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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Age of Mythology, see Onager (Age of Mythology). |
| “ | Ranged siege weapon with area of effect attack, but cannot attack enemies at close range. Strong vs. tight groups of units. Can attack ground and destroy trees. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Onager is a ranged siege unit in Age of Empires II that can be upgraded from the Mangonel at the Siege Workshop once the Imperial Age is reached. It is primarily used against large groups of enemies. Its high attack and splash damage make it a powerful unit, especially against archers and slow-moving units. As a ranged unit with blast attack, it also causes friendly fire. Its main offsets are its projectile speed, minimum range, and tendency to harm friendly units caught in its blast.
Tactics[]
Onagers are devastating against archers and slow-moving units, but cannot defend themselves against most melee units. Therefore, they need to be guarded in most situations. Archers are often used because the player's melee units can be damaged by their own Onagers if they are not careful. But archers do not cover the Onager's main weakness adequately, which is cavalry. Therefore, Onagers are also often paired with Halberdiers or Monks.
While the Onager upgrade is fairly expensive at 800 food, 500 gold, it provides +10 attack, +10 anti-building attack, +1 range, +1 pierce armor, +0.25 blast radius, and +10 hit points. Since The Forgotten, Onagers are able to cut down trees, making them valuable in maps with large areas of forests like Black Forest by enabling the player to attack from behind a forest. It is visually distinguishable by a thicker more reinforced appearance. Overall it is a worthwhile upgrade when multiple Mangonels are being deployed.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Buildings, archers, siege weapons except Bombard Cannons, units in dense formations |
| Weak vs. | Fast moving melee units especially Magyar Huszars and Elite Eagle Warriors, Mangudai, Bombard Cannons, Monks with Block Printing and Redemption |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
|
| Attack |  Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings) Chemistry (+1) Torsion Engines (increases blast damage radius by 0.45, Ethiopians only) Counterweights (+15% attack, Saracens only)
|
| Range | Siege Engineers (+1)
|
| Armor |  Ironclad (+4/+0, Teutons only)
|
| Movement speed | Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
|
| Upgrades |  Siege Onager
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Aztecs: Onagers are created 15% faster.- Bulgarians: Upgrading to Siege Onager costs -50% food.
- Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
- Celts: Onagers fire 25% faster. Onagers can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Onagers are 15% cheaper.
- Dravidians: Onagers cost -33% wood.
- Georgians: Onagers receive -20% damage (-40% instead of -25%) when fighting from higher elevation.
- Italians: Researching Chemistry is 33% cheaper.
- Portuguese: Onagers cost -20% gold.
- Slavs: Onagers are 15% cheaper.
- Spanish: Researching technologies that benefit Onagers provides 20 gold each.
- Tatars: Onagers deal +20% damage (+50% instead of +25%) from cliffs and elevations.
Team bonuses[]
- Celts: Onagers are created and upgraded 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
- Malians: Researching Chemistry and Siege Engineers is 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Onagers are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Onagers are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Onagers move at a speed of 0.5.
- Projectiles move at 2.9 tiles/s. Secondary projectiles without Chemistry move at 3.0.
- Primary and secondary projectiles have an arc of 0.6 and 0.4 respectively.
- Onagers do not deal attack bonus against siege weapons.
- Onagers cannot cut down trees.
The Conquerors[]
- Onagers move at a speed of 0.6.
- Onagers deal +12 bonus damage against siege weapons.
- Projectiles without and with Chemistry move at 3.5 and 2.9 tiles/s respectively.
- All projectiles have an arc of 0.4 respectively.
- Onagers do not auto-attack if it may harm friendly units.
- Heresy introduced.
- Celts: Furor Celtica introduced. It gives Onagers +50% hit points.
- Mongols: Drill introduced.
- Koreans: Shinkichon initially gives Onagers +2 range. With patch 1.0b, the effect was reduced to +1.
- Koreans (team bonus): Onagers have +1 range.
The Forgotten[]
- Onagers can cut down trees.
- All projectiles move at 3.5 tiles/s.
- Celts: Furor Celtica gives +40% HP to Onagers.
- Teutons: Ironclad introduced.
- Koreans (team bonus): Onagers minimum range reduced by 1 (instead of +1 range).
Definitive Edition[]
- Koreans (team bonus): Onagers minimum range reduced by 2.
- Bulgarians: With update 42848, upgrading to Siege Onager costs -50% food.
- Portuguese: With update 42848, technologies are researched 30% faster.
Dynasties of India[]
- Saracens: Counterweights introduced.
- Portuguese: With update 73855, technologies that benefit Onagers are researched 25% faster for them as well as their allies.
Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]
- Chinese and Koreans: With update 141935, they lose access to the Mangonel line.
History[]
| “ | The onager was an improvement of the mangonel; it was larger, more powerful, and hurled a heavier payload for greater distance. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual | ||
In reality, the Onager was invented long before the Mangonel, by the Ancient Romans. The Onager is credited as being the first Torsion Spring or Petraria Arcatinus-type catapult, as all catapults before that are called Ballistae and/or Scorpions.
The word Onager derives from the Greek onagros, meaning "wild ass". It was named after the famously untameable Onager or Asian wild ass (Equus hemionus), because it was said that the engine threw rocks as hard as the animal kicked.
Gallery[]
