Cavalry Archer (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For other uses, see Cavalry Archer.

Cavalry Archer
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Light ranged cavalry Ranged cavalry Archer
Civilization(s)	Ottomans Russians
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon
Cost	100 Food 60 Coin 2 Population
Train time	36 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	265
Resistance	30% Hand
Speed	7.0
Line of Sight	14
Train XP	16
Kill XP	16
Ranged attack
Damage	13 Ranged
Range	12
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0× vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25× vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0× vs. Artillery 0.5× vs. Villager
Siege attack
Damage	8 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	6.5 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	4.5× vs. Heavy cavalry 3.5× vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0× vs. Artillery

“	Ranged cavalry. Good against cavalry.	”
—In-game description

The Cavalry Archer is a mounted archer in Age of Empires III that replaces the Dragoon for the Ottomans and Russians. It can be trained at the Stable, Fort, and Galleon upon reaching the Fortress Age.

Overview

Cavalry Archers are a cheaper version of Dragoons, costing far less coin, and only slightly more food. They deal only slightly more than half the damage of a Dragoon per shot, but fire twice as fast, making their damage per second higher, despite their lower cost. They also move slower than a Dragoon and have a 0.61 second animation delay compared to the 0.43 of a Dragoon, meaning they are significantly less effective at hit-and-run tactics. They resist 30% hand damage as well as having more hit points, so they are more capable of fighting against some hand infantry and can take some of them down with them, though it is still not recommended to attack any hand infantry with them. The higher DPS and hit points, and high melee resist, also mean that they are much better at tanking hand cavalry attacks. They have multipliers against artillery, as well as heavy cavalry, and paired with their high hit points, they can easily take down artillery. Normally ranged cavalry do half damage to villagers, but the Ottomans' Akincis Home City Card allow them to gain an attack bonus against villagers instead, making them an effective unit for slowing down the enemy's economy. They can also be used to lure enemies into a trap using guerilla tactics.

Upgrades

Cavalry Archers can be obtained in the Commerce Age with the "TEAM House of Aviz" or "Landed Gentry" Home City Cards.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Veteran Cavalry Archers	Automatically	Upgrades Cavalry Archers to Veteran (+20% hit points and damage)	All
	Guard Cavalry Archers	600 wood 600 coin	Upgrades Cavalry Archers to Guard (+30% hit points and damage)
	Dvoryane	850 wood 850 coin	Upgrades Cavalry Archers to Dvoryane (Guard Cavalry Archer with +5% hit points and damage, +5% hand resistance)
Imperial Age	Imperial Cavalry Archers	1,500 wood 1,500 coin	Upgrades Cavalry Archers to Imperial (+50% hit points and damage); requires Guard Cavalry Archers
	Imperial Dvoryane		Upgrades Dvoryane to Imperial Dvoryane (+50% hit points and damage); requires Dvoryane

Civilization differences

• As seen above, the Russians can upgrade Cavalry Archers to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard.

Wallachian Horse Archer

Wallachian Horse Archer
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
Type	Cavalry Light ranged cavalry Ranged cavalry Archer
Civilization(s)	Romania
Age	Revolution
Required Home City Card	"Wallachian Horse Archers"
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon Outpost (if revolting from the Ottomans) Blockhouse (if revolting from the Russians)
Cost	100 Food 60 Coin 2 Population
Train time	36 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	198
Resistance	30% Hand
Speed	7.7
Line of Sight	14
Train XP	16
Kill XP	16
Ranged attack
Damage	13 Ranged
Range	12
Rate of Fire	1.0
Bonus damage	3.0× vs. Heavy cavalry 2.25× vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0× vs. Artillery 0.5× vs. Villager
Siege attack
Damage	8 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	2.0
Hand attack
Damage	6.5 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.0
Bonus damage	4.5× vs. Heavy cavalry 3.5× vs. Hand shock infantry 2.0× vs. Artillery

The Wallachian Horse Archer is a variant of the Cavalry Archer unique to Romania, which fires 33% faster and have 10% more speed, but has 25% less hit points.

