Age of Empires Series Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Info icon
This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For similar units in other games of the series, see Ram (disambiguation).

Slow, lumbering siege weapon used to reduce enemy towns to ruins.
Age of Empires II description

The Battering Ram is a non-ranged siege unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Siege Workshop. It has a huge attack bonus against buildings and is nearly impervious to arrow fire. It also is effective against Trebuchets, but vulnerable to melee damage. A Battering Ram can garrison up to four foot units (infantry, archers, or Villagers). Garrisoned infantry units improve the speed and attack against buildings.

Tactics

Rams do not have any melee armor (in fact they have -3 melee armor, displayed in The Conquerors but not anymore since The Forgotten), so any unit with a melee attack can destroy a Battering Ram rather quickly. The best ways to destroy them are with Mangonels, Mangudai, cavalry, or infantry. However, due to their high pierce armor and HP, they can withstand most ranged attacks easily. In fact, it's sometimes useful to add a few Battering Rams to an army for the sole purpose of soaking up enemy archer fire to protect the main force.

Battering Rams can cause enormous damage if left ignored. Although they can attack units, the damage they do is negligible. However, they can be used against Trebuchets and other siege units to good effect. The Battering Ram is good against towers, Castles, and buildings in general. In The Age of Kings, it is not recommended to use Battering Rams against Bombard Towers, because they deal melee damage. However, that was changed in patch 1.0b of The Conquerors, and Bombard Towers now deal pierce damage, meaning they do almost no damage to Rams.

Since The Conquerors, infantry and foot archers can load themselves into Battering Rams, with infantry also increasing their speed (+0.05 per unit) and damage against buildings (+10 per unit), and giving enemies a nasty surprise should they attempt to destroy it. The presence of units garrisoned inside a ram is denoted by a flag on top of the ram (similar to Transport Ships). A Battering Ram may load up to four units. The relationship shared between foot troops and rams is mutually beneficial. The foot soldiers add speed and the ram gives the garrisoned soldiers protection. If the ram is destroyed, the garrisoned units will immediately disembark with no injury. Battering Rams can knock holes in walls and then disgorge infantry directly into the enemy base.

Since The Forgotten, Villagers can also load themselves into Battering Rams enabling them to perform a distraction through deception by loading single Villagers in rams making them effective dummies that can drive enemy forces away from the player's intended target, and enabling to perform offensive maneuvers. This new ability also enables the Villagers to become better frontal support builders as they can travel inside rams along with infantry and foot archers, and once they reach the intended place they can start to build frontal military structures.

Like with buildings, if a ram is converted, units inside the ram will not be converted. They will just be forced to leave the converted ram.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs. Buildings, Trebuchets
Weak vs. Mangudai, Mangonels, melee units especially Magyar Huszars
Upgrades
Hit points UniqueTechImperialDE Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
Attack SiegeEngineersDE Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings)
Armor UniqueTechCastle-DE Ironclad (+4/+0, Teutons only)
Speed UniqueTechImperialDE Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
Conversion defense FaithDE Faith
HeresyDE Heresy
Upgrades File:Capped-ram-research.jpg Capped Ram

Civilization bonuses

  • Aztecs: Battering Rams are created 18% faster.
  • Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
  • Celts: Battering Rams attack 25% faster. Battering Rams can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
  • Cumans: Battering Rams are available in the Feudal Age; Capped Ram upgrade available in the Castle Age.
  • Chinese: Technologies that benefit Battering Rams are 20% cheaper.
  • Portuguese: Battering Rams cost 20% less gold.
  • Slavs: Battering Rams are 15% cheaper.
  • Tatars: Battering Rams deal 50% bonus damage from elevations.

Team bonuses

Changelog

The Age of Kings

The Conquerors

The Forgotten

Trivia

  • With the Mongol unique technology Drill, rams loaded with infantry may move faster than cavalry. Such speed and damage will allow Mongol players to quickly devastate a defensive fortification far more swiftly than conventional Trebuchet or Bombard Cannon tactics.
  • With 2, Battering Rams have the weakest melee attack in the game.
  • With -3, the rams have the lowest melee armor of all units.

History

The most direct way to attack a stone wall or other stone fortification was to knock it down with a battering ram. The typical ram was a stout log mounted on wheels or suspended from a frame so it could swing forward and backward. The frame was brought up to the wall or gate to be battered and then men heaving in unison repeatedly slammed the ram head into the target. The battering ram frame required a roof of some sort to protect the crew from above. This was often covered with wet animal hides to retard fire. Given enough time, any obstruction could be knocked down, opening a breach for assault.

