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โ€œ Infantry best used against cavalry. Can enter Shield Wall to take reduced ranged damage. โ€
Age of Empires IV description

The Limitanei is a light melee infantry unit in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend. The Limitanei is the unique variant of the Spearman for the Byzantines, with more hit points, and the ability to form a shield wall, which reduces incoming ranged damage, at the cost of movement and attack speed.

They can also be spawned from the Palatine School.

Ability[]

  • AoE4 ShieldWall/AoE4 LeaveShieldWall Enter/Leave Shield Wall (Toggled): Enter or exit a defensive stance. While Shield Wall is enabled, move speed is reduced by -25%, attack speed is reduced by -25%, and ranged damage taken is reduced by -30%. This ability has a 10 second cooldown.
  • Spearwall: Limitanei can brace for impact against incoming cavalry when they are idling or attack moving. This ability stuns and damages the cavalry units who reach them while cancelling all charge attacks, including the Trample ability of Cataphracts. The attack deals the same base damage as the regular attack (except for regular Limitanei, where it deals 1 less), but deals slightly more bonus damage (for a total of 4x damage, instead of 3.5x). The attack also has a longer range of 1.04 tiles compared to the standard melee range of 0.29 tiles.

Tactics[]

Limitanei are mostly comparable to Spearmen, having slightly higher hit points, but with most other statistics being the same. The primary difference in the unit comes from their Shield Wall ability, which allows them to significantly reduce damage from ranged attacks, granting more survivability against attacking Archers when moving into attack position. Fighting in Shield Wall is generally not advised, however, considering the reduction in attack speed.

Unit comparison[]

AoE4 Spearman Spearman AoE4 Limitanei Limitanei
Cost 60 food, 20 wood 80 food, 10 wood
Training time 15 17
Hit points Regular: 80
Hardened: 90
Veteran: 110
Elite: 130
Regular: 90
Hardened: 100
Veteran: 120
Elite: 140
Other Shield Wall

Further statistics[]

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs. Melee cavalry
Weak vs. Infantry
Technologies
Attack AoE4 Bloomery Bloomery (+1)
AoE4 Decarbonization Decarbonization (+1)
AoE4 DamascusSteel Damascus Steel (+1)
AoE4 EliteArmyTactics Elite Army Tactics (+20%)
Armor AoE4 FittedLeatherwork Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee)
AoE4 InsulatedHelm Insulated Helm (+1 melee)
AoE4 MasterSmiths Master Smiths (+1 melee)
AoE4 EliteArmyTactics Elite Army Tactics (+4 melee)
AoE4 IronUndermesh Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged)
AoE4 WedgeRivets Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged)
AoE4 AngledSurfaces Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
AoE2DE icon Movement Speed Movement speed AoE4 TeardropShields Teardrop Shields (+15%)
Creation speed AoE4 MilitaryAcademy Military Academy (+33%)
Ability AoE4 SiegeEngineering Siege Engineering (Can build Cheirosiphons and Siege Towers)
Aura and ability enhancements
AoE2DE icon HP Regen Regeneration AoE4 PilgrimFlask Pilgrim Flask (25 hp/s for 6 seconds, requires Cistern of the First Hill)
Attack AoE4 ImprovedTorch Improved Torch (+25% torch attack, requires Trapezites)
Armor AoE4 CamelSupportEnhancement Camel Support (+2 melee/ranged, requires Foreign Engineering Company)
Damage resistance AoE4 WallDefense Wall Defense (-25% ranged, -50% siege)
AoE2DE icon Movement Speed Movement speed AoE4 SpeedEnhancement Naval Deployment (+50% speed for 12 seconds after unloading from a Transport Ship)
Creation speed AoE4 InfluenceBuff AoE4 Conscriptio Conscriptio Influence (+20% per Cistern water level)

Dialogue lines[]

Main article: /Dialogue lines

Changelog[]

  • Originally, the Shield Wall ability reduced incoming damage by 50%. With patch 9.2.628, it reduces it by 40%. With update 10.0.576, it reduces it by 30%.