Wallachian Horse Archers can be obtained by sending the namesake Home City Card after revolting to Romania, where a Wallachian Horse spawns on every Outpost or Blockhouse that had been built by the player and all existing Cavalry Archers will be upgraded to Wallachian Horse Archers.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light infantry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Seminole Bowyer (+15%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0 multiplier vs. villagers) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire)
Resistance	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) Sarmatism (+1)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2) Sarmatism (+1)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40%) Mass Cavalry (-35%) Quechuan Diet (-15%) Immigrants (-10%) Shaman Drums (-10%)
Other	Petrine Reforms (grants Dvoryane upgrade; Russians only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Cavalry Archer

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Europeans

Card	Description	Age
5 Cavalry Archers	Delivers 5 Cavalry Archers
8 Cavalry Archers	Delivers 8 Cavalry Archers
9 Cavalry Archers	Delivers 9 Cavalry Archers
Cavalry Combat	Cavalry hit points and damage +15%
Riding School	Cavalry train time -40%; Cuirassier, Oprichnik, and Hakkapelit train time -35% instead; Gatling Camel train time -20% instead
Wallachian Horse Archers	Each Outpost/Blockhouse spawns 1 Wallachian Horse Archer (Cavalry Archer with -25% hit points, -33% Rate of Fire, and +10% speed); enables Wallachian Horse Archers to be trained at Outposts/Blockhouses, +1 Outpost Wagon; Outpost/Blockhouse build limit +1
8 Cavalry Archers	Delivers 8 Cavalry Archers, +1 Outpost Wagon; Outpost/Blockhouse build limit +1

• Since the Cavalry Archer is only available to the Ottomans and Russians, all of the cards shown above are only relevant to them.
• "Wallachian Horse Archers" and "8 Cavalry Archers" are available upon revolting to Romania.

Germans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Germans-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Italians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Italians-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the German "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%

Lakota

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mustangs	Cavalry and shock infantry cost -10%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age
Akincis	Light ranged cavalry bonus damage against villagers +100%; Cavalry Archer train time -15%
Flight Archery	Azap and Cavalry Archer damage +15%, and reduces they attack delay by replacing ranged attack to volley and stagger modes; Azap ranged attack Rate of Fire -0.25

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM House of Aviz	Enables Dragoon, Ruyter, Cavalry Archer, Rifle Rider, Musket Rider, Yabusame, and Carbine Cavalry to be trained from the Commerce Age; Zamburak, Eagle Runner Knight, Bolas Warrior, Black Rider, and Ming Army train time -15%; Mongolian Army train time -7%

Russians

Card	Description	Age
Boyars	Cossack, Oprichnik, and Cavalry Archer hit points and damage +10%
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions	Cavalry and shock infantry hit points +10%, Line of Sight +4
Landed Gentry	Enables Cavalry Archers to be trained from the Commerce Age and changes their 60 coin cost to 55 wood
7 Cavalry Archers	Delivers 7 Cavalry Archers
Sovnya	Strelet and Poruchik hand attack damage +4; Cavalry Archer hand attack damage +5, Area of Effect +1
Armfelt's Autonomy	Blockhouse build limit +4; enables Imperial upgrades for Caroleans, Hakkapelits, Rekruts, and Cavalry Archers (as well as Counter Dragoons and Counter Jaegers, after sending "Grand Duchy of Finland" Home City Card); Imperial Caroleans, Drabants, Rekruts, Counter Dragoons, and Counter Jaegers cost -50%; costs 500 coin
Finnhorses	Hussar, Hakkapelit, Cossack, Oprichnik, Cavalry Archer, and Counter Dragoon hit points +20%

• "Armfelt's Autonomy" and "Finnhorses" are available upon revolting to Finland.

