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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Age of Empires, see Long Swordsman (Age of Empires). |
| “ | All-purpose infantry unit. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Long Swordsman is an infantry unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Barracks once the Castle Age is reached.
Overview and tactics[]
Like all members of the Militia line, the Long Swordsman's main advantage does not lie in individual strength but their ease of creation and general cheapness in terms of creation cost.
As with its predecessor, the Long Swordsman upgrade gives a lot of value with +15 hit points (+33%), +3 base attack, and +1 melee armor, and should be researched quickly if the line is seeing even moderate use.
Long Swordsmen are the basic infantry units in the Castle Age. They are fairly strong, being able to defeat all standard Castle Age units but the Knight and Cavalry Archer in one on one combat. Like all basic infantry, Long Swordsmen also have an attack bonus versus standard buildings, which added to a high melee attack, gives them a use in raiding. They are weak against almost all archers, heavy cavalry, Mangonels (if they are unable to close the distance), and vulnerable to Scorpions and Monks, but good against Pikemen, Light Cavalry, Camel Riders, Skirmishers, Eagle Warriors, and Rams.
However, because of their general weakness to ranged units and low mobility (unlike cavalry), Long Swordsmen see little use outside as a counter to trash units, Camel Riders, and Eagle Warriors. And although they are cheap in gold, they cost a substantial amount of food (unless the player has Supplies), which is not worth it due to their low durability and slowness. Additionally, Long Swordsmen require two unit upgrades (though the first is usually researched beforehand if the player has been using Men-at-Arms), while Knights need none. One thing to be considered is that two Long Swordsmen can beat one full health Knight, being very favorable. However, in general situations, the player is much better producing Pikemen as a counter, mass producing Crossbowmen, or using the food economy to boom or get to the Imperial Age.
A special case for the use of Long Swordsmen would be playing against Goths, as an archer civilization with weak or no Knights. Then, it would be a good move to mass Long Swordsmen, due to having relatively good trades with Huskarls, and because of their subsequent upgrades faring progressively better against Elite Huskarls.
Upgradability chart[]
| Civilizations that can fully upgrade their Long Swordsmen (Gambesons and Squires) | Civilizations with fully upgraded Long Swordsmen and a civilization bonus that benefits their Long Swordsmen | Civilizations with a civilization bonus that benefits their Long Swordsmen but cannot fully upgrade their Long Swordsmen |
|---|---|---|
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Skirmishers, Camel Riders, Eagle Warriors, buildings, Light Cavalry, Pikemen |
| Weak vs. | Archers, Scorpions, Cataphracts, Jaguar Warriors, Boyars, Teutonic Knights |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Fereters (+30, Armenians only)
|
| Regeneration |  Stronghold (30 HP/min when within 18 tiles square of a team Celts Castle)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 attack against standard buildings) Garland Wars (+4, Aztecs only) Druzhina (gives trample damage in +0.5 tiles radius, Slavs only) Chieftains (+5 against cavalry and +4 against camels, Vikings only) Wootz Steel (attack ignores armor, Dravidians only) Comitatenses (+5 charge attack, Romans only)
|
| Armor |  Scale Mail Armor (+1  melee/ +1  pierce, +2 melee/ +2 pierce for the Romans) Chain Mail Armor (+1 melee/ +1 pierce, +2 melee/ +2 pierce for the Romans) Plate Mail Armor (+1 melee/ +2 pierce) Gambesons (+0 melee/ +1 pierce)
|
| 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)
|
| Movement speed |  Squires (+10%)
|
| Resource cost |  Supplies (-15 food) Kshatriyas (-25% food, Gurjaras only) Forced Levy (+20 food, -20 gold, Malay only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Perfusion (+100%, Goths only) Comitatenses (+50%, Romans only)
|
| Other | Chieftains (generates gold when killing Villagers, trade units, and Monks, Vikings only)
|
| Upgrade |  Two-Handed Swordsman Legionary (Romans only)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Armenians: Long Swordsmen are available in the Feudal Age and can be upgraded to Two-Hand Swordsmen in the Castle Age.- Aztecs: Long Swordsmen are created 11% faster.
- Bulgarians: Militia-line upgrades are free. Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Long Swordsmen cost -50% food.
- Burmese: Long Swordsmen have +2/+3 attack in the Castle/Imperial Age. Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Long Swordsmen move 15% faster. Long Swordsmen can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Long Swordsmen are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Dravidians: Researching Supplies, Gambesons, Arson and Squires, and upgrading to Two-Handed Swordsman costs -50%.
- Georgians: Long Swordsmen receive -20% (-40% instead of -25%) damage on higher elevations.
- Goths: Long Swordsmen are 30%/35% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age, and have +2/+3 attack against standard buildings in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Incas: Long Swordsmen cost -20%/-25% food in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Japanese: Long Swordsmen attack 33% faster.
- Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free.
- Malay: with update 81058 infantry armor upgrades are free.
