| “ | Vietnamese unique unit. Heavily armored Archer. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Rattan Archer is the unique unit of the Vietnamese in Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas. It is an archer with very high pierce armor.
Rattan Archers can be upgraded to Elite Rattan Archers in the Imperial Age.
Tactics
The Rattan Archer has great pierce armor, which is comparable to the Huskarl's. They can reliably stave off enemy ranged units, despite lacking attack bonuses against them; even Skirmishers and Genitours may struggle killing them. They can also resist Scorpion bolts and base defense arrows.
They also boast good attack for an archer, as well as decent speed; the second highest among foot archers, second only to the Plumed Archer. That allows them to pursue retreating archer units, as well as helping themselves retreat from massed Skirmishers and siege weapons. They can also take advantage of their speed to raid in search of Villagers, also helped by their armor, allowing them to survive tower and Town Center arrows.
However, they are vulnerable to any unit that can strike their weaknesses, particularly their lack of melee armor. Huskarls, fast infantry (especially Eagle Warriors) and of course, cavalry, can also tear them to shreds. They are also fairly costly in terms of wood for a foot archer unit, thus its cost may put a dent in construction of buildings, ships, and siege weapons. They are at their best when escorted by Battle Elephants and infantry units that can soak damage and strike against melee units, respectively.
It should be noted that unlike Crossbowmen during the Castle Age, Rattan Archers with Bodkin Arrow actually do 2 damage per shot against Mangonels, while their faster speed makes it much easier to dodge the latter's projectiles. This means that with good micromanagement, Rattan Archers have a good chance of destroying the go-to hard counter against early massed archers. Conversely, when facing Rattan Archers players should be wary of deploying lone Mangonels which may be picked off. Multiple Onagers during the Imperial Age will still make short work of massed Rattan Archers and serve as an effective counter.
Further statistics
As Rattan Archers are unique to the Vietnamese, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Archers, infantry |
| Weak vs. | Cavalry, Huskarls, Eagle Warriors, siege weapons |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Chemistry (+1)
|
| Range | Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1)
|
| Firing rate |  Thumb Ring (+18%)
|
| Accuracy | Thumb Ring (increases accuracy to 100%) Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor |  Padded Archer Armor (+1/+1) Leather Archer Armor (+1/+1) Ring Archer Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Conversion defense |  Faith
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%)
|
| Upgrades |  Elite Rattan Archer
|
Civilization bonuses
- Vietnamese: Conscription is free.
Team bonuses
- A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Rattan Archers are created and upgraded 25% faster.
- A team containing Britons: Researching Thumb Ring is 20% faster.
- A team containing Bulgarians: Researching Blacksmith upgrades is is 80% faster.
- A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Faith is 20% faster.
- A team containing Magyars: Rattan Archers have +2 Line of Sight.
- A team containing Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
- A team containing Saracens: Rattan Archers have +1 attack against standard buildings.
- A team containing Teutons: Rattan Archers are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog
Rise of the Rajas
- Initially, Rattan Archers had an attack bonus against infantry of +1. This bonus was removed in patch 5.3.
- Initially, (Elite) Rattan Archers had 35 (40) HP. With patch 5.8, they now have 40 (45) HP.
Gallery
