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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).

โ€œRanged 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.โ€
Age of Empires II description

The Onager is a ranged siege unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained 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 Eagle Warriors, Mangudai, Bombard Cannons, Monks with Block Printing and Redemption
Upgrades
Hit points UniqueTechImperialDE Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
Attack SiegeEngineersDE Siege Engineers (+20% attack against buildings)
ChemistryDE Chemistry (+1)
UniqueTechImperialDE Torsion Engines (increases blast damage radius by 0.45, Ethiopians only)
UniqueTechImperialDE Counterweights (+15% attack, Saracens only)
Range SiegeEngineersDE Siege Engineers (+1)
UniqueTechImperialDE Shinkichon (+1, Koreans only)
Armor UniqueTechCastle-DE Ironclad (+4/+0, Teutons only)
Movement Speed UniqueTechImperialDE Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
Conversion defense Devotion icon AoE2DE Devotion (+1 min, +1 max)
FaithDE Faith (+4 min, +4 max)
HeresyDE Heresy (die upon getting converted)
UniqueTechCastle-DE First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
Upgrades SiegeOnagerDE Siege Onager

Civilization bonuses[]

Team bonuses[]

Changelog[]

AoE2-DLCicon-0 The Age of Kings[]

  • Onagers move at a speed of 0.5.
  • Researching Chemistry reduces the projectile speed from 3.5 to 2.9.

AoE2-DLCicon-1 The Conquerors[]

AoE2-DLCicon-2 The Forgotten[]

  • Onagers can cut down trees.
  • Researching Chemistry does not affect the projectile speed anymore.
  • CivIcon-Celts Celts: Furor Celtica gives +40% HP to Onagers.
  • CivIcon-Teutons Teutons: Ironclad introduced.
  • CivIcon-Koreans Koreans: Onagers minimum range reduced by 1 (instead of +1 range).

AoEIIDE icon Definitive Edition[]

AoE2Icon-DynastiesIndia Dynasties of India[]

History[]

โ€œThe onager was an improvement of the mangonel; it was larger, more powerful, and hurled a heavier payload for greater distance.โ€
Age of Empires II 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[]

