a doctrinal unit better rape all at close range
Doctrinal units shouldn't be simply better because they are doctrinal, but they should give you additional flexibility/options to further supplement your core army. That means they should be good for specific situations or strategies, but they shouldn't be superior to core units overall. Otherwise everyone will only use doctrinal units.
We have that issue already in several areas, especially tanks because they let you avoid teching.
I say that regardless of this specific unit, I haven't seen this unit a lot yet myself after the patch and cannot speak about how balanced it is, I just wanted to reply to this argument.