Top 10 Condottiero

[@PotatoMcWhiskey]

Goths is my favourite civ, its not a phase mom

[@Raizan-IO]

I was unsure if you were an AoE fan after you mentioned The Viper on your stream a couple days ago, or just generally knowledable. Great to see you here!

[@caimtheabyssbringer3136]

25 years definitely not a phase

[@pofdsjoijsodfjsoidf]

What even is a "phase mom"? A mom who isn't miscible in solvents?

[@spyrofrost9158]

When you grow out of it you'll learn to build stone walls like your father.

[@nathanthompson8517]

@potatoeMcWhiskey love your videos!

[@Omerizorman]

Condottiero: *ignore a bonus damage from a damn gunshot* Also Condottiero when Slingers : *YOU CAN'T IGNORE THE ROCK*

[@ottokarl5427]

Condottiero basically use the shield from Dune. A fast moving object like a gunshot gets blocked, but the slow-moving rock gets through

[@horakhty2217]

That's because bullets get stuck in the shield but rocks just bounce around and hit you in the nuts

[@Arhiman93]

It's the "clank" of the rock in the helmet, it confuses them.

[@Gyrant]

Condottiero against Conquistadores: "Hey - ow! - get back here - ow! - so I can sword you - ow!"

[@cmlcml415]

Aoe2 logic 😂

[@willemverheij3412]

It's all about style. Huscarls and Condottiero bond on the battlefield over their love of round shields, plumed helmets and swords, so the Goths are far more welcoming to them. It's why they can train more of them and faster. It all makes sense.

[@redclaytanto]

They literally slay when pillaging together.

[@Calebgoblin]

Most based aoe2 perspective. I bet you also artfully compose your towns even in the midst of difficult games.

[@sirgodua]

Another reason they help Goths is that they look very similar to Huskarls. Enemy might get confused (many people won't consider team bonuses in the heat of the game), doubles down on hand cannons or stops doing archers and there we go.

[@jiagengliu]

Are they related? Both were in northern Italy at some point

[@benedictjajo]

Paladin doesn't care. 😊

[@rabid123fox]

@@benedictjajohalb spam go brrrrr

[@mrjblacc85]

Dang, came here to say this. Great minds think alike 👌

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

@@jiagengliu *both were in the whole of Italy

[@mohammadmehaboob7055]

For goths, condos and husks look pretty much the same, so you can confuse the enemy as well.

[@QuietThePro]

AS a Goth player. I am always so happy when I see I can get Condeottiero's. Pure Huscarl, Halb and Condeottiero spam. It feels so strong against everything except scorpions.

[@agustinfranco0]

dont husk tank scorpions?

[@MaryamMaqdisi]

​@@agustinfranco0 maybe they mean a strong melee wall (like champions) with a lot of scorpion support, husks would die against champions while scorpions kill everything else

[@shykorustotora]

As a Roman player, I LOVE seeing a Goth player spam Huscarl, Halb and Condeottiero~ My Legionaries will hold the line while my scorpions ruin your day~

[@agustinfranco0]

@@shykorustotora i hope you have a few centurions nearby

[@shykorustotora]

@@agustinfranco0 On stand ground in the back, of course

[@Zwijger]

Oh my god, SOTL knows how top 10s work with that 3 way tie for 5th. That alone deserves a like and comment for the algorithm.

[@micahbonewell5994]

Malay should have gotten an Honorable Mention on this list. Think about fast imping with Malay into Condotierro, you have all armor upgrades for free and you’ll have. Gotten to imp significantly faster than your opponent. They dont require unit upgrades like two handed swordsman or Karambits They don’t require castles like the Karambit. They are fast unlike the two handed swordsman

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

They can also protect 🛡 the Forced Levy spam.

[@thomaspeterson6097]

Interesting reasoning!!

[@jotfohm4644]

Hey Spirit, Condottieri of the Law here.

[@llSuperSnivyll]

I'll be frank (even though it's not on the list), but this sounds more like "which Condottiero is the strongest" and less like "which civs would want a Condottiero the most".

[@Michaelonyoutub]

Covering your weakness can make you extremely strong. Goth infantry spam is hard to counter and having condottiero takes away the only good counter, making them a true juggernaut if they can get to the point of the infantry spam.

[@Mattroid99]

Most of the worst infantry civs very likely wouldn't benefit much for Condos, as they don't specialize in that and wouldn't even make good Condos to begin with The strongest Condottieros and the one who benefit from them the most likely overlap (Condos with Persians to offset their tech tree hole doesn't even come close to be as beneficial to Druzhina Condos or discounted Condos etc.)

[@fedemedina3129]

Just imagine a giant murderball of anti arrow and anti gunpowder shields steamrolling through your base while you are playing turks That's terrifying

[@LeicaFleury]

Plus discounted, turbospeed spammable halbs if for whatever reason turkish hussars appear

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

Technically, you are supposed to throw Elite Janisaries with a Champs wall at that 😂 I mean, they have 8 range and 22 damage for a reason.

[@LeicaFleury]

@@Hardcore_Remixer the goth player can respond with Huskarl + Hand Canoneer and I'll bet you anything the huskarls will handle jans much better than champions vs HC lol

[@fxtango6577]

It would be cool if you did a updated video on the Imperial Skirmishers, and the top 10 civs that could take the best advantage of them. Great videos as always, Spirit.

[@Nomad6763]

It may have been worth mentioning the Persians, who miss out on two-handed swordsmen but do get al the infantry blacksmith upgrades. Similar to how the turks get a lot of mileage from the Genitour (although the turks have strong bonuses on top of a tech-tree gap).

[@MaryamMaqdisi]

He did at the beginning

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

1:06 , don't know if they're mentioned again yet

[@Sonar009]

Time for another top ten infan- it's the Goths. It's always the Goths. Gotta love the ol' "drown them in blood and steel" tactic. xD

[@Astigos]

I really love unit team bonuses like this! Hope to see another one in future dlc.

[@eleddar]

Woot! New video! By the way, you forgot to add that Teutons also provide free conversion resistance in addition to the free extra melee armor.

[@justinplunk216]

I've had condos come in clutch for me when playing as Britons, have an Italians ally, and the opposing team has Goths.

[@joranfokker7477]

also the style points goes to goths. both huskarl and the condottiero have a sword and a shield and are both heavly armored with both a plume on their full covered helmet.

[@Davtwan]

A bonus video before the Italian overview? Yes please.

[@MaksymCzech]

Do Imperial Skirms, previous video is 7 years old

[@johncouzens5321]

Will have to wait a few. Definitely getting an Italian civ overview next

[@gtafbi1]

Aztec atlatl imperial skirmisher are fun with their 9 range, making Aztec lack of the final archer armor upgrade even less of a problem (due to increase range and extra pierce armor of imperial skirmisher upgrade). However trash units don't tend to play nearly as much of a role in team games, except for maybe hussars and halberdiers. due to trade gold.

[@thessop9439]

WHAT IVE BEEN WATCHING THIS GUY FOR HOW LONG???

[@Samo-rk2us]

I like all these analysis that sotl does, it's like i'm attending to a class

[@areyouapoo]

spamming condo as goth were actually a decent strat in torment before those torment limiting tribute before teammate in same age damn those spamming were strong 11

[@dawidszczechla3388]

You could say something about 4vs4 banned tournament strat for stringhold start, where 3 players in feudal age sling resources to rushing imp goth, that floods the map with condotieri.

[@Xariandor]

I've done this before with a friend. Italy is one of my favorite civs, and my friend picked Goths. We crushed the AI. They could not keep up with unit production, I just came in from behind with Pavice, skirmishers, handcannonniers and Cannons.

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

did the 1000 Condottieri achievement with Goths in 1 game and won

[@Darfnichtleersein]

I feel like the main bonus of condos is that you can spam them instantly upon reaching imp without any techs to research. For a list like this I would therefore exclude boni stemming from unique techs. If I have time to do them, condos is often not the play anyways.

