Faith
Monastery - ImperialEvolution
Faith
Imperial
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"Units resist conversion longer"
Coach's Tip
Faith makes your units much harder to convert. Essential against civilizations with strong Monk bonuses like Aztecs or Spanish.
Strategic Analysis
Strategic Identity
Faith makes your units much harder to convert. Essential against civilizations with strong Monk bonuses like Aztecs or Spanish.
When to Research
High Priority
Research Faith as soon as you have the resources and are using monastery units.
Combat Impact
Units resist conversion longer
Civilization Access
* 48 civilizations have access to this technology.
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AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
Faith is an Imperial Age technology researched at the Monastery. It costs 550 food and 750 gold and takes 60 seconds. Units are 50% harder for enemy Monks to convert. This is a broad defensive effect: it protects the army rather than improving Monks, and it matters most for expensive units that would become a second army after conversion. Faith does not increase HP, armor, or attack and does not stop ordinary damage. Its price is therefore justified only when enemy Monks are a real part of the matchup and several valuable units will cross their range.
History & balance
Faith is the high-cost answer to a high-impact religious threat. The design intention is to let a late army contest conversion civilizations without turning every unit into a Monk-resistant body by default. Its large food and gold price creates a visible strategic trade: the player buys protection for existing units instead of adding immediate damage. The 50% resistance preserves interaction because conversions remain possible, while making a prepared army less likely to collapse from one religious success. Faith belongs in the technology tree as a matchup decision, not as an automatic Imperial Age upgrade.
In pro play
Research Faith when at least six to eight expensive units will enter a fight against a visible Monk army, especially if the opponent has multiple Monasteries or a conversion civilization bonus. Reserve 550 food, 750 gold, and the 60-second window before the army crosses open ground. Keep producing a screen and use focus fire: the 50% resistance buys time but does not make units safe. Do not let the research replace the army that must survive the next minute. If the opponent has no active Monks, spend the enormous resource bank on units, siege, or another upgrade. Faith is a protection layer for a known threat, not a general insurance policy.
How to counter it
No military unit counters Faith itself. The classic timing error is paying 550 food, 750 gold, and 60 seconds after the Monk army has already converted the key units, or researching it when no Monk threat exists. A practical threshold is six to eight valuable units facing at least four enemy Monks; below that, the opportunity cost can be more army than protection. Pressure the Monastery, force the fight before completion, and continue to focus Monks after the technology finishes because 50% resistance is not immunity. If conversion wars keep deciding your Imperial fights, AoE Coach reads your matchup and gives you the composition and timing.