Two-Handed Swordsmen vs Karambit Warriors

Analysis of the Malay Two-Handed Swordsman and Elite Karambit Warrior. Is one of them the better choice?
0:50 Stats and cost comparison
1:40 Creation times
2:00 Movement speed
2:25 Direct fights between each other
3:30 Is selling food for gold to make Karambits worth it?
4:15 Attacking all at once vs sending units in waves
5:05 Karambit warrior as a raiding unit
5:35 Quick note on gold assumptions (don't @ me)
6:18 vs trash units (halbs, skirmishers, and hussars)
6:40 vs Shotel Warriors, Jaguar Warriors, Teutonic Knights, and Cataphracts
7:06 Cataphract Moonwalk Party
Song: player.epidemicsound.com/sear...
7:18 vs Battle Elephants and Paladins
7:40 vs Eagle Warriors and Samurai
8:10 vs Champions
8:25 vs Ranged units (Heavy Cav Archers, Arbalests, and Hand Cannoneers)
9:10 vs Siege?
9:20 General trends
Facebook:
pages/Spirit...
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Full intro song: • Spirit of the Law Chan...
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires 2 HD with Forgotten Empires, African Kingdoms, and Rise the Rajas expansions

[@hilcovanbreeschoten720]

Obviously the bare chested Elite Karambit Warrior has 1 melee armor while the chestplated Two Handed Swordsman has 0

[@adxisback]

male vitality +1

[@nograviti2388]

Hilco van Breeschoten to be fair, if you were armoured up and this guy was still coming at you, you would think maybe this guy is a badass..

[@0ThrowawayAccount0]

THEY ARE DRINKING THEIR BONE BROTH

[@irugelgumiho5195]

they also can fit 5 people on a bed

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

Hilco van Breeschoten The art of deflecting swords with bare chests have been passed down the Armstrong famliy for generations. Oops, wrong fandom

[@Avatarbee]

CATAPHRACT MOON WALKING PARTY! EVERYONE IS INVITED! (excepte for non Cataphracts)

[@gibranhenriquedesouza2843]

Elephant archers can moon walk too, look the video intro.

[@Hennu_TRM]

7:06

[@artham94]

Cataphract mosh pit would be better, trample damage and all...

[@BlackJack-di7ym]

Cataphracts conquered the moon!

[@Matthew-uv6gl]

All these Civs sieging their homeland with marching armies and trebuchets when all Cataphracts wanna do is dance

[@qowkerf]

"The Karambit warrior is a perfectly fine counter to standard champions" Slavs: "Vadim, get the Druzhina!"

[@gebbygeb3547]

Blinnnn we out of food

[@3snoW_]

If i have 8 karambit warriors... Do i have a karambyte warrior?

[@Tocaraca]

No you just have 8 Karambit Warriors

[@GamerzPro1231]

the question is what do we call 1000 karambit warriors? a marambit?

[@llSuperSnivyll]

1000 Karambit Warriors = 1 Kilombit Warrior

[@TheMetinPorta]

@@llSuperSnivyll 1024*

[@llSuperSnivyll]

@@TheMetinPorta Nope, that would be a Kibimbit Warrior.

[@zwimmy]

2-handed swordsman > champion cavalier > paladin it's all about the a e s t h e t i c s

[@Tocaraca]

For some colors, Paladins look better than Cavalier

[@fafofafin]

yellow ftw

[@chimaeraarts]

I prefer Green Paladins, the patterns in the horses stands out more

[@chimaeraarts]

Tocaraca Cavaliers with orange color is better on it for me

[@logoncal3001]

Farimba

[@coachrenaldo]

When I played aoe 2 as a kid, I'd usually never get the champion upgrade because I like the two handed swordsman so much.

[@ovrava]

hehe, ya me too. They should have made them the last unit in the infrantary line

[@Markyboy13]

If you have the Steam version of AOE2 you can search in the Workshop for a Mod that change the champion model with the one from the two handed swordsman! So you can fully upgrade them and still enjoying the look of the two handed swordsman or you just play as Malay!

