Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here.
I've already talked quite a bit about the Lithuanian unique unit in depth
But in the May patch, it had it's cost changed pretty significantly
So in this one, we'll investigate how that can impact its use
As a quick refresher, the Elite Leitis' stats are pretty similar to the Paladin
It has a bit less HP and 1 less pierce armor
But, of course the Elite Leitis ignores enemy armor when it attacks
Effectively giving it 3 or more extra attack in practice
The recent cost change made them go from a more gold intensive version of the Paladin line
Into now slightly more food but much less gold per unit
Even though it is a 10 resource drop in price overall
You could argue this makes them harder to produce in Castle age
Given all of the demands on food for upgrades and villagers if you're on multiple town centers
Gold can be relatively easy to access and stockpile in the midgame
But in the Imperial age, the lower gold cost is definitely a positive thing
Their also created even faster now
And you can make 5 Leitis in the same time that 3 Paladins are made
Which helps offset the fact that they are created at Castles
What I really want to investigate though, is how this impacts their value when compared to Paladins
Since of course Lithuanians have access to both units
In a head to head match up with equal resources on both sides
We see about half of the Elite Leitis' HP is left against fully upgraded Paladins
Even Frank Paladins can't hold up with equal total resources
The Leitis negating armor is having a big effect here
And it shows the Leitis packs quite a punch
In fact the stronger the unit they're up against, the more surprising the result often is
Even Teuton Paladins with 7 melee armor, actually make that 0 melee armor, don't stand a chance
But lets see how they compare against some other common units
It may be a generous assumption
But I'm going to assume you get 2 relics for all of my tests
Giving +2 attack to both the Leitis and Paladin
Collecting relics as Lithuanians is a big part of the game plan
So I'll give the player credit for doing an ok job at that
Just keep in mind they won't do quite as well as shown if you completely ignore relics
To start with equal numbers against fully upgraded Heavy Camels
Both Paladins and Elite Leitis lose slightly with almost identical damage done to the camels
The difference is the Leitis' lower gold cost makes them trade equally for gold in the long run
That's pretty good, considering the camel is a common counter against cavalry
And the Paladin in comparison loses 50% more gold over time
In more extreme cases, like against the Imperial Camel
The camels will have fewer losses over time
But still the Leitis holds up fairly well
If fact, it starts to make me wonder how they compare against trash units longterm
It turns out when slightly outnumbered by Halberdiers, the Paladin is more population efficient
But definitely loses in total resources overtime
Even in a team game, where gold is relatively easy to obtain
I think it is fair to say, halberdiers are going to be long term cost-effective
That's not necessarily true against the Leitis though,
Which trades about equally in total resources
That's now 2 Paladin counters that don't give clear value against Elite Leitis
In fact, there's a strange possibility that Leitis are so gold efficient, they're effective in Post-Imp trash fights
For example, when slightly outnumbered by Hussars
The Hussars total losses are about 5 - 1
I thought the Leitis would do well, but definitely not that well
After crunching the numbers, even accounting for bottomed-out market prices at 14 gold per 100 food
You get better value selling food to make Leitis than you are making Hussars
Even with 0 relics, it's pretty much equal value lost on both sides
And again, this is with the Hussars outnumbering the Leitis
Considering Leitis benefit from relics and Hussars don't
I think if you have any relics, you are fine some Leitis with your Hussars when you run out of gold, as strange at that sounds
Obviously, that's assuming you have the Castles to do so
On the other hand, the same can't be said about the Paladin
And they end up with a food deficit when going the market selling route
As most gold units should, highlighting how unusual this makes the Leitis now
To take this to the extreme, what about against the Elite Magyar Hussar though with its 80 food cost?
Well with equal resources on both sides, giving the Hussar a massive advantage thanks to Lanchester's Square Law
The Elite Leitis comes out on top
Of course, that's treating gold equal to food which isn't always a fair assumption
And with a more reasonable numbers advantage for the Magyar Hussar
The Elite Leitis can't keep up by selling food at the market for gold
So at least the Magyar Hussar still has an edge in trash fights as I think it should
So what about their value against Champions
Champions have a low gold cost so they're also contenders to produce by selling food at the market
Previously Leitis would have been losing to Champions in terms of gold over time
But the new cost adjustment means they now win that exchange in the long run
For me, it really highlights how much that 30 gold reduction does to change the unit's balance
So do Knights and Paladins ever make sense to create for Lithuanians
Well I'd argue in the Castle age it's a bit harder to mass Leitis now because of the higher food cost
And of course the fact you need 650 stone for a Castle
I don't think they are so overwhelming in the midgame that you need to beeline for a Castle
Like you would with some other unique units
They also have a pretty large drawback in the Late game which is how they do against ranged units
Paladins take 60 shots from an Arbalest
Whereas in contrast the Elite Leitis only takes 38
Remember they're missing out on 30 extra HP and one pierce armor
So Paladins still preform when raiding
That said any time melee fighting is involved, Leitis is looking better than ever
And are significantly faster to mass
Overall it seems like a significant buff to the unit
Bordering on possibly too cheap now
Since it's low gold cost can theoretically be exploited in trash fights
But, that's all for this one
Special thanks to Samatha, Jean-Paul Joeseph and Connor
As well as everyone else on patreon and youtube for continuing to support me and what I do
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time
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