Top 10 Elite upgrades (AoE2)

[@Fourslash]

My favourite elite upgrade is when my youtube front page is upgraded whith a new Spirit Of The Law video

[@CormacHolland]

Fucking facts

[@frostfire5208]

lol I haven't played since AOE2 originally came out but I still watch these

[@victorantonioblancosegovia472]

smoooth criminal

[@3polygons]

+12 piercing armor.

[@slimjong-un5743]

aw shucks

[@hopelesssituationwarrior6996]

0:31 that Excel sheet is the content that makes me feel proud I suscribed

[@Dethleffff]

2:29 "The whole list isn't just expensive melee units" 2:38 ELITE TEUTONIC KNIGHT

[@georgeprchal3924]

They're just fast moving siege.

[@josephbutler4950]

He then followed up with janissaries and rattan archers, two ranged units.

[@IndexInvestingWithCole]

@@josephbutler4950we all saw the video

[@veilnebula2411]

Are we gonna address the elephant in the room?

[@baptistesarrette6705]

Cool! Now we want the opposite video of the 10 worst elites upgrades

[@nickvuch5729]

I second this notion

[@diallit0]

No 1 Genovese Crossbow

[@arthurreede4478]

No 2 Kipchak No 3 Karambit

[@tonycezar1645]

just reverse the video

[@danhawes8536]

Agreed

[@Mortality90]

The “two tons” pun is why I stick around. Haven’t played AOE2 for a while, but still love the puns and data crunching that happens.

[@BillyONeal]

I don’t get it :’(

[@BillyONeal]

Oh wait, is it that two tons sounds like Teutons?

[@Mortality90]

Precisely.

[@roscaris6541]

Have to admit I did not get it at first, now I'm chuckling though

[@stefangadshijew1682]

Made me get up to the mouse and actually click the like button for once. It's pure beauty.

[@nebumune]

I don't even play the game anymore but watch all videos on drop from you. I guess its the presentation and the passion you have keeps getting me here. AoE community is very lucky to have you.

[@willemverheij3412]

It is still a pity that there is no visual difference between the regular and elite upgrade while all other units do have that.

[@hernanreipp3321]

I agree. The Teutonic Knight could look great if he get a winged helmet like the Ritterbrüder from Medieval 2.

[@willemverheij3412]

@@hernanreipp3321 Could work, or the regular version could not have a helmet but black hair and a beard. Which I thought they had in the original version.

[@hernanreipp3321]

@@willemverheij3412 I don't remember an early version with that design on AoE2. The Boneguard from the Osseus Circle and the Hospitaller from Malta in AoE3 have that design.

[@MP-oh9lt]

The Teutonic knight is the only knight where the k isn't silent.

[@Maxidemt]

*head explode gif*

[@TomFewchuk]

as in.. Teutonick night?

[@felixalexisortizlagos6904]

Im here for the Elite Teutonic Knight

[@GoodOleDFT]

2:36 and be happy!

[@OytheGreat]

BEREITE

[@matthiasvandekerkhove3594]

@@OytheGreat VILBARDAGA

[@Magrior]

@@OytheGreat Holy heck, you just blew my mind. Heard to word said so often, never registered as the old version of "bereit" = "ready" 🤯

[@devilpistons1269]

"the first two are outliers" and then number 8 shows up Well done

[@huunghianguyen2027]

i welcome you all to 10x mode, where elite upgrade are also 10x that make it very noticeable. Most of the thing mention in the video also OP unique unit

[@selimcamur2552]

Ah 10x mode, where Cataphracts simply kill everyone by just riding their horse

[@huunghianguyen2027]

strong range unit like consq, hussite wagon or organ gun can kill them before they can even touch you

[@volcanic_sloth]

@@huunghianguyen2027 ummm elite war elephant

[@michaelblosenhauer9887]

You should do the bottom 10 elite upgrades, too.

[@OytheGreat]

Chu Ko Nu: +5HP That's it. Lots of hidden bonusses though, like the +2 projectiles.

[@anonvideo738]

​@@OytheGreatthe extra projectiles slows down their reload and their primary damaging shot

[@kewltony]

IT IS DONE

[@Carsonk7272]

The "two-tons" pun at 2:40 legitimately made me cackle aloud. Well done, Mr. Law.

