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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For the unit in other games of the series, see Flamethrower.

The Cheirosiphon is a ranged siege engine in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, and can be trained at the Siege Workshop or created in the field by infantry after researching Siege Engineering. It serves as a replacement for the Battering Ram for the Byzantines.

It can also spawn from the Palatine School.

Ability[]

While it can come across as a weaker Battering Ram at first glance, the Greek Fire damage mechanism of the Cheirosiphon causes it to behave somewhat differently in a manner that is not reflected in their statistics. In addition to the 280 damage dealt per Cheirosiphon over 8.5 seconds, the lingering Greek Fire deals an additional ~170 damage over that time period to buildings and units within the blaze. However, this does not stack with the number of Cheirosiphons attacking a building. So, for example, a single Cheirosiphon will deal 450 damage to a building over 8.5 seconds, but two Cheirosiphons will only deal 730 damage, not 900. As the number of Cheirosiphons increases further, the damage scales less and less, to the point where more than three siphons will deal less damage than the same number of Battering Rams.

Unit comparison[]

AoE4 BatteringRam Battering Ram AoE4 Cheirosiphon Cheirosiphon
Cost 200 wood 200 wood, 60 gold
Training time 35 s 30 s
Hit points 370 310
Attack 200 280
Bonus vs walls 200 140
Ranged resistance 95 95
Range 0.54 tiles 2.5 tiles
Other Units caught in the fire take damage

Tactics[]

Generally, the Cheirosiphon has the same primary role as the Battering Ram, explained in the Tactics section on that page. The primary advantage of the Cheirosiphon over the Battering Ram is its range. Because of this range, Cheirosiphons can avoid some of the pathing issues that Battering Rams can encounter when trying to engage their target due to their large hitbox and clunky movement. Additionally, when combined with the lingering Greek Fire damage as explained above, a single Cheirosiphon will do approximately 25% more damage than a regular Battering Ram. The main downside to this is the whopping 50% overall greater cost, making it significantly less cost-effective. And while it may be tempting to spread out Cheirosiphons across a base to better leverage their Greek Fire damage, they also have 60 fewer hit points than Battering Rams, allowing them to more easily be picked off in lower numbers, despite their ability to damage attacking units. This lower health can be compensated by garrisoning them with Varangian Guards, allowing them to gain a maximum of 16 melee armor and significantly improving their durability. Unfortunately, this is not possible until the Castle Age, making it unhelpful for Feudal Age ram pushes. Overall, their range and area damage give them more flexibility, but their lower health and higher cost mean they need to be more carefully managed and protected.

Further statistics[]

Technologies
Hpicon aoe2de Hit points AoE4 SiegeWorks Siege Works (+20%)
Armor AoE4 SiegeWorks Siege Works (+10 ranged)
AoE2DE icon Reload Time Attack speed AoE4 LightweightBeams Lightweight Beams (+20%)
AoE2DE icon Movement Speed Movement speed AoE4 GreasedAxles Greased Axles (+15%)
Creation speed AoE4 LightweightBeams Lightweight Beams (+100%, field construction only)
AoE4 MilitaryAcademy Military Academy (+33%, building training only)
Aura and ability enhancements
Armor AoE4 VarangianGuard Garrisoned Varangian Guards (+1 melee and ranged armor per Varangian Guard)
AoE2DE icon Movement Speed Movement speed AoE4 SpeedEnhancement Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship)
Creation speed AoE4 InfluenceBuff AoE4 Conscriptio Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level)

Dialogue lines[]

Main article: /Dialogue lines

Changelog[]

  • With patch 9.2.628, hit points were changed from 350 to 280, and cost from 250 wood, 100 gold to 200 wood, 100 gold. With update 10.0.576, hit points were increased to 310 and gold cost reduced to 60.
  • With update 10.0.576, Cheirosiphons were given a +5 bonus damage vs walls (+140 per burst)
  • Originally, Cheirosiphons had 30 ranged armor. With update 10.0.576, they have 50 ranged armor. With update 12.0.1974, the ranged armor was replaced with 95% ranged resistance.

