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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[]

Aoede heavy horse archer available Available Aoede heavy horse archer unavailable 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.
Heavy Horse Archer attacking an enemy Cataphract

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[]

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 NobilityIcon Nobility (+15%)
Attack Alchemy Alchemy (+1)
Range Woodworking Woodworking (+1)
Artisanship Artisanship (+1)
Craftsmanship Craftsmanship (+1)
Accuracy Ballistics Ballistics (hit moving targets)
Armor Leatherarmorarchersicon Leather Armor Archers (+2/+0)
Scalearmorarchersicon Scale Armor Archers (+2/+0)
Chainmailarchersicon Chain Mail Archers (+2/+0)
Creation speed RoR Conscription Conscription (+25%)

Civilization bonuses[]

  • Hittite AOE DE ROR icon Hittites: Heavy Horse Archers have +1 attack.
  • Lac Viet AOE DE ROR icon Lac Viet: Heavy Horse Archers are trained 25% faster and have +2 armor.
  • Macedonian AOE DE ROR icon Macedonians: Heavy Horse Archers are four times more resistant to conversion.
  • Yamato AOE DE ROR icon Yamato: Heavy Horse Archers cost -15%.

Team bonuses[]

Changelog[]

ReturnRome-AoEIcon 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 AOE DE ROR icon Yamato: Heavy Horse Archers cost -30% but move 20% slower.

RomeIcon The Rise of Rome[]

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

Age of Empires Definitive Edition icon 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%.

AoE2Icon-ReturnRome Return of Rome[]

  • Researching Chain Mail Archers is no longer required to upgrade Horse Archers to Heavy Horse Archers.
  • Team bonuses added:
    • Palmyran AOE DE ROR icon Palmyrans: Technologies benefiting Heavy Horse Archers are researched 30% faster.
    • Phoenician AOE DE ROR icon 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[]

Archery Range
Requires
AOEDE Barracks icon Barracks
Stone Age Icon (DE)
Tool Age Icon (DE)
Bronze Age Icon (DE)
Iron Age Icon (DE)
Aoede bowman available
Aoede improved bowman available
Requires
Aoe improved bow icon Improved Bow
Composite Bowman
Chariot Archer
Requires
Wheelicon Wheel
Horse Archer Aoede heavy horse archer available
Elephant Archer


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
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