Defender

Template:Infobox unitThe Defender is a strong defensive unit that can be trained after researching the shields technology. As their name implies, defenders have excellent defence while lacking in attack and movement.

No unit can one-hit a Defender.

Stats

• Attack: 1
• Defence: 3
• Movement: 1
• Health: 15 (20 after reaching Veteran status)
• Range: 1
• Skills: None

Strengths and Weaknesses

Defenders are good for:

• Defending cities. Full-health defenders cannot be one-hit by anything, so that naturally makes them good for holding a certain point.
• Holding choke points. Barring a sea invasion, if you put defenders across a point you don't want someone to reach, the enemy can't get through it, and even if they do, their army can't flood through it easily.
• Countering attacks. Unlike other units, defenders have very high counter damage. Since most enemies can't resist attacking a defender, one of these units can thin out overly ambitious neighbors in the early rounds.
• Defending against weak swarms. In a city wall, a defender has so much defense that Warriors and Riders will actually deal 0 damage to it, and the defender's retaliation will instantly kill the assailants.

Defenders aren't good for:

• Defending against mobs of strong units. While you may lose some units, a mob of swordmen or knights can take down a defender, although they will suffer some damage.
• Fighting ranged units. Archers can continually move back and snipe it, ships can shoot from off the coast, and catapults deal too much damage for defenders to even be able to scratch it.

Tips

Strategies for Defenders-

• Place defenders on any city you make, always. No unit, barring the giant, is better equipped to defend a city, and you can't reliably, infinitely, or cheaply produce giants- Defenders are all of these things.
• Shield walls are a nice strategy to hold a narrow part of a map, if you know the enemy can't bypass it by sea. This scenario is unlikely, but if it happens, it is highly effective area denial. Place Defenders in a row across the point, and leave them there. Barring catapults, giants, or several knights, the wall will hold. For added effectiveness, have a second set ready to replace the first one. This way, you can switch out a damaged defender for a fresh one, and let it heal with a better degree of safety from attack. (Ranged attacks still can beat the rotation.)
• Defenders are also especially useful in naval attacks because of their cost to health efficiency. Seeing as all units behave identically in boats, the defender is particularly useful to create navies that can withstand multiple hits from other boats.

Strategies against Defenders-

• Ranged units can rip apart defenders in no time, especially in droves. If the enemy tribe seems heavy on the defenders, break out the archers. Catapults are even better, if you can protect them. Catapults in top shape are a one-shot, so roll those in and the city's almost as good as yours.
• Sea attacks. For the same reason as ranged, but with the added benefit of the dash skill, allowing the boat to move and attack, so that even if you need to relocate to avoid return fire or to start trying to hold down a city, you can still fight.
• Giants are a nice counter to defender, as long as you keep them at high health levels. Fatigue ruins even giants.
• If the enemy starts spamming tons of defenders, build a wall of warriors (or Swords if you have them) and block the defenders but do not attack. Then, just wait for the defenders to attack you. Since defenders have low attack, they take a lot of damage when they go on the offense. The next turn, warriors can kill defenders with 5 or lower health.