Pavise is a technology in Age of Empires II: The Forgotten that is unique to the Italians and can be researched at the Castle. Once researched, it increases the armor of foot archers by +1/+1.
Strategy
Pavise works the same way as any other archer-based Blacksmith technology and should be acquired as soon as possible if the player relies mainly on Archers and Genoese Crossbowmen for defensive/offensive purposes.
Initially, Pavise only provided a benefit to the Genoese Crossbowman when researched. It has since been updated to affect other foot archers as well as of the The African Kingdoms, which increases its usefulness. Currently affects Arbalests, and Genoese Crossbowmen. So which version of the game the player is using (The Forgotten or The African Kingdoms) changes the priority Pavise should be given. In African Kingdoms and on, players should research it before researching Ring Archer Armor, while in The Forgotten it should be the other way around, due to the gold cost of Pavise and the fact that in that version it only benefits Genoese Crossbowmen.
Team Bonuses
Changelog
The Forgotten
- Pavise costs 550F/300F.
- Pavise only affects Genoese Crossbowmen.
The African Kingdoms
- Pavise now costs 300F/150G.
- Pavise now affects all foot archers (including Skirmishers) instead of just Genoese Crossbowmen.
- With patch 4.8, Pavise does not affect Skirmishers anymore.
Trivia
- In reality, the pavise is a type of tall convex shield used by Medieval European bowmen as a sort of mobile cover for them to duck behind while not firing. Appearance-wise, the Pavise much resembles the shield carried by the Genoese Crossbowman, though the unit never seems to duck behind it while engaging an enemy, thus somewhat defeating the shield's purpose when faced with ranged adversaries.
