Archer unit (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the archer units in Age of Empires II. For other uses, see Archer.

Archers in Age of Empires II are one of the four combat forces on land, the other ones being infantry, cavalry, and siege weapons.

General information

Many different archer units firing over an enemy wall.

While being comparatively frail, all archer units possess a ranged attack, giving them an edge over non-ranged units. Most archers are foot soldiers, but there are also mounted variants. Cavalry Archers set themselves apart from foot archers by having an above average speed, making them able to hit-and-run enemy foot soldiers without casualties.

Archer units become available in the Feudal Age. Unique archer units are trained at the Castle. There are three exceptions: the Genitour, the Slinger, and the Imperial Skirmisher (unique upgrade of the Elite Skirmisher, available to the Vietnamese and their allies) are trained at the Archery Range.

Most archer units cost only wood and gold, but some instead cost food in place of either one.

Archers can be classified in three categories depending on their upgrades:

• Foot archers
• Mounted archers
• Gunpowder units

The Skirmisher, the no. 1 archer counter

As such different civilizations excel in different types of archer units. While Gunpowder units can also be foot and mounted, there is not enough variety, and they all benefit from the same upgrades and civilization bonuses. Gunpowder units also includes non-archer units, like Siege and Naval, but the term usually refers to archer-type units. Archers excel at massed battles against non-ranged units, and in battles in narrow passages and densely developed areas, like forests and towns. There, they can use their range to fire over each other, while non-ranged units have to 'dig' themselves through an army of archers. In battles with few units, though, archers have trouble holding ground.

Archers in general are superior to infantry and Monks, and can very effectively eliminate Villagers. But they struggle heavily against siege units, which deal Area of Effect damage (especially the Mangonel) and can eliminate entire armies of archers quickly. Battering Rams are also a useful supportive semi-counter against large mono-archer armies, especially for players using archers themselves. While Rams deal little to no damage to archers on their own, they can be sent close to the archers, drawing automatic fire, which they resist thanks to their high pierce armor, allowing other ranged units to quickly dispatch the distracted enemy archers. This tactic forces the opponent to use intense micromanagement. Cavalry is also quite effective against archers, since they can close the gap quickly and have high pierce armor. But the easiest counter against archers is the Skirmisher, a trash unit that is cheap, easy to mass, and does both resist archer attacks and deal bonus damage against archers.

Other notable counters are Huskarls, Eagle Warriors, Ghulams, Rattan Archers, Genitours, and War Wagons, the latter three being archers themselves.

List of archer units

Marked with yellow background are unique units.

