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Boar prev aoe2de

The Wild Boar is a huntable animal in Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires IV, and a Treasure guardian in Age of Empires III.

Age of Empires[]

This section is most likely incomplete and may need expansion. You can help by adding to it.

Boars were introduced to Age of Empires in its own client since Return of Rome.

Age of Empires II[]

Boar sprite aoe2
Boar leadinganim aoe2de

A Villager leading a Boar closer to a Town Center.

The Wild Boar is a huntable but dangerous animal. Like all aggressive huntables, it only attacks when it is attacked. It has 75 hit points and 7 attack, so it is far more difficult to kill than Deer. It is essential that Villagers take it on in groups, as a single Villager cannot handle a Boar. If Boars are killed by military units the food they hold is lost, so it is important to assign Villagers with that task.

Also, Boars deal 3 bonus damage against cavalry, 4 against shock infantry and 8 against camels (since Dynasties of India), so luring them to the Town Center with scouts can even be dangerous for them. However, military units can be used to significantly reduce a Boar's hit points (but not kill it), so that Villagers can finish the Boar more easily. The Wild Boar provides 300 food, more than most huntable animals. It is recommended to gather from the Boar as soon as the player has enough Villagers to do so. Boars are a fast source of free food. Boars are so profitable that it is recommended to gather any the player can find, even in the Imperial Age.

A Boar moves at a speed of 1 while attacking and 0.8 while roaming, compared to 1.2 for a Dark Age Scout Cavalry, 1.1 for an Eagle Scout, and 0.8 for a Villager.

The Javelina is an American version of the Boar, identical in all but name.

A powerful variant of the Wild Boar appears in the Attila the Hun campaign, known as the Iron Boar. It has 350 hit points, and it cannot be hunted by Villagers except in the Definitive Edition.

Strategies[]

  1. Lure - A common strategy to kill a Boar is to have one Villager lure it to the Town Center by shooting it once, and then run to the Town Center, where at least four other Villagers are waiting and kill the Boar. It is advisable to research Loom for luring a Boar. Without Loom, a Villager is killed in four hits. With Loom, a Villager is killed in seven hits. The player can use their other Villagers, starting scout unit, and even livestock like Sheep to interrupt the Boar's path to protect the luring Villager.
  2. Advanced Lure - As above, but weaken the Boar with the Town Center on its way in. If a Town Center arrow kills the Boar, it will yield no food, so ungarrison to finish it off. Use 3 Town Center shots with 4 Villagers or 2 Town Center shots with 4/5 Villagers. Beware: Garrisoning the injured luring Villager in this case can make the Town Center shoot again, killing the Boar and losing all its food, so players should only do it when the Boar has enough hit points to survive.
  3. Mill - Another strategy involves building a Mill near a large group of huntables (Boars and Deer) or near Berry Bushes. Then the player must team up on the Boar with at least five Villagers. The player must be careful since this is the most dangerous strategy as the player cannot garrison the Villager who is being attacked by the Boar. In some cases, the Boar will still have to be lured to the Mill.
  4. Box Wall - Building a Palisade Wall around the Boar or even the attacking Villager can mess up the Boar's AI and one Villager can safely kill the Boar single-handed. This strategy isn't common, but it is good for early safe gathering of a Boar. The Wall doesn't have to be fully constructed just more than 1% to block the Boar's path.
  5. Lame - When luring an enemy Boar in any form, this is known as "laming". It is banned in some competitions, but fairly common in ranked play. If a military unit is doing the luring, it must hit the Boar twice, or the Boar will stop following after a short distance. When the scout is used, be careful to avoid going out of Line of Sight of the Boar, or again, it will stop following and return to its original spot.

