Contarius

The contarius is a Heroic Age Atlantean cavalry unit.

Basic Info
The Contarius is the mainline Atlantean heavy close combat cavalry unit. It is hard-hitting, relatively fast and expensive. It is effective against archers like the Toxotes and siege weapons like the Portable Ram. It is weak against infantry like the Murmillo and Counter Cavalry like the Spearman. Without the Hero upgrade, it is also vulnerable to myth units.

Tactics
The Contarius is a fast unit which can often be quickly deployed behind enemy lines to quickly eliminate archers and siege weapons in hit and run attacks, and be back inside the base before the enemy has time to respond with infantry, etc. Unfortunately its high population value (3) and relative expense and lack of versatility means it can only be deployed in small numbers, as a support unit. (The hit-and-run tactic works exceptionally well on maps like Aflheim and Valley of the Kings). Of course if you wanted to make an entire army out of contarius, you could, but that would be a bit silly. You need support units with contarius, if nothing else.

Contarius Hero Upgrade
Upgrading your Contarius to a Hero can be very helpful. It increases his resistance to his weaknesses Infanty and Counter Cavalry, increases his effectiveness against Archers and Siege Weapons and now he's great against myth units aswell. The only real drawback would be that now he takes 4 population slots. It's a good idea to upgrade a Contarius to a Hero so you can get the odd Relic.