Overview
A simple guide on how to use the popular Teutonic Knight. Instead of focusing on a beginning-to-end complex building guide, we’re only going to focus on simplistic tactics and uses for the knight. My aim is to make this a reference manual for those wishing to learn how to use the Teutonic Knight.
Introduction
I have played over 74 hours of Age of Empires 2 HD with the Teutons, and I have always used the TK (Teutonic Knight) to some extent in many instances. Alot of people know them already as the ‘Chuck Norris’ of AoE2, but many newer players unfortunately overlook them because of their slow speed. In this guide, I aim to get people better acquanted with the old TK, and how to use them effectively. They really do require some getting used to, and I feel that using them effectively is an art that demands attention, practice, and good execution.
Chapter 1: Upgrades and Manufacturing
Like every unit in the game, upgrading the TK is essential to using them properly. While the nature of the game changes with every opponent, I usually don’t even start manufacturing them untill the Imperial Age, after I’ve gotten most of the infantry upgrades from the Blacksmith and the Barracks.
In any case, every time you age up, make sure to get the forge and infantry plating upgrades from the blacksmith, until the upgrades run out in the Imperial Age. These are as follows:
Feudal Age (FA):
Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1p infantry armor).
Forging (+1 infantry attack)
Castle Age (CA):
Chain Mail Armor (another +1/+1p infantry armor)
Iron Casting (another +1 infanry attack)
Imperial Age (IA):
Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2p infantry armor)
Blast Furnace (+2 infantry attack)
Also, from the barracks you’ll find 2 helpful upgrades: Tracking (FA) and Squires (CA).
Tracking gives your TKs a +2 line of sight, which is always useful for seeing your enemy before they see you.
Squires is the most important upgrade for TKs from the barracks, because it helps to increase their sluggish movement speed (+10%), which has always been the TKs thorn in the side.
Finally, you have several upgrades in the Castle that are useful:
Conscription (IA) gives you an edge by increasing your unit production by 33%, and is vital for a healthy production line of TKs.
And finally, the Elite Teutonic Knight upgrade gives your TKs a bonus to defense and attack vs. buildings. You may be wondering ‘why vs. buildings?’ Well, we’ll be covering their seige capability later on. Watch out though, this upgrade is very expensive, an it’s ok if you wait awhile before taking the upgrade. Make sure you get the upgrade shortly after the IA has been reached though.
Manufactuing/ Building the army:
By the time I research Elite Teutonic Knight, I usually have at least two castles built ~somewhere~. ‘Where’ depends on the map. In a 1v1, my village. on 2v2 or 3v3, either my village or an allie’s depending on where the likely front line will be and how far that is from my home village. Later on, I like to try and have three somewhat close to eachother around my village, always in useful places. Never build a Castle (with the exception of the regicide game mode). In a useless location, because your TKs are sloooow, and you will usually want to manufacture them en masse at your home village, ready to defend it, at an allies village ready to defend that, or at an outpost near the enemy.
In any case, with the right economy (not covering that), with conscription and 3 castles pumping out TKS at the same time, building an army of these guys takes very little time. This means dead TKs (yes, it happens) can be replaced relatively quickly. Remember too that you don’t always need to manufacture in this fashion. For example 1 castle to defend an allie’s front line is useful for manufacturing as well.. Hence the following phrase:
A castle near the enemy is worth three far away!
In any case, remember to manufacture TKs where they’re needed. I always have around 5 or 6 castles by the end of the game.Try not to rely on moving TKs over a large distance, because they are indeed like Hot-Dog Warriors from Advenure Time. Slooooow.
So, How many should we build?
This is a hard question to answer without covering other tactics with other units, but usually it’s the more the merrier. Thus the phrase:
30 heads are better than one!
I’ll be covering how many to build for each specific use later, but usually i’m satisfied with three armies that are well placed. In any case, onward to the next section!
Chapter 2: Defensive Artistry
In this chapter, we’ll draw on some strategies to keep your TKs that you manufactured in the last chapter alive, and how to use them to keep yourself alive.
Teutonic Knights can defend themselves well against just about every unit, with four main exceptions. In every other case, the fight may be difficult but not at all impossible. These exceptions aren’t impossible for the TKs to defend from either, and i’ll let you know what you can do to assist in keeping them safe.
1) Boats. Specifically Galleons. Obvously melee infantry can’t attack units off the coast, but Cannon Galleons fire too slowly to be effective against TKs unless used exceptionally with a fire-at-ground approach. Fireships are ineffective as well because they must get too close to shore, allowing the TKs to simply butcher them.
That said, in large numbers regular Galleons can be a threat, albeit not a large one, and they can be easily avoided by staying away from the coast. Of course, there will be times you need to approach the shore, so you will need to rely on other units to help out your TKs.
2) Ranged Cavalry. While ranged infantry can be a threat, usually other human players don’t manage them well enough to attack, retreat, and attack again. Computer players will, but don’t bother with it long enough to make it very useful. Ranged Cavalry on the other hand are a completely different story. They can retreat, attack, and retreat all day and your TKs will never reach them in time to do some damage.
Therefore, have something up your sleeve to combat this. Usually I use a pack of Paladins to run in and take them out along with enemy Trebuchets and Onagers.
3) Onagers. Any kind of infantry unit will fall in droves to ongars, and while i’ve noticed that TKs can last longer than other units due to their high armor and hp, they will still fall or take a large portions of damage.
