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	Building	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
Centurion	N/A	N/A	150	12	2	1	0	1.7	5	1.35	N/A	N/A	N/A	0
Crusader Knight	N/A	N/A	120	18	4	4	0	?	?	?	80	50	N/A	0
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	150	11	1.1	1.8	0.55	2.02	5.3	1.29	76.2	58.9	23.24	N/A

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	II	26	Increases HP by +20
Husbandry	Stable	III	33	Increases speed by +10%
Forging	Blacksmith	II	All	Increases attack by +1
Iron Casting	Blacksmith	III	All	Increases attack by +1
Blast Furnace	Blacksmith	IV	34	Increases attack by +2
Scale Barding Armor	Blacksmith	II	36	Increases armor by +1/+1
Chain Barding Armor	Blacksmith	III	35	Increases armor by +1/+1
Plate Barding Armor	Blacksmith	IV	25	Increases armor by +1/+2
Heresy	Monastery	III	23	Converted units die instead of changing color
Faith	Monastery	IV	36	Increases conversion resistance
Conscription	Castle	IV	All	Increases creation speed by +33%
Kasbah	Castle	III	Berbers	Castle production and research speed increased by +25% for the entire team
Maghrabi Camels	Castle	IV	Berbers	Camel Rider line regenerates (0.25 HP/s)
Stirrups	Castle	III	Bulgarians	Scout Cavalry line, Knight line*, and Konniks attack 33% faster
Howdah	Castle	III	Burmese	Increases Battle Elephant armor by +1/+2
Manipur Cavalry	Castle	IV	Burmese	Increases attack against standard buildings by +6
Logistica	Castle	IV	Byzantines	Gives Cataphracts 5 trample damage and +6 attack bonus against infantry
Steppe Husbandry	Castle	III	Cumans	Scout Cavalry line and Steppe Lancer line created 100% faster
Chivalry	Castle	III	Franks	Stables work 40% faster
Marauders	Castle	III	Huns	Tarkans can be trained at Stables
Tusk Swords	Castle	III	Khmer	Increases Battle Elephant attack by +3
Corvinian Army	Castle	III	Magyars	Magyar Huszar gold cost removed
Farimba	Castle	IV	Malians	Increases attack by +5
Mahouts	Castle	IV	Persians	Increases War Elephant speed by +30%
Szlachta Privileges	Castle	III	Poles	Knight line gold cost reduced to 30
Lechitic Legacy	Castle	IV	Poles	Scout Cavalry line deals 33% trample damage within 0.5 tile blast radius
Zealotry	Castle	IV	Saracens	Mameluke and Camel Rider hit points increased by +20
Hauberk	Castle	IV	Sicilians	Knight line have +1/+2 armor
Silk Armor	Castle	III	Tatars	Scout Cavalry line and Steppe Lancer line get +1/+1 armor
Chatras	Castle	III	Vietnamese	Increases Battle Elephant hit points by +50

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) and the Steppe Lancer (which is exclusive to the Cumans, Mongols and Tatars) 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% less food.
• Burgundians: Stable technologies cost 50% less 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 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 get +1/+2 pierce armor in the Castle/Imperial age.
• Khmer: Battle Elephants are 10% faster.
• Lithuanians: Knight line and Leitis 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% less gold; Technologies that benefit cavalry are researched 30% faster.
• Saracens: Camel units +10 HP.
• Sicilians: Cavalry receive 50% less bonus damage.
• Spanish: Blacksmith technologies that affect cavalry cost no gold.
• Tatars: Cavalry deal +25% damage when attacking from hills.
• Teutons: Cavalry get +1/+2 melee armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Turks: Scout cavalry line have +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 are researched 80% faster.
• Franks: Knight line has +2 LOS.
• Huns: Stables work 20% faster.
• Indians: Camel units have +4 attack against standard buildings.
• Lithuanians: Faith and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
• Mongols: Scout Cavalry line has +2 LOS.
• Persians: Knight line has +2 attack against archers.
• Poles: Scout Cavalry line has +1 attack against archers.
• Teutons: Cavalry 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.