Archer units (Age of Empires)

This article is about the archer units in Age of Empires. For archers in other games of the series, see Archers.

Archers in Age of Empires are one of the four combat forces on land, the other ones being infantry, cavalry, and siege weapons. Archers are ranged soldiers, either on foot or mounted.

General information

Apart from the Slinger (who is available at the Barracks), all archers are trained at the Archery Range.

Armor upgrades are available at the Storage Pit and range upgrades at the Market, whereas Alchemy and Ballistics are both researched at the Government Center, along with the Nobility technology, which affects (among others) ranged cavalry units.

List of archers

Archer	Building	A	HP	At	Ar	PA	R	ROF	LOS	Sp	F	W	G	S	TT
Bowman	Archery Range		35	3	0	0	5	1.4	7	1.2	40	20	0	0	30
Improved Bowman	Archery Range		40	4	0	0	6	1.4	8	1.2	40	0	20	0	30
Composite Bowman	Archery Range		45	5	0	0	7	1.4	9	1.2	40	0	20	0	30
Slinger	Barracks		25	2	0	2	4	1.5	5	1.2	40	0	0	10	24
Chariot Archer	Archery Range		70	4	0	0	7	1.5	9	2	40	70	0	0	40
Elephant Archer	Archery Range		600	6	0	0	7	1.5	8	0.9	180	0	60	0	50
Horse Archer	Archery Range		60	7	0	1	7	1.5	9	2.2	50	0	70	0	40
Heavy Horse Archer	Archery Range		90	8	0	1	7	1.5	9	2.5	50	0	70	0	40

Technologies

Listed below are technologies that benefit archers. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilizations	Effect
Woodworking	Market		All	Increases range by +1
Artisanship	Market		All	Increases range by +1
Craftsmanship	Market		12	Increases range by +1
Leather Armor Archers	Storage Pit		All	Increases armor by +2
Scale Armor Archers	Storage Pit		All	Increases armor by +2
Chain Mail Archers	Storage Pit		13	Increases armor by +2
Alchemy	Government Center		13	Increases attack by +1
Nobility	Government Center		14	Mounted archers +15% hit points
Ballistics	Government Center		15	Increases accuracy

Civilizations

• The Egyptians, Hittites, Minoans, and Yamato are the only civilizations to have available all technologies that benefit exclusively archer units, whereas the Persians are the only ones to have all available archer units.
• On the other hand, the Greeks, Minoans, and Romans lack all ranged cavalry lines.
• Civilizations with prominent archers include the Assyrians, Egyptians, Hittites, and Persians. The Minoans also boast the best foot archers, but lack all three ranged cavalry lines.

Civilization bonuses

• Assyrians : Archer units have -25% reload time.
• Egyptians: Chariot Archers have +33% hit points.
• Hittites: Archer units have +1 attack.
• Minoans: Composite Bowmen have +2 range.
• Persians: Elephant Archers move 25% faster.
• Phoenicians: Elephant Archers are 25% cheaper.
• Yamato: Horse Archers are 15% cheaper.

Trivia

• All three civilizations that lack 3 out of 4 Archery Range unit lines are located in Europe. This is partially justified, as neither Greeks nor Romans were renowned for mounted archery traditions.
• About the Minoans on the other hand, it is unknown whether they practiced archery on the first place, as most details concerning their warfare are shrouded in mystery.

Gallery

All archer units