Keshik (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. For other uses, see Keshik.

Keshik
Information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Type	Cavalry Light ranged cavalry Ranged cavalry Archer
Civilization(s)	Chinese
Age	Commerce Age
Training
Banner army	Ming Army Mongolian Army
Cost	115 Food 1 Population
Train time	33 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	115
Resistance	30% Ranged
Speed	7.25
Line of Sight	15
Train XP	12
Kill XP	12
Ranged attack
Damage	8 Ranged
Range	12
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.5x vs. Hand shock infantry 0.5x vs. Villager
Siege attack
Damage	5 Siege
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0
Hand attack
Damage	8 Hand
Rate of Fire	1.5
Bonus damage	3.0x vs. Heavy cavalry 2.5x vs. Hand shock infantry

“	Mongolian ranged cavalry. Good against cavalry.	”
—In-game description

The Keshik is a mounted archer in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Chinese and trained as a part of the Ming Army and Mongolian Army.

Overview

The Keshik is a light cavalry unit, so they are very fast, outrunning hand cavalry and infantry units, and counters cannons and hand cavalry. The Keshik is by far the weakest ranged cavalry unit, but are also the cheapest. Unlike other light cavalry, Keshiks do not have multipliers against artillery in the default status.

Since Keshiks can't be trained alone, making a lot of them is a challenge, since they can only be obtained as part of mixed armies, which have higher base cost and train time.

Make sure that Keshiks stay away from Heavy Cavalry attacks, due to their lower hit points. Nevertheless, the Keshik is the second hardest hitting ranged cavalry after Zamburak, thanks to faster fire rate compared to Dragoons, and they take only one population slot, while Dragoons and Cavalry Archers take two.

Keshiks are relatively good to mass, since they are the only Cavalry Archer that costs one population, allowing players to potentially have double of them. They come with Steppe Riders in the Mongolian Army, which also use a single population slot, making this a population-efficient all-cavalry army. This gives an even greater advantage considering the Chinese extra population bonus.

Important Home City Cards for powerful late game Keshiks and Stepper riders are Mongolian Scourge and Old Han Army Reforms.

Upgrades

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Disciplined Keshik	100 wood 50 coin	Upgrades Keshiks to Disciplined (+20% hit points and damage, +0.75 bonus damage against artillery)
	Honored Keshik	300 wood 300 coin	Upgrades Keshiks to Honored (+30% hit points and damage); requires Disciplined Keshik
Imperial Age	Exalted Keshik	750 wood 750 coin	Upgrades Keshiks to Exalted (+50% hit points and damage); requires Honored Keshik

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, hand shock infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light infantry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%) Tar Kilns (+5%)
Attack	Seminole Bowyer (+15%) Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%; Russians only) Tupi Poison Arrow Frogs (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Wind Horses (-10% Rate of Fire) Carib Garifuna Drums (+1.0 multiplier vs. villagers)
Resistance	Sudanese Quilted Armor (+10% hand resistance)
Speed	Apache Endurance (+5%) Comanche Mustangs (+5%) Wind Horses (+0.5)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+3; Russians only) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2; Russians only) Sarmatism (+1)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2; Russians only) Sarmatism (+1)
Train time	Cheyenne Horse Trading (-40% Mongolian Army; -20% Ming Army) Akan Fontomfrom (-10%; Ming Army) Quechuan Diet (-15%; Ming Army and Mongolian Army) Immigrants (-10%; Ming Army and Mongolian Army)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Keshik

Some cards are highlighted with:
Green	TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
Purple	Shipment that can be sent an INFINITE number of times
Blue	Shipment that arrives fast (5 seconds)