To combat these nasty articles of warfare, set your TKs to staggered formation. This will limit how many of your units are hit by their spread attack. Also, if no other faster moving units are available to you, go on the offensive and send some TKs to destroy the low-armored war machines.
As a side note, remember that when YOU are using Onagers, freindly fire is possible. Don’t accidentally kill your own units unless you have to!
4) Jaguar Warriors. The Aztec Jaguar Warrior is an infantry designed specifically for killing other infantry. That said, it is still about equal to the TK with lower armor, hp, and a higher speed than TKs. As it happens, they are also slightly cheaper than TKs, which means that in a long-term battle, the Aztec player will eventually be able to overpower you once you begin to run out of resources.
If you see an army of these bad-boys, leave them to your cavalry or some other kind of unit. Don’t duke it out with them unless you have to. The side with the higher numbers will win, and if the Aztec player is losing he can retreat unlike you. I’ll cover retreat with TKs in the next chapter.
Additional Threats
This is an edit following some helpful hints given at the bottom of the page. I have not verified these findings via testing, but they seem legitimate and full of common sense.
Teutonic Knights can be weak to Byzantine Cataphracts! Ref: Shinygreninja.
Viking Berserkers have a tendency to be able to overtake Teutonic Knights when used in numbers! Ref: LEGION:Halogen35.
Japanese Elite Samurai are possibly even more of a threat than Jaguar Warriors! Ref: Kp_centi.
Incan Slingers are apparently extremely dangerous to your Teutonic Knights! Ref: Spyro The Maine ♥♥♥♥.
Thanks to everyone that help make this guide better!
So, theres a smallish situational reference for certain kinds of units. If you keep your TKs alive from these enemies, you should be well on your way to a victory! Now, let’s look into methods for using TKs to defend your village!
Wall Patching
TKs have a really high resistance to damage and a really high HP to compliment it. This means that if your enemy is about to blow a chunk out of your wall, send about 5 or 6 TKs to go… fill it in. You’ll find that by sending them over there and keeping them stationary they will effectively patch the wall up temportarily by bottle-necking and killing melee opponents trying to get through. This is also effective on maps with bridges.
Royal Guards
In Regicide, if you’re losing a battle and the enemy is approaching your king’s castle, then sometimes a fun thing to do is garrison as many TKs as you can in there with him. With the right tech, they will fire arrows out of the castle making it last longer, and when the castle breaks down your enemies will get a deadly surprise as you attempt to get your king out… Usually, I’ll garrison TKs in my castles anyway to store them, because of the healing and defensive benefits. Also, an attacking enemy won’t know you have an army up your sleeve.
Seeding
Another tactic available is to take about 30 or so TKs and sprinkle them around your town, with a roughly equal amount of space between them. This is an effective means to halt and kill enemy scouts and loose enemy units attempting to aggro villagers. While I don’t usually use this, I have heard of it done.
In the next chapter I’ll go over offensive tactics to be used with the Teutonic Knight.
Chapter 3: Offensive Artistry
The Teutonic Knight is not nimble or quick, but it has a ton of offensive power!
The first thing everyone should know about the offensive Teutonic Knight, is that once you commit them to a fight, they are committed. I mentioned in chapter 2 in reference to the Jaguar Warriors that they can retreat unlike the Teutonic Knight. This is because if you make them run, they are too slow to retreat effectively and will most likely be cut down in the process. Only retreat if you have the chance to regroup and your opponent is unable to send units to attack. Therefore, know you will win the battle or obtain a certain objective before you attack.
That said, in large numbers and by using the defensive techniques taught in the last chapter, TKs are virtually unstoppable. They have high attack, high armor, and high hp, and will destroy just about any infantry or building that is thrown at them. TKs are also unofficially considered siege weapons, especially after they have recieved the Elite Teutonic Knight castle upgrade.
So, situationally when:
Attacking Infantry:
Just throw them forth! Be wary of Jaguar Warriors.
Attacking Cavalry:
Just throw them forth! Be wary of ranged Cavalry.
Attacking Seige Weaponry:
Just throw them forth! Remember to go into staggered formation.
Attacking Walls:
Just throw them forth! I wouldn’t recommend using TKs against walls with ranged defenses behind them, but they can effectively take a wall down quickly without distractions.
Attacking Buildings:
Just throw them forth! Teutonic Knights are great at destroying buildings. I like to take an army straight to the enemie’s town center and just let them fan out after it is destroyed.
Attacking Castles:
Just throw them forth! …After sending in some other units, such as cavalry, to keep the fire off of your TKs. Castles can be very threatening to a TK, but will go down very quickly once surrounded.
If your Teutonic Knights are taking too long to reach the enemy, a popular tactic is to garrison them in Battering Rams, which is a faster unit than the TK. This will also keep them safe for a short time while the enemy detroys the Ram.
Personally, I like to have several armies of TKs and one army of Paladins. The Paladins are mounted melee units that are useful situationally for destroying enemy monks, onagers, and ranged cavalry. They always seem to compliment eachother well, and it might be useful to keep them on standby during an attack.
Well, that’s all for this guide. I really hope I’ve helped you to understand the nature and use of the Teutonic Knight. Remember, if all else fails, just throw some more Teutonic Knights at the problem and they will usually fix it!
Thanks for reading!
~Boldheart
References
1) Age of Empires 2 HD Edition
2) A fellow AoE fan and friend, Halberdguard
3) The Age of Empires Series Wiki[ageofempires.wikia.com]