 |
This article is about the status effect in Age of Empires III and Age of Mythology. For the technology in The African Royals, see Snares. |
Snare is a status effect in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires III that reflects a speed movement penalty applied to units being affected by hand attacks and some ranged units.
Age of Empires II[]
Introduced with The Three Kingdoms, it is the unique ability of the White Feather Guard. Each attack applies a non-stacking movement speed penalty of 15% for 10 seconds.
Age of Mythology[]
Snare was first introduced to the franchise with Age of Mythology. The effect of the snare is noticeable and has palpable impact on gameplay, but is very subtle when compared to Age of Empires III.
Before Retold, when a unit is attacked by another melee unit, a snare effect is applied which lasts 3 seconds, and entails a speed reduction of 35%. The penalty linearly reduces to 0% over the three second duration. Snare is also applied by attacks of the Phoenix and Nidhogg, but not other flying units. It is not applied by the ranged attack of Throwing Axemen, even though they deal hack damage.
As snaring slows down units, those who were previously fast enough to dodge arrows become easier to hit if their speed falls below 5. Before Retold, units needed to have a speed of at least 7.7 to remain above the 5.0 mark when snared to be able to still dodge most enemy arrows. Normally, only Camel Riders and a pack of Fenris Wolf Broods were fast enough to qualify for this.
When a snared unit is hit by a qualifying attack again, the effect's magnitude does not increase, but resets to the maximum of 35%, and the timer for the snare effect resets.
In Retold, the magnitude of snare is 15%, and it resets instantly after 2 seconds since last being hit by an attack capable of the effect. Lance of Stone increases the snare magnitude of Contarii (and their hero form) to 30%. Anastrophe grants the charged ability Critical Strike to Pentekonters which includes a 30% snare. Master of Weaponry increases the snare magnitude of Ge Halberdiers applied to cavalry to 50%. Nezha's Universe Rings and Yinglong snare enemies despite using ranged attacks.
Age of Empires III[]
Carl Von Clausewitz explaining snaring in The Art of War
Any hand attacks by units apply a snare effect on the struck unit, reducing its speed by 35% for approximately 3 seconds. This effect is covered by the file code values: speedboost and targetspeedboost.
The Definitive Edition adds ranged snaring with the Bolas Warrior, Mapuche Bolas Rider, Gaucho, and Californio. It also adds the ability for units to be immune to snaring, like Chimu Runner when using the Chimu Maneuver ability.
Units unable to snare[]
- Pets
- Chimu Runners (when using the Chimu Maneuver ability)
- Native Scouts (except when upgraded with the "Advanced Scouts" Home City Card)
Units immune to snare[]
- Chimu Runners (when using the Chimu Maneuver ability)
- Chasqui
