War Elephant — Counters, Stats & Civ Bonuses

War Elephant — Counters, Stats & Civ Bonuses

The War Elephant is countered by Monk, Pikeman and Camel Rider. It is a Cavalry / Unique unit, available to the Persians.

Class

Cavalry / Unique

Available to

Persians

Elite upgrade

Elite War Elephant

Cost

170 85

The War Elephant Line

• War Elephant
• Elite War Elephant

War Elephant stats

The Elite War Elephant upgrade changes the values marked with an arrow. Everything else — cost, class and the civilization bonuses that apply — stays the same.

Hit points

450 →600

Melee attack

15 / 2s →20 / 2s

Pierce attack

0

Range

0

Melee armour

1

Pierce armour

2 →3

Speed

0.8

Line of sight

7 →8

Training time

25s

What counters the War Elephant?

Hard counters beat the War Elephant decisively and win even at a cost disadvantage — usually through bonus damage, area damage, conversion or a speed advantage it cannot escape. Soft counters win the fight too, but only with good numbers and positioning.

• Monk hard Conversion – elephants are expensive and valuable
• Pikeman hard Attack bonus vs. cavalry/elephants
• Camel Rider hard Attack bonus vs. cavalry
• Mameluke UU hard UU (Saracens) – Ranged anti-cavalry
• Flaming Camel UU hard Attack bonus vs. elephants (+130)
• Genoese Crossbowman UU hard Attack bonus vs. cavalry (+5)
• Kamayuk UU hard Attack bonus vs. elephants (+20)
• Halberdier hard Attack bonus vs. cavalry/elephants
• Mangonel soft Area damage on the slow elephant
• Camel Archer UU soft UU (Berbers) – Kites elephants, no bonus damage
• Samurai UU soft Attack bonus vs. unique units (+12)
• Onager soft Area damage
• Siege Onager soft Area damage

What does the War Elephant counter?

The War Elephant is strong against buildings and units at close range.

For the strategy behind these matchups — when to build counters, how to mix them and which civs do it best — see the Unique Unit Counters guide.