Steppe Lancer

This article is about the unit introduced in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Last Khans. For other units called Lancer, see Lancer.

Steppe Lancer
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Last Khans
Type	Cavalry
Civilization	Cumans Mongols Tatars Jurchens Khitans
Age	Castle Age
Training
Trained at	Stable
Food	70
Gold	40
Training time	24 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	60
Melee attack	9
Reload time	2
Range	1
Melee armor	0
Pierce armor	1
Armor class	Cavalry
Speed	1.45
Line of Sight	5
Upgrades to
Upgrades to	Elite Steppe Lancer
Upgrade cost	600 food, 550 gold
Upgrade time	55 seconds

“	Light cavalry unit with increased attack range.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Steppe Lancer is a cavalry unit in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition that can be trained at the Stable once the Castle Age is reached. It is a light cavalry unit which carries a lance and can attack at range, albeit it is very short. It is considered a regional unit as it is only available to the Cumans, Mongols, Jurchens, Khitans, and Tatars. All five civilizations can upgrade Steppe Lancers to Elite Steppe Lancers in the Imperial Age.

Tactics

Steppe Lancers are most effective either in large groups, as their range enables larger masses to attack from behind the frontline, similar to the Inca Kamayuk, or in smaller packs for quick raids. Their speed and range allow them to hit-and-run like Cavalry Archers. Masses of Steppe Lancers work especially well in choke points and can work well in combination with other, more durable units, such as Knights, as they can attack over their backs while remaining safe.

The range allows them to tear through Palisade Walls and regular buildings much faster than most units, as more units can attack at once. This makes them great at opening up an opponent's walled-off base. This is helped by the fact that they have a lower cost than Knights, making them easier to afford.

Micromanagement is critically important when the player faces melee units. Thanks to its high movement speed, it can outrun every unit except for the Camel Rider and Light Cavalry lines. This makes it very hard to counter early on in the Castle Age, as Crossbowmen are too slow to force an engagement.

The best units to counter an army of Steppe Lancers are Knights, camel units, and Cavalry Archers. Against Pikemen, the Steppe Lancer's range means that they can hit-and-run depending on the situation, and hit-and-run on masses of cluttered units.

Stable units comparison

Units	Light Cavalry	Steppe Lancer	Knight
Cost	80 food	70 food, 40 gold	60 food, 75 gold
Speed	1.5	1.45	1.35
Hit points	60	60	100
Attack	7	9	10
Rate of Fire	2	2	1.8
Armor	0/2	0/1	2/2
Line of Sight	8	5	4
Training Time	30s	24s	30s
Upgrade cost and time	500 food, 600 gold 50 seconds	600 food, 550 gold 55 seconds	300 food, 300 gold 100 seconds

Comparison among civilizations in the Castle Age

Civilization	Cumans	Jurchens	Khitans	Mongols	Tatars
Hit points	80	80	60	92	80
Attack	9+2	9+2	9+4	9+2	9+2
Reload time	2	1.67	2	2	2
Armor	0+2/2+2	0+2/2+2	0+2/2+2	0+2/2+2	0+3/2+3
Time	10s	20s	20s	20s	20s
Extras	-	Takes -50% friendly fire damage	-	-	+20% damage when attacking from higher ground

All civilizations that have access to the Steppe Lancer have a bonus that may make their use slightly different:

