you want about Rome 2, but it knows how to give you variety, even when each individual faction roster is fairly small.

[@YiGzit]

Hey Smart, about the bow heroes. They have the armor-piercing arrows as well as daikyu samurai. Thus using bow hero in siege battles or in attacking field battles is highly cost-effective. As you know in legendary mode the AI goes into defensive positions when it gets attacked by your army and thus giving you unlimited time to pick off their most valuable units (usually 400+ kills). As for attacking siege battles if the enemy is wielding a full stacked army inside the castle, I send my bow units, fire rockets etc to attack and kill their bow units, general, heroes whatever and let them retreat from the siege attack (flee option). Then I attack with my remaining army the weakened castle with still hopefully my retreated bow units as reinforcements and if not I wait till the next turn to auto-resolve. You should try this out in a custom battle and give the heroes some second love. Thanks for staying interactive with your viewers

[@opheliamoonrose4316]

Honestly, I would put Matchlock Samurai in A Tier, but I admit bias, I have way too much fun using them. x3

[@bearistotle2820]

I really like muskets in general, and I just love playing as Otomo and watching ashigaru matchlocks obliterate a frontline of experienced samurai.

[@nogisonoko5409]

@@bearistotle2820 It was really hard to use them on open field. Im usually use them as a bait for Takeda cav to charge in while i have another line of matchlock ashigaru waiting to shoot or another naginata samurai. In defensive siege battle, they are just immovable machine gun fortress. Absolute powerful.

[@icutthings649]

@@nogisonoko5409 they can be really good and really bad depends on the terrain and if you can make bamboo walls you've won

[@Monika-ok6lp]

I don't use the nodachi much, but I have to permit that they are the only melee unit that can beat the warrior monk (not inclued the yari wall)

[@ashina2146]

I once heard that Bow Hero are best used against other heroes or super expensive units with low unit size

[@zeroomega3781]

Then you remember that Bow Hero is also a "super expensive units with low unit size" So they... counter themselves???

[@Kaiser282]

So arty, cav and hero units. I just like the hero units so I recruit them anyways.

[@YY-ug9mv]

This game has amazing unit art.

[@playmsbk]

IMO the hojo hand mortars are B or C tier. Their killing capacity is low, but they disorganize enemy lines, disrupt enemy missile fire and stop enemy charges. They are a support unit very similar to kisho ninjas but, due to their range and magnitude of volleys, much better in that role. They also have extremely high range, decent damage potential against buildings and are mobile, which makes them pretty much the only siege unit probably worth carrying around in case of a siege.

[@julianmoynihan1328]

Bow cavalry can be useful in battles against small armies of

[@flaggy185]

or you are takeda

[@kaijuslayer3334]

Katana cavalry are honestly really good when you consider the fact that the main disadvantage they have is no anti cav bonus. But, this is why you don’t run just them by themselves. If placed with Yari cav in a 2:1 ratio, (2 Yari for every Katana). They can do very well and cover the weaknesses of each other. Yari cav can deal with enemy cav and then act as solid shock units, which can also use their speed and stamina to lure spear units away from sword infantry or archers. While the Katana cav can be used to destroy and lock down basically any infantry not carrying a polearm on the charge and then even into melee. Have the two play to their strengths, control them wisely, and you’ll find great success. I’d honestly rate them as C, or maybe B tier for the potential they have, but are still hampered by being a meh choice to run as your sole cavalry. My only guess as to why you consistently rate them low is you use them as your sole cavalry to begin with. Which, yeah. That won’t end well. If you have to pick one cavalry unit to make up all your cavalry, go with Yari. But if you can field more then one type, the 2:1 ratio I suggested wouldn’t hurt to try.

[@sauromatae9728]

Problem is, katana and yari cavalry need different buildings.

[@kaijuslayer3334]

@@sauromatae9728 Alright neat. You only need 3 buildings for a supreme Yari cav recruitment town. I just upgrade the castle to have 4 and put down a katana dojo.

[@fabianhartendorf9609]

Spears of Shizugatake is the name. Look it up, they were the generals of Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the battle of Shizugatake against Oda Nobutaka!

