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:
- Slingers
- All Archery Range units
- Ballistas and Helepolis
- 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:
- 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:
- All Archery Range units
- All unique archer units
- Janissaries
- Conquistadors
- Organ Guns
- Scorpions
- Trebuchets
- Galley line
- Fire Ship Fire Shipss*
- 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
- Elite Huskarl (10)
- Elite Eagle Warrior (8; 10 for the Incas)
Archers
- Elite Rattan Archer (10)
- Imperial Skirmisher (9)
- Elite Elephant Archer (9)
- Elite War Wagon (8)
- Elite Genitour (8)
- Elite Skirmisher (8)
Cavalry
- Elite Tarkan (8)
- Elite War Elephant (7)
- Elite Battle Elephant (7; 9 for the Burmese)
- Elite Ballista Elephant (7)
- Paladin (7)
Siege Units
- Siege Ram (195)
- Trebuchet (packed: 8, unpacked: 150)
- Siege Tower (100)
- Siege Onager (8)
Ships
- Elite Caravel (10)
- Fast Fire Ship(9)
- Elite Longboat (9)
- Galleon (9)
- Elite Cannon Galleon (9)
- Transport Ship (9)
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:
- Pavise: Improves pierce armor of archers (+1, only for Genoese Crossbowmen before The African Kingdoms).
- Carrack: Improves pierce armor of ships (+1).
- Orthodoxy: Improves pierce armor of Monks (+3).
- Couriers: Improves pierce armor of Eagle Warriors, Kamayuks, and Slingers (+2, since The African Kingdoms).
Buildings can also get their pierce armor upgraded at the University.
- Masonry (+1), Architecture (+1)
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