The first tier of the unique Serbian spear line, the Ratniky consist of spearmen with a twist — they may not be stronger than normal Spearmen, but they have a penchant for taking out Dark Age unique land units. This makes them highly lethal against various factions, especially those which rely on melee units, such as Scotland or the Norse, or the cavalry-heavy Magyars and French. They also have another perk in that they are somewhat semi-mercenary, and cost 90 Wealth instead of the customary 60 Food and 40 Metal that is usually required to train them. In addition, they are created slightly faster, making them a highly dangerous unit. Like normal spearmen, however, Ratniky are still weak to archers, if they cannot catch up with them, and can also be faced down with normal spearmen.