[@steve_aoe]

My exact thought, I think i would prefer +3 attack with Burmese over a Aztec unique tech for +4 most of the time

[@azuresentry815]

I feel like another honorable mention is Malay. Faster to get to Imp for condo and the armor is free so you start spamming faster. Plus it helps fill a gap in the barracks until you have the eco for trash 2HS. And unlike Karambit you don't need a castle either.

[@GM_Lemmy]

Thanks for another great video, Spirit! As a possible idea for a future video... What if you make some benchmarks for AoE2? By that I mean... What's considered bad/average/high stats (like hp, armor, range, speed, work rate, etc) in different ages. You could probably even make a separate video for each type of unit (melee, ranged, siege, monk, ship, villagers, buildings, etc). Sometimes it's hard to judge how important or effective an upgrade or bonus is, because I don't know the baseline. At what point does bonus hp/armor/attack/speed/etc really starts having a significant effect? When does it become overkill? Is it ever too small a difference to actually matter? That's just a suggestion, of course... Anyway... Thank you again for all your great work! Stay awesome!

[@ijhuana]

As somebody that is always playing Italians, the Goth synergy is really crazy.

[@RobotShield]

Don’t forget the goth Italian combo of sling goth to imp and skip all militia upgrades as condo is available immediately. Opponents still in castle ages and getting swamped

[@Naccarat]

Another honorable mention could be the Inca Condottiero, which cost 25% less food, and unlike Goths, has access both Plate Mail Armor and Blast Furnace

[@Naccarat]

Gurjara Condottiero, same thing but without blast furnace

[@Bzhydack]

And Portuguese - discount on Gold.

[@Quyanxi]

It'd be cool if you could plot some units in the chart at 4:39 to give us a quick understanding of what that would roughly be

[@bigbroarivus]

Just finished watching the unique unit playlist, and immediately served this video while thinking that playing Italian looks fun

[@Gwaeddwynn]

I still think the best ally to receive condottieri is the persians as they lack any high tier infantry on their own... much as the turks really like the berber as an ally for their genitour unit. it's not the strongest a condottiero can get, but it is for sure the highest improvement over the regular capabilities of the civ

[@AkahigeNoAmo]

I just imagine a wall and or stream of Huskarl and Condottieri spewing towards you - the volume of silver shields and armor approaching you is probably quite the sight

[@tomascostanzo3673]

Just imagine an army of hundreds of men with bulletproof vests

[@grantbeardsley278]

Oooo would be interested in seeing a similar video for who has the best Genitours and Imperial Skirmishers. I would think top 3 for Genitours would be Magyars, Mongols, Turks and top 3 for Imperial Skirmishers would be Dravidians, Mayans, Lithuanians but would be cool to see your take.

[@CallofDutyBlackOps28]

Contract men are some of my favorite units along with mercenary Cumans. Depending on who has a solid Kipchak, they already shred fairly strong pierce armor units with their spread shots, I find mongol kipchaks especially fearsome with the 25% attack speed increase

[@danielberger1176]

also, condo basically huskarl but holds sword in different stance. so it makes hard to determine composition at a glance, enemy may think your units are mostly condos and engage with an archer group when in reality it was huskies the entire time!

[@LudicrousPlatypus]

I would love to see a video like this for the Genitour.

[@Neometalll]

probably the turks get #1 on that

[@SeanMcD2002]

I love italians, favorite civ and super fun unique units!

[@hyperN1337]

If you mix the Condottiero and the Huskarls together too much, you'll eventually just get a bunch of very angry Italian men running around with a shield in each hand blocking everything.

[@restorasenrisei9991]

I love the morbidly sound logic of 'You can take more hits if you have more bodies to take the hits'. Goths gameplay at its finest.

[@gtafbi1]

Now give me the sales pitch for turk elite genitours (who usually only have regular skirms) with sipahi

[@stormrunner4081]

Goths Italians Turks and Berbers honestly sounds like a super scary team great inf good archers and gunpowder and Berbers can supercharge unique units and have great castle age knights

[@wanyshu1671]

@@stormrunner4081 On Blackforest or something like that maybe, but I think all these civs are considered lategame..? There's basically no bonus for any of their units until castle age I think, so the flanks would have to be prepared to fight at a disadvantage most likely..

[@gtafbi1]

@@stormrunner4081 I mean if trade was banned it'd sound reasonably good

[@Astigos]

Really surprised to not see malay up here. I feel like the early imp malay power spike is very useful. But understandably, SOTL isnt judging strategies, just raw numbersm

[@ryanforgo3500]

4:35 just a correction here spirit of the law. japanese biggest advantage would have to do with condos biggest advantage. which is how they out so early in imperial even enemies fully upgraded their armor upgrades. so within this small window of early imperial where enemies priority would not be armor upgrades japanese would actually shine THE most by far i would say. not only do the aztecs and dravidians need a unique tech, but they also would probably completely miss the window of crushing the enemies in early imp.

[@wingshad0w00982]

I’d love to see a less serious list about multiple civ-combo condotierro. Using civ/team combo’s of 3-4 teams for some absolute silliness. Could be a little sub-section on the upcoming Italian video, or its own small bonus later down the line.

[@hurnn1543]

I think that they are good for Celts for the same reasons you give for Goths, Celts are vulnerable to gun units. In addition the speed means they will probably take fewer shots in practice from ranged units.

[@ryanforgo3500]

tbh malian condos + malian UU seems like an OP combo where you can literally beat anything. if anything Malian condos weakness is primarily melee units which is the strength of malian gbeto. and both gbeto and condos have such insane movement speed they can run around , pick esay targets, raid , pressure the map easily and even take down TCS with how tanky condos would be to TC fire. and how fast they can take down TCs as infantry.

[@carlpult5235]

If used instead of champs this also plays well into goths bonus, as the condo pays for no upgrades with its higher base cost. So you essentially expand the discount to the upgrade costs.

[@Spetnaz23]

Infact, the design ressemblance between Huskarl and Condotierro can also be a significant advantage when playing as Goth. Enemy could easily mismatch their tip on a stress moment and fall into the "I DO GUNPOWDER" to counter your Huskarls...But no they are not and bam.

[@micahbush5397]

Can we take a moment to acknowledge the irony of Goths hiring Italian mercenaries?

[@ZiggyMandarr]

I need the Huskarl and Condottiero doing the Predator handshake.

[@BlueShellshock]

Zero surprise at seeing Goths. Like Spirit said at the start, the power of Condos is either leveraging a civ bonus that makes them stronger, or patching a civ weakness to gunpowder. For Goths, it does both, taking advantage of two of the game's best infantry bonuses, plus filling the hole versus gunpowder, making it the only civ combo that can use infantry versus cavalry, archery, *and* gunpowder.

[@Mattroid99]

I feel like Malay should have been an honorable mention. Since Condottieros are often used as a quick Imperial powerspike, with free infantry upgrades you can reach Imp and start making Condos with +3/+4 armor right away, and I think it should be aknowledged. Also Portuguese and Incas (And I guess Gurjaras?) have really strong discounts while still having decent Condos overall.

[@scarletcroc3821]

Some unexpected results in there, though Goths taking the number one spot was less unexpected. It would be interesting to see videos like this divided into two: one is about civ bonuses and the other about unique techs. Since there’s no upfront cost to civ bonuses, there might be some interesting civs that otherwise didn’t make the list

[@lukasvideosify1596]

Interesting video as always! I would argue though that the ranking should be also about timings.

[@lukasvideosify1596]

like in early Imperial Age the Roman Condottiero are arguable top 5 because they already got an upgrade that the other civs have to research, first.

