What's the difference between Naginata Samurai and Naginata Warrior monks?

[ZomoPie]

i was just wondering 0.o which one is stronger

[rory.b.p]

Naginata samurai have much better armour and are better vs cav.
Naginata warrior monks have better attack, better melee defence and better morale but far ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ armour.

Crucially Naginata warrior monks have that abillity war cry or whatever it is call that screws the morale of enemy units which is incredibly effective early game when you are fighting lots of yari.

Upkeep cost wise naginata samurai are cheaper generally speaking but some factions get a reduction in cost or an increase in stats of the monks such as the Ikko Ikki or the Uesugi.

The extremely low armour of the warrior monks is a big crutch because they get absolutely chewed to pieces by archers.

I would say that the naginata samurai are a tanky unit that you can leave to hold a flank against greater numbers for a considerable period of time before they route or need your attention but are not a cost effective unit as vetted up yari could be a stalling force also for less cost.

Naginata warrior monks are a unit which requires more micro, you can't not pay attention to them because of their crappy armour, if you look away for 30 seconds and they end up under archer fire you could lose a lot of units, on the flip side early game their war cry ability can easily cause massive chain routes in lines of enemy ashigaru, they are not cost effective unless you are running them as the Ikko ikki or uesugi and even then the Ikko ikki gets a far more cost effective early game unit in the loan sword ashigaru.

As for which is stronger, just start a custom battle and 1v1 them a few times, haven't done it myself but I suspect the warrior wonks would win 9 times out of 10 as long as you time the war cry correctly, that is without a general to rally.
With a general to rally I feel like the tanky nature of the naginata samurai may lead them to outlast the warrior monks, throw in archer fire from either or both sides and the naginata samurai would definitely win due to the monks extremly low armour.

[ZomoPie]

oh thx : D

[NataFish]

I would also say that Date can effectively utilize Naginata Warrior Monks. That small charge bonus can be a huge help for when your ashigaru are fending off units and you charge your warrior monks in. The extra shock effect added to the Warcry will make just about any non-hero unit route. It is also crucial to note that Warcry adds moral to your own nearby units, so using them like this also helps you keep your ashigaru around for more combat.

On the flip side, Naginata Samurai are pretty much the tankiest thing you're going to field, aside from Date Bulletproof Samurai (DLC only). And they can be effectively paired with Naginata Warrior Monks by replacing the ashigaru from my earlier paragraph with Naginata Samurai. This combo is EXTREMELY deadly against melee cavalry, and still very useful against basically anything in melee combat, with the exception of Katana Samurai

I would also like to counter the other persons statement of "Naginata Samurai are much better against cavalry." I would not say that either of the two is outright better. Sure if your monks take a cavalry charge they're all dead. However, if you flank the cavalry and lock them into melee combat, there is not a single non-hero unit more effective at killing them than the Naginata Warrior Monk. Thats not to say that Naginata Samurai are worse at anti-cavalry either. Naginata Samurai are for soaking up that charge and counter attacking. Naginata Warrior Monks are good for avoiding the charge then slaughtering.

Also, there are few melee units better at mounting the defense of a wall than the Naginata Warrior Monk. When mounting the wall they are fairly protected from arrows, as well as any kind of charge attack. Really the only thing they have to worry about (aside from your usual artillery or archer skirmishes) is their nemesis the Katana Samurai. They can also use their Warcry extremely effectively in castles that have 2 or more walls, because the opponant will have their men more densely packed between the two walls if they manage to get through the first. This allows Warcry to instantly change the tide of the battle and send your enemy packing.

All of this is assuming you're on the defensive however. It can be pretty hard to use these strategies on the offensive. Best of luck though, I hope I was able to help clarify the role of each of the two. Naginata units are my favorites, and I use them very extensively. If you have any other questions about any Naginata unit in the game, feel free to ask away.