Archer unit	B	Age	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	FD	Ac	LOS	Sp	Food	Wood	Gold	TT	Ci
Archer	Archery Range		30	4	0	0	4	2	15	80	6	0.96	0	25	45	35	All
Crossbowman			35	5			5			85	7	0.96				27	All except Bulgarians and Spanish
Arbalester			40	6					20	90		0.96					25
Skirmisher	Archery Range		30	2	0	3	4	3	19	90	6	0.96	25	35	0	22	All
Elite Skirmisher			35	3	0	4	5				7						All except Turks
Imperial Skirmisher				4		5				95							Vietnamese and allies
Cavalry Archer	Archery Range		50	6	0	0	4	2	35	50	5	1.4	0	40	60	34	38
Heavy Cavalry Archer			60	7	1				46	80	6					27	30
Hand Cannoneer	Archery Range		40	17	1	0	7	3.45	15	75	9	0.96	45	0	50	34	23
Elephant Archer	Archery Range		230	6	0	2	4	2	24	70	7	0.9	80	0	70	32	3
Elite Elephant Archer			280	7						85
Longbowman	Castle		35	6	0	0	5	2	10	70	7	0.96	0	35	40	18	Britons
Elite Longbowman			40	7		1	6			80	8
Chu Ko Nu	Castle		45	8* + 3*	0	0	4	3	19	85	6	0.96	0	40	35	16	Chinese
Elite Chu Ko Nu			50	8* + 3*												13
Mangudai	Castle		60	6	0	0	4	2.1	23	95	6	1.4	0	55	65	26	Mongols
Elite Mangudai				8	1
Janissary	Castle		35	17	1	0	7	3.45	12	50	10	0.96	60	0	55	21	Turks
Elite Janissary			40	22	2		8		0	65
War Wagon	Castle		150	9	0	3	4	2.5	32	100	7	1.2	0	200	60	21	Koreans
Elite War Wagon			200			4	5				8
Plumed Archer	Castle		50	5	0	1	4	1.9	15	80	6	1.2	0	55	55	16	Mayans
Elite Plumed Archer			65			2	5			90	7
Conquistador	Castle		55	16	2	1	6	2.9	13	65	8	1.3	60	0	70	24	Spanish
Elite Conquistador			70	18		2				70	9
Slinger	Archery Range		40	5	0	0	5	2	14	90	7	0.96	40	0	40	25	Incas
Genoese Crossbowman	Castle		45	6	1	0	4	2	15	100	8	0.96	0	45	40	22	Italians
Elite Genoese Crossbowman			50													19
Camel Archer	Castle		55	7	0	1	4	2	15	95	5	1.4	0	50	60	25	Berbers
Elite Camel Archer			60	8	1
Genitour	Archery Range		50	3	0	3	4	3	30	90	5	1.35	40	35	0	25	Berbers and allies
Elite Genitour			55	4		4					6
Arambai	Castle		60	12	0	1	5	2	15	20	5	1.3	0	75	60	21	Burmese
Elite Arambai			65	14		2				30
Rattan Archer	Castle		40	6	0	4	4	2	23	80	6	1.1	0	50	45	16	Vietnamese
Elite Rattan Archer			45	7		6	5			90
Kipchak	Castle		40	4 + 3*	0	0	4	2.2	0	90	6	1.4	0	60	35	20	Cumans
Elite Kipchak			45	5 + 3*
Mercenary Kipchak	Castle	Cuman Mercenaries											0	0	0	12	Cumans and allies
Ranged Ratha	Castle		105	5	2	1	4	2	14	80	6	1.3	0	60	60	18	Bengalis
Ranged Elite Ratha			115	6						90
Composite Bowman	Castle		40	4	1	0	4	2	12	100	7	0.96	0	35	45	12	Armenians
Elite Composite Bowman			45		2											10

A * mark denotes that it has an additional 0 melee attack.

The following archer units are only available in the Scenario Editor:

Archer unit	HP	At	Ar	PA	Ra	ROF	FD	Ac	LOS	Sp
Amazon Archer	45	5	0	1	4	1.9	5	80	6	1.1
Heavy Crossbowman	50	10	1	4	6	4.2	15	90	8	0.9
Khan	160	12	2	2	4	2.1	23	95	6	1.45
Royal Janissary	40	22	2	0	8	3.45	0	65	10	0.96

Technologies

Listed below are all technologies that benefit archer units. Marked with yellow background are unique technologies. This list does not contain unit upgrades.