Units in Age of Empires II
CivilianMaleVillDE Villager ยท Tradecart aoe2DE Trade Cart ยท FishingShipDE Fishing Ship ยท Trade cog aoe2DE Trade Cog ยท King eu aoe2DE King
ReligiousMonk aoe2DE Monk
InfantryMilitiaDE Militia ยท Manatarms aoe2DE Man-at-Arms ยท Longswordsman aoe2DE Long Swordsman ยท Twohanded aoe2DE Two-Handed Swordsman ยท Champion aoe2DE Champion
Spearman aoe2DE Spearman ยท Aoe2-infantry-2-pikeman Pikeman ยท Halberdier aoe2DE Halberdier
Eaglescout aoe2DE Eagle Scout ยท Eaglewarrior aoe2DE Eagle Warrior ยท EliteEaglewarrior aoe2DE Elite Eagle Warrior
ArcherArcher aoe2DE Archer ยท Crossbowman aoe2DE Crossbowman ยท Arbalester aoe2DE Arbalester
Skirmisher aoe2DE Skirmisher ยท Elite skirmisher aoe2DE Elite Skirmisher
Hand cannoneer aoe2DE Hand Cannoneer
Cavalryarcher aoe2DE Cavalry Archer ยท Heavycavalryarcher aoe2de Heavy Cavalry Archer
Aoe2de DOI elephant archer icon Elephant Archer ยท ElephantArcherIcon-DE Elite Elephant Archer
CavalryScoutcavalry aoe2DE Scout Cavalry ยท Lightcavalry aoe2DE Light Cavalry ยท Hussar aoe2DE Hussar
Knight aoe2DE Knight ยท Cavalier aoe2DE Cavalier ยท Paladin aoe2DE Paladin
Camelrider aoe2DE Camel Rider ยท Aoe2 heavycamelriderDE Heavy Camel Rider
Battle elephant aoe2DE Battle Elephant ยท Elite battle elephant aoe2DE Elite Battle Elephant
Steppelancericon Steppe Lancer ยท Elitesteppelancericon Elite Steppe Lancer
Xolotlicon Xolotl Warrior
AoE2DE Armored Elephant icon Armored Elephant ยท AoE2DE Siege Elephant icon Siege Elephant
SiegeBattering ram aoe2DE Battering Ram ยท Capped ram aoe2DE Capped Ram ยท Siege ram aoe2DE Siege Ram
Mangonel aoe2DE Mangonel ยท Onager aoe2DE Onager ยท Siege onager aoe2DE Siege Onager
Scorpion aoe2DE Scorpion ยท Heavyscorpion aoe2DE Heavy Scorpion
Bombard cannon aoe2DE Bombard Cannon
Trebuchet aoe2DE Trebuchet
Petard aoe2DE Petard
Siegetower aoe2DE Siege Tower
War shipTransportship aoe2DE Transport Ship
Galley aoe2DE Galley ยท War galley aoe2DE War Galley ยท Galleon aoe2DE Galleon
Fire galley aoe2DE Fire Galley ยท Fireship aoe2DE Fire Ship ยท Fastfireship aoe2DE Fast Fire Ship
Demoraft aoe2DE Demolition Raft ยท Demoship aoe2DE Demolition Ship ยท Heavydemoship aoe2de Heavy Demolition Ship
Cannon galleon aoe2DE Cannon Galleon ยท Elite cannon galleon aoe2de Elite Cannon Galleon
AoE2 Dromon Dromon
Unique
ReligiousMissionaryIcon-DE Missionary ยท AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest
InfantryBerserkIcon-DE Berserk ยท Aoe2de Chakram Chakram Thrower ยท CondottieroIcon-DE Condottiero ยท Aoe2-icon-flemish-militia Flemish Militia ยท GbetoIcon-DE Gbeto ยท Aoe2de Ghulam Ghulam ยท HuskarlIcon-DE Huskarl ยท JaguarWarriorIcon-DE Jaguar Warrior ยท KamayukIcon-DE Kamayuk ยท Karambitwarrioricon-DE Karambit Warrior ยท AoE2 DE Legionary new icon Legionary ยท Aoe2-icon--obuch Obuch ยท SamuraiIcon-DE Samurai ยท Aoe2-icon-serjeant Serjeant ยท Shotelwarrioricon-DE Shotel Warrior ยท TeutonicKnightIcon-DE Teutonic Knight ยท ThrowingAxemanIcon-DE Throwing Axeman ยท Aoe2de Urumi Urumi Swordsman ยท AoE2 WarriorPriest Warrior Priest ยท WoadRaiderIcon-DE Woad Raider
ArcherArambaiicon-DE Arambai ยท CamelArcherIcon-DE Camel Archer ยท ChukoNuIcon-DE Chu Ko Nu ยท AoE2 CompositeBowman Composite Bowman ยท ConquistadorIcon-DE Conquistador ยท GenitourIcon-DE Genitour ยท GenoeseCrossbowmanIcon-DE Genoese Crossbowman ยท Imperialskirmishericon-DE Imperial Skirmisher ยท JanissaryIcon-DE Janissary ยท Kipchakicon Kipchak ยท LongbowmanIcon-DE Longbowman ยท MangudaiIcon-DE Mangudai ยท PlumedArcherIcon-DE Plumed Archer ยท Aoe2de ratha ranged Ranged Ratha ยท Rattanarchericon-DE Rattan Archer ยท SlingerIcon-DE Slinger ยท WarWagonIcon-DE War Wagon
CavalryBallistaelephanticon-DE Ballista Elephant ยท BoyarIcon-DE Boyar ยท Aoe2de camel scout Camel Scout ยท CataphractIcon-DE Cataphract ยท Aoe2de roman unique centurion icon Centurion ยท Aoe2-icon-coustillier Coustillier ยท Flaming camel icon Flaming Camel ยท ImperialCamelRiderIcon-DE Imperial Camel Rider ยท Keshikicon Keshik ยท Konnikicon Konnik ยท Leitisicon Leitis ยท MagyarHuszarIcon-DE Magyar Huszar ยท MamelukeIcon-DE Mameluke ยท AoE2 Monaspa Monaspa ยท Aoe2de ratha melee Melee Ratha ยท AoE2 Savar Savar ยท Aoe2de shrivamsha rider Shrivamsha Rider ยท TarkanIcon-DE Tarkan ยท WarElephantIcon-DE War Elephant ยท Aoe2-icon-winged-hussar Winged Hussar
SiegeAoe2-icon--houfnice Houfnice ยท Aoe2-icon-hussite-wagon Hussite Wagon ยท OrganGunIcon-DE Organ Gun
War shipCaravelIcon-DE Caravel ยท LongboatIcon-DE Longboat ยท Aoe2de Thirisadai Thirisadai ยท TurtleShipIcon-DE Turtle Ship
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