- Malians: Long Swordsmen have +2 pierce/+3 pierce armor in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Portuguese: Long Swordsmen cost -20% gold.
- Romans: Long Swordsmen receive double the effect from armor upgrades, and are empowered by Centurions.
- Sicilians: Long Swordsmen take -33% bonus damage.
- Slavs: Supplies and Gambesons are free.
- Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Long Swordsmen cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit Long Swordsmen provides 20 gold each.
- Tatars: Long Swordsmen deal +20% damage (+50% instead of +25%) from a cliff or an elevation.
- Teutons: Long Swordsmen have +1 melee armor in the Castle Age and +2 melee in the Imperial Age.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
- Vikings: Long Swordsmen have +20% HP.
Team bonuses[]
- Armenians: Long Swordsmen have +2 Line of Sight.
- Bulgarians: Researching infantry armor and attack upgrades at the Blacksmith is 80% faster.
- Goths: Long Swordsmen are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Supplies, Gambesons, Squires, and Arson is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion and Faith is 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Long Swordsmen are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Long Swordsmen are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Long Swordsmen have 55 hit points.
- Long Swordsmen have +2 attack against standard buildings.
- Long Swordsmen have 0 melee/ 0 pierce armor.
- The Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade takes 75 seconds to research.
- Goths: Long Swordsmen are 15%/25% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age and have an extra +1 attack against standard buildings.
- Vikings: Long Swordsmen have +15%/+20% hit points in the Castle/Imperial Age.
The Conquerors[]
- Long Swordsmen have +4 attack against Eagle Warriors.
- Long Swordsmen have 0 melee/ 1 pierce armor.
- Heresy technology introduced.
- Aztecs: Garland Wars introduced.
- Goths: With patch 1.0b, Long Swordsmen are 35% cheaper. Perfusion technology introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Long Swordsmen have 60 hit points.
- Long Swordsmen have +3 attack against standard buildings.
- Long Swordsmen have +6 attack against Eagle Warriors.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Arson technology introduced.
- Vikings: With patch 4.8, the technology Chieftains affects Long Swordsmen. It gives Long Swordsmen +2 attack against Armor class: Camel.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Vikings: With patch 5.7, Chieftains grants Long Swordsmen +4 attack against Armor class: Camel.
- Malay: Forced Levy removes Long Swordsmen's gold cost.
Definitive Edition[]
- Tracking is free.
- Supplies introduced.
- Bulgarians: With update 42848, Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Long Swordsmen cost -50% food.
- 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.
- Goths: With update 36202, cost bonus is 30%/35% in the Castle/Imperial Age; and bonus damage against standard buildings is +2/+3 in the Castle/Imperial Age. Goths lose access to Arson.
- Malay: Forced Levy changes Long Swordsmen's gold cost to food cost.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, as a civilization bonus, technologies that benefit Long Swordsmen are researched 30% faster.
- Teutons: With update 35584, Long Swordsmen have +1 melee armor in the Castle Age. With update 36906, Long Swordsmen receive another +1 melee armor in the Imperial Age.
Lords of the West[]
- Sicilians: Long Swordsmen resist 50% bonus damage. With update 47820, First Crusade increases the conversion resistance of Long Swordsmen.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- With update 54480, Long Swordsmen have 1 melee/ 1 pierce armor.
- Vikings: With update 56005, Long Swordsmen have +20% HP.
Dynasties of India[]
- Sicilians: With update 66692, Long Swordsmen resist only 33% bonus damage.
- Portuguese: With update 73855, as a team bonus, technologies that benefit Long Swordsmen are researched 25% faster.
- With update 81058, the Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade takes 60 seconds to research, and Gambesons is introduced.
- Incas: With update 81058, Long Swordsmen cost -25%/-30% food in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Malay: With update 81058, infantry armor upgrades are free.
The Mountain Royals[]
- Incas: With update 99311, they cost -20%/-25% food in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Heroes[]
There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Long Swordsman:
History[]
| “ | The weapon of choice for noble warriors was the long sword. Being skilled with a sword was a social distinction because good swords were expensive and difficult to make. Men-at-arms of lower classes trained with shorter and less expensive weapons. Long swords were reserved for the nobility. The ceremony of becoming a knight involved being dubbed with a long sword by the new knight's lord. | ” |
Trivia[]
- The Long Swordsman is one of only three upgraded forms of military units (the other two being the Man-at-Arms and the War Galley) to be available to all civilizations.
- The Militia line is the only unit line in the game with more than three stages.
- The Malay is the only civilization to have the Militia line (except the Champion) as trash unit (once the Forced Levy is researched).
- Despite being called 'Long Swordsman', the Long Swordsman does not use a Longsword, as a Longsword in reality is a two-handed sword, not one handed (the type of sword the Two-Handed Swordsman and Champion use in game). The type of sword the 'Long Swordsman' actually appears to be using is an Arming Sword, which was the typical one handed, double edged, medieval sword.
Gallery[]
