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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For other uses, see Crossbowman. |
| “ | Ranged unit. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Crossbowman is a foot archer unit in Age of Empires II that can be upgraded from the Archer at the Archery Range once the Castle Age is reached. It is good against infantry and Villagers, but struggles against cavalry, Skirmishers, and siege weapons.
Crossbowmen are available to all civilizations except for the Bulgarians and Spanish.
Availability chart[]
| Civilizations that can fully upgrade their Crossbowmen, i.e. receive Thumb Ring | Civilizations with Thumb Ring and a civilization bonus that benefits their Crossbowmen | Civilizations with a civilization bonus that benefits their Crossbowmen but cannot fully upgrade their Crossbowmen |
|---|---|---|
Tactics[]
Upgrading to Crossbowman increases the Archer's range and attack by 1 each and reduces their training time from 35 seconds to 27 seconds, making this a critical upgrade if the chosen strategy is/involves massing Archers. Archers get stronger in larger numbers by getting the capability of killing enemy melee units before they can close the gap and attack. For this reason, Crossbowmen are one of the two traditional power units of the Castle Age, along with the Knight. They work especially well with infantry in this regard. On the offense, it is better to put Crossbowmen in a group of melee infantry as ranged attacks are weak against buildings. Pikemen are an excellent deterrent for cavalry, while friendly cavalry can counter siege units and Elite Skirmishers.
If the player has already invested in a Feudal Age Archer rush, upgrading to Crossbowman should be a top priority. In the Castle Age, Mangonel becomes available, as well as the Knight line. Knights have high pierce armor, high Hit points, and fast speed, allowing them to decimate Crossbowmen if both are in small numbers. When the Crossbowmen reach a critical mass however (and preferably are entrenched in a tight space), they can kill Knights in one volley, evening the odds, or even overcoming them. Mixing in a few Pikemen can also help fend off Knights. Mangonels are an effective counter to Crossbowmen. They have a high Area of Effect attack, allowing them to mow down large groups of Crossbowmen quickly and cost-effectively. A fight between Crossbowmen and Mangonels comes down to which player has better micromanagement. A good supplement to Crossbowmen against Mangonels is Light Cavalry, which also happens to deter Monks and cost different types of resources than the archer units. Knights can also be used but they are taxing on the gold economy, have worse speed and Line of Sight, and are prime targets for Monks.
Elite Skirmishers are another counter to Crossbowmen, thanks to their high pierce armor and decent damage, but their drawback is that their only use is against Crossbowmen and Pikemen, as they are woefully ineffective at fighting other units, and they are also poor raiding units.
Persian Crossbowmen are a special case, as they cannot be upgraded to Arbalesters, but their unique technology Kamandaran replaces their gold cost with more wood cost, making the Crossbowman a trash unit. This turns the Crossbowman into a very affordable unit, and they can be easily massed if the player has a wood surplus. Considering its cost, it can be paired more efficiently with the Savar or the War Elephant, both of which cost food and gold and provide a meatshield for the Crossbowmen.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Infantry, Villagers, camel units |
| Weak vs. | Elite Skirmishers, siege units, Huskarls, Eagle Warriors, Rattan Archers |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Chemistry (+1) Bogsveigar (+1, Vikings only)
|
 Range
|
Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Yeomen (+1, Britons only)
|
| Accuracy |  Thumb Ring (increases accuracy to 100%) Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor |  Padded Archer Armor (+1/+1) Leather Archer Armor (+1/+1) Ring Archer Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
|
 Attack speed
|
Thumb Ring (+18%)
|
| Resource cost | Kamandaran (converts cost to 60 wood, 0 gold, Persians only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%)
|
| Upgrading | Conscription (+33% faster)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Vietnamese (+20%)
|
| Attack |  Tatars (+20% damage {+50% instead of +25%} from cliff or elevation)
|
| Range
|
 Britons (+1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Damage resistance |  Georgians (-20% damage {-40% instead of -25%} when fighting from higher elevation) Sicilians (-33% bonus damage)
|
| Attack speed
|
 Ethiopians (+17.6%)
|
| Resource cost |  Koreans (-50% wood) Maya (-20%/30% in Castle/Imperial Age) Portuguese (-20% gold)
|
| Creation speed |  Aztecs (+15%)
|
| Upgrading |  Chinese (15% cheaper)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Saracens (+3 against standard buildings)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Creation speed | Britons (+10%)
|
| Upgrading | Britons (+10% faster) Portuguese (+25% faster)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.- Celts: Crossbowmen can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Crossbowmen are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Italians: Crossbowmen have +1/+1 armor. Researching Ballistics and Chemistry is 33% cheaper.
