"Ranged cavalry that are effective against cavalry, heavy infantry, and artillery."—In-game description
The Rifle Rider is a gunpowder cavalry in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs that is unique to the Sioux and can be trained at the Corral once the Fortress Age is reached.
Overview 
Edit
The Rifle Rider is one of the most significant units available to the Sioux civilization. These units are the Native American version of a Dragoon, but unlike Dragoons, they are good against heavy infantry. They have a good ranged attack and hit points, but another advantage is their rapid rate of fire, at 1 hit every 1.5 seconds. That means they can easily kill large numbers of heavy infantry units in a short period of time.
Though they are very well rounded, they fare poorly against light cavalry. This is because unlike most cavalry, they are classified as both heavy and light, against whom light cavalry has a multiplier.
It is a good idea to combine a group of Rifle Riders with several Axe Riders; Rifle Riders are one of the most powerful units in the game. However, Dragoons-like units will make short work of them due to multipliers.
Upgrades Edit
The Rifle Rider is automatically upgraded to Elite (+25% hit points and attack) at the Fortress Age.
| Age | Upgrade | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  Champion Rifle Riders
| 400 wood, 200 coin | Upgrades Rifle Riders to Champion (+25% hit points and attack) |
 |  Legendary Rifle Riders
| 1,500 wood, 1,500 coin | Upgrades Rifle Riders to Legendary (+50% hit points and attack); requires Champion Musket Riders |
Further statistics Edit
As Rifle Riders are unique to the Sioux, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, artillery |
| Weak vs. | Light cavalry, Skirmishers |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Horsemanship (+10%) Cavalry Cuirass (+10%) Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
|
| Attack |  Bonepipe Armor (+1.0x multiplier vs. artillery) Gun Trade (+25%) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
|
| Range | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
|
| Sight | Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
|
| Speed |  Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
|
| Creation speed |  Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
|
| Train cost |  Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
|
| Other |  Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
|
Home City Cards Edit
As Rifle Riders are unique to the Sioux, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Rifle Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|
Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team French
|
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Hand Cavalry Attack
| Heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners gets +15% attack |  | 10 |
Germans Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cavalry Attack
| Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and light infantry get +15% attack | | 10 |
Indians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
| All units get +5% hit points and attack | | 25 |
Japanese Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades
| Unit upgrades cost -20% | | 1 |
Portuguese Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Early Dragoons
| Dragoons, Cavalry Archers, Ruyters, Musket Riders, Rifle Riders, and Yabusame can be trained in the Colonial Age; Zamburak train time -15%; Ming Army and Mongolian Army train time -7% |  | 1 |
Russians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Cavalry Scouts
| Cavalry and light infantry gets +10% hit points and +4 LOS | | 1 |
Sioux Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cavalry Damage
| Cavalry gets +15% attack | | 10 |
 Cavalry Hitpoints
| Cavalry gets +15% hit points | | 10 |
 Cavalry Combat
| Cavalry gets +15% hit points and attack |  | 25 |
 4 Rifle Riders
| Ships 4 Rifle Riders | | 1 |
 6 Rifle Riders
| Ships 6 Rifle Riders | | 10 |
 5 Rifle Riders
| Ships 5 Rifle Riders | | 10 |
 7 Rifle Riders
| Ships 7 Rifle Riders | | 25 |
 Mustangs
| Cavalry costs -10% | | 10 |
 Riding School
| Cavalry train time -40% | | 10 |
 Burnt Thigh Support
| Ships 7 Rifle Riders and 2 Medicine Men; costs 1,000 coin | | 10 |
 Yankton Support
| Ships 6 Rifle Riders and Rifle Riders get +20% attack; costs 1,000 coin | | 10 |
Spanish Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Inquisition
| All units get +10 LOS | | 10 |
History Edit
"The ultimate development of the famous Sioux art of war were their amazingly skilled horsemen armed with repeating rifles. There is an old stereotype that the American Indians were reactionary culturally, unable to adapt to modern ways. The Sioux rifle riders demonstrate the falseness of this idea – during their heyday, they were the most advanced warriors on Earth. In Europe at this time, cavalry were still fighting with sabers and lances. Even in America, the U.S. cavalry used single-shot rifles, significantly inferior to the Sioux carbines."
Gallery Edit