• Cumans: Despite lacking Husbandry, the Cumans can be regarded to have free Husbandry in the Castle Age thanks to their civilization bonus. For a Cuman player who prefers the double Town Center tactic, Steppe Lancers can overturn the rush strategy, since this would make the Cumans age up to Castle Age likely later than other civilizations. Their Steppe Lancers can be trained much faster when Steppe Husbandry is researched. Moreover, thanks to their cheaper Stables, the Cumans have the easiest way to mass them.
• Jurchens: They have some of the strongest melee due to their civilization bonus. Since they are a cavalry civilization that lacks the Knight line, Steppe Lancers will be the main cavalry force for the Jurchens before they have a Castle to train their unique cavalry Unit.
• Khitans: Although lacking Bloodlines, they have the hardest-hitting Steppe Lancers in the Castle Age, as their melee attack upgrades are doubled. However, without Bloodlines, the Khitan Steppe Lancers are the most vulnerable to ranged attacks in the Castle Age, and melee attacks throughout the game. As such, they must be used cautiously. In the Imperial Age, Ordo Cavalry will slightly make up for missing Bloodlines, since it allows them to recover hit points in combat.
• Mongols: Mongol Steppe Lancers are their core unit in the early Castle Age, as they have the most hit points. The Mongols lose their economic advantage when there are no huntable animals, and using their mounted archers and Scout Cavalry line can be costly, while their Steppe Lancers are tankier than other civilizations'. In the Imperial Age, they have more hit points, but lack Plate Barding Armor, meaning that they have the worst resistance against ranged units, even combined with the hit point bonus, while performing slightly better when facing melee counter units.
• Tatars: Despite having the most armored Steppe Lancers, the Tatars are the only civilization that are not likely to train Steppe Lancers in the early game, as they rely on their ranged units, especially Cavalry Archers. Additionally, the Tatar economy focuses on wood, since free Sheep spawn from newly built Town Centers and the delay of decaying herdables will delay their building Farms, thus saving wood rather than food. This means Tatar Steppe Lancers are overshadowed by their other main units, such as the cheaper Keshiks and mounted archers. However, Tatar Steppe Lancers should not be ignored, as they deal more damage when fighting from higher ground. As the Tatars cannot use their infantry effectively to counter Eagle Warriors, Steppe Lancers are the response before they can train Keshiks. To sum up, the Tatar Steppe Lancers are more tactical units rather than the core of the army.

Further statistics

Strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Infantry, Light Cavalry, Villagers, siege weapons, masses of cluttered units (if massed)
Weak vs.	Archers, stronger cavalry, Pikemen, camel units

Technologies
Hit points	Bloodlines (+20)
Regeneration	Ordo Cavalry (90 HP/min in combat, Khitans only))
Attack	Forging (+1, +2 for the Khitans) Iron Casting (+1, +2 for the Khitans) Blast Furnace (+2)
Conversion resistance	Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
Movement speed	Husbandry (+10%)
Creation speed	Conscription (+33%) Steppe Husbandry (+100%, Cumans only)

Civilization bonuses
Hit points	Mongols (+20%/+30% in Castle/Imperial Age)
Attack	Tatars (+20% damage (+50% instead of +25%) when attacking from higher elevation)
Damage resistance	Jurchens (-50% friendly fire damage)
Attack speed	Jurchens (+20%)
Movement speed	Cumans (+10%/15% in Castle/Imperial Age)

Team bonuses
Attack	Hindustanis (+2 against standard buildings)
Conversion resistance	Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
Creation speed	Huns (+20%)
Upgrading	Huns (+20% faster) Portuguese (+25% faster)

Team bonuses

• Bulgarians: Blacksmith technologies that benefit Steppe Lancers are researched 80% faster.
• Huns: Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
• Lithuanians: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Heresy is 20% faster.
• Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Steppe Lancers are researched 25% faster.

Changelog

Definitive Edition

• Initially, Steppe Lancers cost 70 food, 30 gold, have 10 attack, a Rate of Fire of 1.9, and move at a speed of 1.5. With update 34055, they now cost 70 food, 45 gold, have 8 attack, a Rate of Fire of 2.3, and move at a speed of 1.45.
• Initially, Steppe Lancers have a small collision size, allowing multiple of them to be stacked tightly. With update 34055, their collision size is doubled.
• With update 36202, Steppe Lancers have 9 attack.
• Cumans: With update 36202, Steppe Lancers now benefit from Steppe Husbandry.
• Mongols: Initially cannot train Steppe Lancers. With update 35584, Steppe Lancers are added to their technology tree.
• Tatars: With update 36202, Steppe Lancers now benefit from Silk Armor.

