Minotaur Units

Back to Minotaurs

Minotaur Units

Racial Tag
As with all the other races, the Minotaur classification has some special traits as well as some which, although still affect Minotaurs, aren't actually linked directly to their race tag.
 * Resistant to Chaos. (+25%)
 * Very slow recovery from Chaos. (60 seconds instead of the usual 30)
 * Although not linked to the Minotaur race tag itself, but all units that were given the Minotaur race tag were also given the ability to eat harmless animals to regain 20 lost HP and cure them of any illness.

Thrall - Primitive Builder
Thralls are the base builder unit for the Minotaurs and Barbarians. Thralls are slaves that many other races including the Orcs, Dark Elves, Undead and Daemons utilise (via a Slavehorde ability. If they are produced this way they cost gold and are produced instantly en mass). As they can be summoned instantly or produced quickly by Barbarians and Minotaurs, filling mines is relatively quick and/or inexpensive compared to most other builders.

Minotaur - Basic Minotaur Infantry
The Minotaur is the basic infantry of the Minotaur race. At its initial production, it is reasonably tough albeit quite expensive. However once fully upgraded, it can be a very powerful melee unit that should be feared. The Minotaur can go berserk and drunk which makes Minotaurs incredibly dangerous, massively boosting their speed and combat at the cost of 1 damage per second.

Axe Thrower - Minotaur Missile Unit
The Axe Thrower is the Minotaur's basic missile unit. Comparatively to missile units of other races, they are quite tough but have a low range that can limit their effectiveness. Similarly to the Barbarian, the Axe Thrower's projectile can pass through multiple enemies, making them good at firing upon enclosed enemy armies. A unique ranged damage type in slashing means that the Axe Thrower requires no upgrades to deal respectable damage to buildings.

Basilisk - Monstrous Missile Unit
A unique (and comparatively cheap) unit for the Minotaurs, giving them the ability to gather Stone much faster. This allows the Minotaurs to produce Gnolls en-masse and construct the particularly Stone-heavy buildings easier such as Arenas. The cold damage Basilisks provide is potentially quite a powerful weapon. The resistance to slashing, very high armor and resistance stats allow it to tank plenty of combat action (but keep in mind their vulnerability to crushing).

Sheep
It may seem strange for the physically strongest race in the game to produce harmless animals, but the sole purpose of Minotaurs producing Sheep is for healing. Like with all harmless animals, a Minotaur that devours one recovers 20 HP and is cured of Poison or Disease. This is very useful for prolonging the lives of those more expensive and valuable Minotaurs, such as Minotaur Kings and Minotaur Shaman - even their Hero can also benefit from a Sheep supper. As a Minotaur will only gain 20 HP from devouring a Sheep, then those tougher brutes, such as the Minotaur King and their Hero would need plenty to completely recovery them when at very low HP.

Bat - Basic Flier
With access to Eagle Eye and Farseeing early on, the Minotaur race have no need for scouts, and with tough units across the race that can reliably heal off animals, they don't need to rely on cannon fodder to screen their approach, with only one exception - the Minotaur King. Although they are bulky enough to take considerable punishment, they would prefer not to be in direct line of a tower, especially if you don't have enough of them to raze a base in seconds. While the rest of the Minotaur race may not need a Bat screen to function well, Minotaur Kings can go a long way with them.

Gnoll - Monstrous Assassin
Gnolls are relatively average melee units (in every stat) which are very easy to produce if the Minotaur player is using Basilisks (since Gnolls cost only stone, they can be spammed so long as the Minotaur player has enough Basilisks or stone production). They add little to the Minotaur race power wise, but their real distinction is in their ability: Assassination. A group of Gnolls can easily be used to scare off all but the most bold or daring of heroes as they will not risk the chance for their hero to be assassinated. Other than this, Gnolls may also be used to harass and take out particularly tough enemy units. Usually, later on the Minotaurs will have better options such as Minotaur Kings for this.

Note: The wiki is correct in stating that the Gnoll is tagged as being an Orc racially as this information was pulled directly from the game's files. But this is clearly a bug and within the game itself.

Catapult - Siege Weapon
The Catapult is a siege weapon capable of immense power. It costs comparatively little, takes almost no time to produce considering it's a siege unit, and has incredible damage and range. Catapults may not be particularly tough and are vulnerable to air attacks but almost anything on the ground should fear this weapon despite its weakness. The special ability of the Catapult is its splash damage, which equates to throwing Giants at the enemy at an incredibly long range. Combine this with its cheap economical properties and you get a unit which literally dominates the ground metagame.

