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, Flaming Camels, and Missionaries, despite being mounted, are not counted as cavalry proper because they are not upgraded like cavalry. Armored and Siege Elephants benefit from upgrades like regular cavalry, so they are included.

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 some exceptions:

Tarkans can also be trained at the Stable after Marauders is researched
Camel Scouts and Imperial Camel Riders are available at the Stable only, because they are upgrades to common units
Konniks can also be trained at the Krepost
Shrivamsha Riders are available at the Stable only

Excluding the melee Ratha, Scout Cavalry line and Magyar Huszars with Corvinian Army, among which the latter two cost only food, all cavalry units cost food and gold. The Ratha is trained and upgraded (except for attack) as a Mounted Archer, hence costs wood and gold.

All cavalry units have either Cavalry armor class or Camel armor class (the latter only for camels).

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 for Mayans, who do not have Redemption), they can train Xolotl Warriors, which are identical in stats with Knights. 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. Since Native American civilizations lack all cavalry entirely, the following list does not count them in the total. Native American civilizations are only counted for the Xolotl Warrior.

Cavalry unit	B	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	All
Light Cavalry	Stable	60	7	0	2	0	2	8	1.5	80	0	30	All except Teutons
Hussar	Stable	75	7	0	2	0	1.9	10	1.5	80	0	30	23
Winged Hussar	Stable	80	9	1	2	0	1.9	10	1.5	80	0	30	Lithuanians and Poles
Xolotl Warrior	Stable	100	10	2	2	0	1.8	4	1.35	60	75	30	Native American only
Elite Xolotl Warrior	Stable	130	12	4	4	0	1.8	4	1.35	60	75	30	Native American only
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 Scout	Stable	70	4	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	38.4	Gurjaras
Camel Rider	Stable	100	6	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	22	13
Heavy Camel Rider	Stable	120	7	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	22	12
Imperial Camel Rider	Stable	140	9	0	0	0	2	5	1.45	55	60	20	Hindustanis
Battle Elephant	Stable	250	12	1	2	0	2	4	0.85	120	70	24	6
Elite Battle Elephant	Stable	300	14	1	3	0	2	5	0.85	120	70	24	5
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
Armored Elephant	Siege Workshop	200	4	-2	140	0	3	4	0.6	130	95	36	4
Siege Elephant	Siege Workshop	250	4	-2	150	0	3	4	0.6	130	95	36	4
Shrivamsha Rider	Stable	55	8	0	1	0	1.75	5	1.6	70	20	20	Gurjaras
Elite Shrivamsha Rider	Stable	70	11	0	1	0	1.75	6	1.6	70	20	20	Gurjaras
Cataphract	Castle	110	9	2	1	0	1.8	4	1.35	70	75	20	Byzantines
Elite Cataphract	Castle	150	12	2	1	0	1.7	5	1.35	70	75	20	Byzantines
War Elephant	Castle	450	15	1	2	0	2	4	0.6	170	85	25	Persians
Elite War Elephant	Castle	600	20	1	3	0	2	5	0.6	170	85	25	Persians
Mameluke	Castle	65	8	0	0	3	2	5	1.4	55	85	23	Saracens
Elite Mameluke	Castle	80	10	1	0	3	2	5	1.4	55	85	23	Saracens
Tarkan	Castle / Stable	100	8	1	3	0	2.1	5	1.35	60	60	14/26	Huns
Elite Tarkan	Castle / Stable	150	11	1	4	0	2.1	7	1.35	60	60	14/24	Huns
Magyar Huszar	Castle	70	9	0	2	0	1.8	5	1.5	80	10	16	Magyars
Elite Magyar Huszar	Castle	85	10	0	2	0	1.8	6	1.5	80	10	16	Magyars
Boyar	Castle	100	12	4	2	0	1.9	5	1.3	50	80	15	Slavs
Elite Boyar	Castle	130	14	8	3	0	1.9	5	1.3	50	80	15	Slavs
Konnik	Castle / Krepost	100	12	2	1	0	2.4	5	1.35	60	70	19	Bulgarians
Elite Konnik	Castle / Krepost	120	14	2	2	0	2.4	5	1.35	60	70	19	Bulgarians
Leitis	Castle	100	13	1	1	0	1.9	5	1.4	70	50	20	Lithuanians
Elite Leitis	Castle	130	16	2	1	0	1.9	5	1.4	70	50	18	Lithuanians
Keshik	Castle	110	9	1	2	0	1.9	5	1.4	60	40	16	Tatars
Elite Keshik	Castle	140	11	1	3	0	1.9	5	1.4	60	40	14	Tatars
Coustillier	Castle	115	8	2	2	0	1.9	5	1.35	55	55	15	Burgundians
Elite Coustillier	Castle	145	11	2	2	0	1.9	5	1.35	55	55	14