The Musket Rider is used best against Villagers and cavalry. They have a very high speed and can even employ hit-and-run tactics against Hussars. They have a large attack that does x3 vs. cavalry and x2.5 vs. artillery. Concerning ranged cavalry, they are well-rounded in most respects, but they have two slight advantages. The first is their low food cost, allowing a Haudenosaunee player to invest more in food-hungry units, such as Aennas and Villagers. The second is their x2.5 anti-artillery bonus, allowing mixed groups of Kanya Horsemen and Musket Riders to crush massed artillery.
However, as the Haudenosaunee have limited Home City Cards and technologies for their cavalry, they may seem mediocre in later game, and can fall behind other similar, more upgradable units. They have only two cards that benefit them: "Cavalry Combat" and "Cavalry Hitpoints", both essential for cavalry-oriented civilizations, and they also come an Age later. On top of that, they only have two upgrades, Ranged Cavalry Caracole, and Horse Secrets.
This apparent weakness can be more than compensated for by using a few unique Haudenosaunee advantages – namely the War Chief Aura and War Ceremony. By combining these two advantages, Musket Riders max out in the Imperial Age (without TEAM cards or native technologies) at 506 hit points and 57 attack, both of which exceed Imperial Jinetes. They are also faster than most other ranged cavalry due to Horse Secrets. They are also quite a bit cheaper than most other ranged cavalry, but due to the weak late-game economy of the Haudenosaunee, it can often feel like an expensive, premium unit. In this regard, Tomahawks are often favoured over Musket Riders late-game, due to their cheap cost.
Due to firing muskets rather than rifles, pistols, or blunderbuss (like the Dragoon), Musket Riders are the only Light Cavalry who have the same firing sound as a Musketeer.
The Iroquois fondness for guns and willingness to adopt new modes of warfare meant that they quickly applied the use of firearms to mounted warriors. Unlike the old European tradition, among the Iroquois the mounted warriors were not necessarily considered the highest-ranking or noblest.