Iron Flail

Iron Flail
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Cavalry Heavy cavalry Hand cavalry
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Banner army	Forbidden Army Imperial Army
Cost	240 Food 2 Population
Train time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	292
Speed	6.5
Line of Sight	15
Train XP	24
Kill XP	24
Siege attack
Damage	17 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	19 Hand
Area of Effect	1
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	1.5x vs. Infantry 0.67x vs. Heavy infantry
Trample attack
Damage	17 Hand
Area of Effect	2
Rate of Fire	2.0
Bonus damage	Same as hand attack

“	Chinese heavy cavalry. Good against archers, skirmishers, and artillery.	”
—In-game description

The Iron Flail is a melee heavy cavalry in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese and are trained as part of Forbidden Army and Imperial Army.

Overview

The Iron Flail is a powerful heavy cavalry available to the Chinese. It behaves similarly to the Naginata Rider, in that it possesses a multiplier against ranged infantry such as Skirmishers (please note that this does not include true Shock Infantry such as Coyote Runners). The thing that sets the Iron Flail apart is that it has a splash damage attack, making it especially effective vs massed infantry and an exceptional raider as well. If Double Faced Armor is shipped, it boosts the range resist up to an impressive 41%, allowing it to tank an incredible amount of ranged fire, even allowing it to stand up to ranged cavalry for a short time.

The Iron Flail can be trained in the Imperial Army alongside Arquebusiers, or in the Forbidden Army alongside Meteor Hammers.

Due to the Iron Flail's fairly low base damage, it is quite poor against other cavalry and not especially quick at killing artillery. Fortunately, to compensate, it has a high amount of hit points, making it still a valuable unit to round out the Chinese army.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Disciplined Iron Flail	Automatically	Upgrades Iron Flails to Disciplined (+20% hit points and damage)
	Honored Iron Flail	300 wood 300 coin	Upgrades Iron Flails to Honored (+30% hit points and damage)
Imperial Age	Exalted Iron Flail	750 wood 750 coin	Upgrades Iron Flails to Exalted (+50% hit points and damage); requires Honored Iron Flail

Further statistics

As Iron Flails are unique to the Chinese, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Light infantry, counter-skirmishers, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light ranged cavalry, ranged shock infantry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Yoga (+5%) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire)
Resistance	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance) Pancerni (+10% ranged resistance)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5)
Cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost; Forbidden Army and Imperial Army) Golden Liberty (-5% coin cost; Forbidden Army and Imperial Army)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40% Forbidden Army; -20% Imperial Army) Quechuan Diet (-15%; Forbidden Army and Imperial Army) Akan Fontomfrom (-10%; Imperial Army) Immigrants (-10%; Forbidden Army and Imperial Army)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

As Iron Flails are unique to the Chinese, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Iron Flail

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
Mongolian Scourge	Steppe Rider siege attack damage +50%, bonus damage against villager +1.0; Keshik bonus damage against heavy cavalry and hand shock infantry +1.0; Iron Flail bonus damage against infantry +0.5, against heavy infantry -0.17
4 Iron Flails	Delivers 4 Iron Flails
7 Iron Flails	Delivers 7 Iron Flails
Ever Victorious Army	Delivers 8 Iron Flails and 3 Flying Crows; costs 2,000 food
Double-Faced Armor	Keshik, Iron Flail, and Meteor Hammer hit points +15%, ranged resistance +5%
Western Reforms	Unit hit points and damage +8%
Acupuncture	Unit (except monk) train time -20%; Summer Palace banner army, Flying Crow, and Heavy Cannon spawn time -5%
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%

French

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack	Hand cavalry and hand shock infantry damage +15%

Germans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Germans-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the Italian "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Indians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	Unit hit points and damage +5%

Italians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +10%; Italians-only heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry damage +15% instead

• "TEAM Cavalry Attack" does not stack with the German "TEAM Cavalry Attack" card.

Japanese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Sengoku	Unit upgrades cost -20%

Maltese

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Knights of the Round Table	Delivers 1 Hospitaller for each Town Center and Command Post present on the map; unit hit points +2%

Mexicans

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Mariachi	For the next 30 seconds, military building training and research work rate +400%, unit speed +10%

Russians

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Kamchatka Expeditions	Cavalry and shock infantry hit points +10%, Line of Sight +4

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
Mongolian Scourge	Steppe Riders get +1.0 multiplier against villagers and +50% siege attack; Keshiks get +1.0 multiplier against heavy cavalry and shock infantry; Iron Flails get +0.5 multiplier against infantry and -0.17 multiplier against heavy infantry		25
4 Iron Flails	Ships 4 Iron Flails		1
7 Iron Flails	Ships 7 Iron Flails		10
Ever Victorious Army	Ships 8 Iron Flails and 3 Flying Crows; costs 2,000 food		40
Double-Faced Armor	Iron Flails and Meteor Hammers get +15% hit points and +10.5% resistance		25
Western Reforms	All units get +8% hit points and damage		40
Acupuncture	All units' (except Shaolin Masters, Heavy Cannons, Flying Crows, and Summer Palace banner armies) train time -20%		10
Banner School	Banner army train time -30%; Summer Palace banner army spawn time -7%		10

French

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners get +15% attack		10

Germans

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Attack	Heavy cavalry, light ranged cavalry, and shock infantry get +15% attack		10

Indians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics	All units get +5% hit points and damage		25

Japanese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades	Unit upgrades cost -20%		1

Russians

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Cavalry Scouts	Cavalry and shock infantry get +10% hit points and +4 Line of Sight		1

Spanish

Card	Description	Age	HC level
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

History

“

The flail is a medieval weapon used primarily in Europe during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Its construction consists of a weighted head, often spiked, that is attached to a wooden handle with a whip or length of chain. While not as commonly used in Asia, the flail was quite similar to other flail weapons, such as the Chinese nunchaku, or two-section staff, and Sanjiegun, or three-section staff.

”

Trivia

• Before the Definitive Edition, Iron Flails, together with Meteor Hammers, were the only units in Age of Empires III which could receive an upgrade to their resistance: the Double-Faced Armor card.

Gallery

An in-game Iron Flail

The Iron Flail's history portrait

The Iron Flail icon from the website

In-game (Disciplined) Iron Flail in the Definitive Edition

In-game Honored/Exalted Iron Flail in the Definitive Edition

Iron Flail image from the Compendium section