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Melee infantry units in Age of Empires IV are a branch of infantry units, and can be considered one of the primary types of land combat units available to all civilizations, along with ranged infantry, melee cavalry, and siege engines. They have negligible range and deal melee attack, which is why they are called melee. Melee infantry are almost always created at the Barracks.
Melee infantry can be further classified into Heavy and Light, with nearly every civilization having access to the Man-at-Arms or equivalent representing the former, and the Spearman or equivalent representing the latter. Some common characteristics between most melee infantry are: a range of 0.29 tiles, a common torch attack with which they attack buildings and ships, a charge attack with which they engage enemy units, and a relatively slow speed between 1.1 and 1.4 tiles per second that makes them poor for raiding. Both types of melee infantry are also typically characterized by low base DPS (damage-per-second), at least when compared to ranged infantry or heavy melee cavalry. There are exceptions to these rules associated with certain unique units. For example, the Onna-Bugeisha is a fast light infantry with longer range, the Landsknecht has high base damage, and the Abbasid Dynasty and Japanese Spearmen have higher range.
Despite some similarities, light melee infantry and heavy melee infantry have different roles. Light infantry typically are used as specialists, used in special roles or to counter specific units due to large attack bonuses, such as the Spearman against cavalry or the Musofadi Warrior against heavy units. Spearmen especially can protect valuable units such as siege engines and Villagers from cavalry charges or raids. Heavy melee infantry are characterized by higher health and damage, higher melee and pierce armor, and slower speed. This makes them useful as generalist front-line units which can absorb damage to protect higher DPS units such as ranged infantry or siege units while dealing decent damage in response. Various civ bonuses and unique technologies can change the roles of these infantry, such as giving higher damage to function as primary DPS dealers, or giving higher speed to function as raiding units.
Counters[]
The primary counter to melee infantry is ranged infantry, with different ranged units countering light and heavy melee infantry. Archers and their equivalents counter light melee infantry, while Crossbowmen and their equivalent counter heavy infantry. Mixing together light and heavy infantry can increase survivability against ranged units, since it forces opponents to choose the targets of their ranged units individually to take advantage of the attack bonuses. The exception to this is Handcannoneers, which are effective vs both heavy and light melee infantry due to their high damage. Melee infantry is also susceptible to being hit-and-run by most ranged cavalry due to the latter's higher speed. Heavy melee cavalry can soft-counter heavy melee infantry theoretically, especially in equal numbers, but begin to struggle when Spearmen are added. Other niche or uncommon counters include Shinobi and Bedouin Swordsmen, which have attack bonuses against melee units, though not specifically infantry, and Bedouin Skirmishers, which have an attack bonus vs light infantry, though not specifically melee.
List of melee infantry[]
The following list of melee infantry compares some common unit statistics, but should not be used as a direct indicator of combat ability, since attack bonuses, abilities, or other special features which can distinguish these units from each other are not included.
The following boosts specifically apply to Men-at-Arms and their unique equivalents: Ghulams, Varangian Guard, Palace Guards, Samurai, Gilded Men-at-Arms, and Earl's Guards, as well as all commanderie melee infantry.