The Units

The Units

For the sake of saving time, I will only mention every fully upgraded unit, as Post Imperial Death Match is the most common style of Death Match played. I also left out the boats, as Death Match is rarely played on water maps:

Halberdier - This guy is anti-cavalry and nothing else. Most online players will try to get these in large numbers, so make sure that if you have cavalry, that you make something to counter this (archers or champs will do). This guy is also good if you just need extra men to throw into battle. Otherwise, halbs are a waste of time.

Champion - Referred to as "champ", this unit will destroy halberdiers, often much better than a pack of archers will. Aside from that, he's usually a nice addition to have to your army if you feel that you've got archers and cavalry covered.

Eagle Warriors - These are perfect for sneaking into an enemies base and then attacking his trade carts or villagers with. They move fast, don't get hurt much by arrows, and are quite small, so easy to move.

Hussar - Almost everything in the game counters these, only use them if you have more food than you know what to do with. Otherwise, use it on siege and small numbers of archers. Everything else will eat these alive.

Paladin - The ultimate unit, fast, hard to kill, and dealing out lots of damage. They are quite expensive though, so watch your budget when making these. Never use these on halberdiers or camels, as these are it's counters and will eat Paladins alive. On small numbers of siege, these work well too, but be careful as moving a whole pack of these can take lots of time (allowing the enemy to hit you a lot).

Skirmisher - These are very under-rated, they are great for archers since they cost virtually nothing, but they can also be used to take away an enemy's focus fire. See cavalry archers? Use these and watch as your enemy wastes thousands of gold.

Arbalest - Not as good as unique archer units, but these still can be useful and can throw most people by surprise. They destroy infantry and cavalry archers and mamelukes, but nothing else. Steer clear of onagers and skirms, or you will kiss these goodbye. Slightly expensive.

Cavalry Archer - Another infantry destroying unit, in large numbers, these are very difficult to stop. Only onagers or large numbers of skirms with paladins will do the job. Although they are expensive, they are well worth the cost, as they are fast and can get a job done quickly. Be weary of halberdiers though, as their attack bonus works on cav archers.

Hand Cannonners - One of the worst archery range units, it is expensive, takes a long time to get in large quantities, and sucks
against other archers and cavalry. Despite that, it is extremely good against infantry. Going against the Japanese or Vikings? Use these things. They do much damage already, but they have an attack bonus against infantry, meaning they'll kill Huskarls and Teutonic Knights in 3-4 shots. Still, there are so many counters to infantry, why would you
need these?

Scorpions - Alone, these are horrible, in mass numbers, the only thing that can stop them is onagers. They basically shoot out a bolt that will damage anything that hits them, so 40 of these against 40 paladins is basically a massacre, as the paladins will have more luck running away then attacking. If you see lots of scorpions, never attack unless you have onagers. Otherwise, you are wasting your army.

Onagers - These things have lost their touch since Age of Empires 1. They can't take out defensive buildings like castles or bombard towers, but they are much better against militia, shooting multiple boulders at the enemy. A large army of scorpions can be defeated only by onagers, but if you have onagers of your own to protect your scorpions, you will probably win the game with that army alone.

Rams - Rams must be used up close on buildings, meaning they are bound to be attacked by the enemy, even so, they can kill many buildings really fast. If you have wiped out an enemy army or if he has lots of bombard towers and castles that are undefended, make lots of rams and you will watch as his base falls apart. The more the better. One time my ally made 50 rams, he wiped out 6 castles in about 30 seconds!! Better still, Rams are excellent against other siege. A ram can kill a scorpion, treb, onager, or another ram in two hits!

Bombard Cannons - These are cannons that are pushed by little guys. They pack a wallop and are good offensively or defensively. Use them on buildings and move them out when the enemy tries to attack, or put them in the back of your army and have them attack the forefront. Either way, they will work. The downside is they are expensive and easy to kill, so protect these with your life. Never build these without building some sort of militia to protect them. They're just like trebs, but without the delay of having to pack. Just remember, use these on regular enemy units and watch them drop.

Petards - Petards basically are guys with bombs that run into buildings and explode. In Death Match though, the only things worth using them on are castles, but they will never make it in a million years, as the enemy army and castle can easily kill them. Pretty much worthless since they cost gold and won't accomplish much. Interestingly, if one Petard
attacks another, the one that attacked will be killed and the other will have survived.

Trebuchets - Commonly referred to as "trebs." These are the best siege in the game, as they have the furthest reach and do the most damage, but they are slow as they launch only one rock at a time at the enemy. They are expensive but well worth it, and in many situations the only thing you can possible use. Use these if you want to bring the enemy
out of his defensive shell and force him to attack. A group of trebuchets can be devastating.