Halberdier (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the similar unit in other games of the series, see Halberdier.

Halberdier
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Infantry Heavy infantry Melee infantry
Civilization	See description
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Barracks Fort Galleon Fluyt (Dutch)
Food	50
Coin	70
Training time	33 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	200
Resists	20% vs. Melee
Speed	4.0
Line of Sight	12
Population	1
XP train bounty	12
XP bounty	12
Melee attack
Damage	28
Multipliers	x2.0 vs. Cavalry x1.5 vs. Shock infantry
Rate of Fire	1.5
Siege attack
Damage	36
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Slow, heavy infantry with a large attack.	”
—In-game description

The Halberdier is a melee heavy infantry in Age of Empires III that can be trained at Barracks, Fort, and Galleon/Fluyt once the Fortress Age is reached.

Halberdiers are available to Dutch, French, John Black's Mercenaries (Act II: Ice campaign), Portuguese, and Russians.

Overview

The Halberdier is a powerful hand infantry unit, good against cavalry, but vulnerable to Skirmishers. It is similar to the Pikeman in terms of its purpose and function. However, it is more versatile, dealing more damage to non-cavalry units, has more health and damage, and can be upgraded to Guard and Imperial level, but has less speed and siege damage when accounted for cost. Halberdiers have extremely high attack and hit points for an infantry unit, but are slow, and thus unable to catch up to almost anything to get into melee. This makes them much better at defensive purposes than as a primary offensive unit. The Dutch are somewhat able to overcome this weakness by combining the "Military Reforms" Home City Card and Military Drummers for a total of 5.2 speed. Training 5-10 Halberdiers and placing them behind artillery to guard from cavalry flanks is an extremely cost-effective way to defend cannons. Unlike Musketeers, they will automatically block and melee down cavalry, and can go into cover mode, which greatly increases their durability.

Additionally, Halberdiers are able to beat almost any melee infantry that gets into combat with them (with the notable exception of the Jaguar Prowl Knight), making them more versatile than Pikemen.

In the Definitive Edition, the Dutch can train Halberdiers as early as the Commerce Age if they Age up with The Logistician.

Upgrades

The Halberdier starts at the Veteran level, but without the increased hit points and attack.

If made available in the Commerce Age by Aging up with The Logistician for the Dutch, Halberdiers will be automatically upgraded to Veteran when the player reaches the Fortress Age.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect	Civ.
	Guard Halberdiers	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Halberdiers to Guard (+30% hit points and attack)	French Portuguese Russians
	Stadswachts	1,000 wood, 1,000 coin	Upgrades Halberdiers to Stadswachts (Guard Halberdiers with +10% hit points and attack, on top of +30% hit points and attack from the Guard Upgrade)	Dutch
	Imperial Halberdiers	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Halberdiers to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Halberdiers	French Portuguese Russians
	Imperial Stadswachts		Upgrades Stadswachts to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Stadswachts	Dutch

Civilization differences

• As seen above, the Dutch can upgrade Halberdiers to Royal Guard and Imperial Guard levels.
• The Russians train Halberdiers in groups of four at the Blockhouse for 75% of the price but with 20% less hit points and attack.
• While the Spanish cannot train Halberdiers, they can ship 13 Guard Halberdiers through Royal Alabarderos. Similarly, the Swedes can ship 16 Veteran Halberdiers through Gustavian Guards, and can turn all Pikemen into Halberdiers through the "Dalcarlian Rebellion" card.
• John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade Halberdiers to the Guard level.
• The Haudenosaunee can ship up to 31 Halberdiers through the "Renegade Dutch" cards.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Cavalry, shock infantry, buildings
Weak vs.	Archers, artillery
Improvements
Hit points	Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Corselet (+25%, Spanish only) Cree Tanning (+5%) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Yoga (+5%) Master Lessons (+10%)
Speed	Military Drummers (+10%) Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Creation speed	Standing Army (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Petrine Reforms (grants Guard upgrade, Russians only) Quatrefage (ships 13 Guard Halberdiers, Spanish only) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost) Gustavian Guards (ships 16 Veteran Halberdiers, Swedes only)
Penalties	Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only) Corselet (-15% speed, Spanish only)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Halberdier

