The Magyars are an offensive civilization that focuses on Light Cavalry units and Cavalry Archers. They are similar to the Mongols who rely on similar units for guerrilla techniques and quick skirmishes.
Strengths
The Magyars are good at rushing in the Feudal Age, as they have many bonuses that allows them to strike enemies with Scout Cavalry very early on in the game. Villagers can strike wolves or their equivalent with one hit; this bonus allows their villagers to quickly move near an opponent and build forward bases without interruption. Magyars get Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace for free, and their light cavalry units (Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, and Hussar) have a 15% discount, so they can make a large number of them quickly and at a very low price. They have almost all blacksmith upgrades and complete Cavalry upgrades except camels. Magyars unique technology "Corvinian Army" eliminates the gold cost from their unique unit, the Magyar Huszar, making it a "trash unit"; the Magyar Huszar is a light cavalry unit very similar to a regular Hussar but with a bonus against siege units instead of a bonus against monks and resistance to conversion.
Their Archery Range units are also well equipped; they have all archer upgrades (sans Hand Cannoneers), and their team bonus gives +2 line of sight to foot archers. This is especially useful for archer-based civilizations like the Britons and the Chinese. Their second unique technology, the Recurve Bow, gives +1 range and attack to the Cavalry archers, which enhances their capabilities for hit-and-run tactics.
Magyar economy is very good, only lacking Stone Shaft Mining and Guilds. At their Barracks, they have Champions and Halberdiers.
Weaknesses
Magyar defenses are mediocre. At the University, they lack the Keep, Bombard Tower, Architecture and Fortified Wall. They also lack gunpowder units and have mediocre siege units, lacking the Siege Onager and Siege Ram. This forces a Magyar player to rely on their anti-siege Huszar as a defence against enemy siege. Alongside fully-upgraded units in the Imperial Age (including final tiers) such as Champions, Halberdiers, Arbalesters, Elite Skirmishers, Heavy Cavalry Archers, Hussars and Paladins, they also have Capped Rams, Onagers and Heavy Scorpions.
Although the Magyars have access to a full range of late-game economic technologies, they lack any significant early economic bonuses. The Magyars' only "economic" bonus (Magyars' villager attack bonus vs. wolves) will save some villager time and prevent villagers from being killed by wolves, but it is not nearly as significant an economic bonus as those of other civs.
Magyars lack the ability to research Faith at the Monastery, meaning that their units are vulnerable to conversion by enemy monks. Their cheaper Light Cavalry line however partially compensates for this as they are a go to unit to combat monks.
Strategy
The Magyars are an offensive Cavalry civilization with a good economy and good Archers to boot, making them a formidable foe. What they lack in many different civilization bonuses they make up for in an excellent offensive tech tree and good synergy between their core units.
The premiere tactic employed by Magyar players is the Scout variant of the Feudal Age rush (flush). With cheaper Scouts and free Forging, they can get significantly more Scouts out for the same resources. Just the resources saved by not needing to research Forging allow for two extra Scouts. To use this tactic, the player must advance to the Feudal Age on 22 population (21 Villagers) and get extra Villagers on wood if possible. Then the player must get a Barracks up while advancing to the Feudal Age, and put up two Stables (and a Blacksmith) (one Stable will work if wood is tight). The Stables can go at home or near the enemy's base. It doesn't matter too much, but is necessary that the opponent doesn't spot them. If the player wants to build the stable near the oppponent, he or she doesn't need to worry about the wolves, jaguars or bears in the path to the enemy's base. The player should research Scale Barding Armor, although it should not be researched at the expense of Scout production until at least six Scouts are trained. Archers can also be added to the rush, taking only wood and gold, where Scouts only take food. Since Magyars can fully upgrade their Archer line, these units will retain their value in the late-game.
