The Aenna is a ranged infantry unit that is cheap and quick to produce and is best fielded against slow, non-ranged units, so that they have time to fire a deadly barrage of arrows before they are forced to flee or fight hand to hand. The Aenna is special in that it is faster than most ranged infantry units, and it costs only food, making it easy to micromanage for a player's economy to produce. The Aenna is vulnerable to hand cavalry, so it is stronger when mixed with Tomahawks.
A large number of infantry upgrades are available to the Haudenosaunee as shipments and other technologies, allowing Aenna to scale very well for an archaic unit. This is especially true on maps where Minor Native settlements feature archer upgrades, the Seminole being noteworthy.
In terms of damage output, Aennas tend to fall behind most other units in the later ages, most notably in comparison to Forest Prowlers, due to their mediocre attack animation and range. This doesn't make them a useless unit, however: even though Haudenosaunee have access to a premium, stronger Skirmisher-type unit, their affordability means they can usually be easily massed. As such, they act as the ultimate disposable unit, shining as a meat shield for stronger units, or even just a distraction. With access to more cards than Forest Prowlers, they are actually a more durable unit when fully upgraded and can effectively tank enemy fire while dealing significant support damage. Due to their unit type and ranged resistance, they will fall quickly to Melee Cavalry, but can effectively slow down and contain just about any other unit type as the more expensive Haudenosaunee units rack up damage against the enemy. Notably, they cannot upgrade their multiplier against heavy infantry to x3.0 like Forest Prowlers can, which gives Prowlers a definite edge on Aennas in terms of DPS.
Aennas can hold their own in close quarters with an uncharacteristically high hand attack for a bowman unit. They can catch and destroy unprotected artillery in sufficient numbers.
Aennas have a ×0.75 multiplier against hand shock infantry, a ×2.0 ranged multiplier against light cavalry and ranged shock infantry, and ×0.75 against cavalry.
With update 13.58326, Aennas have a ×0.75 melee multiplier against shock infantry, a ×2.5 ranged multiplier against light cavalry and ranged shock infantry, ×0.6 vs. cavalry and ×0.5 vs. shock infantry.
With update 14.3853, Aennas have a ranged Rate of Fire of 1.0 against enemies within 6 range or closer, and ranged attacks benefit from the target lock feature.
With update 14.43676, Aennas have a ×0.6 ranged multiplier against shock infantry. Minimum Rate of Fire mechanic removed.
Before the coming of the white man, the main missile weapon of the Iroquois was the bow. Even after muskets became available, bows were still widely used for hunting and warfare, because bows were inexpensive and did not depend on unreliable trade ties for gunpowder.
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Gallery[]
An in-game Aenna
An in-game Elite Aenna
An in-game Champion/Legendary Aenna
An in-game Aenna in the Definitive Edition
An in-game Elite Aenna in the Definitive Edition
An in-game Champion/Legendary Aenna in the Definitive Edition