Winged Hussar (Age of Empires II)

“	Unique to Poles and Lithuanians. Fast cavalry for scouting and raiding.	”
—In-game description

The Winged Hussar is the second unique unit of the Poles and Lithuanians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dawn of the Dukes can be trained at the Stable once the Imperial Age is reached. They are quick, have decent pierce armor and high Line of Sight as well as an innate resistance to conversion and an attack bonus against Monks.

Unlike most unique units, Winged Hussars do not have an Elite version, as they are already a final unique upgrade.

Tactics

Compared to regular Hussars, Winged Hussars have +5 hit points, +2 attack, +1 melee armor, and +2 bonus damage vs. Monks and +4 bonus damage vs. gunpowder units while costing +100 food and +200 gold and taking 10 more seconds to upgrade from Light Cavalry. It has the same advantages of the normal Hussar, but with a bit better versatility. The upgrade also improves the other nonlisted stats the Light Cavalry line has. Compared to their predecessor, Winged Hussars have an attack bonus of 14 against Monks, 4 more than Light Cavalry; secondly, Winged Hussars also have a slightly higher attack speed, attacking once every 1.9 seconds instead of every 2.0 seconds. Due to their faster and better attack, a Winged Hussar without Bloodlines can defeat a Light Cavalry with Bloodlines without problem.

Winged Hussars also retain increased conversion resistance of Light Cavalry line against Monks (conversion resistance = 8), which drastically decreases the chance of conversion before the max conversion time is reached (base chance to convert is c. 4.1% (vs. 26.6%^[1] for a generic unit) per each conversion attempt).

At first glance, it is easy to dismiss the Scout Cavalry line's usefulness as combat units. But the Winged Hussar's main advantages are its speed and cheapness. Winged Hussars can be used to skirmish small towns and small armies before they can become a real threat, they can defend against small attacks from siege weapons, and are adept at destroying small armies of archers since they move fast and have decent pierce armor. Winged Hussars are also the cavalry mainstays of Poles and Lithuanians when gold is scarce or runs out. Because of their food cost, they are considered trash units, and as such, they became especially important in the late game when the players must rely on their wood and food economy. They form a classic tactical rock-paper-scissors with other trash units by countering Skirmishers and being countered by Pikemen. Unlike its cousin the Hussar, The Winged Hussar is also valuable when facing gunpowder units due to its small but useful attack bonus.

Since this unit is only available to Lithuanians and Poles there are certain differences that may make its use slightly different. First of all, Polish Winged Hussars have +1 attack vs archers due to their team bonus, allowing them to kill archer units faster. However, the lack of Plate Barding Armor makes them more vulnerable against arrow fire. They also benefit from their unique technology Lechitic Legacy which gives them blast damage, making their Winged Hussars highly effective in mass battles. Polish Winged Hussars also have access to Blast Furnace, which makes them shine in hand to hand battles. In the Lithuanians' case, despite lacking Blast Furnace, their Winged Hussars have Plate Barding Armor and Heresy, making them more resilient in general, especially against archers, and better against Monks.

Despite Poles and Lithuanians not being specialized Cavalry Archer civilizations, they may still employ a Winged Hussar-Cavalry Archer strategy, since Cavalry Archers cost wood and gold, while Winged Hussars need food. However, this strategy will be suboptimal, as these civilizations lack Parthian Tactics. Probably a better pairing in both cases is mixing their Winged Hussars with the Knight line, or in the Lithuanians' case, the Leitis, serving as cannon fodder in order to protect their heavy cavalry. For the Poles, Arbalesters can be mixed in with their Winged Hussars to pick off enemy Halberdiers.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Archers, siege weapons, Monks and Gunpowder units
Weak vs.	Most melee units, Genoese Crossbowmen and Spearman-line
Upgrades
Hit points	Bloodlines (+20)
Attack	Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2, Poles only) Lechitic Legacy (33% blast damage in 0.5 tile radius, Poles only)
Armor	Scale Barding Armor (+1/+1) Chain Barding Armor (+1/+1) Plate Barding Armor (+1/+2, Lithuanians only)
Speed	Husbandry (+10%)
Conversion defense	Faith Heresy (Lithuanians only)

Team bonuses

A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, researching Conscription and Lechitic Legacy is 25% faster.
A team containing Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 80% faster.
A team containing Huns: Winged Hussars are created 20% faster. Researching Bloodlines and Husbandry is 20% faster.
A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Heresy and Faith is 20% faster.
A team containing Mongols: Winged Hussars have +2 Line of Sight.
A Team containing Poles: Winged Hussars have +1 attack vs archers.
A team containing Teutons: Winged Hussars are more resistant to conversion.

History

The Polish Hussars, or Winged Hussars, were one of the main types of Polish cavalry in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries.

Modelled on the Hungarian Hussars, Poland's early Hussars were Light Cavalry units of exiled Balkan warriors who came to Poland as mercenaries in 1503. Following the military reforms of the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stephen Báthory (r. 1576–1586), the Polish military adopted the Hussar unit and transformed it into a heavily-armoured shock cavalry. The husaria banners and units participated in the largest cavalry-charge in history at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and ranked as the elite of Polish cavalry until their disbandment in the 1770s.

Trivia

Despite being a unique unit to the Poles and the Lithuanians, neither can upgrade their Winged Hussars fully. The Poles lack Plate Barding Armor, while the Lithuanians lack Blast Furnace since update 51737.
Internally, the game treats the Winged Hussar as an upgrade to the Hussar, just like how Hussars are also an upgrade to Scout Cavalry. Researching Winged Hussar upgrades all Hussars to Winged Hussars, but not vice versa. Since neither civilization has access to the Hussar, it is more of a Scenario Editor thing. All Hussar bonuses (like Turk +1 pierce armor and Mongol +30% HP) affect Winged Hussars too, so campaign creators can mix and match.
All in-game "hussar" units have ornamental wings.