Trivia[]

  • During development, it was considered to give Wild Boars the ability to feed on Farms and Berry Bushes, reducing the food they could make for the player.
  • The fifth Design Document of Ensemble Studios (dated 17 July 1998) suggested replacing the Wild Boar with a Bear.
  • In The Age of Kings, the Wild Boar has the siege armor class and thus receives bonus damage from certain units such as rams or Mangudai.
  • The Wild Boar's original range extended from Ireland to Japan and from North Africa to Java to southern Scandinavia and Siberia, thus covering all maps in the game except American and African maps.
  • Like its domestic descendant, the Pig, the Wild Boar is considered unclean and forbidden to eat according to Muslim dietary laws (Haram), but the outwardly Muslim factions in the game (e.g. Saracens) receive no penalty for hunting boars. On the other hand, it took centuries for these laws to be universally accepted. Some Berbers in remote mountain areas, for example, argued that Pig and Wild Boar were different animals and continued to hunt, eat, and even make lucky charms from the 2nd into the 20th century. The Wild Boar was also commonly hunted in Muslim Spain.
  • Wild Boar hunting was considered very dangerous before the invention of firearms, due to the animal's ability to charge and gore with its tusks, and its thick hide and muscles being able to stop arrows. A common hunting method in Europe was to chase the boar with dogs and horses, tire it out, and then kill it from a short distance with either javelins or a special three-pointed pike called Boar Spear.

Age of Mythology[]

Villagers can hunt wild animals for Food. Boars will attack hunters.
—In-game description

This animal can be hunted, but fights back.
—In-game description

BoarAOM
Boar AoMR

A pair of Boars in Retold

The Boar in Age of Mythology fights back against hunters, but not that well, and is not very difficult to take down. It is generally found in the grassy areas in Greece.

During the Fall of the Trident campaign, Arkantos and his friend Ajax are transformed into boars by the sorceress Circe, and are only turned back by a blessing from Zeus.

History[]

Scientific name -- Sus Scrofa
Size -- 150-300 lbs. for males
Diet -- roots, bulbs, nuts, small animals, carrion

The European wild boar feeds on roots, bulbs, tubers, nuts, turnips, corn and potatoes. They will sometimes eat larvae, small animals and carrion.

The domestic pig is a direct descendant of the boar, and like pigs, boars wallow in mud to keep cool. Boar herds usually consist of sows. Males are solitary or found in small groups, except during the breeding season.

Sows generally have one litter per year of 5-10 piglets, and are dedicated mothers. Sows are generally more aggressive than the males except during the rut. All adult boars are dangerous because of their large size and tusks, but generally won't attack unless provoked.
—In-game help section

Age of Empires III[]

Sus scrofa
—In-game short description

The Wild Boar is a Treasure guardian introduced in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - Knights of the Mediterranean whose visual appearance is identical to a Warthog. However, it is a much stronger guardian, with greater hit points, attack and resistances. When killed, it has the unique mechanic of granting the player 15 food, on top of its XP bounty. Due to this, the Treasures guarded by Wild Boars may often appear as lower value than expected.

Changelog[]

Knights of the Mediterranean[]

  • With update 14.43676, Wild Boar damage was changed from 12 to 14, and food bounty was changed from 35 to 15.

Age of Empires IV[]

Use a group of units to hunt the Boar. They are dangerous animals and can easily kill a lone Villager or Scout if provoked, but provide a significant amount of Food.

Some civilizations are not able to gather Food from Boars.
Age of Empires IV description for Huntable Boar

The Huntable Boar is a huntable but dangerous animal. It provides 2,200 food and has a gather rate of 0.9 food per second, or 54 food per minute, the fastest of all land food sources.

Unlike the previous games in the series, the Wild Boar in Age of Empires IV is very difficult to hunt in the early ages. Unupgraded Scouts' and Villagers' ranged attacks only deal 1 damage to Wild Boar, because of its pierce armor. Villagers' hand attack deals 8 damage to a Boar, but it can kill a Villager in 4 hits, or 5 hits with the Textiles upgrade. After being provoked, the Boar will attack the nearest unit next to it, regardless of who attacked it. This behavior can be used strategically to prevent units from being killed by the Boar. By attacking the Boar with multiple units and moving attacked units back when their health is low, the Boar will switch targets, keeping those units alive. The behavior can also be exploited against opponents by provoking a Boar that is closer to enemy units than the player's own (sometimes called 'pulling the Boar'). When a Boar is lured far enough away from its spawn zone, it stops chasing and returns back to its spawn point, regenerating its hit points rapidly. This makes it harder to hunt with kiting tactics.

