Shock infantry

Shock Infantry is a tag, defined as AbstractLightInfantry in game files, refers to an infantry class that function like Cavalry, having similar roles and counters. This class was introduced in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs. There are two types of Shock Infantry that also have the Light Infantry tag:

• Hand Shock Infantry (labeled as AbstractCoyoteMan in game files)
• Eagle Runner Knights (labeled as xpEagleKnight in game files)

The following units are Hand Shock Infantry:

• Coyote Runner
• Tiger Claw
• Rattan Shield
• Disciple
• Chasqui
• Chimu Runner
• Shotel Warrior

Hand Shock Infantry are a substitute unit type for hand cavalry, so they are countered by Light cavalry and Heavy infantry.

• Eagle Runner Knight

Eagle Runner Knights are a substitute unit type for light cavalry, so they are countered by Rifle Infantry and Foot Archer classes. It's the only Shock Infantry unit in the game that is not also Hand Shock Infantry. The units that have attack multiplier against Light Cavalry, have the same value against Eagle Runner Knights.

History

• Light Infantry refers to two different types of units depending on whether referring to Age of Empires III or the expansions The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties: As tradition in other games of the series, in vanilla Age of Empires III all ranged infantry units that counter Heavy infantry and Light cavalry with their ranged attacks are considered light infantry.
• In The Warchiefs and The Asian Dynasties, Light Infantry constitutes infantry that emulate cavalry. The units formerly tagged as light infantry are no longer considered as such and do not possess the tag anymore, being tagged as just Infantry and Ranged Infantry; they're differentiated from the Musketeer-type of units which have the Heavy infantry tag.
• In the Definitive Edition, to avoid confusion, Light Infantry was renamed to Shock Infantry. Although it is still referred as AbstractLightInfantry in game files. With update 13088, the AbstractCoyoteMan tag was altered to display as "Hand Shock Infantry" in the UI and was retroactively applied to the Tiger Claw and the Rattan Shield, while the Tiger Claw had its Infantry tag removed. Traditional units labeled as Light Infantry in roles and functions were placed under the Foot Archer and Rifle Infantry tags.

Leftover Units

Additionally, because of an apparent oversight from the developers, in The WarChiefs, The Asian Dynasties, and the Definitive Edition, some units keep both the Infantry and Light Infantry tags from Age of Empires III, making them vulnerable to both counter-infantry and counter-cavalry units.

• Cherokee Archer
• Aztec Eagle Warrior
• Native Boy

This oversight is probably due to them appearing only in the campaign (and in treasures for the Aztec Eagle Warrior).