• Definitive Edition
• The Asian Dynasties

Chinese

Card	Description	Age
15 Keshiks	Delivers 15 Keshiks
10 Keshiks	Delivers 10 Keshiks
8 Keshiks	Delivers 8 Keshiks
Old Han Reforms	Chu Ko Nu, Qiang Pikeman, Steppe Rider, and Keshik hit points and damage +50%; Old Han Army, Standard Army, Ming Army, and Mongolian Army cost +25%
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
Double-Faced Armor	Keshik, Iron Flail, and Meteor Hammer hit points +15%, ranged resistance +5%
Beiyang Army	Delivers 8 Steppe Riders and 8 Keshiks; grants Disciplined Steppe Riders and Disciplined Keshiks; costs 1,000 food
Manchu Combat	Qiang Pikeman, Changdao Swordsman, Keshik, and Meteor Hammer hit points and damage +15%
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%

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
Cavalry Combat	Cavalry hit points and damage +15%
Kalmycks	Delivers 16 Keshiks; grants Disciplined and Honored Keshik

Spanish

Card	Description	Age
TEAM Hidalgos	Pikeman, Crossbowman, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Longbowman, Otontin Slinger, Yumi Archer, and Pavisier train time -40%; Old Han Army train time -30%; Jungle Bowman, Plumed Spearman, Fulani Archer, Desert Archer, Puma Spearman, Insurgente, Standard Army, and Ming Army train time -15%
TEAM Spanish Inquisition	Delivers 1 Inquisitor; military and economic unit Line of Sight +10

Chinese

Card	Description	Age	HC level
15 Keshiks	Ships 15 Keshiks		1
9 Keshiks	Ships 9 Keshiks		10
8 Keshiks	Ships 8 Keshiks		25
Mongolian Scourge	Steppe Riders get +1.0 attack multiplier against villagers and +50% siege attack; Keshiks get +1.0 attack multiplier against heavy cavalry and shock infantry; Iron Flails get +0.5 attack multiplier against infantry and -0.17 against heavy infantry		25
Beiyang Army	Ships 8 Steppe Riders and 8 Keshiks; upgrades Steppe Riders and Keshiks to Disciplined (if not already); costs 1,000 food		25
Manchu Combat	Qiang Pikemen, Changdao Swordsmen, Keshiks, and Meteor Hammers get +15% hit points and damage		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 Ranged Infantry Attack	Gunpowder trooper and archers 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 Sengoku	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 Archaic Soldier Training	Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Macehualtin, Yumi Archer, and Old Han Army train time -50%; Standard Army and Ming Army train time -25%		10
TEAM Inquisition	All units get +10 Line of Sight		10

Changelog

The Asian Dynasties

• Keshiks have 110 hit points and 0.65 obstruction radius.

Definitive Edition

• Keshiks have 0.79 obstruction radius.

Knights of the Mediterranean

• With update 14.43676, Keshiks have 115 hit points.

History

“

The mounted archers of the Mongolian Empire, the largest contiguous empire in human history, were feared for their mastery of the composite bow and their use of unpredictable light cavalry tactics. Using composite bows fashioned from a combination of materials, such as wood and animal bone, and held together with an animal hide adhesive, the keshik horsemen could fire arrows up to a range greater than 1,000 feet. They often carried two bows, one for short-range attacks and the other for distance volleys, and their quivers could contain a variety of different arrows for different purposes, including incendiary arrows, armor-piercing arrows, and whistling arrows to startle enemy units and throw them into a panic. The keshik were renowned for their ability to maneuver and shoot while on horseback, often turning a full 360 degrees to aim and fire on an enemy target. Charging the enemy in a traditional crescent formation, they would attempt to flank and surround the enemy. If this tactic failed, they would quickly pull back, often feigning retreat in an effort to lure their enemy into a trap. More than simple warriors, the keshik were an elite imperial guard created by Genghis Khan himself, a fierce fighting force that began with the 1,000 warriors of his personal guard and grew to an army numbering 10,000 men. During wartime, the keshik were under direct control of the emperor who only rode to war with the keshik at his side. As a royal guard, the keshik's peacetime activities were mostly administrative. They supervised palace staff, cared for the equine, and maintained careful care of weapons and other supplies.

”

Gallery

An in-game Keshik

The Keshik's history portrait

Keshik image from the Compendium section

In-game Keshik in the Definitive Edition

In-game Disciplined Keshik in the Definitive Edition

In-game Honored/Exalted Keshik in the Definitive Edition