Islamic civilizations, namely the Abbasid Dynasty, Ayyubids, Delhi Sultanate, Malians, and Ottomans, cannot gather food from Boars in-game due to religious restrictions. Their units can attack the Boar, however, and if they kill it, the carcass becomes invisible and impossible to interact with or build over, though it can still be selected to view its food value. Thus, although they cannot gather from it themselves, it can be worth it for them to kill the Boar to prevent their opponents from gathering from it. For all other civilizations, although the Boar presents an attractive target due to its very fast gather rate and large food amount, because of the danger it poses, it is inadvisable to hunt it with fewer than eight Villagers, which is also the maximum number that can gather from it simultaneously. Even with this number, low-health Villagers will need to be pulled back to prevent one from dying. Since the Boar is also often in contested areas far from the Capital Town Center, moving Villagers to hunt it presents the additional danger of leaving them exposed to enemy units. Alternatively, the Boar can be killed by military units and Villagers can be brought to harvest from it afterwards with no penalty, since the carcass does not decay. Hunting Boar thus synergizes well with civilizations that like to play aggressive and have early Knights or other strong Feudal Age units, such as the French or Rus, since this also makes it easier to secure map control and keep the Villagers safe from enemy units.

In the original four campaigns, Scouts can carry Wild Boar carcasses after Professional Scouts is researched. This ability is limited to Deer carcasses in all other game modes.

Gallery[]