[@jasonsmith1950]

For Dravidians, I think the bigger benefit isn't having an anti-gunpowder option but having a good raiding option. And the cost of the tech switch is relevant: Romans would benefit not just from the +1 melee armor, but also from not needing to research the last armor upgrade. Still nowhere near as good as Malians in quality (missing blast furnace is a lot less relevant if you're using it in an early imp situation where you can't afford blast furnace, and the bonus pierce armor gets the most important benefit of the armor techs). And Goths are easily the best (as they have civ bonuses replacing several infantry techs, significantly reducing the cost of switching into them - and the discount does make up for missing the last armor tech). Also, Burgundian hand cannons do get 3 bonus damage against Condos, so Sicilians may still have a small benefit in condos as an anti-gunpowder unit (not that it's much of an impact - it just reduces the need for the Condo's bonus armor).

[@jean-rogernosecondname1281]

condo is primairly an early-imp unit, even if it has some value in late game too. At early-imp stage, it's harder to go for expensive upgrades, so imp UU has less value for me, even if it has some. Therefore, (that's only my opinion) I personally think that Burmese condo should rank higher than Aztecs'. And I'd swap Vikings above the Armenians.

[@salvadorseekatzrisquez2947]

Wow. The Malians! Didn’t think of that.

[@martijnbouman8874]

Don't forget that Goth Condottiero look a lot like Huskarls, which helps in confusing the opponent!

[@Alexplainshow]

If you are looking at the Civ as a whole, Condottiero is rather important for Aztec and Burmese as anti-gun powder like Goths.

[@An1llusion]

I would've added Incas and Mayans to honourable mentions. Incas get a food discount, and Mayans lack Champion. Both are vulnerable to gunpowder as well!

[@Skenderax1]

Thanks 😀.

[@karlwkcheung]

I really think that Burmese should be nerfed. It’s getting 3 atk free simply makes Aztec’s UT unfairly expensive and time consuming.

[@ElbiAdajew]

Mr. SotL, If I may, I just wanted to humbly point out that druzhina should be pronounced as Droo-Zhee-Na. Had to to mention that, sorry :^) other than that, great video per usual!

[@lancemckenzie1074]

Join my new mushroom over mind, spirit of the spore.

[@devangnivatkar2649]

Functionally speaking, Malay should be on the list. I'm specifically talking about fast Imp into Condo spam They advance faster i.e. hit Imp faster. The armour upgrades are free, making them a better version of the Malians & Teutons in early Imp (+3/+4 melee/pierce armour vs. +3 pierce & +2 melee respectively) The free armour upgrades should also make them eligible for the 'have a bonus' list

[@devangnivatkar2649]

I would also add the Magyars as a civ you don't expect them from, but can be a strong curveball option. Because of the free attack upgrades. Similar to the Burmese, but you expect infantry from the Burmese

[@OOO-mn1ds]

I want a video measuring how good or bad is Berbers' villager bonus for economy

[@3lancerofficialmaybe871]

For me I would probably say Vikings adds the most important role, primarily because they don't have a good raiding unit, especially if there are hcs in the mix. Whereas even goths have serviceable cavalry, BBC, and even to a lesser degree huskarls, viking literally just have skirm and terrible light cav.

[@BrownFoxWarrior]

This reminds me of the team slinging combo that T90 covered.

[@lincolnvolk7609]

Spirit of the la hire!!

[@ChocoboKillerKanyo]

Makes sense the Goths would have the best condotierri. Champions have big swords, huskarls have big shields, condotierri have big swords AND big shields. It's like the long lost older brother both units were mourning until the Italians.

[@RolfReibach]

Spaming Condos as Malians on nomade is so strong! Not rarely a game ender

[@tankofnova9022]

The Kondoskarel may have 2 less attack, but the ability to ignore tower arrows makes them a pain in your base as they freeze your eco.

