Scorpion (Age of Empires II)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II. For the unit in Chronicles, see Scorpion (Chronicles).

Scorpion
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II
Type	Siege weapon
Civilization	All civilizations except Shu
Age	Castle Age
Training
Trained at	Siege Workshop
Wood	75
Gold	75
Training time	30 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	40
Melee attack	0
Pierce attack	11
Attack bonus	+7 vs War elephant +3 vs Building +1 vs Ram +1 vs Infantry
Reload time	3.6
Attack delay	0.22
Range	7
Minimum range	2
Accuracy	100%
Projectile speed	6
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	7
Armor class	Siege weapon
Speed	0.65
Line of Sight	9
Ability	Has pass-through damage in 0.2 tiles width
Upgrades to
Upgrades to	Heavy Scorpion
Upgrade cost	800 food, 750 wood
Upgrade time	50 seconds

“	Anti-unit siege weapon. Fires bolts that pierce multiple units.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Scorpion is a light siege weapon in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Siege Workshop. The Scorpion fires large arrow-like bolts. It is effective against groups of enemy units as the bolts cause damage to multiple units in a straight line, although only the targeted unit gets full damage; all other units hit only get half damage. Unlike Mangonels, they do not damage friendly units. This can make all the difference in a pitched close quarters battle.

Shu is the only civilization to lack Scorpions, instead having the War Chariot, a mounted siege unit with a volley attack.

Scorpions can be upgraded to Heavy Scorpions in the Imperial Age.

Tactics

Scorpions are effective against slower, lower-health units, but they usually need to be used in large groups. Foot-archers are the primary exception to this, where a single Scorpion has a tactical advantage. Infantry and archers tend to be the units its slower-moving bolts have maximum efficiency against. Scorpions perform worse against Eagle Warriors, Woad Raiders, and cavalry, which can dodge its missiles and/or close the gap quickly, and Huskarls, Ghulams, and Eagle Warriors, who have higher pierce armor which can resist the Scorpion bolts. Scorpions, like most siege units, should be well protected, as their slow speed makes them vulnerable to attack. They are often paired with Pikemen to deal with enemy cavalry. This combination is often seen with the Celts and Slavs, who have bonuses for both units. They can also be paired with Genoese Crossbowmen, which help protect them against cavalry, and can also assist against other units, unlike Pikemen.

When used properly, Scorpions can be quite devastating. A medium-sized group of Scorpions can decimate whole armies of infantry and archers, and will even hold out against cavalry in sufficient numbers. Scorpions tend to be countered by Mangonels. Khmer (and their allies') Scorpions are less vulnerable to Mangonels, as their Scorpions outrange them. Scorpions are also vulnerable to longer ranged units such as Bombard Cannons and Longbowmen.

Comparison to the Mangonel

General

• Scorpions deal pierce damage, as opposed as the Mangonel's melee.
• Scorpions do damage in a straight line, while Mangonels attack a single, small area. The amount of total damage against a group of units will largely depend on formation and enemy micromanagement.

Mangonel advantages

• The Mangonel has a much bigger base attack and its Area of Effect generally allows it to hit more enemies than the Scorpion.
• In addition to its superior damage per shot, Mangonels have bigger bonus damage against both buildings and siege.
• The fact that Mangonels deal melee damage makes them very effective against all other siege units in the game, including the Scorpion (since siege units have high pierce armor and low melee armor). At the same time, the Scorpion's pierce damage makes it very ineffective at destroying siege units.
• The Mangonel has two upgrades, which increases its power much more than the one upgrade available for the Scorpion. The upgrades significantly increase the Mangonel's attack and health, as well as increasing its range by +1. The same does not happen for the Heavy Scorpion, which only gets a slight increase in health and attack from its upgrade.
• Mangonels can attack ground - a cleverly managed Mangonel may hit fast-moving units.
• Mangonels do not have attack delay; Scorpions have significant attack delay.
• Mangonels have more hit points, especially their upgraded versions.
• Mangonels do not need any technology to get going.

