Cavalry units (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the cavalry units in Age of Empires II. For the armor class, see Armor class: Cavalry. For cavalry units in other games of the series, see Cavalry.

Cavalry in Age of Empires II is one of the four combat forces on land, the other ones being archers, infantry, and siege weapons.

General information

As understood by the game, cavalry units are mounted melee units with high speed, attack, HP, and armor. They have no range (except Mamelukes and Steppe Lancers, but these are short) and are expensive. In direct combat, cavalry easily overpower archer, infantry, and siege units.

Other mounted units, such as Cavalry Archers, Ballista Elephants, and Missionaries, take bonus damage from anti-cavalry attacks and profit from some cavalry technologies like Bloodlines and Husbandry, but they are not counted as cavalry proper because they do not deal melee damage and are not subject to the same tactics as a result.

Cavalry taking out enemy infantry.

Common cavalry units are trained at the Stable and first become available in the Feudal Age. Unique cavalry units are trained at the Castle with only two exceptions: Tarkans, which can also be trained in the Stable after Marauders is researched, and Imperial Camel Riders, which are available at the Stable only. Excluding the Scout Cavalry line and Magyar Huszars with Corvinian Army, which cost only food, all cavalry units cost food and gold.

Despite the many advantages of the cavalry branch, there are a few drawbacks that should be considered. Like archers, they have their own common, cheap, and easy to mass counter unit: the Pikeman. Every player frequently using cavalry is bound to meet them sooner or later. Also, cavalry units are expensive, especially in terms of gold, and a strong reliance on them can lose the game if gold runs out or supplies are cut off. And on narrow maps with lots of obstacles like cliffs or woods, cavalry units can fall prey to ranged units that can exploit their range.

Camel Riders, Mamelukes, Flaming Camels, Kamayuks, and Genoese Crossbowmen also have bonus attack against cavalry units.

Still, since every unit only takes up exactly one population space (excluding Karambit Warriors), cavalry units fill these spaces effectively, especially if the population cap is set to a low value.

The Native American civilizations cannot build Stables and normally cannot train cavalry units. As a replacement, they can train Eagle Warriors at their Barracks. If given a Stable in the Scenario Editor or if they convert one (not possible to Mayans, who do not have Redemption), they can train Xolotl Warriors, which are identical in stats with Knights (Definitive Edition only). However, as Native Americans still have no access to Stable or cavalry armor technologies, they remain of little use besides the surprise.

List of cavalry units

Marked with yellow background are unique units.