[@Hemostat]

I always really liked the man-at-arms for some reason

[@1MpUrO]

haahha that happened to me with the knight, i love it so much that i never got paladin upgrade

[@coachrenaldo]

pablo ramirez I think Spirit of the Law might be with you on that. He even made two videos about whether or not you should upgrade to paladin.

[@AOETips]

Damn, That cataphract has better dance moves than me.

[@Crusadio]

Yeah and he is doing it on an horse! Even more impressive.

[@matthewsommerfield4739]

yeah same here

[@Hemerushi]

We're devout AoE-players, what did you expect... ? ;-)

[@_antares031]

Thanks for boosting the value of KaramBitCoin with this :D

[@maxomnicast6010]

Is it too late to buy this coin? ...FOMO kicking in *gg*

[@ElArto95]

Ah, the good old days before the Karambitcoin crash of late 2019... Such great times

[@volition142]

You know any one can create a cryptocurrency, Doge coin was created as a joke but is worth a total of 400million

[@morantNO1]

You need a lot of KaramBitCoins for them to be worth it. But when you do... Oh boy.

[@jimhalpert9803]

@@volition142 your comment about dogecoin aged well

[@whofuckingusesthese]

Sometimes I like to remember how me and my friend fought each other, when he chose the Malay and sent an enormous swarm of karambit warriors towards me. But I still got the last laugh. *In Teutonic Knights.*

[@DBT1007]

Well.. He is stupid. These karambit warriors are effective for bait. Soo when u use these karambitwarirors, u need another wave of other troops behind. Like elephant for example. Or two handed swordsmen. I usually use karamwarrior for attacking the towers and buildings and the enemy troops. While I use my archer for attacking the enemy that attacking my karambit warrior. And I use my elephant troop to attacking high def buildings. Like castle and wonder and town center and Dock. This game is a game about destroying your enemy's base. Not a game about destroying your enemy's troops. Your friend truly a stupid man

[@whofuckingusesthese]

Well, in his defence, he was still new to the game. And I remember thinking that any unit that comes from the castle is automatically the best one in the game. I also still remember sending a big amount of my favourite teutonic knights against Britons with their archers. I specifically remember slowly losing all of them. Since then we both got better at the game and he eventually ended up destroying my entire turtle plan with an archer rush. I still think he's specifically trained to play against teutons. So yeah, while it's indeed a game about wrecking enemy's everything, it's also a game about learning on your own mistakes. Which is why it has such a high replay value.

[@Real_MisterSir]

7:06 Ok I did not see that Cataphract montage coming.. so dead XD

[@langjan4322]

we need more of 7:06 in your videos

[@failatlife1]

I still can't believe that this game is still being updated and played almost 20 years after it came out.

[@Vulcano7965]

Imagine following scenario: The Player set up his army. He carefully prepared the composition, with some Siege Units for the extra flattening experience. It is time. The standart 90 pop strong army marches into the enemy base! Onagers beginn their flattening, Paladins are getting ready to raid! But there are no villagers to be found. confused continues the Player his rampage. Just for a moment his eye sweped to the minimap to spot a single red spot near his base. Then two. Three, no five, ten! The Player freezes in shock as 400 Karambits are storming his base.

[@ismaelsantos5378]

I had a match like that, I was playin Goth though. What I did was keep the other player at bay while my trebuchets carved a path around his base trough the dense forest. By the time he realised what was going on I had my zerglings rampaging trough his base and all his troops couldn't retreat because they were holding back my second army.

[@bradley4615]

I'm surprised you didn't consider the costs associated with upgrading each unit. Going from Militia to 2HS and researching Forced Levy adds a 1600f-850g debt to them where you only have to make the Elite upgrade to the Karambit which is a not ignorable amount cheaper at 900f-600g. The 700f-250g extra you get by going Karambit (25 more warriors + 75 leftover food) is probably only enough to change the fringe cases in the examples given but is something you would definitely have to consider in a RGS. Also at 9:23 I love the fact one of the Karambit Warrirors is running away.