Battering Ram - Siege Weapon
Battering Rams are basic, slow siege weapons which can take a lot of damage before they are destroyed. Their terrible combat stat renders them useless in combat, but they are capable of leveling buildings (although it must be noted that having 1 combat vs buildings means it will often get misses against them as well, since buildings have a hidden combat stat for combat calculations).

Minotaur Shaman - Minotaur Spellcaster
The Minotaur Shaman is a powerful spellcaster unit with access to destructive and dangerous buffing spells. He can effectively decimate both crowds and singular enemies using Ring of Fire and Pillar of Fire, and upgrades allow him to deal more damage with his useful base-destroying fire attack. The Minotaur Shaman can also make nearby allies beserk, which can be used to surprise opponents and decimate their forces if used correctly. That said, the Shaman should be kept away from the front line of battle due to physical weakness.

Griffon - Advanced Flier
The Griffon may not be a spectacular unit, but with the Minotaurs aerial game being quite weak with short ranged and slow missile units, they need Griffons to catch those fast fliers that would otherwise easily evade missile units and go on to target weak spots in the Minotaurs defenses. Although Griffons aren't the weakest of advanced fliers, they're certainly not the strongest and so should only be used as support for your ground units, not as a dedicated attack force.

Minotaur King - Minotaur General
The Minotaur King is controversially the most fearsome of all generals in the game. There is no non-Titan, non-hero unit that deals as much damage as a fully upgraded Minotaur King. On top of that utterly devastating attack damage, he has pretty good combat, great hits (actually drawing with the T Rex for best non-Titan, non-Hero, non-Dragon unit hits), ignores armor (even of buildings) and causes fear in nearby enemy units. There is relatively little that can directly counter a Minotaur King other than a large army, a wall of ranged-units (requiring melee fodder support), a highly upgraded tower or a Barbarian Reaver.

Frost Dragon - Elite Flier
The combination of Frost Dragons and Minotaur Kings will destroy absolutely any unit and with ease. Titans, Dragons and even enemy Heroes will simply fall, for a sheer drop in attack speed means even the hardest hitters around wont be able to rid you of your attack combination in time, while it, in turn, it lays to waste to what ever your enemy can throw at you. But really, the ability to greatly reduce the enemy units' attack speed can make a Minotaur invasion all but unstoppable - as their high power would normally quickly dispose of most threats and the Frost Dragons aid ensures that nothing will fight back in time before their ultimate demise, leaving your units still fresh for another confrontation. However, Frost Dragons have little effect against towers, though, but the Minotaurs basic infantry are surprisingly effective for dealing with that task when fully upgraded. But, of course, you always have the option of siege weapons.

Storm Dragon - Elite Flier
Although most of the Minotaur army will survive an offensive magic spell, such as Call Lightning, they don't like being hit with spells such as Freeze / Entangle. This is where the Storm Dragon can show its worth. The Storm Dragon will essentially ward away enemy spell casters out of fear of loosing their mana, or force them to strike upon the Storm Dragon itself. Either way, the Storm Dragon can redirect a potential attack from enemy spell casters, allowing the rest of your army to proceed in straight forward combat - where you're certain to win! Storm Dragons also become useful when against Dark Dwarves where the 2 common Golem types are vulnerable to electric, and can also quickly destroy Catapults giving your foot soldiers a safe path to follow, keeping their strength intact for removing the last few remaining units and then for base razing!

Skull of Sartek - Minotaur Titan
Despite being a Titan, the Skull of Sartek seems underwhelming in comparison to the raw power of the rest of the Minotaur race. A gang of Minotaur Kings, for example, are cheaper, faster to produce and cause more destruction. However, the Skull of Sartek's saving grace lies within its ranged attack which helps out with the Minotaurs' rather poor ranged offenses. The Skull of Sartek can fill this gap with its powerful electric attack. Although not the best typing for a ranged attack and only has an average range of 8, it's still the best the Minotaurs have to offer and is more than enough to strike such units like Dragons and other Titans for heavy damage before being quickly finished off by the rest of your army. Like all ranged units (including other ranged Titans), they crumble in melee and are easily swamped. Fortunately for the Skull of Sartek, it's found in a race full of powerful melee units that'll ensure the Skull of Sartek remains out of danger even in the heat of a large confrontation, prolonging its life and making it a Titan that is sure to stick around. It can also eat (or zzap) animals to heal, further aiding its life.