Other Builds

Special Units

Skirmish

Eastern

Nomads

So the first thoughts are: I know I'll just get an elephant or a chariot and run them over. Sounds good in theory but you must remember these factions have all the tools to deal with them. First of all, nearly every infantry unit has javelins. Then for example Tylis have access to heavy peltasts as well as some of the most cost effective skirmisher cav in the game. All javelins have a bonus vs large as well remember so your elephants or chariots are going down unless you take extremely good care of them.An elephant or chariot can change a game but its very hard to keep them safe from missiles. Hellenic factions like Pontus, Bactria, Selucids and Egypt have to make very good use of special units to have any hope of beating barbarians.Side note, if you want to be a total ♥♥♥♥ you can do thisSo then what about skirmish builds? No infantry builds have been around for a long time and they used to be really powerful. Now they can work but I wouldn't recommend them.First of all your micro needs to very good. A small mistake could cost you the game. Second of all your opponent can just suicide charge his cav and if he backs them up with infantry they will kill your cav.Cavalry doesn't do as much damage to infantry as it used to. Cataphracts are still strong and devastating when used well but they are again, weak against javalins.If you to have any chance of pulling off a no infantry skirmish build you should take Parthia or Armenia with Eastern Cataphracts and Eastern Slingers (for the extra ammo)The Prussian Prince managed to win against Llewelin of Agarthia with Armenia vs Boii. He did well but I also think Llewelin couldve done a lot better.Impressive when executed correctly but not a safe option at all. NOT RECOMMENDEDWe then move on to pikes and skrimishers. Don't try this. Pikes get easy out flanked and you will get destoyed unless you sit there in a noob box which isn't fun for anyone.Now we have eastern factons.In my opinion Parthia are better than Armenia because they have Parthian Foot Archers which are great (40 missile damage + precision shot) and they also have mercenary hoplites, not the most powerful unit but good at holding. My Parthian build is:Noble Horse Archer (General)2 Mercenary Scythian Horse Archers5 Eastern Cataphracts5 Parthian Foot Archers3 Mercenary HoplitesPersian Hoplite2 Eastern SpearmenI've been using this since patch 15 and its still successful for me. You tie the enemy infantry down and kill their cav with yours. Then you use cataphracts and archers to clean the rest up. You can see it in action here against Carthage and SelucidsThe weakness of this is if you don't protect your archers then you are pretty much screwed. It can be vulnerable when your opponent brings lots of cav and rushes for your skirmishers. I find its usually successful vs hellenic and eastern factions and then sometimes but not all the time vs barbarians.If you are Parthia and your opponent picks a spear counter like Ardieai or Sparta, Do not panic! Parthia has all the tools to deal with it. An elephant can be devastating if you keep it back and are patient while you kill enemy skirmishers. Just bring 4 cav as they will protect your skirmishers but wont deal much damage. Concentrate on skirmishers and some decent infantry. Heres the build I used against Ardieai and a video of Parthia vs SpartaI'll admit straight away, I haven't played at all with nomads this patch. In general infantry is better than cav. The draco ability removes the bonus that spears get against cav so that can be good when used well. In general nomads lack the punch needed to kill large ammounts of infantry and so I wouldn't reccomend taking them.