The creation speed aspect only renders jags/zerks bad against karambits if there is almost unlimited resources, and it’s mid/late imp. In that case you’ll probably already be pop capped anyway, in which case zerks/jags win because they kill karambits even when outnumbered 2 to 1. And that’s not to mention that in most pro games, both players are on the verge of resources, and since karambits now cost more, zerks/jags should be extremely efficient. IDK I could be proven wrong but I can’t believe that jags, the counter to infantry, would not counter karambits, even after 2 nerfs!
Also I don’t think Battle Elephants are not too strong in castle age. No one complained about that, they complained about the imp flood. They’re way too weak to Monks to be very viable in castle age, since they’re in low numbers, and if you mass elephants you’ll never get to imperial age anyway. And in team games, the Monk weakness still applies and you also suffer from the lack of mobility a lot, Knights are way better.
There’s no doubt Elite Battle Elephant spam in imp is incredibly strong, but if you make castle age ones worse, they will become useless and the Khmer will become even worse.
So they're the same cost as champions but still create fast. And idk but in all games I've seen from top streams elite Karambits decimated Aztec elite jags. Just from swarming. When one horde of Karambits die, the next wave swoop in. Also samurai do far less overkill with a faster reload time when going from one target to next considering both 2 hit Karambits. But if you already amassed EJags and EBerserks in prep for Karambits then I agree Karambits don't flat out win. At least a +2s on creation time would be a good starting point.
You don't even need to go full elephants. Mix in like 6 or so with your knight army as Khmer and you make 20 kts and 20 xbow gb like flu above stated.
Even in 1v1 if your opponent makes 1 mistake you make like 4-6 battle eles in castle age and screw them over.
Elite battle elephant is strong yes. DM players really love Khmer for that very reason.