[@BIueChangeling]

That Cataphract Moonwalk part totaly killed me. Man it 2 am right now and I woke up my whole steet. Great video man. Love you

[@Chiblood6]

So, long time fan, I was NOT expecting that sudden Cataphract moonwalk mashup... it made me happy XD

[@Markyboy13]

I smell the Malays will be the next civ for your Overviews!

[@whitemouse3281]

Iam a Pichu Main and i will die! Waiting for that XD

[@getout2012]

yeah Malays smell pretty bad

[@MansMan42069]

@@getout2012 of course Abu Lahab would say that

[@Hennu_TRM]

I think the importance of movement speed is often underestimated. Karambits being fast is a big part of their strength. Not even just for micro, also for closing the distance and switching targets in a crowded fight with mass numbers, which is ideally every fight with Karambits.

[@mrid191]

So... they're basically zerglings?

[@Shmandalf]

Zerglings in starcraft 1 were one of the best units in the game!

[@xXDrunkenDragoonXx]

Shmandalf i feel like that was because of the janky ai pathing and that stuff but yeah they were very strong

[@Shmandalf]

They were just a good early and late game unit, but were largely non-existent mid game. Late game they have Adrenal Glands (33% attack speed increase) and with the speed upgrade and melee upgrades they were actually very powerful, especially since you can replenish them so quickly and cheaply at that stage in the game. It wasn't so much the pathing as much as Adrenal Glands is just a broken ability. They're basically Japanese infantry, but faster moving and cheaper to replenish (25 minerals per zergling and they hatch in batches of two).

[@spikethedragon341]

zerglings that cost frickin VESPENE GAS

[@samiamrg7]

The closest thing to Zerglings in AOE 2: either Karambits or Goth spam.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Since each unit is less worth, they also suffer less against wololos

[@Tocaraca]

Definitely. Castle age Karambit Warriors are a good counter to Monks+Mangonels

[@Ninad.d.Parkhi]

Duke of Lorraine Castle Also Is A ans to monks and siege... So it adds up

[@candrarazaka4351]

and they have heresy

[@CrnaStrela]

Heresy is for their elephants, also the only elephant civ with heresy combined with the fact they have cheapest elephants. It is ridiculously annoying when you see elephant rush accompanied with karambits because you practically can't do anything against that.

[@DaddyMouse]

7:06 this is the part I was waiting for !

[@andremilanimartin3338]

Amazing how you always find new stuff to make interesting videos about. Especially considering that the last time I played AoE was like 5 years ago and I watch every video of yours. :D Probably its since I'm an engineering student and find your way of analyzing nice.

[@1Korlash]

I think Forced Levy is one of the coolest ideas we've gotten in the new expansions. Not only is it really unique (removing the gold cost for a basic unit), but it takes a unit that almost never gets used and makes it amazingly good. Two Handed Swordmen for no gold? Sweet Jesus, YES. Granted, I'm a Goth player who loves throwing vast armies at my enemy so I'm biased, but Forced Levy is just amazingly fun to play around with. It's a great idea that's both fun and effective.

[@ieuanhunt552]

Just to give you a heads up there is an Android game that I keep getting ads for called War And Order. For a while now I've been getting ads that are clearly just footage from AOE2 but I got an ad just now that just played your intro. The clips and the music are the same. I think the clips were in slightly different order. I don't know if you can do anything about this but it seems shady as hell to me and SOMETHING needs to be done about it.

[@GooseMcBruce]

omegaLUL

[@TheJawesomeOne]

I’ve seen those too on FB

[@Jackcabbit]

Chances are it's a Chinese company doing that and there's nothing anyone can really do since China doesn't seem to care about their game companies stealing content.

[@apokalypthoapokalypsys9573]

@@Jackcabbit CHINA IS ASSHOE

[@JuliusCaesar819]

Great video and loved the cataphract montage !

[@aytunc5662]

I really find systematic your analyzes, sir. You approach the subject like a scientist. I like it.

[@Khotgor]

... but why not use both though? Why just choose one? Use the Karambits to raid and attack ranged units, and use Two-Handed to attack the main base. Also throw in the cheaper Battle Elephants. Seriously, the Zerg player should always use as many cheap, swarmy units as possible, not just one. And if you find a pond in Arabia, put some docks there too for free turrets.