[@icecoldchilipreppers]

it got a squint at best

[@dembro27]

No Elite upgrade costs 1337 resources. Shame.

[@AtlasJotun]

That would be particularly nice for the Frank Throwing Axe as a nod to the campaign and the Hundred Years War.

[@kirevkizrepnav572]

One note is the Hussite wagon upgrade costing wood instead of food. This can be very important for bohemians, as all (almost) other imperial techs/units cost food (hussite monks, handgunners, halbs). Only bbc cost wood in their imp comp.

[@ethantaylor8306]

Hoping we get to see the flip side of this list in another video down the road. Always love it when new Spirit of the Law videos drop.

[@couchpotatoe91]

Yeah, elite composite bowmen e.g. get only +5hp, 1 melee armor (lol) and 2s creation speed. No extra dmg, range, bonus dmg or armor for the cost of 600w 500g. 😂

[@Mexican00b]

you know what we missing? an Elite Monk... a Cardinal with a 2x2 and 3x3 (Castle Research . Imp Only . stupidly expensive in gold) tech in convertion, with a recharge rate of +50% for each extra unit converted...

[@grSuchtie19]

Or maybe Indulgence: after conversion you get a part of the unit/building cost

[@Healermain15]

A flying monk would be a gamechanger, but it's small HP pool would presumably balance it out. It may also have difficulty converting people, since it's hard to carry a book and read it when you have feathers for hands.

[@EvilDoresh]

We need a monk upgrade that allows the unit to kick ass for the Lord (with bonus damage vs zombies)

[@selimcamur2552]

I always think that cardinals would be added as unique monastery units of a new civ: Papal States. And their castle unit is of course Swiss guards

[@Jondiceful]

I don't know why, but the first time I read that, I thought you said "Elon Monk"😂

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

The elite janissary still doesn't give them their fancy hats. Worst. Upgrade. Ever.

[@RomaInvictusSPQR]

there is a mod ... im always using janis with hat

[@caret_shell]

8:58 Oh damn, this must be a good upgrade because SotL is rolling the "conclusion/victory" music! 😃I assume that the music all comes from KZbin's royalty-free music library, because I sometimes here these tracks played on other YT videos, and I always think "Hey, wait a minute, this music has already been claimed by Spirit of the Law, you can't use it for your random video unless you're talking about a technology's time-to-beak-even!"

[@volcanic_sloth]

you sound so weird that i don't even know if you're a real person

[@DaddyMouse]

Me scrolling through my YT feed not knowing what to watch. Sees a SOTL video. Well, now I know what to watch :D

[@PrakharBhatnagar-t1u]

Your Voice is so relaxing , especially " Hey Guys Spirit of the law here "😃😃 Just love it man🥰

[@ivanweissbein5253]

8:43 all of a sudden, an eagle forgot to lock it’s apartment door

[@davidspackman7534]

Lol

[@Walgriff]

A new sotl video has dropped !! Tell everyone 🎺🎺🎺🎺

[@ListersHatsune]

I'm actually not so surprised to see elite tarkans so high up. Back in the day I used to pad my Tarkans out with Paladins as an "anti-unit" unit because it wasn't cost effective to exclusively use Tarkans. The devs have actively tried to make this unnecessary.

[@Reluxthelegend]

Do one on the worst elite upgrades.

[@Krecikdwamiljony]

Elite chukonu in all ten spots?

[@bartelvandervelden9894]

@@Krecikdwamiljony 1-8 chu ko nu, 9th and 10th for arambai and conqs I guess?

[@daarom3472]

​@@bartelvandervelden9894would add Organs and Hussite wagons to that list. No one ever gets those upgrades because in Imp these units simply die to siege or hussar. Fights become bigger so harder to micro.

[@marcuspontius3967]

The single most impactful elite upgrade is without a doubt the AoC Elite Mangudai 🏅 When regular Mangudais were quite mediocre back than, Elite Mangudais received their ecstatic 0-Framedelay. Boy did I love it to micro those Elite Mangudais. No ever so scientific research would convince me of anything else.

