Archer unit (Chronicles)

This article is about the archer units in Chronicles. For other uses, see archer.

Archers in Chronicles are one of the general types of military units, the others being infantry, cavalry, siege weapons, and ships.

Archers deal pierce damage at a significant range, and have low hit points. They are meant to be backline troops or raiding troops, but never frontline troops.

Classifications

Mount classification

They can be either on foot or mounted on a horse, and as such are broadly classified in two types.

• Foot archer unit: Foot archers are slow, barely faster than infantry, and have the lowest hit points in the game, tied with the Priestess.
• Mounted archer unit: Mounted archers are fast and have hit points comparable to infantry. As mounted units, they also benefit from Bloodlines and Husbandry. Additionally, they also benefit from Parthian Tactics, a technology affecting only mounted archers.

Weapon classification

Archers can be classified by the type of weapons they use. This is analogous to how Age of Empires II views some units as 'gunpowder units'.

• True archer units or bowmen: These are the units which use bow and arrows, or archers in the literal sense.
• Javelineers: These are the units which attack using javelins.
• Crossbowmen: These are the units which use a crossbow or a variation.

List of archer units

Unique units are marked with a yellow background.

Unit	Building	Age	Civilizations	Trait
Bowman	Archery Range		All	Foot	Bowman
Laminated Bowman			All
Recurve Bowman			Athenians Puru
Skirmisher			All		Javelineer	Anti-archer unit
Elite Skirmisher			All
Cavalry Archer			All	Mounted	Bowman
Heavy Cavalry Archer			Achaemenids Puru
Gastraphetoros			Athenians	Foot	Crossbowman
Immortal (Ranged)	Fort		Achaemenids		Bowman	Can switch to melee mode and back
Elite Immortal (Ranged)
Pattiyodha Longbowman			Puru		Bowman	Gains attack when near enemy units
Elite Pattiyodha Longbowman

Scenario Editor

The following infantry units are available in the Scenario Editor but not in standard matches:

Unit	Trait
Bactrian Archer	Anti-cavalry
Cretan Archer	Longer range
Mercenary Peltast	Anti-archer
Rhodian Slinger	Anti-infantry
Tarantine Cavalry	Mounted anti-archer and anti-infantry
Scythian Horse Archer	Longer range Generates gold when killing enemy units
Elite Scythian Horse Archer

Technologies

Listed below are all technologies that benefit archers with effects mentioning only archers. Unique technologies marked with a yellow background. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilization	Effect
Thumb Ring	Archery Range		All except Puru and Thracians	Archers except crossbowmen 100% accuracy True archers fire faster
Parthian Tactics			All except Athenians and Spartans	Mounted archers +1/+2 armor, +2 attack vs Spearmen
Bloodlines	Stable		All except Puru	Mounted archers +20 HP
Husbandry			All except Athenians and Thracians	Mounted archers +10% speed
Fletching	Blacksmith		All	Archers except crossbowmen +1 attack
Bodkin Arrow			All
Bracer			All except Macedonians
Padded Archer Armor			All	+1/+1 armor
Leather Archer Armor			All	+1/+1 armor
Ring Archer Armor			Athenians Puru Thracians	+1/+2 armor
Herbal Medicine	Temple		All except Spartans	6× healing when garrisoned
Hemlock			Athenians Spartans Thracians	Die instead of getting converted
Exorcism			All except Thracians	Increased conversion resistance
Conscription	Fort		All	+33% training speed
Reed Arrows			Achaemenids	Bowmen, Cavalry Archers, and ranged Immortals +25% attack speed
Leaf-Headed Shafts			Puru	+1 attack when attacking units nearby
Helot Levies			Spartans	Skirmisher line +50% training speed
Peltasts			Thracians	Skirmisher line deals 50% pass-through damage

Civilizations

The Achaemenids are described as an archer civilization. Their strongest options are the Heavy Cavalry Archer and their unique unit, the Immortal. Despite that, they lack several archer options as well as their final armor. The Athenians have all foot archer options and technologies. The Puru are considered an archer civilization and have access to most archer options and technologies, but lack Thumb Ring and the Gastraphetoros. The Thracians have several advantages for their Skirmishers in particular, including bonuses and a unique technology. However, their other archer options are rather limited.

Availability grid

	= Available
	= Unavailable

Civilization
Achaemenids
Athenians
Macedonians
Puru
Spartans
Thracians

Civilization bonuses

• Thracians: Elite Skirmisher upgrade is free. (Elite/Imperial) Skirmishers regenerate 5 (10) hit points per minute.

Trivia

• When allied with the Berbers, players get access to the Genitour, a mounted javelineer.

Gallery

All archer units trained at the Archery Range

All archer units trained at the Fort