| “ | Cuman unique cavalry archer with rapid-fire attack. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition description | ||
The Kipchak is the unique unit of the Cumans in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. It is a mounted archer that fires multiple arrows in a single volley.
Only the first arrow does the advertised attack and is affected by attack technologies, though. All the other arrows fired deal 3 pierce attack and 0 melee attack (the latter is very helpful when battling rams). A regular Kipchak fires three arrows per burst, and an Elite Kipchak fires four.
Kipchaks can be upgraded to Elite Kipchaks in the Imperial Age.
Tactics[]
Kipchaks are used exactly like Cavalry Archers. Both are great harassers, especially when massed. They perform exceptionally well against slow-moving units. While Kipchaks attack slightly slower, they gain some additional advantages due to their secondary arrows, which are the same arrows used by Chu Ko Nu. In addition, Kipchaks have half the attack delay of Cavalry Archers, which helps greatly in micromanagement.
Since each projectile deals at least one damage, the minimum damage dealt by Kipchaks is three (four when Elite), as opposed to one of most other archers. Archer-resistant targets include buildings, Siege Elephants, Hussite Wagons, Imperial Skirmishers, Rattan Archers, Huskarls, and Elite Eagle Warrior (especially those of the Incas). The secondary projectiles have their own non-zero attacks as well, which sometimes deal more than the minimum damage. This is most significant against non-Ironclad rams and non-Bengali Monks, which receive 3 melee damage and 3 pierce damage respectively.
They should still try to avoid counter units in general. They are weak against camels, especially the Camel Archer. While anti-cavalry units such as Kamayuks and Halberdiers pose threat up close, they can hit-and-run them if properly microed.
Cuman players should prefer the Kipchak over the regular Cavalry Archer in most circumstances, unless the player does not have enough Castles to produce a sizable army of them. Not only do they have a better damage against high-pierce armor units, but Kipchaks also cost less gold than regular Cavalry Archers. However, Cavalry Archers have more hit points and attack 9% faster than Kipchaks, and may be used in circumstances in which the player need to soak damage instead of harassing the opponent, like against archers. Also, they are affected by Steppe Husbandry which boosts their creation speed, while the Kipchaks are not affected.
Like all mounted archers, Kipchaks work well if they are paired with Light Cavalry (which only cost food, so the wood and gold can be spent on Kipchaks, and Light Cavalry can be used as "cannon fodder" for the front lines, as well as being affected by Steppe Husbandry) or Steppe Lancers.
Mercenary Kipchak[]
Elite Kipchaks can be considered a semi-shared unique unit and a "semi-trash" unit, since they become available at the Castle for free to every allied player after a Cuman player researches Cuman Mercenaries, but limited to 5 of them per Castle for the player or ally, including Castles built later. Naturally, if an allied civilization has further bonuses and unique technologies for mounted units or mounted archers, those will apply to their Elite Kipchaks.
Regular Elite Kipchaks and Elite Kipchaks obtained from Cuman Mercenaries have the same statistics in combat. However, they are created much faster, are available in any Age, and do not cost resources. Cumans themselves can also enjoy the mercenary Kipchaks, which means that the technology is not useless for them.
Cuman Mercenaries stacks up, so it can facilitate the production of the Elite Kipchak even on a team entirely composed by Cumans. In free-for-all games or 1vs1 matches, it may be preferable to just train Kipchaks the regular way in several circumstances, unless the player needs Elite Kipchaks at the ready (not the regular ones) and has not researched the elite upgrade or if player has less than 3 Castles.
Comparison with similar units[]
 Cavalry Archer line
|
 Kipchak line
| |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 40 wood, 60 gold | 60 wood, 35 gold |
| Other | Can be trained 100% faster | Additional projectiles have 0 melee attack and 3 pierce attack which helps against rams and Monks |
 Castle Age
|
Cavalry Archer
|
Kipchak
|
| Training time | 34 seconds | 20 seconds |
| Hit points | 50 | 40 |
| Pierce attack | 6 | 4 + 2* |
| Attack bonus | +2 vs Spearman | +1 vs Spearman |
| Rate of Fire | 2 TR - 1.8 |
2.2 TR - 1.87 |
| Attack delay | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| Armor | 0/0 | 0/0 |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 6 |
| Upgrade cost and time |
900 food, 500 gold 50 seconds |
1,100 food, 1,000 wood 65 seconds |
 Imperial Age
|
 Heavy Cavalry Archer
|
Elite Kipchak
|
| Training time | 27 seconds | 20 seconds |
| Hit points | 60 | 45 |
| Pierce attack | 7 | 5 + 3* |
| Attack bonus | +4 vs Spearman | +1 vs Spearman |
| Rate of Fire | 1.8 | 1.87 |
| Attack Delay | 0.88 | 0.5 |
| Armor | 1/0 | 0/0 |
| Line of Sight | 6 | 6 |
- * As a general case, it is considered that secondary projectiles deal minimum damage and have 100% accuracy.