Animals in Age of Empires
Until Definitive Edition
Huntables Gazelle · Elephant
Predators Alligator · Lion · Crocodile
Marine creatures Shore Fish · Tuna · Salmon · Whale
Animal Kings Lion (Alpha) · Crocodile (Alpha) · Gazelle (Alpha) · Elephant (Alpha)
Other Lion (tame)
Decorative Bird · Dragon
Cut Horse · Goat
Including Return of Rome
Huntable Deer · Ibex · Iron Boar · Javelina · Ostrich · Rhinoceros · Wild Boar · Zebra
Herdable Cow · Goat · Goose · Llama · Pig · Sheep · Turkey · Water Buffalo
Predator Bear · Dire Wolf · Jaguar · Komodo Dragon · Rabid Wolf · Snow Leopard · Tiger · Wolf
Civilian Bactrian Camel · Camel · Donkey · Horse
Military animals Alfred the Alpaca · Furious the Monkey Boy · Penguin
Decorative Stormy Dog · Wild Bactrian Camel · Wild Camel · Wild Horse
Marine animals Box Turtles · Dolphin · Dorado · Marlin · Perch · Snapper
Animals in Age of Empires II
Herdable animals Chicken · Cow · Goat · Goose · Llama · Pig · Sheep · Turkey · Water Buffalo
Timid huntables Argali · Deer · Gazelle · Ibex · Mouflon · Ostrich · Wild Chicken · Zebra
Aggressive huntables Elephant · Iron Boar · Javelina · Rhinoceros · Wild Boar
Predators Arabian Wolf · Black Bear · Brown Bear · Crocodile · Dire Wolf · Grey Wolf · Jaguar · Komodo Dragon · Lion · Polar Bear · Rabid Wolf · Snow Leopard · Tiger
Marine animals Box Turtles · Dolphin · Dorado · Marlin · Oysters · Perch · Salmon · Shore Fish · Snapper · Tuna
Civilian animals Bactrian Camel · Camel · Donkey · Horse
Military animals Alfred the Alpaca · Furious the Monkey Boy · Penguin
Hero animals Hunting Wolf · Ornlu the Wolf
Decorative animals Bird · Stormy Dog · Wild Bactrian Camel · Monkey · Penguin · Wild Camel · Wild Horse
Animals (non-myth units) in Age of Mythology
Herdable animals Cow · Goat · Pig · Yak*
Timid huntables Baboon · Caribou · Chicken · Crowned Crane · Deer · Duck* · Elk · Gazelle · Giraffe · Golden Pheasant · Monkey · Red Crowned Crane · Spotted Deer · Zebra
Aggressive huntables Aurochs · Black Bear · Boar · Elephant · Hippopotamus · Ram* · Rhinoceros · Walrus · Water Buffalo
Predators Arctic Wolf · Crocodile · Bear · Hyena · Lion · Lizard* · Panda Bear* · Polar Bear · Serpent (Predator) · Tiger* · Wolf
Military animalsAnimal of Set · Golden Lion · Relic Monkey
Fish Herring · Mahi-mahi · Perch · Salmon
Decorative animalsBird ( Eagle* · Hawk · Parrot* · Flying Red Crowned Crane · Vulture) · Panda · Hawksbill Turtle · Orca · Shark · Whale
Scenario Editor-exclusive animals Alfred · Dog · Giant Duck-Billed Platypus · Golden Fleece (also herdable) · Horse · Reindeer
Cheat animals Chicken Exploding
Cut animalsAnchovies · Camel · Musk Ox · Nubian Goat · Shore Fish · Unicorn
Animals in Age of Empires III
Land
Herdables Cow · Goat · Llama · Sacred Cow · Sanga Cattle · Sheep · Water Buffalo · Yak · Zebu Cattle · Big Benny
Huntables Bighorn Sheep · Bison · Capybara · Caribou · Deer · Elephant · Elk · Gazelle · Giant Salamander · Giraffe · Guanaco · Ibex · Marco Polo Sheep · Moose · Musk Deer · Musk Ox · Nilgai · Ostrich · Pronghorn · Rhea · Saiga · Serow · Tapir · Turkey · Zebra
Treasure guardians Alligator · Baboon · Black Bear · Black Panther · Beast · Beast of Gévaudan · Brown Bear · Cougar · Coyote · Crocodile · Elephant · Ethiopian Wolf · Grizzly Bear · Hippo · Honey Badger · Hyena · Jaguar · Leopard · Lion · Lion-Tailed Macaque · Mad Dog · Monitor Lizard · Orangutan · Panda · Polar Bear · Rhino · Snow Leopard · Snow Monkey · Tibetan Macaque · Tiger · Warthog
Unknown-exclusive Cash Cow · Wood Cattle
Military Dog · Intrepid Turkey Scout · Lamb of the Creator · Tengri Wolf
Water
Treasure guardians Alligator · Hippo · Great White Shark · Orca · White Tiger · Wild Boar · Wolf
Fish Bass · Carp · Catfish · Cod · Mahi-mahi · Mola Mola · Salmon · Sardines · Squid · Tarpon · Tuna
Whales Beluga Whale · Humpback Whale · Minke Whale
Air
Bird · Bird (unit)
Animals in Age of Empires IV
Herdable animals Herdable Sheep · Cattle (Malians only)
Timid huntables Huntable Deer
Aggressive huntables Huntable Boar
Predators Wolf
Fish Fish · Shoreline Fish
Cut animalsBear · Crocodile · Fox · Zebra
Treasure guardians in Age of Empires III
Humans African Vagabond · Ambushing Shongo Thrower · Bandit Blowgunner · Bandit Gunslinger · Bandit Rider · Bandit Rifleman · Blind Monk · Brigand · Camel Raider · Caravan Bandit · Colonial Gunslinger · Colonial Looter · Colonial Officer · Colonial Oppressor · Colonial Swashbuckler · Corrupted Watchman · Delinquent Thuggee · Deserted Hussar · Deserted Pikeman · Deserted Skirmisher · Fugitive Dacoit · Gunman · Haramija · Heretic · Klepht · Knife Thrower · Marauding Cossack · Marauding Jaeger · Marauding Janissary · Marauding Highlander · Marauding Landsknecht · Marauding Musketeer · Masterless Samurai · Mongol Rider · Pirate · Plague Doctor · Repressive Cuirassier · Robber Knight · Smuggler · Witch Hunter
Land animals Alligator · Baboon · Beast · Beast of Gévaudan · Black Bear · Black Panther · Brown Bear · Cougar · Coyote · Crocodile · Elephant Guardian · Ethiopian Wolf · Grizzly Bear · Hippo · Honey Badger · Hyena · Jaguar · Leopard · Lion · Lion-Tailed Macaque · Mad Dog · Monitor Lizard · Orangutan · Panda · Polar Bear · Rhino · Snow Leopard · Snow Monkey · Tibetan Macaque · Tiger · Warthog · White Tiger · Wild Boar · Wolf
Water animals Alligator · Crocodile · Great White Shark · Hippo · Orca
Ships Bandit Catamaran · Marauding Junk · Raiding Privateer