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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires IV. For the unit in Age of Empires, see Horse Archer (Age of Empires). |
| “ | Highly mobile ranged cavalry effective against slower melee units. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Horse Archer is a light ranged cavalry unit in Age of Empires IV, unique to the Rus. It is available in the Archery Range from the Castle Age onwards. The Horse Archer is also available to the Byzantines as a mercenary unit.
Ability[]
Gallop (active, requires Mounted Training): When active, base move speed is set to 2 tiles per second, and weapon range is increased by +2 for 8 seconds. This ability has a 45 second cooldown after being used. Note that 2 tiles per second is the maximum speed of any unit; therefore, further speed enhancements such as Yam Aura or Naval Deployment will have no effect, even if the UI displays a higher speed.
Tactics[]
The Horse Archer is a mounted archer, giving them extra hit points, movement speed, and attack compared to the Archer. Because of its mobility and range, it is excellent at hit-and-run tactics, especially in raids. Its higher attack and ability to easily kite makes them much stronger vs Men-at-arms than standard Archers and even vs Knights in larger numbers. However, unlike Mangudai, they cannot fire while moving, so are somewhat more difficult to micro.
All of these advantages come with an increased resource cost, especially in terms of food. They also still have 0 pierce and melee armor, making them quite squishy and unable to win many direct engagements. Unlike Archers, their status as cavalry and lack of bonus damage make them fall much quicker to Spearmen in melee combat. And while they win fights against Archers in equal numbers, they lose in equal resources.
Since they are categorized as cavalry and ranged units, they are upgraded and take bonus damage from both types of upgrades and units respectively. So, the best counters against them are Horsemen, Mangonels, Javelin Throwers, and Camel Riders, who all deal bonus damage and can attack at range or with speed. While Spearmen also do bonus damage against Horse Archers, their slow speed make them easy to kite and not a good counter in practice.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Slow units |
| Weak vs. | Horsemen, Archers, Mangonels |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Boyar's Fortitude (+25) Biology (+25%)
|
| Attack |  Steeled Arrow (+1) Balanced Projectiles (+1) Platecutter Point (+1) Incendiary Arrows (+20%, +3 siege damage vs buildings)
|
 Range
|
 Mounted Training (+1) Silk Bowstrings (+0.75)
|
| Armor |  Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee) Insulated Helm (+1 melee) Master Smiths (+1 melee) Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged) Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged) Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%)
|
| Ability | Mounted Training (Grants Gallop ability)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Saint's Blessing (+2, or +3 with Fervor)
|
| Range
|
 Gallop (+2 for 8 seconds)
|
| Armor | Saint's Blessing (+1 melee/ranged)
|
 Movement speed
|
Gallop (2 tiles/sec for 8 seconds)
|
Other civilization bonuses[]
Byzantines[]
The Byzantines can purchase Mercenary Horse Archers with Olive Oil from a Mercenary House built next to a Trade Post (if available) after researching Veteran Contracts. Once unlocked, they can train automatically from the Golden Horn Tower. In addition to the generic upgrades, they benefit from the following Byzantine unique bonuses:
| Upgrades | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
 Foreign Engineering Company (+25, grants Boyar's Fortitude)
|
 Regeneration
|
 Triumph (+2 hp/s while active) Pilgrim Flask (25 hp/s for 6 seconds, requires Cistern of the First Hill)
|
| Attack | Triumph (+4 while active)
|
| Range
|
Foreign Engineering Company (+1, grants Mounted Training) Gallop (+2 for 8 seconds)
|
| Movement speed
|
 Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship) Triumph (+10% while active) Gallop (2 tiles/second for 8 seconds)
|
| Creation speed |   Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level)
|
| Ability | Foreign Engineering Company (Grants Gallop ability)
|
Mongols[]
The Mongols' Khaganate Palace has the ability to randomly spawn Elite Horse Archers. In addition to generic upgrades, they can benefit from the following Mongol bonuses
| Upgrades | |
|---|---|
| Hit points
|
Biology Improved: (+30%) Khaganate Palace (+25, grants Boyar's Fortitude)
|
| Attack |  Kurultai Aura (+20%) Saint's Blessing (+2)
|
| Range
|
Gallop (+2 for 8 seconds)  Khan's Hunter Aura (+1/+1.3/+1.5 per Age)
|
| Armor |  Defense Arrow (+2 melee and ranged for 5/10/12 seconds, depending on Whistling Arrows) Saint's Blessing (+1 melee/ranged)
|
 Attack speed
|
 Attack Speed Arrow (+50% for 5/10/12 seconds, depending on Whistling Arrows)
|
| Movement speed
|
 Maneuver Arrow (+33% for 5/10/12 seconds, depending on Whistling Arrows) Yam Aura (+15%) Gallop (2 tiles/second for 8 seconds)
|
| Ability | Khaganate Palace (Grants Gallop ability)
|
Note: The Khaganate Horse Archer does not benefit from the +1 range from Mounted Training, only the Gallop ability.
Dialogue lines[]
- Main article: /Dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, the elite upgrade took 90 seconds. With update 8324, it takes 60 seconds.
- Originally, Horse Archers had 2.00 second attack cooldown. With patch 10257, it was 2.50 seconds. With Season Two Update 17718, it is 2.125 seconds.
- Incendiary Arrows erroneously gave Horse Archers a 40% attack bonus and reduced their attack cooldown to 1.88 seconds. With patch 10257, Incendiary Arrows now correctly only gives a 20% attack bonus.
- Gallop ability added with update 7.0.5861.
- Originally, a batch of Mercenary Horse Archers cost 360 olive oil. With update 13.0.4178, it was reduced to 330 olive oil.
Campaign version[]
Because the original four campaigns have not been rebalanced since the release of the game, Horse Archers have several main differences in those campaigns:
- They have 170 hit points
- They deal 18 damage with an attack time of 2 seconds
- They attack in melee range with a dagger that does 7 melee damage (and is affected by melee upgrades)
- They have an upgrade cost of 200 food, 600 gold which takes 90 seconds to research
Trivia[]
- The Khaganate Horse Archer has the fastest theoretical speed in the game. If using the Gallop ability while boosted by the Yam Aura and Maneuver Arrow, its speed would reach 3.06 tiles per second, were it not for the 2 tile/second hard limit.
- Based on the in-game icon files, it is likely that the Horse Archer was originally intended as a common unit for multiple civilizations, and was available earlier than the Castle Age.
Gallery[]