[@TomasMiles]

expensive to invest in both because elite upgrade

[@farrukhmir6497]

Awesome video as always mate

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

it is always a nice suprise to see a sol vid

[@NateRiversforRever]

Informative, thanks Spirit!

[@theinternetshavecome1640]

Thank you very much. Clear analysis that even a noob like me can appreciate. And good sense of humour too. We need a Cataphract music video.

[@janruudschutrups9382]

Good video! Hope you'll do a complete Malay civ overview soon! I personally like to garrison a handfull of Karambit warriors inside castles as a quick counter to rams or even trebs. Their production time and speed comes in handy in those occasions.

[@Pantalaymo]

I love how you add ever more Mangonels to the Crossbowman-Micro-Montag in the intro every few videos :D

[@Abgilosby]

I have spent more time watching your videos than playing all of the Age of Empire's games combined. These videos are so great to listen to and watch.

[@s-dragonxiii1021]

After many days finally ur video.

[@AndrewHuang4music]

I've long for Spirit to do some Malay video for so long. Really nice one!

[@Porglit]

That moonwalk party was one of the best things I've seen in a while

[@rikwisselink-bijker]

Just for that moonwalk part, you earned an upvote from me :)

[@unearthlyenemy]

I'm seeing this new video after just watching the "Top Unusual (Outside the Box) Strategies" video where you hit the milestone of one single subscriber.... I am so proud of you.

[@unearthlyenemy]

also you better fuckin believe I get groovin' when that Spanish villager one shots the cobra car and the music drops

[@javiermonti6637]

Great video, also that cataphact montage.

[@DCdabest]

Malay Zerg Rush

[@demiserofd]

Strikes me that the real advantage here is their amazing creation time. Say you have an army of two handed swordsmen; you throw them against the enemy army and it's destroyed, but their army is also destroyed or severely weakened. By the time they've produced a single unit, you can have produced three, and while they're still trying to recover you're already attacking again.

[@troybrozych4814]

love the videos didn't think anyone played this game anymore

[@JRedAoE]

Shhh stop with the videos that i was gunna make 11 Good video, analysis and comparison Moonwalking Cataphracts are the best cataphracts

[@Ibrahim_Orhan]

Hi Jred :-) I agree with you, his analysis, perspective and comparisons are awesome . Your videos are also as instructive as Sotl's. Guys if you haven't seen yet, check his channel.

[@zacthegreat66]

JRed Age of Empires I have been subscribed for a while and love your videos :D

[@firstcaptainvaleriusrensor463]

JRed Age of Empires *byzantine player put on sun glasses while moon walking with cataphtacts*

[@peacemaarkhan]

Really looking forward to the Malay overview!

[@CrnaStrela]

I actually wondering about this after watching Biper's playing Malay and then SotL uploaded this just 10 seconds afterward, man this sum illluminati shennanigans right here

[@strangesignal9757]

Am I the only one who sometimes doesn't research Champions just so I can look at those fancy looking two-handed swordsmen?

[@MrDibara]

No joke, I wish those had been the final sprite. They look much more knight-ish then the Champion sprite. I almost wish there was another unit you could train at the Castle that had the Two-handed Swordsman sprite, but was anti-infantry with some pretty good Pierce Armor (due to the plate armor) called the Royal Guard or Kingsguard or Guardsman.

[@virgileusa]

@@MrDibara ahaha a infantry that counters infantry and with high pierce armor would be op

[@MrDibara]

@@virgileusa Not exactly? I mean, if you pit it against Knights, it would lose. You'd need to have a lot to overpower them. Btw, not really "*high*" Pierce Armor, just a pretty good one compared to regular infantry. Which doesn't mean it still wouldn't take bonus damage from archers. Keep that in mind. Also, Onagers, Castles and Towers (since this unit would have no bonus against buildings), Monks... plus a relatively high price and slow training time. Basically, it's a unit that would function as a defensive anti-infantry and little less. It'd be good, but not that great, Unique Units would still most likely overshadow it in a way.