[@daarom3472]

tbf its still a way better upgrade than some on this list. SOTL didnt take situational use into consideration. Why would you go elite hussite wagon when you can go Halb/HC/Houfnice? Whats the point of organ guns if you have BBC to take other archers and need high damage units like HC/Halb to take out cav? Mangudai elite is huge Leitis with 2 relics takes out halbs in 3 hits instead of 4. Monaspa is also an insane upgrade Shotels Huscarls Camel archers Konnik All should be top 10

[@jrizzelli]

I havent player aoe2 in a year yet i stil watch your videos and keep up with the community and watch the occasional stream.

[@Doktersocks]

The secret spirit of the law formula

[@TuoDev]

@SpiritOfTheLaw Can you release the entire spreadsheet as a Google Doc so that we can look over all of them? It would be nice to see how each one stacks up.

[@sniperjelly9537]

I wish every game I play had someone like SotL

[@kkproductions9033]

The best is obviously Elite Skirmisher. ☝🏻🤓 In all seriousness, love the video, though a little surprised Elite Huskarl wasn't there, since similarly to the Teutonic Knight, it boosts the pierce armour through the roof while increasing effectiveness of archer killing.

[@dominikvukelic2412]

These are my favorite kind of videos

[@MrAlexFortis]

As honorable mentions (from the top of my head, without any spreadsheet) is elite upgrade to hurskarl and mangudai.

[@SpiritOfTheLaw]

Elite Mangudai is an odd one as it's the only elite upgrade that doesn't change the unit's HP. I definitely considered it, though, as that +5 vs siege is great.

[@bristleback3614]

i like the running animation of ghulam, like they charged the archer with a malicious intent

[@Azaraneth]

My favourite elite upgrade is when the spiritofthelaw channel intro song is on videos :D

[@robertwagner4671]

Awsome vid. Live the spread sheet.

[@Hennu_TRM]

I'd be interested to see a tier list or just an ordered ranking of all the elite upgrades according to your formula...

[@-AkhilTej-]

🎯💎🏆 Great insightful & fruitful video 🏆💎🎯 लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु ( May all beings lead prosperous life across Globe 🌍 )

[@fernandosalcedo6968]

What about elite skirmisher? Almost everyone gets it if they have it

[@bluedistortions]

This list was for unique units. Skirmishers are not unique units.

[@fernandosalcedo6968]

@@bluedistortions it was called top 10 elite upgrades, not top 10 unique units elites upgrades

[@volcanic_sloth]

@@fernandosalcedo6968 true

[@zeroyuki92]

I'm not exactly sure how you measure the ratio, but I think your calculation might favor expensive unit? Let's say we have a hypothetical extreme case of unique unit A with 10 gold and 10 food cost/unit vs unique unit B with 100 gold and 100 food cost/unit. If you actually calculate the cost aspect by calculating how many units you would offset by researching the elite tech, if let's say both unit A and unit B has 1000 gold and 1000 food elite tech cost this will definitely favor unit B since it only offsets 10 units instead of 100. But since unit A is a very swarm unit with only 0.1 pop usage the ratio ended up didn't matter because the actual value of unit is 10 : 1 as well. I think just calculating raw cost number would be more accurate.

[@corsairmechanic4129]

I'm a little surprised the Cataphract did not make the list, but I suppose Logistica goes a long way in improving the unit in Imperial age.

[@inductivegrunt94]

Elite Hussite Wagons turn a niche unit into a battle tank and I love it!

[@nathanfranks1476]

Can someone explain the Oregon gun math @7:00- 5 shots x6 damage for nonelite is 30 damage. Vs 6x8=48 for elite. This is only ~50% increase in damage output. So how is it doing “more than twice” the damage to arbalest (115% listed in video)?

[@david_oliveira71]

10. Mameluke 9. War Elephant 8. Teutonic Knight 7. Janissary 6. Rattan Archer (6+4 pierce armor) 5. Ghulam 4. Organ Gun 3. Tarkan (+50 HP) 2. Boyar ( 8/3 armor) 1. Hussite Wagon ( 1/10 armor; +70HP)

[@qwerasdf-oy6uo]

Spirit, can you input cavalier/pala and xbow/arba into the sheet, see how they score ? I'm guessing non castle UU like imp skirm or houfnice would probably score high on this list

[@NiDe500]

Elite Hussite Wagon is just Jan Sizka personally driving that wagon.

[@KCCOmug]

Two ton teutons. Good to see Spirit of the Law keep the puns alive.

