| “ | Ranged soldier. Good against infantry. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
| “ | Archer. Good against infantry. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Toxotes (plural: Toxotai) is the main ranged soldier used by the Greeks in Age of Mythology. They can be trained at the Archery Range once the Classical Age is reached. They are one of three true foot archers in the game, the other being the Atlantean Arcus and the Chinese Fire Archer.
Special ability[]
Solar Flare (Passive, requires Sun Ray): Projectiles reveal the area around where they land.- Venomous (Passive, requires Shafts of Plague): Inflicts poison on enemy units, causing 0.25 divine damage per second for 6 seconds.
Tactics[]
Toxotai are good against infantry and in groups can tear into an enemy army. Overall, they provide effective ranged support for Greek armies. As ranged units, they should be used at a distance as they are fragile and have little armor. They have a fairly short range compared to their Egyptian and Atlantean counterparts, so they are slightly vulnerable to these. As with other archers, they are weak against cavalry, as these can quickly close the gap with the fragile archers. Counter-archers such as the Huskarl or Slinger will also defeat them.
Further statistics[]
Strengths and weaknesses[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. |  Infantry
|
| Weak vs. |  Cavalry,  Peltast,  Slinger,  Huskarl,  Turma,  Wuzu Javelineer
|
Upgrades[]
| Age | Upgrade | Upgrades to | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
 Medium Ranged Soldiers
|
Medium Toxotes | 150 wood, 150 gold 20 seconds |
+10% hit points, +10% damage, +1 Line of Sight |
|
 Heavy Ranged Soldiers
|
Heavy Toxotes | 300 wood, 300 gold 30 seconds |
+10% hit points, +15% damage, +1 Line of Sight |
|
 Champion Ranged Soldiers
|
Champion Toxotes | 500 wood, 400 gold 40 seconds |
+10% hit points, +20% damage, +1 Line of Sight |
God bonuses[]
- Hades: +1 attack range and Line of sight
General technologies[]
- Levy Ranged Soldiers, Conscript Ranged Soldiers: -20% training time
- Copper Weapons, Bronze Weapons, Iron Weapons: +10% damage
- Copper Armor, Bronze Armor, Iron Armor: -10% hack vulnerability
- Copper Shields, Bronze Shields, Iron Shields: -10% pierce vulnerability
- Burning Pitch: +3 damage multiplier against buildings, +1.5 damage multiplier against ships
- Ballistics: fires more accurately at moving enemy targets.
Myth technologies[]
- Oracle (Apollo): +5 Line of Sight
- Sun Ray (Apollo): +10% damage, projectiles reveal the surrounding area
- Enyo's Bow of Horror (Ares): +10% damage, +15 arrow speed
- Dionysia (Dionysus): +5% hit points
- Shafts of Plague (Artemis): +10% damage, +0.25 divine damage/s for 6 seconds
Relics[]
- Arrows of Heracles: +5% attack.
- Bow of Artemis: -10% cost.
- Feather of Bifang: +0.2 attack multiplier vs. buildings.
- Girdle of Hippolyta: +10% hit points.
- Thundercloud Shawl: -5% pierce vulnerability.
- Pelt of Argus: +6 Line of Sight.
- Ullr's Bow: +1 Line of Sight and range.
- Wuhao, Bow of Huangdi: Apply 15% snare for 2 seconds.
Changelog[]
Age of Mythology[]
- Toxotai have 6.5 attack, 60 hit points, 19 Line of Sight, a 0.9× multiplier vs. Raiding Cavalry, a Rate of Fire of 1 and train in 15 seconds.
Retold[]
- Toxotai have 6 attack, 65 hit points, 18 Line of Sight, a 1.0× multiplier vs. Raiding Cavalry and 1.25× vs. infantry, and train in 12 seconds.
- With update 17.27932, Toxotai train in 15 seconds.
- With update 17.36100, Toxotai have a Rate of Fire of 1.1.
History[]
| “ | After centuries of hoplite warfare, the Greeks diversified their armies after Philip's Macedonian army convincingly demonstrated the superiority of combined arms. They first added light troops, mainly peltasts and cavalry. They were slower to add archers, whom they called toxotai, because they did not have a long tradition of archery practice that produced bowmen of sufficient quality for the battlefield. | ” |
| —In-game help section | ||
| “ | After centuries of warfare that was decided by Hoplite battle, the Greeks began using a variety of units after the superiority of combined arms was demonstrated convincingly by Philip's Macedonian army. The Greeks added light troops, mainly Peltasts and cavalry. They were slower to add archers, whom they called Toxotes, because they did not have the long tradition of archery practice that created bowmen of sufficient quality for the battlefield. | ” |
| —In-game help section | ||
Trivia[]
- The word Toxon (Tόξον: bow), from which Toxotes (Τοξότης) is derived, is of Scythian origin. As for the Toxotes (plural: Toxotai, Tοξόται) themselves, they were slaves of Scythian ethnicity, armed with bows. They were found in Athens, and had safekeeping duties.
- Toxotai in Greek society were viewed with prejudice, as they were often seen as cowardly due the lack of courage of facing death or injury in the frontlines as opposed to the hoplites. As such, many toxotai were often from lower classes of Greek society (i.e. slaves, peasants, or "barbarian" tribes like the Scythians).
- Although primarily based upon the Scythian slave peacekeeping force of Athens, the Toxotai in Age of Mythology also represent the famed archers of Crete, due to the presence of the Toxotai's small shield.
- The in-game help section states that the Greeks did not traditionally practice archery. This may explain why the Greeks in Age of Empires have no archer unit other than the Bowman.
Gallery[]
Close-up of the Toxotes in Retold, with no upgrades
Close-up of the Medium Toxotes in Retold, with Classical Age upgrades
Close-up of the Heavy Toxotes in Retold, with Heroic Age upgrades
Close-up of the Champion Toxotes in Retold, with Mythic Age upgrades
A Toxotes in-game
