Hey, guys spirit of the law here. This is a follow up list
to my first top 10 hero units in age of empires 2.
Last time i only included heroes from age of kings and conquerors
But the HD expansions have added a lot of new ones in their campaigns and in the editor as well.
So in this video i'm opening it up and including all of those for consideration. In addition
some commenters made a passionate case on behalf of units that they thought might have been overlooked last time
Basically every hero unit not on that list is fair game for this one let's check it out
Starting things off at number 10 is bayinnaung who appears in the burmese campaign of the rise of the rogers
Expansion now battle elephants, do have some innate weaknesses, not only are they slow, but
They, also take a lot of bonus damage from pikes and camels luckily as heroes they
Can't be converted so that takes away one major
Counter but overall as far as base units go they're really one of the easiest to exploit
The trade-off is if you manage to get them into a fight they tend to have very good stats and
Bayinnaung is no exception in fact he's on roughly the same level as el cid
Who, was top 3 on the previous list in case you haven't guessed
He's definitely not the last elephant that we're gonna see next up that number 9 is frederick barbarossa
He never actually appeared in his age of kings campaign but
He has been added to the scenario editor it might look
Like a step backward in terms of stats with, less than half of the previous heroes hp
But his teutonic knight armor actually, means barbarossa, wins one-on-one armor can have a pretty big impact
And with the blacksmith upgrades in there as
Well it's entirely possible
Most of the units he fights end up only doing one or two damage per attack the rest of his stats are
also Quite strong compared to generic units so he's a solid entry on the list
Number eight is tab and schweddy i told you guys elephants would show
Up, again, and this is yet another one from the burmese campaign this time it's an elephant archer though
Which carries the deadly advantage of range the attack seems a little low
At first but for a ranged unit it's quite good and around double that of a normal elephant archer, while
Also, having the best hp of the heroes we've seen so far up next at number 7 is orin liu?
The, wolf he was eligible but didn't, make the previous talk to end heroes list if you, recognize the name it's probably
Because he shows up all over the place in the cab hands and seems to have a bit of a fan following
Just looking at his hp an attack. He seems comparable to william wallace but there is an important difference
And that's his lack of armor in many situations he ends up taking more damage than you would think
Including anti building and anti boat bonus damage a villager with, sappers for example
Gains an extra plus 30 attack against him and he stands no chance
Against rams in fact if you factor in all his bonus, damage he loses one-on-one
Against a japanese halberdier another thing holding him
Back is he doesn't auto target enemy units that makes him a bit micro intensity use though once you get him, going he can
Certainly handle himself against many of the other heroes and he's, also a pretty popular one in its
Own right next up on the list is gadjah mada, who has an entire campaign dedicated to him
Which he obviously appears in functionally he's pretty similar to oren liu, maybe just a bit stronger side, by side, we can
See he has a bit more hp, melee armor and generally takes, less, bonus, damage he's still a bit on the slow
Side but technically he's the fastest movie hero in the video so far his animation, also makes it look
Like he's skating and as a canadian i'll give him a
Bonus point for that entering the top half the list at number 5, is wang tong is actually similar to attila
And that he looks like a cataphract and is affected by cavalry upgrades but is essentially an infantry unit from a bonus damage
perspective
His stats are quite a bit better than atilla's though and he ends up at a nice compromise between hp
Attack and mobility i also consider it a
Good thing that he's unexpectedly strong against what you might think his counters are at first glance so to me he's a top 5 hero
Moving on to the truly impressive though at number 4 is dogma john he has the most hp of any unit in the game
With high pierce armor and some range as, well even with large attack
bonuses from pikes and
skirmishers he holds up against those counter units for longer than you'd expect for playing a central role in one of the campaign missions he
Even gets his
Own unique look with him being visible right on top of a slightly modified elephant archer his only real drawbacks are his relatively low
Hack, and movement rate so he's more of a damaged sponge than an offensive unit now entering the top three
We have harald hardrada, he
Was almost an honorable mention in the last video for his ubiquity in custom scenarios
But i just couldn't get over his stats it's been pointed out to me though that he's secretly a lot
Better than he looks first of all he's a lot, faster than the typical infantry unit while
Also being ranged but more importantly his attack rate is double a normal berserk meaning you can almost consider
His attack to be twenty six though you do still have to think
About the effects of armor still though that's a lot of damage from range and it's, also considered melee damage
Which can, be quite potent against buildings rams and many different units he should have been on the previous list
But i'll make it up. By putting him here in the top
Three moving on now to number two, we have laid, tree n, the armor isn't impressive but the hp an attack both stand out
He, also, wins easily against every unit on the list up to this point
His stats are that good he never appears in a campaign, so i'm not entirely sure, why
His stats are so good but he beats william wallace and has a higher attack than, any unit we've seen so far
It's hard to believe there could be an even better unit out there but
Unquestionably there still is before that though let's take a quick look at a few honorable mentions
The first is lay lie, and lay lloyd, from the vietnamese campaign statistically speaking all three of these units should
Make, the middle of the countdown but i didn't
Want different versions of essentially one unit template to make up a big chunk of the list they
Do deserve at least a mention though, going, back further though i, also, want to acknowledge her
Off the gander he's basically a stronger attacking but, slower moving harald hardrada without the range his
140 hp would have been the lowest on the list
Had he been included and as a melee unit hp is quite important another fan favorite that didn't quite
Make the list, is last year as everyone knows? You find him in the joan of arc campaign
Yeah, he wishes to kids i'm saying
Based on stats, alone he probably shouldn't. Be here but his go get him, attitude really grows on you as?
Well as his habit of referring to himself in the third person
Here's all these almost dry
Do is joe english papa, thiam, brits can't make a catches stronger than a, year
Here has been grievously wounded
Speaking of the joan of arc campaign jean de lorraine also deserves a mention but
His stats, again, weren't quite good enough for top ten
He has extra armor attack and two more range than a normal bombard cannon, which is nice but his low
Hp, is just too much of a hindrance it's actually lower than a regular, bombard cannon
And they aren't exactly known, for their tankyness without, any
Doubt though the number one on this list is the abraha elephant
You, may!
Not have seen it before since it's in none of the campaigns but it's one you should remember it seems to be named after a
Viceroy of yemen in southern arabia during the 6th century the unit has the best attack we've seen
So far and the second-highest hp, which is a powerful combination?
Even factoring in the intrinsic weaknesses of elephants to various bonus damage
He's still the best overall the abraha elephant beats every unit on this list in melee combat as
Well as every land unit on the previous list as, well in my mind it's clearly number one but let me know
What you think and if anyone else should have, made the list thanks for watching guys, and i'll see you next time