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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For other uses, see Crossbowman. |
| “ | High damage ranged unit best against heavy targets.. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Crossbowman is a light ranged infantry unit in Age of Empires IV that can be trained at the Archery Range starting in the Castle Age. Crossbowmen possess an attack bonus against heavy units, making them the weapon of choice when dealing with heavily-armored units like Men-at-Arms and Lancers.
Crossbowmen can be trained by all civilizations except the French, Jeanne d'Arc, Malians, the Japanese, and Order of the Dragon.
Civilizations[]
| Available | Unavailable |
|---|---|
Tactics[]
Just as the Archer excels against unarmored enemies, the Crossbowman excels against heavily armored units, most notably Men-at-Arms, Lancers, and War Elephants (though not Tower Elephants). However unlike Archers, which are ineffective against armored targets, Crossbowmen still perform acceptably against unarmored targets, though not as effectively as Archers.
Starting from the Castle Age, armies usually have a heavily armored frontline. Because of this, Crossbowmen quickly become essential and are for usual the major source of an army's damage at this stage. This, together with the fact that they have very low hit points for their cost, means that Crossbowmen are high-priority targets in a fight, and special care has to be taken to protect them.
While they have specialized counters - Horsemen, Javelin Throwers, and Mangonels - they can also be cost-effectively fought using Archers, and most melee units can become a threat to an unprotected Crossbowman mass if those can not effectively kite them.
Even if the Crossbowmen are part of an army, it is often wise to reserve some Spearmen or Men-at-Arms especially to protect them. Because Horsemen struggle to break through such a defense, it is often easier to use Lancers instead when trying to attack such a backline.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Heavy units |
| Weak vs. | Horsemen, Mangonels, Javelin Throwers, Tower Elephants |
| Conditional matchups | Light Melee Infantry |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Boot Camp (+15%,  Abbasid Dynasty)
|
| Attack |  Steeled Arrow (+1) Balanced Projectiles (+1) Platecutter Point (+1) Incendiary Arrows (+20%, +4 siege damage vs buildings) Sultan's Mamluks (+25% for 10 seconds after killing an enemy,  Ayyubids) Military Tactics Training (+20% bonus damage,  House of Lancaster) Cranequins (+2,  Knights Templar)
|
 Range
|
 Paiks (+0.5,  Delhi Sultanate) Cranequins (+0.5, Knights Templar)
|
| Additional projectiles |  10000 Bolts (Weaker extra projectile added,  Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Armor |  Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee) Insulated Helm (+1 melee) Master Smiths (+1 melee) Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged) Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged) Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
|
 Movement speed
|
Sultan's Mamluks (+20% for 10 seconds after killing an enemy unit, Ayyubids)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%); Improved: (+53%,  Mongols) Efficient Production (+100%, requires garrisoned Scholar, Delhi Sultanate) Advanced Academy (+25% at Military School,  Ottomans)
|
| Ability |  Siege Engineering (Can build Battering Rams and Siege Towers) Siege Engineering Improved (Can build Mangonels, Springalds, and Traction Trebuchets, Mongols) Infantry Support (+3/+3 armor to nearby camels, Ayyubids) Forced March (Grants Forced March ability, Delhi Sultanate)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
 Chinese (+15% in  Ming Dynasty)
|
| Attack | Knights Templar (+20% near Sacred Sites with Kingdom of Castille)
|
| Armor | Knights Templar (+2 melee with Teutonic Order)
|
 Attack speed
|
Delhi Sultanate (+20% with Tower of Victory)
|
| Movement speed
|
Chinese (+15% in  Yuan Dynasty) Holy Roman Empire (+10%)
|
| Resource cost | Knights Templar (-5% gold with Kingdom of France) Zhu Xi's Legacy (-10% in Yuan Dynasty)
|
| Creation speed |  English (+100% from Council Hall, +75% from The White Tower) Knights Templar (+15% with Kingdom of France)
|
| Ability | Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids (Can build Mangonels and Springalds) Byzantines (Gain Pilgrim Flask ability with Cistern of the First Hill) Delhi Sultanate (Can build Palisade Walls by default, and Stone defenses with Compound of the Defender)
|
| Upgrading | House of Lancaster (-15% cost with King's College)
|
| Other | English (Available at Keeps)
|
Unique landmark boosts[]
The Byzantines and Mongols have landmarks, namely the Foreign Engineering Company and Khaganate Palace respectively, that allow them to obtain unique technologies and units from other civilizations. As such, Archers from these two civilizations can potentially have access to the following boosts normally not available to them:
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Saint's Blessing (+2, Mongols)
|
| Armor |  Camel Support (+2 melee/ranged, Byzantines) Saint's Blessing (+1 melee/ranged, Mongols)
|
Dialogue lines[]
- Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids: /Abbasid Dynasty dialogue lines
- Byzantines: /Byzantine dialogue lines
- Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy: /Chinese dialogue lines
- Delhi Sultanate: /Delhi Sultanate dialogue lines
- English and House of Lancaster: /English dialogue lines
- Holy Roman Empire: /Holy Roman Empire dialogue lines
- Knights Templar: Arbalétrier/Dialogue lines
- Mongols: /Mongols dialogue lines
- Ottomans: /Ottomans dialogue lines
- Rus: /Rus dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, bonus damage vs Heavy class was +6/+8 per upgrade level. With update 8324, it was increased to +9/+11. With patch 12.2.3327, it is +10/+12.
- Originally, the elite upgrade took 90 seconds. With update 8324, it takes 60 seconds.
- Originally, Crossbowmen dealt 12/15 damage per upgrade level. With patch 12.2.3327, they deal 11/14.
Campaign version[]
Because the original four campaigns have not been rebalanced since the release of the game, Crossbowmen have the following main differences in those campaigns:
- Their Regular/Elite versions have 100/120 hit points, deal 21/25 damage with a 2x (base damage) bonus vs heavy units, have a range of 4.5/5.5 tiles, and a rate of fire of 3.62 seconds.
- They attack with a dagger in melee range to deal 9/10 melee damage every 1.62 seconds and have a move speed of 1.29 tiles per second.
- They can gain a fire attack vs buildings and siege after Incendiary Arrows is researched that deals 20 fire damage every 5.62 seconds.
- The Elite upgrade costs 200 food, 600 gold and takes 90 seconds to research.
In the The Sultans Ascend campaign:
- Crossbowmen deal 12/15 base damage per upgrade level and have a +9/+11 bonus against heavy units.
Trivia[]
- The Abbasid Dynasty regular Crossbowman is based on the Osprey published book "Armies of the Caliphates 862–1098".
- All Imperial Age Crossbowman models except for the Mongols' are equipped with a cranequin crossbow. Cranequins allowed a crossbowman to draw crossbows with much higher draw weights, increasing the power of their bolts.
Gallery[]
