| “ | Most powerful siege cannon. Excellent against buildings or any stubborn targets. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Cannon is a gunpowder siege engine which is unique to the French and Jeanne d'Arc in Age of Empires IV. There are two variants - the normal one produced from the Siege Workshop and the Royal Cannon produced from the College of Artillery. The Royal Cannon does 30% more damage, including bonus damage. A standard Cannon can also be summoned by Jeanne d'Arc through her Summon Companions ability if the level 4 Gunpowder Monarch is chosen (1 at a time), without age restriction.
The Byzantines can also access the Mercenary Royal Cannon through the Foreign Engineering Company.
Ability[]
Artillery Shot (requires College of Artillery, Active): Loads the Cannon for an Artillery Shot. The next shot deals +30% damage, has +5 tiles range, and can target and shoot into fog of war while revealing the location for 3 seconds. However, it can only target buildings. The ability has a 200 second cooldown after the shot is fired (not after the ability is used).
Note: Currently, Artillery Shot deals 899 damage against buildings. If compared with the Royal Cannon's regular attack, this corresponds to only a ~25% increase in damage.
Unit comparison[]
 Bombard
|
 Culverin
|
 Cannon
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 350 wood, 500 gold | 325 wood, 550 gold | 300 wood, 600 gold |
| Training time | 45 s | 45 s | 45 s |
| Hit points | 210 | 200 | 190 |
| Attack | 50 | 35 | 55 |
| Bonus vs Buildings | 375 | 215 | 450 |
| Bonus vs Infantry | 50 | 50 | 55 |
| Bonus vs Elephants | 50 | 35 | 55 |
| Range | 10 | 10.5 | 10 |
| Rate of Fire | 5.375 seconds | 3.625 seconds | 5.375 |
| Speed | 0.75 tiles/second | 0.62 tiles/second | 0.88 tiles/second |
| Other | Needs to setup to attack | Artillery Shot ability |
Tactics[]
The Cannon and Royal Cannon can simply be thought of as a harder-hitting, more fragile Bombard; as such, the tactics described on that page all hold true for it as well. Its ability to fire and move without packing and unpacking make it somewhat more capable 'hit-and-runs' vs enemy siege, but its slow speed still limits its potential in this regards. Because of its lower hit points and higher cost, it is all the more important to protect it with other units. The Artillery Shot gives the Royal Cannon a significant advantage over the Bombard against landmarks such as the Berkshire Palace, which normally outrange both units.
With the College of Artillery, Royal Cannons must also compete with Royal Culverins for the same role. In this regard, the Royal Cannon deals significantly more DPS than a Culverin against buildings while also being faster. However, it has less range and health and costs slightly more. It also does deal less DPS than a Culverin against infantry. If trying to destroy buildings, the Royal Cannon is almost always the better choice, but the Culverin may be more advantageous against large infantry armies.
Further statistics[]
Because the Cannon is normally only available to the French and Jeanne d'Arc, only technologies and abilities available to them are listed here:
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Siege Works (+20%)
|
| Attack |  Chemistry (+25% bonus damage)
|
 Movement speed
|
 Greased Axles (+15%)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
 Attack speed
|
 Valorous Inspiration (+35% for 20 seconds,  Jeanne d'Arc)
|
| Resource cost |  Consecrate (-25%, requires Ordinance Company, Jeanne d'Arc)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Attack | (+30% from  College of Artillery)
|
| Creation speed | (+50% from College of Artillery)
|
Mercenary Royal Cannon[]
The Byzantine Mercenary Royal Cannon is identical in all aspects to the French Royal Cannon except that it costs 900 olive oil. It has the Artillery Shot ability unlocked by default, and it can also benefit from the following Byzantine civ bonuses and abilities:
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Movement speed
|
 Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship)
|
| Creation speed |   Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level)
|
Dialogue lines[]
Cannons use the standard ranged siege engine dialogue lines
- Main article: Siege engine/French dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, Cannons dealt no bonus damage to ships. With patch 11009, they now deal their anti-building bonus damage to ships as well. With update 12.0.1974, they gain +55 against infantry as well. With patch 12.1.2454, their bonus to buildings was reduced to 450 (+585 Royal) and they gain a +55 bonus against elephants (+71.5 Royal)
- Originally, Cannons had 320 hit points, 12 ranged armor, 200 attack (240 Royal), and an attack bonus of 400 (480 Royal). With Season Two Update 17718, they have 190 hit points, 30 ranged armor, 100 attack (120 Royal), and an attack bonus of 500 (600 Royal). With patch 9.2.628, they have 35 ranged armor. With update 10.0.576 they have 40 ranged armor. With update 12.0.1974, they deal 55 base damage and their ranged armor was replaced with 85% ranged resistance.
- Originally, Cannons cost 400 wood, 600 gold. With update 6.0.878, they cost 300 wood, 600 gold
- Originally, Royal Cannons dealt 20% more damage than normal Cannons. With update 6.0.878, they deal 30% more damage, and the Royal Institute grants all Cannons the Artillery Shot ability.
- Originally, the Artillery Shot attack dealt 55 base damage (72 for Royal Cannon) with a 1 x 0.75 tile Area of Effect and damage scaling of 66% and 33% across the area. It had no bonus damage vs buildings and had a 210 second cooldown. With update 11.0.782, it was changed to its current iteration.
- With patch 11.1.1201, the Cannon no longer needs to pack and unpack.
Trivia[]
- In the campaign, the Rus have access to the Cannon instead of the Bombard too.
Gallery[]