Micromanaging the Scouts is very important in a Magyar flush in order to keep them away from Town Center fire, so the player must try to not let them get surrounded and chase Villagers away from critical resources, such as wood and gold, as well as denying any buildings they try to put up. This last part is important: if the opponent cannot get up military buildings, they cannot defend themselves outside of Villagers. If they cannot put up Feudal Age buildings, they cannot advance to the Castle Age. A smart opponent will likely just build these buildings next to their town center, but that clutters their base and makes it more difficult for Villagers to get back to their Town Center, which allows for more kills. Archers can help keep buildings from going up even close to the Town Center, which forces the opponent into an extremely difficult spot.
In the Castle Age, Magyars get far more diverse. Light Cavalry, Magyar Huszars, Crossbowmen, Knights, Cavalry Archers, Long Swordsmen, and Pikemen are all viable Castle Age units. The player must be aware that Magyars lack Plate Mail Armor, so Champions and Halberdiers cannot be fully upgraded. If the player still has Scouts left over from the Feudal Age, they should upgrade them to Light Cavalry and use them until Mercenaries can be researched. Once Mercenaries is researched, Magyar Huszars should be the light Cavalry unit of choice, although Hussars still have their place as Monk killers, and are slightly cheaper to mass. Generally, Mercenaries must be used when the player needs to switch to Magyar Huszars, or it is easily affordable without economic damage. Cavalry Archers and Crossbowmen can be massed in the background, and infantry can be used as well if there is a need for it (namely anti-cavalry). Champions are mainly useful for taking down Eagle Warriors.
A common dilemma faced by Magyar players is whether to use Archers or Cavalry Archers. It depends a lot on their situation. Cavalry Archers cost 40 wood and 70 gold (65 in The Forgotten). Archers cost 25 wood and 45 gold. Cavalry Archers have one more attack and one less range than Crossbowmen, and Heavy Cavalry Archers relate the same to Arbalests. The Magyar Imperial Age technology, Recurve Bow, puts them at the same range level and give them even more attack. Cavalry Archers have more health than their equivalent Archer, and in the case of the Heavy Cavalry Archer, one more armor. Archers can clump more tightly than Cavalry Archers, which is a double-edged sword, as it makes them far more vulnerable to Onagers, especially with their lower speed and health. In short, there is no right answer. Cavalry Archers are better for raiding and fighting in insecure places where they are likely to need to get in and out on a moment's notice. Archers are better for fighting in established areas where they can hold their ground and keep hazards like Onagers out before they even get into range. Foot archers can also garrison Castles and Towers to shore up the Magyar's mediocre defences.
In the early Imperial Age, the power of the Magyars starts to taper off. They lack proper siege and are forced to rely on Trebuchets. To make matters worse, almost none of their civilization bonuses actually affect the late-game. They don't even have a solid defense to fall back on, forcing them to keep up offensive pressure. Fortunately, that is what they do best.
The late Imperial Age is where Magyars truly shine. Having a gold-free Unique Unit and cheaper Hussars means Magyars can keep sending a formidable army even long after they are out of gold. They get fully upgraded Skirmishers, and are only missing Plate Mail Armor on their Halberdiers. This makes them one of the best civilizations in the game for trash wars. For when there is gold to spare, they have fully upgraded Paladins, Arbalests and Heavy Cavalry Archers to mix in.
Strategy changes in the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Since every civilization now has Supplies as a Barracks technology, Magyars are now better enabled to perform a Feudal Age rush with Men-at-Arms, considering they already have free attack upgrades for melee units.
Alliances
The Magyars' foot archer line of sight bonus can be useful for archer-based civilizations such as the Britons, Chinese and Mayans, especially if they decide to do an early archer rush. It is vital to discover defending skirmishers and scout cavalry early on, so that the vulnerable archers can retreat to safety.
The Magyars benefit from the Britons and Huns faster archery ranges and stables, which help them train cavalry archers and cavalry faster. They also benefit slightly from the Mongol team bonus (+2 LOS for Scout Cavalry line) as the Magyars have already cheaper light cavalry units. It is also advisable to pair Magyars with civilizations that have good cavalry counters and siege units, such as the Celts and Slavs, because those are the fields in which the Magyars have significant disadvantages.