Technology	Researched at	Age	Civilization	Effect	Type of unit affected
Thumb Ring	Archery Range		28	Increases Rate of Fire and accuracy (the latter to 100%)	Foot archers Mounted archers
Parthian Tactics	Archery Range		14	Increases armor by +1/+2 (except for Genitours) and attack vs Pikemen by 0, +2 or +4	Mounted archers Arambai
Bloodlines	Stable		31	Increases hit points by +20	Mounted archers Conquistador Arambai
Husbandry	Stable		38	Increases movement speed by +10%
Fletching	Blacksmith		All	Increases range and attack by +1	Foot archers Mounted archers
Bodkin Arrow			All
Bracer			37	Increases range and attack by +1
Padded Archer Armor	Blacksmith		All	Increases armor by +1/+1	All
Leather Archer Armor			All except Burmese	Increases armor by +1/+1
Ring Archer Armor			34	Increases armor by +1/+2
Ballistics	University		All	Track moving targets	Foot archers Mounted archers Arambai
Chemistry	University		All	Increases attack by +1 Enables Hand Cannoneer	Foot archers Mounted archers Arambai
Herbal Medicine	Monastery		41	Garrisoned units heal 6x faster
Heresy (die upon getting converted)	Monastery		26	Converted units die instead of changing color
Devotion (+1 min, +1 max)	Monastery		All	Increases conversion resistance by 15%
Faith (+4 min, +4 max)	Monastery		41	Increases conversion resistance
Conscription	Castle		All	Increases creation speed by +33%
Atlatl	Castle		Aztecs	Skirmishers and Genitours +1 attack and range
Paiks	Castle		Bengalis	Rathas and Elephant Archers attack 20% faster
Kasbah	Castle		Berbers	Castle production and research speed increased by +25%
Maghrebi Camels	Castle		Berbers	Camel Archers regenerate 15 HP per minute
Wagenburg Tactics	Castle		Bohemians	Hand Cannoneers move 15% faster	Gunpowder units
Yeomen	Castle		Britons	Increases range by 1	Foot archers
Rocketry	Castle		Chinese	Increases Chu Ko Nu attack by +2
Steppe Husbandry	Castle		Cumans	Cavalry Archers created 100% faster
Cuman Mercenaries	Castle		Cumans	Allows Cumans and their allies to train 5 mercenary Kipchaks for free per Castle
Medical Corps	Castle		Dravidians	Elephant Archers regenerate 30 HP per minute
Kshatriyas	Castle		Gurjaras	Units cost -25% food
Frontier Guards	Castle		Gurjaras	Elephant Archers get +4 melee armor
Andean Sling	Castle		Incas	Removes minimum range of Slingers, Skirmishers, and Genitours Increases Slinger attack by 1
Fabric Shields	Castle		Incas	Increases Slinger armor by +1/+2
Shatagni	Castle		Hindustanis	Increases Hand Cannoneer range by +2
Pavise	Castle		Italians	Increases armor by +1/+1	Foot archers except Skirmishers
Tower Shields	Castle		Lithuanians	Skirmishers have +2 pierce armor
Recurve Bow	Castle		Magyars	Increases range and attack by +1	Mounted archers except Genitours
Hul'che Javelineers	Castle		Mayans	Skirmishers and Genitours throw an additional javelin
Kamandaran	Castle		Persians	Archer line gold cost replaced by additional wood cost
Arquebus	Castle		Portuguese	Track moving targets; projectiles are faster	Gunpowder units
First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max)	Castle		Sicilians	Increases conversion resistance
Silk Armor	Castle		Tatars	Increases armor by +1/+1	Mounted archers
Sipahi	Castle		Turks	Increases HP by +20	Mounted archers
Bogsveigar	Castle		Vikings	Increases Archer-line attack by +1

Civilizations

The Britons, Chinese, Ethiopians, Italians, Mayans, Saracens, and Vietnamese are arguably the best foot archer civilizations because of their bonuses and unique technologies. The Koreans, Persians, Portuguese, and Vikings also have bonuses and unique technologies that benefit their statistics and production by decreasing their cost, providing more protection, and being upgraded faster, making them strong foot archer civilizations, but weaker than the afore-mentioned civilizations.

The Japanese and Saracens are the only civilizations with access to all archer units and technologies. This also applied to the Indians until patch 5.5, when Arbalesters were removed from their technology tree.

The Burgundians, Burmese, Celts, Franks, Romans, and Slavs lack key upgrades for their archer units, making them the weakest archer civilizations. The Bulgarians and the Spanish are the only civilizations that lack the Crossbowman upgrade.

As far as mounted archers are concerned, the Berbers, Cumans, Huns, Koreans, Magyars, Mongols, Saracens, Tatars, and Turks are the most prominent civilizations. Generally speaking, civilizations with access to Parthian Tactics have prominent mounted archers. While the Persians have access to Parthian Tactics earlier than other civilizations, as they can research it in the Castle Age, they still fall off in the Imperial Age due to lacking Bracer.

Technology trees

	= Available
	= Unavailable
	= Researched for free or fully covered by a civilization bonus if unavailable

Civilization
Armenians
Aztecs
Bengalis
Berbers
Bohemians
Britons
Bulgarians
Burgundians
Burmese
Byzantines
Celts
Chinese
Cumans
Dravidians
Ethiopians
Franks
Georgians
Goths
Gurjaras
Hindustanis
Huns
Incas
Italians
Japanese
Khmer
Koreans
Lithuanians
Magyars
Malay
Malians
Mayans
Mongols
Persians
Poles
Portuguese
Romans
Saracens
Sicilians
Slavs
Spanish
Tatars
Teutons
Turks
Vietnamese
Vikings

Byzantines, Dravidians, Italians, Japanese, Koreans, Portuguese, and Saracens are the only civilizations that have access to fully upgraded Arbalesters and Hand Cannoneers.

