Pierce armor

Pierce armor is an armor type used in the Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. Unlike ordinary armor which resists melee damage, pierce armor resists missile damage.

Age of Empires

Damage formula

In Age of Empires, the damage formula is:

File:DamageFormula AoE.png

• n denotes normal attack / armor
• p denotes pierce attack / armor
• If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
• k_elev is the elevation multiplier (applied to both cliffs and hills), equal to 2/3 if a melee unit attacks below its target, 3/2 if a ranged unit attacks above its target or 1 otherwise.

Units dealing pierce damage

The following units and buildings deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:

• Slingers
• All Archery Range units
• Ballistae and Helepolises
• Scout Ship line
• Towers

Technologies

To improve pierce armor for all infantry based units, technologies from the Storage Pit must be researched.

Age of Empires II

Damage formula

In Age of Empires II, the damage formula is:

File:DamageFormula AoE.png

• n denotes normal attack / armor
• p denotes pierce attack / armor
• If the target belongs to the category i and the attacker has a bonus AttackBonus against i, then the bonus (minus BonusResist if the target has one) is added to the total damage.
• The elevation multiplier k_elev is 5/4 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 3/4 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only) or 1 otherwise.

Units dealing pierce damage

The following units deal pierce damage and are affected by their target's pierce armor:

• All Archery Range units
• All unique archer units
• Janissaries
• Conquistadors
• Organ Guns
• Scorpions
• Trebuchets
• Galley line
• Fire Ships*
• Longboats
• Caravels

*Fire Ships and Fast Fire Ships also deal melee damage.

Also, all buildings deal pierce damage. (The Bombard Tower only since patch 1.0c.)

Units with high pierce armor

The following units have high pierce armor and excel at battle against units dealing pierce damage (values for fully upgraded units):
Infantry

File:Huskarlinfo.png

The Huskarl, the horror of all archers

• Elite Huskarl - 10 (Goths only)
• Elite Eagle Warrior - 8 (10 for the Incas)
• Champion - 8 (for the Malians only, 5 for the other civilizations)
• Condottiero - 7 (for the Malians only, 4 for the other civilizations)
• Pikeman - 7 (for the Malians only, 4 for the other civilizations)

Archers

• Elite Rattan Archer - 10 (Vietnamese only)
• Imperial Skirmisher - 9 (Vietnamese and allies only; 10 for the Lithuanians)
• Elite Elephant Archer - 9 (Indians only)
• Elite War Wagon - 8 (Koreans only)
• Elite Genitour - 8 (Berbers and allies only; 9 for the Tatars)
• Elite Skirmisher - 8 (9 for the Lithuanians)
• Heavy Cavalry Archer - 7 (for the Tatars only, 6 for the other civilizations)

Cavalry

• Elite Tarkan - 8 (Huns only)
• Elite War Elephant - 7 (Persians only)
• Elite Battle Elephant - 7 (8 for the Burmese)
• Elite Ballista Elephant - 7 (Khmer only)
• Paladin - 7
• Hussar - 7 (for the Tatars only, 6 for the other civilizations)

Siege units

File:Siegeraminfo.png

The Siege Ram, the horror of all Castles

• Siege Ram - 195
• Trebuchet - 150 (unpacked; packed: 8)
• Siege Tower - 100

Ships

• Elite Caravel - 10 (Portuguese only)
• Fast Fire Ship - 9
• Elite Longboat - 9 (Vikings only)
• Galleon - 9 (10 for the Portuguese)
• Elite Cannon Galleon - 9 (10 for the Portuguese)
• Transport Ship - 9 (10 for the Portuguese)
• Fishing Ship - 7 (for Japanese only, 6 for the Portuguese only, 5 for the other civilizations)

Technologies

The first place to upgrade a military unit's pierce armor is the Blacksmith. Infantry, cavalry, and archers can get +4 pierce armor there.

• Infantry: Scale Mail Armor (+1), Chain Mail Armor (+1), Plate Mail Armor (+2)
• Cavalry: Scale Barding Armor (+1), Chain Barding Armor (+1), Plate Barding Armor (+2)
• Archers: Padded Archer Armor (+1), Leather Archer Armor (+1), Ring Archer Armor (+2)

Additionally, Cavalry Archers can be further improved at the Archery Range:

• Parthian Tactics: Improves pierce armor of Cavalry Archers (+2).

At the Dock, the pierce armor of all ships can be improved:

• Careening: Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).

At the Town Center, Villagers are improved:

• Loom: Improves pierce armor of Villagers (+2).

Also, a few unique technologies researched at the Castle improve the pierce armor of certain units:

• Carrack: Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).
• Couriers: Improves pierce armor of Eagle Warriors, Kamayuks, and Slingers (+2).
• Howdah: Improves pierce armor of Battle Elephants (+1).
• Orthodoxy: Improves pierce armor of Monks (+3).
• Pavise: Improves pierce armor of archers (+1).
• Supremacy: Improves pierce armor of Villagers (+2).

Buildings can also get their pierce armor upgraded at the University.

• Masonry (+1), Architecture (+1)

Furthermore, most buildings gain +1 pierce armor per Age.

If the pierce armor of a unit is improved with technologies, the added value is separately shown in the infobox (see image above).

Age of Empires III

In Age of Empires III, pierce armor has been replaced by the resist parameter.

Main article: Resists