Gallery

Units in Age of Empires II
CivilianMaleVillDE Villager · Tradecart aoe2DE Trade Cart · FishingShipDE Fishing Ship · Trade cog aoe2DE Trade Cog · King eu aoe2DE King
ReligiousMonk aoe2DE Monk
InfantryMilitiaDE Militia · Manatarms aoe2DE Man-at-Arms · Longswordsman aoe2DE Long Swordsman · Twohanded aoe2DE Two-Handed Swordsman · Champion aoe2DE Champion
Spearman aoe2DE Spearman · Aoe2-infantry-2-pikeman Pikeman · Halberdier aoe2DE Halberdier
Eaglescout aoe2DE Eagle Scout · Eaglewarrior aoe2DE Eagle Warrior · EliteEaglewarrior aoe2DE Elite Eagle Warrior
ArcherArcher aoe2DE Archer · Crossbowman aoe2DE Crossbowman · Arbalester aoe2DE Arbalester
Skirmisher aoe2DE Skirmisher · Elite skirmisher aoe2DE Elite Skirmisher
Hand cannoneer aoe2DE Hand Cannoneer
Cavalryarcher aoe2DE Cavalry Archer · Heavycavalryarcher aoe2de Heavy Cavalry Archer
Aoe2de DOI elephant archer icon Elephant Archer · ElephantArcherIcon-DE Elite Elephant Archer
CavalryScoutcavalry aoe2DE Scout Cavalry · Lightcavalry aoe2DE Light Cavalry · Hussar aoe2DE Hussar
Knight aoe2DE Knight · Cavalier aoe2DE Cavalier · Paladin aoe2DE Paladin
Camelrider aoe2DE Camel Rider · Aoe2 heavycamelriderDE Heavy Camel Rider
Battle elephant aoe2DE Battle Elephant · Elite battle elephant aoe2DE Elite Battle Elephant
Steppelancericon Steppe Lancer · Elitesteppelancericon Elite Steppe Lancer
Xolotlicon Xolotl Warrior
AoE2DE Armored Elephant icon Armored Elephant · AoE2DE Siege Elephant icon Siege Elephant
SiegeBattering ram aoe2DE Battering Ram · Capped ram aoe2DE Capped Ram · Siege ram aoe2DE Siege Ram
Mangonel aoe2DE Mangonel · Onager aoe2DE Onager · Siege onager aoe2DE Siege Onager
Scorpion aoe2DE Scorpion · Heavyscorpion aoe2DE Heavy Scorpion
Bombard cannon aoe2DE Bombard Cannon
Trebuchet aoe2DE Trebuchet
Petard aoe2DE Petard
Siegetower aoe2DE Siege Tower
War shipTransportship aoe2DE Transport Ship
Galley aoe2DE Galley · War galley aoe2DE War Galley · Galleon aoe2DE Galleon
Fire galley aoe2DE Fire Galley · Fireship aoe2DE Fire Ship · Fastfireship aoe2DE Fast Fire Ship
Demoraft aoe2DE Demolition Raft · Demoship aoe2DE Demolition Ship · Heavydemoship aoe2de Heavy Demolition Ship
Cannon galleon aoe2DE Cannon Galleon · Elite cannon galleon aoe2de Elite Cannon Galleon
AoE2 Dromon Dromon
Unique
ReligiousMissionaryIcon-DE Missionary · AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest
InfantryBerserkIcon-DE Berserk · Aoe2de Chakram Chakram Thrower · CondottieroIcon-DE Condottiero · Aoe2-icon-flemish-militia Flemish Militia · GbetoIcon-DE Gbeto · Aoe2de Ghulam Ghulam · HuskarlIcon-DE Huskarl · JaguarWarriorIcon-DE Jaguar Warrior · KamayukIcon-DE Kamayuk · Karambitwarrioricon-DE Karambit Warrior · AoE2 DE Legionary new icon Legionary · Aoe2-icon--obuch Obuch · SamuraiIcon-DE Samurai · Aoe2-icon-serjeant Serjeant · Shotelwarrioricon-DE Shotel Warrior · TeutonicKnightIcon-DE Teutonic Knight · ThrowingAxemanIcon-DE Throwing Axeman · Aoe2de Urumi Urumi Swordsman · AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest · WoadRaiderIcon-DE Woad Raider
ArcherArambaiicon-DE Arambai · CamelArcherIcon-DE Camel Archer · ChukoNuIcon-DE Chu Ko Nu · AoE2 CompositeBowman Composite Bowman · ConquistadorIcon-DE Conquistador · GenitourIcon-DE Genitour · GenoeseCrossbowmanIcon-DE Genoese Crossbowman · Imperialskirmishericon-DE Imperial Skirmisher · JanissaryIcon-DE Janissary · Kipchakicon Kipchak · LongbowmanIcon-DE Longbowman · MangudaiIcon-DE Mangudai · PlumedArcherIcon-DE Plumed Archer · Aoe2de ratha ranged Ranged Ratha · Rattanarchericon-DE Rattan Archer · SlingerIcon-DE Slinger · WarWagonIcon-DE War Wagon
CavalryBallistaelephanticon-DE Ballista Elephant · BoyarIcon-DE Boyar · Aoe2de camel scout Camel Scout · CataphractIcon-DE Cataphract · Aoe2de roman unique centurion icon Centurion · Aoe2-icon-coustillier Coustillier · Flaming camel icon Flaming Camel · ImperialCamelRiderIcon-DE Imperial Camel Rider · Keshikicon Keshik · Konnikicon Konnik · Leitisicon Leitis · MagyarHuszarIcon-DE Magyar Huszar · MamelukeIcon-DE Mameluke · AoE2 Monaspa Monaspa · Aoe2de ratha melee Melee Ratha · AoE2 Savar Savar · Aoe2de shrivamsha rider Shrivamsha Rider · TarkanIcon-DE Tarkan · WarElephantIcon-DE War Elephant · Aoe2-icon-winged-hussar Winged Hussar
SiegeAoe2-icon--houfnice Houfnice · Aoe2-icon-hussite-wagon Hussite Wagon · OrganGunIcon-DE Organ Gun
War shipCaravelIcon-DE Caravel · LongboatIcon-DE Longboat · Aoe2de Thirisadai Thirisadai · TurtleShipIcon-DE Turtle Ship
Advertisement