- Common
- Movement speed: 1.4 base
- Range: 4
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Slow melee units, rams, Monks |
| Weak vs. | Archers, camel units |
| Conditional matchups | Horse cavalry, siege weapons |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Hit points |  Bloodlines (+20) Sipahi (+20, Turks only)
|
| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1, allies only) Chemistry (+1) Parthian Tactics (+2 vs Spearmen) Recurve Bow (+1, Magyars only)
|
| Range | Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1, allies only) Recurve Bow (+1, Magyars only)
|
| Accuracy |  Thumb Ring (increases accuracy to 100%) Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor |  Padded Archer Armor (+1/+1) Leather Archer Armor (+1/+1) Ring Archer Armor (+1/+2) Parthian Tactics (+1/+2) Silk Armor (+1/+1, Tatars only)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
|
| Attack speed | Thumb Ring (+18%)
|
| Movement speed |  Husbandry (+10%, allies only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, Berbers and allies only)
|
| Other | Aznauri Cavalry (-15% population space, Georgians only)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Hit points |  Franks (+20%) Vietnamese (+20%)
|
| Regeneration |  Georgians (10/15 HP per minute in the Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Attack |  Japanese (+2 vs. archers, excluding Skirmishers) Tatars (+20% {+50% instead of +25%} from elevation)
|
| Damage resistance | Georgians (+20% {+40% instead of +25%} from elevation) Sicilians (-33% bonus damage)
|
| Attack speed |  Mongols (+25%)
|
| Movement speed |  Cumans (+10%/15% in the Castle/Imperial Age)
|
| Creation speed |  Aztecs (+11%)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Line of Sight | Tatars (+2)
|
| Creation speed |  Magyars (+25%)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that benefit mercenary Kipchaks cost -50% food.- Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Burgundians: Researching Husbandry is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Elite Kipchaks can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit mercenary Kipchaks are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
- Koreans: Armor technologies at the Blacksmith are free.
- Persians: Parthian Tactics is available in the Castle Age.
- Spanish: Blacksmith technologies that benefit mercenary Kipchaks cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit Kipchaks provides 20 gold each.
- Tatars: Parthian Tactics and Thumb Ring are free.
- Turks: Chemistry is free.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses[]
- Britons: Researching Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics is 10% faster.
- Bulgarians: Researching archer armor and attack technologies at the Blacksmith is 80% faster.
- Huns: Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion and Faith is 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Kipchaks are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Last Khans[]
- Initially, (Elite) Kipchaks have 45 (50) hit points and 1.8 Rate of Fire. With update 34055, they have 40 (45) hit points and 2.2 Rate of Fire.
- Initially, non-Elite and Elite Kipchaks fire two and four arrows at once respectively. With update 34055, Elite ones fire three arrows at once. With update 36202, they fire three and four arrows at once.
- Initially, Kipchaks move 10% faster and Cumans had Husbandry. With update 34055, the bonus was staggered to 10%/15% in the Castle/Imperial Age and Cumans lost access to Husbandry.
- Initially, Kipchaks have an attack delay of 0. With update 42848, it was increased to 0.5.
Lords of the West[]
- With update 50292, Kipchaks now add the correct amount of extra projectiles to fortifications when garrisoned inside them.
Heroes[]
There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Kipchak:
Trivia[]
- This is the first unique unit in Age of Empires II that is based on a unique unit from a mod for the same game: the Cuman Auxiliary from Age of Chivalry: Hegemony. It is a horse archer unit, weak but fast and capable of firing a volley of arrows but, unlike the Kipchak, the Cuman Auxiliary is actually a heavily modified version of the Chu Ko Nu. In Age Of Chivalry: Hegemony, this unit is available to the Austrians (modded from the Mongols) who receive the Cuman Auxiliary after researching the unique technology "Hausmacht".
- Along with the Plumed Archer and Ratha, the Kipchak is the only Castle unique unit whose Elite upgrade costs no gold.
- The relationship between Kipchaks and Cumans is unclear. Cumans and Kipchaks might have been two originally distinct peoples who would later join forces and form the Cuman-Kipchak confederation:
- William of Rubruck asserted that some Cumans were Kipchaks, yet elsewhere he treated them as distinct, "a Commanis et Capchat";
- Another division of the confederation was the Qanglı (Latin Cangle; possibly Chinese 康曷利 Kānghélì): According to Kashgari Qanglı was the surname of a Kipchak chief; and according to Rubruck, Qanglı were related to Cumans or some Cumans had been known as Qanglı.
- Kipchaks are definitely mentioned, as Khipshakh, in Persian ethnographer ibn Khordadbeh's "Book of the Routes and Kingdoms" (written around 840s CE).
- Though uncertain, Kipchaks might have been named in the 8th-century Moyun Chur inscription as Türk-[Kib]čak, being part, for 50 years, of the Göktürk khaganate, which appears in the Bukhara scenario of Battles of the Forgotten.
- The Kipchak's robe is inspired by an illustration of a Cuman mercenary from the book Byzantine Armies AD 1118–1461. It closely resembles a deel, traditional clothing worn by the Mongols and other nomadic tribes in Central Asia. The Kipchak's hairstyle is a type of line-and-ponytail hairstyle (shaved and braided hairstyles of the Eurasian steppe Turkic and Mongolic peoples) which was typically found among Kazakhs, and was adopted later by the Cossacks.
- At release, the Kipchak was subject to criticism and controversy due to their rate of fire, hit points and attack delay, also having 10% faster movement speed and access to Husbandry, which made them extremely smooth for hit-and-run tactics. They also received very little damage from fast melee cavalry and Camel Riders, being able to outrun them all, and dealing a high amount of damage due to the extra arrows.
- Vietnamese Elite Kipchaks benefit from the civilization bonus despite being a Castle unit.
- The Kipchak is the only unique archer unit that belongs to a civilization that cannot research Bracer.
History[]
The Kipchaks were a people group that lived on the Eurasian Steppe. While they were scattered much of the time, they settled down in places like Georgia and Siberia. While they began as part of the Turkic Khaganate, they later formed a confederacy with the Cumans. The Kipchaks were horse archers like the Mongols, who they and the Cumans were eventually conquered by.
Gallery[]
Video[]
