Oprichnik

Oprichnik
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Heavy cavalry Siege unit Melee cavalry
Civilization	Russians
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon
Food	90
Coin	60
Training time	40 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	250
Resists	20% vs. Ranged
Speed	6.75
Line of Sight	15
Population	2
XP train bounty	15
XP bounty	15
Melee attack
Damage	20 13 (Trample mode)
Multipliers	x3.0 vs. Villager x2.0 vs. Artillery and Siege unit (except in Trample mode)
Area of Effect	3 (Trample mode)
Rate of Fire	1.5 2.0 (Trample mode)
Siege attack
Damage	64
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Fast cavalry good at raiding villagers or buildings.	”
—In-game description

The Oprichnik is a melee heavy cavalry in Age of Empires III that is unique to the Russians and can be trained at Stable, Fort, and Galleon once the Fortress Age is reached.

Overview

Oprichniks are heavy cavalry units unsuited for general combat, but exceed at raiding. They do not possess the hit points or damage that other cavalry like the Hussar have. However, they have the highest siege damage out of every non-elephant cavalry unit in-game and enjoy a large damage multiplier against Villagers and a minor one against artillery units. However, using Oprichniks to fight artillery might be ineffective if it's defended by heavy infantry, leaving Oprichniks mainly used for raiding undefended Villagers and buildings. A fully upgraded Imperial Oprichnik can take out settlers in 2-3 hits.

Due to their unconventional damage, Oprichniks should avoid fighting in hand-to-hand combat, as they will surely be killed. Ranged cavalry is also an issue because its multiplier against heavy cavalry.

Upgrades

The Oprichnik starts at the Veteran level, but without the increased hit points and attack.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Guard Oprichniks	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades Oprichniks to Guard (+30% hit points and attack)
	Imperial Oprichniks	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades Oprichniks to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Oprichniks

Further statistics

As Oprichniks are unique to the Russians, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Villagers, artillery, buildings, Siege unit
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Pillage (+25% siege attack) Yoga (+5%)
Sight	Town Watch (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Westernization (grants Veteran upgrade) Petrine Reforms (grants Guard upgrade) Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

As Oprichniks are unique to the Russians, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Oprichnik

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team French Card Description Age HC level TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners gets +15% attack 10 Germans Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry get +15% attack 10 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level Boyars Strelets, Cossacks, and Oprichniks get +15% hit points and attack 25 Cavalry Combat Cavalry get +15% hit points and attack 10 TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and light infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 5 Oprichniks Ships 5 Oprichniks 1 6 Oprichniks Ships 6 Oprichniks 10 9 Oprichniks Ships 9 Oprichniks 10 12 Oprichniks Ships 12 Oprichniks 40 Riding School Cavalry train time -40% 10 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Changelog

Age of Empires III

• Oprichniks have 75 siege damage.

Definitive Edition

• Fixed a bug which makes the Oprichnik's multipliers against artillery and siege units not applied when they are set to Trample Mode.
• With update 20322, Oprichniks have 64 siege damage.

History

“	Oprichniks were the police and soldiers of Oprichnina, a royal domain created by Ivan the Terrible. Tsar Ivan used his Oprichniks to crush any hereditary opposition to his rule. These soldiers carried out their Tsar's will with unflinching loyalty and were brutal and ferocious thugs. The Tsar's goals were not especially original, but Ivan the Terrible and his Oprichniks operated on an unprecedented scale. One attack on the city of Novgorod took the lives of at least 3,000 people. They were slaughtered over the course of a week. Some accounts put the death toll as high as 60,000 people. The Oprichniks promoted a fierce appearance, wearing all black uniforms and riding black horses. The Oprichnik seal bore a dog, symbolizing their loyalty to the Tsar and their tenacity in fighting for the Tsar, and a broom, to represent sweeping away the Tsar's enemeies.	”
—In-game history section

Gallery

The Oprichnik's history portrait

Oprichnik concept art

An in-game Oprichnik

An in-game Guard/Imperial Oprichnik