Having a Vietnamese ally turns the Magyars into arguably the most powerful "trash" civilization. With the Halberdier, Imperial Skirmisher, Hussar and Magyar Huszar with Corvinian Army, they are truly a nightmare to deal with in the late game. Furthermore, the Vietnamese in turn benefit from the Magyars' team bonus of better archer's LOS. Having a Berber ally has a similar effect, as this team will have Genitours, and with Kasbah researched, the Magyars will spam Magyar Huszars more easily. Having these three civilizations on the same team they will get a lot of options for free gold units in late game. Since the Definitive Edition, the Persians can turn their Crossbowmen into a trash unit thanks to Kamandaran, they can also make a great pair of trashers in the late game (considering also that the Persian team Bonus gives the Knight line extra attack vs archers, and their Crossbowmen will benefit from the Magyar team bonus).
From the Definitive Edition,the Tatar team bonus (+2 line of sight for Cavalry Archers) bring further enhancements for Magyar cavalry archers with the Recurve Bow upgrade, while Cuman allies grant Magyar players 10 free Elite Kipchaks which also have the Recurve Bow upgrade, using the Cuman Mercenaries technology.
In water maps, even with a quite competent navy (only lacking the Heavy Demolition Ship and Elite Cannon Galleon), it is wise for the Magyars to ally with any civilization with unique ships (Vikings, Koreans or Portuguese), enhanced contemporary fleet (Berbers, Chinese or Saracens), complete tech tree for ships (Byzantines or Spanish) or decent enhancements on coastal defenses (Japanese or Malay).
Compared advantages and disadvantages
Advantages vs other civilizations
- The Magyar Huszar, being a Light Cavalry with attack bonus vs Siege, counters all types of siege units, even the siege from prominent siege civilizations (like the Celts, Khmer, Koreans, Ethiopians, the Portuguese Organ Gun, etc.). Also, as they become a " trash unit" after Corvinian Army is researched, it gives the Magyars a late-game advantage against civilizations with poor Trash units, like the Turks (especially those that lack the Halberdier upgrade or more buffs for the Pikemen), or that lack good anti-trash units (especially those civilizations that lack the Champion upgrade).
- Being a civilization with good early- and mid-game, and able to raid with the use of Scout Cavalry (which in their case is cheaper, and their melee attack technologies upgrade automatically) and Cavalry Archers, they can defeat civilizations that fare otherwise (like Turks, Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer) in open maps like Arabia, especially if starting in the Dark and Feudal Age.
- As they have free melee upgrades and almost all upgrades for infantry (only lacking Plate mail Armor and Squires) they are able to perform Infantry flushes, which adds more power to their early- and mid-game against civilizations with bad early game. as well as giving another advantage in Trash wars (as Champions are the typical trash buster and Halberdiers are Trash units).
- As their Light cavalry line is significantly cheaper, this adds more power to their late-game against civilizations with poor trash units or that lack the Champion upgrade (like the Persians and the Mayans). This also gives the Magyar an advantage against monks, so even civilizations with good monks (such as Burmese, Aztecs, and Spanish) should take precautions against the Magyar Light Cavalry line. Magyar Light Cavalry may even outnumber the Light Cavalry of other prominent cavalry civilization,s including Mongols and Huns, as they can spam this unit with less resources.
- As their archers have full upgrades and better LOS, they are able to counter civilizations reliant on infantry (with some exceptions; see in disadvantages), like the Aztecs, Vikings and Celts. Their Skirmisher is another valuable asset for the late game in "Trash Wars".
- Having a well-rounded and diverse late-game tech tree, the Magyars have a significant advantage over more "specialist" civilizations such as Britons, Goths, and Huns.
- As the Magyar specialty is Light Cavalr,y they are an excellent counterpick against Lithuanians, as they may prevent them from taking Relics (since the Light Cavalry has bonus damage against Monks)
Disadvantages vs other civilizations
- Despite the Fact that Magyar Huszars are a good asset in trash wars, against siege units and also outperforms the regular Hussars in several tasks (due to superior base stats), they share most of the same drawbacks regular Hussars have; they are weak vs any anti-cavalry unit (like the Italian Genoese Crossbowmen, Eagle Warriors, Incan Kamayuks, Saracen Mamelukes, Camels and Halberdiers), Heavy Cavalry and elephants. There are also some other ways to counter them; they are more vulnerable to conversion than their stable counterpart (so good Monk civilizations should consider that weakness when facing Magyar Huszars) and Japanese Samurais are also a threat to them.