[@urbanwarrior3470]

question i've always had is why Yari Samurai cant do the spear wall, but teh Ashigaru can

[@the0sanitydokutah967]

Because the Yari Academy taught them to charge and kill themselves for honor than do formation and hold the line?

[@sniper321fire]

I know this is a old video but I personally love the cannons they can take out fort/city walls really easy and even in open areas they can kill quite a few people since AI loves to group

[@SawedOffLaser]

Matchlock ashigaru are funny because for most clans they aren't great. But for the Otomo you can move them up three tiers because they literally start the game with them.

[@Smelly556]

Am I the only one who loves mangonels? I just place a couple yard ashigaru near them, and I enjoy their fire, since I don’t feel like converting to gunpowder

[@dragospan96]

"If i wanna have a charging infantry why not just have charging cavalry" Because u wanna tear spearman apart!!! ez answear!

[@Kaiser282]

A no-daichi charge into yari ashigaru converted me.

[@nogisonoko5409]

It really sad that No-dachi samurai got shredded by Bow warrior monks instead.

[@greatndit]

tokugawa mounted gunner can shot from behind yari wall ! how cool is that . S tier for me i always use it in PVP , but in PVE it takes too long to research . the game already finished when i finally can train it .

[@KageMinowara]

The one place I'd say Fire Bomb Throwers are good is on top of a gate during a siege. They saved my ass once during this siege where the enemy attacked me with overwhelming numbers.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

If you liked this video, check out my Fall of the Samurai tier list here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmitZ397od2dgM0

[@crusaderanimation6967]

27:10 "You want your melee units to have quite a few men in them..." a yea, warriors nuns don't have many men among them.

[@kaijuslayer3334]

At least, I hope not.

[@crusaderanimation6967]

@@kaijuslayer3334 *AMOUNGUS INTENSIFIES*

[@mutedunknown2734]

I simp for the No-Dachi. Breaking Samurai units in a single charge with Banzai is super satisfying

[@henningray2904]

i really think you underrate matchlock and cannons, just watch the hojo experience

[@commonpepe2270]

27:11 i think if you want your melee units to have men in them, warrior nuns have to be f tier.

[@mrorlov2706]

I like to play a couple of marathon monks along with my naginata monks as a support unit

[@Overdoseplus]

I love the bow hero and mounted archer hero. The bow hero can out range ramparts/wall ranged sometimes two or even three walls in depending on the castle design and how dumb the AI is being. They outrange the Bow monks and encourage them. Both almost fire lasers rather than arrows so are excellent counter snipers. Hero bow cav has practically bow monk range and their speed allow them to get around and flank easily. They work well on their own harassing the enemy flank or leading a pack of bow cavs.

[@TJWaddle17]

I agree with most except Bow Hero. That unit is at least as good as Bow Monks. Bow Hero has 210 range, has over 100 accuracy, and enough ammo to take out at least 2-3 units. And the AI has no idea how to deal with that range, they will often just let you snipe them. You can basically just pick 2-3 enemy units you want to delete.

[@darthrevan4933]

On the matchlock ashigaru you should try playing a pike and shot campaign with them basically place yari troops in “wall block” basically have them cover about 40% of the matcloch line any charging units get caught on the Yaris and then are shot to pieces by the gunners (it’s a bit micro heavy with the sword and cav support but can still wipe larger and much more expensive armies)

[@gopaljimishra7883]

There is lots of difference between nagamaki and naginata

[@177Willy]

Great list thanks it helped me a lot in my Takeda campaign😊👍🏻

[@Naraku-no-Hana-WE]

