The Battle Elephant is a slow and heavy cavalry unit that is available to the Burmese, Khmer, Malay, and Vietnamese civilizations. It can be created at the Stable in the Castle Age for 120 Food and 70 Gold. Due to its steep initial cost, players will need to fully build up their economy before they can afford to mass up Battle Elephants. The Battle Elephant is best utilized in team games and is a powerful front-line unit that can breach enemy ranks. It is strong against most generic enemy units, including basic infantry, archers, and cavalry, but it is easily countered by mass Pikemen, Camels, and especially Monks. All Rise of the Rajas civilizations have access to Halberdiers so that they can counter opposing Battle Elephants in the mirror match. The Battle Elephant is faster, cheaper, and weaker than the Persian War Elephant and carries different bonuses for each of the 4 new civilizations. Let’s take a look at their stats and see how they compare.

Overall:

120 Food, 70 Gold

250 HP, 0.85 Speed, 12 Attack, 1/2 Armor

300 HP, 0.85 Speed, 16 Attack, 1/3 Armor

7 – 10 bonus attack vs buildings

0.5 Blast Radius, 50% damage in that radius

Persians: (not Battle Elephants, but good to compare)

200 Food, 75 Gold

450 HP, 0.6 Speed, 15 Attack, 1/2 Armor

600 HP, 0.6 Speed, 20 Attack, 1/3 Armor

7 – 10 bonus attack vs buildings

0.5 Blast Radius, 50% damage in that radius

-Bloodlines, Husbandry

-All Blacksmith upgrades

-No Heresy, have Faith

Other Comparisons:

-Teutonic Knight: 0.7 Speed

-Champion: 0.9 Speed

-Knight: 1.35 Speed

Burmese:

-Howdah (Battle Elephants +1/ +2 armor)

-Manipur Cavalry (Cavalry and Arambai +6 attack vs buildings)

-Bloodlines, Husbandry

-All Blacksmith upgrades

-No Heresy, have Faith

-320 HP, 20 Attack, 5/9 Armor, 0.935 Speed, +6 Bonus Attack vs buildings

Khmer:

-Tusk Swords (Battle Elephants +3 attack)

-Battle Elephants +15% faster

-Bloodlines, Husbandry

-All Blacksmith upgrades

-No Heresy or Faith

-320 HP, 23 Attack, 4/7 Armor, 1.15 Speed

Malay:

-Battle Elephants 25% Cheaper (90 Food and 53 gold)

-No Bloodlines, have Husbandry

-Missing Plate Barding Armor and Chain Barding Armor

-Have both Heresy and Faith (because they have weaker Elephants)

-300 HP, 20 Attack, 2/4 Armor, 0.935 Speed

Vietnamese:

-Chatras (Battle Elephants +30 HP)

-Have Bloodlines, no Husbandry

-Missing Blast Furnace

-No Heresy, have Faith

-350 HP, 18 Attack, 4/7 Armor, 0.85 Speed