“ | 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 |
---|---|
- x indicates that the civilization can fully upgrade their Heavy Horse Archers, i.e. gets Nobility, Alchemy, Conscription and Craftsmanship.
- + indicates that the civilization has at least one civilization bonus that benefits the combat strength of the Heavy Horse Archer.
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[]
Civilization | Palmyrans, Persians, Sumerians | Hittites | Lac Viet | Yamato | Macedonians | Shang |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost | 50 food 70 gold |
50 food 70 gold |
50 food 70 gold |
43 food 60 gold |
50 food 70 gold |
50 food 70 gold |
Hit Points | 104 | 104 | 104 | 104 | 90 | 104 |
Training Time | 32 | 32 | 25.6 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
Armor | 0+6/1 | 0+6/1 | 0+8/1 | 0+6/1 | 0+6/1 | 0+6/1 |
Attack | 8+1 | 8+2 | 8+1 | 8+1 | 8+1 | 8 |
Range | 7+2 | 7+3 | 7+3 | 7+3 | 7+2 | 7+3 |
Extras | Four times more resistant to conversion |
Further statistics[]
Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
---|---|
Strong vs. | Slow and non-ranged units, Priests, Chariot Archers |
Weak vs. | Elephant Archers, Ballistae, 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[]
- Hittites: Heavy Horse Archers have +1 attack.
- Lac Viet: Heavy Horse Archers are trained 25% faster and have +2 armor.
- Macedonians: Heavy Horse Archers are four times more resistant to conversion.
- Yamato: Heavy Horse Archers cost -15%.
Team bonuses[]
- Palmyrans: Researching technologies that benefit Heavy Horse Archers is 30% faster.
- Phoenicians: Heavy Horse Archers have +2 Line of Sight.
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.
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[]
Tech tree[]
Barracks |
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→ | → | |||||||||
Improved Bow |
→ | |||||||||
Wheel |
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→ | ||||||||||
Units in Age of Empires | |
---|---|
Civilian | Villager · Trade Cart |
Other | Priest · Slinger · Artifact |
Civilian ship | Fishing Boat · Fishing Ship Trade Boat · Merchant Ship Light Transport · Heavy Transport |
Infantry | Clubman · Axeman Short Swordsman · Broad Swordsman · Long Swordsmen · Legionary Hoplite · Phalangite · Centurion |
Archer | Bowman Improved Bowman · Composite Bowman Chariot Archer Horse Archer · Heavy Horse Archer Elephant Archer |
Cavalry | Scout Chariot · Scythe Chariot Cavalry · Heavy Cavalry · Cataphract War Elephant · Armored Elephant Camel Rider |
Siege | Stone Thrower · Catapult · Heavy Catapult Ballista · Helepolis |
War Ship | Scout Ship · War Galley · Trireme Catapult Trireme · Juggernaut Fire Galley |
Scenario Editor-only units | |
Chieftain · Donkey · Explorer · General · High Priest · Horse · Mercenary (removed) · Penguin · Pharaoh · Raft · War Chest |