[@vietdungang3073]

Me yesterday: finally I’ve become a patron. Oh hey you posted a new video already. Can’t wait to watch it *Karambitcoin* *Cataphract moonwalk party* *quietly bumps up pledge*

[@howardmaxi2737]

I found the Karambit Warrior rather underwhelming in the few encounters I had until now, but - as always - you did an excellent job at comparing and testing them. A unit that reminds me a bit of the Goth infantry (strength through numbers). Can I see a Malay civ overview somewhere on the horizon? :D

[@coffeecupofficial9440]

i love these vids😫😩😩

[@Elintasokas]

I've never even played the game, but I enjoy these videos a lot.

[@danielvanmaanen4896]

That moonwalk compilation!:))

[@juanasecas98]

¡¡Loved the cataphract moon walk!!

[@MegaDonker]

Hai, Im Malaysian man that love your channels.

[@Joker-yw9hl]

lol good stuff as always

[@Lainfan]

But the real question is, what is the track used for the Cataphract Moonwalk?

[@BitchPleeaassee]

Yea I'm a big fan of the karambit swarm. Lots of fun!

[@ZendikarMage42750]

Had to watch the moon-walking party twice it was so good

[@MikeEmpires]

I always get excited to see the power of masses.

[@MansMan42069]

The Malay Kerambit Warrior rush looks like what happens when you ask for crispy rendang.

[@someorclad9738]

Laughed a bit too hard at this. Have a like sir.

[@iamaheretic7829]

I smell a Malay overview coming

[@Minecraftingization]

That Cataphract Moonwalk was genuinely funny

[@leonsennin]

ITS ALIVEEEEE!!!

[@PhotonTrooperGaming]

Great video! Malay campaign made me enjoy the flood of two-handed swordsmen, hahaha. Interesting tests!

[@miwreaver9265]

One VERY important thing to note tho: If you are fighting weak unit with ranged one (here your arbalests), you DON'T WANT TO FOCUS FIRE ! FU arbs have 10 dmg and elite karambit have 5 armor. You had 16 arbs but with 8 only you one shot a karambit so you lost HALF your dps which is huge (if you had, let's say a good 30 army of arbs, by doing that you'd waste 75% of your dps which straight out loose you fights.!). You gotta hit and run by using the "stop hotkey" so the dmg is much better split amongst ennemy units. This is very important against weak units or i you have a huge mass of arbs (or other ranged units) so you don't waste more than half your dps ;) Another great video nevertheless, cheers SOTL !

[@franbh94]

Sorry if I repited myself but, could you repost the full link for Cataphract Moonwalk Party song?

[@achmadrabbani8338]

For 7:06 music, the song title is Killrude - Release The Beast

[@martijn9568]

Spirit I think you should make a whole video on the value of every resource during a game and maybe ad relics in there, since they can make or break the end game. Btw nice video and I'd prefer the 2 handed swordsman.

[@andrewy2957]

That moonwalk segment was awesome

[@z4iris]

Cataphract Moonwalk Party song is Release The Beast by Killrude for anyone having trouble finding it :)

[@TheKobasen]

Aahh.. Yes.. Preparation for malay civ overview.... One of my favourite civ...

[@MathiasRathgeber]

is it just me or does the karambit warrior attack animation look likes he is giving away free hugs

[@dudewhersmacar7062]

Wondering if anyone could answer a question: So, I was watching the evaluation of the Paladin upgrade, and the Wheelbarrow vids, and I had a thought; how much are the unit upgrades worth? Let's imagine a heavily contrived situation, such as... You've noticed your opponent is JUST starting to mass paladins, but you've neglected your spearman line the entire game. Now, is it worth me taking the time to spend the training time and resources to upgrade to pikes, or is it just better for me to spend all that on making a handful more spears? What about blacksmith techs? If you have limited resources, how many units (of a typical army) do I have to have before the added bonuses outweigh the added units?

