Elite Teutonic Knight unit icon - Age of Empires 2

Elite Teutonic Knight

Infantry
Food85
Gold30
Hit Points110
Attack17
Melee Armor10
Pierce Armor2
Train Time12s
Speed0.8

Base values, before Blacksmith upgrades. The Blacksmith raises attack and armour for infantry, cavalry and archers — Blast Furnace, for instance, gives "+2 Attack for infantry & cavalry". Late in a game, the real numbers are higher.

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Evolution

Food 950 Gold 500

The coach's briefing

The Elite Teutonic Knight reaches absurd stats: 110 HP, 17 attack, and 10 melee armor. Champions deal only 3 damage per hit to you. You kill them in 4 hits. The math is overwhelming in your favor. However, you're still stuck at 0.8 speed. With Rams for arrow protection and Monks for healing, Elite Teutonic Knights can steamroll through bases.

STRONG AGAINST

You win these trades cost-effectively.

?
All melee units
Paladin
Paladin
Champion
Champion
Cataphract
Cataphract

WEAK AGAINST

Avoid these fights or bring support.

Arbalester
Arbalester
Cavalry Archer
Cavalry Archer
Heavy Scorpion
Heavy Scorpion
Monk
Monk
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Strategic Analysis

Tactical Identity

The Elite Teutonic Knight is **melee incarnate**. With 10 armor, even bonus damage dealers struggle. You're designed to be placed and not moved.

Tactical Playbook

10 Melee Armor

Champions deal 13-10=3 damage. You have 110 HP. That's 37 hits to kill you. You need 4 hits to kill them.

Ram Escort

March behind Siege Rams. Rams absorb arrows while you follow. When Rams breach walls, you pour through.

Garrison Transport

Use Transport Ships on water maps. Land them directly in enemy bases to bypass your speed problem.

Critical Point

**Scorpions are deadly**. Their pass-through bolts deal full damage to your slow, clumped Teutonic Knights. Always have siege to counter siege.

Understanding The Stats

The Elite upgrade pushes already extreme stats to absurd levels. 10 melee armor makes you nearly immune to melee damage.

Maximum Melee Armor

10 Armor

Highest possible. Most melee units deal 1-3 damage to you.

Brutal Attack

17 Attack

+3 over base. Kills most infantry in 3-4 hits.

Tank HP

110 HP

+20 HP. Combined with armor, you're absurdly tanky.

Still Slow

0.8 tiles/s

No change. Your fatal flaw remains. Build around it.

Coach's Tip

17 attack vs 10 armor means you deal 7 damage to another Elite Teutonic Knight. Mirror matches take forever - avoid them if possible.

Mechanics & Bonuses

Attack Bonuses

TargetBonus Dmg
Eagle Warrior+4
Standard Building+4

Armor Classes

Infantry

Takes bonus damage from Hand Cannoneers, Slingers, and anti-infantry unique units.

Unique Unit

Vulnerable to units with bonus damage vs this class.

Civilizations

Teutons

* 1 civilizations have access to this unit.

AoE Coach analysis

Context & meta

Elite Teutonic Knight is a slow, heavily armored infantry unit for the Teutons. It costs 85 food and 30 gold, trains in 12 seconds, and has 110 HP, 17 attack, 10 melee armor and 2 pierce armor. Its speed is only 0.8 and its line of sight is 5. The profile is a walking shield: it wins time in melee, survives ordinary contact, and asks the enemy to bring the correct ranged answer. Do not measure it by speed; measure how much space its armor lets your army occupy. Its route matters before contact. And patience matters.

History & balance

The Elite Teutonic Knight evokes the armored order as a battlefield wall: disciplined, expensive, and difficult to push aside by ordinary melee force. In the game, that image is not a promise of universal superiority. The unit is deliberately slow, so its historical weight becomes a strategic question about approach and support. A knight that reaches the fight can dominate the contact zone; one that is forced to cross open ground under ranged fire can spend its advantages before it ever swings. That is the real tradeoff.

In pro play

Use Elite Teutonic Knights to anchor a push, not to chase. Their 10 melee armor and 110 HP let the front line absorb contact while ranged or siege support works behind it; their 0.8 speed means the rally point and attack route matter before the fight begins. Queue them from a protected production block, keep the group compact, and use walls or terrain to reduce the directions from which the enemy can kite. The 12-second train time supports a steady core, but 85 food and 30 gold make every idle building and reckless detour expensive.

How to counter it

The classic mistake is sending ordinary melee units into the Elite Teutonic Knight and calling the fight lost when the armor holds. The official help gives the categories: Archery and Gunners as weaknesses, with melee units as a strength. In practice, Hand Cannoneers bring a real bonus against Infantry, while Elite Longbowmen or other ranged units exploit the knight's 0.8 speed by firing from distance and refusing contact. Keep the firing line protected from a cavalry dive; the answer is range plus space, not a prettier melee unit. Struggling against Elite Teutonic Knights without knowing what to produce or when? AoE Coach reads your matchup and gives you the composition + timing.