- Since they don't get access to gunpowder (aside from Petards, Cannon Galleons and Demolition Ships), they have a disadvantage against civilizations that get access to it (like Turks, Portuguese and Spanish), especially if the game starts in the Imperial Age. This of course only applies before the game enters into the "Trash wars".
- Malians can be a very unpleasant rival for the Magyars' archers, as their infantry bonus can negate Arbalest, Skirmisher and Cavalry Archer attacks against them, making the Malian Pikemen more threatening to their core units (Hussars, Cavalry Archers and Magyar Huszars). Similarly, Goths can counter the contingents of Magyar Cavalry Archer and Foot archer armies by swarming Huskarls, as they have attack bonus vs Archers and high pierce armor. This, combined with disposable and fast created Halberdiers, can give the Magyars a hard time.
- Mayans, Incas and Aztecs have Eagle Warriors that can effectively counter Magyar Huszars, Hussars, Archers and to some extent cavalry archers (Eagle Warriors deal bonus damage to cavalry and have good pierce armor and movement speed).
- Vietnamese Rattan Archers and Imperial Skirmishers can counter a Magyar Cavalry archer/Foot Archer army perfectly. Other prominent civilizations with good skirmishers that can also do this are the Aztecs (with the Atlatl technology), Lithuanians (faster Skirmishers with +1 pierce armor out of Tower Shields) and the Britons (whose Skirmishers are created faster and get +1 range out of the Yeomen technology).
- The Berbers have several tricks that can be unpleasant for a civilization like the Magyars; both of their unique units (Genitours and Camel Archers) can counter their Cavalry Archers, they get cheaper Camels that can counter their Light cavalry and Magyar Huszars, and their Light Cavalry in the Imperial Age is even cheaper than the Magyar one by 5%. Other prominent camel civilizations (such as Saracens, Malians and Indians) can also effectively counter the Magyar cavalry.
- Cumans can surprass them in terms of numbers with their fast creating Hussars and Cavalry Archers (which also move faster) after Steppe Husbandry. Also, Cumans have Siege Rams and Siege Onagers which could encounter Magyar Capped Rams, Onagers and Heavy Scorpions.
- Civilizations with good Onagers (like Koreans and Celts) may also counter the Magyar Cavalry Archers and Foot Archers if they forget to micro them and forget to pair them with Magyar Huszars. Also, Magyars are lackluster on defensive upgrades, so any civilization with good siege engines or good anti-building units can destroy a Magyar Town with relative ease.
- Persian Paladins have an attack bonus against archers, which puts the Magyar Cavarly Archers and Foot Archers at an disadvantage. Similarly, as Tatar Cavalry Archers and Light Cavalry get +1 pierce armor out of the Silk Armor technology, they are effective counters against archers.
Situational advantages
- As their Villagers can kill Wolves (or their equivalent) with one strike, they are technically at advantage in maps where there are lots of Wolves, as they don't have to bother if an opponent lures a pack of Wolves to a Magyar town, or if the player has to use their Villagers to take out an area filled with Wolves. Maps like this include Black Forest and Gold Rush, and this advantage is even more noticeable in high difficult settings (as difficulty affects the Wolf and similar animals LOS; the higher the difficulty the more LOS Wolves have)
- In the Budapest map, as every player has double start up (2 Town Centers, double Villagers, and two Scouts), they also get an advantage, as their two Scout Cavalry may be used to perform their Scout rush in the Feudal Age.
- In the "Capture the Relic" game mode, as their Light Cavalry line is cheaper, they can prevent enemy Monks from getting the Relic, while at the same time they may outnumber Scout Cavalry patrols from other players.
Template:Strategies (Age of Empires II)