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Purple: Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times Dutch Card Description Age HC level 11 Halberdiers Ships 11 Halberdiers 10 8 Halberdiers Ships 8 Halberdiers 10 Military Reforms Halberdiers get +20% speed, but -0.25x multiplier against infantry 25 Infantry Attack Pikemen, Skirmishers, and Halberdiers get +15% attack 10 TEAM Infantry Hitpoints Infantry get +15% hit points 10 Infantry Combat Pikemen, Skirmishers, and Halberdiers get +15% hit points and attack 25 Europeans Card Description Age HC level 7 Halberdiers Ships 7 Halberdiers 1 10 Halberdiers Ships 10 Halberdiers 1 8 Halberdiers Ships 8 Halberdiers 10 13 Halberdiers Ships 13 Halberdiers 25 Fencing School Infantry train time -40% 10 The 7 Halberdiers, 10 Halberdiers, and 8 Halberdiers cards are available to Dutch and Portuguese. The 13 Halberdiers card is available to Dutch and Russians (at a level 1 Home City). Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Iroquois Card Description Age HC level Infantry Attack Infantry get +15% attack 10 Infantry Hitpoints Infantry get +15% hit points 10 Infantry Combat Infantry get +15% hit points and attack 25 TEAM Scout Infantry Infantry get +8 LOS 10 11 Renegade Dutch Ships 11 Halberdiers; costs 500 coin 1 20 Renegade Dutch Ships 20 Halberdiers; costs 1,000 coin 10 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level 9 Halberdiers Ships 9 Halberdiers 1 15 Halberdiers Ships 15 Halberdiers 10 Ransack Infantry get +50% siege attack 25 TEAM Dueling School Infantry train time -25%; banner army train time -12% 25 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Infantry Attack Melee infantry get +15% attack 10 TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10 Swedes Card Description Age TEAM Heavy Infantry Hitpoints Heavy infantry get +15% hit points

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Halberdiers have 25 hand attack and 10% melee resistance.

Definitive Edition

• Halberdiers now have 28 hand attack and 20% melee resistance.
• The Logistician introduced for the Dutch.
• Halberdiers shipped by Quatrefage now use the Spanish Pikeman dialogue instead of the Dutch Halberdier's.

Trivia

• The Halberdier's function and its availability in the third age is similar to the Hoplite and Phalanx from the original Age of Empires.
• Despite being a weapon of German origin that was also used by the British and Spanish, none of them use it for balancing reasons.
• Dutch Royal Guard Halberdiers' name, Stadswacht, translates to "City Guard".
  • Before the Definitive Edition, they are named Nassauer, which refers to Maurice of Nassau who was the first to utilize linear infantry tactics on a large scale in Europe (confirmed by the Royal Guard upgrade, which is named Nassau's Linear Tactics). Contrary to the in-game upgrade, however, the tactic was introduced to Dutch musketeers rather than melee troops.

History

“

Riders with lances had better range than halberdiers, so halberdiers often fought alongside Pikemen. The axe blade of a halberd was more than capable of cleaving plate armor, flesh and bone alike, but because the halberdier had to swing the long weapon with both hands, he was virtually defenseless when attacking. This required tight coordination and unwavering resolve within a regiment of halberdiers. The halberd is essentially a very long-handled axe. It was a six foot staff of stout oak or ash topped by a long, stabbing spear point and a heavy axe blade balanced by a spike. The spear point was used to thrust and stab, the axe blade to cut through a mounted warrior's heavy armor, and the spike opposite the axe blade to push, or pull, riders off balance.

”

Gallery

An in-game (Veteran) Halberdier.

An in-game Guard/Imperial Halberdier.

Standard Halberdier Model.

Guard Halberdier in-game.

The Halberdier's history portrait.