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This article is about the scout unit of Malians. For the unit in other games of the series, see Scout unit. |
| “ | Fast cavalry effective at raiding, exploring the world, hunting wildlife, and herding Sheep. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description for Warrior Scout and Veteran Warrior Scout | ||
The Warrior Scout is a light melee cavalry unit in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition unique to the Malians, effective in exploring the world, hunting wildlife, and herding Sheep. It is called Vanguard Scout in its un-upgraded form, and every Malian player starts a standard game with one. It is a variation of the Scout available to other civilizations.
Ability[]
Herd: Any Sheep following the Scout can be dropped off at any building on which the Scout is right-clicked or on which this ability is used.
Tactics[]
Combat[]
The Vanguard Scout is very weak in combat and not very effective as a harass unit. It can win a 1 versus 1 against a Villager, but not against two Villagers. Even versus only one Villager, it needs 47 seconds to win. The Warrior Scout upgrade is big step up, providing +6 attack, +50% healing rate, +14.3% attack rate, and +7.7% movement speed. This makes a Scout rush dangerous for opponents, since harmless-looking Scouts can be upgraded to powerful Warrior Scouts. Compared to the regular Horseman rush, the Warrior Scout rush needs an upgrade, but the units themselves are cheaper and faster to create.
The Warrior Scout line can be created at both Town Centers and Stables, but can only be upgraded at Stables, which means that there is a significant delay between reaching the Feudal Age and researching Warrior Scout upgrade.
Counters[]
The Warrior Scout is countered by all units which counter Horsemen. Therefore, it is hard-countered by Spearmen and Camel Riders. It is also situationally countered by ranged units since, unlike the Horseman, it does not have any ranged armor, and beaten by heavy melee units, but it can avoid combat due to its mobility.
Herding[]
Neutral Sheep automatically follow any Scouts that come within a 6-tile range. When they follow a Scout, the movement speed of Sheep increases from 0.625 tiles/second to 1.625 to match that of the Scout. Sheep that are already owned by the player can be tasked to follow any Scout or passed from one Scout to another. This enables one Scout to continue exploring the map while one returns to the Town Center with all the Sheep.
Hunting[]
When attacking wild animals, the Warrior Scout uses a ranged attack with a bow. This attack does 3 damage per shot, so it takes 2 shots to kill a Deer (5 hit points), and 10 shots to kill a Wolf (30 hit points). Even after upgrading into the Warrior Scout, the unit still attacks Boars with its much weaker bow attack, and cannot be forced to use its melee attack, even in melee range. Therefore, it is not very effective vs Boar, which have 4 ranged armor and take only 1 damage, and cannot be hit-and-run effectively due to their fast speed and limited chase range. One advantage to the Warrior Scout is that it synergizes well with the Professional Scouts upgrade. Typically, this strategy involves creating multiple Scouts to pick up Deer across the map, but with most civilizations, players are then left with several weak Scouts that can't really do anything else. With Warrior Scouts, after picking up Deer, they can continue being used effectively in combat.
Line of Sight[]
The Warrior Scout has an exceptional Line of Sight compared to other units and it can see into stealth forests, allowing it to both detect and set up ambushes. Additionally, it it is the only unit which can detect units such as the Musofadi Warrior in stealth mode, or the Shinobi in its disguised mode.
Unit comparison[]
Unlike other Scouts, the Malian Scout can be upgraded in later ages into a Warrior Scout. Hence, the Scout line of the Malians replaces the regular Scout line, and the Warrior upgrade and above replace the Horseman line. The unit is created 66.7% faster than the regular Scout line and 46.7% faster than the Horseman line. It also costs more than other Scouts, but less than Horsemen.
However, the Warrior Scout only fulfills the Horseman's role in raiding and melee combat. Since they have 0 ranged armor and no attack bonus vs ranged units (until Veteran), Warrior Scouts cannot be used to counter ranged units effectively. Though not terrible, they are not great either. For that purpose, the Malians have access to the Javelin Thrower at the Archery Range.
Unit comparisons[]
 Scout
|
 Warrior Scout
|
 Horseman
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 70 food | 90 food | 100 food, 20 wood |
| Training time | 25 sec | 15 sec | 22.5 sec |
| Building |  Town Center Stable
|
Town Center Stable
|
Stable
|
| HP | 110 | 110 | 110 |
| 110 | 125 | ||
| 130 | 155 | ||
| 155 | 180 | ||
| Ranged armor | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 5 | |||
| Speed | 1.625 tiles/s | 1.625 tiles/s | 1.875 tiles/s |
| 1.75 tiles/s | |||
| 1.875 tiles/s | |||
| 1.875 tiles/s | |||
| Regeneration | 0.25 HP/s | 1 HP/s | 0 |
| 1.5 HP/s | |||
| 1.5 HP/s | |||
| 2.5 HP/s | |||
| Attack | 1 melee +10 vs Scout |
1 melee +10 vs Scout |
8 melee +8 vs Ranged |
| 7 melee +10 vs Scout |
9 melee +9 vs Ranged | ||
| 9 melee +10 vs Scout +9 vs Ranged |
11 melee +11 vs Ranged | ||
| 11 melee +10 vs Scout +11 vs Ranged |
13 melee +13 vs Ranged | ||
| Rate of Fire | 2 sec | 2 sec | 1.75 sec |
| Line of Sight | 9.11 tiles | 9.11 tiles | 6.22 tiles |
- Common
- Melee armor - 0
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Warriors only: siege engines, Scouts |
| Weak vs. | Heavy units, Spearmen, Camel Riders |
| Conditional matchups | Ranged units (after Veteran Upgrade) |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Biology (+25%)
|
| Attack |  Bloomery (+1) Decarbonization (+1) Damascus Steel (+1)
|
| Armor |  Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee) Insulated Helm (+1 melee) Master Smiths (+1 melee) Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged) Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged) Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
|
| Line of Sight |  Spyglass (+30%)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%)
|
| Other |  Professional Scouts (100% more damage to animals and can carry Sheep and Deer carcasses)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Attack |  Siege Festival (+50% fire for 90 seconds)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Festival (+100% for 90 seconds)
|
Dialogue lines[]
- Main article: /Dialogue lines
Changelog[]
- Originally, all units of the line regenerate 1 hit point per second. With update 6.0.878, Warrior Scouts and above regenerate 2 hit points per second. With update 7.0.5861, regeneration of Regular and Veteran decreased to 1.5 hit points per second, and that of Elite increased to 2.5 hit points per second.
- Originally, regular Warrior Scout moved at 1.875 tiles/s. With update 7.0.5861, it was reduced to 1.75 tiles/s.
- With update 7.0.5861, Veteran Warrior Scouts gain +100% attack vs ranged units.
- With patch 12.2.3327, the base level Warrior Scout was renamed from 'Scout' to 'Vanguard Scout' to differentiate it from the generic Scout.
- Originally, Warrior Scouts took 15 seconds to train. With patch 12.2.3327, they take 14 seconds to train.
Trivia[]
- The Warrior Scout (along with the regular Scout) and the Donso are the only units to have three different attack types. The Warrior Scout achieves this by having a main melee attack, a special ranged attack only against animals, and torch attack.
- The Warrior Scout is the only unit which improves its Rate of Fire or movement speed upon upgrading (in this case from Scout to Warrior Scout).
- Originally, the Warrior Scout line was meant to a regeneration rate of 5 hit points/second.
Gallery[]
