Overall "best" melee unit (samurai)

[Manji]

Just trying to find out if there is any consensus about which is the "best" performing melee unit in the game right now.
Personally i'm split between naginata samurai/naginata monks and katana samurai.
It seems warrior monks would be the top unit but their lack or armour makes them very vulnerable to enemy ranged units; naginata samurai however can take ranged attacks much better but don't deliver as much punch nor do they have the amazing morale monks have. Katana seem to be in the middle ground.

[RO Citizen]

1.Naginata Monk
2.Katana Samurai
3.No-dachii's
4.Naginata Samurai
5.Yari Samurai

No Dachi have big attack, but their almost non-existent armour makes them too vulnerable to missiles

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

I've heard Pitbulls are confirmed for the next patch so I hold my vote until now

[Jackie Chan's Brother Wang...]

Wouldn't the Katana Hero be classed as the best? Have you seen his morale!!? It's insane!

[thoran]

it is definetly the katana hero

second best are ninjas

[Cruzz]

Definitely katana samurai. Warrior Monks and Nodachi have their uses as well. Naginata are purely for soaking up arrow fire, they're fairly worthless in melee. Yari samurai are just plain bad.

[a tw player]

Katana Samurai, provided of course that you hold cavalry superiority.

[Raimeken]

Katana hands down, Monks follow right after them, especially after the recent Yari/No-dachi mods. Strange, the most powerful infantry in the game is a make-believe unit.

[sdjenkyn]

The katana seem the best...they remind me of the Janissary vs English knight debate only to find out that the Janissary had a superior animation even tho the English knight had better stats all around.....have a feeling the same holds true here and the naginata should be the superior line unit.

[SPARTAN VI]

The most well-rounded, in my experience, is the Naginata Samurai. Got heavy infantry problems? Prescription: Naginata Samurai. Irritating cavalry? Naginata Samurai will alleviate the symptoms and the cause. Bowmen wont leave you alone? Naginata Samurais have a relatively good amount of armor and can make bowmen scatter like roaches before a flame. They're by no means the "hard counters" to any of the above, they're just suited well enough for almost every task.

But...... I voted Warrior Monk because I used them to great effect in my Uesugi campaign. They have almost all of the benefits of Naginata Samurai, PLUS their valuable war cry ability, except they're best kept away from missile troops and they don't fair very well in prolonged melees.

[Rex Germanius]

To compare infantry rather than army composition, this is my list of the top three.
1) Warrior monks
2) Naginata Samurai
3) Katana Samurai

Mostly for the same reasons stated above.
Of course, no actual army would be composed entirely of a single one of these units. A mix is the obvious choice given that none of these units can stand in battle without support from another.

[nameless]

Techincally speaking this is a rock vs paper vs scissors thingy.

Obviously the best melee unit is the No-Dachi and Katana Samurai since they pretty much own anyone in melee combat. They only fall against ranged and cavalrly units.

If you want the average unit that does a good job overall then the Naginata Samurai which can fight both melee and cavalry units then they are the best. All you have to do is use the smiths and dojos to boost their melee up to 15+ and they can then stand a better chance against katana units.

[Ecka65]

I think most would agree also that things can change once you start adding smithy / encampment buffs. My Date Naginata Samurai with gold melee buff were the envy and fear of all Japan!

[DeMolay]

I voted Yari samurai cause they're the best at holding the line and demolish anything on a horse . I voted for them cause in all my battles , it's always either my cavalry or ranged troops that "win" the battle , so for me infantry are just here to fix the enemy units or encircle them , so i don't care much about the melee attack with my infantry (except for sieges ) , i value more their versatility , fast movement( with their fast run ability ) and resilience , so that my archers can rake 200+ kills per unit and my cavalry flank or back charge their troops more easily

Also there are logistics reasons : having uniform samurai infantry (all yari samurai ) is easier to replace your losses after a battle , you merge depleted units so you can gave full size units for the next battle if you have to fight 2 battles in a row , instead of having 2 units of this , 3 units of that etc . Also you don't have to worry about enemy cavalry ruining your katana samurai or hero unit , you can focus your attention on other things during the battle as all your infantry is cavalry proof . You can also use them to hunt the enemy general when he's busy in melee which is sometimes handy .

I do use katana samurais and monks sometimes , like 1-2 units , but it's like a luxury for me , i usually prefer to use those 2 slots for extra cavalry units

Naginata are quite resilient too , with better armour rating , so better protection against arrows , but they're really slow which is really a problem during tough battles and they're not as good in melee defence as Yari samurais (so they re not as good for holding lines ) and their charge is weaker than Yari samurai . I use naginata for sieges mainly , they really shine there

[SPARTAN VI]

Well in all of my preliminary tests, No-Dachi actually took out every single one of the other melee non-hero units in a flat 1 on 1, and I even forgot to activate their banzai ability.

Match-up_____________Enemy Killed in Charge______Enemy Remaining_____No-Dachi Remaining
No-Dachi vs. Katana.................about 45.....................................21............................61
No-Dachi vs. Yari Sam..............about 45.....................................20............................110
No-Dachi vs. Naginata Sam.......about 30....................................17............................93
No-Dachi vs. Warrior Monk........about 50....................................19............................46

As you can see, the Warrior Monks held out the longest, but the AI didn't utilize their war-cry ability either.

I'd love to re-run the tests in a more controlled environment; I often had to pre-stress my troops by running them around in circles since the AI is so willing to have his units sprint across the map. I also ran each test only once so I'd love to exercise my statistics prowess here by running each scenario a few more times and with more combinations. Other than that, I just double right-clicked once the units were both "winded" and made sure I matched the AI's formation (4 ranks deep). Unit sizes are on huge, btw.

If anyone is willing to do some custom battles with me online to test this stuff, please add me on steam cxnotxk (you'll see me as spartanvi once you send the request out).

[sdjenkyn]

^@Spartan^ This looks acceptable but id still put money on the katana unit under withering arrow fire.....their animation plus speed to engage just seems to make them the best all arounder and they seem to be the hardest to defend against in a siege battle.

[SPARTAN VI]

^@Spartan^ This looks acceptable but id still put money on the katana unit under withering arrow fire.....their animation plus speed to engage just seems to make them the best all arounder and they seem to be the hardest to defend against in a siege battle.

Definitely agree, No-dachi and monks are much too delicate to be under missile fire; anything armored would suit you better in such an event.

[da_bradler]

shhh don't tell people about the no dachi. if my no dachi make full contact in melee I win.

[Xelathur]

Fully upgraded general with points in the melee tree

[the_mango55]

Unless you've got the money for an all samurai army then Katana are the best to include in an army and most worth the price.

Naginata samurai are better at dealing with cavalry, but the bulk of your troops will be yari, who are adequate at dealing with cavalry. So the best to include are dedicated anti-infantry unit like katana samurai.