Lords of the West

• With update 47820, Steppe Lancers cost 70 food, 40 gold.

Dawn of the Dukes

• With update 51737, Steppe Lancers have a Rate of Fire of 2.

Chronicles: Battle for Greece

• With update 141935, Elite Steppe Lancer upgrade cost reduced from 900 food, 550 gold to 600 food, 550 gold.

Heroes

There is one hero in the game with the appearance of a Steppe Lancer:

• Bleda the Hun

Trivia

• Before update 34055, Steppe Lancers had much better attack, a small collision size, and moved at the same speed as the Light Cavalry, allowing Cuman and Tatar players to stack masses of Steppe Lancers in very small spaces (which in consequence allowed the stacked Steppe Lancers to deal high amounts of damage to an opponent but receiving low damage themselves), leading to the community viewing the Steppe Lancer as overpowered. This issue led to many players dropping out from ranked games when they encountered an opponent Cuman player (since in the release version, they were 10% faster and had Husbandry, making regular cavalry counters ineffective), as well as led to hosts kicking players who picked Cumans or even Tatars in non-ranked games.
  • Stacking Steppe Lancers in a small space can still be done, but it now requires heavy micromanagement and specific commands like patrolling a compact area in a compact formation.
    • After the first nerf, Steppe Lancer lines are the most unused units in competitive matches, as they are not only expensive, but also have low attack, slow ROF, and are prone to pierce attacks, making them an unwise choice for most cases, causing the small adjustment to their price and ROF to compensate their weaknesses.
• Visually, Steppe-Lancer-line units wield lances just as long as those of lancer-wielding Leitis and Magyar Huszar; yet those two units' melee attacks ironically do not gain the longer range advantage.
• The Steppe Lancer line was originally exclusive to the new Central Asian civilizations introduced in the Definitive Edition (Cumans and Tatars). However, in update 35584, Mongols received Steppe Lancers and the extra hit points of Light Cavalry affected them.
• All five civilizations that have access to the Steppe Lancer (Mongols, Cumans, Jurchens, Khitans, and Tatars) lacked Redemption in their tech trees.
• Despite the Huns, Bulgarians, Magyars, and Turks being nomadic civilizations that originated from the steppes of Central/North Asia, they do not have access to the Steppe Lancer.
• Visually, the Elite Steppe Lancer's lance is shorter than that of the Steppe Lancer.
• Originaly, Steppe Lancers have a helmet covering the horse head. With update 34055, it was removed.
• During the beta, the Steppe Lancer cost 10 more food.
• While many of the civilizations with access to Steppe Lancers were historically nomadic, the Jurchens are an exception, as they were historically sedentary farmers who lived in villages and towns in the forests of Manchuria. Their access to Steppe Lancers is possibly to reflect the Chinese misconceptions of Jurchens being nomadic during medieval times, due to them sharing a similar horse culture and clan structure with the Mongols.
  • While most civilizations with Steppe Lancers have average-to-mediocre defenses and lack access to key important gunpowder units, but have good mounted archers, the Jurchens have access to a variety of gunpowder units and potent defenses, but below-average Cavalry Archers.

Gallery

A group of Steppe Lancers

Steppe Lancer on the left and Elite Steppe Lancer

16th-century Crimean-Tatar horsemen, by Marek Szyszko

A mounted lancer, of undetermined ethnicity, with captive and a dead foe's severed head, on an ewer from Nagyszentmiklós Treasure

Masked Polovtsian Lancer, by Igor Dzys'

Masked Polovtsian Lancer, by V. Vuksic and Z. Grbasic

Steppe Lancer art from the Mongol civilization event (July 2020)

Mongol Steppe Lancer