Trivia[]

  • The Limitanei were a type of late Roman soldier that protected the borders. They were later continued as the Akritoi.
  • Before researching Teardrop Shields, some Limitanei will have the same design on their shield as the original shield design of the Imperial Legionary from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

Gallery[]

Units in Age of Empires IV
Common/Generic
Miscellaneous AoE4 GenericVillager Villager ยท AoE4 Trader Trader ยท AoE4 FishingBoat Fishing Boat ยท AoE4 TradeShip Trade Ship ยท AoE4 TransportShip Transport Ship ยท AoE4 Monk Monk/Imam/Shaman ยท AoE4 Leader Monarch
Melee infantry AoE4 Spearman Spearman ยท AoE4 ManAtArms Man-at-Arms
Ranged infantry AoE4 Archer Archer ยท AoE4 Crossbowman Crossbowman ยท AoE4 Handcannoneer Handcannoneer
Melee cavalry AoE4 Scout Scout ยท AoE4 Horseman Horseman ยท AoE4 Knight Lancer/Knight
Siege AoE4 SiegeTower Siege Tower ยท AoE4 BatteringRam Battering Ram ยท AoE4 Springald Springald ยท AoE4 Mangonel Mangonel ยท AoE4 CounterweightTrebuchet Counterweight Trebuchet ยท AoE4 Bombard Bombard ยท AoE4 Ribauldequin Ribauldequin ยท AoE4 Culverin Culverin
Military ship AoE4 ArcherShip Archer ship: Dhow, Galley, Hunting Canoe, Junk, Light Junk, Lodya Galley
AoE4 SpringaldShip Springald ship: Baghlah, Hulk, Lodya Attack Ship, War Canoe, War Cog, War Junk
AoE4 IncendiaryShip Incendiary ship: Demolition Ship, Explosive Dhow, Explosive Junk, Lodya Demolition Ship
AoE4 Warship Warship: Baochuan, Carrack, Xebec
Cheat AoE4 PhotonMan Photon Man
Unique
Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 Abbasid Dynasty AoE4 CamelRider Camel Rider ยท AoE4 CamelArcher Camel Archer ยท AoE4 Ghulam Ghulam
Ayyubids AoE4 Ayyubids AoE4 Atabeg Atabeg ยท AoE4 BedouinSkirmisher Bedouin Skirmisher ยท AoE4 BedouinSwordsman Bedouin Swordsman ยท AoE4 CamelLancer Camel Lancer ยท AoE4 Dervish Dervish ยท AoE4 DesertRaider Desert Raider ยท AoE4 Ghulam Ghulam ยท AoE4 TowerOfTheSultan Tower of the Sultan
Byzantines AoE4 Byzantines AoE4 Cataphract Cataphract ยท AoE4 VarangianGuard Varangian Guard ยท AoE4 Cheirosiphon Cheirosiphon ยท AoE4 Limitanei Limitanei ยท AoE4 Dromon Dromon
Chinese AoE4 Chinese AoE4 ImperialOfficial Imperial Official ยท AoE4 ZhugeNu Zhuge Nu ยท AoE4 PalaceGuard Palace Guard ยท AoE4 NestOfBees Nest of Bees ยท AoE4 FireLancer Fire Lancer ยท AoE4 Grenadier Grenadier
Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Delhi Sultanate AoE4 Monk Scholar ยท AoE4 WarElephant War Elephant ยท AoE4 TowerElephant Tower Elephant ยท AoE4 SultansEliteTowerElephant Sultan's Elite Tower Elephant ยท AoE4 GhaziRaider Ghazi Raider
English AoE4 English AoE4 Longbowman Longbowman ยท AoE4 King King ยท AoE4 WynguardRanger Wynguard Ranger ยท AoE4 WynguardFootman Wynguard Footman