Cavalry unit	B	A	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	LOS	Sp	F	G	TT	Ci
Scout Cavalry	Stable		45	5	0	2	0	2	6	1.55	80	0	30	36
Light Cavalry	Stable		60	7	0	2	0	2	8	1.5	80	0	30	35
Hussar	Stable		75	7	0	2	0	1.9	10	1.5	80	0	30	22
Winged Hussar	Stable		80	9	1	2	0	1.9	10	1.5	80	0	30	2
Xolotl Warrior	Stable		100	10	2	2	0	1.8	4	1.35	60	75	30	2
Knight	Stable		100	10	2	2	0	1.8	4	1.35	60	75	30	35
Cavalier	Stable		120	12	2	2	0	1.8	4	1.35	60	75	30	34
Paladin	Stable		160	14	2	3	0	1.9	5	1.35	60	75	30	11
Camel Rider	Stable		100	6	0	0	0	2	4	1.45	55	60	22	12
Heavy Camel Rider	Stable		120	7	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	22	11
Imperial Camel Rider	Stable		140	9	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	20	1
Battle Elephant	Stable		250	12	1	2	0	2	4	0.85	120	70	24	4
Elite Battle Elephant	Stable		300	14	1	3	0	2	5	0.85	120	70	24	4
Steppe Lancer	Stable		60	9	0	1	1	2.0	5	1.45	70	40	24	3
Elite Steppe Lancer	Stable		80	11	0	1	1	2.0	5	1.45	70	40	20	3
Cataphract	Castle		110	9	2	1	0	1.8	4	1.35	70	75	20	1
Elite Cataphract	Castle		150	12	2	1	0	1.7	5	1.35	70	75	20	1
War Elephant	Castle		450	15	1	2	0	2	4	0.6	170	85	25	1
Elite War Elephant	Castle		600	20	1	3	0	2	5	0.6	170	85	25	1
Mameluke	Castle		65	8	0	0	3	2	5	1.4	55	85	23	1
Elite Mameluke	Castle		80	10	1	0	3	2	5	1.4	55	85	23	1
Tarkan	Castle / Stable		100	8	1	3	0	2.1	5	1.35	60	60	14/26	1
Elite Tarkan	Castle / Stable		150	11	1	4	0	2.1	7	1.35	60	60	14/24	1
Magyar Huszar	Castle		70	9	0	2	0	1.8	5	1.5	80	10	16	1
Elite Magyar Huszar	Castle		85	10	0	2	0	1.8	6	1.5	80	10	16	1
Boyar	Castle		100	12	4	2	0	1.9	5	1.3	50	80	15	1
Elite Boyar	Castle		130	14	8	3	0	1.9	5	1.3	50	80	15	1
Konnik	Castle / Krepost		100	12	2	1	0	2.4	5	1.35	60	70	19	1
Elite Konnik	Castle / Krepost		120	14	2	2	0	2.4	5	1.35	60	70	19	1
Leitis	Castle		100	13	1	1	0	1.9	5	1.4	70	50	20	1
Elite Leitis	Castle		130	16	2	1	0	1.9	5	1.4	70	50	18	1
Keshik	Castle		110	9	1	2	0	1.9	5	1.4	60	40	16	1
Elite Keshik	Castle		140	11	1	3	0	1.9	5	1.4	60	40	14	1
Coustillier	Castle		115	8	2	2	0	1.9	5	1.35	55	55	15	1
Elite Coustillier	Castle		145	11	2	2	0	1.9	5	1.35	55	55	14	1
Average	N/A	N/A	138.3	10.7	1.3	1.7	0.2	2.0	5.2	1.33	73.3	54.9	22.09	6.7

The following cavalry units are only available in the Scenario Editor:

Cavalry unit	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	LOS	Sp
Centurion	150	12	2	1	0	1.7	5	1.35
Crusader Knight	120	18	4	4	0	2.0	5	1.2

Heavy Cavalry units comparison

Civilization	Paladin	Imperial Camel Rider	Elite Battle Elephant
Cost	60 food, 75 gold	55 food, 60 gold	120 food, 70 gold
HP	160	140	300
Attack	14	9	14
Armor	2/3	0/0	1/3
Speed	1.35	1.45	0.85
Armor classes	Cavalry	Camel	Cavalry War elephant
Civ access	11	1	4

Technologies

Listed below are all technologies that benefit cavalry units. Marked with yellow background are unique technologies. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilization	Effect
Bloodlines	Stable		26	Increases HP by +20
Husbandry	Stable		33	Increases speed by +10%
Forging	Blacksmith		All	Increases attack by +1
Iron Casting	Blacksmith		All	Increases attack by +1
Blast Furnace	Blacksmith		34	Increases attack by +2
Scale Barding Armor	Blacksmith		36	Increases armor by +1/+1
Chain Barding Armor	Blacksmith		35	Increases armor by +1/+1
Plate Barding Armor	Blacksmith		25	Increases armor by +1/+2
Heresy	Monastery		23	Converted units die instead of changing color
Faith	Monastery		36	Increases conversion resistance
Conscription	Castle		All	Increases creation speed by +33%
Kasbah	Castle		Berbers	Castle production and research speed increased by +25% for the entire team
Maghrabi Camels	Castle		Berbers	Camel Rider line regenerates (0.25 HP/s)
Stirrups	Castle		Bulgarians	Scout Cavalry line, Knight line*, and Konniks attack 33% faster
Howdah	Castle		Burmese	Increases Battle Elephant armor by +1/+2
Manipur Cavalry	Castle		Burmese	Increases attack against archers by +5
Logistica	Castle		Byzantines	Gives Cataphracts 5 trample damage and +6 attack bonus against infantry
Steppe Husbandry	Castle		Cumans	Scout Cavalry line and Steppe Lancer line created 100% faster
Chivalry	Castle		Franks	Stables work 40% faster
Marauders	Castle		Huns	Tarkans can be trained at Stables
Tusk Swords	Castle		Khmer	Increases Battle Elephant attack by +3
Corvinian Army	Castle		Magyars	Magyar Huszar gold cost removed
Farimba	Castle		Malians	Increases attack by +5
Mahouts	Castle		Persians	Increases War Elephant speed by +30%
Szlachta Privileges	Castle		Poles	Knight line gold cost reduced to 30
Lechitic Legacy	Castle		Poles	Scout Cavalry line deals 33% trample damage within 0.5 tile blast radius
Zealotry	Castle		Saracens	Mameluke and Camel Rider hit points increased by +20
Hauberk	Castle		Sicilians	Knight line has +1/+2 armor
Silk Armor	Castle		Tatars	Scout Cavalry line and Steppe Lancer line get +1/+1 armor
Chatras	Castle		Vietnamese	Increases Battle Elephant hit points by +100