Scorpion advantages

• Scorpions do not damage friendly units, but Mangonels do.
  • Mangonels need careful control throughout almost any battle or they are likely to deal heavy damage to the player's own troops. In contrast, Scorpions can be effective even with very little micro-management. As such. Scorpions can be argued to be more suitable for beginner players than Mangonels.
• Scorpions cost only about half as much as Mangonels (Scorpions cost in total 150 resources, while the Mangonel costs 295, although the latter is less gold-intensive).
• Scorpions need Ballistics to reach their full potential, after which they can track moving targets, making their use much more friendly.
• Scorpions attack nearly twice as fast as Mangonels.
• Scorpions move slightly faster than Mangonels (0.65 vs 0.6 speed), making them slightly better at repositioning.
• While Scorpions have a shorter range (7) than upgraded Mangonels (8), the Scorpion projectiles continue moving 3 tiles ahead of their maximum range, allowing them to hit units 10 tiles away (11 with Siege Engineers). Combined with the fact that Scorpion shots reach their targets faster than Mangonel shots, this makes the Scorpion shots harder to dodge. This is especially true against ranged units performing hit-and-run tactics, since these units cannot retreat straight backward from the Scorpion shots, but will dodge Mangonel shots by doing this.
• The Heavy Scorpion upgrade does not cost gold (800 food, 750 wood) and is much cheaper than the combined cost of the Onager (800 food, 500 gold) and Siege Onager (1,450 food, 1,000 gold) upgrades.
• Scorpions have one extra pierce armor (although each upgrade on the Mangonel grants +1 pierce armor each).
• Scorpions have a minimum range of 2, while the minimum range of Mangonels is 3. This influences the unit's survivability.

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Slow-moving units like most infantry, foot archers and elephants, especially when they are grouped tightly
Weak vs.	Fast-moving melee units like most cavalry, Ghulams, Eagle Warriors and Woad Raiders, Mangudai, Mangonels, Bombard Cannons, and Huskarls

Technologies
Hit points	Furor Celtica (+40%, Celts only)
Attack	Siege Engineers (+20% against buildings) Chemistry (+1) Rocketry (+25%, Chinese only)
Range	Siege Engineers (+1)
Accuracy	Ballistics (track moving targets)
Additional projectiles	Double Crossbow (6 pierce attack and +3 anti-Elephant attack, unaffected by Chemistry, Khmer only)
Armor	Ironclad (+4/0, Teutons only)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted) First Crusade (+4 min, +4 max, Sicilians only)
Attack speed	Ballistas (+33%, Romans only)
Movement speed	Drill (+50%, Mongols only)
Ability	Torsion Engines (increases projectile width by 0.6 tiles, Ethiopians only)

Civilization bonuses
Attack	Tatars (+20% {+50% instead of +25%} damage from higher elevation)
Damage resistance	Georgians (-20% when fighting from higher elevation) Jurchens (-50% friendly fire damage)
Attack speed	Celts (+25%)
Resource cost	Dravidians (-33% wood) Portuguese (-20% gold) Romans (-60% gold) Slavs (-15%)
Creation speed	Aztecs (+15%)
Upgrading	Bulgarians (-50% food cost) Jurchens (-75% wood cost, +100% faster)

Team bonuses
Range	Khmer (+1) Romans (-1 minimum range)
Conversion resistance	Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
Creation speed	Celts (+20%)
Upgrading	Celts (+20% faster) Portuguese (+25% faster)

Civilization bonuses

• Burmese: Researching Devotion and Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Celts: Scorpions can convert herdable animals even if enemy units are next to them.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Scorpions are 15% cheaper.
• Italians: Researching Chemistry is 33% cheaper.
• Spanish: Researching technologies that benefit Scorpions provides 20 gold each.

Team bonuses

• Lithuanians: Researching Heresy, Devotion, and Faith is 20% faster.
• Malians: Researching Chemistry and Siege Engineers is 80% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Scorpions are researched 25% faster.

Changelog

The Age of Kings

• Scorpions have 5 range, 7 Line of Sight, a minimum range of 1, 6 pierce armor, and an attack delay of 0.
• Scorpions have a base pierce attack of 12, +6 bonus damage vs. elephants, +1 vs. buildings, and no bonus damage vs. infantry.
• Scorpions benefit from Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer, gaining overall +3 attack, range, and Line of Sight with all three technologies.
• Chemistry gives Scorpions +2 attack.
• Scorpions do not benefit from Ballistics.
• The Heavy Scorpion upgrade costs 1,000 food, 1,100 wood.

