Archery Range (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the building in Age of Empires II. For the building in other games of the series, see Archery Range.

Archery Range
Building information
Introduced in	The Age of Kings
Type	Military
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Feudal Age
Use	Trains and improves archers
Construction
Requires	Barracks
Wood	175
Construction time	50 seconds
Statistics
Size	3×3 tiles
Hit points	1,500 1,800 2,100
Garrison	10
Melee armor	1 2 3
Pierce armor	8 9 10
Armor classes	Building Standard building
Line of Sight	6

“	Used to create and improve archers.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Archery Range is a military building in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Feudal Age is reached and a Barracks is built. It trains and improves archers.

Tactics and placement

The Archery Range is an essential building if the player has an archer-based civilization or if the player needs to have decent counter to enemy archers as the Skirmisher is trained there. If a player is intending to perform a turtling strategy that requires the use of ranged units they should build several Archery Ranges within fortifications, as they can produce the required basic types of archers, also considering that archers garrisoned in towers and Castles allow them to fire more arrows.

Like the Barracks, placing the Archery Ranges near to an enemy settlement helps to cut off walking distances for the troops as they can be created near the opponent allowing them to attack more effectively, also considering that foot archers have slow movement speed.

Trainable units and technologies

Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.

Blue: Units

Green: Technologies

Purple: Unique units

	→		→		→
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Availability grid

The following table shows the availability of the units and technologies for every civilization. Unique units and units that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table. An 'X' in the last column indicates that all units and technologies are available.

= Available

= Unavailable

Civilization									All
Aztecs
Berbers
Bohemians
Britons
Bulgarians
Burgundians
Burmese
Byzantines
Celts
Chinese
Cumans
Ethiopians
Franks
Goths
Huns
Incas
Indians
Italians
Japanese									X
Khmer
Koreans
Lithuanians
Magyars
Malay
Malians
Mayans
Mongols
Persians
Poles
Portuguese
Saracens									X
Sicilians
Slavs
Spanish
Tatars
Teutons
Turks
Vietnamese
Vikings
Civilization									All

Further statistics

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Upgrades
Hit points	Masonry (+10%)  Architecture (+10%)
Armor	Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor)  Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+4)  Town Patrol (+4)
Conversion defense	Faith  Heresy
Construction speed	Treadmill Crane (+20%)
Work Rate	Conscription (+33%)  Steppe Husbandry (Cavalry Archers created 100% faster, Cumans only)
Other	Kamandaran (Archer line only costs wood, Persians only)

Civilization bonuses

• Aztecs: Archery Range units are created 11% faster.
• Byzantines: Archery Ranges have +20%/+30%/+40% HP in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Town Watch and Town Patrol are free. Skirmishers are 25% cheaper.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Archery Ranges and Archery Range technologies are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Cumans: Archery Ranges cost -75 wood.
• Italians: Hand Cannoneers are 20% cheaper.
• Khmer: Archery Ranges do not require a Barracks.
• Koreans: Archery Range units cost -20% wood.
• Malians: Archery Ranges are 15% cheaper.
• Mayans: The Archer line is 10%/20%/30% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Portuguese: All Archery Range units cost -20% gold.
• Spanish: Archery Ranges are built 30% faster.
• Tatars: Parthian Tactics and Thumb Ring are free.
• Vietnamese: Conscription is free.

Team bonuses

• A team containing Berbers: Genitours/Elite Genitours are available at the Archery Range in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• A team containing Britons: Archery Ranges work 20% faster.
• A team containing Malians: Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane is 80% faster.
• A team containing Slavs: Archery Ranges provide +5 population.
• A team containing Vietnamese: Imperial Skirmishers are available at the Archery Range in the Imperial Age.

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Cavalry Archers cost 40 wood, 70 gold.
• Hand Cannon is available for research in the Imperial Age.
• The Elite Skirmisher upgrade costs 250 wood, 160 gold.

The Conquerors

• Hand Cannon was removed from the game.
• Thumb Ring introduced.
• Parthian Tactics introduced.
• Heresy introduced.
• Huns: Cavalry Archers are 25%/30% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.

The Forgotten

• Cavalry Archers cost 40 wood, 65 gold.
• Huns: Cavalry Archers are 15%/25% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Incas: Slinger introduced.
• Italians: Hand Cannoneers are 15% cheaper.

The African Kingdoms

• Cavalry Archers cost 40 wood, 60 gold.
• Genitour introduced.
• With patch 4.8, the Elite Skirmisher upgrade costs 200 wood, 100 gold.
• Huns: Cavalry Archers are 10%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Italians: With patch 4.8, Hand Cannoneers are 20% cheaper.
• Portuguese: Archery Range units cost -15% gold.

Rise of the Rajas

• Imperial Skirmisher introduced.

Definitive Edition

• Arbalest renamed Arbalester.
• Elite Skirmisher upgrade costs 230 wood, 130 gold.
• Cumans: Steppe Husbandry introduced. Steppe Husbandry increases creation speed of Cavalry Archers by 400%.
• Cumans: With update 36202, Steppe Husbandry increases creation speed of Cavalry Archers by 100%.
• Koreans: Initially, Archery Range units cost -15% wood. With update 39284, Archery Range units cost -20% wood.
• Persians: Kamandaran introduced. Kamandaran reduces the cost of Archers to 50 wood and costs 200 food, 200 gold.
• Persians: With update 34699, Kamandaran reduces the cost of Archers to 60 wood.
• Persians: With update 35584, Kamandaran costs 400 food, 300 gold.
• Portuguese: With update 39284, Archery Range units cost -20% gold.
• Portuguese: With update 42848, all technologies are researched 30% faster.
• Tatars: With update 36202, Thumb Ring is free.

Dawn of the Dukes

• Cumans: With update 51737, Archery Ranges cost -100 wood.

History

“

Missile weapons like the bow carried over the Middle Ages from ancient times in most areas of the world. Northern Europe was an exception for many centuries because the dense forests of the region nullified the range advantage of bows. Throwing weapons like axes, javelins, and knives were more popular there. As the forests were cleared, use of the bow spread. Training with missile weapons took place at the archery range. The training of bowmen was especially favored in England, where every town had an archery range and competitions were held each week to encourage practice. From its large pool of archers, England could easily recruit several thousand expert longbowmen for armies going to France. As crossbows and early firearms came into use, men were trained to operate these weapons at a modified archery range.

”

Gallery

All Feudal Age Archery Ranges in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Feudal Age Archery Ranges introduced in the HD expansions

All Castle Age Archery Ranges in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Castle Age Archery Ranges introduced in the HD expansions

All original game Feudal Age Archery Ranges in the Definitive Edition

All expansion Feudal Age Archery Ranges in the Definitive Edition

All original game Castle Age Archery Ranges in the Definitive Edition

All expansion Castle Age Archery Ranges in the Definitive Edition

Spritesheet for the Archery Range