Heavy Cavalry (Age of Empires)

This article is about the unit Age of Empires. For other uses of the term, see Heavy cavalry (disambiguation).

Heavy Cavalry
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Cavalry
Civilization	See table
Age	Iron Age
Training
Trained at	Stable
Food	70
Gold	80
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	150
Attack	10 melee
Attack bonuses	+6 vs. Light Infantry
Rate of Fire	1.5
Melee armor	2
Pierce armor	2
Speed	2.0
Line of Sight	4
Unit evolution
Upgraded from	Cavalry
Upgrades to	Cataphract
Upgrade cost	1,600 food, 600 gold
Upgrade time	150 seconds

The Heavy Cavalry is a powerful cavalry unit in Age of Empires that can be trained at the Stable once the Iron Age is reached. As the upgrade of the Cavalry, it is much stronger in attack and bulk. Heavy Cavalry can be upgraded to Cataphracts once Metallurgy is researched.

Availability

Unit availability

Available	Unavailable
Assyrians Carthaginians Choson Greeks Macedonians Palmyrans Persians Shang Yamato	Babylonians Egyptians Hittites Minoans Phoenicians Romans Sumerians

Strategy

Heavy Cavalry deal a +6 damage bonus against all melee infantry units except for Academy units. Thus, it can eliminate foot soldiers and Catapults very quickly, but are rather ineffective against Centurions, War Elephants, Ballistae, and Helepolises.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry
Weak vs.	Centurions, War Elephants
Upgrades
Hit points	Nobility (+15%)
Attack	Toolworking (+2)  Metalworking (+2)  Metallurgy (+3)
Armor	Leather Armor Cavalry (+2/+0)  Scale Armor Cavalry (+2/+0)  Chain Mail Cavalry (+2/+0)
Upgrades	Cataphract

Civilization bonuses

• Macedonians: Heavy Cavalry have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Yamato: Heavy Cavalry are 15% cheaper.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Heavy Cavalry have 1 pierce armor.
• Heavy Cavalry have +5 attack vs infantry.

Definitive Edition

• With CU9, Heavy Cavalry now have 2 pierce armor.
• With update 38862, Heavy Cavalry have +6 attack vs infantry.

History

“

Heavy cavalry was distinguished from other cavalry by equipment and battlefield role. It was considered heavy because the warriors and horses usually wore some metal armor, including breastplates, helmets, and greaves. The horses were also oversized to more easily carry an armored man and to intimidate foes. While most cavalry acted as skirmishers and scouts on the battlefield, heavy cavalry was a shock weapon, held back for the proper moment to charge into enemy formations and ride them down. Heavy cavalry was rare in antiquity because the saddle and stirrup had not yet been invented. It took an exceptional rider to ride into a shock battle and use a lance effectively. The most famous heavy cavalry of the time was the Companion cavalry of Alexander the Great. These men were horsemen from birth on the plains of Thessaly and Macedon. Part of their devastating success in battle against the Persians may have been due to the novelty of their wedge-shaped charges, unprecedented at that time.

”

Gallery

A group of Heavy Cavalry units. In appearance, they are identical to Cataphracts.

Heavy Cavalry in the Definitive Edition