Mameluke

The Mameluke is a cavalry unit featured in Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III

Age of Empires II
The Mameluke, and its upgraded version the Elite Mameluke, is a unique unit for the Saracens. It is a cavalry that excels against other cavalry. Similarly to the Throwing Axeman, the Mameluke is technically considered a melee unit, but it throws its scimitar for a range of 3. Due to their high speed (which makes them strong against foot-soldiers) and their natural strength against cavalry, Mamelukes are considered some of the best units in the game. This is offset by their high cost.

It benefits from upgrades such as Forging, Iron Casting, Blast Furnace, Scale Barding Armor, Chain Barding Armor, Plate Barding Armor for armor and attack, Husbandry increases speed and Bloodlines and Zealotry hitpoints and can be upgraded into Elite Mameluke.

A well controlled group of these can take down any units, except by higher number of ranged foot soldiers. The Mameluke is a well rounded unit suited for most combat situations.

Age of Empires III
In Age of Empires III, the Mameluke unit has switched from the use of camel to a white horse. It is a heavy mercenary unit that can be randomly trained from Saloon or sent from the Home City; most European civilizations may acquire Mameluke.

The Mameluke boasts some of the highest hitpoints for a cavalry unit (around 1450 by the Imperial Age). This is far greater than even the two other hand cavalry mercenaries (namely, Stradiots and Hackapells), though their attack is lower than both (around that of a Hussar). Naturally, this excessive durability allows them to best even anti-cavalry units, such as Rodeleros and Pikemen.