Civilizations

The Berbers, Bulgarians, Burgundians, Cumans, Franks, Huns, Lithuanians, Magyars, Persians, Poles, and Spanish all are very good cavalry civilizations and rely on cavalry units. The Burmese, Byzantines, Indians, Khmer, Malians, Mongols, Sicilians, Slavs, Tatars, Teutons, and Turks are also great cavalry civilizations, though much less reliant than the above.

On the other hand, the Bohemians, Malay, and Vikings have the weakest cavalry as they lack several upgrades.

If the Battle Elephant (which is exclusive to the South East Asian civilizations), the Steppe Lancer (which is exclusive to the Cumans, Mongols, and Tatars) and the Winged Hussar (which is a regional upgrade that replaces the Hussar upgrade for the Lithuanians and Poles) are not taken into account, the Persians are the only civilization to have access to all cavalry units and technologies.

Civilization bonuses

The following civilizations have bonuses that benefit cavalry units:

• Berbers: Stable units are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that benefit cavalry units cost -50% food.
• Burgundians: Stable technologies cost -50% and the Cavalier upgrade is available in the Castle Age.
• Burmese: Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Byzantines: Camel Rider line is 25% cheaper.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit cavalry units are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Cumans: Cavalry units move 5%/10%/15% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Franks: Cavalry units have +20% HP.
• Indians: Cavalry units get +1/+2 pierce armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Khmer: Battle Elephants are 10% faster.
• Lithuanians: The Knight line and Leiciai get +1 attack for each garrisoned Relic (maximum +4).
• Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free; Scout Cavalry are 15% cheaper.
• Malay: Battle Elephants are 30%/40% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Mongols: Light Cavalry, Hussars, and Steppe Lancers have +30% HP.
• Portuguese: Cavalry units cost -20% gold; Technologies that benefit cavalry are researched 30% faster.
• Saracens: Camel units +10 HP.
• Sicilians: Cavalry units receive -50% bonus damage.
• Spanish: Blacksmith technologies that affect cavalry cost no gold.
• Tatars: Cavalry units deal +50% damage when attacking from hills (instead of +25%).
• Teutons: Cavalry units get +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Turks: The Scout Cavalry line has +1 pierce armor and is upgraded for free.
• Vietnamese: Conscription is free.

Team bonuses

The following civilizations have bonuses that benefit cavalry units:

• Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that affect cavalry units are researched 80% faster.
• Franks: The Knight line has +2 Line of Sight.
• Huns: Stables work 20% faster.
• Indians: Camel Riders and Mamelukes have +4 attack against standard buildings.
• Lithuanians: Faith and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
• Mongols: The Scout Cavalry line has +2 Line of Sight.
• Persians: The Knight line has +2 attack against archers.
• Poles: The Scout Cavalry line has +1 attack against archers.
• Teutons: Cavalry units are more resistant to Conversion.

Gallery

All cavalry units trained at the Stable.

All cavalry units trained at the Castle.

Cavalry units are trained at the Stable.

Paladin, a cost-effective unit.