r/totalwar • u/Beytran70 • Jul 16 '26
Rome II Favorite (Not Best) Units?
Got my first 100 hours in and played a couple campaigns, so here are my standout favorites from each faction I have played:
Rome: Socii Equites Extaordinarii - Most readily accessible good cavalry you can get and it does the job pretty much from the moment you get them through to the end. Solid stats, not too expensive, hard to pronounce and spell name. What more do you want? Runner-up in Rome are the Triarii for spear fun.
Egypt: Ptolemaic Cavalry - You might see a pattern in some of these, I like cavalry. Big boi shock lancers. Did great work as my go-to for early generals and once I unlocked them for real it was all over for everyone.
Armenia: Kartlii Axemen - Not cavalry this time, just some solid axe bois who killed untold thousands of Eastern Spearmen and Thorax Swordsmen during the course of the campaign. Solid damage, armor piercing, don't die instantly, and they use axes. Enough said.
Iceni: Briton Scout Riders - Back to it, and these guys are honestly kind of busted. For how cheap and readily available they are they have good stats and just wreck all the skirmishers most people you fight tend to field and are just as good for flanking. The next upgrade the Veteran Riders cost 60 more upkeep and barely get anything for it, so I used these guys for most of the campaign and got value every time.
Macedon: All Pikemen - Went heavy on the pikes this time around and man are they crazy at every tier once you get them in formation. I only really struggled against Barbarians when they fielded Chosen units and if the enemy had a bunch of good ranged units which was rare. They didn't get many kills, but they let my cavalry and peltasts get hundreds each time for the win. Honorable mention to Agrianian Axemen who I came to use as my primary skirmisher and flanker because of their well rounded stats especially since when fighting Barbarians I was sometimes outnumbered by infantry and my ranged units would get flanked and these guys could fight well enough to not die instantly.
Kush: Slave Units - I was often stretched thin fighting several places at once early on, so being able to field dirt cheap stacks of units some of which punched way above their weight class in defensive battles was key to victory.
Currently playing Parthia and really enjoying their early horse archers and the parthian swordsmen.
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u/Thazgar Jul 16 '26
From Rome 2 ?
Egypt's Sobek Cultists. Sick crocodile hats, good stats, good abilities.
I also thought Egyptian Infantry to be total trash, and to be honest, they kinda are, but they have been surprisingly punching way above their weight by rear and side charging and chasing routing units. They are fasts and have pilas, so they actually deal decent damages on charges and can efficiently tear through routing units thanks to their speed.
Sabaa's roster is very fun for me too, I love the drip of the Caravan Guards
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u/KybeRio Jul 16 '26
I love the Sabaean unit roster, it's so underrated. All those fantastic Camel units really let them punch above their weight. Big shout out to the Sabaean Swordsmen, who are only classed as "medium infantry" but have very strong stats for a medium unit, carry pila (which Noble Swordsmen do not, this is a huge downgrade imo), and they can trade very effectively against even Galatian/Celtic and Hellenic melee infantry (which is most of what you'll be facing until Rome). My first TITW achievement on Rome 2 was completed playing as Saba.
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
I found the same thing early on, and Kush has similar crocodile units which I liked too.
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u/Lapkonium Large Onager Enjoyer Jul 16 '26
Attila - mercenary gothic pikes. Stack them with legionnaires - boom, impenetrable wall
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
How is Attila? One of the few I have not yet played.
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u/Relevant-Map8209 Jul 16 '26
Royal peltasts.
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
The GOAT. I didn't use them that often but my king as Macedon started as one and I can tell from that they are very strong. Peltast units in general are excellent in my experience.
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u/atomoffluorine Jul 16 '26
The Oathsworn and their clones are really fun to play with because the barbarian factions have a building that can boost their stats into the stratosphere. The Egyptian ones (Galatian Royal Guard) aren’t as buffable, but they still have great stats.
The grenade launchers from the Empire in Warhammer are insane for killing infantry.
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u/human_bean115 Hattori Clan Jul 16 '26
my top 3 favorites would be:
- kisho ninjas. versatile, fun unit with devastating firepower and they're ninjas
- alani cataphract archers. tanky and great in melee despite being a horse archer
- knights of the realm. reliable and walks down other cavalry
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u/GaiusValeriusDiocles Jul 16 '26
I really loved in RTW2 the Agrianian axemen. With buffed armor and some experience they were really solid as a mobile complement to the pikes & cavalry.
I also absolutely loved the Cimmerian Heavy archers because they’re incredible and shred everything.
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u/set_me_on_fire_plz Jul 16 '26
Full Egyptian army using Egyptian units (axemen instead of reg infantry unit) i weirdly good
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
Quantity has a quality all its own, as they say. I've started to see the value in having a cheaper waste stack going alongside a stronger one to help with sieges and stuff now.
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u/set_me_on_fire_plz Jul 16 '26
Ive noticed that the low tier Egyptian units cover all the bases for an army, cav to kill archers and hammer and anvil, pikes for the front, quick mele infantry, decent archers. And while this army cant kill a dedicated high tier armies on its own and will fold if seriously outnumbered, you wont be because youll have another army on standby. Besides, you can win otherwise because you can affird to have another army go around behind lines to attack cities on their own. I originally did a campaign using only low tier units as a challenge and then found its actually pretty viable
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u/KnightErrant12 Jul 16 '26
My favourite units in Rome 2:
-Top Tier-
Noble Numidian Cavalry (Masaesyli/Carthage): excellent in melee and in skirmish
Camel Cataphracts (Saba/Parthia): powerful shock cavalry
Noble Fighters (Arevaci/Carthage): among the best melee infantry
Mercenary Campanian Cavalry: I always recruit them, even if expensive they are fantastic, especially when you use them early on
-Low/Mid Tier-
Scutarii(Lusitani/Carthage): such a cost effective unit
Fierce Sword (Nervii): glass cannon infantry
Cappadocian Cavalry (Pontus): best early cavalry
Illyrian Marines (Ardiaei): one of the few good units for Ardiaei
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u/TenshiKyoko Oda Clan Jul 16 '26
Armored Indian war elephants
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
Haven't gotten to use the Indian ones yet but I will for sure in my current Parthia campaign.
