The Peltast is a Greek counter-archer archer unit in Age of Mythology. It is first available in the Heroic Age.
Attack bonuses[edit | edit source]
- Archers: ×4
- Throwing Axemen: ×2
God Bonuses and Upgrades[edit | edit source]
General[edit | edit source]
Hades increases attack by 10%.
Medium Archers, Heavy Archers and Champion Archers all increase LOS by 1, attack by 10%, and hit points by 10%. Heavy Archers and Champion Archers gives +2 range- Levy Archers and Conscript Archers decrease training time by 20%.
- Sun Ray (Apollo) increases attack by 10%.
- Shafts of Plague (Artemis) increases attack by 15%.
- Copper Weapons, Bronze Weapons and Iron Weapons increase attack by 10%.
- Copper Mail, Bronze Mail and Iron Mail decrease hack vulnerability by 10%.
- Copper Shields, Bronze Shields and Iron Shields decrease pierce vulnerability by 10%.
- Burning Pitch increases attack against buildings by ×3 and against ships by 50%.
- Oracle (Apollo) increases LOS by 6.
- Bacchanalia (Dionysus) increases hit points by 5%.
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Peltasts are strong against archers and Throwing Axemen, but weak against basically everything else. They destroy ranged units with ease, though their usefulness is debatable as Hippikons fulfill the anti-archer role admirably without being as specialized.
However, Peltasts are useful if the player is low on food and gold as unlike the Hippikon the Peltast costs no food and is much cheaper on gold. Also Peltasts have the advantage of attacking from a distance, which can be a decisive advantage when enemy archers are behind walls. They are best used as defensive or support units due to their fragility.
History[edit | edit source]
Peltasts were light troops originally from Thrace (modern Serbia [sic]) who took their name from their light, hide-covered shield called a pelte. They wore no armor, allowing them to move rapidly on the battlefield. Each man carried several javelins, usually one meter in length. Their battlefield role was to close with heavy and slow enemy formations, throw javelins into their midst, and pull back before the enemy could catch them. If peltasts could attack phalanxes on the right (unprotected side), they could cause casualties and disrupt the formation before hoplite battle was joined. The increasing use of light troops like Peltasts eventually made obsolete armies composed entirely of Hoplites.
