Heavy Cavalry (Age of Empires)

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

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
Melee attack	10
Attack bonus	+6 vs. Light infantry
Reload time	1.5
Melee armor	2
Pierce armor	2
Armor class	Mounted units
Speed	1.66
Line of Sight	4
Upgraded from
Upgraded from	Cavalry
Upgrades to
Upgrades to	Cataphract
Upgrade cost	1,600 food, 600 gold
Upgrade time	150 seconds
Upgrade requires	N/A

“	Upgrade of Cavalry. Heavy Cavalry has more attack strength and armor than Cavalry.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

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 (before Return of Rome, only once Metallurgy is researched).

Civilizations

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

Gameplay

Heavy Cavalry deal +6 damage against Light infantry. Their fast speed, good pierce armor, and high hit points let them chase Villagers, foot archers, and Slingers. Thus, it can eliminate ranged units very quickly, but are rather ineffective against Centurions and War Elephants. Despite their bonus against Long Swordsmen, they are not cost effective against them due to being three times more expensive. However, they are quite effective in terms of population space, in particular if the enemy has not researched Logistics yet.

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Archers, siege weapons, Chariots
Weak vs.	Infantry, War Elephants, Camel Riders, Priests

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)
Creation speed	Conscription (+25%)
Other	Cataphract (+90 hit points, +2 attack, +1 vs light infantry, +3/+1 armor)

Civilization bonuses
Conversion resistance	Macedonians (4x)
Attack speed	Shang (+10%)
Line of Sight	Macedonians (+2)
Resource cost	Yamato (-15%)
Creation speed	Lac Viet (+25%)
Other	Yamato (-30% research cost)

Team bonuses
Creation speed	Persians (+20%)

Indirect civilization bonuses

• Carthaginians: Nobility is free (requires a Government Center).
• Choson: Storage Pit technologies that benefit Heavy Cavalry are 40% cheaper.

Indirect team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Researching technologies that benefit Heavy Cavalry is 30% faster.
• Persians: Upgrading to Heavy Cavalry and to Cataphract is 20% faster.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Heavy Cavalry have 1 armor and pierce armor.
• Heavy Cavalry have +5 attack vs infantry.
• Heavy Cavalry can be upgraded to Cataphracts only if Metallurgy is researched.
• Heavy Cavalry are visually identical to Cataphracts.
• Heavy Cavalry have 1.5 reload time.

Definitive Edition

• Heavy Cavalry have 2 armor.
• With update 9, Heavy Cavalry have 2 pierce armor.
• With update 38862, Heavy Cavalry have +6 attack vs infantry.

Return of Rome

• Researching Metallurgy is no longer required to upgrade Heavy Cavalry to Cataphracts.
• Heavy Cavalry receive a unique model to visually differentiate them from Cataphracts.
• Upon release, Heavy Cavalry had 1.3 reload time. With update 87863, they have 1.5 reload time again.
• Shang: Heavy Cavalry attack 10% faster.
• Yamato: Upgrading Heavy Cavalry to Cataphracts costs -30%.
• Team bonuses added:
  • Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Heavy Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
  • Persians: Heavy Cavalry trained 20% faster.

Heroes

There are six heroes in the game with the appearance of a Heavy Cavalry:

• Alexander
• Hector
• Caesar
• Scipio
• Vercingetorix
• Hero

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

Heavy Cavalry in Return of Rome with a distinct model

The Cavalry unit line in Return of Rome, with the Heavy Cavalry in the center

Heavy Cavalry in the Definitive Edition

In the original game, Heavy Cavalry appear identical to Cataphracts

Official artwork of a Heavy Cavalry (left)

Another artwork of a Heavy Cavalry alone

Old 3D model of Heavy Cavalry

Technology tree

		Requires Barracks
	➞		➞		➞
				Requires Wheel	➞
					➞		➞
							➞