| “ | Extremely swift light cavalry which deals bonus damage to economic units. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Yuan Raider is a light melee cavalry unit available to Zhu Xi's Legacy in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend at the Stable. The Yuan Raider (along with the Imperial Guard) is unlocked only after researching Dynastic Protectors at Zhu Xi's Library.
Tactics[]
The Yuan Raider is primarily meant as a raiding unit, and in many ways can be seen as an alternative to the Horseman. Compared to that unit, they have the same total resource cost (exchanging some food for gold), but higher hit points, damage, a faster Rate of Fire, and higher speed. They trade a bonus against ranged units for a bonus against workers, such as Villagers. They retain a bonus against siege weapons and can fill the role of anti-siege as a result. The lack of bonus against ranged units, though, means they cannot completely replace Horsemen.
Yuan Raiders have a base speed of 2.00, outpacing even all other cavalry, and can always flee from an engagement if necessary. This compliments their raiding ability, since they can always escape when reinforcements arrive. It allows them to easily run down Villagers, who they down in 3 attacks (4 if the Villagers have Textiles). Dragon Villagers survive one additional attack in both cases.
With higher hit points and high ranged armor, Yuan Raiders can take a reasonable amount of arrow-fire from defenses and Town Centers, and even from smaller numbers of Archers and Crossbowmen, though they can easily be overwhelmed by Keeps and more powerful Emplacements. As light cavalry, they do not perform as well in a stand-up fight, and easily lose to Spearmen, Men-at-Arms, and Knights.
Unit comparison[]
 Elite Horseman
|
 Yuan Raider
| |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 100 food, 20 wood | 80 food, 20 wood, 20 gold |
| Hit points | 180 | 200 |
| Ranged armor | 5 | 4 |
| Melee attack | 13 | 15 |
| Attack vs ranged units | +13 | 0 |
| Attack vs worker | 0 | +5 |
| Attack speed | 1.75 s | 1.625 s |
| Speed | 1.875 tiles/s | 2.0 tiles/s |
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Ranged units, siege engines |
| Weak vs. | Spearmen, heavy units, Camel Riders |
| 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)
|
 Attack speed
|
 Dali Horses (+20%,  Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Creation speed |  Military Academy (+33%)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
 Regeneration
|
 Divine Vitality (2 hp/s out of combat)
|
| Attack |  Divine Charge (+20%) Ming Dynasty (+15%)
|
| Resource cost |  Yuan Dynasty (-10%)
|
| Creation speed |  Supervision (+150% or +300% with Regional Inspection)
|
Dialogue lines[]
The Yuan Raider shares its dialogue lines with the Fire Lancer.
- Main article: Fire Lancer/Dialogue lines
Trivia[]
- It is tied with the incendiary ship as having the highest base speed in the game.
Changelog[]
- Originally, the Yuan Raider attack rate was 1.5 seconds. With update 12.0.1974, it is 1.625 seconds.
Gallery[]