Excluding heroes who I consider impossible to rate: Yari Wall - YA, OLYA, Light Cav, Fire Cav S - Bow Monks, Tercos, Yari Cav A - Loan Sword, Naginata Sam, Naginata Monks, Bulletproof Sam, Great Guard, Donderbuss B - Katana Sam, Daikyu, Heavy Gunners, Naginata Cav, Katana Cav C - Katana Ronin, Wako Raiders, Marathon Monks, BA, Bow Sam, Kisho, Rockets, Mounted Gunners D - Nodachi, Yari Sam, Warrior Nuns, Bow Ronin, Matchlock Sam, Matchlock Monks E - Matchlock Ashigaru, Bow Cav F - Yari Ronin, Imported Matchlock, Hattori Bandits, Firebombs, Mortars Mangonels - Mangonels, EC You got Yari and Katana Ronin backwards. Katana are respectable, Yari lack Rapid Advance, the one defining ability of Yari Sam. Spears of Shizugatake, which were 7 samurai bodyguards of Toyotomi Hideyoshi Gozen's Hime Heroines, a reference to Tomoe Gozen a famous female warrior from the Gempei war era I put less weight on economic factors, but tech/building requirements remain a huge factor So bs shoot the breeze topic here but I've always thought you're a little too harsh on the Hojo Hand Mortars. The tech and building requirements are atrocious so they'll never be seen in a campaign and their damage against infantry is underwhelming (like all siege weapons they are poor against infantry but for whatever reason more respectable against cavalry). However their accuracy really isn't that bad, much better than other siege units besides fire rockets. Their range is excellent and their ability to arc fire over walls and other obstacles sets them apart from all other siege weapons. Their attacks are highly disruptive to enemy formations, they inflict morale penalties, and like firebomb throwers they can inflict casualties if allowed to sustain fire on the enemy but they don't have to be deployed behind castle walls. Anyhow literally just talking the difference between F and Mangonel ratings, but it's mostly due to recruitment requirements

[@Kaiser282]

I think the big reason he does is he doesn't do siege battles. Me however, anything that explodes is Boom tier and I bring along. If there isn't a spectacular firework show going on, why even bother?

[@1XracecarX1]

You haven't done that naginata tier list yet :(

[@nordicwarrior1309]

Can you do a medieval 2 version

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Unfortunately I have never played an unmodded campaign of Medieval 2 so I wouldn’t know where to place anything.

[@willmaastricht7618]

Naginata samurai above date bulletproof samurai?

[@KyoushaPumpItUp]

I find it disturbing that this game has a bow hero, a spear hero, and a sword hero. Why isn't there a shield hero?

[@varis438]

Taterazay intensifies

[@zeroomega3781]

Is that a Rising of Sheild Hero reference?

[@varis438]

@@zeroomega3781 No, certain game about commanding army of eyes using drums ;)

[@KyoushaPumpItUp]

@@zeroomega3781 whoooooooooah whoah

[@Bayonet1809]

Must be a conspiracy by the Nanban Church.

[@jaystrickland4151]

Dunderbuss cav can fire over a line of infantry giving them a good defensive use.

[@MaskofPoesy]

So KZbin demonetizes every video with swears. Make top x lists because they get views. Go ahead and swear in the first 30 seconds of the video. I love you Donkey, I do, it's clear you care a lot more about making the videos than money. But come on man. Be pragmatic.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Anyone who tells you KZbin demonetizes videos because of swearing is just saying that to make you feel bad for them. KZbin hasn't demonetized a single video of mine in months and I swear in all of them? You think they have some kind of system set up that detects swears of different accents, voices, pitch levels etc in videos? No way, and there's certainly isn't a crew of people watching videos trying to catch out ones that have swears in them. KZbin only demonetizes videos which have certain key words in the title; rape, murder, killing, things of that nature. Used to be they demonetized videos with Total War in the title, but they soon caught on that there's a game franchise called Total War so they made an exception for those, haven't seen a video demonetized since. Even when videos do get demonetized you can simply put in a claim saying your video is fine, they'll review it, and 9/10 times they'll find that there's nothing wrong with the video and it'll be monetized again. Don't believe everything you hear, there's a lot of people out there who either don't know what they're talking about, or play the victim to make people support them financially.

[@MaskofPoesy]

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Thanks for the insight. And obviously I mean the same voice detection algorithm that makes the captions.

[@physetermacrocephalus2209]

If you played more multiplayer you would appreciate No Dachi more. Especially when fighting FoTs armies ;D And the reason you bring them instead of cav is because you need that BANZAI against the guns.

[@mrroger-t6m]

Multiplayer? How old are you?

[@physetermacrocephalus2209]

@@mrroger-t6m Not 55. Unlike you. Anyone can fight AI old man.

