| “ | Just get us close enough to an enemy building and we will give our lives for the cause! | ” |
| —Dialogue in Pax Mongolica | ||
The Saboteur is a hero suicide cheat unit in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. A powered-up version of the later introduced Petard, it is much more effective and faster, able to destroy units and especially buildings very effectively.
Saboteurs are available in the Scenario Editor as well as via cheats. They also make several campaign appearances.
In-game, the Saboteur looks identical to a Petard. As a hero, he cannot be converted and can regenerate health (since The Conquerors).
Unit comparison[]
 Saboteur
|
 Petard
| |
|---|---|---|
| Hit points | 45 | 50 |
| Regeneration | 0.5 hit points per second | 0 |
| Armor | 1/3 | 0/2 |
| Blast radius | 2.5 [100% effect] | 0.5 [100% effect] |
| Speed | 1.35 | 0.8 |
| Armor class | Ship | Siege weapon |
| Line of Sight | 6 | 4 |
| Melee attack | 100 | 25 |
| Attack vs buildings | 500 | 500 |
| Attack vs stone defense | 500 | N/A |
| Attack vs walls | N/A | 900 |
| Attack vs Castles | N/A | 100 |
| Attack vs siege | N/A | 60 |
Campaign appearances[]
Genghis Khan[]
- Pax Mongolica: The starting Mongol force has several Saboteurs immediately available for destruction of Hungarian defenses. Further Saboteurs will arrive as part of Subotai's reinforcements.
Francisco de Almeida[]
- A Son's Blood: Before the Definitive Edition, one of the traders by the eastern Gujarati Market is a renamed Saboteur.
Yodit[]
- Welcome Home: Since the Definitive Edition, Yodit's troops can hire several Saboteurs from a local village to the northeast of Axum.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- Nobunaga: Saboteurs are unique to the Mori clan and can be trained at the Criminal Network.
Mangudai Madness[]
- Saboteurs appear in every third wave in the scenario. In this scenario, Saboteurs are heavily modified - they have 6.67 times the hit points (total 300) and extremely high pierce armor (so that every Mangudai shot deals 1 damage regardless of upgrades or hill factors), but have -80% speed (0.27 tiles/s).
Trivia[]
- If enabled in scenarios via triggers, they cost 70 wood, 50 gold and take 30 seconds to train.
- It has Armor class: Ship instead of Armor class: Siege weapon.
- Considering both costs and armor class, it was created by cloning a Demolition Ship.
- Saboteurs move as fast a Knight without Husbandry. It is much faster than a Petard, which moves as fast as a Teutonic Knight and War Elephant without their speed upgrades.
| Cheat units in the Age of Empires series | |
|---|---|
 Age of Empires |  BabyPrez (removed) ·  Big Bertha ·  Black Rider ·  Crocodile (Alpha) ·  Dragon ·  Elephant (Alpha) ·  Flying Dutchman ·  Gazelle (Alpha) ·  Laser Trooper ·  Lion (Alpha) ·  Medusa ·  Nuke Trooper ·  Saint Francis ·  Stealth Archer ·  Winsett's other Z ·  Winsett's Z ·  Zug 209 |
 Age of Empires II |  Alfred the Alpaca ·  Cobra Car ·  Furious the Monkey Boy ·  Penguin · Photonman · Saboteur ·  Sharkatzor ·  Stormy Dog ·  VMDL |
 Age of Mythology |  Bella ·  Football ·  Flying Purple Hippo ·  Forkboy ·  Lazer Bear ·  Methane Chicken ·  UFO ·  Walking Berry Bush |
 Age of Empires III |  BigAndy ·  Flaming Hot Dog Cart ·  Fluffy ·  Flying Purple Tapir ·  Gatling Camel ·  George Crushington ·  Guardian Lion ·  Honey Badger ·  Lazerbear ·  Learicorn ·  Leonardo's Tank ·  Mediocre Bombard ·  Monster Ice Cream Truck ·  Penguin ·  The Tommynator |
 Age of Empires IV |  Photon Man |