The Conquerors

• Scorpions have 7 range, 9 Line of Sight, a minimum range of 2, and an attack delay of 0.21 seconds.
• Scorpions do not benefit from Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, or Bracer.
• Scorpions deal 0 melee damage in addition to their pierce attack.
• Chemistry gives Scorpions +1 attack.
• Heresy introduced.

The Forgotten

• Scorpions have 7 pierce armor.

The African Kingdoms

• Scorpion projectile size increased: 0.025 → 0.1 tile (fixes their lack of pass-through damage).

Definitive Edition

• Bulgarians: With update 42848, upgrading to Heavy Scorpion costs -50% food.
• Ethiopians: with update 36906, Torsion Engines' Scorpion projectile collision size was increased from 0.3 to 0.5 tiles. With update 42848, it was decreased to 0.4 tiles.

Dynasties of India

• With update 61321, Scorpions are now resistant to armor-ignoring attacks similarly to buildings.
• With update 81058, the Heavy Scorpion upgrade costs 800 food, 900 wood.

Return of Rome

• Romans: Scorpions benefit from Ballistics.

Victors and Vanquished

• With update 111772, the Heavy Scorpion upgrade costs 800 food, 750 wood.
• With update 125283, all Scorpions benefit from Ballistics.

Chronicles: Battle for Greece

• With update 141935, Scorpions have a base pierce attack of 11, +7 bonus damage vs. elephants, +1 bonus damage vs. infantry, and +3 bonus damage vs. buildings. Since Scorpions have +3 attack vs buildings, they benefit from the increased attack boost from Siege Engineers since +3 is increased to +3.6, hence rounded to +4 (previously +2 was increased to +2.4, hence rounded to +2).

History

“	The scorpion represents a light artillery weapon that fired large arrow-like bolts, small stones, or iron balls. These weapons came in a variety of sizes and looked like large crossbows. Scorpions might be mounted on tripods or more substantial wooden frames. They were used primarily in siege attacks but could also be deployed in a set position on a battlefield. They were useful against massed enemy troops, especially cavalry, and against fortifications.	”
—Age of Empires II manual description.

Trivia

• The Scorpion's model is actually based on the Ballista weapon. Scorpions were stationary weapons installed in fortifications for defense, while Ballistae were mobile and often larger, and used in the field for offense.
• The Scorpion is said to be effective against massed cavalry and fortifications in the Age of Empires II manual, though during gameplay it performs in the exact opposite way as Scorpions are too slow to deal significant damage to mounted troops and buildings take very little damage from them even when fielded in sizable groups.
• Interestingly enough, Scorpions have a 0 melee damage value, meaning that Rams and Siege Towers take extra damage from them due to having -3 and -2 melee armor respectively. On top of that, Scorpions also have an attack bonus against Rams.
• In some Alphas, Scorpions were manned like the Bombard Cannon, using the original Age of Empires Ballista sprite to attack.
• The Scorpion is based on the real-world Scorpio, and as such even reflects on its logistical aspects, being a cumbersome and expensive, and being limited to more of a sniper-role than a siege weapon.
• If the projectile lands after the Scorpion is destroyed, it may cut down trees due to a bug.
• The Byzantines, despite being the only civilization that actually used the Scorpio during the majority of the Middle Ages (until the Crusades where it had a comeback), do not have access to the Heavy Scorpion.

Gallery

A Scorpion and Heavy Scorpion demonstrating their pass-through damage

Views of the Scorpion in the Definitive Edition

A group of Scorpions before the Definitive Edition

The Scorpion (on the left) and its heavy counterpart

The Scorpion line in the Definitive Edition, with the Scorpion on the left

With Extended unit stats enabled, the Scorpion's information panel shows the Pierce Attack icon, minimum range (1 due to Roman bonus), reload speed (2.7), movement speed (0.65).

Real ballista model similar to the in-game Scorpion

A replica of a proper scorpio, in a Roman reenactment event

Moving animation

Christmas tree projectile skin for Scorpion bolts (used by several other units) in Frosty Friends event

Video overview

AoE2 Scorpions

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