[@captainnyet9855]

oh and also, Naginata Samurai are the shit. I usually give them max armor (armory+armorer) just so they can soak up ridiculous amounts of archer fire and hold the line, but going max attack upgrades can turn them into very effective damage dealers as well; a great, versatile infantry unit. they're also one of the few melee infantry units i find worth the investment over Yari Ashigaru.

[@shingeovanny508]

That's right 👍✨ !!! They are so amazing with max meele upgrade .... Hold and beat everything on the line ... the best tank unit in the game👑👑👑👑👑

[@ansleyyang5759]

someone count how many times he's said the word fair plz

[@franciscogrundy9284]

9000

[@guan8926]

I know my comment is going to get hate but here we go. Warrior monks aren't great. They are inconvenient to recruit, expensive, take too long to recruit, require the stupid temple building which requires research. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic in combat but their campaign map downsides make them all at least a tier lower than what they are on the tierlist. I personally vastly prefer samurai because of their armor and ease of recruitment, as well as their price point.

[@shingeovanny508]

Naginata Warrior Monks are a great unit imo, I'll keeping in A tier: they're very nice for flanking and debuff enemy units (warcry is pretty useful), and their killing rate is always high, but as you said they need more campaign requirements and with 2 armor these lads are basically glass cannons. On the other hand, I totally agree with this Tier list: Naginata Samurai is S tier or even Chad for me (I love this unit). They are such a respected unit NOT for their killing power, but for their versatility and ability to hold the line, buying the rest of your army time. Compared to Naginata Warrior Monks, Naginata Samurai is a more resilient unit undoubtedly.

[@AgentA123]

thank you for this useful vid, it's hard to find useful videos about shogun 2 for newbies on ytb nowaday

[@shako4907]

(He still hasnt done the naginata video)

[@AzoiatheCobra]

iwould love to see you trying to find some love for rise of the samurai

[@Jocw27]

funny, I agree with 95% of your tierlist, but really not with your E tier for some reason. I'd put half of these units in the B or C tier. (Imported) Matchlocks are a very cheap shock unit that's relatively easy to recruit, bow ronin totally changed my last ikko ikki campaign, yari sam are situational, but they are the single best anti cav unit in the game and bow cav.. It's not that they're good, but the AI is incredibly bad at dealing with them

[@davidthewhitelizard3681]

Matchlock samurai is one of the best units in game,both in single and multiplayer.Katana Ronin has same stats as Shimazu katana samurai

[@TheDzudas]

No

[@davidthewhitelizard3681]

@@TheDzudas Compare them

[@TheDzudas]

@@davidthewhitelizard3681 žatchlok samurai gas bad range bow warrior Monks would destroy them. Katana ronin has smaller numbers, they are not bad but they are not equal to katana samurai

[@davidthewhitelizard3681]

@@TheDzudas Yeah Bow monks maybe has range but theyre far far more expensive and more flimsy than matchlock samurai,Katana Ronin are stat wise almost identical to Shimazu Katana Samurai.

[@scorpion5574]

@@davidthewhitelizard3681 Matchlock Sams are extremely difficult to get, being an end game unit and require a lot more work for basically the same result you'd get from bow warrior monks and bow sams. Katana Ronin are okay stats wise, but have considerably less men than Katana sams, which means that they'll lose to them in a 1v1, on top of that Ikko Ikki have access to Loan Sword Garus which are not only readily avalaible, but also far more effective for your buck. Neither of them are so bad that you can't use them, there's just much better alternatives.

[@hatimzeineddine8723]

I think that Yabasume's bow cav (or whatever they're called) should be rated above F tier, even if it's just E tier, because they are so easy to micro. I have a hard time with micro in general and their extreme range helps so much since I can forget about them for a bit, and they'll be safe. The recruitment requirements and single unit limit are a problem though. I also have one very fond memory of winning a multiplayer battle with them and a half dead unit of bow ashigaru, so I am a little biased.

[@LegioXXl]

Kiyomasa's cavalry and Fire Cavalry: Perfection Spears of Shizugatake: *eh*

[@Lilybun]

Rapid advance on yari samurai is highly underrated. They make for an amazing anvil for aggressive hammer and anvil strats. Ok matchup into anything on the fastest armored infantry legs makes them really effective at letting you pick favourable fights. They are trash if you are going for a big melee moshpit though which makes them seem really bad but I'd say that applies to bad micro no yari wall yari ashigaru too.

[@avisdunrandom]

Now a list for naval units ^^

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Everything at the bottom simply because I don’t like naval battles, only Nanban Trade Ships are high.

[@Bayonet1809]

Black ship at Not even Japanese tier.

[@the0sanitydokutah967]

As someone who enjoy Naval battles, Nanban trade ship and the Black ship is best Naval unit becoz of the cannons, next would be the gun/matchlock ships since they could pierce and damage ship armor, other ships would be either shit tier or next to gun ship tier.

[@Laharal55]

have you made a video about hero units? can't seem to find it. Your videos really help me understand and enjoy the game! (recent buyer)

[@reckyourself6948]

The European cannons are a legitimately good option for sieges against AI.

[@regandonohue3899]

I don't know what to feel for this tier list mostly because I don't know the grading metric. It just seems to be a feely tier list, which one could argue most are, but at least the reasoning are consistent.

[@boga2050]

Can you make a tier list of all the Three Kingdoms units when the game launches

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I won't have enough experience with the units yet, but I likely will do so at some point, in the form of Top 5's, but maybe also like this video.

[@nondorian]

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Maybe you've already said somewhere else, but how interested are you in Three Kingdoms? Is there a chance for a let's play? Edit: ending of the video answers my question :)

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Ending of the video, and the multitude of Three Kingdoms videos I’ve done in recent weeks should be a clear giveaway too.

[@maxmustermann-zx9yq]

I always run one mangonel in my date army so it all charge (not uphill bc of it) no range

[@lordvoldemort953]

I always feel so bad when you rate Bow Cavalry so low because I always use them as my ace skirmishing forces.

[@mrroger-t6m]

For that price you might aswell get a couple on monk bows

[@lordvoldemort953]

jiale chen They don’t have the maneuverability that bow cavalry does. I think the main weakness of bow cavalry is it is vulnerable to elite archers and using them to their full strength requires a lot of patience.

[@oldrabbit8290]

They are annoying, but they also got countered by bow infantry quite easily. My favorite use of bow cav is infantry bait, in the sense that you can lead 2-3 enemy infantry units away from the main battle, while occasionally give some pot shot. Then run these units down once their main army rout.

[@Kaiser282]

Unless they have bow Samurai, it's really fun dodging ashigaru volleys.

[@arnijulian6241]

Bow cavalry are D not E You don't recruit them often but they always perform better then you would think. Mind the only real weakness of Bow cavalry are ranged infantry so bring 19 Bow cavalry & outfire the enemies ranged units making Bow cavalry hump to (A) Tier in the hand of player with high micro management. Takada Bow cavalry is were it is at as +2 morale, +1 melee attack, +1 melee defence, +1 charge bonus, +5 reload skill, and +5 accuracy costing 175 upkeep instead of 200 is nice. Takada Bow cavalry spam is A tier even in novice players hands but someone with good micro it is S. Bow cavalry in melee are not terrible essentially katana cavalry with lower stats. Bow cavalry in melee can take on bow infantry & if fast matchlock infantry mind over whelming superiority of fire power is advised, use 3-4 mounted bows against 1 ranged infantry unit then move on to the next. Your enemy is unlikely to bring more then 8-9 ranged units & even if he does meet them in melee. Bow Cavalry spam has only 1 real weakness being (fire rockets) but those are near end game units. Every Oda Yari ashigaru player has a fit when you bring nothing but bow cavalry refusing to meet them in melee picking them of with mobility. Note: Bow cavalry have higher accuracy then Bow samurai on par with bow monks at basically the same price. If dismounted bow cavalry are evil in a defensive siege. Bow Cavalry Is massive investment & best used with a general that gives +5 accuracy to all units dedicated & specialised to this one unit. You only do this spam on 1 maybe 2 generals. The rest of your armies & generals play as normal.

