Slinger (Age of Empires II)

"Inca unique unit. Ranged unit with attack bonus vs. infantry."

—Age of Empires II description

The Slinger is the second unique unit of the Incas in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, the first being the Kamayuk. It can be trained at the Archery Range once the Castle Age is reached. It is an anti-infantry ranged unit.

Unlike most unique units, Slingers do not have an Elite version.

Tactics Edit

Slingers have an attack bonus of +10 against infantry. That makes them powerful early anti-infantry units, as they can defeat most infantry that come close enough. They are also one of the best archers at dealing with Huskarls. However, Huskarls can be a devastating threat for Slingers themselves in the close range due to their attack bonus against archers. Another potential risk is the Samurai, provided they can close in, as they have a huge attack bonus against unique units combined with an already quick and massive attack.

In some ways they behave similarly to the Hand Cannoneer, but they are cheaper, available from the Castle Age, and fire more accurately as they are affected by Ballistics and Thumb Ring. When fully upgraded with Bracer, they have more range than their gunpowder counterpart, but still significantly less attack (although they do benefit from Chemistry). Hence, unlike Hand Cannoneers, Slingers aren't as effective as Hand Cannoneers against any other unit, especially against cavalry.

Like Skirmishers, they have a minimum range, and this remains a problem unless Andean Sling is researched at the Castle. Note that their projectile speed is lower than most archers and is the same as a Hand Cannoneer. This makes them harder to micro intensively and more vulnerable to archers used by a skilled opponent.

Slingers can be used alongside Kamayuks and Eagle Warriors, each countering the other's weakness. Kamayuks counters cavalry, Eagle Warriors counters archers and siege weapons, and the Slinger counters the eagle-threatening infantry. This is a very gold-intensive army, however, and can be difficult to mass.

Further statistics Edit

As Slingers are unique to the Incas, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry, Villagers
Weak vs.	Skirmishers, Scorpions, Mangonels, Huskarls, cavalry, Genitours, Rattan Archers
Upgrades
Attack	Fletching (+1)  Bodkin Arrow (+1)  Bracer (+1)  Chemistry (+1)
Range	Fletching (+1)  Bodkin Arrow (+1)  Bracer (+1)  Andean Sling (eliminates the minimum range)
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)  Couriers (+1/+2, since The African Kingdoms)
Speed	Couriers (+10%, only in The Forgotten)
Conversion defense	Faith  Heresy
Creation speed	Conscription (+33%)