[@MrToddino]

Spirit of the law upload = instant good day

[@Otori6386]

dont forget that with arson you get a bigger bonus since you have more numbers of units each with a +2 to buildings

[@kirbpaign6666]

Nice, thanks for the breakdown man, though I'm going to stick with my Teutonic Knights. Speaking of which might we get a redo of the Teuton civ overview? And instead of using Ram's as APC's for them use Siege towers as mass ATV's.

[@alexborr84]

@spirit of the law would you mention how to counter mass mameluke+cannoneer combo? idk rly maybe onager? i find it rly hard

[@Dopeher]

Man, this guy is so professional

[@scipioafricanus6417]

The removed gold cost is compensated by trading coloured karambits in the cs:go steam marketplace.

[@Volcano4981]

That would explain a lot about how those Two-Handed Swordsmen were able to full buy with armour and all that... I was about to call money, aim and wall hacks on Malay! XD *salty Goth player intensifies*

[@CompleteAnimation]

I loved the moonwalking dance party!

[@Ayy_Doll_Fiddler]

I like how oversized the kerambits are, almost like miniaturised scimitars.

[@iCalvin96]

Do all your XX vs ZZ all depend on 1 try? Perhaps you could try like 5 times and get the average for a more accurate % HP left, especially seeing how sometimes their % HP left is very close

[@NestorKYAT]

I still come back to this video just for the cataphract moonwalk party

[@Cysubtor_8vb]

I so got to get this game again! So much nostalgia, though I recently took a stronger interest in historical weapons & martial arts (have always been fond of it yet hadn't done as much research until now) and such a match up have came up in HEMA channels with a long, two-handed sword easily defeating a short reaching weapon like a karambit. Then again, context would side with the smaller weapon for EDC or indoor fighting, lol

[@foemre]

Hey Spirit. I don't know if you're still reading the comments here, but will you consider doing a video about Samurai vs Jaguar Warrior vs Teutonic Knight just for the lolz? I think it would be a great idea. Cheers !

[@Ibrahim_Orhan]

Good video Sotl, thanks for that comparison which includes attack bonus against eagle wariors and samurais. *Click me:* 7:07

[@jkbmjrck]

I wasn't ready for the moonwalk :D

[@anirudhviswanathan3986]

The thing about Karambits vs archers: since players focus fire a ton, they overestimate how much overkill archers do on Karambits. Even 10 arbalests overkill 1 Karambit. Patrolling archers forward is far more efficient against low HP, swarm units like Karambits and even Shotels.

[@SuperCrazf]

Question? Which is a better swarming unit? Goth Huscarl, Ethiopian Shotel Warrior? Or Kerembit Warrior?

[@VegeeMcSalad]

I love you :D

[@ruthvikravikumar8814]

can you make a video on whether the champion upgrade worth it ?

[@simoncodrington]

Dat cataphract moonwalk at 7:05 😍

[@totalsyambles8308]

Last time I was this early I won a 1v1 game on multiplayer... so I was never early.

[@koolguy751]

Give us the name for the song from the cataphract bit. 11

[@HECKproductions]

that wolf at 1:00 .. is that a running gag?? because that exact thing has happened before where people were just posing for SOTL and suddenly a wolf attacks i think we need to send the workplace safetly people to his place

[@SpiritOfTheLaw]

yeah, I just like to keep something on the screen moving every so often

[@muskatDR]

7:06 spirit was hallucinogens were you on and would you please share it?

[@robertthompson9109]

I only play single player but I use the Karambit and the 2 handed swordsman together all the time. 2 HS vs hard targets, Karambits vs achers, esp skirmishers, and of course villagers. Back them up with arbalests, 2 ques karambits, 1 que each of the other two. 60 unit block. Works for me.

[@Ephemeral_A]

00:58 *Lol, the wolf* xD

[@gaylynnhorncri]

How many Karambit warriors can you fit on a transport ship? Honest question since they count half a population space.

[@eduard8555]

When are you gonna redo teutons civ overview like you did with japanese ??? Im still waiting

[@Tocaraca]

Agree

[@KaoticPhoenix]

MungoThe Mangonel Me too though there probably isn't too much more to say that he already said in the kast overview