| “ | Ranged infantry with good damage vs. unarmored targets and increased fire rate and longer weapon range than standard Archers. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Gilded Archer is a light ranged infantry unit in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, available to the Order of the Dragon. It can be trained at the Archery Range starting in the Feudal Age. It is the gilded version of the Archer. It has an attack bonus against light melee infantry, making them the weapon of choice when dealing with lightly-armored units like Spearmen.
Just like all gilded units, Gilded Archers cost 100% more resources and population, and are trained 20% slower. The Gilded Archer additionally has +55/+65/+65 hit points, +1/+1/+2 attack and attack bonus vs light infantry, +10% tiles range, and most notably, a 62.5% faster attack time.
Tactics[]
Archers primarily counter light melee infantry such as Spearmen, Landsknechts, and Musofadi Warriors. Because of their low attack, Archers perform worse against heavily armored infantry such as Men-at-Arms, against which Crossbowmen should be used instead. However, for civilizations which do not have access to a dedicated anti-heavy unit in the Feudal Age, Archers can still perform acceptably vs Early Man-at-Arms due to the fact that they are cheaper and easier to mass, their higher speed which allows them to endlessly kite the Men-at-Arms, and the latter's lower armor in the Feudal Age. Archers also will beat almost every other ranged infantry or cavalry in the game, especially Ottoman Janissaries, cost-effectively due to their cheap cost and high Rate of Fire. The only exceptions to this are Malian Javelin Throwers and Delhi Sultanate Tower Elephants, both of which render Archers practically useless.
In addition to these two ranged exceptions, Archers are also hard countered by Horsemen, unless in a large mass, and should be protected from them on the battlefield. Furthermore, Lancers, with their high armor, speed, and high damage, will essentially hard counter Archers despite their lack of bonus damage, even if not as cost-effectively as Horsemen. Finally, anti-infantry siege engines like the Nest of Bees and especially Mangonels exist to counter archer armies, and must be avoided at all costs.
Overall, Archers are strongest in the Feudal Age, where their range and the lack of enemy armor help them shine. They typically form a part of almost Feudal army composition as either a primary or supporting role, because their range gives them much more flexibility and ease-of-use than a double-melee Horseman/Spearman composition. They pair especially well with Early Knights or their equivalents, whose only counter is Spearmen. When they reach large numbers, they can even one-shot Horsemen and overcome their supposed counter. Although they cannot attack an enemy base on their own due to their inability to destroy buildings, they excel at sniping Villagers and enemy defenders from outside the Town Center range while allowing allied melee units to destroy the buildings.
In the Castle Age and Imperial Age, Archers begin to lose their effectiveness unless they are already in a large mass. Horsemen, Knights, and Men-at-Arms all become better counters as they gain armor, attack, and bonus damage and become easier to create with larger economies. Archers are also particularly bad versus defensive buildings such as Keeps, and siege units, especially Mangonels, most of which take only 1 damage from Archers. These all begin entering the field in the Castle Age and favor higher mobility or more heavily-armored units to overcome. These weaknesses make it hard for Archer-heavy armies to win the game, even if they win military engagements, incentivizing players to vary their army compositions. Castle Age gameplay typically sees Archer compositions begin adding in more Crossbowmen, Springalds, or heavy cavalry. It should be noted, however, that Archers perform well against the popular Spearman/Crossbowman late-game combination.
When using Archers heavily, it becomes imperative to not forget the ranged attack Blacksmith technologies. Correspondingly, the ranged defense upgrades are an absolute requirement when defending against Archer armies. Due to their low attack, Archers are disproportionally affected by these technologies, more so than any other unit.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Light melee infantry, Janissaries |
| Weak vs. | Horsemen, Lancers, Mangonels, Javelin Throwers |
| Conditional matchups | Horse Archers, Crossbowmen, Handcannoneers |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Steeled Arrow (+1) Balanced Projectiles (+1) Platecutter Point (+1) Incendiary Arrows (+20%, +6 siege damage vs buildings)
|
 Range
|
 Silk Bowstrings (+1.5)
|
| 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) Scale Armor (+3 ranged)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%)
|
| Ability |  Siege Engineering (Can build Battering Rams and Siege Towers)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Inspiration Bonus (+15%)
|
| Range
|
 Wall Defense (+1)
|
| Armor | Inspiration Bonus (+1 melee/ranged)
|
| Damage resistance | Wall Defense (-25% ranged, -50% siege)
|
Dialogue lines[]
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