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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit class, see Light cavalry. |
| “ | Fast cavalry for scouting and raiding. Resistant to conversion. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Light Cavalry is a light cavalry unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Stable once the Castle Age is reached. It is a fast unit with resistance to conversion that excels at taking down Monks and siege weapons, and is good vs archers. Its combat abilities against other melee units such as heavy cavalry units, camels, or infantry is severely limited, though.
Light Cavalry cost only food to create, making them a viable alternative if the player is low on other resources. The entire Scout Cavalry line has the same Line of Sight. They all receive a +2 bonus to their Line of Sight upon every Age advance, for a total of 10 Line of Sight in the Imperial Age.
Light Cavalry are available to all civilizations except for the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, and Teutons.
Tactics[]
The Light Cavalry have an exceptionally high Line of Sight, moderate hit points and moderate better combat skills. Against groups of siege weapons or low number of archers, they have the speed and attack needed to run down and kill groups, though combat with other more armored melee units should be avoided.
It is better used in conjunction with Crossbowmen and Cavalry Archers, to protect friendly archer units, as a meat shield against enemy Knights or as a direct counter against enemy Elite Skirmishers and siege weapons. As Light Cavalry have an innate conversion resistance and attack bonus against Monks, they can be used for countering enemy Monks, which are much more expensive to produce. Light Cavalry may often kill two Monks before being converted, even more with Faith researched. Because of this, even a player going full Knights or full Elephants should consider adding Light Cavalry to the mix if enemy Monks are predicted or seen as a reaction, using them solely and directly as Monk killers (even if they perish after the kill it is still good value).
Since Light Cavalry only costs food it is considered a trash unit and when gold is running low it takes the place of the heavy cavalry in trash wars at the late game.
Comparison in the Castle Age with similar units[]
 Light Cavalry
|
 Magyar Huszar
|
 Shrivamsha Rider
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 80 food | 80 food, 10 gold | 70 food, 20 gold |
| Hit points | 60 (+12, +18, +20, or +38) | 90 | 75 |
| Speed | 1.65 | 1.65 | 1.76 |
| Armor | 0+2/2+2 | 0+2/2+2 | 0+2/1+2 |
| Train Time | 30s | 16s | 20s |
| Line of Sight | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Melee attack | 7+2 | 9+2 | 8+2 |
| Attack bonus | +10 vs Monks | +5 vs Siege
+1 vs Ram |
none |
| Attack speed | 2 | 1.8 | 1.75 |
| Other properties | Conversion resistance
doesn't take attack bonus from Samurai |
Created at Castles
Free attack upgrades |
Can dodge 5 projectiles in 15 seconds |
| Upgrade cost and time | 500 food, 600 gold, 50s | 800 food, 600 gold, 60s | 800 food, 600 gold, 45s |
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Skirmishers, Villagers, siege weapons, archers, Monks |
| Weak vs. | Most melee units, Genoese Crossbowmen |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Bloodlines (+20)
|
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Farimba (+5, Malians only) Manipur Cavalry (+5 attack against archers, Burmese only) Lechitic Legacy (33% blast damage in 0.5 tile radius, Poles only) Wootz Steel (attack ignores armor, Dravidians only)
|
| Armor |  Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2) Silk Armor (+1/+1, Tatars only)
|
| Firing rate | Stirrups (+33% attack speed, Bulgarians only)
|
| Speed |  Husbandry (+10%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith Heresy First Crusade (Sicilians only)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Chivalry (+40%, Franks only) Steppe Husbandry (+100%, Cumans only)
|
| Train cost | Kshatriyas (-25%, Gurjaras only)
|
| Upgrades |  Hussar Winged Hussar (Lithuanians and Poles only)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
- Berbers: Light Cavalry are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Light Cavalry cost -50% food.
- Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Burgundians: Researching Husbandry and upgrading to Hussar is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Light Cavalry can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Light Cavalry are 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Cumans: Light Cavalry move 10%/15% faster in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Franks: Light Cavalry have +20% hit points.
- Gurjaras: Light Cavalry deal +50% bonus damage.[note 1]
- Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free. Light Cavalry are 15% cheaper.
- Mongols: Light Cavalry have +30% HP.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Light Cavalry are researched 30% faster.
- Sicilians: Light Cavalry take -50% bonus damage.
- Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Light Cavalry cost no gold.
- Tatars: Light Cavalry deal 50% bonus damage from elevations (instead of 25%).
- Turks: The Hussar upgrade is free. Light Cavalry units gain +1 pierce armor.
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses[]
- A team containing Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 80% faster.
- A team containing Hindustanis: Light Cavalry have +2 attack against standard buildings.
- A team containing Huns: Light Cavalry are created and upgraded 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
- A team containing Mongols: Light Cavalry have +2 Line of Sight.
- A team containing Poles: Light Cavalry +1 attack vs. archers.
- A team containing Teutons: Light Cavalry are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Initially, Light Cavalry are affected twice by Husbandry (1.1 × 1.1 = 1.21 movement speed multiplier) – directly as a unit and indirectly as a part of the Cavalry unit class. Scout Cavalry are a part of the Scout unit class and thus are only affected once by Husbandry (directly as a unit).
The Conquerors[]
- Light Cavalry receive an attack bonus of +10 against Monks.
- Husbandry affects Light Cavalry only once (1.1 movement speed multiplier).
- Bloodlines introduced.
- Heresy introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Franks: Chivalry introduced.
- Magyars: Light Cavalry are 10% cheaper.
- Indians: Light Cavalry are generic.
- Indians' team bonus does not affect Light Cavalry.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Berbers: Initially, Light Cavalry were 20% cheaper from the Castle Age on. With patch 4.8, the bonus was staggered to 15%/20% in the Castle/Imperial Age.
- Franks: Light Cavalry benefit from the civilization bonus and have +20% HP.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Burmese: Initially, Manipur Cavalry gives Light Cavalry +6 attack against buildings. With patch 5.3, the bonus is spread over the two building classes (building and standard building) equally.
- Magyars: With patch 5.5, Light Cavalry are 15% cheaper.
Definitive Edition[]
- Bulgarians: With update 42848, Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Light Cavalry cost -50% food. As team bonus, Blacksmiths work 80% faster (up from 50% faster).
- Burmese: With update 37650, Manipur Cavalry gives Light Cavalry +6 attack against standard buildings and no damage against buildings.
- Cumans: Initially, Light Cavalry move 10% faster. With update 34055, the bonus was staggered to 10%/15% in the Castle/Imperial Age and Cumans lost access to Husbandry.
- Indians: With update 42848, Light Cavalry have +1/+2 pierce armor in the Castle/Imperial Age. Indians lose access to Plate Barding Armor.
- Lithuanians: Initially, Light Cavalry gained +1 attack for each garrisoned Relic, up to +5. With update 34055, this bonus no longer affects Light Cavalry.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
- Turks: With update 42848, Light Cavalry have +1 pierce armor.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- Burmese: With update 56005, Manipur Cavalry gives Light Cavalry +5 attack against archers, while losing their attack bonus vs buildings.
Dynasties of India[]
- Hindustanis: With update 61321, Light Cavalry lose free pierce armor bonus and regain Plate Barding Armor, hence back to generic.
- Hindustanis (team bonus): With update 61321, Light Cavalry gain +2 attack vs buildings.
Trivia[]
- With 14 attack, the Malian Light Cavalry with Farimba is tied with the Elite Magyar Huszar with Corvinian Army for the second highest attack among all trash units, only behind the Malay Two-Handed Swordsman with Forced Levy (with 16 attack).
- The Light Cavalry is the only unit to ugrade into two different units, viz the Hussar or the Winged Hussar.
- The Camel Scout line and the Scout Cavalry line are the only two units having two different lines of units.
History[]
| “ | As Middle Age armies grew larger and campaigned farther afield, the importance of scouting grew. Many civilizations developed light cavalry, an improvement on scout cavalry, for this role. Light cavalry were better trained and better equipped for fighting. In battle they could be used to harass or charge enemy infantry or support their own knights in a charge. Light cavalry wore only partial armor and a shield and fought most commonly with a spear. Civilizations that could not afford extensive armor for warriors, such as barbarian groups from the East, put large contingents of light cavalry into the field. | ” |
Gallery[]
Notes[]
Video[]
LIGHT CAVALRY (Dravidians) vs EVERY UNIQUE UNIT (Total Resources) - AoE II- DE