[@DiO-aoe]

Hey spirit! I was thinking of the most impactful civ specific eco bonuses in the game and thought comparing those might be interesting. Teuton farms, Bengali vils, Burgundian upgrades etc and which ones are most helpful to boom. Love your content man

[@nilsp9426]

Wouldn't a better way to put upgrade value into perspective be: (weighted) stat increase per unit / cost of unit / cost of upgrade? The reasoning is that the net stat increase of the tech scales with the number of units. If you get 2 attack for example, this is much more meaningful if one unit costs only 50 resources vs. an expensive one for 200 resources. For the cheap unit, you would get +8 total attack value per 200 resources, for the expensive one only +2.

[@remremrin45]

personally, I think attack range will play a crucial role here since the longer the range, the higher value of attack while armor become less important

[@JackSparrow-re4lb]

The brave voice of science ''Spirit of the Law'' ❤❤

[@juanmanuelruizromero7989]

Janissary elite upg got the plus that with turkish game play you probably are making janissaries in castle, and got a decent mass of them when hitting imp

[@PhongNguyen-fk9np]

In the old days when Rise of Rajas has not released yet, non-elite War Elephant cannot cause trample damage. So if we set the background is pre-Rise of Rajas, top 1 Elite maybe the Elite War Elephant.

[@ankur7892]

I stopped playing AOE due to my busy office schedule. I still watch all the spirit of the law vedios.

[@TeunisD]

"Hi guys, Spirit of the Law here" has become like an "ear wurm".

[@Uliman97]

3:33 “the elite upgrade doesn’t do that much to address their issues against ranged units and defensive buildings” *strangely German laughter from the line of strangely fast capped rams*

[@galliman123]

Ah yes... *blitzkrieg*

[@masayukitachibana2756]

​@@galliman123how is it that a medieval ram goes faster while being pushed by slower encumbered knights is beyond me. 😂

[@benrobinson375]

Wow the War Elephants are a lot cheaper now than they were back in the Age of Kings. The upgrade also used to cost 1600F and 1200G!

[@Maxidemt]

I dont even play AOE2 but I never miss SOTL videos

[@ElemenTerra1]

I feel like the few Elite upgrades that don't cost gold should have gotten an honourable mention, considering you were weighting the gold cost as counting for more here.

[@30Salmao]

Gold weighting. Love it.

[@sourathghosh5170]

Was expecting elite mangudai to be in the top 10 witht he +2 attack and increased bonus damage to seige. Is that upgrade close to the top 10 or is much lower down the list

[@Naxhus2]

My suspicion is that for 1800 resources +2 attack with a situational +2 and +1 melee armour (on a cav archer unit) is not worth it relative to what's on the list. You would never grab that ahead of, say, bracer and chemistry.

[@sourathghosh5170]

@@Naxhus2 my priority would be bracer> Elite mangudai> chemistry, but yeah 1800 res is a lot. That being said elite mangudai with 12 attack chews through paladin and othe high pierce armor units significantly faster than regular mangudai. for stuff with 8 pierce armor (Savar, elite eagles, elite skirms, tarkans the elite upgrade is a 100% attack buff from 2 damage a hit to 4 damage a hit)

[@nathanfranks1476]

I’m absolutely flabbergasted mangudai were not on this list- This list is a lot different from what I would’ve thought (and a lot different than the meta suggests)

[@jeremygrainger5437]

Did my boy the Elite Skirmisher dirty

[@markrainsford4211]

Spirit of the law upgrade is Elite spirit of the law! 🎉 My favourite upgrade is the elite samurai

[@PacoUrtmétrage]

Goddamn i love heavy stats videos

[@UnDeaDCyBorg]

I totally want to see that formula, now.

[@raffilevy2029]

What’s the best civ if full tech tree is turned on?

[@m0k2k75]

they lose their bonuses, unique techs etc. so its all the same

[@bartelvandervelden9894]

@@m0k2k75 except (castle) unique unit, so one that counters the meta (like ghulams) or has a specific strategy (conqs) would be best I'd guess

[@Mondreus313]

Not surprised by Tarkan. Regular ones are honestly pretty bad, but the Elite ones are probably second or third favorite unit.

[@Ripevenriplier]

GIVE THEM HATS BACK!