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Europeans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
5 Cavalry Archers	Ships 5 Cavalry Archers		1
8 Cavalry Archers	Ships 8 Cavalry Archers		1
9 Cavalry Archers	Ships 9 Cavalry Archers		10
Cavalry Combat	Cavalry get +15% hit points and damage		10
Riding School	Cavalry train time -40%		10

• Since the Cavalry Archer is only available to Ottomans and Russians, all of the cards shown above are only relevant to them.

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Attack	heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack		10

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and damage		25

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

Ottomans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Irregulars	Light cavalry get +100% multiplier against villagers		25

Portuguese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Early Dragoons	Dragoons, Ruyters, Cavalry Archers, Rifle Riders, Musket Riders, and Yabusame can be trained in the Commerce Age; Zamburak train time -15%; Ming Army and Mongolian Army train time -7%		1

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Scouts	Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight		1
7 Cavalry Archers	Ships 7 Cavalry Archers		10

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Cavalry Archers have 6.75 speed.

The WarChiefs

• Cavalry Archers have a ×1.75 ranged multiplier against hand shock infantry.

Definitive Edition

• Cavalry Archers have a ×2.25 ranged multiplier against hand shock infantry.

The African Royals

• With update 43871, the Cavalry Archer portrait has been updated to align with his in-game appearance.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 13.27885, Cavalry Archers have 7.0 speed.
• With update 14.43676, the Dvoryane upgrade received a new model. The "Landed Gentry" Home City Cards grants a new model for Russian Cavalry Archers.

Trivia

• Cavalry Archers originally cost less population than Dragoons. This can be seen in this unit's History menu section.
• Russian Royal Guard Cavalry Archers are named after the Dvoryanin.
  • Before update 14.43676, they are named after the Tatars who are renowned for their fierce horse archers.
  • Before the Definitive Edition, they are named after the European exonym Tartar.
  • The Loyalist part of their upgrade's name refers to the so-called serving Tatars, a class of ethnically Tatar state servants in Muscovy and Russia in the 14th-18th centuries.
• There is an editor-only Consulate Dvoryanin unit with the same stats as the Cavalry Archer.

History

“

Nomadic cavalry archers roamed with their herds in eastern and southern Russia. They raided, traveled, and conquered into what would become Russia and eastern Europe. The Europeans called these fierce cavalrymen the Tartars, though the Tartars were only one of a conglomeration of many distinct nomadic tribes and people. Their colorful tents earned them a more poetic name, the "Golden Horde." The Golden Horde, united under Tokhtamysh, sacked Moscow, but was soon wracked by a civil war that splintered the Horde into several Khanates. The new Russian nation of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, allied with some of the splinter groups, while the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II allied with others. Cavalry Archers wore light clothes - baggy pants, vests, long coats, and furred hats. Blue and red were popular colors, and embroidery a popular decoration to garments. Soldiers carried a variety of arms, primarily bows, but also swords, spears, and later, firearms. Though the Tartars are most commonly thought of as cavalry, they were competent infantry as well.

”

Gallery

An in-game (Veteran) Cavalry Archer

An in-game (Veteran) Cavalry Archer

An in-game Guard/Imperial Cavalry Archer

The Cavalry Archer's history portrait

Muscovite Cavalry Archers by Baron Sigmund von Herbertstein

In-game (Veteran) Cavalry Archer in the Definitive Edition

In-game Guard/Imperial Cavalry Archer in the Definitive Edition. The model was previously used for the unupgraded Cavalry Archer before update 13.27885

In-game Wallachian Horse Archer

In-game (Imperial) Dvoryanin since update 14.43676

In-game Russian Cavalry Archer after sending the "Landed Gentry" Home City Card since update 14.43676

In-game Russian Cavalry Archer in melee mode after sending the "Sovnya" Home City Card since update 14.43676

Cavalry Archer image from the Compendium section

Another view of the in-game Dvoryanin since update 14.43676

See also

• Bow Rider – Lakota counterpart
• Keshik – Chinese counterpart
• Yabusame – Japanese counterpart