[@g-w-u4251]

i think only yari samurai should have the yari wall spec and in this form they should loose stamina faster, i love this game but its nonsense that peasant unit can stand 2 samurai unit

[@nikolakovacevic9355]

Well it was probably mistake from CA but there might be another reason why ashigaru can use spear wall. You're aware of the fact that ashigaru were common folks who got drafted for armies during war times but what most people don't realize, ashigaru soldiers did have basic training, even advanced in case of some clans. They were taught to fight in tight formation and form spear wall, that way they were more effective in battles as unit, since they couldn't reliy on individual skills. Samurai on other hand is professional solider, warrior who studied fighting since early childhood, therefore his skill as individual was much more advanced than skills of ashigaru and doesn't need to relay on spear wall. From gameplay prospective it doesn't make much sense, true.

[@sjin2006]

The Naganata unit list never came out

[@datuputi777]

Warrior nuns can beat Male counterpart in melee. I remember winning a multiplayer battle with units with very low armor just to prove how OP trees are and nuns made it look like I'm cutting through butter even against naginata samurai or warrior monks. Edit: nvm they're so good they can beat naginata heroes and they have more unit numbers so racking up xp makes them a ton stronger than hero naginatas. Yari hero is f because of army size even with anti cav stat they can die horribly facing 2 cav units I know they can form square but doing so loses all the point of using yari samurai which is mobility. Btw going to start a shogun 2 campaign now because of this vid.

[@oldmal60]

Can you delete units to make room for better units in the army?

[@Omar-lt1wx]

Yeah, select what unit you want to delete/disband and then click the Japanese flag in the bottom left of the screen

[@kobz2862]

Imagine training your whole life in the art of the sword to be worth a hundred soldiers as a one person and then you meet like 10,000 ashigaru who wins just because they flood your army

[@khaikhai5339]

I think the general should be as important as the ashigaru unit because without them, the ashigaru will run out when it only takes 40 man or so :()

[@jamesharbinger1711]

Cannons in vomit? Hojo cannons are my go to opener for a siege. Just one card to pop archers before I storm the walls

[@sory9494]

yo smartdonkey, on shogun 2 should i let me taxes on very low / normal or very high? pls answer

[@quaternarytetrad4039]

The short answer: It depends. The long answer: Early game, keep the taxes at normal. If you find yourself in a tough situation, for example, you might need a larger army than you can fund, crank it up to high for a few turns, try gaining other forms of income, and drop it back to normal again. Late game, you're probably bringing in far more money than you will ever spend. At that point, you can consider dropping the tax rate to low or even to minimal, since that increases provincial happiness. It's totally up to you, though

[@sory9494]

@@quaternarytetrad4039 thank u mate, i was letting on very high but i dont know if that was the right thing to do cuz of growth and long run income

[@quaternarytetrad4039]

@@sory9494 No problem

[@stevefyke8929]

Did you know you can BOUNCE your economy? It is kind of a gimmick, but you CAN do it. OK..so turn one you raise your taxes to max..do your turn click turn ...then put TAXES back in the middle. hit turn and then raise again..hit turn after moving and lower to middle..you can do this ALL game with no penalty (it is a bug I guess)..HOWEVER, if you forget to move it back to the middle for a couple of turns..you might get a revolt and game over...seriously!! It is good in SP..Not sure it works in MP...But even if it does..I don't use gimmicks when I am playing other people....unless I can tell they are using them. Try it out and see if you have been getting hosed by your opponent!!

[@thelightning7863]

Please make a naginata list

[@davimelo9181]

Man, I've always tried to emulate your playstyle in my playthroughs and never managed to use yari cav and light cav as effectevely as you say they are. Then again, I'm pretty shitty for someone with 200h of gameplay lol

[@icutthings649]

I love matchlock units on defense they easily get 150-300 kills

[@kolpere1625]

going back to this video just to tell you how op is the morale breaker with hojo mortars. The trick basically is stacking all the moral debuffs you can make: ninjas with smoke bombs, whistling arrows, warcry, artyllery, hojo mortar, rockets and matchlocks. every one of those apply a debuff that makes any unit to rout. Try it with the hojo! (dont forget being christian!)

[@rangergxi]

Imported Matchlock Ashigaru never get any love.

[@ogulcankrmzaltn4531]

We all know first and bottom of course Yari Samurai is the best siege units second and at the bottom Oda Long Yari Ashigaru

[@guilherme95069]

Top 10 castles plz

[@runswithbears3517]

I've always found Katana Samurai to be quite overrated. Every time I field them I expect them to go to town on the enemy's spear/naginata units, but each time I find they only perform marginally better than Yari Ashigaru in spear wall, and still have a tendency to rout unexpectedly at times.