[@zaratrustamaster]

SOTL didn't mention it, so here it is: Italian + Goth in closed map team games is broken to the point of getting eventual bans. There's this strat where everyone starts slinging the goth player, who will simply fast imp into condos, into kicking everyone one's ass. It's incredibly hard to stop, even at top 1% elos

[@davidefinessi1723]

Genoese xbow video a few days ago and now condo... Hmmm New Italian civ review in the works, maybe? 👀👀

[@Glioper]

Well technically in your tests, Goths Condottieros have most HP 23 Goths Condottieros - 1840 HP in total 15 Armenian Condottieros - 1650 HP in total 15 Generic Condottieros - 1200 HP in total So who cares that some Condottieros can withstand more arrows or more armor, if you can beat them all with massive wall of flesh

[@ryankasch5561]

I would think I would disagree with certain choices on the list. I think practically the benefit of the condos is the lack of upgrade cost, and things that just make them better with less or cheaper upgrades sounds good. So I personally would put Burmese, japanese, romans higher.

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

Spirit, there not a person here that didn't think the Goth wasn't number 1.

[@zharkabat]

So the Viking Condottiero have 2 bonuses vs the conquistador?

[@devangnivatkar2649]

Yes!

[@lurtz101]

lmfao this auto loaded at 240p for me & I genuinely wondered why he was showing OG AoE game footage.

[@01ehlert]

I want a tournament that's 1v1, but you get to choose 1 civ bonus. Imagine Goth condos in 1v1, or Franks with chivalry AND the Hun 20% bonus! Or Britons/Ethiopians with the saracen archer bonus.

[@muhammadnuralhafiz]

You rock Best regards and wishes

[@noahdumoulin5270]

Sorta glad Malians are #2. They don't draw attention to themselves which gives me hope that they won't be nerfed 😅.

[@mubashirulmoula1798]

Italians Overview is on the line, boys.

[@ConscriptDavid]

Whats the strongest condotierro you can get in a 4v4 team game, I wonder?

[@vandieyahya1024]

People fighting against a Goth and Italian players might really considers strong melee fighter civ to win. Examples is jaguar warrior (both are unique units) and cataphract (both are infantry)

[@Hennu_TRM]

Goth Condo hype.

[@alejandropalermo2814]

Do armenians get the condotiero in castle age? Or the bonus does not work that way?

[@jean-rogernosecondname1281]

I guess not, cuz fandom page displays the bonus like this: "Long Swordsman and above, and Spearman line available one Age earlier."

[@GvF11]

I'm gonna make the argument for the Malay. There's nothing special about a Malay condo, but the fact they really don't have to tech into them at all(squires and attack upgrades are nice, but not necessary) to make them the perfect raiding unit(since their cav is dogshit). Especially on water maps, water control into dropping a few barracks for condos is definitely a viable strat.

[@dphillips95c]

Spirit, recently I found that Chinese and Spanish are a very strong team and I can't, for the life of me, find another two team combination that can beat that. Help me out. What two team combination could beat Spanish and Chinese?

[@theredbaron28]

Portugese, do they have 25% discount on gold units 🤔

[@MammothSaltyGachaponOfficial]

Italian Civ Overview or Imperial Skirmisher Update?

[@Fedacking]

I don't think goths number 1 should be controversial. They're incredible and can run over team games in a way few other things can (especially with slinging)

[@redcastlefan]

whoa so youre not gonna see how they do against infantry? would be interesting to see if civs like teutons can just rock the condo solo without their champion line or ETK.

[@YzovRealOMG]

Hello guys, today he have a list of top Cinco condotierro

[@llucioo]

Waaaaaaaait a second!!! last time i checked the armenian tech was not affecting the condottieri!!!! Did they patch it? When?

[@lilia-ai]

honestly, not so surprising, an infantry, getting more use in a civ specifically made to flood the arena with infantry.

[@vladokalaba2640]

Do the top 10 Champions!

[@Totally_not_alpharius]

Whats the point number ones going to be goths its always goth when talking about anything to do with Melee units

[@Bzhydack]

Actually for Champions its not that one sided. If I remember correctly, Slav Champs will kill them, as well as Aztec or Japanese. I also thonk Legionares, Armenian Champs should also.

[@Totally_not_alpharius]

@@Bzhydack with equal resources or numbers?