Units
Total War: SHOGUN 2 unit roster breakdown — ashigaru, samurai, warrior monks, cavalry, siege engines, firearm troops and the naval hulls that decide the sea lanes.
Introduction
The unit roster in SHOGUN 2 is small by Total War standards and unusually well balanced, which means almost every unit has one job it performs better than anything else. Ashigaru are cheap, expendable and essential for holding walls, garrisons and the centre of a line. Samurai cost several times as much and win the fights that actually decide a campaign. Warrior monks sit between the two, trading armour for a morale shock that breaks ashigaru formations on contact. Around that core sit missile troops, cavalry, siege engines and, once the Otomo or the later campaigns enter the picture, firearms that ignore armour entirely. Naval units follow the same logic: light hulls harass, medium hulls hold the line, and heavy hulls decide boarding actions.
Unit Roster Tier Reference
| Tier | Unit | Role | Best Against |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Katana Samurai | Armour-piercing melee core | Yari and naginata infantry |
| S | Warrior Monks | Morale-shock melee | Ashigaru lines and low-morale armies |
| A | Bow Samurai | Ranged duel winner | Slow melee formations and siege defenders |
| A | Yari Cavalry | Flanking and pursuit | Missile troops and artillery crews |
| A | Great Guard | Heavy shock cavalry | Isolated units and enemy generals |
| B | Yari Ashigaru (Spear Wall) | Cheap line holder | Cavalry charges and gate defence |
| B | No-Dachi Samurai | Charging shock infantry | Wavering enemy centres |
| B | Mangonels | Siege and area damage | Walls, gates and packed formations |
| C | Bow Ashigaru | Cheap missile filler | Unarmoured early-game units |
| C | Light Cavalry | Scouting and harassment | Artillery and isolated archers |
| C | Matchlock Ashigaru | Early firearms | Armoured samurai at short range |
Unit Archetypes
Katana Samurai
Armour-piercing melee infantry and the backbone of any army that expects to win on the field.
Warrior Monks
Melee infantry whose morale shock breaks ashigaru formations on contact.
Yari Ashigaru
The cheapest unit in the game and the only reason a starting clan has an army at all.
Bow Samurai
Archers that win the ranged duel which decides morale long before the lines meet.
Yari Cavalry
Fast flankers that turn a stalled melee into a rout and run down anything that breaks.
Matchlock Ashigaru
Early firearms that ignore armour but reload slowly and break easily.
Great Guard
The heaviest cavalry available, and the only unit that reliably breaks a formed samurai line from behind.
No-Dachi Samurai
Two-handed shock infantry built around a charge that breaks wavering centres outright.
Mangonels
Siege engines that turn packed formations and defended gateways into a problem for the defender.
Bow Ashigaru
Cheap archers that lose the ranged duel against samurai but add numbers for very little money.
Light Cavalry
Cheap horsemen for scouting, chasing routers and hunting undefended artillery.
Core Mechanics
Unit effectiveness in SHOGUN 2 is decided by three interacting values: armour, melee attack and morale. Katana samurai beat yari infantry not because their attack is higher but because their weapons reduce the effect of armour, while naginata and yari units get a bonus specifically against cavalry. Morale is the second layer, and it is why warrior monks overperform: a unit that applies a morale penalty is worth more than one that simply does more damage, because a broken unit leaves the field entirely. Missile combat follows its own logic, with bow units trading rate of fire against range and firearms trading reload time for armour-ignoring damage. Naval combat replaces melee resolution with boarding, so hull size, crew count and the ability to close and grapple matter more than the number of bowmen aboard.
Advantages
A clear unit hierarchy makes army building unusually cheap to reason about. Because each unit has one job, you can fix a losing army by identifying which role is missing rather than by replacing everything: no spear screen means cavalry runs over your archers, no armour-piercing melee means samurai stacks stall, and no cavalry means broken enemies regroup instead of routing. Ashigaru also give the roster a rare quality for a strategy game: a genuinely viable cheap tier. A player who understands spear wall can hold a province with a fraction of the cost another player spends on samurai, freeing the difference for farms, markets and research. That cost efficiency is what makes small-clan campaigns playable at all.
Challenges & Weaknesses
The roster's tight balance means there is no single unit that solves every problem, and the obvious answer is usually the wrong one. Samurai armies are powerful and also extremely expensive to replace, so a lost battle can set a campaign back ten turns in a way a lost ashigaru army never would. Specialists carry real risk: matchlock troops are nearly useless in rain, archers collapse the moment cavalry reaches them, and warrior monks die quickly to concentrated missile fire. Naval units are the most situational of all, because a heavy hull that dominates a boarding action still cannot catch a light ship that refuses to engage. Finally, upkeep compounds, and an army that is 20 percent too large will quietly bankrupt a growing clan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best unit in Total War: SHOGUN 2?+
How do I beat a samurai army with ashigaru?+
Are bow ashigaru worth building?+
How does naval combat work?+
Quick Tips
Never send an army without a spear screen. Yari ashigaru in spear wall cost almost nothing and are the only thing standing between your expensive samurai and an enemy cavalry charge that would otherwise hit the rear of your line. Two units placed on the flanks of your formation will absorb the charge, pin the horsemen, and let your melee infantry close on them while they are stationary and unable to withdraw.
Treat warrior monks as a morale weapon rather than a damage unit. Their warcry and morale penalty break cheap infantry on contact, which is worth far more than their attack value, but they have no armour and die quickly if they are the first unit to meet a samurai line. Send them in after the enemy is already engaged so their shock lands on units that cannot disengage.
Match your missile troops to the weather and the enemy, not to habit. Bow units dominate in the ranged duel but lose outright to cavalry that reaches them, while matchlock infantry ignore armour and are nearly useless in rain. Check the battle conditions before deployment, and if firearms are in your army, keep a melee unit behind them to cover the reload cycle.
Audit upkeep before you add a unit, not after your treasury goes negative. Every unit in SHOGUN 2 costs money every turn regardless of whether it fights, and an army that is slightly too large will drain the markets and farms that pay for it. Disband garrison ashigaru in interior provinces once the border has moved forward.
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