- Koreans: Armor technologies are free.
- Tatars: Thumb Ring is free.
- Turks: Chemistry is free.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses[]
- Britons: Researching Thumb Ring is 10% faster.
- Bulgarians: Researching archer armor and attack technologies at the Blacksmith is 80% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Crossbowmen are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Crossbowmen do not have a special attack bonus against Spearmen.
- Arbalest upgrade costs 350 food, 300 gold.
- Saracens (team bonus): Crossbowmen have +2 attack against standard buildings.
The Conquerors[]
- Crossbowmen receive an attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen. With patch 1.0b, it was increased to +3.
- Heresy introduced.
- Thumb Ring introduced.
- Britons: Yeomen introduced. It is only available in the Imperial Age.
The Forgotten[]
- Britons: Yeomen moved to the Castle Age.
- Maya: Obsidian Arrows introduced. It gives Crossbowmen +4 attack against standard buildings.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Italians: Pavise affects Crossbowmen.
- Maya: Obsidian Arrows gives Crossbowmen +6 attack against standard buildings. With patch 4.8, Crossbowmen also gain +6 attack against stone defense.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Vietnamese: Initially, Crossbowmen had +15%/+20% HP in the Castle/Imperial Age. With patch 5.8, they have +20% HP.
Definitive Edition[]
- Bulgarians: Initially, the Team Bonus gave the Blacksmith a 50% work rate boost. With update 42848, this was changed to a 80% work rate boost.
- Persians: Kamandaran technology introduced in replacement for Boiling Oil.
- Koreans: Initially Crossbowmen cost -15% wood. With update 39284, they cost -20% wood.
- Koreans: With update 42848, Archer armor upgrades are free.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
- Saracens: Initially, Crossbowmen have +3 attack bonus against standard buildings. With update 34055, Crossbowmen have +2/+3 attack bonus against standard buildings in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Lords of the West[]
- Maya: Obsidian Arrows removed.
- Saracens: With update 44725, Crossbowmen no longer deal bonus damage against standard buildings as civilization bonus. Their team bonus increases from +2 to +3.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 66692, Arbalester upgrade costs +100 food, +100 gold.
Return of Rome[]
- With update 87863, Magyars lose foot archers +2 Line of Sight team bonus.
- Chinese: With update 87863, technologies that benefit Crossbowmen are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Koreans: With update 87863, Crossbowmen cost -50% wood.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- With update 125283, the Arbalester upgrade costs -50 gold.
Heroes[]
There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Crossbowman:
Trivia[]
- The Crossbowman is called Fantassin à arc in French, although he wields a crossbow (arbalète) and not a bow (arc) like the Archer. The term Arbalétrier (crossbowman) is already used for Arbalesters, though, and is also the name of a French unique unit in Age of Empires IV.
- In terms of wood, the units from the Archer line are the cheapest archers in the game (except for the Persians with Kamandaran).
- The Archer line units are the only common archer units that have neither any base melee armor nor pierce armor.
- The Bulgarians and the Spanish are the only civilization not to have access to the Crossbowman upgrade. The Crossbowman's absence is made for gameplay consideration; historically, the Castilian and Aragonese armies did deploy crossbowmen. Somewhat inconsistently, the Age of Empires III equivalent of this unit is available to the Spanish.
- In pre-release versions of Age of Empires II, Archers and Crossbowmen were two separate lines. Archers were trash units that were cheap, fast firing, inaccurate, and weak, and consisted of the Archer itself, and the Composite Archer. Crossbowmen were expensive, cost wood and gold, slower firing, more accurate, and gave a high damage output. This concept returned in Age of Empires IV.
- In real life, an archer's training consumes more time and resources than a crossbowman's.
History[]
| “ | The crossbow was a missile weapon consisting of a bow on its side attached to the end of a wood stock. The stock was held against the shoulder like a modern rifle and a trigger fired the weapon. The crossbow had been invented in ancient China but was not used widely in Europe until the Middle Ages. It fired short quarrels, stones, or metal balls rather than arrows. It was a powerful weapon but limited to a shorter range than the best bows. It was simple to use, relatively cheap to make, and deadly. A peasant with only a few hours of crossbow practice could easily kill an elite knight encased in armor worth a fortune who had trained for war throughout his life. The knights in Europe at one point attempted to get the Church to ban the weapon. Richard the Lionhearted, King of England, died from a crossbow quarrel wound received during a siege. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual | ||
Gallery[]
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