Horse Archer (Age of Empires)

Horse Archer
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Cavalry Archer
Civilization	See table
Age	Iron Age
Training
Trained at	Archery Range
Food	50
Gold	70
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	60
Attack	7
Rate of Fire	1.5
Range	7
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	1
Speed	2.2
Line of Sight	9
Unit evolution
Upgrades to	Heavy Horse Archer

The Horse Archer is a ranged cavalry unit in Age of Empires that can be trained at the Archery Range once the Iron Age is reached. It is the very first cavalry archer to appear in the Age of Empires series, and the predecessor of the Cavalry Archer in Age of Empires II and the same unit in Age of Empires III.

Unit availability

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

Strategy

The Horse Archer is a fast ranged cavalry that can be made during the Iron Age in the Archery Range. Horse Archers are one of the more expensive archer units, but their decent attack, good range and, most importantly, high speed makes them one of the best units of the Iron Age.

Although only having a tenth of an Elephant Archer's hitpoints, the Horse Archer has more than double its speed. Having this key ability allows them to outmaneuver most units in open terrain. Under ideal conditions in one on one combat, horse archers dominate the field. As a result, this makes them a great choice in guerilla warfare. However, due to their fragility, their attacking potential becomes less powerful the more they are bunched together on the battlefield where they can be prime targets for siege weaponry that does area of effect damage. The Horse Archer can be upgraded to the more powerful Heavy Horse Archer.

Upgrades

Tool Age

•  Leather Armor Archers increases armor by 2.
•  Woodworking increases range by 1.

Bronze Age

•  Scale Armor Archers increases armor by 2.
•  Artisanship increases range by 1.
•  Nobility increases hit points by 15%.

Iron Age

•  Alchemy increases attack by 1.
•  Ballistics increases accuracy.
•  Chain Mail Archers increases armor by 2.
•  Craftsmanship increases range by 1.

Archery Range Tree
Tool Age Archery Range Bowman Bronze Age Improved Bowman Chariot Archer Composite Bowman Iron Age Horse Archer Elephant Archer Heavy Horse Archer

Civilization bonuses

• Assyrians: Horse Archers have -25% reload time.
• Hittites: Horse Archers have +1 damage.
• Yamato: Horse Archers are 15% cheaper.
• Macedonians: Horse Archers are four times more resistant against conversion.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Horse Archers have 2 pierce armor.
• Yamato Horse Archers cost 30% less but move 20% slower.

The Rise of Rome

• Yamato Horse Archers cost 25% less and now move at normal speed.

Definitive Edition

• Horse Archers now have 1 pierce armor (down from 2).
• With Content Update 9, Yamato Horse Archers cost -20%. With update 38862, the discount was further reduced to -15%.

History

Horse archers can be deadly if used properly in large numbers.

Horse archers started to gradually replace chariot archers on the ancient battlefields from the Iron Age on. Two ranged cavalrymen had the firepower of a single Chariot Archer and could move faster on the battlefield. Also, a loss on the battlefield was of only one horse and the archer in contrast to the loss of a chariot, of the men on the chariot and often, of the horses.  The horse archers' use was gradually limited when many cultures, such as the Greeks made increasing use of heavy cavalry (such as the Companion cavalry), and skirmishing troops. The Chinese also built the Great Wall to protect themselves against these cavalrymen and other armies from the western steppes.

Gallery

A group of Horse Archers.

A Horse Archer in the Definitive Edition