[@ablecold]

Hey SOTL! I think a better measure would be does the elite upgrade balance out the additional units I could've created from same cost? Like if I am paying 12 Mameluke worth of resources then the upgrade should give my Mameluke army equivalent or more attack/ defence than adding those 12 more. What do you think? I know this will favour only if the unit is at a particular number as the number gets large the elite upgrade will be more profitable. That would be an interesting study for each unit what is that number?

[@RolfReibach]

Looking at the war elephant, I would suggest a different evaluation system. The upgrade sounds good raw stats wise, but it does not cover any of the units weaknesses. Its weaknesses are movement speed and conversions. So is it even that good? An upgrade with high value should not only improve raw stats but also target weak spots, right? Extreme specialisation can be useful too.

[@mikemee8002]

If the wagon is arockin, don't come knocking.

[@sanmitranaik]

Hey guys, Elite of the law here.

[@Hubilicious90]

Suggestion for the future of this format: please DO make a brief list of your subjective ranking BEFORE doing the math. Could be really interesting!

[@theOGSG]

first. SotL video dropped, let's go.

[@nathanfranks1476]

Song name at the end? Love that beat

[@hbarudi]

Yes mamluke is on the list. There is only one unit in the game the resists it and it is anything with melee armor equal to its attack or greater. (Teutonic knights) Otherwise you can hit and run entire enemy armies with mamlukes making the enemy lose much more resources than you spend on mamlukes. The ranged melee damage shreds siege units with ease, the 130 hp can survive some hits from siege onager and scorpions. Archers need a lot of arrows to kill mamlukes and can be easily taken down. cav archers can't hit and run mamlukes who close the gap and hit with their bonus damage. Elephants get shredded with elephant bonus damage. paladins and similar cav units get shredded with cav bonus damage. Should be number 1 on the list. Also even infantry units can be hit and run, pikemen can't reach them to use their bonus damage and champions and other non teutonic knight infantry will go down.

[@Iam2lazy2register]

any chance to get access to the spreadsheet?

[@tomascostanzo3673]

The Elite longbowman is so annoying to deal with. So sad it didn't make it on the list

[@matthiasvandekerkhove3594]

How about the Elite Woad Raider? The speed boost they get makes them great against archers, siege, monks and wandered off villagers.

[@martinsevela2983]

we want top 10 castle drop civs!🙏🏼

[@balazsfenyes3880]

If teutonic knights would get their cape at the elite upgrade, it would be the best upgrade, period.

[@schiggus]

Everyone be like taking notes for a x10 tech community game

[@aoefsmrap]

Spirit, can you please announce a DLC?

[@jimchen3762]

Hi law, spirit of a guy here

[@Max-ej4oh]

Next! is the Karambit Warrior update Zerg em, zerg em all Peter Parker.

[@jesusrubiomaldonado27]

For me, the #1 elite upgrade is skirmisher 11

[@andrewy2957]

Now we need the worst 10 elite upgrades list!

[@tomscorpion6288]

Elite War Elephant the most expensive upgrade? Isn't Elite Cataphract like 1600 food and 1200 gold?

[@DrNoorcool]

SoTL is the GOAT

[@renehei2352]

How good is the condottiero video please!!!

[@StanislavHoferek]

how about that fancy rider from Burgundians?

[@Kyzarc]

My Bingo Card had Elite Skirmisher and Elite Eagle Warrior on it, now I'm sad.

[@curlywhites]

....proprietary formula? Wild.

[@Flavourius]

I know you like maths and all and even though I like math as well I still have a brain of a monkey that would've liked to see a battle of non-elite units against elite units while counting the elite upgrade into the costs. Example 10 elite Mamelukes against 17 non-elite ones or something similar.

[@volcanic_sloth]

i mean you can put 100 elite mamelukes against 107 mamelukes and they'll shred(they also have an insane +1 attack bonus against mamelukes!!!) or you can put 1 elite mameluke against 8 mamelukes

[@guthriecollins5307]

I can't believe he snubbed the Chu Ko Nu. They get 5 whole arrows, how can you beat that?

[@spqrjack2941]

Well, now that you already have all that data organized, you could do a top 10 worse elite unit upgrade...

[@apopet]

Do a 10 worst elite upgrades, too, since you have the data...

[@elmorubilar4747]

How to say that you are a data analyst without saying that you are one, sometimes the formulas, the data, % , is too much to imagine for just an RTS game

[@h3m75]

2:40 nice