[@MsSirAndy]

Amazing video friend

[@davidstears7037]

In response to your tier list when choosing where General goes; if you rated this tier list based solely on melee stats, the entire list would be different (including the beloved Yari which need their spear wall).

[@unieax5544]

I actually really liked the bow horse samurai in my takeda playthrough. Can you tell my why you consider them to be so bad? Just curious.

[@hak1111111]

Oh boi. here we go. Gotta grab some pop corn

[@matheusmterra]

I really dislike these tier lists that take cost into consideration. If you can make a strong economy it really doesn’t matter the cost. A tier list should be “if you can make ANY army comp you want, which of these units would you fill your army?”, and I don’t think you’d want Yari Ashigaru spam for your elite endgame army.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I dislike the tier list you're describing, because then you'd just take the most expensive units in any Total War and there'd be no point at all in even making the lists. You would gain absolutely no knowledge from it. You need to take certain things into consideration or it's pointless.

[@matheusmterra]

MrSmartDonkeyLP fair point. Still there are cases in which higher cost units perform worse than a less expensive option. Take Warhammer 2 for instance, a Black Guard of Naggaroth is more expensive than Sisters of Slaughter, however a frontline of Sisters of Slaughter is better if you’re facing infantry than a Black Guard, so in that case the most expensive unit is not the best choice, but I see your point there. Thanks for replying though, I wasn’t expecting it hahaha

[@matheusmterra]

MrSmartDonkeyLP as an afterthought, I think the true mark of an A or S or S+ tier unit are units that punch above their weightclass, in that sense I completely agree with Yari Ashigaru, they are so good that they outclass even yari samurai, and not just because they are cheaper or can be buffed to kingdom come, it’s because their higher numbers and good statline allows for really solid frontlines comprised with nothing but ashigarus, it’s a low tier unit in terms of game mechanics that have a spot even in elite endgame armies.

[@kersacoft]

Fire Bomb Throwers can be easily recruited and deal a lot of damage tho. They've served me well with the Oda as a rearguard unit, that will come to the rescue of Yari Ashigaru who are losing, even a single volley or two tends to turn the tide.

[@Kaiser282]

If they're losing anyways, why not bomb them?

[@nogisonoko5409]

Like he said, if you want a fire bomb throwers, Kisho Ninja is a better option. They have more men, bombs, and they can hold their own on melee plus a lot of cheeki stealth stats. Fire bomb throwers will get shredded by anything.

[@kersacoft]

@@nogisonoko5409 Ninjas are objectively better, but Throwers are their Ashigaru version, and there's value in that.

[@nogisonoko5409]

@@kersacoft Yes they are, but they are with 150 upkeep costs and 700 koku to be spent on. Fire bomb throwers have really abysmal range, ok damage (as their throw isnt the best), shit melee and not good vs cav, they are too specialised and too few men to make them worth it. you could just grab 2 more Bow ashigaru or one samurai bow and they are more effective than fire bomb throwers.

[@kersacoft]

@@nogisonoko5409 The niche I have for them mostly negates their lack of range and accuracy, considering that an Ashigaru army doesn't have that many cards to play, they rarely aren't able to fulfill that niche. Then again I'm more justifying their use because they're fun, not arguing they should be meta.

[@tomieedzsi]

Idk about the bow cavalry...i know this is an old video but in my campaign playthroughs bow cavalry won me so many battles, you can just line up your army and go harass the enemy with bow cav also when i auto combat somehow they always are 1st or in the top3 units with the most kills. Other than that good tier list 👍

[@Neutral_1zed]

I feel like the Yari Samurai are underrated for an starting game unit, They make excellent anti-cavalry and can outmatch Yari ashigaru in a 1vs1, excellent for breaking enemy formation. But use Katana Samurai after you get the tech lol, but yeah they definitely crush it against early game armies only of Ashigarus

[@Antonin1738]

Im here because my friends got the game for free in steam, and I am refreshing because we will multi

[@serlistogiette4168]

Depends on what type of multi you are doing, these ratings do not apply to multiplayer circumstances