Trivia[]

  • Cheirosiphon literally means 'hand tube' in Greek. It was a portable method for projecting Greek Fire.

Gallery[]

Units in Age of Empires IV
Common/Generic
Miscellaneous AoE4 GenericVillager Villager ยท AoE4 Trader Trader ยท AoE4 FishingBoat Fishing Boat ยท AoE4 TradeShip Trade Ship ยท AoE4 TransportShip Transport Ship ยท AoE4 Monk Monk/Imam/Shaman ยท AoE4 Leader Monarch
Melee infantry AoE4 Spearman Spearman ยท AoE4 ManAtArms Man-at-Arms
Ranged infantry AoE4 Archer Archer ยท AoE4 Crossbowman Crossbowman ยท AoE4 Handcannoneer Handcannoneer
Melee cavalry AoE4 Scout Scout ยท AoE4 Horseman Horseman ยท AoE4 Knight Lancer/Knight
Siege AoE4 SiegeTower Siege Tower ยท AoE4 BatteringRam Battering Ram ยท AoE4 Springald Springald ยท AoE4 Mangonel Mangonel ยท AoE4 CounterweightTrebuchet Counterweight Trebuchet ยท AoE4 Bombard Bombard ยท AoE4 Ribauldequin Ribauldequin ยท AoE4 Culverin Culverin
Military ship AoE4 ArcherShip Archer ship: Dhow, Galley, Hunting Canoe, Junk, Light Junk, Lodya Galley
AoE4 SpringaldShip Springald ship: Baghlah, Hulk, Lodya Attack Ship, War Canoe, War Cog, War Junk
AoE4 IncendiaryShip Incendiary ship: Demolition Ship, Explosive Dhow, Explosive Junk, Lodya Demolition Ship
AoE4 Warship Warship: Baochuan, Carrack, Xebec
Cheat AoE4 PhotonMan Photon Man
Unique
Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 CamelRider Camel Rider ยท AoE4 CamelArcher Camel Archer ยท AoE4 Ghulam Ghulam
Ayyubids AoE4 Ayyubids AoE4 Atabeg Atabeg ยท AoE4 BedouinSkirmisher Bedouin Skirmisher ยท AoE4 BedouinSwordsman Bedouin Swordsman ยท AoE4 CamelLancer Camel Lancer ยท AoE4 Dervish Dervish ยท AoE4 DesertRaider Desert Raider ยท AoE4 Ghulam Ghulam ยท AoE4 TowerOfTheSultan Tower of the Sultan
Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines AoE4 Cataphract Cataphract ยท AoE4 VarangianGuard Varangian Guard ยท AoE4 Cheirosiphon Cheirosiphon ยท AoE4 Limitanei Limitanei ยท AoE4 Dromon Dromon
Chinese AoE4 Chinese AoE4 ImperialOfficial Imperial Official ยท AoE4 ZhugeNu Zhuge Nu ยท AoE4 PalaceGuard Palace Guard ยท AoE4 NestOfBees Nest of Bees ยท AoE4 FireLancer Fire Lancer ยท AoE4 Grenadier Grenadier
Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Monk Scholar ยท AoE4 WarElephant War Elephant ยท AoE4 TowerElephant Tower Elephant ยท AoE4 SultansEliteTowerElephant Sultan's Elite Tower Elephant ยท AoE4 GhaziRaider Ghazi Raider
English AoE4 English AoE4 Longbowman Longbowman ยท AoE4 King King ยท AoE4 WynguardRanger Wynguard Ranger ยท AoE4 WynguardFootman Wynguard Footman
French AoE4 French AoE4 RoyalKnight Royal Knight ยท AoE4 Arbaletrier Arbalรฉtrier ยท AoE4 Galleass Galleass ยท AoE4 Cannon Cannon
HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire AoE4 Monk Prelate ยท AoE4 Landsknecht Landsknecht
Japanese AoE4 Japanese AoE4 Warship Atakebune ยท AoE4 BuddhistMonk Buddhist Monk ยท AoE4 KatanaBannerman Katana Bannerman ยท AoE4 MountedSamurai Mounted Samurai ยท AoE4 OnnaBugeisha Onna-Bugeisha ยท AoE4 OnnaMusha Onna-Musha ยท AoE4 Ozutsu Ozutsu ยท AoE4 Samurai Samurai ยท AoE4 Shinobi Shinobi ยท AoE4 ShintoPriest Shinto Priest ยท AoE4 TreasureCaravan Treasure Caravan ยท AoE4 UmaBannerman Uma Bannerman ยท AoE4 YumiAshigaru Yumi Ashigaru ยท AoE4 YumiBannerman Yumi Bannerman
Jeanne d Arc AoE4 Jeanne d'Arc AoE4 JeannesChampion Jeanne's Champion ยท AoE4 JeannesRider Jeanne's Rider ยท AoE4 RoyalKnight Royal Knight ยท AoE4 Arbaletrier Arbalรฉtrier ยท AoE4 Galleass Galleass ยท AoE4 Cannon Cannon ยท Jeanne d'Arc [AoE4 JdA Peasant Peasant ยท AoE4 JdA WomanAtArms Woman-at-Arms ยท AoE4 JdA Hunter Hunter ยท AoE4 JdA Knight Knight ยท AoE4 JdA MountedArcher Mounted Archer ยท AoE4 JdA BlastCannon Blast Cannon ยท AoE4 JdA Markswoman Markswoman]
Malians AoE4 Malians AoE4 Donso Donso ยท AoE4 MusofadiWarrior Musofadi Warrior ยท AoE4 JavelinThrower Javelin Thrower ยท AoE4 WarriorScout Warrior Scout ยท AoE4 Sofa Sofa ยท AoE4 FreebornWarrior Freeborn Warrior ยท AoE4 Cattle Cattle ยท AoE4 MusofadiGunner Musofadi Gunner
Mongols AoE4 Mongols AoE4 Khan Khan ยท AoE4 Mangudai Mangudai ยท AoE4 TurkicHorseArcher Khan's Hunter ยท AoE4 TractionTrebuchet Traction Trebuchet ยท AoE4 HuihuiPao Huihui Pao ยท AoE4 Keshik Keshik
Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon AoE4 GildedSpearman Gilded Spearman ยท AoE4 GildedManAtArms Gilded Man-at-Arms ยท AoE4 GildedLandsknecht Gilded Landsknecht ยท AoE4 GildedArcher Gilded Archer ยท AoE4 GildedCrossbowman Gilded Crossbowman ยท AoE4 DragonHandcannoneer Gilded Handcannoneer ยท AoE4 GildedHorseman Gilded Horseman ยท AoE4 GildedKnight Gilded Knight ยท AoE4 GenericVillager Gilded Villager ยท AoE4 Monk Prelate
Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans AoE4 Mehter Mehter ยท AoE4 Sipahi Sipahi ยท AoE4 HorseArcher Cavalry Archer ยท AoE4 Janissary Janissary ยท AoE4 GreatBombard Great Bombard ยท AoE4 GrandGalley Grand Galley
Rus AoE4 Rus AoE4 FishingBoat Lodya Fishing Boat ยท AoE4 WarriorMonk Warrior Monk ยท AoE4 HorseArcher Horse Archer ยท AoE4 Streltsy Streltsy ยท AoE4 Militia Militia
Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy AoE4 ImperialOfficial Imperial Official ยท AoE4 ZhugeNu Zhuge Nu ยท AoE4 PalaceGuard Palace Guard ยท AoE4 NestOfBees Nest of Bees ยท AoE4 Grenadier Grenadier ยท AoE4 ImperialGuard Imperial Guard ยท AoE4 YuanRaider Yuan Raider ยท AoE4 ShaolinMonk Shaolin Monk
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