Heavy Horse Archer

Heavy Horse Archer
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Cavalry Archer
Civilization	See table
Age	Iron Age
Requires	N/A
Training
Trained at	Archery Range
Food	50
Gold	70
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	90
Pierce attack	8
Reload time	1.5
Range	7
Projectile speed	8
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	1
Armor class	Archers Mounted units
Speed	2.08
Line of Sight	9
Upgraded from
Upgraded from	Horse Archer

“	Upgrade of the Horse Archer. The Heavy Horse Archer has more hit points and attack strength.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Heavy Horse Archer is a mounted archer unit in Age of Empires that can be trained at the Archery Range once the Iron Age is reached. It is an upgrade of the Horse Archer and is highly effective given its cost. The upgrade increases the attack by 1, provides an additional 30 hit points, and slightly increases speed to make the unit the fastest in the game.

Civilizations

Available	Unavailable
Hittitesx+ Lac Vietx+ Macedonians-+ Palmyrans Persians Shang- Sumerians Yamatox-+	Assyrians Babylonians Carthaginians Choson Egyptians Greeks Minoans Phoenicians Romans

^x indicates that the civilization can fully upgrade their Heavy Horse Archers' combat statistics, i.e. gets Nobility, Alchemy and Craftsmanship.

^- indicates that the civilization does not get Conscription.

⁺ indicates that the civilization has at least one civilization bonus that benefits the combat strength of the Heavy Horse Archer.

Heavy Horse Archer attacking an enemy Cataphract.

Gameplay

All cavalry archers are designed for guerilla warfare due to their supreme agility and can outrun most attacks dealt by enemy units. As a result, they excel at hit and run attacks and can repeat the process until the enemy is eliminated. Heavy Horse Archers also have the strongest human-based ranged attack in the game and are the fastest land units other than cheat units.

They have few counters, but among them is the Camel Rider. The Camel Rider, which counters most cavalry in general, also gets a 25% increase in speed from the Palmyrans which makes them able to catch up and properly deal with Heavy Horse Archers.

Comparison among civilizations

Only civilizations with noteworthy Heavy Horse Archers are compared here.

Civilization	Hittites	Lac Viet	Macedonians	Yamato
Cost	50 food 70 gold			43 food 60 gold
Hit Points	104		90	104
Armor	0+6/1	0+8/1	0+6/1
Attack	8+2	8+1
Training Time	32	25.6	40
Extras			4x conversion resistance

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Slow melee units, Priests, Chariot Archers
Weak vs.	Elephant Archers, Helepolises, Camel Riders

Upgrades
Hit points	Nobility (+15%)
Attack	Alchemy (+1)
Range	Woodworking (+1) Artisanship (+1) Craftsmanship (+1)
Accuracy	Ballistics (hit moving targets)
Armor	Leather Armor Archers (+2/0) Scale Armor Archers (+2/0) Chain Mail Archers (+2/0)
Creation speed	Conscription (+25%)

Civilization bonuses
Attack	Hittites (+1)
Armor	Lac Viet (+2/0)
Conversion resistance	Macedonians (4x)
Resource cost	Yamato (-15%)
Creation speed	Lac Viet (+25%)

Team bonuses
Line of Sight	Phoenicians (+2)

Indirect civilization bonuses

• Yamato: Upgrading to Heavy Horse Archer is 30% cheaper.

Indirect team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Researching technologies that benefit Heavy Horse Archers is 30% faster.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Horse Archers can be upgraded to Heavy Horse Archers only if Chain Mail Archers is researched.
• Heavy Horse Archers have 2 pierce armor and 7 frame delay.
• Heavy Horse Archers are visually identical to Horse Archers.
• Yamato: Heavy Horse Archers cost -30% but move 20% slower.

The Rise of Rome

• Yamato: Heavy Horse Archers cost -25% and move at normal speed.

Definitive Edition

• Heavy Horse Archers now have 1 pierce armor and 30 frame delay.
• With update 9, Yamato Heavy Horse Archers cost -20%. With update 38862, the discount was further reduced to -15%.

Return of Rome

• Researching Chain Mail Archers is no longer required to upgrade Horse Archers to Heavy Horse Archers.
• Team bonuses added:
  • Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Heavy Horse Archers are researched 30% faster.
  • Phoenicians: Heavy Horse Archers have +2 Line of Sight.
• Heavy Horse Archers receive a unique model to visually differentiate them from Horse Archers.

Heroes

There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Heavy Horse Archer:

• Osroes I

History

“	In a few armies of the late ancient period the Horse Archer was equipped with helmet and limited body armor. This made the archer less vulnerable to arrows himself. The Heavy Horse Archer could get closer to the enemy and do more damage with bow fire with less risk to himself. Heavy Horse Archers were not a common unit, however. They were difficult to train, except for those cultures who were horse archers by common practice. Body armor for archers was a luxury that most armies could not afford.	”
—Age of Empires manual

Gallery

Heavy Horse Archers in Return of Rome with a distinct model

A group of Heavy Horse Archers in the original game.

Front and back view of a Parthian Horse Archer making the eponymous Parthian Shot

Technology tree

		Requires Barracks
	➞		➞			➞
								➞
				Requires Improved Bow	➞
				Requires Wheel