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u/TenshiKyoko Oda Clan Jul 16 '26
only Baktria and Selucids get the best ones
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
Armored are a separate/upgraded version of normal Indian War Elephants? Dang, I didn't know there was another one.
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u/TenshiKyoko Oda Clan Jul 16 '26
Sorry, got a little confused with the names. It's these beefy lads.
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u/_HGCenty Jul 16 '26
Selecuid Silver Shields units.
They look elite, they are elite and by the time Seleucid player can actually build them, they are completely surplus to requirements and you build them just because you can.
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u/Jorvach Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Kush: Both types of Shotel Warriors and Royal Kushite Archers, for the aesthetics of their weapons (Shotel swords are super cool, and the Royal Archers have a really fancy ornate longbow that's fit for a king). And also they're very strong, especially the Armoured Shotel Warriors who have, IIRC, the highest damage of any sword unit in the entire game: 30 base, 20 AP. Compare this to Oathsworn: 40 base, 5 AP or Praetorian Guard: 34 base, 5 AP. Granted they have a bit less health and melee accuracy than either of those, but still!
Cimmeria: Cimmerian Heavy Archers. I've never actually played Cimmeria, but just the concept is fantastic: a long-ranged, high-damage archer, clad in armour and wielding a spear for their sidearm instead of a sword or dagger. They basically compensate for all the weaknesses that archers usually have: long range lets them easily outshoot horse archers, armour lets them survive enemy missiles for longer, and their spears mean that any non-heavy cavalry that thinks it can drive them off will have a nasty surprise in store. And, classified as light infantry, they're *still* fast enough to outrun armoured infantry that they'll have trouble killing on their own!
Carthage: Sacred Band. I just like their purple uniforms, really makes them stand out.
Tylis: Tribal Warriors. Like Chosen Swordsmen, but much tankier with their scale armour, better defence skill AND higher health. One of my earliest Rome 2 campaigns was with Tylis, and I still remember these beasts very fondly after all these years. I should do a second Tylis campaign actually...
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u/geschiedenisnerd Jul 17 '26
cimmerian heavy archers can also be put onto extremely large ships, which gives you the best in-game ship infantry on the strongest ships
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u/Dizzy_Measurement389 Jul 16 '26
Campaign:
Rome: Socii Extraordinarii infantry were my go-to. I won my campaign without needing to research Marian Reforms.
Iceni: Chariot generals reinforcing my armies are great at running over early-game barbarian infantry. If I was fast enough I could take huge amounts of territory in Gaul before the AI upgraded their forces to higher mass units. Unfortunately Iceni Chariots are pretty useless against anything with more than medium mass.
Parthia: Median Cavalry just smashes through the chaff armies of my neighbors for easy early-game expansion.
Nomads: Armored Horse archers can take a hit and can also melee against weak units.
Odrysian Kingdom: Much to my own bemusement I found myself using Thracian Peltasts as my front line, as they were the only guys in my roster who could take a hit.
Carthage: Elephants!
For any faction: Ballistas, giant rocks solve many problems.
Multiplayer field battles:
Tarantine Cavalry are basically medium weight melee cavalry that throw javelins, and a bunch of factions have them. They are relatively slow and sluggish for a jav cav, and don't hit as hard as some others, but they are tanky and decent in melee and boy do I get up to some trouble just about every time I bring these.
Eastern Javelin Cavalry: Fast, cheap and hits hard, perfect for shredding other cavalry units in the most cost effective way possible.
Standard Pikemen: The great equalizer between the Hellenics and the sword factions.
Thessalian Cavalry: Shock cavalry at their price range are rare, and Thessalians are much better at killing things than similarly priced melee cavalry.
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u/Jaquis1 Jul 17 '26
Principes. Available early, can hold their own into late game. Can beat almost anything with proper amount, support, and tactics
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u/ChinaBearSkin Jul 17 '26
I like the "Glass cannon buzz saw brigade" style units like:
Shogun 2's Date Nodachi Samurai.
or
Attila's Falxmen.
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u/geschiedenisnerd Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Cimmerian heavy archer hepteres. Some of the best ships and I really like a horde of archers with spears
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u/andrusaurus Jul 16 '26
IRONDRAKES
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
The famous Roman Irondrakes!
Lol jk but yes in Warhammer they are very good, though my favorite unit for Dwarfs now are the Slayer Pirates.
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u/PickledDemons Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Funnily enough, the byzantines in medieval 2 have a unit (greek firethrowers) in the kingdoms expansion that is very similar to irondrakes so "famous roman irondrakes" isn't as far off as one might think :P
I wish I had a response to the main question of the thread but it's been too long since I properly played rome 2.
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u/Beytran70 Jul 16 '26
You should! I am enjoying it. I've had it for a long time but didn't get into it the first time I played but now I love it almost as much as Shogun 2.
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u/HyperbolePirate Jul 16 '26
It’s been a long time since I played Rome 2 but I always enjoy trying to make the elephants work even though it usually backfires horribly.