Age of Empires Series Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Info icon
This article is about the unit Age of Empires. For other uses of the term, see Heavy cavalry.

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[]

Aoede heavy cavalry available Available Aoede heavy cavalry unavailable Unavailable

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[]

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs. Foot archers, siege weapons, Chariots
Weak vs. Infantry, War Elephants, Camel Riders, Priests
Upgrades
Hit points NobilityIcon Nobility (+15%)
Attack Toolworking Toolworking (+2)
Metalworkingicon Metalworking (+2)
Metallurgyicon Metallurgy (+3)
Armor Leatherarmorcavalryicon Leather Armor Cavalry (+2/+0)
Scalearmorcavalryicon Scale Armor Cavalry (+2/+0)
Chainmailcavalryicon Chain Mail Cavalry (+2/+0)
Creation speed RoR Conscription Conscription (+25%)
Upgrades Cataphract upgrade Cataphract

Civilization bonuses[]

  • Lac Viet AOE DE ROR icon Lac Viet: Heavy Cavalry are trained 25% faster.
  • Macedonian AOE DE ROR icon Macedonians: Heavy Cavalry have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
  • Shang AOE DE ROR icon Shang: Heavy Cavalry attack 10% faster.*
  • Yamato AOE DE ROR icon Yamato: Heavy Cavalry cost -15%. Upgrading Heavy Cavalry to Cataphracts costs -30%.*

Team bonuses[]

  • Palmyran AOE DE ROR icon Palmyrans: Upgrading to Cataphract and technologies that benefit Heavy Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
  • Persian AOE DE ROR icon Persians: Heavy Cavalry are created 20% faster.

Changelog[]

ReturnRome-AoEIcon 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.

Age of Empires Definitive Edition icon 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.

AoE2Icon-ReturnRome 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.

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[]

Tech tree[]

Stable
Requires
AOEDE Barracks icon Barracks
Stone Age Icon (DE)
Tool Age Icon (DE)
Bronze Age Icon (DE)
Iron Age Icon (DE)
Scout Chariot
Requires
Wheelicon Wheel
Aoede scythe chariot available
Cavalry Heavy Cavalry Cataphract
Camel Rider War Elephant Armored Elephant


Units in Age of Empires
CivilianReturnofrome female villager icon Villager · Returnofrome trade cart icon Trade Cart
OtherAoE2 DE priest icon Priest · Slinger-0 Slinger · Returnofrome artifact icon Artifact
Civilian ship1 Fishing Boat Fishing Boat · 2 Fishing Ship Fishing Ship
3 Trade Boat Trade Boat · 4 Merchant Ship Merchant Ship
5 Light Transport Light Transport · 6 Heavy Transport Heavy Transport
InfantryClubman Clubman · AxemanAoEDE Axeman
Short Swordsman Short Swordsman · Broad Swordsman Broad Swordsman · AoE nuRoR Long Swordsman icon Long Swordsmen · Returnofrome legionary icon Legionary
HopliteDE Hoplite · AoE nuRoR Phalangite icon Phalangite · Returnofrome centurion icon Centurion
ArcherBowman aoe1de Bowman
Improved Bowman22 Improved Bowman · Composite Bowman Composite Bowman
Chariot Archer111 Chariot Archer
Horse Archer Horse Archer · Returnofrome heavy horse archer icon Heavy Horse Archer
EAICON DE Elephant Archer
CavalryScout-0 Scout
ChariotDE Chariot · ScytheDE Scythe Chariot
Cavalry111 Cavalry · Returnofrome heavy cavalry icon Heavy Cavalry · Returnofrome cataphract icon Cataphract
War ElephantDE War Elephant · Returnofrome armored elephant icon Armored Elephant
Camel RiderDE Camel Rider
SiegeStone ThrowerDE Stone Thrower · CatapultDE Catapult · Returnofrome heavy catapult icon Heavy Catapult
BallistaDE Ballista · Returnofrome helepolis icon Helepolis
War Ship7 Scout Ship Scout Ship · 8 War Galley War Galley · 9 Trireme Trireme
Catapult Trireme Catapult Trireme · Returnofrome juggernaut icon Juggernaut
10 Fire Galley Fire Galley
Scenario Editor-only units
Short Swordsman Chieftain · Donkey caravan aoe2DE Donkey · Clubman Explorer · Returnofrome heavy cavalry icon General · AoE2 DE priest icon High Priest · Returnofrome horse icon Horse · HeavyCavalryDE Mercenary (removed) · Penguin aoe2DE Penguin · AoE2 DE priest icon Pharaoh · 5 Light Transport Raft · Returnofrome artifact icon War Chest
Advertisement