Age of Empires 2 Cavalry Archer Counters

Age of Empires 2 Cavalry Archer Counters

How do you counter cavalry archers in AoE2?

Use anti-cavalry units: on top of their own Cavalry Archer armor class, mounted archers also carry the Cavalry armor class — so a Halberdier's +32 bonus and a Heavy Camel Rider's +18 both apply. A Halberdier kills a Mangudai in 2 hits, a Heavy Camel Rider in 3. Skirmishers work too, but through 4 pierce armor against 0, not through a large bonus.

Cavalry archers are the hardest unit class to counter because the counter has to arrive, not just hit hard. They move at 1.4 while shooting, so a Halberdier at 1.0 or an Elite Skirmisher at 0.96 never gets a fight it did not choose. Every workable answer is either fast enough to force contact or cheap enough that being kited does not matter.

• They count as cavalry, not just cavalry archers. Every mounted archer has its own Cavalry Archer armor class — the one most players know. But the Heavy Cavalry Archer, Mangudai and War Wagon carry the Cavalry armor class on top of it, and that second class is what Halberdier +32, Heavy Camel Rider +18 and Imperial Camel Rider +18 hit — so all three land in full. It is the single most useful, and most missed, fact on the page.
• They are made of paper. Cavalry Archer 50 HP, Mangudai 60, Heavy Cavalry Archer 60 — with 0 pierce armor across the line. Anything that reaches them kills them in two or three hits.
• Skirmishers win by armor, not by bonus. The Elite Skirmisher has 4 pierce armor against a Mangudai's 6 pierce attack, and 5 range against the Mangudai's 4. It out-ranges and out-armors them. Its bonus against the Cavalry Archer armor class is only +2.
• The War Wagon is the exception. 150 HP and 2 pierce armor (Elite: 200 HP and 4). Pierce damage stops working entirely — an Elite Skirmisher needs about 50 hits. Use melee and Mangonels instead.
• They are gold units. Cavalry Archer 40 wood + 60 gold, Mangudai 55 wood + 65 gold, War Wagon 200 wood + 60 gold. A Monk costs 100 gold and every conversion removes a unit the enemy cannot cheaply replace.

How do you counter Mangudai in AoE2?

Heavy Camel Riders and Halberdiers — the Mangudai carries the Cavalry armor class on top of its Cavalry Archer class, so both bonuses apply in full. A Halberdier deals 38 damage per hit and kills a Mangudai in 2 hits; a Heavy Camel Rider needs 3. Against the Mongol version specifically, add Mangonels: 40 damage per shot, 2 shots per Mangudai.

The Mangudai is the Mongol unique unit and the strongest cavalry archer in the game: 60 HP, 6 attack (Elite 8), 1.4 speed and a 2.1-second reload, cheaper than a Heavy Cavalry Archer at 55 wood + 65 gold. What makes it dangerous is not durability — with 0 pierce armor it dies as fast as any other mounted archer — but that Mongol cavalry archers fire faster and the player can simply never stand still.

• 
  Halberdier Hard Counter
  +32 vs. the Cavalry class plus 6 base attack = 38 damage against 0 melee armor, so 2 hits per Mangudai. Costs no gold. It will not catch one in the open field — put Halberdiers with your siege and around your economy, which is exactly where Mangudai want to be.
• 
  Heavy Camel Rider Hard Counter
  +18 plus 7 attack = 25 per hit, 3 hits per Mangudai, at 1.45 speed against the Mangudai's 1.4. The only unit that both matches their speed and carries a large bonus. 120 HP absorbs a lot of 6-attack arrows on the approach.
• 
  Imperial Camel Rider Hard Counter
  Hindustanis: 26 per hit, 3 hits, and 140 HP. The most comfortable answer to a Mongol player in Imperial Age.
• 
  Elite Skirmisher Hard Counter
  5 range against the Mangudai's 4 and 4 pierce armor against its 6 pierce attack, for 25 food + 35 wood. It cannot chase, but standing in front of your Halberdiers it wins the exchange it is in. 12 hits per Mangudai, so bring numbers.
• 
  Mangonel Hard Counter
  Mangonel damage counts as melee-type, so the Mangudai's pierce armor is irrelevant: 40 damage per shot, 2 shots per Mangudai, and the area damage hits the whole group. Mangudai do have a +3 bonus against the siege class (Elite +5), so keep the Mangonel behind your line.
• 
  Monk Soft Counter
  55 wood + 65 gold converted for 100 gold, and Mongols have no bonus to conversion resistance. Only realistic against stragglers — a Monk has 30 HP and 0.7 speed.

How do you counter Heavy Cavalry Archers in AoE2?

The same anti-cavalry units, and they work slightly better: 60 HP and 1 melee armor means 2 Halberdier hits at 37 damage each or 3 Heavy Camel Rider hits at 24. The Heavy Cavalry Archer has 0 pierce armor, so Elite Skirmishers standing behind a Halberdier line also hold.

The Heavy Cavalry Archer is the generic Imperial Age version: 60 HP, 7 attack, 1/0 armor, 1.4 speed, 40 wood + 60 gold. It is available to most civilizations, which makes it the mounted archer you meet most often. Note the armor: 1 melee and 0 pierce — the upgrade buys attack and accuracy, not survivability against arrows.