Civilization bonuses

• Aztecs: Archers are created 11% faster.
• Bengalis: Elephant Archers receive -25% bonus damage and are more resistant to conversion.
• Bohemians: Hand Cannoneers and Chemistry are available in the Castle Age.
• Britons: Foot archers (except Skirmishers) have +1/+2 range in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that benefit archers cost -50% food.
• Burgundians: Hand Cannoneers have +25% attack. Husbandry is 50% cheaper.
• Burmese: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Herbal Medicine are 50% cheaper.
• Byzantines: Skirmishers are 25% cheaper.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit archers are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Cumans: Mounted archers move 10%/15% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Dravidians: Skirmishers, Genitours and Elephant Archers attack 25% faster.
• Ethiopians: Archer line fires 18% faster.
• Franks: Mounted archers have +20% hit points.
• Gurjaras: Genitours deal +30%/+40% bonus damage in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Hindustanis: Hand Cannoneers have +1/+1 armor.
• Huns: Cavalry Archers are 10%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Incas: Archer units cost -20%/-25%/-30% food in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Italians: Hand Cannoneers are 20% cheaper. Ballistics and Chemistry are 33% cheaper.
• Japanese: Mounted archers have +2 attack against archers (except Skirmishers).
• Koreans: Archer units cost -50% wood. Archer armor upgrades are free.
• Lithuanians: Skirmishers move 10% faster.
• Mayans: Foot archers (except Skirmishers) are 10%/20%/30% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Mongols: Mounted archers fire 25% faster.
• Persians: Mounted archers get 5 gold for each military unit killed.
• Portuguese: Archer units cost -20% gold.
• Sicilians: Archers receive -33% bonus damage.
• Spanish: Blacksmith technologies that affect archers cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit archer units provides 20 gold each. Hand Cannoneers fire 18% faster.
• Tatars: Archers deal +50% damage when attacking from higher elevation (instead of +25%). Parthian Tactics and Thumb Ring are free.
• Turks: Hand Cannoneers and Janissaries have +25% HP and Chemistry is free.
• Vietnamese: Archery Range units and mercenary Kipchaks have +20% HP. Conscription is free.

Team bonuses

• Berbers: Genitour available at the Archery Range starting in the Castle Age.
• Britons: Archery Ranges work 10% faster.
• Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that affect archers are researched 80% faster.
• Gurjaras: Camel Archers and Elephant Archers are created 25% faster.
• Huns: Bloodlines and Husbandry are researched 20% faster.
• Hindustanis: Camel Archers have +2 attack against standard buildings.
• Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, Herbal Medicine, and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
• Magyars: Mounted archers are created 25% faster.
• Malians: Ballistics and Chemistry are researched 80% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit archers are researched 25% faster.
• Saracens: Foot archers have +3 attack against standard buildings.
• Tatars: Mounted archers have +2 Line of Sight.
• Teutons: Archers are more resistant to conversion.
• Turks: Hand Cannoneers, Janissaries, and Conquistadors are created 25% faster.
• Vietnamese: Imperial Skirmisher available at the Archery Range.

Trivia

• Excluding the Berbers, all civilizations with prominent Cavalry Archers originate in various parts of Asia, including all 13 with access to Parthian Tactics (though the Huns, Magyars, and Bulgarians ended up establishing their dominion in Europe).
• Of 57 unique units in the game, 16 are archers, of which 7 are foot archers, 6 are mounted archers, and 3 are gunpowder units. This makes archers the largest group of unique units.
• Excluding Rattan Archers and Plumed Archers, all foot archers (including Hand Cannoneers) move at a constant speed of 0.96. The only two foot archers that can have their speed increased are the Lithuanian Skirmisher (thanks to their civilization bonus) and the Bohemian Hand Cannoneer (if Wagenburg Tactics is researched).
• Foot archers are unaffected by infantry speed upgrades/bonuses like Squires or the Celtic civilization bonus. However their mounted counterparts are affected by Husbandry and the Cuman civilization bonus.
• Though superficially similar to the Korean War Wagon, the Bohemian Hussite Wagon is a siege weapon.

Gallery

All archer units available at the Archery Range

All archer units available at the Castle