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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:

  • 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.
  • kelev 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:

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:

  • 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 kelev 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:

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):

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.

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

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 improve the pierce armor of certain units:

Age of Empires III

In Age of Empires III, pierce armor has been replaced by the resist parameter.

Main article: Resists
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