French AoE4 French AoE4 RoyalKnight Royal Knight ยท AoE4 Arbaletrier Arbalรฉtrier ยท AoE4 Galleass Galleass ยท AoE4 Cannon Cannon
HRE AoE4 Holy Roman Empire AoE4 Monk Prelate ยท AoE4 Landsknecht Landsknecht
Japanese AoE4 Japanese AoE4 Warship Atakebune ยท AoE4 BuddhistMonk Buddhist Monk ยท AoE4 KatanaBannerman Katana Bannerman ยท AoE4 MountedSamurai Mounted Samurai ยท AoE4 OnnaBugeisha Onna-Bugeisha ยท AoE4 OnnaMusha Onna-Musha ยท AoE4 Ozutsu Ozutsu ยท AoE4 Samurai Samurai ยท AoE4 Shinobi Shinobi ยท AoE4 ShintoPriest Shinto Priest ยท AoE4 TreasureCaravan Treasure Caravan ยท AoE4 UmaBannerman Uma Bannerman ยท AoE4 YumiAshigaru Yumi Ashigaru ยท AoE4 YumiBannerman Yumi Bannerman
Jeanne d Arc AoE4 Jeanne d'Arc AoE4 JeannesChampion Jeanne's Champion ยท AoE4 JeannesRider Jeanne's Rider ยท AoE4 RoyalKnight Royal Knight ยท AoE4 Arbaletrier Arbalรฉtrier ยท AoE4 Galleass Galleass ยท AoE4 Cannon Cannon ยท Jeanne d'Arc [AoE4 JdA Peasant Peasant ยท AoE4 JdA WomanAtArms Woman-at-Arms ยท AoE4 JdA Hunter Hunter ยท AoE4 JdA Knight Knight ยท AoE4 JdA MountedArcher Mounted Archer ยท AoE4 JdA BlastCannon Blast Cannon ยท AoE4 JdA Markswoman Markswoman]
Malians AoE4 Malians AoE4 Donso Donso ยท AoE4 MusofadiWarrior Musofadi Warrior ยท AoE4 JavelinThrower Javelin Thrower ยท AoE4 WarriorScout Warrior Scout ยท AoE4 Sofa Sofa ยท AoE4 FreebornWarrior Freeborn Warrior ยท AoE4 Cattle Cattle ยท AoE4 MusofadiGunner Musofadi Gunner
Mongols AoE4 Mongols AoE4 Khan Khan ยท AoE4 Mangudai Mangudai ยท AoE4 TurkicHorseArcher Khan's Hunter ยท AoE4 TractionTrebuchet Traction Trebuchet ยท AoE4 HuihuiPao Huihui Pao ยท AoE4 Keshik Keshik
Order of the Dragon AoE4 Order of the Dragon AoE4 GildedSpearman Gilded Spearman ยท AoE4 GildedManAtArms Gilded Man-at-Arms ยท AoE4 GildedLandsknecht Gilded Landsknecht ยท AoE4 GildedArcher Gilded Archer ยท AoE4 GildedCrossbowman Gilded Crossbowman ยท AoE4 DragonHandcannoneer Gilded Handcannoneer ยท AoE4 GildedHorseman Gilded Horseman ยท AoE4 GildedKnight Gilded Knight ยท AoE4 GenericVillager Gilded Villager ยท AoE4 Monk Prelate
Ottomans AoE4 Ottomans AoE4 Mehter Mehter ยท AoE4 Sipahi Sipahi ยท AoE4 HorseArcher Cavalry Archer ยท AoE4 Janissary Janissary ยท AoE4 GreatBombard Great Bombard ยท AoE4 GrandGalley Grand Galley
Rus AoE4 Rus AoE4 FishingBoat Lodya Fishing Boat ยท AoE4 WarriorMonk Warrior Monk ยท AoE4 HorseArcher Horse Archer ยท AoE4 Streltsy Streltsy ยท AoE4 Militia Militia
Zhu Xis Legacy AoE4 Zhu Xi's Legacy AoE4 ImperialOfficial Imperial Official ยท AoE4 ZhugeNu Zhuge Nu ยท AoE4 PalaceGuard Palace Guard ยท AoE4 NestOfBees Nest of Bees ยท AoE4 Grenadier Grenadier ยท AoE4 ImperialGuard Imperial Guard ยท AoE4 YuanRaider Yuan Raider ยท AoE4 ShaolinMonk Shaolin Monk
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