• 
  Halberdier Hard Counter
  37 damage per hit against 1 melee armor = 2 hits. Gold-free and available to almost every civ. Place, do not chase.
• 
  Heavy Camel Rider Hard Counter
  24 per hit = 3 hits, at 1.45 speed. The unit that actually forces the engagement.
• 
  Elite Skirmisher Hard Counter
  0 pierce armor on the target, 4 on the Skirmisher, and 5 range against 4. Cheap at 25 food + 35 wood, and the Heavy Cavalry Archer's 7 attack barely dents it. 12 hits per target, so this is a mass unit.
• 
  Camel Archer Soft Counter
  The Berber unique unit's +4 bonus (Elite +6) targets the Cavalry Archer armor class specifically — this is what it was built for. 11 damage per hit, 6 hits per Heavy Cavalry Archer, and it mirrors their mobility at 1.4 speed. It is not an anti-cavalry unit, despite the name.
• 
  Mangonel Soft Counter
  40 melee-type damage per shot ignores their armor entirely, 2 shots each. Requires that they clump — a good player spreads out, so treat it as punishment for mistakes rather than a plan.

How do you counter War Wagons in AoE2?

Melee and Mangonels only — never Skirmishers. A War Wagon has 150 HP and 2 pierce armor (Elite: 200 HP and 4), so an Elite Skirmisher needs about 50 hits. A Halberdier needs 4, a Heavy Camel Rider 6 and a Mangonel 4 shots.

The Korean War Wagon is a cavalry archer built like a siege unit: 150 HP, 9 attack, 0/2 armor and 1.2 speed, at 200 wood + 60 gold. It cannot kite the way a Mangudai does — 1.2 speed is slower than every camel and every Hussar — so the problem is not catching it, it is chewing through it. Pierce damage is the wrong tool.

• 
  Halberdier Hard Counter
  38 damage per hit against 0 melee armor, 4 hits per War Wagon and 6 for the 200 HP Elite version. At 1.2 speed the War Wagon cannot escape a Halberdier line the way other mounted archers can — this is the one cavalry archer Halberdiers reliably catch.
• 
  Mangonel Hard Counter
  40 melee-type damage per shot completely bypasses the 2 to 4 pierce armor: 4 shots per War Wagon, and War Wagons group up because of their slow speed. An Onager at 50 damage needs 3.
• 
  Heavy Camel Rider Hard Counter
  War Wagons carry the Cavalry armor class on top of their Cavalry Archer class, so +18 applies: 25 per hit, 6 hits, 8 against the Elite version. Fast enough to pick off stragglers at 1.45 against 1.2.
• 
  Monk Soft Counter
  200 wood + 60 gold is the most expensive mounted archer in the game, converted for 100 gold. Its 1.2 speed also makes it the easiest cavalry archer to keep inside conversion range.

How do you counter Camel Archers, Kipchaks, Arambai and other mounted archers?

Elite Skirmishers, because all of them have 1 or 0 pierce armor: 14 hits for a Camel Archer, 8 for a Kipchak's 40 HP. Camel Archers are also camels, so a Halberdier hits them with +26 instead of +32 — still 32 damage per hit and 2 hits per unit.

The smaller unique mounted archers trade durability for cost or volume. The Berber Camel Archer at 50 wood + 60 gold is the dedicated anti-mounted-archer unit — its bonus targets exactly that class. The Cuman Kipchak is the cheapest at 60 wood + 35 gold with only 40 HP, and it fires multiple arrows per shot, which makes massing it the threat rather than any single unit's stats. The Burmese Arambai is the outlier — expensive at 75 wood + 60 gold and the hardest-hitting of the group at range 5, but just as fragile as the rest.

• Camel Archer (Berbers) 55 HP, 7 attack, 0/1 armor, 1.4 speed. Its +4 (Elite +6) bonus is against the Cavalry Archer armor class, not the Cavalry class — so it beats other cavalry archers and loses to Knights. It is a camel itself, so a Halberdier hits it with +26 (32 damage, 2 hits) and a Heavy Camel Rider with +9 (16 damage, 4 hits).
• Kipchak (Cumans) 40 HP, 4 attack, 0/0 armor, 60 wood + 35 gold. The lowest HP of any mounted archer — 8 Elite Skirmisher hits, and anything melee that touches it kills it. Cheap enough that the counter has to be cheap too: Skirmishers, not camels.
• Arambai (Burmese) 60 HP, 12 attack (Elite 65 and 14), 0/1 armor, range 5, speed 1.3, 75 wood + 60 gold — the highest attack of any mounted archer. It carries the same two armor classes as a Mangudai, Cavalry Archer and Cavalry, so a Halberdier still kills it in 2 hits (38 damage) and a Heavy Camel Rider in 3 (25). A Mangonel needs 2 shots, and Elite Skirmishers hold in front on their 4 pierce armor.
• Ratha (Bengalis) A mounted archer that can switch between a ranged and a melee attack, so it does not stay in one damage type. Treat the ranged mode like a cavalry archer and the melee mode like light cavalry — Halberdiers cover both.
• Conquistador (Spanish) Mounted gunpowder with 6 range and 16 attack (Elite 19) but only 55 HP and 1 pierce armor. Skirmishers and Cavalry Archers beat it because of that armor value, not because of any gunpowder bonus — no unit in the game has one.

AoE2 cavalry archer stats — HP, armor, range and cost

How many hits does it take to kill each cavalry archer?

Which bonuses actually apply to cavalry archers?

Which civilizations counter cavalry archers best?

Summary — Counter Cheat Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions